Comparing the Incomparable

by Marcel Detienne, Janet Lloyd (Translator)

In Comparing the Incomparable , Marcel Detienne challenges the cordoning off of disciplines that prevent us from asking trans-cultural questions that would permit one society to shed light on another. Some years ago, he undertook the study of "construction sites" grouped around general questions to be put to historians and ethnologists about their particular areas of expertise. Four of these comparative experiments are presented in the chapters of this book. The first concerns myths and practices related to the founding of cities or sacred spaces from Africa to Japan to Ancient Greece. The second looks at "regimes of historicity" and asks why we speak of history and what we mean by it, which leads to a comparison of cultural philosophies and of the ways different cultures express themselves, be they oral, written, or visual. The third chapter, following in the footsteps of comparative philologist Georges Dumézil, turns to polytheistic pantheons, arguing that we should not only look at the gods in and of themselves but also at the relations between them. The final section of the book examines how, from Ancient Greek democracy to the Ochollo of Ethiopia to the French Revolution, peoples form a consciousness of themselves that translates into assembly practices. A deliberately post-deconstructionist manifesto against the dangers of incommensurability, Detienne argues for and engages in the constructive comparison of societies of a great temporal and spatial diversity. The result testifies to what new and illuminating insights his comparatist method can produce.

Genres: Anthropology

132 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 Lamot · 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.