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Exclusionary Practices in Ancient Mesopotamia: Steps Towards a Bio-Cultural Approach

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Abstract

This paper applies an embodied, biologically-grounded approach to analyze exclusionary practices related to notions of impurity in ancient Mesopotamia. It argues that these behaviors derive from innate cognitive responses designed to protect against environmental threats like disease, which were then culturally elaborated to serve additional social functions. Evidence is examined for the avoidance of infectious diseases, the stigmatization of menstruating women and parturients, and the enigmatic ‘gate of the unclean’ at the city of Nippur. The analysis highlights the continuity between biologically-prepared tendencies and their cultural articulations, showing how an embodied perspective can shed new light on long-standing issues in the humanities by grounding abstract concepts in the shared experiences of the body.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: July 18, 2024 | Accepted: Nov. 22, 2024 | Published Dec. 19, 2024 | Language: en

Keywords Purity • Menstruation • Stigma • Disease • Contagion • Disgust • Hygiene

Copyright © 2024 Yitzhaq Feder. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/KASKAL/5235-1939/2024/01/008