Ian:
> D'ya wanna gimme some clues about "totem" from your
> perspective ... or
> should I just go off and do some research ? Yes I do
> know the "word"
> and I have a dictionary and know how to use
> wikipedia and Google ...
SA: How I understand totem, it is not necessarily
*just* a symbol of group of people, but also the
custom's and belief's are a heritage of this totem,
thus, totem in this sense provides a story for these
people, in which is kin to how mythologies provide
stories and context of cultivation to people's lives.
Totem is the identity of a society or clan of a people
and has usually been depicted as a bird, animal,
plants, and other natural phenomena. Thus, an example
would be, Bill's totem is the eagle, so is Charlie's,
they are of the same clan, thus, share the same
heritage. But the heritage is not strictly biological
for a "club" of people could involve a totem that
outlines how the club started, what the club is about,
and what signifies the group as a distinct club. The
totem is the symbol of a society, group, and/or clan
of people, and this symbol carries all this meaning I
tried to outline above.
As I understand meme, it is also the cultural
hand-me-downs for groups of people. Totem may have
gone one step further in which the people recognized
the inheritance and commonality; and the symbol (an
eagle maybe) would have been explicitly pictured or
carved (such as the Northwest totem poles). The
people would also give respect to these totems and
expression to these totems, by art (carving them out
of wood, molded clay, and such).
Totem is difficult to explain, and to begin with
I'm no expert. Obviously the first stumper is totem
derives from non-western cultures and thus explained
from the outside in, the guidelines of SOM pops up in
the reading, so, the objectification barrier must be
crossed and maybe a notion of bicameralism and/or
mythopoeic thought needs to be considered.
Do you see a line of similarity and difference
running through these understandings/events?
SA
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