Grasping The Changing World: Anthropological Concepts in the Postmodern Era (European Association of Social Anthropologists)

As different societies merge into one global society and face the concomitant crisis of identity, of purpose and interest, social anthropology urgently needs to bring its methodology up to date: new methods are needed to analyse, compare and understand different cultures across space and time.Grasping the Changing World collects papers read at the second biannual EASA conference in Prague in 1992. The conference took place in an extraordinary 'postmodern' setting. With the fall of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe old certainties and time-honoured concepts had become obsolete; at the same time, anthropology too was in upheaval, and long-established patterns of thought seemed inadequate to grasp the rapidly changing realities. These doubts and tensions are reflected in this collection.The first half of Grasping the Changing World focuses on ways of conceptualising, modelling and perceiving the present, while the second half reassesses the theoretical strength or otherwise of social anthropology as a modern science. Combining methodological rigour and originality, this collection will make invaluable reading for all students of social anthropology, sociology and politics and its methodology as it is applied to the comparison and understanding of societies across space and time. "Grasping the Changing World collects papers read at the second biennial EASA conference in Prague in 1992. The conference took place in an extraordinary 'postmodern' setting. With the fall of the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe old certainties and time-honoured concepts had become obsolete; at the same time, anthropology too was in upheaval, and long-established patterns of thought seemed inadequate to grasp the rapidly changing realities. These doubts and tensions are reflected in this collection." "The first half of Grasping the Changing World focuses on ways of conceptualising, modelling and perceiving the present, while the second half reassesses the theoretical strength or otherwise of social anthropology as a modern social science. Combining methodological rigour and originality, this collection will make invaluable reading for all students of social anthropology, sociology and politics."--Jacket As different societies merge into one global society and face the concomitant crisis of identity, of purpose and interest, social anthropology urgently needs to bring its methodology up to date: new methods are needed to analyse, compare and understand different cultures across space and time. Grasping the Changing World collects papers read at the second biannual EASA conference in Prague in 1992. The conference took place in an extraordinary 'postmodern' setting. With the fall of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe old certainties and time-honoured concepts had become The temporalities of tradition: reflections on a changing anthropology / Olivia Harris The present: a bridge between the past and the future / Vaclav Hubinger The 'Bogoras enigma': bounds of culture and formats of anthropologists / Igor Krupnik The concept of culture between modernity and postmodernity / Carla Pasquinelli Circumscribing the environment: sustainable development, ethnography and applied anthropology in southern Africa / Tim Quinlan Anthropology and the contemporary construction of ethnicity in Indonesia and Britain / C.W. Watson. Resulting from the EASA conference in Prague, this book addresses the crises of identity, purpose and interest in the changing world examineing how social anthropology must update its methodology as it is applied to comparisons across space and time Resulting from the EASA conference in Prague, this book addresses the crises of identity, purpose and interest in the changing world and examines how social anthropology must update its methodology when applied to comparisons across space and time. Edited By Václav Hubinger. Comprises Papers From Two Panels Of The Conference Of The European Association Of Social Anthropology (easa) Held In Prague In 1992--p. [ix]. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.