Symbolic anthropology

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Symbolic anthropology or, more broadly, symbolic and interpretive anthropology, is the study of cultural symbols and how those symbols can be used to gain a better understanding of a particular society. It is often viewed in contrast to cultural materialism.^{[by whom?]}^{[citation needed]} According to Clifford Geertz, "[b]elieving, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning".^[1]

Prominent symbolic anthropologists include Clifford Geertz, David Schneider, Victor Turner and Mary Douglas.^{[citation needed]}

Key publications

Geertz, Clifford (1973) The interpretation of cultures, Basic Books, New York
Geertz, Clifford. (Ed.) (1974) Myth, symbol, and culture, W. W. Norton, New York
Sahlins, Marshall (1976) Culture and practical reason, University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Schneider, David (1968) American kinship: A cultural account. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey
Turner, Victor (1967) The forest of symbols: Aspects of Ndembu ritual, Cornell University Press, Ithaca
Turner, Victor (1974) Dramas, fields and metaphors: Symbolic action in human society, Cornell University Press, Ithaca

References

^ Geertz, Clifford (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books. p. 5.

External links

"Symbolic and interpretive anthropologies", Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama, retrieved March 13, 2013
Culture and Public Action: Symbolic anthropology

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