Society Against The State Essays In Political Anthropology

Author : Pierre Clastres
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0942299876
Total Pages : 173 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Society Against the State written by Pierre Clastres and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-29 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this seminal, founding work of political anthropology, Pierre Clastres takes on some of the most abiding and essential questions of human civilization: What is power? What is society? How, among all the possible modes of political organization, did we come to choose the monolithic State model and its accompanying regimes of coercion? As Clastres shows, other and different regimes do indeed exist, and they existed long before ours — regimes in which power, though it manifests itself everywhere, is nonetheless noncoercive. In such societies, political culture, and cultural practices generally, are not only not submissive to the State model, but they actively avert it, rendering impossible the very conditions in which coercive power and the State could arise. How then could our own “societies of the State” ever have arisen from these rich and complex stateless societies, and why? Clastres brilliantly and imaginatively addresses these questions, meditating on the peculiar shape and dynamics of so-called “primitive societies,” and especially on the discourses with which “civilized” (i.e., political, economic, literate) peoples have not ceased to reduce and contain them. He refutes outright the idea that the State is the ultimate and logical density of all societies. On the contrary, Clastres develops a whole alternate and always affirmative political technology based on values such as leisure, prestige, and generosity. Through individual essays he explores and deftly situates the anarchistic political and social roles of storytelling, homosexuality, jokes, ruinous gift-giving, and the torturous ritual marking of the body, placing them within an economy of power and desire very different from our own, one whose most fundamental goal is to celebrate life while rendering the rise of despotic power impossible. Though power itself is shown to be inseparable from the richest and most complex forms of social life, the State is seen as a specific but grotesque aberration peculiar only to certain societies, not least of which is our own. Not for sale in the U.K. and British Commonwealth, South Africa, Burma, Jordan, and Iraq.

Author : Pierre Clastres
Publisher : Semiotext(e)
ISBN 13 : 9781584350934
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.38/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Archeology of Violence, new edition written by Pierre Clastres and published by Semiotext(e). This book was released on 2010-10-08 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Clastres's final, posthumous book on the affirmative role of violence in “primitive societies.” The war machine is the motor of the social machine; the primitive social being relies entirely on war, primitive society cannot survive without war. The more war there is, the less unification there is, and the best enemy of the State is war. Primitive society is society against the State in that it is society-for-war.—from the Archeology of Violence Anthropologist and ethnographer Pierre Clastres was a major influence on Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's Anti-Oedipus, and his writings formed an essential chapter in the discipline of political anthropology. The posthumous publication in French of Archeology of Violence in 1980 gathered together Clastres's final groundbreaking essays and the opening chapters of the book he had begun before his death in 1977 at the age of 43. Elaborating upon the conclusions of such earlier works as Society Against the State, in these essays Clastres critiques his former mentor, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and devastatingly rejects the orthodoxy of Marxist anthropology and other Western interpretive models of “primitive societies.” Discarding the traditional anthropological understanding of war among South American Indians as arising from a scarcity of resources, Clastres instead identifies violence among these peoples as a deliberate means to territorial segmentation and the avoidance of a State formation. In their refusal to separate the political from the social, and in their careful control of their tribal chiefs—who are rendered weak so as to remain dependent on the communities they represent—the “savages” Clastres presents prove to be shrewd political minds who resist in advance any attempt at “globalization.”The essays in this, Clastres's final book, cover subjects ranging from ethnocide and shamanism to “primitive” power and economy, and are as vibrant and engaging as they were thirty years ago. This new edition—which includes an introduction by Eduardo Viverios de Castro—holds even more relevance for readers in today's an era of malaise and globalization.

Author : Zdzis?aw Mach
Publisher : SUNY Press
ISBN 13 : 9780791414651
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Symbols, Conflict, and Identity written by Zdzis?aw Mach and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates cultural and social identity in contemporary complex societies, focusing especially on Eastern Europe. Mach explains the role of symbols and symbolic forms in he relations between groups and the protection and development of their identities, especially ethnic identity. He places his study within the context of social order and the structure of power, using case studies which deal especially with the significance of politics, state rituals and national identity (Great Britain, Israel, Russia, Poland); in the conflict and displacement of migrating groups (Polish and German); and in regional questions of identity and inter-ethnic relations (Poland, United States, Great Britain). Mach presents a clear conceptual framework for analyzing the symbolic construction of identity. He views cultural identity as a dynamic, creative process which clarifies issues that are particularly significant in contemporary society, such as nationalism, new ethnicity, minority culture, and the cultural dimension of political conflicts.

Author : Carol J. Greenhouse
Publisher : Duke University Press
ISBN 13 : 0822383489
Total Pages : 447 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Ethnography in Unstable Places written by Carol J. Greenhouse and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2002-03-13 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ethnography in Unstable Places is a collection of ethnographic accounts of everyday situations in places undergoing dramatic political transformation. Offering vivid case studies that range from the Middle East and Africa to Europe, Russia, and Southeast Asia, the contributing anthropologists narrate particular circumstances of social and political transformation—in contexts of colonialism, war and its aftermath, social movements, and post–Cold War climates—from the standpoints of ordinary people caught up in and having to cope with the collapse or reconfiguration of the states in which they live. Using grounded ethnographic detail to explore the challenges to the anthropological imagination that are posed by modern uncertainties, the contributors confront the ambiguities and paradoxes that exist across the spectrum of human cultures and geographies. The collection is framed by introductory and concluding chapters that highlight different dimensions of the book’s interrelated themes—agency and ethnographic reflexivity, identity and ethics, and the inseparability of political economy and interpretivism. Ethnography in Unstable Places will interest students and specialists in social anthropology, sociology, political science, international relations, and cultural studies. Contributors. Eve Darian-Smith, Howard J. De Nike, Elizabeth Faier, James M. Freeman, Robert T. Gordon, Carol J. Greenhouse, Nguyen Dinh Huu, Carroll McC. Lewin, Elizabeth Mertz, Philip C. Parnell, Nancy Ries, Judy Rosenthal, Kay B. Warren, Stacia E. Zabusky

