Philippe Descola's Books

Beyond Nature and Culture

By: Philippe Descola

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Philippe Descola has become one of the most important anthropologists working today, and Beyond Nature and Culture has been a major influence in European intellectual life since its French publication in 2005. Here, finally, it is brought to English-language readers. At its heart is a question central to both anthropology and philosophy: what is the relationship between nature and culture? Culture—as a collective human making, of art, language, and so forth—is often seen as essentially different from nature, which is portrayed as a collective of the nonhuman world, of plants, animals, geology, and natural forces. Descola shows this essential difference to be, however, not only a specifically Western notion, but also a very recent one. Drawing on ethnographic examples from around the world and theoretical understandings from cognitive science, structural analysis, and phenomenology, he formulates a sophisticated new framework, the “four ontologies”— animism, totemism, naturalism, and analogism—to account for all the ways we relate ourselves to nature. By thinking beyond nature and culture as a simple dichotomy, Descola offers nothing short of a fundamental reformulation by which anthropologists and philosophers can see the world afresh.

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485

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University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022621236X

ISBN 13

9780226212364

The Composition of Worlds

Interviews with Pierre Charbonnier

By: Philippe Descola

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The Composition of Worlds

Interviews with Pierre Charbonnier

By: Philippe Descola

In this autobiographical reflection, the distinguished anthropologist Philippe Descola looks back on his intellectual career and examines both the central themes of his work and the key questions that have shaped anthropological debates over the past forty years. A student of Lévi-Strauss, Descola conducted ethnographic research among the Achuar of the upper Amazon in the late 1970s, focusing on how native societies relate to their environment. In this book he sheds fresh light on the evolution of his thinking from structuralism to an anthropology beyond the human, on the critique of the modern separation between nature and society, and above all on the genesis and scope of his major work Beyond Nature and Culture. This synthesis of the ways in which humans view their relationships with non-humans proposes four schemas for the ‘composition of worlds’ (animism, naturalism, totemism, analogism) that characterize our ways of inhabiting the earth. Presented in the form of an extended conversation with Pierre Charbonnier, this book is both a lucid introduction to the work of one of the most original anthropologists writing today and an impassioned plea for ontologies that are more accommodating of the diversity of beings.

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148

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509555498

ISBN 13

9781509555499

In the Society of Nature

A Native Ecology in Amazonia

By: Philippe Descola

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In the Society of Nature

A Native Ecology in Amazonia

By: Philippe Descola

The Achuar Indians live in the remote forest reaches of the Upper Amazon and have developed sophisticated strategies of resource management. Philippe Descola, who has gathered material over several years of fieldwork, documents their rich knowledge of the environment. He explains how this technical knowledge of the increasingly threatened Amazonian ecosystems is interwoven with cosmological ideas that endow nature with the characteristics of society. Combining a symbolist approach with an ecological analysis, the book contributes a new theory of the social construction of nature.

