Marshall Sahlins's 'The Discovery of the True Savage' Published by Gallimard
Gallimard has published 'The Discovery of the True Savage', a collection of writings by Marshall Sahlins, the prominent American anthropologist. The book traces Sahlins's intellectual journey from his early anti-war activism at the University of Michigan in 1968, where he organized teach-ins against the Vietnam War, to his later ethnographic work in Fiji and theoretical contributions. Sahlins argues for a historical structuralism that sees culture as a symbolic system mediating events, exemplified by his analysis of Captain Cook's death in Hawaii in 1779. He critiques contemporary anthropology for losing its comparative and historical focus, and provocatively suggests that colonized peoples 'civilize' their colonizers. The book engages with post-colonial studies while maintaining an ambivalent relationship with the field.
Key facts
- Marshall Sahlins is considered one of the greatest American anthropologists of his generation.
- He organized the first teach-ins at the University of Michigan in early 1968 to protest the Vietnam War.
- Sahlins studied under Claude Lévi-Strauss and Maurice Godelier in Paris in 1966.
- His analysis of Captain Cook's death in Hawaii in 1779 illustrates his concept of historical structuralism.
- Sahlins argues that culture is a symbolic system that informs praxis, mediating between structure and event.
- He criticizes contemporary anthropology for being colonized by bourgeois culture and capitalism.
- The book includes comparisons between the Peloponnesian Wars and 19th-century Fijian wars.
- Sahlins's work has been criticized by post-colonial studies for not emphasizing resistance enough.
Entities
Artists
- Marshall Sahlins
- Claude Lévi-Strauss
- Maurice Godelier
- Leslie White
- Captain Cook
- Elián Gonzalez
- Thucydides
- Marcel Detienne
- Jean-Pierre Vernant
- François Hartog
Institutions
- Éditions Gallimard
- University of Michigan
- University of Chicago Press
- Seuil
Locations
- United States
- Vietnam
- Paris
- France
- Fiji
- Hawaii
- Ann Arbor
- Cuba
- Florida
- Miami
- Greece
Sources
- artpress —