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Peter Metcalf

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description Peter Metcalf Overview

Peter Metcalf is an American anthropologist whose work connects ethnography with ritual, religion, and the study of death. His field research among the Berawan people of Borneo examined mortuary practices and ideas about the afterlife, subjects developed in his book A Borneo Journey into Death: Berawan Eschatology from its Rituals, published in 1982. He later wrote Celebrations of Death: The Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual and Anthropology: The Basics, making his work useful to readers studying comparative ritual and cultural anthropology.

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What is Peter Metcalf known for?

Peter Metcalf is especially known for his ethnography of the Berawan people of central Borneo. His work connects mortuary ritual with religion, social organization, and ideas about the afterlife.

What is A Borneo Journey into Death about?

A Borneo Journey into Death: Berawan Eschatology from Its Rituals was published in 1982. It examines the funerary practices of the Berawan and shows how rituals express a wider cosmology.

Why did Peter Metcalf study Berawan funerals?

For Metcalf, funerary ceremonies revealed how the Berawan understood personhood, social relationships, and the journey after death. The research was based on modern ethnography rather than archaeological excavation.

Is Peter Metcalf's work mainly about religion or anthropology?

It is anthropological research with a strong focus on ritual and religion. His 1982 Berawan study is also widely used in discussions of death, mortuary practice, and comparative cosmology.

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