Culture and Reversibility: a brief reflection about the “inventive” approach of Roy Wagner

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5380/cam.v8i2.11170

Keywords:

cultura, invenção, antropologia reversa, conhecimento antropológico

Abstract

In the mid 1970s, Roy Wagner, in his book The Invention of Culture, sees anthropology as a discipline that invents culture through culture. Based on his experience with the Daribi of New Guinea, the author presents a conception of culture as a creative activity in which we are all inventors. In this perspective, the anthropologist and native perform similar operations and, consequently, the study of culture consists of the culture of the anthropologist. Wagner also coins the term “reverse anthropology” in order to question the ethnographer’s privileged position regarding the elaboration of an “anthropological analysis”. The present article seeks a reflection on some implications of the adoption of this perspective in anthropology, linking it with contemporary discussions, especially with regard to the us/them dichotomy and the statutes of ethnography.

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How to Cite

Benites, L. F. R. (2007). Culture and Reversibility: a brief reflection about the “inventive” approach of Roy Wagner. Campos - Revista De Antropologia, 8(2), 117–130. https://doi.org/10.5380/cam.v8i2.11170

Issue

Vol. 8 (2007)

Section

Artigos

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