Anthropology and Social Theory: Culture, Power, and the Acting Subject
I’m not an anthropologist, so I’m not familiar with Sherry Ortner, but she is evidently well-known and well-cited in anthropological circles. When I picked this book up used, probably five years ago, I was interested in an anthropological take on culture, especially from a practice theory perspective. Ortner has spent a lot of time thinking about this connection, and in the introduction and six essay chapters, she brings together a wide range of citations to think through this relationship.
In the introduction, Ortner meditates on her history in the field as she wrestled with the concept of culture in terms of practice theory. She reviews this development within historical shifts in anthropology, including power theory, the historic turn, and perhaps most importantly, “the reinterpretation(s) of culture” — her focus in this volume (p.3). The problem with “culture” is that in illiberal hands, it can be reduced to stereotyping. In reaction, many anthropologists turned away from the concept of culture altogether, but outside anthropology, others picked it up in inventive ways (p.12). These ways take power into account while loosening relations between culture and specific groups (p.13). The Birmingham school, for instance, embedded the concept of culture in “narratives of power and inequality,” and in doing so, make the old concept of culture do new work (pp.13-14). Culture is reclaimed through practice theory.
In subsequent chapters, Ortner explores different aspects of this reclamation, focusing on American culture: ethnographic refusal (Ch.2), class (Ch.3), Gen X (Ch.4), and subjectivity (Ch.5). These were interesting enough, and allowed Ortner to draw these themes into concrete cases, but they did not hold my attention as much as the introduction did.
Still, if you’re interested in the relationship between culture and practice theory, and its intellectual history, this book is well worth reading.
(2003)
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