Theory in Economic Anthropology

337 Pages·2001·18.018 MB·English

by  Jean Ensminger (editor)

Theory in
Economic Anthropology
SOCIETY FOR ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY (SEA)
MONOGRAPHS
Deborah Winslow, University of New Hampshire
General Editor, Society for Economic Anthropology
Monographs for the Society for Economic Anthropology contain original es
says that explore the connections between economics and social life. Each year's
volume focuses on a different theme in economic anthropology. Earlier vol
umes were published with the University Press of America, Inc. (#1-15, 17),
and Rowman & Littlefield, Inc. (#16). The monographs are now published
jointly by AltaMira Press and the Society for Economic Anthropology (http:/
/nautarch.tamu.edu/ anthl seal).
No.l. Sutti Ortiz, ed., Economic Anthropology: Topics and Theories.
No.2. Sidney M. Greenfield and Arnold Strickon, eds., Entrepreneurship and
Social Change.
No.3. Morgan D. Maclachlan, ed., Household Economies and their Trans
formation.
No.4. Stuart Plattner, ed., Markets and Marketing.
No.5. John W. Bennett and John R. Brown, eds., Production and Autonomy:
Anthropological Studies and Critiques of Development.
No.6. Henry J. Rutz and Benjamin S. Orlove, eds., The Social Economy of
Consumption.
No.7. Christina Gladwin and Kathleen Truman, eds., Food and Farm:
Current Debates and Policies.
No.8. M. Estellie Smith, ed., Perspectives on the Informal Economy.
No.9. Hill Gates and Alice Littlefield, eds., Marxist Trends in Economic
Anthropology.
No.10. Sutti Ortiz and Susan Lees, eds., Understanding Economic Process.
No.H. Elizabeth M. Brumfiel, ed., The Economic Anthropology of the State.
No. 12. James M. Acheson, ed., Anthropology and Institutional Economics.
No. 13. Richard E. Blanton, Peter N. Peregrine, Deborah Winslow, and
Thomas D. Hall, eds., Economic Analysis Beyond the Local System.
No. 14. Robert C. Hunt and Antonio Gilman, eds., Property in Economic
Context.
No. 15. David B. Small and Nicola Tannenbaum, eds., At the Interface: The
Household and Beyond.
No. 16. Angelique Haugerud, M. Priscilla Stone, and Peter D. Little, eds.,
Commodities and Globalization: Anthropological Perspectives.
No. 17. Martha W. Rees & Josephine Smart, eds., Plural Globalities in Multiple
Localities: New World Border.
Theory in
Economic Anthropology
Edited By
Jean Ensminger
Published in cooperation with the
Society for Economic Anthropology
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,.ALTMt\JRA
PRESS
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ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
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Copyright © 2002 by Society for Economic Anthropology
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Theory in economic anthropology / edited by Jean Ensminger.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7591-0205-8 (cloth: alk. paper) - ISBN 0-7591-0206-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Economic anthropology.
GN448 .T54 2002
306.3-d.c21
2001046113
Printed in the United States of America
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Acknowledgments
The editor wishes to express deep appreciation to a number of parties
who made this volume possible. Jane Guyer and Timothy Earle organized
a lovely conference at Northwestern University (upon which this volume
draws) in combination with the fortieth anniversary of the Program for
African Studies. Deborah Winslow took over as the series editor for the
Society of Economic Anthropology during the course of this production.
This event is one of the most beneficial things to happen to the organization.
She is a superb organizer and the most perfectly gracious, but persistent,
prodder one could find-perfect qualities in an editor. As the volume editor
I also could not have been more fortunate in the cooperativeness of the
individuals who made contributions to this book and in the insightfulness
and thoroughly detailed comments of two anonymous outside reviewers.
Last, this volume represents the first in the series since it was taken over
by AltaMira Press, and it has been a delight to deal with them on this
inaugural venture.
vii

Introduction
Theory in Economic Anthropology
at the Turn of the Century
Jean Ensminger
The last decade of the twentieth century was not kind to economic anthro
pology. In the heyday of postmodern sentiments, the type of research that
has always been the forte of economic anthropology was at best
under appreciated, at worst, scorned, slandered, and ignored. As the so
cial sciences move on from the excesses of those times, it is likely that many
of the solid ethnographic, empirical studies that have been the foundation
of economic anthropology will once again corne into vogue. Meanwhile,
those who have continued in the rigorous methodological tradition that
has been associated with this subdiscipline have preserved the technical
and analytical skills necessary to survive into the next generation and guar
antee the continuity of the discipline as a serious social science. Further,
there is evidence that many exciting new theoretical ideas are entering an
thropology through the engagement of economic anthropologists with
others across disciplinary boundaries.
This volume is largely drawn from papers presented at the annual
conference of the Society for Economic Anthropology in 1998. This confer
ence was hosted by Northwestern University and served also to celebrate
the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Program of African Studies
there by Melville J. Herskovits, the noted economic anthropologist and
Africanist. The theme of the conference was designed to take the pulse of
theory in economic anthropology seventeen years after the first meeting
of the society and publication of the first volume in this series, which
focused upon theory in economic anthropology (Ortiz 1983). It should be
ix