The Dictionary of Anthropology [1 ed.] 1577180577, 9781577180579

Table of contents :
Copyright
Contents
Preface
How to Use the Dictionary
Contributors
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J,K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Bibliography

Citation preview

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I

The Dictionary of Anthropology

The Dictionary of Anthropology Edited

by

Thomas Barfield

Ii] BLACKWELL Publishers

Copyright© Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 1997; ©Editorial organization Thomas Barfield, 1997 First published 1997 Reprinted 1998 Blackwell Publishers Ltd 108 Cowley Road Oxford O X 4 lJf UK Blackwell Publishers Inc. 350 Main Street Malden, Massachusetts 02148 USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and

review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwis� circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The dictionary of anthropology I edited by Thomas Barfield. p.

cm.

Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1-55786-282-6 (hardcover). - ISBN 1-57718-057-7 (pbk.) 1. Ethnology - Dictionaries. GN307.D485

I. Barfield, Thomas.

1997

306'03 - dc2 l 96-37337 CIP British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Commissioning Editor: John Davey Desk Editor: Jason Pearce Production Controller: Emma Gotch

Typeset in 9 on 10 pt Plantin by Best-set Typesetter Ltd, Hong Kong Printed in Great Britain by T.J. International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall This book is printed on acid-free paper

Contents

Preface How to Use the Dictionary

.

.

Vll .

lX

List of Contributors

x

Dictionary Entries A-Z

1

Bibliography

502

Preface

Over the past century anthropology has developed from an obscure discipline asso­ ciated prin1arily with the study of the exotic cultures into a comparative social science that has made fundamental contributions to the understanding of the world around us. It initiated the cross-cultural study of kinship and social organization, introduced the concept of cultural relativism into com­ mon parlance, and pioneered the use of participant-observation as a research tool. And anthropology's holistic and cross­ cultural perspective has produced a trea­ sure trove of data and theory, which have attracted researchers and general readers alike. How could it not? Its subjects are human beings, a topic of endless fascina­ tion for researchers and readers who are also human beings . Yet for all the public interest in anthro­ pology, the field has lacked a short acces­ sible reference guide that provides clear and concise statements laying out the im­ portant issues, significant concepts, meth­ odologies, and theories in anthropology along with a guide to the key literature on these topics . There are, of course, a plethora of textbooks (with a weakn ess for easily repeated generalizations) and an extensive professional review literature (aimed at a handful of like-minded special­ ists) , but very little in between. The Dictio­ nary of A nthropology aims to fill this gap . The need for such a work is clear. As anthropology has grown and specialized it has become more and more difficult to as­ sess the state of the field. In part this is because the number of professional anthro­ pologists has grown so large, and the topics researched so diverse, that it is not possible to keep current with all, or even most, of the work in the field. Yet, in spite of this growth, anthropologists still think of them-

selves as members of a face-to-face com­ munity where traditions are best transmit­ ted orally: if you need to know, ask someone. In fact anthropology has not been such a community for many genera­ tions, and wishing it were will not make it so again . A deeper problem, common to many other social sciences as well, has been the growing tendency for professionals to write only for one another, frequently emp loying j argon-soaked theory. D ebates within the field often appear abstruse or irrelevant, even when they focus on issues that are of wide interest and imp ortance. This was not always the case . At the beginning of the twentieth century anthropologists felt an obligation to write not only for other spe­ cialists, but for an educated public as wel l . The books of Margaret Mead and Bronislaw Malinowski were known far be­ yond the confines of academic anthropol­ ogy because, in addition to describing the ways of other cultures, they also dealt with issues of broad concern in their own. Today, with public controversies about issues such as a "clash of civilizations," multiculturalism, gender, ethnicity, family structure, religious revitalizations, and the problems associated with economic change, anthropology again should be at the forefront. But anthropology is, like Sherlock Holmes's "dog that did not bark, " a voice that is strangely absent from de­ bates about what it purports to know best. A discipline that should have growled at (and perhaps bitten) the bearers of ideas and theories based on ethnocentric notions and narrow constructs of human potential instead wonders why it is ignored. While some anthropologists assume that ordinary readers cannot appreciate their ideas be­ cause they are too rich with detail or theo-

Vlll

PREFACE

retically sophisticated, a simpler answer is that anthropologists have not really tried very hard to explain what they do and why it is important. One goal of this Dictionary is to make a start by providing an intelligent entry-point into the world of anthropology. If the field is now too diverse and conten­ tious for a single voice to represent it, then perhaps the variety of entries here (authored by over 1 2 5 anthropologists) will provide examples of how much the field offers to those who know where to look.

