ABSTRACT
People are modular: they are composites of different substances, and of different features such as the body, mind and soul. This chapter considers some cultural comparisons in personhood suggesting that people are configured in historically specific ways. This chapter traces the practices and knowledges involved in two instances of relational ‘dividual’ personhood, one Indian and one Melanesian, through examination of ethnographic studies. The inseparability of personhood and other factors of identity, like gender and caste, is also discussed. It is argued that these intersect in culturally specific ways, but that trends can be perceived in the principles structuring social relations and personhood which may be useful in interpreting past societies where similar forms of transactions, transformations and interaction to those discussed here may be inferred.
