Culture and EnchantmentMax Weber viewed modern life as disenchanted, an arena from which scientific inquiry had banished magic. In contrast, Mark Schneider argues intriguingly that enchantment—the sense that we are confronted by inexplicable phenomena—persists in the world today, although it has shifted from the natural to the cultural arena. Culture and Enchantment shows that students of culture today operate in social and intellectual circumstances similar to those of seventeenth-century natural philosophers. Just as Newton was drawn to alchemy, scholars today are fascinated by ghostly and mercurial agents thought to account for the meanings of cultural entities. For interpretive disciplines, Schneider suggests, meaning often behaves behaves as mysteriously as the apparitions pursued by centuries ago by natural philosophers. He demonstrates this using two case studies from anthropology: Clifford Geertz's description of Balinese cockfights and Yoruba statuary, and Claude Levi-Strauss's analyses of myths. These provide a basis for actively engaging disputes over the meaning and interpretation of culture. Culture and Enchantment will appeal to an interdisciplinary audience in anthropology, sociology, history, history and sociology of science, culture studies, and literary theory. Schneider's provocative arguments will make this book a fulcrum in the continuing debate over the nature and prospects of cultural inquiry. |
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aesthetic anthropology argue argument Aubrey Aubrey's Balinese become behavior boundaries boundary-work cabinets of curiosities Caduveo chapter chthonic Claude Lévi-Strauss Clifford Geertz cockfights cognitive consensus course cultural phenomena developed difficult disciplines discourse disenchanted edifying empirical ence enchantment entailed epistemic epistemic register experience explain Foucault Geertz gematria hermeneutic Hirsch impact factor inquiry instance intentions interpretive interpretive communities intersubjective meaning intuitions investigation John Aubrey journals knowledge L-dopa latter less Lévi-Strauss literary Mallarmé mature ment Monmanéki myth natural natural philosophy naturalistic niches occult organization perhaps perspicuous phenomenon philosophy practices problem produced prove Randall Collins reading referential ecology relativist rich Ricoeur Sacks Sacks's scientific scientists sculpture seems semiotic sense significance simply social sciences sociology sort Spartoi specific strange intenders strategies structure suggests symbolic task uncertainty Taylor terrain theory tion understanding University Press virtuosi warrant York Yoruba