The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art

In the conference and boardrooms of corporate America, there is a game called Bullshit Bingo in which someone wishing to be thought of as an alpha male because of their familiarity with the latest lingo, peacocks during the meeting, allowing someone who is on to them to rise and shout "Bingo." James Clifford so often laces his writing with obscure and complicated vernacular that he is a repeat offender. In the opening chapter, where he is, apparently, speaking only to his fellow academics every sentence is stuffed with obtuse references as to be unreadable. In terms of pedantry, I would put him right up there with Edward Said, who, amazingly he critiques later in the work. Now to be fair anthropology is fiendishly difficult to write show more about because to the complexity and interdependence of its concepts. Culture can embrace everything. But Mr. Clifford is not up to the task and he is the farthest thing ever to a popularizer. Another one of the aspirations of writers in academia is to coin a term that then finds its way into the jargon of the day. Clifford's contribution "englobment" was so hilarious that I actually looked forward to him trying to foist it on us. Clifford is a complicator, long winded, fond of turning everything into a verb. His chapter on surrealism and anthropology was fascinating but could be reduced to two paragraphs. In broad strokes Clifford is reporting on the need for anthropologists to evaluate how much and the reporting of one group in power on another, of colonialism has distorted the findings. He joins Said in this. But I wouldn't wish this book on anyone and can't believe I made it to the end. Lastly, he does not need to write this badly as his end chapter on the Mashpee Tribe so indicated. That was devoid of his usual tortured syntax show less

Una colección de ensayos de James Clifford que cuestiona la autoridad del discurso occidental sobre cultura al entrar en contacto con sociedades “otras”, explorando cómo la antropología, la literatura y el arte participan en el diálogo posmoderno.

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