When the Day Breaks: Essays in Anthropology and Philosophy

by Rik Pinxten

The book comprises four parts, all of them reflecting about anthropology and its usefulness. The first part questions the data gathering ways of the discipline, combining interpretive and scientific pretenses, against mere postmodernism. The second part pleads for a broad comparative theory in anthropology, illustrating this by studies on learning. A separate study on comparison of ethnocentrism leads on to the last part, which reconsiders the philosophical debate on relativism and universalism and consecutively speculates on the possibilities to use anthropology in intercultural negotiation and conflict management.

226 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997