Vold og Ære, hevn og forsoning. Om kulturell kontinuitet i et komparativt perspektiv

This article is a slightly modified version of the honorary lecture I gave at the Annual Conference of the Norwegian Association of Anthropologists 2017. I am addressing the conference's central theme – cultural continuity – observing that anthropologists have shown a significantly stronger interest in change than continuity. Referring to Sahlin's reminder that any change presupposes continuity, questions arise as to which aspects of a particular ethnographic case should be focused in order to say something useful about cultural continuity. Secondly, the question is how cultural continuity is reproduced under different historical conditions. The forms of cultural continuity that I have found particularly interesting to discuss are linked to two diametrically different cultural orientations in respect of to how to handle existentially important interpersonal conflicts: revenge versus reconciliation. I draw on ethnographic materials from field works among the Tswana in Botswana and the inland population of Sardinia, who represent extremes when it comes to dealing with serious conflicts. Through comparative reflection on this radical difference – with special reference to issues of violence, honour and social harmony – I develop two configurations of ideas and practices that express dominant and persistent, but widely different cultural orientations. The reproduction of these configurations is discussed by locating them in recurrent historical contexts to get track of shifting conditions for cultural continuity