Mary W. Helms's Books

Craft and the Kingly Ideal

Art, Trade, and Power

By: Mary W. Helms

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In ancient Mediterranean cultures, diamonds were thought to endow their owners with invincibility. In contemporary United States culture, a foreign-made luxury car is believed to give its owner status and prestige. Where do these beliefs come from? In this study of craft production and long-distance trade in traditional, nonindustrial societies, Mary W. Helms explores the power attributed to objects that either are produced by skilled artisans and/or come from "afar." She argues that fine artisanship and long-distance trade, both of which are more available to powerful elites than to ordinary people, are means of creating or acquiring tangible objects that embody intangible powers and energies from the cosmological realms of gods, ancestors, or heroes. Through the objects, these qualities become available to human society and confer honor and power on their possessors. Helms’ novel approach equates trade with artistry and emphasizes acquisition rather than distribution. She rejects the classic Western separation between economics and aesthetics and offers a new paradigm for understanding traditional societies that will be of interest to all anthropologists and archaeologists.

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302

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University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0292758235

ISBN 13

9780292758230

Access to Origins

Affines, Ancestors, and Aristocrats

By: Mary W. Helms

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Access to Origins

Affines, Ancestors, and Aristocrats

By: Mary W. Helms

In many non-industrial, non-Western societies, power and prestige are closely linked to the extent of an individual's or group's perceived connection to the supernatural realm, which also explains and validates tangible activities such as economic success, victories in war, or control over lucrative trade. Affines (in-laws), ancestors, and aristocrats, in particular, are connected to the realm of creative cosmological origins (i.e., to Genesis), which accords them distinctive, supernatural powers and gives them a natural and legitimate right to worldly authority. This is the hypothesis that Mary W. Helms pursues in this broadly cross-cultural study of aristocracy in chiefly societies. She begins with basic ideas about the dead, ancestors, affines, and concepts of cosmological origins. This leads her to a discussion of cosmologically defined hierarchies, the qualities that characterize aristocracy, and the political and ideological roles of aristocrats as wife-givers and wife-takers (that is, as in-laws). She concludes by considering various models that explain how societies may develop or define aristocracies.

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333

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University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0292788819

ISBN 13

9780292788817

Ancient Panama

Chiefs in Search of Power

By: Mary W. Helms

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Ancient Panama

Chiefs in Search of Power

By: Mary W. Helms

Ancient Panama adds depth to our understanding of the political and religious elite ruling in Panama at the time of the European conquest. Mary W. Helms's research greatly expands knowledge of the distribution, extent, and structural nature of these pre-Columbian chiefdoms. In addition, Helms delves more deeply into select aspects of ancient Panamanian political systems, including the relationship between elite competition and chiefly status, the use of sumptuary goods in the expression of elite power, and the role of elites in regional and long-distance exchange networks. In a significant departure from traditional thinking, she proposes that the search for esoteric knowledge was more important than economic trade in developing long-distance contact among chiefdoms. The primary data for the study are derived from sixteenth-century Spanish records by Oviedo y Valdés, Andagoya, Balboa, and others. The author also turns to ethnographic data from contemporary native people of Panama, Colombia, tropical America, and Polynesia for analogy and comparison. The result is a highly innovative study which illuminates not only pre-Columbian Panamanian elites but also the nature of chiefdoms as a distinctive cultural type.

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342

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University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0292766742

ISBN 13

9780292766747

Ulysses' Sail

An Ethnographic Odyssey of Power, Knowledge, and Geographical Distance

By: Mary W. Helms

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Ulysses' Sail

An Ethnographic Odyssey of Power, Knowledge, and Geographical Distance

By: Mary W. Helms

What do long-distance travelers gain from their voyages, especially when faraway lands are regarded as the source of esoteric knowledge? Mary Helms explains how various cultures interpret space and distance in cosmological terms, and why they associate political power with information about strange places, peoples, and things. She assesses the diverse goals of travelers, be they Hindu pilgrims in India, Islamic scholars of West Africa, Navajo traders, or Tlingit chiefs, and discusses the most extensive experience of long-distance contact on record--that between Europeans and native peoples--and the clash of cultures that arose from conflicting expectations about the "faraway.". The author describes her work as "especially concerned with the political and ideological contexts or auras within which long-distance interests and activities may be conducted ... Not only exotic materials but also intangible knowledge of distant realms and regions can be politically valuable `goods,' both for those who have endured the perils of travel and for those sedentary homebodies who are able to acquire such knowledge by indirect means and use it for political advantage." Originally published in 1988. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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311

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Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1400859549

ISBN 13

9781400859542

Middle America

A Culture History of Heartland and Frontiers

By: Mary W. Helms

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Middle America

A Culture History of Heartland and Frontiers

By: Mary W. Helms

Originally published by Prentice-Hall in 1975.

