School of Social Sciences and International Development
SSA321 – History of Anthropological Theory 2Level: / Three / Credits: / 20
Co-ordinator: / Dr Margaret Kenna / Pre-requisite(s): / SSA101 SSG280
When taught: / Teaching block 2 / Co-requisite(s): / None
Contact hours: / 24 (22 lectures, 2 seminars) / Incompatible(s): / SSA221
Availability: / Level 3 students; Exchange and visiting students
Compulsory for: / Single Honours Anthropology
Teaching staff: / Dr Margaret Kenna
Assessment: / Examination (50%) and Portfolio on CDRom (50%)
Details: / Examination: taken in Summer: answer 2 questions in 2 hours
Portfolio on CDRom: to be submitted by the May deadline
Obligations of students: / Attendance at all teaching events.
Aims of module: / This module is designed to follow on from SSG280, Introduction to Social Theory, for Anthropology students and to place into context the knowledge of particular authors and theories gained from other modules. There is a major, although not exclusive, emphasis on British anthropology. Theoretical and methodological approaches from roughly 1850 to 1960 are placed in their social and historical contexts. Assessed work, in the form of a ‘portfolio’, presented on CDRom, enables a more detailed knowledge of a particular topic, person, or event, from the first half of the module (up to the beginnings of Structural-Functionalism) to be developed, while the exam covers general topics from the second half of the module.
Synopsis: / Beginning with a brief survey of attempts to understand and explain “other cultures”, the module introduces key figures, events and debates from a primarily British anthropological perspective. Some of the topics covered include: Evolutionism, early travellers and explorers, the first fieldwork expeditions, Structural-Functionalism and reactions to it, links between British anthropology and American and European developments.
Personal Transferable Skills: / The ability to recognize the characteristics of different kinds of theoretical arguments and approaches and to be sensitive to their historical and social contexts. Individual research skills and technical skills, such as the scanning of texts and images, the use of hyperlinks, and the construction of a CDRom, are developed through library and web-based compilation of a ‘portfolio of relevant materials’ to be presented on a CDRom. (Scanning training is included in the module.) The seminars encourage presentational skills to help small group discussion.
School of Social Sciences & International Development
Degree Schemes in Sociology & Anthropology
SSA 221 History of Anthropological Theory
Taught: 2002/03, teaching block 2, 20 points
Level: 2
Pre-requisites: SSA101 Introduction to Anthropology; SSG280 Intro to Soc Theory
Co-requisites: None
Assessment: Examination and Assessed Work
Aims and Objectives: This module is designed to follow on from SSG280 Intro to Soc Theory for Anthropology students and to introduce them to the place of theory in anthropology, particularly to the history of theory in British anthropology from about 1850 to around 1960. It aims to equip students with a general understanding of the social and historical contexts of fieldwork and theorising and to enable them to “place” texts and their authors in their relevant intellectual setting. Knowledge of a particular topic, person, or event from the first half of the module comes from the topic chosen for the ‘portfolio’ (presented on CDRom); understanding of the second half of the module is tested by the examination.
Synopsis: Beginning with a brief survey of attempts to understand and explain “other cultures”, the module introduces key figures, events and debates from a primarily British anthropological perspective. Some of the topics covered include: Evolutionism, early travellers and explorers, the first fieldwork expeditions, Structural-Functionalism and reactions to it, links between British anthropology and American and European developments.
Personal Transferable Skills: Development of recognition of different kinds of theoretical approaches, and of their historical and social contexts. Opportunity to develop individual research skills and technical scanning skills through collecting materials for a portfolio of materials for Assessment, to be presented on a CDRom. Small group discussion skills through seminars, ability to summarise detailed material for exam answers.
