Relations: An Anthropological Account

Strathern, Marilyn

ISBN 10: 1478008350 / ISBN 13: 9781478008354

Published by Duke University Press Books, 2020

Item in very good condition! Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00078760287

Synopsis:

The concept of relation holds a privileged place in how anthropologists think and write about the social and cultural lives they study. In Relations, eminent anthropologist Marilyn Strathern provides a critical account of this key concept and its usage and significance in the English-speaking world. Exploring relation's changing articulations and meanings over the past three centuries, Strathern shows how the historical idiosyncrasy of using an epistemological term for kinspersons (“relatives”) was bound up with evolving ideas about knowledge-making and kin-making. She draws on philosophical debates about relation—such as Leibniz's reaction to Locke—and what became its definitive place in anthropological exposition, elucidating the underlying assumptions and conventions of its use. She also calls for scholars in anthropology and beyond to take up the limitations of Western relational thinking, especially against the background of present ecological crises and interest in multispecies relations. In weaving together analyses of kin-making and knowledge-making, Strathern opens up new ways of thinking about the contours of epistemic and relational possibilities while questioning the limits and potential of ethnographic methods.

About the Author: Marilyn Strathern is Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and the author and editor of numerous books, including The Gender of the Gift; Partial Connections; and After Nature.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Relations: An Anthropological Account
Publisher: Duke University Press Books
Publication Date: 2020
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Very Good