Book Review: French Anthropology and Material Culture

Abstract

In this article, the author reviews three recent books that have been published on material culture in France. The main orientations of these books have to be understood by reference to French traditional anthropology and the interest in technology and traditional know how as well as to the analysis of Gift. They also illustrate new orientations such as the interest in the analysis of innovation process. The author finally compares the French context of material culture studies to the English context, explaining that the first one has traditionally focused on the study of production and circulation rather than consumption, even though French intellectuals such as Bourdieu and Baudrillard might be seen as having laid down the basis for material culture studies on consumption.

Pots, Houses and Metal: Technological Relations at the Bronze Age Tell at Százhalombatta, Hungary

“…Layton 1989). These channels take the form of social networks whose characteristics allow the pooling of resources, knowledge, techniques and human potential (Faure‐Rouesnel 2001; Bromberger and Chevallier 1999). Networks allow the transfer and circulation of knowledge from one industry to another.…”

What’s the matter with technology? Long (and short) yams, materialisation and technology in Nyamikum village, Maprik district, Papua New Guinea

“…One of the main distinctions between English and French anthropology is said to be the place given to techniques (Chevalier 1998, Faure-Rouesnel 2001. While Mauss's essay Body Techniques (Mauss 1950a(Mauss [1935), and his Manuel d'Ethnographie (Mauss 1947;see Schlanger 2006) examine the relations between material culture and physical interactions between people and their surrounding world, Lemonnier (1992: 3, 5) has noted that this aspect of his legacy in the English-speaking literature remains under-examined, especially when compared to the treatment given to The Gift (Mauss 1950b(Mauss [1923(Mauss -1924).…”

Dans la Trajectoire des Choses

“…En ce qui concerne la Grande-Bretagne et la France, ces diffé-rences d'approche ont pu être formulées de manière parfois tranchée. Ainsi, Chevallier (1998), Faure-Rouesnel (2001) de même que Julien & Rosselin (2005) ont pu parler de distinction dans l'étude de la culture matérielle entre les francophones, chez lesquels prédomine l'étude des techniques, et les anglophones, plus particulièrement les Britanniques, intéressés plutôt par l'étude de la consommation.…”