Timetable of Module: Lectures, seminars, coursework and assessed work dates:
wk 1 beg 27 Jan lectures 1 & 2 Intro to module; historical background up to early 19th century (including the Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment, the Age of Discovery, the Agricultural revolution, the Industrial Revolution)
wk 2 beg 3 Feb lectures 3 & 4 Evolutionism: Lewis Henry Morgan
n.b. deadline for changing modules end of week 2
wk 3 beg 10 Feb lectures 5 & 6 advice on formative coursework; more on Evolutionism. Scanning Training.
wk 4 beg 17 Feb lectures 7 & 8 late 19th century expeditions; the beginnings of fieldwork. Scanning Training.
wk 5 beg 24 Feb lectures 9 & 10 from Evolutionism to Structural-Functionalism
wk 6 beg 3 March lectures 11 & 12 Franz Boas; Bronislaw Malinowski
wk 7 beg 10 March lectures 13 & 14 more on Malinowski; Radcliffe-Brown
wk 8 beg 17 March lectures 15 & 16 critiques of Structural-Functionalism; the students of Mal & R-B
wk 9 beg 24 March lectures 17 & 18 Firth; Gluckman
Easter vacation
wk 10 beg 28 April lectures 19 & 20 Leach; Evans-Pritchard
wk 11 beg 5 May lectures 21 & 22 Levi-Strauss; course review
n.b. Assessed Work due: level 2: 30 April 2003
level 3: 1 May 2003
READING
Main texts
S R Barrett 1996 Anthropology: a student’s guide to theory and method HM433 BAR
Adam Kuper 1996 (3rd edition) Anthropology and Anthropologists: the modern British school HM417 KUP3
R Layton 1997 An introduction to theory in anthropology HM433 LAY
Early theorists, and commentators on their work
T O Beidelman 1974 W Robertson Smith and the sociological study of religion BL60 BEI
J W Burrow 1981 Evolution and Society: a study in Victorian social theory HM106BUR
Deirdre David 1987 Intellectual Women and Victorian patriarchy: Harriet Martineau…. PR115 DAV
S Diamond (ed) DATE Anthropology: Ancestors and Heirs HM403 DIA
E E Evans-Pritchard 1981 History of Anthropological Thought [short essays on Montesquieu, Ferguson, McLennan, Robertson-Smith, etc] HM417 EVA
James George Frazer The Golden Bough: a study in magic and religion BL310 FRA (abridged editions and original 13 vols pub from 1922-1936) (see also biography by R Ackerman J G Frazer: his life and work…. HM421 F6 ACK)
H R Hays 1959 From Ape to Angel: an informal history of social anthropology HM417 HAY
History and Anthropology HN1 H37 useful journal
History of the Human Sciences HM1 H37 (useful journal, worth looking at recent issues and those in stacks)
Margaret T Hodgen 1964 Early anthropology in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries HM417 HOD
John J Honigmann 1976 The Development of Anthropological Ideas HM417 HON
Adam Kuper 1988 The invention of primitive society: transformations of an illusion HM800KUP
Henry Maine [1861] Ancient Law KE5 MAI
J D McLennan [1865] Primitive Marriage: an inquiry…. HQ504MAC
L H Morgan 1871 Ancient Society… JC21MOR
(see entry on Morgan in Encyclopedia Americana vol 19:454-5 [AE5 ENC (RR)], and compare with entry in Great Soviet Encyclopedia vol 16: 565-6 [AE55 GRE 3 (RR)])
W Robertson Smith 1894 Lectures on the Religion of the Semites BL1600 SMI2
George W Stocking 1987 Victorian Anthropology HM417 STO
George W Stocking 1987 After Tylor: British Social Anthropology 1888-1951 HM708.3 G7 STO.
