1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910778980003321

Autore

Stoller Paul

Titolo

The taste of ethnographic things : the senses in anthropology / / Paul Stoller

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Philadelphia : , : University of Pennsylvania Press, , 1989

©1989

ISBN

1-283-21198-X

9786613211989

0-8122-0314-3

0-585-12737-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xv, 182 pages) : illustrations

Collana

University of Pennsylvania Press contemporary ethnography series

Disciplina

306.096626

Soggetti

Songhai (African people)

Senses and sensation

Ethnology - Fieldwork - Niger

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Third paperback printing 1992.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [167]-177) and index.

Nota di contenuto

pt. 1. Tastes in anthropology -- pt. 2. Visions in the field -- pt. 3. Sounds in cultural experience -- pt. 4. The senses in anthropology.

Sommario/riassunto

Anthropologists who have lost their senses write ethnographies that are often disconnected from the worlds they seek to portray. For most anthropologists, Stoller contends, tasteless theories are more important than the savory sauces of ethnographic life. That they have lost the smells, sounds, and tastes of the places they study is unfortunate for them, for their subjects, and for the discipline itself.The Taste of Ethnographic Things describes how, through long-term participation in the lives of the Songhay of Niger, Stoller eventually came to his senses. Taken together, the separate chapters speak to two important and integrated issues. The first is methodological—all the chapters demonstrate the rewards of long-term study of a culture. The second issue is how he became truer to the Songhay through increased sensual awareness.