ASAO 2013 working session:
Naming Systems and Naming Relations in Austronesia/ Oceania
organizers: Kun-hui Ku (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan)
Lamont Lindstrom (University of Tulsa, USA)

"Names” are a ubiquitous feature of human societies and naming is an
act embedded in many activities, yet both are under-theorized.
Anthropologists have shown interest in issues of names and naming at
least since “Notes and Queries on Anthropology” (1892) and
descriptions of names and naming practices are scattered in various
subsequent ethnographies. More recently, Levi-Strauss’ discussion of
classification systems and later agent-oriented approaches focus on
how and what things can be done with names. In the Pacific, the issue
of names and the evolution of "titles" appear deeply connected. In
1981, ASAO held a formal session on “Personal Names and Naming
Practices", organized by Bradd Shore, who approached the naming
problem as “an extended set of reflections on the implications of
naming forms and processes for differentiating hierarchical and
institutional complex societies found throughout Oceania.” Building on
what has been done in the past and on continuing interest in the
issue, this session explores the following: nomination and social
reproduction/social structure; naming and personal transformation;
ancestral names and identity; naming practices and changing
identity/status; names and personhood; names and socio-cultural
values, how theories of names and naming can engage in vital topics in
the Pacific (e.g., adoption, siblingship, house society and names in
diasporic settings etc).

Confirmed participants include Lamont Lindstrom, Don Gardner, Mac
Marshall, Naomi McPherson, Doris Bacalzo, Isabelle Leblic, Denis
Regnier, Latham Wood, Wente Chen and Kun-hui Ku. We continue to invite
interested parties to submit a ten-page draft paper to organizers by
10th Oct. for consideration.

Kun-hui Ku (National Tsing Hua University) [log in to unmask]
Institute of Anthropology, No. 101, Sec.II, Kuang-fu Rd. Hsin-chu, 30013 Taiwan
Lamont Lindstrom, University of Tulsa, [log in to unmask]
Department of Anthropology, 800
South Tucker Drive, Tulsa OK, USA; ph: (918) 631-2348,

For more detail, please check www.asao.org