Pathways of Power

by Wolf, Eric R.

• ISBN13: 9780520223349
• ISBN10: 0520223349
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-01-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

This collection of twenty-eight essays by renowned anthropologist Eric R. Wolf is a legacy of some of his most original work, with an insightful foreword by Aram Yengoyan. Of the essays, six have never been published and two have not appeared in English until now. Shortly before his death, Wolf prepared introductions to each section and individual pieces, as well as an intellectual autobiography that introduces the collection as a whole. Sydel Silverman, who completed the editing of the book, says in her preface, "He wanted this selection of his writings over the past half-century to serve as part of the history of how anthropology brought the study of complex societies and world systems into its purview."

Author Biography

Eric R. Wolf (1923-1999) ended his illustrious and influential career as Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at H. Lehman College and the Graduate School of the City University of New York.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Culture and Power in the Writings of Eric R. Wolf	vii
Aram A. Yengoyan
Preface	xix
Introduction: An Intellectual Autobiography	I
PART I. ANTHROPOLOGY	II
American Anthropologists and American Society	13	(10)
Kroeber Revisited	23	(15)
Remarks on The People of Puerto Rico	38	(11)
On Fieldwork and Theory	49	(14)
Anthropology among the Powers	63	(18)
PART II. CONNECTIONS	81	(110)
Building the Nation	83	(17)
The Social Organization of Mecca and the Origins of Islam	100	(24)
Aspects of Group Relations in a Complex Society: Mexico	124	(15)
The Virgin of Guadalupe: A Mexican National Symbol	139	(8)
Closed Corporate Peasant Communities in Mesoamerica and Central Java	147	(13)
The Vicissitudes of the Closed Corporate Peasant Community	160	(6)
Kinship, Friendship, and Patron-Client Relations in Complex Societies	166	(18)
Ethnicity and Nationhood	184	(7)
PART III. PEASANTS	191	(114)
Types of Latin American Peasantry: A Preliminary Discussion	193	(22)
Specific Aspects of Plantation Systems in the New World: Community Subcultures and Social Classes	215	(15)
Peasants and Revolution	230	(11)
Phases of Rural Protest in Latin America	241	(11)
Is the ``Peasantry'' a Class?	252	(8)
On Peasant Rent	260	(12)
The Second Serfdom in Eastern Europe and Latin America	272	(17)
Peasant Nationalism in an Alpine Valley	289	(16)
PART IV. CONCEPTS	305	(108)
Culture: Panacea or Problem?	307	(13)
Inventing Society	320	(15)
The Mills of Inequality: A Marxian Approach	335	(18)
Incorporation and Identity in the Making of the Modern World	353	(17)
Ideas and Power	370	(13)
Facing Power---Old Insights, New Questions	383	(15)
Perilous Ideas: Race, Culture, People	398	(15)
References	413	(34)
Index	447