Comparative anthropology /

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Bibliographic Details
Imprint:Oxford, UK ; New York, NY, USA : Blackwell, 1987.
Description:viii, 252 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Language:English
Subject:
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/824681
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:Holý, Ladislav
Symposium on Comparative Method in Social Anthropology (1983 : University of St. Andrews)
ISBN:0631151559 : $45.00
Notes:Papers of the Symposium on Comparative Method in Social Anthropology, held at the University of St. Andrews, December 15-18, 1983.
Includes bibliographies and index.
Review by Choice Review

A rare conference proceeding that makes a real contribution. The papers are consistently clear and thoughtful, and the subject is an important one previously addressed only in scattered journal articles and in festschriften. Since the 1960s, ``social facts'' are increasingly viewed as constructions that have meaning only within a given frame of reference, raising serious questions about the utility-and validity-of traditional categories such as kinship terms, types of marriage, division of labor, and so forth, and about the feasibility of any cross-cultural comparison. Holy's introductory essay nicely outlines the theme; M. Hobart likens ethnography to translation, with similar promise and pitfalls; D. Parkin shows how limited regional comparisons may be informative in terms of continuity or metaphor; J. Overing signals labeling as a key fiction in ``scientific methodology''; J. Peel asserts that ``there is no field of empirical inquiry which does not use comparative analysis''; R.H. Barnes nicely traces the controversy among anthropologists over comparison; L. Howe states that ``the function of comparison then is not so much to determine, from scratch as it were, the similarities and differences among phenomena ... but to illuminate one set of ill-understood phenomena by reference to another set more clearly comprehended''; P. Burnham reviews contrasting theories about the nature and evolution of ``pastoralism''; R. Fardon traces an instance of ethnogenesis in Africa to show that many of the cultural units are inappropriately reified and time-bound; A. Barnard shows that limited comparison among close and related populations can reveal ``underlying structural similarities'' in kinship terminology; and R. Layton chronicles many and varied interpretations of Paleolithic rock art. Recommended for graduate students and faculty.-D.B. Heath, Brown University

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review