Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Object

By Johannes Fabian

Book Overview

Johannes Fabian takes an historical look at anthropology to demonstrate the emergence, transformation, and differentiation of uses of Time. Anthropological theory, from its beginnings in philosophy and linguistics, has provided Western thought and politics with deep-rooted images and convictions amounting to a kind of political cosmology. The anthropologists are 'here and now, ' the objects of their discourse are 'there and then, ' and the existence of the 'other'--the 'savage, ' the 'primitive, ' the 'underdeveloped' world--in the same time as ours is regularly denied. While written for the anthropologist, Time and the Other applies equally well to the fields of literary criticism, philosophy, and history.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231055919
• ISBN13: 9780231055918
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr
• Length: 205 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.6" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Not a thriller, but a foundation of modern anthropology

A lot of the critique of how anthropologists "make their object" in the 80s and 90s can be traced back to some of the ideas in this book. It is a profoundly important analysis of how time is manipulated in such a way as to create a boundary between "them" and "us." As the other reviewer says, it is not an easy read, but I don't think you can really know the history of recent anthropological theory without giving this book some of your attention.