Both Symbolic anthropology and Postmodern Anthropology had huge effects on the theory and practice of anthropology in the 60’s and 70’s. Beginning with symbolic anthropology and moving through he post-modern movement we see from the work of anthropologists such as Geertz that these movements created major challenges for anthropological theory and practice. In this essay I will Firstly debate the challenges that symbolic anthropology and postmodernism posed to anthropological theory and then debate the challenges posed to anthropological practice.
The symbolic anthropology movement have a big impact on anthropological theory during the 60’s. The big challenges that this movement had on anthropological theory is whether anthropological theory …show more content…
Symbolic anthropology and postmodernism clearly had a huge impact on anthropological theory and caused a major shift away from pervious anthropological theories heavily influenced by Durkheim that were concerned with under covering universal truths about society and towards a more interpretive critical theory of anthropology. Both symbolic anthropology and postmodernism had an influence on anthropological practice as well as theory. In the next part of my essay I will discuss what challenges each of these intellectual movements posed to anthropological …show more content…
The symbolic anthropologists continued to carry out field work like anthropologists before them had. Carrying out participant observation. For Mary Douglas who was influenced by the structuralists particularly Levi-Strauss elements of their anthropological practice are seen in her work. She reads and analysis the bible for her major work, purity and danger this analysis is similar to that of Levi-Strauss work on myths and draws on many Ethnographic examples to demonstrate and support her arguments. This method used by Douglas is still quite scientific however as the symbolic movement grew and evolved we see the methods of Geertz becoming different. Geertz did carry out field work in bail and used a method called the thick description. Which I will discuss with reference to the Balinese cock fight. As Geertz begins to influence postmodern anthropological practice we see the major changes are in the way that ethnography is written and described. As previously discussed postmodern theory was characterized by a shift of agency back to the subjects of the ethnography allow individuals to talk and provide narratives of their own cultural practices. This was no previously down by early anthropologists such as Malinowski. The postmodern anthropologists shifted from have a descriptive almost god
The symbolic anthropology movement have a big impact on anthropological theory during the 60’s. The big challenges that this movement had on anthropological theory is whether anthropological theory …show more content…
Symbolic anthropology and postmodernism clearly had a huge impact on anthropological theory and caused a major shift away from pervious anthropological theories heavily influenced by Durkheim that were concerned with under covering universal truths about society and towards a more interpretive critical theory of anthropology. Both symbolic anthropology and postmodernism had an influence on anthropological practice as well as theory. In the next part of my essay I will discuss what challenges each of these intellectual movements posed to anthropological …show more content…
The symbolic anthropologists continued to carry out field work like anthropologists before them had. Carrying out participant observation. For Mary Douglas who was influenced by the structuralists particularly Levi-Strauss elements of their anthropological practice are seen in her work. She reads and analysis the bible for her major work, purity and danger this analysis is similar to that of Levi-Strauss work on myths and draws on many Ethnographic examples to demonstrate and support her arguments. This method used by Douglas is still quite scientific however as the symbolic movement grew and evolved we see the methods of Geertz becoming different. Geertz did carry out field work in bail and used a method called the thick description. Which I will discuss with reference to the Balinese cock fight. As Geertz begins to influence postmodern anthropological practice we see the major changes are in the way that ethnography is written and described. As previously discussed postmodern theory was characterized by a shift of agency back to the subjects of the ethnography allow individuals to talk and provide narratives of their own cultural practices. This was no previously down by early anthropologists such as Malinowski. The postmodern anthropologists shifted from have a descriptive almost god