J Sutherland (ed) 1912 Lectures and Essays of William Robertson Smith BR85 SMI
Edward Burnett Tylor [1878] Researches into the early history of mankind…. HM800 TYL
James Urry 1993 Before Social Anthropology HM417 URR
Charles Staniland Wake 1889 The development of marriage and kinship HQ504 WAK
Early Travellers
Fiona Bowie et al (eds) 1993 Women and missions, past and present: anthropological and historical perspectives BV2610WOM
Isobel Grundy 1999 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu PR3604 Z8 G6
John Gullick 1995 Adventurous women in South-East Asia: six lives. [Sophia Raffles, Harriette McDougall, Anna Leonowens, Emily Innes, Isabella Bird, Anna Forbes] DS522.3 ADV
Mary Kingsley 1888 Travels in West Africa DT471
Peter Raby 1997 Bright Paradise: Victorian Scientific Travellers. [includes Charles Darwin, Mary Kingsley] Q115 RAB
Jane Robinson 1990 Wayward Women: a guide to women travellers Z6011ROB
HVF Winstone 1978 Gertrude Bell [DS61.7 B37 WIN]
History of Photography 1997 special issue on Anthropology and Colonial Endeavour 21, 1 TR1 H37
Early Expeditions and Early Ethnographers
Video: The First American Dream: the journey of Lewis and Clark. BBC2, 7 June 2000 [being catalogued]
Video: Alexander von Humboldt; natural traveller. [being catalogued] BBC2, 14 June 2000
The Cambridge Expedition to the Torres Straits
Elizabeth Edwards 1999 ‘Torres Straits Islanders’ in ‘Exhibitions’ section of Anthropology Today 15, 1:17-19 HN1 A59
Anita Herle 2000 ‘Torres Straits islanders: stories from an exhibition’, Ethnos 65, 2: 253-274. HN1 E732
Jude Philp 1998 ‘Expectations - Dr Miller and the Islanders’ [comment on BBC2 documentary on Torres Strait islanders by Jonathan Miller], Anthropology Today 14, 2: 16-18. HN1 A59
Video: Strangers Abroad 1980: WHR Rivers: everything is relatives…' AV/ HM427 STR
The Jesup North Pacific Expedition
Encyclopedia Americana entry under `Jesup' AE5 ENC (RR)
George W Stocking (ed) 1974 The Shaping of American Anthropology 1883-1911: a Franz Boas Reader (Chapter 13 on Jesup North Pacific Expedition (pp107-116) HM421 B5 STO
Valdimir Bogoraz entry in Great Soviet Encyclopedia vol 3:398 [AE55 GRE 3 (RR)]
Early Ethnographers
Lorimer Fison [and collaborator Alfred W Howitt] see entry in Dictionary of National Biography Twentieth Century 1901-1911 [CT773 DIC (RR)]
Margaret Mead 1960 The Golden Age of American Anthropology [includes Matilda Coxe Stephenson; James Mooney] E77 MEA.
Arthur Maurice Hocart [1936] 1970 The life-giving myth HM408 HOC2
Mintz, Stanley 2000 ‘Sows’ ears and silver linings: a backward look at ethnography’, Current Anthropology 41, 2: 169-189. [brief sections on James Mooney, Barton and Audrey Richards among others] HN1 C76
The work of Bronislaw Malinowski
entry on Malinowski by Rhoda Metraux in Int Enc Soc Sci vol 9, pp 541-549 HN41 INT (RR)
Raymond Firth 1981 `Bronislaw Malinowski', Ch 4, pp101-139 in S Silverman (ed) Totems and Teachers HM417 TOT
Adam Kuper 1983 Anthropology & Anthropologists Ch on Malinowski. HM417 KUP
George W Stocking 1986 Malinowski, Rivers, Benedict and others…. HM904 MAL
Before the Trobriand fieldwork
Roy Ellen (ed) 1988 Malinowski between two worlds: the Polish roots of an anthropological tradition Intro. HM22.P7.M1 MAL
Michael W Young (ed) 1988 [1915] Malinowski among the Magi: The Natives of Mailu [Mal's little-known pre-Trobriand `pilot' field study] HN937.N2 MAL
Some of the Trobriand Writings
B Malinowski 1932 The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia: an ethnographic account of courtship, marriage and family life.... Ch 1 `Relations between the sexes'. HN937 T7 MAL
B Malinowski 1935 Coral Gardens and their Magic vol 1 Soil-Tilling.... Introduction pp3-48. HN937.T7 MAL2
Bronislaw Malinowski (ed M W Young) 1979 The ethnography of Malinowski: the Trobriand Islands 1915-18 HN937.T7 YOU.
