Between structure and No-thing. An annotated reader in Social and Cultural Anthropology

Description

Over het boekIn the history of anthropological theory, the rise and fall of the notion ofstructure is certainly one of the most important to note. In this book, thisdevelopment is traced and held against an understanding of ethnographicpractice. The book intently starts with two ethnographic examples thatserve as a backdrop for testing theoretical notions.Our movement through theory is one that oscillates between structureand no-thing and perhaps back to some notion of structure, thus givingtestimony of the remarkable survival skills of anthropology as an academicdiscipline and its readiness for new social and cultural transformations incontemporary contexts. The texts that were selected have the purpose ofbeing exemplary in their use of anthropological theory with the intentof facilitating a process of what is useful in todays scholarship and couldinform ethnographic practice. We have used the texts so that they can bothexplicate and challenge contemporary phenomena of social and culturallife and result in productive theory formation.This book introduces readers to historical and more contemporary explicationsof anthropological theory. Each chapter contains annotations to directthe student to important notions of theoretical understanding. In providingboth the original text and clarifying annotations, readers can con dentlygrow in an understanding of anthropological analytic viewpoints. The editoralso hopes that it will inspire new theoretical developments and overcomingany new disciplinary crises.Uit de inhoudTable of contentsOver de auteursPatrick J. Devlieger is anthropologists and works as associate professor ofanthropology and disability studies at K.U.Leuven. He teaches on the disciplineof anthropology, eldwork methods and techniques, disability andculture social science research, and visual and experimental ethnography.His eldwork and evaluation studies are focused on the contexts and experiencesof disabled people in local and global contexts. Fieldwork sitesinclude Congo, Zimbabwe, United States, and Belgium.