Abstract

KUBICA, Grażyna. Lévi-Strauss as a protagonist in his ethnographic prose: a cosmopolitan view of Tristes tropiques and its contemporary interpretations. Etnográfica [online]. 2014, vol.18, n.3, pp.599-624. ISSN 0873-6561.

Inscribed into the intellectual tradition of anthropology as literature, the article offers a critical view on an iconic (albeit problematic) text of the discipline, Tristes tropiques, by Claude Lévi-Strauss. The frame of reference is broadened to make the analysis more cosmopolitan, more biographical, and more historical. In accordance with the methodological principles of the anthropology of art, this approach focuses not just on the work itself, but also on its author and reception. Firstly, Tristes tropiques is situated in the broader context of ethnographic prose, thus showing the working of disciplining practices of academia (following Michel Foucault), which kept literary writings of anthropologists outside the profession. These observations are confirmed by the biographical context of the origin of Tristes tropiques. Next, applying James Clifford’s categories, the analysis of the way the author presents himself in his text shows that he describes himself consistently as an anthropologist, not only rhetorically but also on a deeper level of his professional habitus. The reception of Tristes tropiques and its hero in various places and times - by the French public and anthropological community, a reaction to it in Brazil, where the author’s journeys took place, and in Poland at the time of the post-Stalinist “thaw”, where the book was published for the first time in the Soviet bloc - shows how differentiated the process of reading is. These interpretations are finally put in its historical context and reasons for the unwavering popularity of Tristes tropiques are suggested: in addition to criticism, it inspires profound reflection and a broader interpretation of the modern world.

Keywords : Tristes tropiques; Lévi-Strauss; travel writing; literary anthropology; history of anthropology.

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