« Inanimates objects, do you have a soul ? » (Alphonse de Lamartine) : life of masks in Oceania

1) In Oceania, some societies create and use masks while others use tattooing instead. Can one find a relationship between mask and tattoos? Will the mask become equivalent to a tattoo in transition and will tattooing become equivalent to a permanent mask?

2) And if one takes this approach of these temples of cyborgism (writings of the American feminine philosopher and biologist Donna Haraway) should we conclude that societies using masks provide proof of a more profound intelligence than those with tattoos and that their perceptions of the world (their philosophies) demonstrate a superior competence to integrate the materialness of the universe?

SPEAKER: Pierre Maranda
A native Quebecker, Pierre Maranda has an impressive academic career: BA from the University of Laval, MA in Letters and Philosophy, University of Montreal, Anthropologist at McGill, followed by and MS and PhD at Harvard. Also, PhD Research Fellow at Harvard with a two-year stint in the Solomon Islands. Professor in Paris (Sorbonne and EHESS), then at UBC (Vancouver) then returned to Paris (Collège de France), returning to University of Laval with semesters at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Throughout this time, Pierre Maranda returned several times to the Solomon Islands as well as working in India, Australia, Japan and Hungary, etc.