Comments on: Beleaguered French Anthropologists? http://savageminds.org/2006/04/08/beleaguered-french-anthropologists/ Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog Thu, 24 May 2012 01:47:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: AmericaninFrance http://savageminds.org/2006/04/08/beleaguered-french-anthropologists/comment-page-1/#comment-4914 AmericaninFrance Sun, 09 Apr 2006 12:01:44 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=441#comment-4914 I think my experience at the EHESS speaks to Didier Fassin's reflections: in the series of roundtables in "Actualites de l'anthropologie" dealing with French urban violence, the guests have all been sociologists (like Stephane Beaud, who uses a lot of ethnography) and the articles presented so far have all been by American anthropologists or sociologists. As I work on these issues, this can be worrisome; however, I have noticed that several people in my cohort in anthropology at the EHESS are doing research in the banlieue, some dealing explicitly with violence (and this was before november that they started), some with immigration, others with the practice of Islam, etc. So maybe there's some hope for the future generation, which, if the people I know at the school tell you anything, should look a lot different (less white, less male) than the professors now. Other than that, I've found French anthropology to be stuck in some sort of perceived halcyon of the discipline, like the structuralist period or the segmentary debate. Even in "Actualites" (supposed to be contemporary anthropology) we read The Souk of Sefrou. But I know a few French professors who are trying to move past that, one of whom perceives a recent "neo-primitivism" trend in the discipline in France, which may not bode well for my hopes. I think my experience at the EHESS speaks to Didier Fassin’s reflections: in the series of roundtables in “Actualites de l’anthropologie” dealing with French urban violence, the guests have all been sociologists (like Stephane Beaud, who uses a lot of ethnography) and the articles presented so far have all been by American anthropologists or sociologists.

As I work on these issues, this can be worrisome; however, I have noticed that several people in my cohort in anthropology at the EHESS are doing research in the banlieue, some dealing explicitly with violence (and this was before november that they started), some with immigration, others with the practice of Islam, etc. So maybe there’s some hope for the future generation, which, if the people I know at the school tell you anything, should look a lot different (less white, less male) than the professors now.

Other than that, I’ve found French anthropology to be stuck in some sort of perceived halcyon of the discipline, like the structuralist period or the segmentary debate. Even in “Actualites” (supposed to be contemporary anthropology) we read The Souk of Sefrou. But I know a few French professors who are trying to move past that, one of whom perceives a recent “neo-primitivism” trend in the discipline in France, which may not bode well for my hopes.

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