22 research outputs found
Looking at anthropology from a biological point of view: A. C. Haddon's metaphors on anthropology
Adress to the anthropological section
There are various ways in which man can study himself, and it is clearly impossible for me to attempt to give an exposition of all the aims and methodsof the anthropological sciences ; I propose, therefore, to limit myself to a general view of South African ethnology, incidentally referring to a few of the problems that strike a European observer as needing further elucidation. It seems somewhat presumptuous in one who is now for the first time visiting this continent to venture to address a South African audience on local ethnology, but I share this disability with pratically all students of anthropology at home, and my excuse lies in the desire that I may be able to point out to you some of the directions in which the information of anthropologists is deficient, with the hope that this may be remedied in the immediate future.ay in and some ways out of totemism..
The houses of New Guinea
"As I happen to be interested at the present time in the variation and distribution of the native houses of New Guinea, it has occured to me that I might put a few of the conclusions at which I have arrived in the form of an essay. [...]
Adress to the anthropological section
So much has been written of late on totemism that I feel some diffidence in burdening still further the literature of the subject. But I may plead a slight claim on your attention, as I happen to be an unworthy member of the Crocodile kin of the Western tribe of Torres Straits, and I have been recognised as such in another island than the one where I changed names with Maiuo, the chief of Tutu, and thereby became a member of his kin. I do not intend to discuss the many theories about totemism, as this would occupy too much time ; nor can I profess to be able to throw much light upon the problems connected with it; but I chiefly desire to place before you the main issues in as clear a manner as may be, and I venture to offer for your consideration one way in and some ways out of totemism..
Hearing the evidence: using archaeological data to analyse the long-term impacts of dugong ( Dugong dogon
Counting and seeing the social action of literary form: Franco Moretti and the sociology of literature
This paper reviews Franco Moretti's use of statistics and techniques for visualizing the action of literary forms, and assesses their implications for the development of cultural sociology. It compares Moretti's use of such methods with the work of Pierre Bourdieu, contrasting the principles of sociological analysis developed by Bourdieu with Moretti's preoccupation with the analysis of literary form as illustrated by his accounts of the development of the English novel and the role of clues in the organization of detective stories. His attempt to use evolutionary principles of explanation to account for the development of literary forms is probed by considering its similarities to earlier evolutionary accounts of the development of design traits. While welcoming the methodological challenge posed by Moretti's work, its lack of an adequate account of the role of literary institutions is criticized, as are the effects of the forms of abstraction that his analyses rest upon