1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910960659903321

Autore

Lyons Andrew P (Andrew Paul)

Titolo

Irregular connections : a history of anthropology and sexuality / / Andrew P. Lyons and Harriet D. Lyons

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Lincoln, : University of Nebraska Press, c2004

ISBN

9786610424139

9781280424137

1280424133

9780803204379

080320437X

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (437 p.)

Collana

Critical studies in the history of anthropology

Altri autori (Persone)

LyonsHarriet

Disciplina

306.7/09

Soggetti

Sex customs - History

Anthropology - History

Anthropologists - Attitudes

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [349]-384) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction -- Three images of primitive sexuality and the definition of species -- Sex and the refuge for destitute truth -- Matriarchy, marriage by capture, and other fantasies -- The reconstruction of "primitive sexuality" at the Fin de Siecle -- "Old Africa hands" -- Malinowski as "reluctant sexologist" -- Margaret Mead, the future of language, and lost opportunities -- The "silence" -- Sex in contemporary anthropology -- Conclusions and unfinished business.

Sommario/riassunto

Irregular Connections traces the anthropological study of sex from the eighteenth century to the present, focusing primarily on social and cultural anthropology and the work done by researchers in North America and Great Britain. Andrew P. and Harriet D. Lyons argue that the sexuality of those whom anthropologists studied has been conscripted into Western discourses about sex, including debates about prostitution, homosexuality, divorce, premarital relations, and hierarchies of gender, class, and race.   Because sex is the most private of activities and often carries a high emotional charge, it is peculiarly difficult to investigate. At times, such as the late 1920s and the last



decade of the twentieth century, sexuality has been a central concern of anthropologists and focal in their theoretical formulations. At other times the study of sexuality has been marginalized. The anthropology of sex has sometimes been one of the main faces that anthropology presented to the public, often causing resentment within the discipline.   Irregular Connections discusses several individuals who have played a significant role in the anthropological study of sexuality, including Sir Richard Burton, Havelock Ellis, Edward Westermarck, Bronislaw Malinowski, Margaret Mead, George Devereux, Robert Levy, Gilbert Herdt, Stephen O. Murray, and Esther Newton. Synthesizing a wealth of information from different anthropological traditions, the authors offer a seamless history of the anthropology of sex as it has been practiced and conceptualized in North America and Great Britain.