Schools and Styles of Anthropological Theory

271 Pages·2018·27.061 MB·English

by  Matei Candea (editor)

Edited by Matei Candea
'In this highly original contribution, leading anthropological scholars from the University
of Cambridge provide a new and compelling approach to the history of anthropological
ideas.... Insightfui, succinct but aJso consistently challenging, I expect that these essays will
inspire students of anthropology for years to come.'
Adam Reed, Universit}' of StAfidrews, UK
'A useful antidote to the presentism of much current anthropological theorizing, this rich
and variegated collection - which takes account of some of the deepest roots and freshest
sprigs - especially reflects the influential view of the discipline from the venerable
Cambridge tradition, which displays in these pages an impressively global and historically
comprehensive reach.'
Michael Herzfeld, Harvard Unwersit)', USA
Schools and Styles of Anthropological
Theory
This book presents an overvievv of important currents of thought in social and cultural
anthropology, from the 19th century to the present. It introduces readers to the origins,
context and continuing relevance of a fascinating and exciting kaleidoscope of ideas that
have transformed the humanities and social sciences,a nd the way we understand ourselves
and the societies we live in today.
Each chapter provides a thorough yet engaging introduction to a particular theoretical
school, style or conceptual issue.T ogether they build up to a detailed and comprehensive
criticai introduction to the most salient areas of the field.The introduction reflects on the
substantive themes which tie the chapters together and on what the very notions of
'theory' and 'theoretical school' bring to our understanding ofa nthropology as a discipline.
The book tracks a core lecture series given at Cambridge University and is essential
reading for ali undergraduate students undertaking a course on anthropological theory or
the history of anthropological thought. It will also be useful more broadly for students of
social and cultural anthropology, sociology, human geography and cognate disciplines in
the social sciences and humanities.
Matei Candea is a Lecturer in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University
of Cambridge, UK.
Schools and Styles of
Anthropological Theory
Edited by Matei Candea
13 Routiedge
Taylor&FrancIsCroup
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2018
by Routledge
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© 2018 selection and editorial matter. Matei Candea;i ndividual chapters,
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The right of Matei Candea to be identified as the author of the editorial
material,a nd of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
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British Uhrary Cataloguitig-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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ISBN:9 78-1-138-22971-6 (hbk)
ISBN:9 78-1-138-22972-3 (pbk)
ISBN:9 78-1-315-38826-7 (ebk)
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Contents
List off igures ix
Introduction: Echoes of a conversation 1
MATEI CANDEA
1 S evered roots: Evolurionism, difFusionism and
(structural-)funcrionalism 18
MATEI CANDEA
2 Structuralism 60
RUPERT STASCH
3 Marxism and neo-Marxism 79
CAROLINE HUMPHREY
4 From transacrionalism to practice theory 91
david sneath
5 Anthropology and history 108
SUSAN BAYLY
6 From the extended-case method to multi-sited ethnography
(and back) 121
HARRI ENGLUND
7 Cognitive anthropology as epistemological critique 134
richard d.g. irvine
8 I nterpretive cultural anthropology: Geertz and his
'writing-culture' critics 148
JAMES LAIDLAW
vili Contents
9 The Frankfurt School, criticai theory and anthropology 159
CHRISTOS LYNTERIS
10 The anthropological lives of Michel Foucault 173
JAMES LAIDLAW
11 From 'the body' to 'embodiment', with help from phenomenology 185
MARYON MCDONALD
12 Feminist anthropology and the quesrion of gender 195
JESSICAJOHNSON
13 No actor, no network, no theory: Bruno Latour's anthropology
of the modems 209
MATEI CANDEA
14 The ontological turn: School or style? 224
PAOLO HEYWOOD
15 Persons and partible persons 236
MARILYN STRATHERN
Index 247
Figures
1.1 Residence and avoidance 27
1.2 Political system 42
1.3 Kinship system 43
1.4 A conceptual skeleton 43
2.1 Contrasts between selected English vowel phonemes 62
2.2 Linguistic structure as diíFerentiation ofmuck' 63
2.3 Two portrayals of the primacy of relations in the makeup of a
linguistic system 64
2.4 Materna! uncle and sisters son 66
2.5 A value polarity of Crow life in the 1860s 70
Introduction
Echoes of a conversation
Mote/' Candea
What ís this book?
This book provides an overview of important currents of thought in social and cultural
anthropology from the 19th century to the present. It offers a broad introduction to key
theoretical schools and styles oft his extended period. It gives some sense oft heir historical
context and their interconnections and points of overlap.The primary focus is on develop-
ments in British, and to a lesser extent, American and French anthropological traditions,
although the chapters also demonstrate the progressive interweaving of these traditions
over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries. It will introduce readers to a fascinating
and exciting kaleidoscope of ideas that have transformed the humanities and social
sciences, and the way we ali understand ourselves and the societies we live in today.T he
theories examined in these pages engage with some of the most fundamental questions
