Violence and splendor

at the limits of hermeneutics

Alphonso Lingis

pp. 85-95

in: Julia Jansen (ed), Critical communities and aesthetic practices, Berlin, Springer, 2012

Abstract

From earliest times, serious collective performances, rituals, ceremonies, parades, dances have been concerned with war. They have evolved extraordinary splendor and given rise to the high art of Egypt, Anghor Wat, Chichin-Itza, and San Juan de Compostelo. However, splendor closes in upon itself and evolves with its own logic. This essay studies this evolution in Carnival in Rio de Janeiro and the Mount Hagen Show in Papua-New Guinea.