A Genealogy of Method

Anthropologys Ancestors and the Meaning of Culture

By (author) Sondra L. Hausner

Publication date:

16 July 2024

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781839986482

What does it mean to study culture – and what does culture finally mean? Whether we compare cultures or delve deeply into the dynamics of a single social order, anthropology’s task is to confront the interplay of the human condition and the cultural form. Tracing the genealogy of our touchstone method, ethnography, and investigating its relation to alternative disciplines that try to get at the heart of the human experience – philology, history, and social relations – this volume considers whether contemporary anthropology might, at last, be able to define culture, after more than a century of investigation.

Acknowledgments; Introduction The Culture of Anthropology; Lecture One The Question of Religion; Lecture Two The Serendipity of Method; Lecture Three The Relevance of History; Lecture Four The Meaning of Culture; Bibliography; Index

“This is a bold book, daring to revive but also to reconsider the culture concept within anthropology. Moving with great clarity across American, British, French and German intellectual debates, Hausner provides a powerful response to two questions of central importance to the discipline: do we need to reconceptualize our notion of culture; and if so, how? The result is a work that is historically informed yet utterly timely.” — Simon Coleman, Chancellor Jackman Professor, University of Toronto