Sahlins

Jens Kjaerulff (jkjaerul@ACS.UCALGARY.CA)
Sun, 28 May 1995 23:11:06 MDT

In response to the posting about whether Sahlins is still
relevant I would say, yes absolutely, but in a curious way.
Sahlins authorship has taken some radical new turns over the
years and "Stone Age Economics" is not representative of the
width of his scholarship. Sahlins has had an ability
to point to new directions anthropology would take at relatively early
points in time. This is the case with his "Culture and Practical
Reason" from 1976, where he presents a sense of the "dynamic"
turn anthropology would swing to as described by Ortner in 1984
(In: "Theory in Anthropology Since the Sixties", Comparative
Studies in Society and History,vol26 #1;126-166), and again with
his interest in anthropology of history (Historical Metaphors and
Mythical Realities from 1981, and Islands of History, 1985).

This is quite a turn from his earlier writings on evolution of
the 1960'ies.

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Kjaerulff E-mail: etnojens@aau.dk
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