The Economic and Social Context of Southern San Rock Art [and Comments and Reply]

TLDR

Traditional explanations of southern San rock art have been either innatist or functionalist. The paper proposes a new theoretical framework that links southern San rock art to the social relations of production, moving beyond innatist and functionalist explanations. Medicine men’s symbolic practices—rain‑making, animal control, tension reduction, and inter‑camp networking—along with their artistic depictions of trance experiences illustrate how the art articulates with production relations. The art facilitated a shared religious experience and reinforced a distinct reality underpinning the symbolic work.

Abstract

This paper suggests a new theoretical framework for understanding southern San rock art. The traditional explanations have been either innatist or functionalist. To escape the tautology of the former and the restrictions of the latter it is suggested that the articulation between the art and the social relations of production be sought. This articulation was expressed in the activities of medicine men, whose symbolic work acted upon the reproduction of the natural order by making rain and controlling animals and then upon the social relations necessary for efficient production and distribution by reducing tensions within the camp. By reports of supposed out-of-body travel the medicine men also reflected the networks of links between camps which facilitated the reproduction of the social formation over extended periods that might include times of extreme strain on local resources. At least some of the medicine men were also artists and painted symbols of trance performance as well as representations of their hallucinatory experiences. The art thus contributed to a pooling of religious experience and imparted a special reality to the cognitive system on which the practice of symbolic work was based.