History, Power, Ideology
Central Issues in Marxism and Anthropology
Eric R Wolf author Donald L Donham author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University of California Press
Published:15th Jul '99
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Is Marxism a reflection of the conceptual system it fights against, rather than a truly comprehensive approach to human history? Drawing on recent work in anthropology, history, and philosophy, Donald Donham confronts this problem in analyzing a radically different social order: the former Maale kingdom of southern Ethiopia. "Every once in a while there appears a book that ...opens up new ways of inquiring into the ways of the world. Donald Donham has written such a book. The style is quiet and judicious, but the effect is stunning...In putting inherited partisan approaches to the test of explaining the realities of Maale society and culture, Donham enriches anthropology and imparts new vigor to the analytical Marxian traditions. "History, Power, Ideology" embodies a major accomplishment". (From the Foreword).
"Among the most impressive contributions to social anthropology and Marxist social theory in recent memory. . . . It deserves a central place in contemporary anthropological literature" * Journal of Anthropological Research *
"An enormously thoughtful and imaginative reflection on [history, power, and ideology]. . . . This book re-directs our attention to enduring questions with which all social and cultural theory must ultimately grapple—the big questions of historical explanation and historical determination that refuse to dissolve quietly into textuality. In thinking through, with rare intelligence and control, what indeed remain 'our deepest questions,' Donald Donham has produced a challenging ethnographic and theoretical treatise of enduring value." * Anthropological Quarterly *
ISBN: 9780520213371
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 18mm
Weight: 408g
259 pages