In Search of the Primitive: A Critique of Civilization (Routledge Classic Texts in Anthropology)

Stanley Diamond was professor of anthropology in the graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research, USA. . He was the founder and editor of Dialectical Anthropology and a research scientist at the National Institutes of Health, USA

Dr. Diamond's work is of key importance in this undertaking, a pioneering venture, courageous and clear. In Search of the Primitive is a door-crack of light from a forgotten outdoors of the spirit: the old and future world of true human nature in nature. Thinkers of the Left and Right, Occident and Orient, will be challenged to go beyond the social myths of the last six thousand years. Diamond stands out as one of the most perceptive of those who are arguing for a reformation of anthropology."— Choice"Putting the whole of 'Civilization* in perspective and going beyond it is the most difficult and demandin

Above all it is reflective and self-critical, critical of the discipline of anthropology and of the civilization that produced that discipline. In Search of the Primitive is a tough-minded book containing chapters ranging from encounters in the field to essays on the nature of law, schizophrenia and civilization, and the evolution of the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss. Diamond views the anthropologist who refuses to become a searching critic of his own civilizations as not merely irresponsible, but a tool of Western civilization. He rejects the associations which have been made in the ideology of our civilization, consciously or unconsciously, between Western dominance and progress, imperialism and evolution, evolution and progress.. Anthropology is a kind of debate between human possibilitiesa dialectical movement between the anthropologist as a modern man and the primitive peoples he studies

Amazing book I've only read about a hundred pages so far but I love the historical context and clarity of vision about what anthropology can do. I also recommend "Debt, the First 5000 years".. "Brilliant anthropology and philosophy" according to Derrick Jensen. I love this book, and refer to it constantly, both in my life and in my books. It has the best first sentence of any book I've ever read: "Civilization originates in conquest abroad and repression at home." And the book takes off from there. It is an extraordinary exploration of the indigenous peoples with whom Diamond worked, and explores the differences between, for example, indigenous and civilized moralities. Here is what he wrote about morality in a civilized world: �Our. Wrong Book! The previous two reviews are for a different book (paperback, with the same title, but no subtitle), by Stanley Diamond. Both reviews refer to Diamond's book, not Cotlow's, because they mention Diamond by name. Apparently both reviews were erroneously attatched to the hardback edition of the Cotlow book, unbeknownst to the reviewers.I'm hoping Amazon will correct this error.