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400

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521574676

ISBN 13

9780521574679

In the Society of Nature

A Native Ecology in Amazonia

By: Philippe Descola

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In the Society of Nature

A Native Ecology in Amazonia

By: Philippe Descola

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Cambridge University Press

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ISBN 10

0521574676

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9780521574679

Beyond Nature and Culture

By: Philippe Descola

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Beyond Nature and Culture

By: Philippe Descola

“Gives to anthropological reflection a new starting point and will become the compulsory reference for all our debates in the years to come.” —Claude Lévi-Strauss, on the French edition Beyond Nature and Culture has been a major influence in European intellectual life since its French publication in 2005. Here, finally, it is brought to English-language readers. At its heart is a question central to both anthropology and philosophy: what is the relationship between nature and culture? Culture—as a collective human making, of art, language, and so forth—is often seen as essentially different from nature, which is portrayed as a collective of the nonhuman world, of plants, animals, geology, and natural forces. Philippe Descola shows this essential difference to be not only a Western notion, but also a very recent one. Drawing on ethnographic examples from around the world and theoretical understandings from cognitive science, structural analysis, and phenomenology, he formulates a sophisticated new framework, the “four ontologies” —animism, totemism, naturalism, and analogism—to account for all the ways we relate ourselves to nature. By thinking beyond nature and culture as a simple dichotomy, Descola offers a fundamental reformulation by which anthropologists and philosophers can see the world afresh. “A compelling and original account of where the nature-culture binary has come from, where it might go—and what we might imagine in its place.” —Somatosphere “The most important book coming from French anthropology since Claude Lévi-Strauss’s Anthropologie Structurale.” —Bruno Latour, author of An Inquiry into Modes of Existence “Descola’s challenging new worldview should be of special interest to a wide range of scientific and academic disciplines from anthropology to zoology . . . Highly recommended.” —Choice

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486

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University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022614500X

ISBN 13

9780226145006

The Composition of Worlds

Interviews with Pierre Charbonnier

By: Philippe Descola

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The Composition of Worlds

Interviews with Pierre Charbonnier

By: Philippe Descola

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148

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John Wiley & Sons

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ISBN 10

1509555498

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9781509555499

Killing the Elites

Haiti, 1964

By: Jean-Philippe Belleau

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Killing the Elites

Haiti, 1964

By: Jean-Philippe Belleau

In the summer and fall of 1964, a massacre took place in the small town of Jérémie, Haiti. After an ill-fated uprising, the brutal regime of François “Papa Doc” Duvalier ordered reprisals against the town that some of the insurgents were allegedly from. Entire families—all from the town’s upper class—were slaughtered. Through a rich historical ethnography of the massacre, Jean-Philippe Belleau offers a new account of the workings of the Duvalier regime and an innovative analysis of anti-elite violence. Killing the Elites meticulously reconstructs the various phases of the massacre, identifying the victims and perpetrators, tracing the social ties that linked them, and examining the varying degrees of culpability from the state to bystanders. Although Duvalier and the military were responsible, the killings were attributed to popular social grievances. Examining how the Haitian state has brutalized the upper classes, Belleau develops a new theory of anti-elite violence. He challenges views that ideology or social difference can readily drive people to kill their neighbors and that the upper classes fall victim to popular rough justice, showing that social bonds within the town prevented organized violence from spreading. The state, Belleau underscores, is the primary perpetrator of violence against elites. Drawing on interviews with eyewitnesses and former regime members as well as a wide range of unexplored primary sources, this book provides a new lens on Haiti under Duvalier and reveals why the victimization of the elite is essential to mass violence.

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Page Count

614

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231560028

ISBN 13

9780231560023

Societies and Nature in the Sahel

By: Philippe Lavigne Delville,Emmanuel Gregoire,Pierre Janin,Jean Koechlin,Claude Raynaut

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Societies and Nature in the Sahel

By: Philippe Lavigne Delville,Emmanuel Gregoire,Pierre Janin,Jean Koechlin,Claude Raynaut

This book explores the links between environment and social systems in the Sahel, integrating ecological, demographic, economic, technical, social and cultural factors. Examining the conditions for land occupation and natural resource use, it offers a conceptual and practical approach to social organization and environmental management.

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Page Count

428

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1134769059

ISBN 13

9781134769056

The Case for Work

By: Jean-Philippe Deranty

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The Case for Work

By: Jean-Philippe Deranty

The modern work ethic is in crisis. The numerous harms and injustices harboured by current labour markets and work organisations, combined with the threat of mass unemployment entailed in rampant automation, have inspired a strong “post-work” movement in the theoretical humanities and social sciences, echoed by many intellectuals, journalists, artists and progressives. Against this widespread temptation to declare work obsolete, The Case for Work shows that our paltry situation is critical precisely because work matters. It is a mistake to advocate a society beyond work on the basis of its current organisation. In the first part of the book, the arguments feeding into the “case against work” are located in the long history of social and political thought. This comprehensive, genealogical inquiry highlights many conceptual and methodological issues that continue to plague contemporary accounts. The second part of the book makes the “case for work” in a positive way through a dialectical argument. The very feature of work that its critics emphasise, namely that it is a realm of necessity, is precisely what makes it the conduit for freedom and flourishing, provided each member of society is in a position to face this necessity in conditions that are equal and just.

