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Rice and Death in Southern China and the Shan States: Transforms in Iconic Grammar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2018

GÖRAN AIJMER
GÖRAN AIJMER*
Affiliation:
Gothenburg Research Institute, University of [email protected]
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Abstract

This essay in historical anthropology juxtaposes some rice rituals in southern China with their counterparts in the Shan States of Upper Burma. The approach is one of symbological analysis of iconic codes, and it is suggested here that the two sets of rituals, superficially different, may be seen as morphological transforms of a common cultural semantic pattern. This understanding has a bearing on further explorations of the formation of the wider Southeast Asian field.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , April 2019 , pp. 319 - 343
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2018 

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