Structure of the Dictionary The use of the term "anthropology" varies by national tradition. In Britain it normally means social anthropology, while in the United States it also encompasses cultural anthropology, archaeology, biological an­ thropology, and linguistics . European us­ age varies even more . We have split the difference: the Dictionary focuses primarily on topics in cultural and social anthropol­ ogy, but also includes related topics in ar­ chaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistics. The book cannot cover all as­ pects of the field in detail, however; it is, of course, first and foremost a dictionary of, and a guide to, the discipline of anthropol­ ogy - concepts, theories, and approaches rather than an encyclopedia, of which there are several substantial recent examples . That is why descriptive entries on specific cultures are absent per se. That said, any­ one reading the Dictionary cannot fail, through the many examples given in the entries, to discover a great deal about the diversity and in some cases the unity of human nature and its manifestations in cul­ ture and society. The focus is on what anthropology has contributed to social science, and not just the immediate concerns of the discipline . The 5 00-plus headwords include short definitions of terms regularly used by an­ thropologists, topical entries on significant anthropological concepts and theoretical approaches, and survey entries on some of the broader fields within the discipline . There are also a small number of biogra­ phies of prominent anthropologists de-

signed to flesh out the topical entries. We gave priority to entries on deceased anthro­ pologists who can no longer speak for themselves, but have also included some very widely cited living scholars . We asked contributors to provide bal­ anced coverage of their assigned topics, but no particular theoretical approach was privileged nor did we seek a set of like­ minded souls . Indeed, some contributors disagreed with one another, often fiercely, on specific issues. In these cases, my task as editor was not to hide such disagreements, but to ensure their balanced presentation, if not in a single entry then at least in terms of cross-referencing �ther entries or providing citations of publications that take a differ­ ent point of view. For this reason we h ave allowed generous space for references so that readers who wish to dig furth er will have the tools to do so . The integrated master bibliography contains almost 3,000 separate citations (including sub-titles since so many titles are opaque) and infor­ mation about the original dates and places of publication for translated works . The Dictionary does not, in the manner of the Academie fran�aise, attempt to es­ tablish or to set the limits to a canonical vocabulary. But the elements of a common language form the basis of the com1nunal understanding that is vital in any kind of scientific or intellectual enterprise . The task that this book sets i�self of explaining the language and th� concepts of anthro­ pology as they are currently used - without glossjng over those areas where there is a disagreement on meaning - is by no means an unambitious venture in a subject char­ acterized throughout its history as much by dissension as by agreement. Insofar as it succeeds, I hope that it will perform a valu­ able service not only for students of anthro­ pology, but also for those students and scholars in our neighboring disciplines (of whom there are rumored to be a fair num­ ber) who wish to know more clearly what we are talking about, what kinds of under­ standing we are seeking, and what we can offer that will be of use to them. Thomas Barfield Executive Editor

How to Use the Dictionary The Dictio11ary consists of more than 500 individual entries listed alphabetically by headword. Small capital letters in the text indicate cross-references to related en­ tries . Such markers appear only once per entry - sometimes in a slightly different form from the actual headword (e.g. " SOCIOBIOLOGICAL" instead of " SOCIOBI­ OLOGY " ) to avoid clumsy linguistic contortions. Other useful but uncited cross-references appear at the end of the entry under "see also " . Bibliographic references appear in au­ thor-date format within the text (e.g., Malinowski 1 9 22) . \Vhere two or more au­ thors share a surname, enough of their first names is given to differentiate between them. Many entries also have a "Further Reading" section that lists suggested refer­ ences not already cited. The integrated 1naster bibliography at the end of the Dic­ tionary contains the full citations of all ref-

