Sacrifice, Time and Anthropology: Three Exercises Around The Savage Mind

Authors

  • Marcos Lanna Universidade Federal de São Carlos
  • Carlos Eduardo Costa Universidade Federal de São Carlos
  • Alexandre Colli de Souza Universidade Federal de São Carlos

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/2179-0892.ra.2015.102110

Keywords:

C. Lévi-Strauss, The Savage Mind, Sacrifice, History, Art

Abstract

The article aims to demonstrate the importance of C. Lévi- Strauss ́ The Savage mind for anthropology today. We focus on Lévi-Strauss ́ presentation of “the savage mind” (or “mind in the wild”, his first idea for the English title of the book) as a formal necessity of any human thought, and its manifestations as art, myth or bricolage as well as its relation to science. As it is well known, among other contributions, this book presents a notion of transformation between systematic analytical groups. At the same time, it demonstrates the ineluctability of classification processes, presenting mankind as condemned to classify either in the totemic or in the sacrificial mode. Given this picture, we bring together different styles of thinking — including our own, that are also classificatory and bricolage. We discuss the contrast between totemic and sacrificial classification systems, confront Anthropology and History and finally debate the question of the place of Anthropology in an art-science-myth triangle. 

Downloads

Downloads

Published

2015-08-12

Issue

Vol. 58 No. 1 (2015)

Section

Articles

License

Authors who intend to publish in this journal must agree with the following terms:

 

  1. a) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication. The work is simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows the work to be shared as long as the author and the initial publication in this journal are appropriately credited.
  2. b) Authors are authorized to sign additional contracts for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (e.g., to publish it as a book chapter), as long as the author and the initial publication in this journal are appropriately credited.
  3. c) Authors are allowed and encouraged to publish and distribute their work online (e.g. on their personal webpage) after the editorial process, for this can generate productive changes as well as increase the impact and citation of the work. See The Effect of Open Access Publications.

How to Cite

Lanna, M., Costa, C. E., & Souza, A. C. de. (2015). Sacrifice, Time and Anthropology: Three Exercises Around The Savage Mind. Revista De Antropologia, 58(1), 321-361. https://doi.org/10.11606/2179-0892.ra.2015.102110