Michael W Young 2000 Malinowski's Kiriwina: fieldwork photography 1915-1918 HN937 T7 YOU
After the Trobriand fieldwork
B Malinowski & Julio de la Fuente 1982 Malinowski in Mexico: the economics of a Mexican market system HF5473.M2 MAL
B Malinowski (ed Phyllis Kaberry) 1945 The dynamics of culture change: an inquiry into race relations in Africa. HM108 MAL
Malinowski's theoretical work
A Scientific Theory of Culture Ch on `Theory of Needs'. HM107 MAL
Other relevant sources
B Malinowski 1989 A Diary in the Strict Sense of the Term HN937. N2 MAL
Video: Strangers Abroad 1980: Bronislaw Malinowski AV/ HM420 STR
Reo Fortune 1931 Sorcerers of Dobu HN937 D5 FOR2
J P S Uberoi The Politics of the Kula Ring HN937 T7 UBE
Radcliffe-Brown and Structural-Functionalism
A Kuper & J Kuper Social Science Encyclopedia (see under: functional analysis) H41 SOC2 (RR)
A R Radcliffe-Brown 1957 A Natural Science of Society. A discussion of the possibility of creating `a theoretical natural science of society'.HM24 RAD
Selected excerpts of R-B’s work:
A R Radcliffe-Brown `Introduction' to A R Radcliffe-Brown & D Forde (eds) 1950 African Systems of Kinship & Marriage [this is a long piece, over 80 pages, with a great deal of ethnographic detail; look at sections I and II (pp1-13), and section XII (pp82-85)]. HN772 RAD
A Kuper (ed) 1977 The Social Anthropology of Radcliffe-Brown Ch 2 `On Social Structure' pp25-41; Ch 4 `"Function", "meaning", and "functional consistency"' pp43-48, Ch 6 `The comparative method' pp53-69. HM406 RAD
A R Radcliffe-Brown 1922 The Andaman Islanders Preface pp vii-x; Ch 5; Ch 6. HN761 A5 RAD
M N Srinivas (ed) Method in Social Anthropology: collected essays of Radcliffe-Brown Part I Ch 5 (comparative method); OR Part II Ch 4 (social structure). HM406 RAD [R]
A R Radcliffe-Brown 1952 Structure and Function.... Introduction pp 1-14; any chapter.HM101 RAD
Raymond Firth and Tikopia
Raymond Firth first visited the Polynesian island of Tikopia in 1929. The resulting monograph, We the Tikopia: a sociological study of kinship in primitive Polynesia (HN937.T3 FIR), is regarded as a `classic'. Firth was a pupil of Malinowski; We the Tikopia is not only classic ethnography in the Structural-Functionalist tradition, but was followed up with a major re-study in 1952 at a time of crisis on the island (Social change on Tikopia: restudy of a Polynesian community after a generation HN937.T3). The re-study resulted in changes in Firth’s theoretical ideas to do with continuity and change (for Firth's distinction between `social structure' and `social organization' see Chapter 2 in Essays on Social Organization and Values 1964 (HN27 FIR). Firth also re-visited the island in the 60s and 70s.
on Firth himself:
Edmund Leach `Raymond Firth', International Encyclopedia of the Social Science, Biographical Supplement [vol 18]: 186-92. (H41 INT (RR).
David Parkin 1988 `An interview with Raymond Firth', [in November 1986], Current Anthropology 29:327-341. (HN1 C76)
Declan Quigley 1993 `Raymond Firth on Social Anthropology [interview]’, Social Anthropology 1,2:207-222. HN1 S51
Obituary of Firth?
on Tikopia:
"An outline of Tikopia culture" Ch 1 of Tikopia Ritual and Belief 1967 (HN937.T3 FIR2)
Primitive Polynesian Economy 1939 (2nd ed 1965) HN937 T3 FIR2
"Succession to chieftainship in Tikopia" Oceania 1960 vol 30: 161-180 (HM1 O12); reprinted in Essays on Soc Org & Values 1964 ch 6 (HN27 FIR)
"Extraterritoriality and Tikopia chiefs" Man 1969 vol 4:354-378 (HN1 M14)
Social Change in Tikopia ch 9 Changes in the political system (HN937.T3 FIR)
"Authority and public opinion in Tikopia" ch 5 in Essays on Soc Org and Values (HN27 FIR)
Intro to 2nd ed & Epilogue in The Work of the Gods in Tikopia (HN937.T3 FIR2)
Rank & Religion in Tikopia 1970Ch 1 Traditional Tikopia religion and society, Chs 14 & 15 conversion to Christianity (HN937.T3 FIR)
James Spillius 1957 "Natural disaster and political crisis" Human Relations vol 10: 3-27, 113-25 (HM1 H86)
The contribution of Emile Durkheim to anthropological theory
A Kuper & J Kuper Social Science Encyclopaedia Emile Durkheim pp214-6. H41 SOC2 (RR)
Stephen Lukes 1973 Emile Durkheim: his life and work HM22 F6 D7 LUK….