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Page Count

433

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0192887165

ISBN 13

9780192887160

Biodiversity in the Marine Environment

By: Philippe Goulletquer,Philippe Gros,Gilles Boeuf,Jacques Weber

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Biodiversity in the Marine Environment

By: Philippe Goulletquer,Philippe Gros,Gilles Boeuf,Jacques Weber

The oceans cover over 70% of our planet. They are host to a biodiversity of tremendous wealth. Its preservation is now a global priority featuring in several international conventions and a confirmed objective of European policies and national strategies. Understanding the dynamics and the uses of the marine biodiversity is a genuine scientific challenge. Fourteen international experts have got together and identified five priority research themes to address the problem, based on analysing the state of knowledge.

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214

Publisher

Springer Science & Business Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

940178566X

ISBN 13

9789401785662

Cultures

By: Philippe Descola

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Cultures

By: Philippe Descola

Résumé éditeur : "Philippe Descola, grande figure de l'anthropologie contemporaine française, interroge notre rapport au sport et au jeu au regard de la pratique qu'en ont les sociétés primitives, notamment chez les Amérindiens qu'il a longuement étudiés. Il analyse le modèle occidental du sport de compétition qui s'est imposé au reste du monde et qui porte en lui inégalités, individualisme et sentiment national exacerbés, tout en créant un certain sens du commun. Dans la lignée de la réflexion qu'il a menée sur le dualisme nature-culture, il s'empare de la question de l'hybridation de l'homme et de la machine. Et il réfléchit à la place qu'aurait le sport dans "l'universel de la relation" auquel il aspire.

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112

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Companyédition Insep/Le Pommier/Carnets Nord

Published Date

ISBN 10

235536267X

ISBN 13

9782355362675

Technicity vs Scientificity

Complementarities and Rivalries

By: Giulia Anichini,Flavia Carraro,Philippe Geslin,Georges Guille-Escuret

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Technicity vs Scientificity

Complementarities and Rivalries

By: Giulia Anichini,Flavia Carraro,Philippe Geslin,Georges Guille-Escuret

The relationship between technicity and scientificity is often overlooked or avoided despite being a determining factor for establishing interdisciplinarity. By focusing on this relationship and highlighting a number of its ramifications, this book sheds light on the hidden or skewed stakes that condition a wide array of scientific projects. The authors present different approaches based on their own professional experience, focusing on the technique–science relationship in domains as diverse as brain mapping, the decipherment of Mycenaean writing and the design process. Each chapter presents varying and often opposing epistemological conclusions to provide the reader with a wide breadth of examples in different fields. Although the scope of this book is far from exhaustive, it serves as a starting point for the necessary and long-overdue clarification of the relationship between these neighboring, yet disjointed, sectors.

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155

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1119406269

ISBN 13

9781119406266

History as a Kind of Writing

Textual Strategies in Contemporary French Historiography

By: Philippe Carrard

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History as a Kind of Writing

Textual Strategies in Contemporary French Historiography

By: Philippe Carrard

In academia, the traditional role of the humanities is being questioned by the “posts”—postmodernism, poststructuralism, and postfeminism—which means that the project of writing history only grows more complex. In History as a Kind of Writing, scholar of French literature and culture Philippe Carrard speaks to this complexity by focusing the lens on the current state of French historiography. Carrard’s work here is expansive—examining the conventions historians draw on to produce their texts and casting light on views put forward by literary theorists, theorists of history, and historians themselves. Ranging from discussions of lengthy dissertations on 1960s social and economic history to a more contemporary focus on events, actors, memory, and culture, the book digs deep into the how of history. How do historians arrange their data into narratives? What strategies do they employ to justify the validity of their descriptions? Are actors given their own voice? Along the way, Carrard also readdresses questions fundamental to the field, including its necessary membership in the narrative genre, the presumed objectivity of historiographic writing, and the place of history as a science, distinct from the natural and theoretical sciences.