anthropologists continue to ask today: What, if any, sort of ffeedom do human beings
have? How can we explain and understand the regularities and the patterned nature ofo ur
coUective lives? What is culture and what is society? What can our bodies, our minds and
our technologies do, and what happens in their interaction? What are the sources, mean-
ings and effects of the differences — in terms of identity, perspective or power — that run
between and within human coUectives? Is there a place for the study of non-humans in
anthropology?
The chapters in this book track a longstanding core lecture series given at Cambridge
University for social anthropology students,e ntided' Schools and Styles ofA nthropological
Theory'.W hile the lecture series is primarily aimed at undergraduates, it is attended by
Masters students, and is often also audited by doctoral students. The aim of the lecture
series is to provide a broad, accessible yet relatively sophisticated introduction to anthro
pological theory, and this is also the main aim of this book.
This book engages with the classic anthropological 'isms' (evolutionism, difíusionism,
functionalism, structural-functionalism, structuralism, transactionalism, neo-Marxism,
interpretivism, feminism, postcolonialism), frequently identified theories and theoretical
schools (the Frankfurt School, the Manchester School, practice theory, actor-network
theory), classic and more recent moments of theoretical rupture (the 'writing culture'
moment, the ontological turn), and more difíuse reflections around particular conceptual
problems such as the problem of historical thinking in anthropology (see chapter 5), the
question of the extension and boundaries of fieldsites (see chapter 6) and the distinctive
dynamics of the shaping and reshaping of anthropological concepts (see chapter 15).A H of
the above are treated here, albeit not ali at chapter length or in the form of self-contained
2 Matei Candea
sketches.A number ofchapters weave together accounts of shifts, tensions and transform-
adons between two or more of the above,a nd some chapters rcturn to the sanic school or
style from difíerent perspectives; most notably, for instance, postcolonial critiques in
anthropology are evoked in chapters 1,5,6 and 12,r ather than bcing subsunicd in a single
chapter. I will return to the organisation of the book and the chapters bclow.
While 'schools and styles' are its primary organising devicc, howcver, this book is not
simply a list of theories. It is also a collective reflection on what anthropological theory is
and how it changes.The authors in this book propose different explicit and iinplicit answers
to that question. In this and in other ways,t his book is best thought of its a convcrsation — at
times an argument - rather than a single narrative.
The section 'Views from Cambridge?' gives some more background on the origin of
this book and reflects on the particular kind of perspective on theory that is iniplied by a
book based on a lecture course in one particular department. l he four sections after this
delve into more fundamental questions concerning what theory is and how to think
about it.Along the way they elucidate some of the organisation of this book. Before we
begin, however,o ne very general question needs to be answered especially — but not only —
with undergraduate readers of this book in mind:W hy bother engaging with the history
of anthropological theory at ali?
On learning to see theory
In some students, the very thought of a' theory course' or a book based on such a course,
will induce despondency or terror. Partly under the influence of increasing modularity in
undergraduate teaching and with an attentive eye to students as custorners whose tastes
must be catered for, anthropological courses and introductions to anthropology have
tended to veer towards catchy topics and titles. Sex and death, mystery and inequality, the
strangest practices made familiar and your unexamined everyday life niade strange: anthro
pology provides all of this in droves, and this is often where students are invited to begin.
Theory, by contrast,s eems tedious,l ifeless and irrelevant; old theories even more so.Theory
also seems, by contrast to those catchy topics and cases, essentially ciifftcult.
Theory, this book will demonstrate, is none of these things. And this is true, crucially,
because 'theory' is not a single, free-standing thing at all. Theories come in many shapes
and sizes, and in anthropology at least, they are always intimately interwoven with practice
and with particulars.Theory is already there,a t the heart oft he more immediately attractive
or relevant-seeming arguments and cases with which students first encounter anthropology.
Like Molière's character Monsieur Jourdain, who was surprised to be told that he had all
his life been speaking in prose, readers of this book will swiftly realise that they have been
doing theory all along.
Of course, this observation could lead to rendering theory meaningless in a different
way. As I describe below, some recent schools of thought in anthropology and beyond
would seek to do away with 'theory' altogether as a distinct topic. This book, by contrast,
proposes that theory,a s a distinct focus ofs tudy, still has an important role to play. Focusing
on theory allows one to make explicit the conceptual issues that structure and underlie
anthropological discussions and debates, and to see how these have shifted and changed
through time. This overview of debates empowers newcomers to anthropology — and
indeed seasoned anthropologists engaging upon a new topic or field of research - by
allowing them to situate the works they encounter within a broader historical and