Talcott Parsons Int Enc Soc Sci essay on Durkheim by vol 4 pp311-320. H41INT (RR)
Emile Durkheim 1895 Rules of Sociological Method Ch 1 `What is a social fact?' pp1-13. HM24 DUR.
Emile Durkheim 1902 Division of Labour in Society Ch 2 `Mechanical Solidarity' pp70-110; or Ch 3 `Organic Solidarity' pp111-132. HD51 DUR.
Emile Durkheim & Marcel Mauss 1903 Primitive Classification Ch 1 pp10-26; Ch 5 pp81-88. HM434 DUR.
Emile Durkheim 1912 Elementary Forms of the Religious Life Conclusion pp 415-447. BL430 DUR.
About Durkheim and the School of `L'Annee Sociologique'
J C Alexander (ed) 1988 Durkheimian Sociology HM22 F6 D7 DUR
P Besnard 1983 The sociological domain: the Durkheimians…. HM22 F6 SOC
Wendy James & N J Allen (eds) 1998 Marcel Mauss: a centenary tribute HM421 M17 MAR
Robert Hertz 1960 `Death'; and `The Right Hand' HM886 HER
Book on Hertz??
Gluckman and the study of law, control and conflict
Gluckman's Custom and Conflict (based on broadcast talks, so rather popular in tone). HN772 GLU
M Gluckman 1963 Order and Rebellion Introduction HN772 GLU
A Kuper 1973 Anthropologists and Anthropology Ch 6 (on Gluckman and Leach) HM 417 KUP2
Raymond Firth 1976 "Max Gluckman 1911 - 1975" Proceedings of the British Academy vol LXI: 479 - 496 AS122 B11
Richard Brown 1979 "Passages in the life of a white anthropologist: Max Gluckman in Northern Rhodesia" Journal of African History 20: 525 - 541 DT1 J57
D Handelman 1976 "Some contributions of Max Gluckman to anthropological thought" in: Myron J Aronoff (ed) Freedom and constraint: a memorial tribute to Max Gluckman: 7 - 14. HM 408 ARO
R Werbner 1984 `The Manchester School in South-central Africa' Annual Review of Anthropology 13: 157-185. HN1 A55
Michael Saltman 1991 The Demise of the Reasonable Man HM34 SAL
E R Leach 1963 "Law as a condition of freedom" in: D Bidney (ed) The concept of freedom in anthropology HM424 BID
G Simmel [1908] 1955 Conflict Chs 1 & 3 HM136 SIM
P Bohannan 1964 "Anthropology and the Law" in: S Tax (ed) Horizons of Anthropology HM408 TAX2
M Gluckman 1965 Politics, Law and Ritual in Tribal Society Ch 6 from section on extended case study method to end of chapter: 235-267; Ch 7 section on equilibrium and change: 279 - 285 HM890 GLU
E-P, Nuer ethnography, and later commentators
Article in Int Enc Soc Sci vol 18 on E-P by Beidelman H41 INT (RR)
A Kuper 1983 Anthropology and Anthropologists Chs 3, 5, sections on E-P. HM417 KUP
M Douglas 1980 Evans-Pritchard Ch 10 pp 116-124. HM421 E8 DOU
on the Nuer:
E-P 1940 `The Nuer of the Southern Sudan' in: M Fortes & E E Evans-Pritchard (eds) African Political Systems pp 272-277 only. JQ1900 FOR
Lucy Mair 1962 Primitive Government Ch 2 Minimal Government pp63-68. HM892 MAI
Louis Dumont 1975 "Introduction to French edition of The Nuer" in: J. Beattie & G Lienhardt (eds) Studies in Social Anthropology: Essays in memory of E E Evans-Pritchard :328-342. HM427 BEA
Cattle and Raiding
E-P The Nuer Ch 1 Interest in Cattle. HN779 N8 EVA
Priests and prophets
T.O.Beidelman 1971 "Nuer priests and prophets" in: T.O. Beidelman (ed.) The Translation of Culture: 375-415. HM429 BEI
E-P 1956 Nuer Religion Ch 12 pp287-310. HN779 N8 EVA
Douglas Johnson 1994 Nuer Prophets: a history…… HN779 N8 JOH
Nuer Kinship
