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The symbolism of the black sheep as a talisman in extensive and transhumant ranching in Spain: an anthropological analysis
Abstract
Extensive Spanish cattle ranching boasts a strong, deeply rooted tradition: the use of completely black sheep, the offspring of white mothers, as magical elements to protect flocks from bad luck.
Conditions are very specific, so they are unique, exceptional animals. These characteristics make them special, sacred sheep that are kept in the herd with special care until their death.
There is an explanation for this symbolic and magic practice: it has existed to sustain, before Mendel discovered the laws governing genetics, the purity of white wool in sheep by isolating mutations in black ones. In this text we examine the scope of this practice and analyse it from the perspective of the anthropology of symbolism.
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Seasonal migration of livestock, ascending and descending movements of livestock to escape from the rigours of winter, meant that shepherds from the region of Teruel in Spain used to spend more than six months away from their homes. This article analyses the profound popular cultures which have been passed down from generation to generation amongst these shepherds, a true cultural group, as well as the cosmovision and popular religiousness specific to this group, which have disappeared. We also analyse the strategies used in order to face danger and risks in a liminal job, on the limits of the unknown.
The myths associated with albinism in South Africa and Zimbabwe have a profound influence on the lives of people with the condition, from the moment of their birth until their death. The beliefs and superstitions surrounding the condition affect family life and interfere with access to education, employment and marriage. Drawing on a common interest in albinism, specialist research interests, and recent multi-disciplinary studies and research carried out in South Africa and Zimbabwe, we examine these myths and trace their impact on the lives of people with albinism. We trace the actuality of living with the condition in parts of present-day southern Africa, as reported in the first-hand accounts of people with albinism. We compare attitudes to albinism in different cultures and groups, and suggest ways in which the myths that have surrounded people with albinism for so long, which frequently have very negative connotations, can be challenged by a more scientific and culturally neutral explanation.
Edmund Leach's book investigates the writings of 'structuralists,' and their different theories: the general incest theory and of animal sacrifice. This book is designed for the use of teaching undergraduates in anthropology, linguistics, literary studies, philosophy and related disciplines faced with structuralist argument. It provides the prolegomena necessary to understand the final chapter of Levi-Strauss's massive four-volume Mythologiques. Some prior knowledge of anthropological literature is useful but not essential. The principal ethnographic source is the Book of Leviticus; this guide should help anyone who is trying to grasp the essentials of 'seminology' - the general theory of how signs and symbols come to convey meaning. The author's core thesis is that: 'the indices in non-verbal communication systems, like the sound elements in spoken language, do not have meaning as isolates, but only as members of set'; the book's special merit is that it makes this kind of jargon comprehensible in terms of our everyday experience.
Roy Rappaport argues that religion is central to the continuing evolution of life, although it has been been displaced from its original position of intellectual authority by the rise of modern science. His book, which could be construed as in some degree religious as well as about religion, insists that religion can and must be reconciled with science. Combining adaptive and cognitive approaches to the study of humankind, he mounts a comprehensive analysis of religion's evolutionary significance, seeing it as co-extensive with the invention of language and hence of culture as we know it. At the same time he assembles the fullest study yet of religion's main component, ritual, which constructs the conceptions which we take to be religious and has been central in the making of humanity's adaptation. The text amounts to a manual for effective ritual, illustrated by examples drawn from anthropology, history, philosophy, comparative religion, and elsewhere.
Agouti signaling protein (ASIP) functions to regulate pigmentation in mice, while its role in many other animals and in humans has not been fully determined. In this study, we identify a 190-kb tandem duplication encompassing the ovine ASIP and AHCY coding regions and the ITCH promoter region as the genetic cause of white coat color of dominant white/tan (A(Wt)) agouti sheep. The duplication 5' breakpoint is located upstream of the ASIP coding sequence. Ubiquitous expression of a second copy of the ASIP coding sequence regulated by a duplicated copy of the nearby ITCH promoter causes the white sheep phenotype. A single copy ASIP gene with a silenced ASIP promoter occurs in recessive black sheep. In contrast, a single copy functional wild-type (A(+)) ASIP is responsible for the ancient Barbary sheep coat color phenotype. The gene duplication was facilitated by homologous recombination between two non-LTR SINE sequences flanking the duplicated segment. This is the first sheep trait attributable to gene duplication and shows nonallelic homologous recombination and gene conversion events at the ovine ASIP locus could have an important role in the evolution of sheep pigmentation.
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