Description
Book Synopsis Marcel Mauss, successor of Emile Durkheim and one-time teacher of Claude Levi-Strauss, continues to inspire social scientists across various disciplines. Only selected texts of Mauss's work have been translated into English, but of these, some, as for instance his "Essay on the Gift," have proved of key significance for the development of anthropology internationally.
Recently and starting in France, the interest in Mauss's work has increased noticeably as witnessed by several reassessments of its relevance to current social theory. This collection of original essays is the first to introduce the English-language reader to the current re-evaluation of his ideas in continental Europe. Themes include the post-structuralist appraisal of "exchange", the anthropology of the body, practical techniques, gesture systems, the notions of substance, materiality, and the social person. There are fresh insights into comparative politics and history, modern forms of charity, and new readings of some political and historical aspects of Mauss's work that bear on the analysis of regions such as Africa and the Middle East, relatively neglected by the Durkheimian school and by structuralism. This volume is a timely tribute to mark the centenary of Mauss' early work and confirms the continuing relevance of his ideas.
Trade Review “Each of the essays in this volume deals with various facets of his work, and all of them should be read.” • American Anthropologist
“This book offers a unique insight into the influence of one of the discipline’s most important theorists. James and Allen are thoughtful editors … their respect produces the best form of criticism in fourteen essays by British, and other European, anthropologists … This is intriguing and stimulating reading … Mauss’s work receives careful attention in this book which is helpful, incisive, and broadly significant to anthropology.” • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI)
Table of Contents Preface
Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
Chapter 1. ‘One of us’: Marcel Mauss and ‘English’ anthropology
Wendy James
THE SCHOLAR AND HIS TIME
Chapter 2. An intellectual self-portrait
Marcel Mauss
Chapter 3. Mauss’s Jewish background: a biographical essay
W. S. F. Pickering
FOUNDATIONS OF MAUSSIAN ANTHROPOLOGY
Chapter 4. A vague but suggestive concept: the ‘total social fact’
Alexander Gofman
Chapter 5. The Maussian shift: a second foundation for sociology in France?
Bruno Karsenti
Chapter 6. Derrida’s reading of Mauss
Tim Jenkins
CRITIQUES OF EXCHANGE AND POWER
Chapter 7. Uncertainties of the ‘obligation to reciprocate’: a critique of Mauss
Alain Testart
Chapter 8. Mutual deception: totality, exchange, and Islam in the Middle East
Paul Dresch
Chapter 9. Modern philanthropy: reassessing the viability of a Maussian perspective
Ilana Silber
Chapter 10. Mauss, Dumont, and the distinction between status and power Materiality, body, history
Jonathan Parry
MATERIALITY, BODY, HISTORY
Chapter 11. The category of substance: a Maussian theme revisited
N. J. Allen
Chapter 12. The study of techniques as an ideological challenge: technology, nation, and humanity in the work of
Marcel Mauss
Nathan Schlanger
Chapter 13. Form, movement, and posture in Mauss: themes for today’s anthropology
Claudine Haroche
Chapter 14. Mauss in Africa: on time, history, and politics
Wendy James
Select Bibliography
A: Reading Mauss in French
B: Work by Mauss available in English
C: Selected secondary sources
Notes on contributors
Index
