Encuentro en Rapa Nui. Posiciones de Alfred Métraux y José Imbelloni respecto a los vínculos entre Oceanía y América

Abstract

This article analyzes the positions of José Imbelloni and Alfred Métraux regarding the culture of Easter Island. Addressing this issue led them to discuss the relations that had existed, or not, between Oceania and America. The debate that is developed here focuses on two elements of the material culture of the island: the moais and the inscribed tablets. The central point, and in which both anthropologists will oscillate, is between the question of the originality, and autonomy, of the cultural traits of the Easter Islanders, or the loan, and foreign origin, of those traits. It is thus discussed how much is creative and how much is copy in a culture.

Keywords

• Métraux
• Imbelloni
• Easter Island
• diffusionism