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386

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University Press of America

Published Date

ISBN 10

0819122300

ISBN 13

9780819122308

Access to Origins

Affines, Ancestors, and Aristocrats

By: Mary W. Helms

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Access to Origins

Affines, Ancestors, and Aristocrats

By: Mary W. Helms

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284

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University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0292731191

ISBN 13

9780292731196

Craft and the Kingly Ideal

Art, Trade, and Power

By: Mary W. Helms

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Craft and the Kingly Ideal

Art, Trade, and Power

By: Mary W. Helms

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302

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University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0292758235

ISBN 13

9780292758230

Mary

An Autobiography

By: Mary E. Mebane

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Mary

An Autobiography

By: Mary E. Mebane

The life story of a woman who refused to accept life in one of the traditional roles assigned to Black women profiles her background on a poor North Carolina farm and chronicles her road to success

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256

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UNC Press Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0807848212

ISBN 13

9780807848210

Mary

And, The Wrongs of Woman

By: Mary Wollstonecraft

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Mary

And, The Wrongs of Woman

By: Mary Wollstonecraft

A largely autobiographical novel in which the parallels between domestic and political life, private and public morality are explored.__

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231

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

019281527X

ISBN 13

9780192815279

The Curassow's Crest

Myths and Symbols in the Ceramics of Ancient Panama

By: Mary W. Helms

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The Curassow's Crest

Myths and Symbols in the Ceramics of Ancient Panama

By: Mary W. Helms

This work is groundbreaking not only because of the logic behind the interpretation of ancient Panama polychrome ceramics but also because of its methodological thoroughness."--Lisa J. Lucero, New Mexico State University The native peoples of pre-Columbian Panama are famous for their gold and ceramic artifacts. In this illustrated work Mary Helms, continuing her well-known study of symbols in early Panamanian ceramics, further decodes and interprets the cosmology of this art as depicted in the geometric forms and stylized and abstract animal figures painted on plates, trays, and bowls. Analyzing ceramic wares dating ca. A.D. 500-1000 and excavated from the Sitio Conte in central Panama in the 1930s, Helms identifies basic design motifs and argues that they suggest a number of basic ideological themes. Often found at burial sites, including the richly furnished graves of persons of apparently high rank, the ceramics depict themes suggestive of Amerindian myths of the origins of the cosmos, its fundamental realms, and its basic operational principles. Helms's study incorporates scientific data on animals and speculates about the reasons certain animals (for example, the curassow and the iguana) were important symbols. Because many of the designs and themes Helms discusses suggest parallels with Mexican and Mayan art and iconography and with Amazonian belief systems, and because her interpretations come from myths of the native peoples of Panama, Costa Rica, and northern South America, the scope of this important study has considerable relevance beyond Panama. Anthropologists, archaeologists, prehistorians, and art historians will find it especially useful. Mary W. Helms, professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is the author of Creations of the Rainbow Serpent and Access to Origins.

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190

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813017467

ISBN 13

9780813017464

MARY BOYLE HER BK

By: Mary Louisa 1810-1890 Boyle,Courtenay Edmund Sir Boyle, 1845-1901

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MARY BOYLE HER BK

By: Mary Louisa 1810-1890 Boyle,Courtenay Edmund Sir Boyle, 1845-1901

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

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362

Publisher

Wentworth Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1373658436

ISBN 13

9781373658432

The Mysterious Mary H

A Selection of Writings by Mary Hayden (1862-1942)

By: Mary Hayden

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The Mysterious Mary H

A Selection of Writings by Mary Hayden (1862-1942)

By: Mary Hayden

This title features a selection of writings by Mary Hayden.

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Page Count

276

Published Date

ISBN 10

0907677193

ISBN 13

9780907677192

Book's by Mary W. Helms

Craft and the Kingly Ideal

Craft and the Kingly Ideal

Access to Origins

Access to Origins

Ancient Panama

Ancient Panama

Ulysses' Sail

Ulysses' Sail

Middle America

Middle America

Access to Origins

Access to Origins

Craft and the Kingly Ideal

Craft and the Kingly Ideal

Mary

Mary

Mary

Mary

The Curassow's Crest

The Curassow's Crest

MARY BOYLE HER BK

MARY BOYLE HER BK

The Mysterious Mary H

The Mysterious Mary H

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