Bibliographic Information

Taboo, truth, and religion

Franz Baermann Steiner ; with a memoir by Mary Douglas

(Methodology and history in anthropology, v. 2 . Selected writings / Franz Baermann Steiner ; edited and with an introduction by Jeremy Adler and Richard Fardon ; v. 1)

Berghahn Books, 1999

  • : pbk

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Note

Includes bibliographical references and indexes

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Franz Steiner's study of Taboo is internationally recognized as a classic in its field. In a newly researched introductory chapter, based on a thorough study of Steiner's unpublished papers, this edition for the first time places the book in its context and offers a new reading of the text. More than just a critique of existing taboo theories, as it has often been seen, this study offers a profound analysis of danger behavior and pollution in "non-civilized" societies. This provided an important starting-point for Mary Douglas' Purity and Danger. A key aspect of Steiner's achievement lies in his attempt to reconcile detailed, faithful ethnographic analysis with anthropological comparison. His analysis of taboo thus provides a case study with wide-ranging ramifications. This new edition makes a classic text available once again to students and general readers. A major new introduction based on archival research offers, for the first time, a biography and critical study of Franz Steiner; it not only places him in the context of British and European thought but also shows his importance for contemporary debates, among them deconstruction and Orientalism.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Contents of Volume II Acknowledgements A Note on Quotations PART I: INTRODUCTIONS Franz Steiner. A Memoir Mary Douglas An Oriental in the West: The Life of Franz Baermann Steiner Jeremy Adler and Richard Fardon PART II: TABOO Chapter 1. The Discovery of Taboo Chapter 2. Taboo in Polynesia (I) Chapter 3. Taboo in Polynesia (II) Chapter 4. A Victorian Problem: Robertson Smith Chapter 5. Taboo and Contagion Chapter 6. Taboo and the 'Holy' Chapter 7. The Hebrew Bible: Snaith and Frazer Chapter 8. Frazer and His Critic, Marett Chapter 9. Taboo as Negative Mana Chapter 10. Van Gennep and Radcliffe-Brown Chapter 11. Wundt and Freud Chapter 12. The Problem of Taboo Bibliography. Reviews of Taboo PART III: RELIGIOUS TRUTH How to Define Superstition? Enslavement and the Early Hebrew Lineage System: An Explanation of Genesis 47: 29-31, 48: 1-16 Chagga Law and Chagga Truth Bibliography and References to Volumes I and II Name Index to Volume I Subject Index to Volume II

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Details

  • NCID
    BA44799576
  • ISBN
    • 1571817115
    • 1571817123
  • Country Code
    us
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    New York
  • Pages/Volumes
    xv, 279 p., [8] p. of plates
  • Size
    22 cm
  • Classification
  • Subject Headings
  • Parent Bibliography ID
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