Kinship, Ecology and History: Renewal of Conjunctures [Hardcover]

The analysis of kinship plays a major role in social anthropology. However, the intellectual triumph of structuralism has transformed this analysis into an ivory tower and the methodological hegemony of functionalism inhibits any historical authority. Kinship, Ecology and History informs the reader of these old, yet long-lasting issues. By presenting new, original perspectives, this book reinvents the manner in which we can study kinship. It also examines ecology and history as a conjectural reflection, which make up the foundations on which human kinship can be reflected upon. Whether human kinship is understood in the form of systematics models or as articulated practices, it has to be conceived as a strategic means for modes of action and of transformation of life in society. The three case studies presented in this book give body to new issues. They deconstruct the existing models in order to re-establish kinship as a condition and consequence of social evolution.

Introduction ix
Georges GUILLE-ESCURET

Chapter 1. Conditional Conjecture: the Relationship Between Ecology, Evolution and History 1
Georges GUILLE-ESCURET

1.1. Do the sources contaminate history? 1

1.1.1. Consequences and extensions of a deadlock 2

1.1.2. The return of evolutionism: another disposal of ecology and history 4

1.2. The recurrent pitfalls of conjecture in the face of kinship 6

1.2.1. The misleading security of the base 7

1.2.2. Causes, emergences and functions 13

1.2.3. Statistics and anomalies 17

1.3. Controllable conjectures: perceiving kinship as conditional 21

1.3.1. Aram Yengoyans edifying investigation into Australia 22

1.3.2. An ecology of kinship from its initial reports 26

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