The Reinvention of Primitive Society

Transformations of a Myth

By:

Adam Kuper

Format:

Paperback / softback

Series:

Routledge Classic Texts in Anthropology

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Description

Adam Kuper’s iconoclastic intellectual history argues that the idea of “primitive society” is a western myth. The “primitive” is imagined as the opposite of the “civilised”. But this is a protean myth. As ideas about civilisation change, so the image of primitive society must be adjusted. By way of fascinating account of classic texts in anthropology, ancient history and law, Kuper reveals how this myth underpinned academic research and inspired political programmes. Its ancestry is traced back to classical western beliefs about barbarians and savages, and Kuper also tackles the latest version of the myth, the idea of a global identity of “indigenous peoples”. The Reinvention of Primitive Society is a key text in the history of anthropology, and will interest anyone who has puzzled about the very idea of “primitive society” – and so, by implication, about “civilisation”.

Author Biography:

Adam Kuper is a centennial professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK, and a visiting professor at Boston University, USA. A specialist on the ethnography of Southern Africa, he has written widely on the history and theory of anthropology.

Release date Australia

February 14th, 2017

Author

Adam Kuper

Audiences

Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Undergraduate

Illustrations

2 Tables, black and white

Pages

224

Series

Routledge Classic Texts in Anthropology

ISBN-13

9781138282650

Product ID

25857990

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