Synopses & Reviews
The terms andquot;centerandquot; and andquot;peripheryandquot; are particularly relevant to anthropologists, since traditionally they look outward from institutional andquot;centersandquot;-universities, museums, government bureaus-to learn about people on the andquot;peripheries.andquot; Yet anthropology itself, as compared with economics, politics, or history, occupies a space somewhat on the margins of academe.and#160; Still, anthropologists, who control esoteric knowledge about the vast range of human variation, often find themselves in a theoretically central position, able to critique the andquot;universalandquot; truths promoted by other disciplines.
Central Sites, Peripheral Visions presents five case studies that explore the dilemmas, moral as well as political, that emerge out of this unique position. From David Koester's analysis of how ethnographic descriptions of Iceland marginalized that country's population, to Kath Weston's account of an offshore penal colony where officials mixed prison work with ethnographic pursuits; from Brad Evans's reflections on the andquot;bohemianismandquot; of both the Harlem vogue and American anthropology, to Arthur J. Ray's study of anthropologists who serve as expert witnesses in legal cases, the essays in the eleventh volume of the History of Anthropology Series reflect on anthropology's always problematic status as centrally peripheral, or peripherally central.and#160;
Finally, George W. Stocking, Jr., in a contribution that is almost a book in its own right, traces the professional trajectory of American anthropologist Robert Gelston Armstrong, who was unceremoniously expelled from his place of privilege because of his communist sympathies in the 1950s. By taking up Armstrong's unfinished business decades later, Stocking engages in an extended meditation on the relationship between center and periphery and offers andquot;a kind of posthumous reparation,andquot; a page in the history of the discipline for a distant colleague who might otherwise have remained in the footnotes.
Review
and#8220;An important book, one which will repay reading and re-reading by students of social science, of nationalism, and of Quebec.and#8221;and#8212;Queenand#8217;s Quarterly
Review
"A deeply considered reflection on a set of core dynamics in anthropology. Through the prism of seemingly peripheral figures like Robert Gelston Armstrong and ostensibly marginal sites like Iceland and the Andaman Islands, anthropology's center appears in a wholly new light."and#8212;Matti Bunzl, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Review
"Four substantive, edgy essays are matched with George Stocking's tour de force depiction of an 'ordinary' mid-century anthropologist persecuted as a Communist by the FBI. The multiple avenues of exploration opened in this work will be traveled for some time to come."and#8212;Michael Lambek, University of Toronto
Review
“In terms of recent theoretical developments and alliances in anthropology, Critics against Culture demonstrates the potentials and limits of American anthropology as a practice of social and cultural criticism, and it provides among the clearest and most intelligent discussions of anthropologys relationship to the influential interdisciplinary movement known as cultural studies.”—George Marcus, Rice University
Review
and#147;The hallmark of [the History of Anthropology series] is meticulous research into the lives of our predecessors, whose intellectual and personal relationships are carefully reconstructed from private papers, correspondences, and institutional archives. . . . [Volume 9] is one of the strongest volumes in the series and the most gender-balanced.and#8221;and#151;Jocelyn Linnekin,
American AnthropologistSynopsis
Anthropology is by definition about "others," but in this volume the phrase refers not to members of observed cultures, but to "significant others"—spouses, lovers, and others with whom anthropologists have deep relationships that are both personal and professional. The essays in this volume look at the roles of these spouses and partners of anthropologists over the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially their work as they accompanied the anthropologists in the field. Other relationships discussed include those between anthropologists and informants, mentors and students, cohorts and partners, and parents and children. The book closes with a look at gender roles in the field, demonstrated by the "marriage" in the late nineteenth century of the male Anthropological Society of Washington to the Womens Anthropological Society of America. Revealing relationships that were simultaneously deeply personal and professionally important, these essays bring a new depth of insight to the history of anthropology as a social science and human endeavor.
Synopsis
History-making can be used both to bolster and to contest the legitimacy of established institutions and canons. Excluded Ancestors, Inventible Traditions seeks to widen the anthropological past and, in doing so, to invigorate contemporary anthropological practice. In the past decade, anthropologists have become increasingly aware of the ways in which participation in professional anthropology has depended and continues to depend on categorical boundaries of race, class, gender, citizenship, institutional and disciplinary affiliation, and English-language proficiency. Historians of anthropology play a crucial role interrogating such boundaries; as they do, they make newly available the work of anthropologists who have been ignored.