E-P 1951 Kinship and Marriage among the Nuer Ch 1. HN779 N8 EVA
Kathleen Gough `Nuer kinship: a re-examination' in: T O Beidelman (ed) The Translation of Culture HM429 BEI
Social Control
E-P 1940 The Nuer Ch 4 sections 2-9 on feud. HN779 N8 EVA
M Gluckman 1955 Custom and Conflict Ch `The Peace in the Feud'. HN772 GLU
Sacrifice
E-P 1956 Nuer Religion Ch 10 `The sacrificial role of cattle'. HN779 N8 EVA
Sin
E-P 1956 Nuer Religion Ch7 HN779 N8 EVA
Mary Douglas 1980 Evans-Pritchard Ch 6 "Accountability among the Nuer": 62-73. HM421 E8 DOU
video: Strangers Abroad 1980: Evans-Pritchard HM427WIT
Other pupils of Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown
Shirley Ardener (ed) 1991 Persons and powers of women in diverse cultures [Audrey Richards, Phyllis Kaberry, Barbara Ward] HM879.7 PER
Meyer Fortes 1978 `An anthropologist's apprenticeship', Annual Review of Anthropology 7: 1-30.
Adam Kuper 1999/ 2000 Among the Anthropologists: History and Context in Anthropology Esp Ch 7 Audrey Richards: a career in anthropology HM725 KUP
Phyllis Kaberry [1939] 1950 Aboriginal woman, sacred and profane HN849 KAB
Phyllis Kaberry 1952 Women of the grassfields [Cameroon] HN797.5 KAB
S F Nadel 1942 Black Byzantium HN797.N7 NAD
S F Nadel 1951 Theory of Social Structure HM51 NAD
The work of Lévi-Strauss
Entry for L-S in Kuper & Kuper Social Sciences Encyclopedia pp455-459. HM41 SOC2 (RR)
Entry in Seymour-Smith Dictionary of Anthropology p167 (see also Structuralism p270). HM411 SEY (RR)
Entry by Pierre Maranda in Int Enc Soc Sci vol 18 (Biographical Supplement), pp 442-446. H41 INT (RR)
Edmund Leach 1970 Levi-Strauss Ch 1 The Man Himself. HM421.L2 LEA2
Selected excerpts from L-S.
Claude Levi-Strauss [1955] 1973 Tristes Tropiques (translated into English by J & D Weightman) F2515 LEV, Ch 6 `The Making of an Anthropologist', Ch 20 `A Native Community and its Life-Style'. It might be helpful to look at: Clifford Geertz 1988 Works and Lives: the anthropologist as author, Ch 2 The world in a Text: How to read `Tristes Tropiques', pp25-48. HM425 GEE
Claude Levi-Strauss 1963 `The bear and the barber' Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 93:1-11. HN1 R59
Claude Levi-Strauss 1968 Structural Anthropology vol I, Ch 11 `The structural study of myth', HM424 LEV
Claude Levi-Strauss 1969 Elementary Structures of Kinship Ch 5 `The principle of reciprocity', HM880 LEV
Claude Levi-Strauss 1966 The Savage Mind Ch 1 `The science of the concrete', HM870 LEV
Reference Books and other Research Resources
It is hoped that this module will introduce students to ways of carrying out library and web-based research. Level 2 students will research individual people; level 3 students will have a choice between persons, expeditions, or theorists.
The library at UWS contains certain reference resources which are non-borrowable so that students can always consult them. Sources which will prove useful for the Assessed Work include:
Obituaries in American Anthropologist, Man, etc (and festschrift vols). The early issues of these journals are available on JSTOR (look under journal title, scroll down to ‘internet resources', or look at website:
Dictionary of National Biography CT773DIC (note also the `missing persons’ volume)
Encyclopedia Americana AE5 ENC