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The New Science of the Enchanted Universe
An Anthropology of Most of Humanity
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Check link for latest rating. ( 110 ratings, 11 reviews)
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The New Science of the Enchanted Universe
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This book is ideal for students and scholars of anthropology, social sciences, and religious studies, as well as readers interested in cultural perspectives on spirituality, politics, and human society beyond Western paradigms.
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Description
From the perspective of Western modernity, humanity inhabits a disenchanted cosmos. Gods, spirits and ancestors have left us for a transcendent beyond, no longer living in our midst and being involved in all matters of everyday life from the trivial to the dire. Yet the vast majority of cultures throughout human history treat spirits as very real persons, members of a cosmic society who interact with humans and control their fate. In most cultures, even today, people are but a small part of an enchanted universe misconstrued by the transcendent categories of 'religion' and the 'supernatural'. The New Science of the Enchanted Universe shows how anthropologists and other social scientists must rethink these cultures of immanence and study them by their own lights.
In this, his last, revelatory book, Marshall Sahlins announces a new method and sets an exciting agenda for the field. He takes readers around the world, from Inuit of the Arctic Circle to pastoral Dinka of East Africa, from Arawete swidden gardeners of Amazonia to Trobriand Island horticulturalists. In the process, Sahlins sheds new light on classical and contemporary ethnographies that describe these cultures of immanence and reveals how even the apparently mundane, all-too-human spheres of 'economics' and 'politics' emerge as people negotiate with, and ultimately usurp, the powers of the gods.
The New Science of the Enchanted Universe offers a road map for a new practice of anthropology that takes seriously the enchanted universe and its transformations from ancient Mesopotamia to contemporary America.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Praised as a "feisty final statement" by Jonathan Spencer in Science, the book is recognised for its passionate, eloquent argument and scholarly rigour. Reviewers like Vincent P. Pecora in European Legacy commend Sahlins as a remarkable anthropological time traveller, while David N. Gellner in Society highlights its value for both academic and broader intellectual engagement. Its vivid ideas on the political, enchanted, and divine world order receive acclaim from Anna Della Subin in The Nation, and Tok Thompson praises it as an engaging call for anthropologists to embrace the reality of spiritual worlds.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780691215938
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 05 December 2023
Country: United States
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Illustration: 1 b/w illus.
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Width: 156.0mm
Height: 235.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 208
About the Author
Marshall Sahlins (1930-2021) was the Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Chicago and the author of many books, including Stone Age Economics and Culture and Practical Reason.
Frederick B. Henry Jr. is an independent scholar and translator.
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