ISBN:
0-12-587620-3
,
978-0-12-587620-9
Language:
English
Pages:
xii, 240 Seiten
,
Karte
Series Statement:
Studies in Anthropology (Academic Press) [32]
Keywords:
Kanada Alaska
;
Nomade
;
Jäger und Sammler
;
Jäger, prähistorischer
;
Gesellschaft, primitive
;
Indianer, Kanada
;
Indianer, Arktis
;
Inuit
;
Sozialer Wandel
;
Anthropologie, soziale
Abstract:
Many observers of nomadic hunter-gatherers have adopted a scientific approach in their analyses. For the study of a society which, in many respects, still closely resembles the earliest form of human organization this is not altogether surprising. By contrast, in this book the author employs a humanistic approach to challenge the widely held emphasis on scientific explanation of social organization.It is argued here that social and cultural forms are to be understood in terms of the experience and knowledge of the people who create them. Concentrating particularly on the theoretical relationship between people's actions in everyday life and the social ideas which they share as members of the same culture, this study develops ideas which offer new insights into those aspects of hunter-gatherer society which are so often discussed in the literature. An important concern is with social change, dealing with hunter-gatherer society before and after contact with the West. Here a theory of social change, based on humanistic lines, is put forward.While this book is concerned with nomadic hunter-gatherer society in northern North America, it is primarily not an ethnographic study. Rather, it is a series of reflections on the social anthropology of hunter-gatherers incorporating new ideas and suggesting pathways for further research. This is one o the few books to give a humanistic approach to the study of hunter-gatherer societies. All social anthropologists will find the interpretations here of interest for its contribution to an important debate, and others interested in nomadic hunter-gatherer culture will also want to read this book.
Description / Table of Contents:
Preface -- 1. The humanistic approach and the study of nomadic hunter-gatherers -- 2. On the question of camp size: the "production per capita rationale" -- 3. Principles of social organisation among northern hunter-gatherers -- 4. Hunter-gatherer territorial notions and bilaterality -- 5. Some principles of leadership in Eskimo society -- 6. The Indian "family trapping territory" -- 7. From "traditional" to "contact": instances of social change in northern hunter-gatherer society -- 8. Concluding remarks: scarcity in the hunter-gatherer economy -- References -- Index
Note:
Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 226-234
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