They Studied Man

My vacation getaway bookstore has a glorious anthropology section. This is my favorite so far:

by Abram Kardiner and Edward Preblle

Kardiner was a sort of well-known psychoanalyst who wrote about anthropology and psychoanalysis. Preble was at the time “studying first law, and then philosophy and anthropology. During this same period he was also a high school science teacher and worked as a professional tennis player during the summers.” Who does that any more? Along with the passing of the golden age of anthropology (and I note the book refers to anthropology as a science throughout without batting an eye, thank you very much), I guess the golden age of part-time professional sports is over too. Sigh.

ckelty

Christopher M. Kelty is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has a joint appointment in the Institute for Society and Genetics, the department of Information Studies and the Department of Anthropology. His research focuses on the cultural significance of information technology, especially in science and engineering. He is the author most recently of Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software (Duke University Press, 2008), as well as numerous articles on open source and free software, including its impact on education, nanotechnology, the life sciences, and issues of peer review and research process in the sciences and in the humanities.

One thought on “They Studied Man

  1. Kardiner always reminds me of Rivers, who was played by Jonathan Pryce in Regeneration http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120001/, a fine film that surprisingly few of the anthropologists I know have seen. I’ve felt a special attachment to Rivers since an instructor awarded the (ad hoc and unofficial and all the more special for it) Gold Star for Citation Award for referencing Rivers’ “Genealogical method” article http://www.jstor.org/stable/2842619

    (For what it is worth, apologies for the ugly non-linking URLs but as far as I can tell the blog is set up so that contributors have to be logged in to add hyperlinks.)

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