"The worst of architects is better than the best of bees. A debate between Eric Wolf and Maurice Godelier". - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 1985

"The worst of architects is better than the best of bees. A debate between Eric Wolf and Maurice Godelier".

Résumé

Critical anthropology has had a major influence on the discipline, shifting it away from concepts of bounded societies with evolutionary trajectories to complex analyses of interconnected economic, political, and social processes. This book brings together some of critical anthropology’s most influential writings, collecting classic articles and spirited rebuttals by major scholars such as Eric Wolf, Marshall Sahlins, Sidney Mintz, Andre Gunder Frank, and Michael Taussig. Editor Stephen Nugent positions these key debates, originally published in the journal Critique of Anthropology, with new introductions that detail the lasting influence of these articles on anthropology over four decades, showing how critical anthropology is relevant today more than ever. An ideal supplementary text, this book is a rich exploration of intellectual history that will continue to shape anthropology for decades to come. The debate was held in Amsterdam on January 26, 1985, and was led by Frans Hüsken (lecturer at the University of Amsterdam). Eric Wolf and Maurice Godelier were said to have been too much in agreement, their discussion lacked vitality. True, the two anthropologists did not attack one another violently. They listened carefully to each other, did not interrupt each other, did not become emotional, never raised their voices and frequently indicated that in general they agreed with what the other had said. Their discussion was anything but an exciting duel, at no point was there any reason for the chairman to intervene. But the fact that the debate – perhaps public conversation is a better term – failed to produce major clashes certainly does not mean to say that it was insignificant. On the contrary, in the course of a few hours Godelier and Wolf put forward a great many interesting and intriguing ideas and views. It was, however, not always easy to understand the drift of their argument. This was partly due to the fact that they assumed that everybody was thoroughly familiar with their work and partly to language problems. English is a second language for both Godelier and the audience. As a result, his arguments, digressions and sudden jumps in the train of thought were sometimes hard to follow.
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Dates et versions

hal-03214978 , version 1 (03-05-2021)

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  • HAL Id : hal-03214978 , version 1

Citer

Maurice Godelier. "The worst of architects is better than the best of bees. A debate between Eric Wolf and Maurice Godelier".. Jojada Verrips. Critique of Anthropology., 5 (2), Taylor & Francis, pp.5-19, 1985. ⟨hal-03214978⟩
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