The Ceremonial Animal

Description

"Adapting Wittgenstein's concept of the human species as 'a ceremonial animal', Wendy James writes vividly and readably. Her new overview advocates a clear line of argument: that the concept of social form is a primary key to anthropology and the human sciences as a whole. Weaving memorable ethnographic examples into her text, James brings together carefully selected historical sources as well as references to current ideas in neighbouring disciplines such as archaeology, paleoanthropology, genetics, art and material culture, ethnomusicology, urban and development studies, politics, economics, psychology, and religious studies. She shows the relevance of anthropology to pressing world issues such as migration, humanitarian politics, the new reproductive technologies, and religious fundamentalism"--Publisher description.

First Sentence

The questions we ask about the past and the present, not to mention the future, are mostly attempts to divine some kind of fitting shape in the material world, in events, and in people's actions-partly because we have to respond to all these, especially the latter.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The ceremonial animal: a new portrait of anthropologyOxford University Press2003-01-01
• The Ceremonial AnimalOxford University Press, USA2005-01-14
• The Ceremonial AnimalOxford University Press, USA2004-02-12