Engaging anthropological theory : a social and political history

377 Pages·2013·4.42 MB·English

by  Moberg

ENGAGING
ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY
A SOCIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY
MARK MOBERG
ENGAGING
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
THEORY
This lively book offers a fresh look at the history of anthropological theory.
Covering key concepts and theorists, Mark Moberg examines the historical
context of anthropological ideas and the contested nature of anthropology itself.
Anthropological ideas about human diversity have always been rooted in the socio-
political conditions in which they arose, and exploring them in context helps
students understand how and why they evolved, and how theory relates to life and
society. Illustrated throughout, this engaging text moves away from the dry recitation
of past viewpoints in anthropology and brings the subject matter to life.
Mark Moberg is Professor of Anthropology at the University of South Alabama,
USA, and has many years’ experience of teaching anthropological theory. His
books include Slipping Away: Banana Politics and Fair Trade in the Eastern Caribbean
(Berghahn 2008).

ENGAGING
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
THEORY
A Social and Political History
Mark Moberg
First published 2013
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2013 Mark Moberg
The right of Mark Moberg to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Moberg, Mark, 1959-
Engaging anthropological theory : a social and political history /
Mark Moberg.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Anthropology—Philosophy. 2. Anthropology—History.
3. Anthropology—Methodology. I. Title.
GN33.M575 2012
301.01—dc23 2012008708
ISBN: 978-0-415-69999-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-80916-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-09799-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by HWA Text and Data Management, London
CONTENTs
List of figures vii
List of tables ix
List of boxes x
Acknowledgments xi
1 Of politics and paradigms 1
2 Claims and critiques of anthropological knowledge 24
3 The prehistory of anthropology 46
4 Marx 68
5 Durkheim and Weber 87
6 Spencer, Darwin, and an evolutionary parable for our time 106
7 Boas and the demise of cultural evolution 130
8 Culture and psychology 155
9 Structure and function 178
10 Decolonization and anti-structure 201
11 Ecological and neo-evolutionary approaches 225
vi Contents
12 Contemporary materialist and ecological approaches 246
13 Symbols, structures, and the “web of significance” 266
14 Postmodern political economy and sensibilities 293
1 5 The contemporary anthropological moment 315
Notes 335
References 344
Index 356
FIGuREs
1.1 Adapted from a Thematic Apperception Test illustration 9
2.1 Margaret Mead 26
2.2 Bronislaw Malinowski 34
2.3 Michel Foucault 37
3.1 Sciopod from the Nuremburg Chronicle of 1493 48
3.2 Bartolomé de las Casas 52
4.1 Luddites breaking machinery 69
4.2 Karl Marx 70
4.3 Franklin Delano Roosevelt 75
4.4 Bertolt Brecht 78
4.5 Cartoon “The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things” 83
5.1 Emile Durkheim. 88
5.2 Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times 90
5.3 St. Francis renouncing his earthly father and worldly goods 99
5.4 Lakewood megachurch in Houston, Texas 100
5.5 Socio-cultural dopes 103
6.1 Herbert Spencer 108
6.2 Ayn Rand 111
6.3 Charles Darwin 113
6.4 Trofim Lysenko 115
6.5 Sir Edward Burnett Tylor 118
6.6 Iroquois kinship terminology 124
6.7 Hawaiian kinship terminology 125
6.8 “The proper length for little girls’ skirts at various ages” 126
7.1 Chart of evolutionary progress 131
7.2 Cartoon “Cutting a switch for a bad boy” 133
7.3 Cartoon “San Domingo” 134
viii List of figures
7.4 Carton from the Minneapolis Tribune, 1901 136
7.5 Still from a 1962 episode of Twilight Zone 141
7.6 Franz Boas 143
7.7 Alfred Kroeber 146
8.1 Ruth Benedict 156
8.2 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietszche. 159
8.3 Sigmund Freud 165
8.4 Still from Vertigo 171
9.1 A.R. Radcliffe-Brown 179
9.2 Victor Lewis 185
9.3 Your author, dressed as a pastry chef in Mozart’s Don Giovanni 192
9.4 President Barack Obama 193
10.1 Dr. Salvador Allende Gossens and General Augusto Pinochet 204
10.2 Mohandas (“Mahatma”) Gandhi 205
10.3 Sir Raymond Firth 208
10.4 E.E. Evans-Pritchard 210
10.5 Marcel Mauss 212
10.6 “Hello. You’ve reached the voicemail of Professor Moberg.” 214
11.1 Wissler’s eight food areas of the New World 230
11.2 Julian Steward 231
11.3 Typing papers for class or publication was once an extremely
labor-intensive process 236
12.1 The cultural materialist birthday cake 250
12.2 The dialectical materialist birthday cake 250
13.1 Claude Lévi-Strauss 267
13.2 Mary Douglas 275
13.3 Candle and offerings in a Hindu temple 282
13.4 Taxonomy of “things teachers do” 290
14.1 The Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex of St. Louis 296
14.2 The Three Powers Plaza and Presidential Palace in Brasilia 297
14.3 “Jesus is coming. Look busy.” 299
14.4 Harold Washington Public Library in Chicago 300
14.5 David Harvey 302
14.6 “Luna,” a 1969 Buick 305
14.7 How changes in transportation technology have “shrunk” the world 308
15.1 “Breakfast as text” 321
15.2 Advertisement from 1955 324
15.3 Bell Telephone (AT&T) ad from 1970 325
TAbLEs
9.1 Malinowski’s seven basic human needs 195
11.1 Subsistence practices associated with North American culture areas 229
11.2 The cost of agriculture 243