Adolf Ellegard Jensen

However, his appointment fell through owing to the opposition of the Nazi authorities, who also withdrew his Venia legendi in the University of Frankfurt, for Jensen had not divorced his Jewish wife.

[4] Together with fellow ethnologist Franz Termer, Jensen reestablished the German Anthropological Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde) which he led between 1947 and 1954.

At the center of his theoretical work stood the concepts of 'emotion' (Ergriffenheit), 'expression' (Ausdruck) and 'application' (Anwendung), which he sought to identify in the religious manifestations of indigenous people groups.

[6] Jensen is renowned for having introduced the concept of 'Dema deity', a term that he took from the language of the Marind-anim people of New Guinea, in ethnology.

One of the main characteristics of Dema deities is that they are killed by the men of their community and hacked to pieces which are strewn about or buried: from their dismembered bodies the staple agricultural products grow forth.

[7] Jensen developed this concept through the Hainuwele legend, an important origin myth from the folklore of the Wemale people in Seram that he himself recorded.