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Page Count

261

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022642801X

ISBN 13

9780226428017

Latour-Stengers

An Entangled Flight

By: Philippe Pignarre

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Latour-Stengers

An Entangled Flight

By: Philippe Pignarre

Certain great friendships have left their mark in the annals of philosophy – and, without a doubt, the friendship of Bruno Latour and Isabelle Stengers is among them. Although they wrote very few texts together, their intellectual companionship lasted for over thirty years, and their respective work can be fully understood only when the many interconnections of their thought are brought to the fore. Latour and Stengers occupy the same starting place, one which remains at the heart of their work: scientific practice, which is the pride of modernity. Why do we Moderns define ourselves as those who know, while others are condemned to be only believers? This question led Latour and Stengers to the same fundamental question: how to understand and live in what Latour calls "the new climatic regime” and what Stengers calls “catastrophic times"? Philippe Pignarre's aim is not to try to sort out which ideas belong to whom but rather to interweave their thought even more. In so doing, he sheds new light on the origins and development of their work at the same time as he documents an exceptional intellectual adventure between two of the leading thinkers of our age.

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146

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509555528

ISBN 13

9781509555529

Le masque : une "inquiétante étrangeté"

By: Philippe Meunier,Edgard Samper

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Le masque : une "inquiétante étrangeté"

By: Philippe Meunier,Edgard Samper

Le présent ouvrage est le fruit d’une réflexion qui a nourri un séminaire de l’équipe des hispanistes (GRIAS) du Centre d’Etudes sur les Littératures Etrangères et Comparées, EA 3069, et d’un colloque international (Espagne,

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637

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Publications de l'Université de Saint-Etienne

Published Date

ISBN 10

2862726494

ISBN 13

9782862726496

Disturbance

Surviving Charlie Hebdo

By: Philippe Lançon

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Disturbance

Surviving Charlie Hebdo

By: Philippe Lançon

In this Prix Femina–winning memoir, a writer at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo recounts surviving the deadly terror attack on their office. On January 7, 2015, two terrorists claiming allegiance to ISIS attack the Paris office of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The event causes untold pain to the victims and their families, prompts a global solidarity movement, and ignites a fierce debate over press freedoms and the role of satire today. Philippe Lançon, a journalist, author, and a weekly contributor to Charlie Hebdo is gravely wounded in the attack—an experience that upends his relationship to the world. As Lançon attempts to reconstruct his life on the page, he rereads Proust, Thomas Mann, Kafka, and others in search of guidance. It is a year before he can return to writing, a year in which he learns to work through his experiences and their aftermath. Disturbance is not an essay on terrorism nor is it a witness’s account of Charlie Hebdo. It is an honest, intimate account of a man seeking to put his life back together after it has been torn apart. “A powerful and deeply civilized memoir.” —The New York Times

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404

Publisher

Europa Editions

Published Date

ISBN 10

1609455576

ISBN 13

9781609455576

Book's by Philippe Descola

Beyond Nature and Culture

Beyond Nature and Culture

The Composition of Worlds

The Composition of Worlds

In the Society of Nature

In the Society of Nature

In the Society of Nature

In the Society of Nature

Beyond Nature and Culture

Beyond Nature and Culture

The Composition of Worlds

The Composition of Worlds

Killing the Elites

Killing the Elites

Societies and Nature in the Sahel

Societies and Nature in the Sahel

The Case for Work

The Case for Work

Biodiversity in the Marine Environment

Biodiversity in the Marine Environment

Cultures

Cultures

Technicity vs Scientificity

Technicity vs Scientificity

History as a Kind of Writing

History as a Kind of Writing

Latour-Stengers

Latour-Stengers

Le masque : une "inquiétante étrangeté"

Le masque : une "inquiétante étrangeté"

Disturbance

Disturbance

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