Foundational Works in Anthropology

The course passes through some of the key "stations" in the history of anthropology, introducing students to particular theoretical approaches through the lives and work of selected anthropologists. In this way, students test and refresh the theoretical knowledge they have already acquired in the past years and build on it through in-depth analysis of individual works and comparison of methodological and theoretical approaches among selected authors.
Special attention is given to the French and British functionalism, structuralism, cultural relativism and the culture-personality school, and in the last part also interpretive, existential anthropology and the ontological turn. Thematically, it focuses on anthropology of art and performative activities as well as to the body, pregnancy and birth, life and death, symbolic behaviour of the marginalised groups etc.
Students analyse in-depth socio-cultural context in which specific work was written and its contribution to the history of anthropology, interpret theoretical and methodological impact of the author and analyse his theoretical influence to the researchers of younger generations.

1. Barnard, Alan, 2000, History and Theory in Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [COBISS.SI-ID - 24800605]
2. Benedict, Ruth, 1934, ‘Anthropology and the Abnormal.’ Journal of General Psychology 10 (1934): 59-82. https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/7586072/mod_resource/content…
3. Douglas, Mary, 1966, Purity and Danger. New York: Praeger Publishers. / Douglas, Mary, 2010, Čisto in nevarno. Ljubljana: Koda, Študentska založba. [COBISS.SI-ID - 25438818]; [COBISS.SI-ID - 253367296]
4. Fassin, Didier, 2014, 'The Parallel Lives of Philosophy and Anthropology.' V: The Ground Between: Anthropologists Engaged Philosophy. Veena Das, Michael Jackson, Arthur Kleinman in Bhrigupati Singh, ur. Durham in London: Duke University Press. Str.: 50–70.
5. Geertz, Clifford, 1973, The Interpretation of Cultures. London: Fontana Press. Str. 3 - 142. [COBISS.SI-ID - 21682525]
6. Hertz, Robert, 1978, ‘The Preeminence of the Right Hand.' V:. Right and Left: essays on dual symbolic classification. Rodney Needham, ur. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [COBISS.SI-ID - 35801442]
7. Jackson, Michael, 2013, Lifeworlds: Essays in Existential Anthropology. Chicago in London: The
University of Chicago Press. [COBISS.SI-ID - 35552813]
8. Kuper, Adam, 2005, Antropologija in antropologi. Maribor: Založba Aristej. [COBISS.SI-ID - 219524864]
9. Leach, Edmund, 1958 'Magical Hair'. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of G.B. and Ireland 88 (2): 147-164. https://doi.org/10.2307/2844249
10. Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 1963, The Sorcerer and his Magic, The Effectiveness of Symbols. V: Structural Anthropology. New York: Basic Books. Str. 167-205. [COBISS.SI-ID - 60371810]
11. Malinowski, Bronislaw, 1926, Crime and Custom in Savage Society. New Yourk: Harcourt, Brace and Co. Str. 1- 34. [COBISS.SI-ID - 65152866]
12. Marcus, George E. in Michael M. J. Fischer, 1999, Anthropology as Cultural Critique: An Experimental Moment in the Human Sciences. Chicago in London: The University of Chicago Press. [COBISS.SI-ID - 17116002]
13. Mauss, Marcel, 1996, Esej od daru in drugi spisi. Ljubljana: Studia humanitatis. [COBISS.SI-ID - 60090112]
14. Radcliffe-Brown, Alfred Reginald,1952, On Joking Relationships, A Further Note on Joking Relationships. V: Structure and Function in Primitive Society. Glancoe, Illinois: The Free Press. Str. 90-116. [COBISS.SI-ID - 35758690]
15. Turner, Victor, 1977, 'Variations on a Theme of Liminality.' V: Secular Ritual, Sally Moore in Barbara Myerhoff, ur. Amsterdam: Van Gorcum and Company. [COBISS.SI-ID - 26836781]
16. Turner, Victor, 1967, The Forest of Symbols. Ithaca in London: Cornell University Press. Str. 48-93. [COBISS.SI-ID – 36971618]