Author : John L. Comaroff
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 9780226114149
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.47/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Civil Society and the Political Imagination in Africa written by John L. Comaroff and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays in this important new collection explore the diverse, unexpected, and controversial ways in which the idea of civil society has recently entered into populist politics and public debate throughout Africa. In a substantial introduction, anthropologists Jean and John Comaroff offer a critical theoretical analysis of the nature and deployment of the concept—and the current debates surrounding it. Building on this framework, the contributors investigate the "problem" of civil society across their regions of expertise, which cover the continent. Drawing creatively on one another's work, they examine the impact of colonial ideology, postcoloniality, and development practice on discourses of civility, the workings of everyday politics, the construction of new modes of selfhood, and the pursuit of moral community. Incisive and original, the book shows how struggles over civil society in Africa reveal much about larger historical forces in the post-Cold War era. It also makes a strong case for the contribution of historical anthropology to contemporary discourses on the rise of a "new world order."

Author : Pierre Clastres
Publisher : Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN 13 : 9780631180104
Total Pages : 186 pages
Book Rating : 4.09/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Society Against the State written by Pierre Clastres and published by Wiley-Blackwell. This book was released on 1977-01 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Joel S. Migdal
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521797061
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book State in Society written by Joel S. Migdal and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-08-27 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays in this book trace the development of Joel Migdal's "state-in-society" approach. The essays situate the approach within the classic literature in political science, sociology, and related disciplines but present a new model for understanding state-society relations. It allies parts of the state and groups in society against other such coalitions, determines how societies and states create and maintain distinct ways of structuring day-to-day life, the nature of the rules that govern people's behavior, whom they benefit and whom they disadvantage, which sorts of elements unite people and which divide them, and what shared meaning people hold about their relations with others and their place in the world.

Author : Virginia R. Dominguez
Publisher : Berghahn Books
ISBN 13 : 1785333615
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.13/5 ( download)

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Download or read book America Observed written by Virginia R. Dominguez and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2016-12-01 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is surprisingly little fieldwork done on the United States by anthropologists from abroad. America Observed fills that gap by bringing into greater focus empirical as well as theoretical implications of this phenomenon. Edited by Virginia Dominguez and Jasmin Habib, the essays collected here offer a critique of such an absence, exploring its likely reasons while also illustrating the advantages of studying fieldwork-based anthropological projects conducted by colleagues from outside the U.S. This volume contains an introduction written by the editors and fieldwork-based essays written by Helena Wulff, Jasmin Habib, Limor Darash, Ulf Hannerz, and Moshe Shokeid, and reflections on the broad issue written by Geoffrey White, Keiko Ikeda, and Jane Desmond. Suitable for introductory and mid-level anthropology courses, America Observed will also be useful for American Studies courses both in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Author : Jane K. Cowan
Publisher : Pluto Press
ISBN 13 : 9780745315898
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.95/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Macedonia written by Jane K. Cowan and published by Pluto Press. This book was released on 2000-12-20 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Macedonia has been contested by its three neighbours – Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece – during and since the demise of the Ottoman Empire. But the Macedonian Question extends far beyond the contested borders of Macedonia to immigrant communities in Europe, Australia and North America. The contributors to this collection explore the contemporary repercussions of the Macedonian Question, which has long been at the heart of Balkan politics. The volume recognises Macedonia as a global issue, and focuses on the politics of identity and difference in both homeland and diaspora.The contributors argue that Macedonia as place and as concept is forged within a transnational network of diasporas, local communities, states and international institutions. They examine the increasingly important role of transnational bodies – including the European Union and human rights NGOs – in regulating relationships between states and minority groups, as well as in promoting multiculturalism and civic participation. They consider the role of scholarship and the media in defining Macedonia and its inhabitants. They also draw attention to the struggles of individuals in constructing, negotiating and even transforming their identities in the face of competing nationalisms and memories. In the process, they re-evaluate ‘ethnicity’ as a conceptual tool for understanding difference in the region, and raise questions about the implications of recognising, and not recognising, difference at the political level.

Author : Giacomo Loperfido
Publisher : Berghahn Books
ISBN 13 : 1800733461
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.66/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Extremism, Society, and the State written by Giacomo Loperfido and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2021-12-10 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Extremism does not happen in a vacuum. Rather, extremism is a relative concept that often emerges in crisis situations, taking shape within the tense and contradictory relations that tie marginal spaces, state orders, and mainstream culture. This collected volume brings together leading anthropologists and cultural analysts to offer a concise look at the narratives, symbolic, and metaphoric fields related to extremism, systematizing an approach to extremism, and placing these ideologies into historical, political, and geo-systemic contexts.