The Politics of Egalitarianism: Theory and Practice(14 Methodology & History in Anthropology)

The essays assembled in this book exemplify the way political anthropologists address a range of problems that deeply affect people throughout the world. The authors draw their inspiration from the work of Canadian anthropologist Richard B. Lee, and, like him, they are concerned with understanding and acting upon issues of “indigenous rights”; the impact of colonialism, postcolonial state formation, and neoliberalism on local communities and cultures; the process of culture change; what the history and politics of egalitarian societies reveal about issues of “human nature” or “social evolution”; and how peoples in southern Africa are affected by and responding to the most recent crisis in their midst, the spread of AIDS. The authors in this volume discuss the state of a range of contemporary debates in the field that in various ways extend the political, theoretical, and empirical issues that have animated Lee's work. In addition, the book provides readers with important contemporary Kalahari studies, as well as “classic” works on foraging societies.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Jacqueline Solway PART I: THE POLITICS AND PRACTICES OF EGALITARIANISM Chapter 1. All People Are (Not) Good Bruce G. Trigger Chapter 2. Community, State, and Questions of Social Evolution in Karl Marx's Ethnological Notebooks Christine Ward Gailey Chapter 3. Subtle Matters of Theory and Emphasis: Richard Lee and Controversies about Foraging Peoples Thomas C. Patterson Chapter 4. "The Orginal Affluent Society": Four Decades On Jacqueline Solway Chapter 5. The Original Affluent Society Marshall Sahlins Chapter 6. On the Politics of Being Jewish in a Multiracial State Karen Brodkin PART II: THE KALAHARI THEN AND NOW Chapter 7. The Lion/Bushman Relationship in Nyae Nyae in the 1950s: A Relationship Crafted in the Old Way Elizabeth Marshall Thomas Chapter 8. The Kalahari Peoples Fund: The Activist Legacy of the Harvard Kalahari Research Group Megan Biesele Chapter 9. Land, Livestock, and Leadership among the Ju/'hoansi San of North-Western Botswana Robert K. Hitchcock Chapter 10. Contemporary Bushman Art, Identity, Politics, and the Primitivism Discourse Mathias Guenther Chapter 11. Class, Culture, and Recognition: San Fam Workers and Indigenous Identities Renée Sylvain Chapter 12. The Other Side of Development: HIV/AIDS among Men and Women in Ju/;hoansi Villages Ida Susser PART III: RICHARD BORSHAY LEE: AN APPRECIATION Chapter 13. Richard B. Lee and Company: A Kalahari Chronicle, 1963-2000 Compiled by Jacqueline Solway Chapter 14. Richard B. Lee: The Politics, Art, and Science of Anthropology Christine Ward Gailey Richard Borshay Lee: Selected Bibliography Compiled by Jacqueline Solway Notes on Contributors Index

About the Author :
Jacqueline Solway is associate professor of International Development Studies and Anthropology at Trent University.

Review :
“Solway does an admirable job in her introduction, describing the three intellectual-cum-activist projects which underlie the collection… Its most significant contribution for those already familiar with the San literature lies in expanding the pool of recent analyses of San identity politics, and in documenting the rise and challenges facing the San-owned and San-oriented NGOs… [it] is also a good reference source for a broader readership seeing an overview of Lee's intellectual legacy and its trajectories.” • Anthropos