That stands for “Ontology Across the Disciplines,” which is the UVM faculty (and grad student) reading group that I said I’d keep readers updated on. I’ve been a bit remiss with that, as we had a meeting 3 weeks ago and will be meeting again at 4 p.m. today.
Here is a one-page handout (click for PDF) I’ve sent around to participants. It includes a very quick-and-dirty (and extremely cursory) “orienting map” — really just intended to catalyze other participants to map for themselves how ontological questions have come to the fore in their own disciplines — as well as some very brief summary notes of the discussion at the last meeting, which focused on Cultural Anthropology’s “Politics of Ontology” series.
Today’s meeting will focus on two readings by anthropologist Todd Ramón Ochoa: “Versions of the Dead: Kalunga, Cuban-Kongo Materiality, and Ethnography” and “Prendas-Ngangas-Enquisos: Turbulence and the Influence of the Dead in Cuban Kongo Material Culture“. Both come from a book project that was published as Society of the Dead: Quita Manaquita and Palo Praise in Cuba.
Comments welcome.
