The World of the Anthropologist

by Jean-Paul Colleyn

Anthropology is changing. Traditionally seen as the comparative study of cultural diversity, Anthropology now faces an increasingly globalised world, a world in which societies are not discrete or unique but are all, to some degree, connected. The role of the anthropologist is now less the comparative study of specific cultures than the study of the flow of goods, persons and ideas in the contemporary world. The World of the Anthropologist is a guide to this changing world, revealing what Anthropology is today and what anthropologists do now. This book explains what remains of a traditional Anthropology - such as the anthropological construction of kinship, politics, religion and economics as well as the continuing centrality of fieldwork -- and also explores the newer territory which Anthropology is studying, such as performance, science, sexuality, media, ethics, and visual culture. Clearly explaining the key ideas and methods which underpin the subject -- from fieldwork through to the construction of knowledge itself - The World of the Anthropologist offers a fascinating insight into and overview of Anthropology today.

144 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2004

Reviews

[Nadine Morano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Au lieu d’un exposé clair et séquencé en chapitres (la religion, le symbolique, la parenté, le politique…), les auteurs proposent un parcours introductif plus libre.

Si la clarté et l’efficacité pédagogique pâtissent un peu du manque de structure (et parfois d’un poil de redondance), le choix de tisser ensemble les thèmes majeurs du domaine offre une belle introduction à la toile complexe de l’anthropologie.

Vraiment dommage, en revanche, que les auteurs renvoient si peu à d’autres lectures. On attend d’un tel ouvrage qu’il nous mène vers des sources pour ne pas rester dans une compréhension superficielle.

Une lecture croisée avec « L’ethnologie » de Sylvaine Camelin et Sophie Houdart (éditions Que Sais-Je?) est utile. Ce livre contient d’ailleurs beaucoup plus de sources!

[Miguel Santos]

Uma boa introdução à disciplina.