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Ανθρωπολογία και ανθρωπολόγοι - Η σύγχρονη βρετανική σχολή
Ο Άνταμ Κούπερ μας ξεναγεί με χιούμορ και ιστορική ακρίβεια σε πρόσωπα και πράγματα της σύγχρονης ευρωπαϊκής ανθρωπολογίας. Ιδιαίτερη έμφαση δίνει στη βρετανική σχολή των Malinowski, Radcliffe-Brown, Firth, Fortes, Evans-Pritchard και Leach, όπως και στις ανταλλαγές της με τα μεγάλα ρεύματα της γαλλικής κοινωνικής θεωρίας των Durkheim, Mauss και Levi-Strauss. Με γλαφυρότητα και ένταση διηγείται τις περιπέτειες της ηρωικής γενιάς των ανθρωπολόγων, καθώς διευρύνουν την επικράτεια της δυτικής σκέψης, προσαρτώντας με τις θεωρίες τους για την ανταλλαγή, τη συγγένεια ή το γάμο, τον τοτεμισμό, τη μαγεία ή την τελετουργική βία τους κόσμους των Μελανησίων και Αυστραλών, των Ινδών ή των Αφρικανών, τους κόσμους της Ανατολής. Επίσης περιγράφει την εντυπωσιακή θεσμική ανάπτυξη της ανθρωπολογίας σε συνδυασμό με το ρόλο της στην ύστερη και μετα-αποικιοκρατία.
Ένας στέρεα θεμελιωμένος, εύστοχος και προσεκτικός κριτικός απολογισμός 50 χρόνων ανθρωπολογικής δραστηριότητας, βιογραφία και κριτική εθνογραφία του κλάδου, το βιβλίο αυτό, εικονοκλαστικό και κάποιες φορές ετερόδοξο, ήδη από την πρώτη του έκδοση ανατάραξε τα ήρεμα νερά της αγγλοσαξονικής ανθρωπολογίας, αφού παρουσίασε από τα μέσα τα ιερά πρόσωπα στις ανθρώπινες διαστάσεις τους.
Ένας στέρεα θεμελιωμένος, εύστοχος και προσεκτικός κριτικός απολογισμός 50 χρόνων ανθρωπολογικής δραστηριότητας, βιογραφία και κριτική εθνογραφία του κλάδου, το βιβλίο αυτό, εικονοκλαστικό και κάποιες φορές ετερόδοξο, ήδη από την πρώτη του έκδοση ανατάραξε τα ήρεμα νερά της αγγλοσαξονικής ανθρωπολογίας, αφού παρουσίασε από τα μέσα τα ιερά πρόσωπα στις ανθρώπινες διαστάσεις τους.
357 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 14, 2017
A Thinking Person's Guide to 50 Years of British Anthropology
I first began to study anthropology 57 years ago, arriving at university never having heard of the subject. I wound up as an anthropologist, but also something of an area specialist (South Asia). I never had pretensions to be a theorist, nor have I ever aspired to expertise in kinship studies. My training was under American anthropologists to be sure, but they encouraged us to read and think about British and French scholarship as well. I never, however, felt that any one of these three schools had all the answers. One needed to develop an understanding by reading, doing field work, and thinking for yourself. British anthropology, from 1922 to 1972, as covered in Kuper's book, took a harder line. You focussed on the issues laid down by the leading lights, you went to study in "the colonies", mainly Africa, and wrote within the doctrine---or you got nowhere. It was another age. The chief figures that dominated the field in Britain---Malinowski, Radcliffe-Brown, Evans-Pritchard, Fortes, Gluckmann, and Leach---published any number of brilliant theoretical works, but allowed little deviation from the established topics. Functionalism (human behavior is guided by utilitarian or `functional' reasons) gave way to structuralism (analysis of socio-political structure--especially kinship--can explain human behavior/culture), then the field began to splinter a bit. The linguistic and psychological concerns of the Americans and more so the sociological and mythological analyses of the French (Durkheim, Mauss, Levi-Strauss) finally did influence the British anthropologists. The full story of the twists and turns of British anthropological theory await you in ANTHROPOLOGISTS AND ANTHROPOLOGY along with a good amount of personal detail about the main protagonists.
Kuper's book is not an easy read. It is academic, but clear. If you have no prior acquaintance with anthropology, this is definitely not the place to begin. However, if you are teaching Anthropology or if you wish a brilliant summary of the field's history in the UK, or if you just want to review your understanding of developments as I did, this book is well-worth reading.
I first began to study anthropology 57 years ago, arriving at university never having heard of the subject. I wound up as an anthropologist, but also something of an area specialist (South Asia). I never had pretensions to be a theorist, nor have I ever aspired to expertise in kinship studies. My training was under American anthropologists to be sure, but they encouraged us to read and think about British and French scholarship as well. I never, however, felt that any one of these three schools had all the answers. One needed to develop an understanding by reading, doing field work, and thinking for yourself. British anthropology, from 1922 to 1972, as covered in Kuper's book, took a harder line. You focussed on the issues laid down by the leading lights, you went to study in "the colonies", mainly Africa, and wrote within the doctrine---or you got nowhere. It was another age. The chief figures that dominated the field in Britain---Malinowski, Radcliffe-Brown, Evans-Pritchard, Fortes, Gluckmann, and Leach---published any number of brilliant theoretical works, but allowed little deviation from the established topics. Functionalism (human behavior is guided by utilitarian or `functional' reasons) gave way to structuralism (analysis of socio-political structure--especially kinship--can explain human behavior/culture), then the field began to splinter a bit. The linguistic and psychological concerns of the Americans and more so the sociological and mythological analyses of the French (Durkheim, Mauss, Levi-Strauss) finally did influence the British anthropologists. The full story of the twists and turns of British anthropological theory await you in ANTHROPOLOGISTS AND ANTHROPOLOGY along with a good amount of personal detail about the main protagonists.
Kuper's book is not an easy read. It is academic, but clear. If you have no prior acquaintance with anthropology, this is definitely not the place to begin. However, if you are teaching Anthropology or if you wish a brilliant summary of the field's history in the UK, or if you just want to review your understanding of developments as I did, this book is well-worth reading.
December 16, 2022
Read once again. A staple peace in understanding anthropological history and a great base to which you can return to revise
May 22, 2020
Me gustaría leer más libros como este (pero no los conozco todavía). El libro habla de la teoría, influencia, personalidad y contexto histórico de personajes como Malinowski, Radcliffe-Brown, Evans-Pritchard, Gluckman, Leach y hasta Levi-Strauss, así como la evolución de la práctica antropológica y escuelas teóricas en este periodo de 50 años. Me encantaría leer un libro parecido, pero sobre la antropología mexicana.
August 24, 2012
Can be a bit of a long slog, especially if you're not quite as interested in geneaological successions of british social anthropological institutions as you are in theory. However, Kuper doesn't skimp on the development of theory, especially as he ties everything together in the last two chapters.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews