Mary Douglas: An Intellectual Biography

ISBN-13: 9780415040938 / Angielski / Miękka / 1999 / 336 str.

Richard Fardon

Opis

An account of the life and ideas of Mary Douglas, the British social anthropologist whose publications span the second half of the 20th century. Richard Fardon covers Douglas's family background, education and early research before providing an analysis of two of her most influential works; Purity and Danger (1966) and Natural Symbols (1970). The final section deals with Douglas's more controversial writings in the fields of economics, consumption, religion and risk analysis in contemporary societies. Throughout, he assesses Douglas's place in the history of British social anthropology and her crucial role in the disciplines struggle to achieve relevance to contemporary, western societies. Includes a complete bibliography of Mary Douglas's own writing and of reviews of her work.

Spis treści

PART I Beginnings: 1920s–1950s 1 ‘Memories of a Catholic girlhood’: 1920s and 1930s 2 Oxford years: 1940s 3 The Africanist: 1950s PART II Synthesis: 1960s 4 Purity and Danger revisited 5 Natural Symbols defended PART III Excursions and adventures: 1970s–1990s 6 Rituals of consumption 7 Verbal weapons and environments at risk 8 Returning to religion – in the contemporary West 9 Returning to religion – in the Old Testament PART IV Conserving anthropological modernism 10 Do institutions think? 11 The secret consciousness of individuals and the consecrated society

O autorze

Richard Fardon is Professor of West African Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.