Two Crows Denies It: A History of Controversy in Omaha Sociology

In Two Crows Denies It, R. H. Barnes undertakes an ambitious historical analysis of anthropological scholarship about Omaha kinship systems. His groundbreaking work offers a critique of this established scholarship, including the work of Lévi-Strauss, Dorsey, and Fletcher. In comparing the primary and secondary accounts of Omaha descent, relationship, and naming systems, Barnes reveals the dissonance between the reality of Omaha society and the scholarship that has formed around it. Not only does he put forth a new and more realistic interpretation of Omaha sociology specifically, but in so doing he provides a reinterpretation of an aspect of anthropological theory. This edition includes a new introduction by Raymond J. DeMallie.

R. H. Barnes is a professor of anthropology at Oxford University, specializing in North American and Southeast Asian social anthropology. His publications include Sea Hunters of Indonesia: Fishers and Weavers of Lamalera. Raymond J. DeMallie is a professor of anthropology at Indiana University. His works include The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk’s Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt, available in a Bison Books edition.