Presence and Methexis in Iroquoian Animal Effigy Pipes

• In Event: Materiality, Meaning, Agency & Value - I

Abstract

Iroquoian smoking pipes adorned with animal effigies are often figured by archaeologists and art historians as objects of aesthetic contemplation and ‘symbolic’ meaning. It’s easy to see why. When wrested from otherwise prosaic assemblages of broken pot sherds and flintknapping debris, these objects literally ‘stand out’ for their effective designs, masterful executions in clay or stone, and visual appeal. Perhaps not surprisingly, these pipes have been understood for the most part within an iconological enterprise devoted to reconstructing the mimetic linkages between sign (effigy) and referent (animal other) within Iroquoian semiotic ideologies. In this paper, I adopt an alternative approach that emphasizes notions of presence and methexis as ways to more fully characterize the production and use of Iroquoian animal effigy pipes. In crafting such devices, enhancing them with animal parts, and establishing corporeal connections with animal ondaki (spirits) through the act of smoking, it is argued that animal others were re-presented in matter. Moreover, through an emphasis on methektic performativity, and with evidence marshaled from the archaeological record, as well as early documentary sources such as the Jesuit Relations, it can be suggested that the ‘meaning’ of these pipes obtained through their use rather than aesthetic appeal, and that much of this meaning turned on world making rather than representation or mediation.

Author

• Christopher Watts, University of Waterloo