Dilemas de la cultura. Antropología, literatura y arte en la perspectiva posmoderna

by James Clifford

El planteamiento pionero de James Clifford, uno de los teóricos más originales de la llamada antropología posmoderna, ha revolucionado el tradicional reparto de papeles y la lógica de la relación entre sujeto y objeto en la investigación antropológica y etnográfica. Los ensayos del presente volumen muestran en qué medida las concepciones y prácticas culturales de Occidente son efecto de su encuentro con otras culturas, desafiando su autoridad y futura identidad.
Con su propuesta de una «antropología de la antropología», el autor descubre un dilema que no es exclusivo de los investigadores antropólogos, sino que es inherente a toda nuestra cultura. Vivimos en un mundo en el que se superponen de tal manera diferentes tradiciones, prácticas y sistemas de significación, que ya no se puede hablar de un punto de vista único e idéntico ni tampoco de un objeto de estudio «auténtico» en el sentido clásico. Sólo se puede estar en la cultura mientras se mira la cultura. 
El original análisis de Clifford muestra, por un lado, los profundos dilemas de la lucha de identidad de los indios norteamericanos tal como se reflejan en sus declaraciones en documentos judiciales. Por otro lado logra que se perciba bajo una nueva luz la literatura de viajes, las artes primitivistas, las ficciones coloniales de la etnografía, las relaciones de poder y diálogo en el trabajo de campo y las luchas cotidianas de la identidad. En autores como Michel Leiris, Victor Segalen, Joseph Conrad y Bronislav Malinowski, el autor descubre cómo se ha ido reorganizando la mirada hacia otras culturas a lo largo de la primera mitad del siglo xx.

Genres: Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Nonfiction, Theory, Ethnography, Art, Cultural

429 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

James Clifford is a historian and Professor in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Clifford and Hayden White were among the first faculty directly appointed to the History of Consciousness Ph.D. program in 1978, which was originally the only graduate department at UC-Santa Cruz. The History of Consciousness department continues to be an intellectual center for innovative interdisciplinary and critical scholarship in the U.S. and abroad, largely due to Clifford and White's influence, as well as the work of other prominent faculty who were hired in the 1980’s. Clifford served as Chair to this department from 2004-2007.

Clifford is the author of several widely cited and translated books, including The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth Century Ethnography, Literature and Art (1988) and Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late 20th Century (1997), as well as the editor of Writing Culture: the Poetics and Politics of Ethnography, with George Marcus (1986). Clifford's work has sparked controversy and critical debate in a number of disciplines, such as literature, art history and visual studies, and especially in cultural anthropology, as his literary critiques of written ethnography greatly contributed to the discipline’s important self-critical period of the 1980's and early 1990's.

Clifford's dissertation research was conducted at Harvard University in History (1969-1977), and focused on anthropologist Maurice Leenhardt and Melanesia. However, because of his impact on the discipline of anthropology, Clifford is sometimes mistaken as an anthropologist with graduate training in cultural anthropology. Rather, Clifford's work in anthropology is usually critical and historical in nature, and does not often include fieldwork or extended research at a single field site. A geographical interest in Melanesia continues to influence Clifford's scholarship, and his work on issues related to indigeneity, as well as fields like globalization, museum studies, visual and performance studies, cultural studies, and translation, often as they relate to how the category of the indigenous is produced.

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clifford is excellent for understanding the construct of culture between the first and third world. For anyone studying art that traverses cultural and temporal lines, this is a must read.

[Dagezi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beginning of "the Pure Products Go Crazy" and the first strains of "Summer Babe" by Pavement both marked thresholds that I knew I was crossing as I was crossing them.

[Susanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I like about this book besides its marriage of anthropology, history, and literary studies is its form. Clifford argues that collage is a more representative form of culture than a linear, cohesive narrative. And then he does it.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

first obtained and read this book around the time it came out, and again when my university classes made me read it a few years later. recently obtained a fresh copy of this book and re-read. this is my quick review:

just finished a frankly amazing book that treats many of the issues surrounding the topic of repatriation fairly extensively. james clifford's "the predicament of culture: twentieth-century ethnography, literature, and art" from 1988, a collection of essays about art collecting and about the colonial context of that collecting is an exceedingly relevant and up-to-date exploration, despite having been written some 30-35 years ago.

there was a huge vogue in indigenous, native, "tribal," and african work/ culture in the early 20th century, which vogue governments and museums fed via missions to plunder these places. given that the colonial age wasn't beginning to end until around 1950, that's a good long time to be plundering. this is a very complicated topic but clifford tackles it deftly. if you are interested in the intersection of art and culture, I can unequivocally recommend this book to you (but with one proviso given below). clifford is an extremely engaging writer. this is actually some of the best academic prose I've come across, especially in the realm of art.

though a small proviso is in order: I can't imagine that the book would be easy/ sensible reading if you are completely new to surrealism (a topic that forms much of the book's "plot"). also if you are completely unfamiliar with cultural anthropology, this is probably not the best book to start out with. as it presupposes a bit of familiarity with some of cultural anthropology's basic conceptual tools and many of surrealism's keynotes and leitmotifs, I think most of the book will simply go over your head and you'd be left wondering what the point of the author's efforts were if you don't have already a familiarity with these two topics.

[Sara]

collecting art and culture

[armin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a particular book... it's actually a selection of essays, themed most vaguely around ethnography but they can pretty much be read by any order. Some of them are historical, some are anthropological, one is a series of postcards and one is a series of interviewers with the Mashpee community in Massachusetts; some depart from literature and go into anthropology. The essays that I most liked were the ones about Orientalism and Aime Cesaire. Clifford believes that ethnography as a discipline changed its shape over the past one hundred years with the birth of professional ethnographers. However, these professionals do not manage to get a good grasp of cultures of other lands as their depictions are often holistic and what they do is essentially pigeonholing their observations. The book also serves a good example of different trends in ethnography and modern anthropology.

[VAle · Rating 2 out of 5]

preso in biblioteca

Ah, il vecchio Clifford!
Questo era un testo a scelta in un esame. Lui mi era piaciuto, volevo capire di più...
Ma al terzo capitolo avevo capito. Avevo capito che non sarei riuscita a finire il libro. No, questo tipo di analisi non mi hanno mai appassionata. Magari sarà per la prossima volta, eh?

[Christine Elsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Good glimpse of where culture is today and the nature of complexity. His message is bitter/sweet !