Out of the Study and Into the Field: Ethnographic Theory and Practice in French Anthropology (Methodology & History in Anthropology, 22)

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. Frontmatter List of illustrations (page vii) List of authors discussed in this volume (page ix) Preface (page xi) Introduction: ethnographic practice and theory in France (Robert Parkin and Anne de Sales, page 1) 1. 'Keeping your eyes open': Arnold van Gennep and the autonomy of the folkloristic (Giordana Charuty, page 25) 2. Canonical ethnography: Hanoteau and Letourneux on Kabyle communal law (Peter Parkes, page 45) 3. Postcards at the service of the Imaginary: Jean Rouch, shared anthropology and the ciné-trance (Paul Henley, page 75) 4. Eric de Dampierre and the art of fieldwork (Margaret Buckner, page 103) 5. What sort of anthropologist was Paul Rivet? (Laura Rival, page 125) 6. Alfred Métraux: empiricist and romanticist (Peter Rivière, page 151) 7. Roger Bastide or the 'darknesses of alterity' (Stefania Capone, page 171) 8. The art and craft of ethnography: Lucien Bernot, 1919-1993 (Gérard Toffin, page 197) 9. André-Georges Haudricourt: a thorough materialist (Alban Bensa, page 219) 10. Louis Dumont: from museology to structuralism via India (Robert Parkin, page 235) 11. Will the real Maurice Leenhardt please stand up? Four anthropologists in search of an ancestor (Jeremy MacClancy, page 255) Notes on contributors (page 273) Subject index (page 277) Name index (page 289)