Excluded Ancestors, Inventible Traditions focuses on little-known scholars who contributed to the anthropological work of their time, such as John William Jackson, the members of the Hampton Folk-Lore Society, Charlotte Gower Chapman, and Lucie Varga. In addition, essays on Marius Barbeau and Sol Tax present figures who were centrally located in the anthropologies of their day. A final essay analyzes notions of "the canon" and considers the place of a classic ethnographic area, highland New Guinea, in anthropological canon-formation.
Synopsis
Richard Handlerandrsquo;s pathbreaking study of nationalistic politics in Quebec is a striking and successful example of the new experimental type of ethnography, interdisciplinary in nature and intensively concerned with rhetoric and not only of anthropologists but also of scholars in a wide range of fields, and it is likely to stir sharp controversy.
and#160;and#160;and#160; Bringing together methodologies of history, sociology, political science, and philosophy, as well as anthropology, Handler centers on the period 1976andndash;1984, during which the independantiste Parti Quandeacute;bandeacute;ois was in control of the provincial government and nationalistic sentiment was especially strong. Handler draws on historical and archival research, and on interviews with Quebec and Canadian government officials, as he addresses the central question: Given the similarities between the epistemologies of both anthropology and nationalist ideology, how can one write an ethnography of nationalism that does not simply reproduceandmdash;and thereby endorseandmdash;nationalistic beliefs? Handler analyzes various responses to the nationalist vision of a threatened existence. He examines cultural tourism, ideology of the Quebec government, legislations concerning historical preservation, language legislation and policies towards immigrants and andldquo;cultural minorities.andrdquo; He concludes with a thoughtful meditation on the futility of nationalisms.
Synopsis
Critics against Culture: Anthropological Observers of Mass Society—a collection of essays on the history of anthropology focused on Benedict, Boas, Sapir, and modernist thought by one of American anthropologys leading scholars—explores the roots of anthropologys early involvement with the study of American society. The essays making up this volume, focused on the critique of mass society and the history of the culture concept, examine Boasian anthropologists as critics of mass society. The book also includes two new, unpublished essays: one on Alexis de Tocqueville and Margaret Mead, the other on Jules Henry and Richard Hoggart. Handler offers a striking analysis of Boasian cultural criticism and the intersection between anthropology, American studies, and cultural studies.
Synopsis
Excluded Ancestorsand#160;focuses on little-known scholars who contributed significantly to the anthropological work of their time, but whose work has since been marginalized due to categorical boundaries of race, class, gender, citizenship, institutional and disciplinary affiliation, and English-language proficiency.
Synopsis
Excluded Ancestors focuses on little-known scholars who contributed significantly to the anthropological work of their time, but whose work has since been marginalized due to categorical boundaries of race, class, gender, citizenship, institutional and disciplinary affiliation, and English-language proficiency.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The essays in Excluded Ancestors illustrate varied processes of inclusion and exclusion in the history of anthropology, examining the careers of John William Jackson, the members of the Hampton Folk-Lore Society, Charlotte Gower Chapman, Lucie Varga, Marius Barbeau, and Sol Tax. A final essay analyzes notions of the canon and considers the place of a classic ethnographic area, highland New Guinea, in anthropological canon-formation. Contributors include Peter Pels, Lee Baker, Frances Slaney, Maria Lepowsky, George Stocking, Ronald Stade, and Douglas Dalton.
About the Author
Richard Handler is a professor of anthropology and director of the Global Development Studies Program at the University of Virginia. His many books include
Critics Against Culture: Anthropological Observers of Mass Society and HOA Volume 11,
Central Sites, Peripheral Visions: Cultural and Institutional Crossings in the History of Anthropology, both published by the University of Wisconsin Press.
Table of Contents
Boundaries and Transitions
and#160;
Occult Truths: Race, Conjecture, and Theosophy in Victorian Anthropology
Peter Pels
and#160;
Research, Reform, and Racial Uplift: The Mission of the Hampton Folk-Lore Society, 1893andndash;1899
Lee D. Baker
and#160;
Working for a Canadian Sense of Place(s): The Role of Landscape Painters in Marius Barbeauandrsquo;s Ethnology
Frances M. Slaney
and#160;
Charlotte Gower and the Subterranean History of Anthropology
Maria Lepowsky
and#160;
andldquo;Do Good, Young Manandrdquo;: Sol Tax and the World Mission of Liberal Democratic Anthropology
George W. Stocking, Jr.
and#160;
andldquo;In the immediate vicinity a world has come to an endandrdquo;: Lucie Varga as an Ethnographer of National Socialismandmdash;A Retrospective Review Essay
Ronald Stade
and#160;
Melanesian Can(n)ons: Paradoxes and Prospects in Melanesian Ethnography
Doug Dalton
and#160;
Index