Culture: The Anthropologist's Account by Adam Kuper (review)

A lively historical critique of the way anthropologists use the very idea of culture. Kuper is a British anthropologist of South African origins who did his first field work in the Kalihari desert, and who has become a major theorist. He does not like the way in which culture is so often invoked, especially by American anthropologists, as a term that picks out everything that defines a group, and to which all patterns of behavior and activity are relativized. The idea enters anthropology in 1871 and matures with Talcott Parsons. Kuper's early genealogy of the concept is quite mild, but his critique of later uses is devastating. Everyone should read the assault on Clifford Geertz; even if it makes you admire his work more than ever, you will have had to answer a lot of questions along the way. David Schneider and Marshall Sahlins are treated more gently. This is a provocative essay, clearly written and a good read.