Claude Lévi-Strauss at his Centennial: toward a future anthropology

Albert Doja (1)

1 Université de Lille

Lévi-Strauss's Centennial is an opportunity to show his inextricable connections with the evolution of twentieth-century thought and what these promise for twenty-first century anthropology. In this article I argue that some essential aspects of Lévi-Strauss's theory could lay strong claim to having mapped within anthropology the philosophical parameters for a renewed ethnography which opens innovative approaches to history, agency, culture and society. Anthropological approach to history, for instance, is enriched by methodical application of his mytho-logical analysis, in particular his claim that myths are "machines for the suppression of time". Lévi-Strauss's thought has led to the development of new and invigorated forms of structural analysis, exemplified by the way that his concept of canonical expression has provided the foundation for the sophisticated application of transformational analysis and formalization.

Mots clés: agency; cognition; mind; myth; structuralism; structure

Domaines: Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie; Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences

Albert Doja. Claude Lévi-Strauss at his Centennial: toward a future anthropology. Theory, Culture and Society, 2008, 25 (7-8), pp.321-340. ⟨10.1177/0263276408097810⟩. ⟨halshs-00405936⟩