Marc Aug explores and clarifies the relationship that anthropology enjoys with history and politics, and intellectual divisions within anthropology itself.
Preface; Introduction: anthropology without history or anthropology in history?; 1. The anthropological circle: i. Two axes and four poles; ii. Evolution, culture, symbol; iii. Evolution, culture, function; iv. Symbol, function; v. Symbol, function, culture; vi. Culture, symbol; 2. Some questions concerning the current state of anthropology: i. The philosopher's questions; ii. Meaning, non-meaning and structure: Claude Lévi-Strauss; iii. Symbol and function: Victor Turner; iv. Instances and determination; 3. From moral crisis to intellectual doubt: i. The object of anthropology; ii. Ethnocentrism and anti-ethnocentrism; iii. Scientific practice, militant practice; Conclusions: i. New sites, new stakes; ii. Here, today; iii. Social logics; iv. A myth, a necessity: interdisciplinarity; Index.