Clifford Geertz by His Colleagues - Hardcover

Shweder, Richard A; Good, Byron

9780226756097: Clifford Geertz by His Colleagues

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226756092 ISBN 13: 9780226756097

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2005

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Clifford Geertz is the most influential American anthropologist of the past four decades. His writings have defined and given character to the intellectual agenda of a meaning-centered, non-reductive interpretive social science and have provoked much excitement and debate about the nature of human understanding. As part of the American Anthropological Association's centennial celebration, the executive board sponsored a presidential session honoring Geertz. Clifford Geertz by His Colleagues compiles the speeches given then by a distinguished panel of social scientists along with a concluding piece by Geertz in which he responds to each speaker and reflects on his own career. These edited speeches cover a broad range of topics, including Geertz's views on morality, cultural critique, interpretivism, time and change, Islam, and violence. A fitting tribute to one of the great thinkers of our age, this collection will be enjoyed by anthropologists as well as students of psychology, history, and philosophy.

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Review

"Clifford Geertz is a central figure in the humanities in the last half century, whose work has transformed anthropology and social science in general. His interpretive turn has made it possible to grasp the particular, changing constellations of meaning which constitute human societies, and are often masked in the explanatory systems and over-arching generalizations of traditional social science. This work is of greater relevance than ever today, when very diverse societies are drawn ever tighter together, often in mutual incomprehension and conflict. This fascinating book, a conversation between Geertz and colleagues from different disciplines, draws out these and other implications of his remarkable corpus of work."-- (11/09/2004)

"Geertz's combination of great philosophical sophistication with an artist's eye for the significant little detail has made him one of the most influential intellectuals of recent times. This collection of essays will give the reader a good sense of his impact on a variety of academic disciplines."-- (11/09/2004)

"We should be grateful that Clifford Geertz chose anthropology. Described as the single most influential anthropologist of recent times, he resisted reductionism and chose meaning-centred analysis. Clifford Geertz by His Colleagues is a great twist on the Festschrift: here, the tributes to him receive a reply from him."-- (03/28/2005)

About the Author

Richard A. Shweder is the William Claude Reavis Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Human Development at the University of Chicago. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including, most recently, Why Do Men Barbeque?: Recipes for Cultural Psychology. Byron Good is professor of medical anthropology and chairman of the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard University. He is the author or editor of several books, including Medicine, Rationality, and Experience: An Anthropological Perspective.

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