Gramsci, Culture and Anthropology

by Kate Crehan

In the last twenty years Antonio Gramsci has become a major presence in British and American anthropology, especially for anthropologists working on issues of culture and power. This book explores Gramsci's understanding of culture and the links between culture and power. Kate Crehan makes extensive use of Gramsci's own writings, including his preprison journalism and prison letters as well as the prison notebooks. Gramsci, Culture and Anthropology also provides an account of the intellectual and political contexts within which he was writing. Crehan examines the challenge that Gramsci's approach poses to common anthropological assumptions about the nature of "culture" as well as the potential usefulness of Gramsci's writings for contemporary anthropologists.

Genres: Anthropology, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Cultural

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant materialist interpretation of Gramsci and his idea of 'culture' and hegemony that stands counter to certain persistent assumptions in anthropology (namely of boundedness, systematicity/internal coherence, and an explicit or implicit tradition/modern distinction). The alternate image of culture that arises, through this contrast, is a notion of culture as the historically specific lived reality of class, non-coherent and full of contradictions in case of the as of yet unhegemonic culture of the subaltern. This summary doesn't do Gramsci justice, and, as the author convincing argues, a "far more complex and awkward figure [...] emerges from any sustained and serious readings of his writings, a figure who resists any simple summary".

The book's only flaw is that, at times, when making comparisons between Gramsci's ideas and the Gramsci-lite ideas of past or contemporary anthropologists, the author covers the same ground longer than possibly necessary. A small flaw in an interesting and valuable work not just for anthropologists but also for political philosophers and aspiring 'organic intellectuals' wishing to not just interpret, but also to change the world.