Out of the Study and Into the Field

Ethnographic Theory and Practice in French Anthropology

Robert Parkin, Anne de Sales, Robert Parkin, Anne de Sales

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN:
  9781845456955
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781845458430
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: French History
• Index: Social Sciences

Outside France, French anthropology is conventionally seen as being dominated by grand theory produced by writers who have done little or no fieldwork themselves, and who may not even count as anthropologists in terms of the institutional structures of French academia. This applies to figures from Durkheim to Derrida, Mauss to Foucault, though there are partial exceptions, such as Lévi-Strauss and Bourdieu. It has led to a contrast being made, especially perhaps in the Anglo-Saxon world, between French theory relying on rational inference, and British empiricism based on induction and generally skeptical of theory. While there are contrasts between the two traditions, this is essentially a false view. It is this aspect of French anthropology that this collection addresses, in the belief that the neglect of many of these figures outside France is seriously distorting our view of the French tradition of anthropology overall. At the same time, the collection will provide a positive view of the French tradition of ethnography, stressing its combination of technical competence and the sympathies of its practitioners for its various ethnographic subjects.

Table of contents

• OUT OF THE STUDY AND INTO THE FIELD
• Series page
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• List of authors
• Preface
• Introduction: Ethnographic practice and theory in France
• Chapter 1: Keeping your eyes open
• Chapter 2: Canonical Ethnography
• Chapter 3: Postcards atb the service of the imaginary
• Chapter 4: Eric De Dampierre and the art of fieldwork
• Chapter 5: What sort of anthopologist was Paul Rivet?
• Chapter 6: Alfred Metraux
• Chpater 7: Roger Bastide or the Darkness of Alterity
• Chapter 8: The art and craft of ethnography
• Chpater 9: Andre-Georges Haudricourt
• Chpater 10: Louis Dumont
• Chapter 11: Will the real Maurice Leenhardt please stand up?
• Notes on contributors
• Subject index
• Name index