Patterns through time : an ethnographer's quest and journey /
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| Author / Creator: | Whitten, Norman E., Jr. (Norman Earl), 1937-, author. |
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| Imprint: | Canon Pyon : Sean Kingston Publishing, 2017. |
| Description: | xii, 124 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | |
| Format: | E-Resource Print Book |
| URL for this record: | http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11380448 |
| Summary: | For well over a half century, Norman Whitten has spent a third of his professionallife undertaking ethnography with Afro-Latin American and Indigenous peoplesliving in tropical forest-riverine environments of northern South America. He hasspent the other two thirds engaged with theory construction in anthropology ininstitutional settings. In this memoir, he tells of his contributions to ethnography asa theory-constructive endeavor, and depicts an academic and practicalenvironment in which strong support exists, but where obstacles and strongresistance must also be navigated.Ethnographers construct theory within and sometimes against disciplinaryframeworks, working back and forth between explication and explanation to makecontributions to diverse and sometimes divergent literatures. This book tracesWhitten¿s career from graduate student through a long and productive career asan anthropologist and ethnographer. Along the way, the reader gains valuable andsometimes surprising perspectives on American anthropology from 1950s to thepresent day, and insights into the different roles of the professional anthropologist.Whitten poignantly describes and analyzes the wrenching experience of movingfrom immersion in an Amazonian shamanic universe to administrative duties in adysfunctional academic setting. As a mentor, author and editor of prominent booksand journals, he highlights the importance of connecting a local study with thewider world. As a museum curator, he argues that it is above all a deep connectionwith living people that gives resonance to objects on display and agency to thosestudied. Throughout, Whitten makes a resounding case for serious, longitudinalethnography as the foundation of anthropological theory, past, present and future.'Patterns Through Time offers a moral and intellectual compass for all those who areembarking, traveling, looking back upon, or otherwise navigating the journey from casualobserver of human life worlds to engaged ethnographer and accomplished professionalanthropologist. This thoughtfully crafted, imaginative, and powerfully written memoir by arespected elder with more than five decades of experience as an ethnographer, author,editor, and beloved mentor should be required reading for all anthropologists and anyonewho cares about the future of the discipline¿s unique blending of scientific rigor andhumanistic values.'Jonathan D. Hill, Professor of Anthropology, SIUC and President,Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America (2014¿17) |
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| Physical Description: | xii, 124 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 1907774882 9781907774881 |
