Available Light: Anthropological Reflections on Philosophical Topics.

by Clifford Geertz

Clifford Geertz, one of the most influential thinkers of our time, here discusses some of the most urgent issues facing intellectuals today. In this collection of personal and revealing essays, he explores the nature of his anthropological work in relation to a broader public, serving as the foremost spokesperson of his generation of scholars, those who came of age after World War II. His reflections are written in a style that both entertains and disconcerts, as they engage us in topics ranging from moral relativism to the relationship between cultural and psychological differences, from the diversity and tension among activist faiths to "ethnic conflict" in today's politics.


Geertz, who once considered a career in philosophy, begins by explaining how he got swept into the revolutionary movement of symbolic anthropology. At that point, his work began to encompass not only the ethnography of groups in Southeast Asia and North Africa, but also the study of how meaning is made in all cultures--or, to use his phrase, to explore the "frames of meaning" in which people everywhere live out their lives. His philosophical orientation helped him to establish the role of anthropology within broader intellectual circles and led him to address the work of such leading thinkers as Charles Taylor, Thomas Kuhn, William James, and Jerome Bruner. In this volume, Geertz comments on their work as he explores questions in political philosophy, psychology, and religion that have intrigued him throughout his career but that now hold particular relevance in light of postmodernist thinking and multiculturalism. Available Light offers insightful discussions of concepts such as nation, identity, country, and self, with a reminder that like symbols in general, their meanings are not categorically fixed but grow and change through time and place.


This book treats the reader to an analysis of the American intellectual climate by someone who did much to shape it. One can read Available Light both for its revelation of public culture in its dynamic, evolving forms and for the story it tells about the remarkable adventures of an innovator during the "golden years" of American academia.

Genres: Anthropology, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Essays, The United States Of America, Sociology, Social Science

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 20, 2000

About the author

Clifford James Geertz was an American anthropologist and served until his death as professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey.

Reviews

[Raquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una colección de artículos interesante, de actualidad aún en muchos de sus temas (pese a que nos distancien casi 25 años ya de su publicación) y de relevancia tanto para la formación antropológica como para la de las disciplinas que en el libro se mencionan. Esto último lo digo porque el núcleo de la reflexión de Geertz en estas páginas se puede reconducir a la pregunta sobre el lugar de la antropología social y cultural entre las diversas disciplinas contemporáneas, naturales y humanas (y uno de sus primeros objetos de crítica es precisamente la separación clásica entre ciencias naturales y humanas) y a sus relaciones con ellas. Así, los diversos capítulos explorarán las interacciones de la antropología social y cultural con la historia, la psicología, la filosofía de la ciencia y la filosofía política, entre otras, con un enfoque que desde el reconocimiento de las diferencias explora las convergencias posibles y ya existentes entre ellas.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Geertz through Tyson - she mentions him as the main thinker for cultural criticism. Why? I think it has more to do with his early work, especially A Balinese Cockfight, which was fascinating enough to give to my students.

This book has searing yet humble insights into the state of contemporary academia. He honestly admits how fortunate he was to arrive in the field when he did, but he also gives us insight into how much curiosity he had. And now, universities are different places with their business models and their mass of lecturers. He writes about the difficulties of this model well.

I haven't had the time to thoroughly read the other essays in the book, but I am looking forward to it, based on both Geertz work in Bali and his insights into the contemporary situation.

TCC

[Maughn Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely heady and incredibly earthy. I got the book for his essay on William James on religion (cited by Taylor), and was so challenged and entertained I read the whole thing. I think Geertz is right on postmodernism and relativism, on the dis-unification of scientific inquiry and the corporatization of universities, and on the subversive potential of Bruner's cultural psychology for education; not so right on the challenge of entrenched parochialism to liberalism; and I don't know enough to agree or disagree with him on so much else. It's fun to see Geertz, Rorty and Taylor compliment, bicker with and cite each other so frequently.

[Conor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this just for being well written theory that makes sense. I have to give it five stars, even though I can't recomended it to many people since a lot of back reading is required. That said, 9-10th chapters, on people mixing psychology and anthropology, would be pretty awesome for almost anyone. Especially the one titled "Imbalancing Act."

[Brendan]

Just read a little of

[versarbre · Rating 3 out of 5]

This time when I read Geertz, I find him deeply Weberian also in another way (Meanings as public, as sociologically identifiable, which of course, is recognized by all). It suddenly occurs to me that there is another layer to making sense of his insistence on recognizing the limit of understanding, or that all knowledge/power has to be local, or that an "us" engaged in an "other-knowing-business" (however this "us" and "other" is sociologically or culturally conceived). For Weber the methodical individualist, the dignity of individuals lies in making up decisions for oneself because no one else (esp. the more knowledgeable, the more powerful, the more authoritative) could or should (for Weber, an ethical act here) relieve them of this ultimate personal responsibility. While thinking is public, and that another person (such as a teacher) could show different ways of seeing the situation thus making an impact on one's own thinking, ultimately, Weber insists, that the decision-maker is one herself and her primarily (if not alone) takes up full responsibility of the consequences of her choice. When Geertz takes seriously the particularist claim of particular locals, he is also saying, at some level, ethically if not practically, that everyone does not need to mind everyone's business. Let particular locals think for themselves; let them make decisions for themselves; let them take responsibilities for themselves; and let them engage "us" (whoever "we" are) in the way they would like to do things; because whoever "we" are, "we' are not the only one who thinks; and "we" are not the only one who has a stake in this world. Somewhere in the book he says, he doesn't see why a world in which people try to see the good things in others should be a bad thing; much better than to diabolize others. I certainly agree. (The State of the Art is worth reading alone.)

[Cărăşălu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The key word from title is ”reflections”. As to their quality of being ”anthropological”, well, I think that a title like ”an anthropologist's reflections" would be more fitting. The topics aren't only philosophical. In this collection of essays, Geertz discusses some topics of interest in social and human sciences. These topics mostly concern the relations between them and between them and some natural sciences. Other topics deal with the recent developments in the world, or should I say history, with modern phenomena and changes, their impact on social and human sciences, and ways for the latter to approach the former.

Thanks to Geertz's literary style, the essays can be read by laymen not involved with anthropology or philosophy (or other related fields), however some essays are full of references or are even wholly about other works/thinkers, so the lack of prior knowledge (at least at a basic level) of the names discussed might hinder the proper understanding of Geertz's discourse. On the other hand, one interested in these topics, but only at the beginning of his or her trip into this field, will find a broad and insightful overview of this "realm" ranging from the internal dilemmas of anthropology to cognitive sciences and political ones,from methodological debates to the agricultural reform in Morocco and the falling apart of Yugoslavia, as well references to authors and works of note that one might take as suggestions for further reading.

[Very · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found Clifford though reading Rorty. I like his ideas, very much close to my own - but his writing style is just not for me. Long long long sentences with so many commas, examples and parentheses that when you come to the end of the sentence you forget what it was initially about. Being a work of *reflection*, Clifford isn’t afraid of going on tangents. Contained many insights though

[Joéverson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A espessura de uma mente, de suas ideias e de sua audácia em dizer em vida aquilo que só uma esposa traída revelaria, bem, aqui Clifford faz isso. Me criou uma identidade imediata, mesmo ele sendo britânico e eu o mais anti-britânico dos autores austrais. Sem chance!

[!Tæmbuŝu]

KOBOBOOKS

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books on any subject by any author. A great read for anthropology and sociology in specific, but fantastic for anyone.