Comparer l'incomparable

by Marcel Detienne

La science historique est née avec et pour la Nation. Les historiens d’Europe naissent encore aujourd’hui nationaux, alors que l’anthropologie s’est voulue d’emblée comparative, qu’elle n’a jamais imposé de frontière entre les sociétés d’autrefois et les cultures d’ailleurs.

Un pamphlet ? Oui et théorique. Pour dénoncer les mensonges et les dangers mortels de l’incommensurable, de l’incomparable des nationaux de tout poil. Pour montrer ensuite comment construire des comparables : qu’il s’agisse de voir comment des pratiques d’assemblée entre l’Éthiopie, les cités grecques et les Cosaques du XVe siècle dessinent un lieu du politique et esquissent des formes de démocratie distinctes ; ou bien quelle est l’alchimie de tant de purifications ethniques en regard de l’idéologie athénienne d’une pure autochtonie, de la représentation fantasmatique d’un Français, dit de souche, et des parcours de civilités autres qui ont choisi de penser séparément la terre et les morts sans avoir lu Barrès ni connu la fureur des bons Aryens.

Comparatisme constructif, avez-vous dit ? Sans l’ombre d’une hésitation.

Genres: Anthropology

135 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Marcel Detienne was a Belgian historian and specialist in the study of Ancient Greece.

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixted feelings about this one. See my review on my Sense of History-account: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

[Sense of History]

This book is a reckoning, it exudes frustration on almost every page. The French-Belgian hellenistic expert Marcel Detienne has apparently fought his entire life to defend the true comparative perspective. And that brought him into constant conflict with both (structuralist) anthropologists and classical and modern (Annales) historians. He calls his opponents by name, and that does very much add to the bitterness of this book. And that’s a pity, because it deflects the attention of what Detienne hints at as a far better approach: a rather anarchistic comparison of all possible forms of culture, through space and time, an interdisciplinary conversation in all openness, searching for true comparables, ending in a multi-perspectivism that always yields surprising new insights. Instead he loaths the scourge of the earlier nationalistic historiography, and the current national 'identity' obsession (including the ‘realms of memory cult’ of Pierre Nora).

An extremely sensitive point of Detienne, as a hellenist, also appears to be the obsessive Western admiration for the ancient Greeks: an admiration that he obviously shares, but which according to him turned into a seclusion and monopolisation of Greek civilization; it are always 'our Greeks', as a standard of everything, as the starting point of the real history (read our own Western culture, the norm of everything). And it's refreshing that somebody knocks over that holy house once again and points to more realistic estimations. No easy reading, this booklet, because it demands some prior knowledge of anthropology and etnography and Detienne regularly loses himself in his resentment.

[Marcos Vieira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Estou contente por mais um término no meu ciclo de leitura. Apresento uma publicação de 2009 pela editora ideias & letras, com tradução de Ivo Storniolo. O livro “Comparar o Incomparável” de Marcel Detienne é um desafio real para os iniciantes na área de humanas, ofertando uma complexidade na abordagem do comparativismo construtivo, com ênfase nas áreas de atuações em antropologia e história. Mesmo com os esforços do autor em deixar uma leitura didática, possui uma leitura arrastada, ficando péssimo quando é uma exigência curricular.

O modo de escrita de Detienne evidencia um determinado nível de complexidade, algo que pode afugentar os leitores nas primeiras páginas. É um trabalho realmente necessário, mesmo que o “caminho” em percorrer pelos capítulos sejam dolorosos, obviamente que os escritos do autor possuem valor. Um dos pontos necessários que precisamos considerar é nas referências desenvolvidas de uma história eurocêntrica, mantendo correlação entre cultura e regime de historicidade. Alguns pontos essenciais no ramo da história comparativa e relações entre as atividades antropológicas e a antiguidade clássica obtiveram uma relevância na maior parte do material. 

Infelizmente, não posso dizer que foi uma ótima experiência, neste caso, é a minha segunda vez que leio este livro. Não foi exigido na minha grade curricular, acredito que o direcionamento do tema é algo bem específico. Considero que, antes de alguém apostar nesta aventura, tentem um aprofundamento em alguma bibliografia em teoria da história, história antiga e uma infinidade de trabalhos de introdução antropológica. Acho que é apenas isso, essa é minha humilde contribuição para a comunidade literária. 

– @buenoslibrosblog –

[Yavuz · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is a frustrating challenge to try to read this book. I looked for a question or a problem that Detienne seeks to solve or answer, but I failed to find one. The text has little coherence and before long you feel like you are wasting your time to figure out what he is trying to say. This is rather unfortunate, because the question of comparison in social sciences is complicated, controversial and exceedingly interesting. In Detienne's book, it is largely reduced to some bitter and factional debate in French academia.

[Zexas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ambiguous language but not very hard to follow.
He really touched upon the problem that comparative studies, especially those comparing Eastern-Western cultures, had to deal with but previously kept failing, which is the nationalized/politicalized discourse in comparative studies. Detienne has his only field, interest, and research, which is understandable, but his argument on destructuring classified ideas/topics/themes are very inspiring.