Was Evans-Pritchard a Structural-Functionalist?
Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Education & Teaching
| Author: | Johannes Lenhard | ISBN: | 9783656323785 |
| Publisher: | GRIN Publishing | Publication: | November 28, 2012 |
| Imprint: | GRIN Publishing | Language: | English |
| Author: | Johannes Lenhard |
| ISBN: | 9783656323785 |
| Publisher: | GRIN Publishing |
| Publication: | November 28, 2012 |
| Imprint: | GRIN Publishing |
| Language: | English |
Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Pedagogy - Science, Theory, Anthropology, grade: 70, University of Cambridge, language: English, abstract: Was Evans-Pritchard a structural-functionalist? Evans-Pritchard is widely known as a structural-functionalist (Kuper, 1988). What sense does this question make taken by its face-value? Let us understand it as a mathematical exercise. The question asks whether the works of Evans-Pritchard can be described as a subset of the anthropological tradition referred to as structural-functionalism. As I will argue, his works can not - at least in their entirety - both temporally and partially be seen as a subset of structural-functionalism. Especially in his later works, Evans-Pritchard stresses individual agency, the importance of history as well as personality in a way that is not congruent with structural functionalism in its traditional way. But before I am able to assess the congruency of Evans-Pritchard's work with structural-functionalist imperatives in detail, the latter needs to be expressed in a clear set of statutes. The work of Radcliffe-Brown (Radcliffe-Brown, 1940) and Fortes (Fortes, 1953) can serve as a guideline for this.
Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Pedagogy - Science, Theory, Anthropology, grade: 70, University of Cambridge, language: English, abstract: Was Evans-Pritchard a structural-functionalist? Evans-Pritchard is widely known as a structural-functionalist (Kuper, 1988). What sense does this question make taken by its face-value? Let us understand it as a mathematical exercise. The question asks whether the works of Evans-Pritchard can be described as a subset of the anthropological tradition referred to as structural-functionalism. As I will argue, his works can not - at least in their entirety - both temporally and partially be seen as a subset of structural-functionalism. Especially in his later works, Evans-Pritchard stresses individual agency, the importance of history as well as personality in a way that is not congruent with structural functionalism in its traditional way. But before I am able to assess the congruency of Evans-Pritchard's work with structural-functionalist imperatives in detail, the latter needs to be expressed in a clear set of statutes. The work of Radcliffe-Brown (Radcliffe-Brown, 1940) and Fortes (Fortes, 1953) can serve as a guideline for this.