erences . The bibliography uses the first publication date (and for translated works the date of their first publication in English) as its standard, except for revised editions. For translated works we have also included the original-language title, place, and date of publication. This provides for consistency among the entries and pre­ serves a chronological sense of the field's development, but more recent republica­ tions or paperback editions are also often widely available. Similarly, many anthol­ ogies republish older articles and are easier to find than old journals . For this reason we have tried to provide full names of authors where possible to facilitate searches of com­ puter databases that would list such new editions. Authors have signed their entries with initials, a master list of which appears on pages x-xiii along with authors' institu­ tional affiliations .

Contributors

James M . Acheson (JA) University of Maine

Michael Carrithers (MC) D urham University

Nicholas J. Allen (NA) Oxford University

Tammy Castleforte (TC) East-West Center, Hawaii

Herbert Applebaum (HA) Hartz Mountain Industries

Steven Caton (SC) New S chool for Social Research

William Arens (WA) State University of New York, Stoney Brook

E . M. Chilver (EC) Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford

Robert Aunger (RA) Northwestern University

Bernard Comrie (BC) University of Southern California

William Badecker ( WBad) Johns Hopkins University

Lewis A. Coser (LC) Cambridge, MA

William Balee (WBal) Tulane University

Martin Daly (MD) McMaster University

Thomas Barfield (TB) Boston University

John D avis (JD) Oxford University

R. H . Barnes (RB) Oxford University

Robbie E. Davis-Floyd (RDF) University of Tex�s, Austin

William Beeman ( WBe) Brown University

Michael R. Dove (MRD) East-West Center, Hawaii

Christopher Boehm (CBo) University of Southern California

Malcolm M. Dow (MMD) Northwestern University

Candice Bradley (CBr) Lawrence University

Paul Dresch (PD) Oxford University

Peter J. Brown (PB) Emory University

Robert C . Dunnell (RD) University of \Vashington

Andrew S . Buckser (AB) Purdue University

Timothy Earle (TE) Northwestern University

Luigi Burzio (LB) Johns Hopkins University

Elizabeth Edwards (EE) Oxford University

CONTRIBUTORS

T. M. S . Evens (TMSE) University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Dwight B . Heath (DH) Brown University

Burt Feintuch (BF) University of New Hampshire

Allan Hoben (AH) B oston University

R. Brian Ferguson (RBF) Rutgers University-Newark

Michael Horowitz (MH) State University of New York, Binghamton

Michael M. J. Fischer (MF) Massachusetts Institute of Technology Jam es Flanagan (JF) University of Southern Mississippi Thomas F. Glick (TG) Boston University Anne Grodzins Gold (AGG) Syracuse University Jack Goody ( JG) Cambridge University Alma Gottlieb (AG) University of I llinois, Urbana Derek Gregory (DG) University of British Columbia Ellen Gruenbaum (EG) California State University, San Bernadina Matthew C. Gutmann (MG) Brown University Jane I . Guyer (JIG) Northwestern University Niloofar Haeri (NH) Johns H opkins University Shahla Haeri (SH) B oston University 'Thomas D . Hall (TH) DePauw University

Jun Hu (JH) Emory University Robert Hunt (RHun) Brandeis University Ronald Hutton (RHut) University of Bristol Jam es Ito-Adler (JIA) Florida International University Jean Jackson (JJ a) Massachusetts Institute of Technology William Jankowiak C WD University of Nevada, Las Vegas James Jones (JJo) Harvard University Glenn Jordan (GD University of Glemorgan Bruce Kapferer (BK) James Cook University David K.aplan (DK) Brandeis University Michael Kearney (MK) University of California, Riverside Charles Keyes (CK.) University of \Vashington

W. Penn Handwerker (WPH) University of C onnecticut

Arthur Kleinman (AK.) Harvard Medical S chool

Faye Harrison (FH) University of Tennessee

Igor Kopytoff (II