8. Symbols: Explaining, Using, & Positioning--Turner

Welcome to Section 8 of Symbols and Society. In Section 7, we considered Wolf's idea that a symbol can mean different things to different groups in a society.This week we turn to another Symbolic Anthropologist, who also takes an interpretive rather than structural approach. 

 Turner & rites of passage 

Turner is well-known for his analysis of rites of passage. I've presented on rites of passage here: 

This week I turn to a less-known, though equally important, aspect of his work.

Explaining, Using, & Positioning

In this section, we Turner’s analysis of the forked stick. Here are my notes on Turner. Turner  shows how a symbol can create profound meanings, can form social bonds, and can help organise and order other symbols within a culture.

In this presentation I outline Turner's idea that we explain symbols; we put them to use in rituals; and we see the world through them:

Here are my notes for the Turner presentation.

Ndembu hunting clans and the forked stick

Ndembu men are called by hungry spirits to join hunting clans. A man so afflicted, hunts animals to appease the spirit. When the man is successful in the hunt, he hangs some of the meat on a monument/shrine made out of a stick with a fork at its end. This shrine is called a "chishing'a" in Ndembu. The stick is driven into the soil so it stands upright. The hungry spirit can now eat the meat it craved. But this fork is much more than just an object to feed spirits. This forked stick symbolizes the slaughterous power of the hunting clans. (As I mentioned in the Introduction to this course, we can compare the symbolism to the violent potential of 'thugs' in gangsta rap.)

Exegesis

When Turner asked Ndembu hunters what the word "chishinga" means, the answer he gives is that the word "chishing'a" is closely related to the word "curse". And this is because hunters are cursed. Their friends and family will be jealous of their success. and jealousy). Similarly if an anthropologist asked a Crip in South Central Los Angeles in the 1980s what the word "Crip" means, the Crip might explain that it is a political word, meaning "Community Revolution in Progress". Both of these examples are what Turner calls "exegetical meaning" of the symbols.

Operation

When Turner observed how Ndembu actually use the shrine, he noted what was done with the symbol and who did it. As he records, only hunters may cut a chishing'a. They prepare the shrine together (showing the unity of cult). Also the hunter takes his kill first to the shrine. Similarly our anthropologist in 1980s LA, might observed that only Crips have the right to make the "C" sign with their hands and fingers. Also this 'signing' can be part of gang dancing (the "Crip Walk"); tattooing (a Crip might tattoo the hand sign for "C" on his back); graffitti (the hand sign might be spray painted on a wall) etc. Both of these examples (hunters and their Chishing'a as well as Crips and their hand "C" hand sign) are instances of what Turner calls the "operational meaning" of the symbol.

Position

Turner also attended to the way the chishing'a as a symbol related to other symbols in Ndembu culture. He noted that it was situated in relation to major symbols of the landscape; of fertility; and of [masculine] virility. Similarly, my imaginary anthropologist doing fieldwork in 1980s LA might observe that the color blue is related to Crips, but also ties in with the L.A. Dodgers. So Crip members wore Dodgers sports gear and blue 'flags' (bandanas). These were worn hanging out of the pocket and were sacred in the sense that if our imaginary anthropologist pulled on one of these and blew his nose in one, he might find himself beaten or dead. The way these symbols (Chishing'a as well as the color blue) relates to other symbols in the larger constellation of signs is what Turner calls the "positional meaning".

Summary

So Turner saw symbols as being more than things which we attach meaning to. They are also things we talk about and explain (exegesis), that we use in rituals (operation), and that we make sense of the world through (position). These are the exegetical, operational, and positional ways of using symbols.


In Section 9, we return to question of the meaning we attach to symbols, through the theory of Clifford Geertz.