Levi-Strauss

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Claude Levi-Strauss was originally from Brussels and died at the age of 100 in Paris, France. He published many works including Tristes Tropiques which was first published in 1955. I am using the Penguin publication from 1992.
In Chapter 38, A Little Glass of Rum, Levi-Strauss discusses the Anthropologist. Mainly that being an Anthropologist can cause these appearances of misconstrued respect for one's own person culture or background that they associate with or the foreign culture that they are researching. Levi-Strauss states “ There is no way out of this dilemma: either the anthropologist adheres to the norms of his own group and other groups inspire in him no more than a fleeting curiosity which is never quite devoid of disapproval, or he is capable of giving himself wholeheartedly to these other groups and his objectivity vitiated by the fact that, intentionally or not, he has had to withhold himself from at least one society, in order to devote himself to all” (p. 384). I really felt like this quotes was an embodiment of the chapter.
Upon reading this, I immediately remembered E.E. Evans-Pritchard, an anthropologist from the United Kingdom who spent many years with the Azande tribe in Africa. Evans-Pritchard was very involved in the studies of magic, witchcraft, and religion among the Azande peoples. However, Evans-Pritchard did not do a lot of immersive ethnography, he did a lot of watching. To my knowledge, he never adopted the culture or actually physically practiced any of the Azande rituals or religious ceremonies. Yet, on our campus Dr. Stacey Schaefer, who studied the Huichol indians (a native population in Mexico), was very involved with the Huichol community. She practiced there rituals, ceremonies, lived with the...

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...them. He describes them as being charming and enchanting. These are terms usually used in a descriptor for a civilized European society. After all this, he got back on the boat and went back to civilization... the original 5 day trip was cut down to two hours on the way back (p. 337).
I think he titled this chapter Robinson Crusoe, because Crusoe finds himself on these elaborate journeys, but Crusoe also finds his savages. He finds cannibals. Yet, Levi-Strauss finds a group of charming peoples after traveling on an elaborate journey, which he was not necessarily prepared for, to leave feeling empty.
I’m sure he felt conflicted here. Levi-Strauss gave up a part of his culture to adapt to another, even if it was temporary. He did it to find answers and to give explanations to share his stories with others so that they might better understand the world around them.

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