Genealogies for the Present in Cultural Anthropology

by Knauft,Bruce M.

• ISBN13: 9780415912631
• ISBN10: 0415912636
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-09-03
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In the wake of tensions between modern and postmodern sensibilities, what larger directions now emerge in cultural anthropology? In this major work, Bruce Knauft takes stock of important recent initiatives in cultural and critical theory. By combining critical reviews and ethnographic engagements with fresh readings of major figures and approaches, the work develops a larger vantage point for considering the dispersing influence of practice theories, postmodernism, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, modern/post-positive feminism, and multicultural criticisms. The larger relationship between culture, power, and representation is critically recast in the course of the analysis, and through frontal engagement with ethical considerations as well as ethnographic specifics, Knauft shows how contemporary anthropology begs for a critical revaluation of humanist sensibilities. Ultimately, anthropology can draw upon past strengths as well as future potentials to combine ethical grounding, ethnographicrigor, and intellectual power.

Table of Contents

Preface
Aperture	p. 1
Stories, Histories, and Theories: Agendas in Cultural Anthropology	p. 9
Critically Humanist Sensibilities	p. 41
Pushing Anthropology Past the Posts: Critical Notes on Cultural Anthropology and Cultural Studies as Influenced by Postmodernism and Existentialism	p. 63
Practices: Beyond Bourdieuian Legacies	p. 105
Moments of Knowledge and Power: Foucault and Alterities of Sex and Violence	p. 141
Gramsci and Bakhtin: Dialogues Against Hegemonies	p. 177
Gender, Ethnography, and Critical Query	p. 219
Multicultural Speaking: Beyond Essentialism and Relativism	p. 249
Conclusions and Criticisms	p. 277
Notes	p. 293
References	p. 315
Index	p. 377
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