Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Eleven Namibian rains: A phenomenological analysis of experience in time

Eleven Namibian rains: A phenomenological analysis of experience in time The Damara pastoralists (ǂnūkhoen) in Namibia distinguish a diverse range of rains. Some rains kill livestock, others care for insects and still others wash away the footprints of the deceased, allowing the person to exist in the spirit realm. While anthropologists have documented cultural classifications like the Namibian rains for decades, we still lack a convincing theory to explain how they come to exist. To address this, I develop a phenomenological perspective and theorise how experience contributes to what rain becomes. I argue with Husserl that the present in which we experience the rain is not a discrete moment, but a unity across a succession of ‘nows’. In the process, perceptions, images, memories and expectations about past and future events blend. In other words, a web of meaningful relationships connects the rain we experience ‘now’ with multiple past and future entities, including people, plants, spirits and animals. I refer to this as network formation. Combining the analyses of the people's pastoral being-in-the-world and their historical–political context, including post-colonialism, allows an explanation as to why some of those combinations are singled out and become distinct ontological entities. I refer to this as node selection. Combining the two processes – network formation and node selection – allows for an explanation as to why precipitation becomes discernible and meaningful as eleven different Namibian rains. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Anthropological Theory SAGE

Eleven Namibian rains: A phenomenological analysis of experience in time

Anthropological Theory , Volume 23 (1): 23 – Mar 1, 2023

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sage/eleven-namibian-rains-a-phenomenological-analysis-of-experience-in-np0ztLFE04

References (56)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021
ISSN
1463-4996
eISSN
1741-2641
DOI
10.1177/14634996211035365
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The Damara pastoralists (ǂnūkhoen) in Namibia distinguish a diverse range of rains. Some rains kill livestock, others care for insects and still others wash away the footprints of the deceased, allowing the person to exist in the spirit realm. While anthropologists have documented cultural classifications like the Namibian rains for decades, we still lack a convincing theory to explain how they come to exist. To address this, I develop a phenomenological perspective and theorise how experience contributes to what rain becomes. I argue with Husserl that the present in which we experience the rain is not a discrete moment, but a unity across a succession of ‘nows’. In the process, perceptions, images, memories and expectations about past and future events blend. In other words, a web of meaningful relationships connects the rain we experience ‘now’ with multiple past and future entities, including people, plants, spirits and animals. I refer to this as network formation. Combining the analyses of the people's pastoral being-in-the-world and their historical–political context, including post-colonialism, allows an explanation as to why some of those combinations are singled out and become distinct ontological entities. I refer to this as node selection. Combining the two processes – network formation and node selection – allows for an explanation as to why precipitation becomes discernible and meaningful as eleven different Namibian rains.

Journal

Anthropological TheorySAGE

Published: Mar 1, 2023

Keywords: Phenomenology; Husserl; experience; time; cultural classification; environment; Namibia

There are no references for this article.