englischThe term 'pygmies' long time summarized simply all dwarfish populations of foragers scattered all over the equatorial rainforest of Africa. Missionaries and early ethnologists were fascinated by them because they assumed that the pygmy groups had a common origin and were perhaps direct, [...]

englischWe should avoid the disrespect involved in giving mythic and religious facts less importance than they actually have in the life of non-Western indigenous peoples. This book deals with mythologic ideas which inhere in the ritual reproduction of the body politic in the actions of contemporary [...]

englischThe basis of political life in modern media societies is the ability to shape and use one's own public personality in a self-determined manner.

Modern democracies are media democracies. In the media-public is the possibility to evaluate and criticize politics effectively. The skillful use [...]

Die mündliche Tradition von Nias begann vor ca. 600 Jahren mit der Einwanderung einer kleinen Gruppe von der Westküste Sumatras nach Südnias. Die Physiognomie der Bewohner weist oft chinesische Züge auf. Die mündliche Tradition berichtet vom Beginn der Ahnenfiguren (adu) und von der Ahnenverehrung [...]

The book aims to analyze the cultural mutations of man from his initial stages of hunter-gatherer, to the constitution of homo religiosus. For six thousand years, the region called ÑEquatorial Andean Americaì (now Ecuador) was occupied by agro-pottery societies which have manifested the sacredness [...]