Comments on: Maurice Bloch: “Reluctant Anthropologist” or “Anti-Anthropologist”?

By: Maximilian Forte

Maximilian Forte — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 23:02:53 +0000

Thank you very much Dr. Wilson-Fall, your visit and your message are both much appreciated. That really is a curious circular bind, and I like how you put it: “we are at least as involved in writing about anthropology as in doing anthropology, and that writing must be presented as validation of anthropology and other anthropologists.” It is also very fortuitous given the changes about to take place on this site, and the project of which it forms part, within the next 24 hours in fact. I gravitate toward the idea of writing about anthropology as a Western knowledge system, a mode of consumption by a certain class within the West, and a means of producing the world for that class and for the authorities. The last part we need to do without, or at least I do, that is, “presented as validation of anthropology and other anthropologists” — I want to get past that kind of slavish deference whose purpose is part of a game of power-knowledge, to secure itself as a discipline in a never ending quest for respectability in the midst of tremendous self-doubt. (Otherwise I confess that I personally find writing about anthropology in public to be tiresome now, regardless of objectives.)

By: Wendy Wilson-Fall

Wendy Wilson-Fall — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:00:21 +0000

Very interesting comments. I have also had another take on the “examining the navel” comment, and this was that anthropologists have been extremely involved with looking at, dissecting, questioning and validating our field. At times I wonder that we are at least as involved in writing about anthropology as in doing anthropology, and that writing must be presented as validation of anthropology and other anthropologists.

This is a great website. I am so glad I found it. I was following Maurice Block links.

By: Maximilian Forte

Maximilian Forte — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:32:42 +0000

Thank you very much Ali.

By: ALI TAQUI SHAH

ALI TAQUI SHAH — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:01:40 +0000

i am an undergrduate anthropology student from pakistan i really appreciate his work forr for anthropology!

By: nikos

nikos — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:23:49 +0000

very good

By: Maurice Bloch and Everyday, Relevant Anthropology « Neuroanthropology

Maurice Bloch and Everyday, Relevant Anthropology « Neuroanthropology — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:20:59 +0000

[...] at Open Anthropology recently covered an interview with Maurice Bloch that appeared in Eurozine. In his summary, Forte highlights certain parts of the interview in a way which struck me as quite relevant to [...]

By: Anthropology is Dead, Long Live Anthropology! (Who Wants to Leave those Golden Rule Days in the Jungle?) - 1.3 « OPEN ANTHROPOLOGY

Wed, 14 May 2008 01:32:51 +0000

[...] tells Arthur, down from a university in Baltimore, “In spite of what that reckless old fool Maurice says, we would indeed miss this grandfather discipline we call [...]

By: Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog » Around the Web

Mon, 12 May 2008 13:27:46 +0000

[...] are uniquely evolved because they have the imagination to invent religion. Anthropologi.info and Open Anthropology both posted comments on the original Bloch [...]