Posted on 11/03/2009 9:34:00 AM PST by Borges
PARIS – Claude Levi-Strauss, widely considered the father of modern anthropology for work that included theories about commonalities between tribal and industrial societies, has died. He was 100.
The French intellectual was regarded as having reshaped the field of anthropology, introducing the concept of structuralism — concepts about common patterns of behavior and thought, especially myths, in a wide range of human societies. Defined as the search for the underlying patterns of thought in all forms of human activity, structuralism compared the formal relationships among elements in any given system.
During his six-decade career, Levi-Strauss authored literary and anthropological classics including "Tristes Tropiques" (1955), "The Savage Mind" (1963) and "The Raw and the Cooked" (1964).
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Too bad his jeans didn’t hold up.
Shouldn’t he be wearing more denim?
Wow! I really thought he died decades ago!
So now it’s Claude Wrangler’s day in the sun!
Old French bluejeans makers don’t die.
They just fade away.
The button fly finally got him, huh.
‘authored literary and anthropological classics including “Tristes Tropiques” (1955), “The Savage Mind” (1963) and “The Raw and the Cooked” (1964).’
Also ‘The Button Up Fly’ and ‘Peg Legged Boot fit’
But Wranglers do hold up. Same company.
And “Get Me On Flight 505.”
Come on people where are the comments on Structural Anthropology!
First LP I ever bought...or one of the first Aftermath
Only took two posts. Excellent!
My wife and I were having a conversation a few weeks back on “famous people you wouldn’t think are still alive, but are in fact still alive.”
Claude Levi-Strauss was tops on our list. Others included Olivia De Havilland, Gloria Stuart, John Wooden, and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
You should see what anthropologists of the late 1800s had to say about the different cultures, tribes, peoples they encountered and studied. Very politically incorrect Such as people in the near tropics are "ruled by their passions" IE incapable of logical thought
I was a surprise to me too. 100 years — pretty good run. Let’s hope to do better.
I will have to tune in to Howie Carr to see if any listener correctly predicted Levi-Strauss's failure to "come down for breakfast".
You, like me, have an evil mind.
Indeed.
Ping!
Is George Burnes still alive? I can’t remember.
Actually Levi-Strauss’ writings about the cultural role of the trickster is very relevant to the current political environment.
He went to be with Gracie back in 1996. Made it to age 100 plus a few months.
Hmmm .... no mention of the invention of denim.
I’m happy for him :-)
cultural anthro ping.
Wow..didn’t know he was alive. His writings played a big part in my college education. Going to have to dust off one of his books in the near future.
Not only is Olivia de Havilland still alive, but so is Joan Fonatine, her sister! Both of them are well past 90. There must be something to those de Havilland genes!
I’m hot and cold on that issue.
Exactly. Show some respect, people. (Thinking furiously) I...uh...always read structural anthropology with jeans on...
Seriously, holy crap - I didn't know the guy was still around. Made the big century mark, he did. Good on him. I have to wonder - maybe I'll take this opportunity to read it - how he felt about the neo-Marxists who have so inundated the field.
Hugh Downs, too.
commonality
structuralism
patterns of thought
?
(drink)
RIP Claude
Geez...I thought he’d been dead for twenty years. Any news on Generalissimo Franco?
Between C L-S and Joseph Campbell, we still have the template for some of the most successful movies ever made.
Oh gosh, a dark day for the blue jean industry...
He looks good in the picture for someone who made
his fortune during the Gold Rush of 98.
Wait, Gold Rush of 49 now that’s better, my mind
is slipping.
<Come on people where are the comments on Structural Anthropology!
LOL! Really, the guy was a major deal in anthro. I’m sorry to read of his passing; tho I admit to thinking he must have died years ago.
Everyone should take a class or two in cultural anthropology. Maybe some FReepers wouldn’t issue some of the idiotic statements that they do if they understood people and culture better.
There must be something to those de Havilland jeans !
(Claude LEVI-STRAUSS thread :)
RIP.
Dang it! This guy owed me $20!
His work on basic patterns in myths was very good, in the sense that you’d read three or four paragraphs and love the insights, but then none of it added up to anything.
Myths comparisons also brought up surprising corrrespondences, and opposites, reverses. just like fairy tales around the world have correspondences and then also strange reversals.
But somehow there was no there there.
Still, ‘From Honey To Ashes’ was absorbing. Also ‘the Raw And The Cooked’.
He did field world among South American tribes, when he was young, but after his initial field work the rest of his life he used myths recorded by others.
|
|
|||
Gods |
Thanks JennysCool and 1rudeboy. |
||
|
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
I used one of his ideas in a paper on lithic technology. My archaeology professor thought it was interesting as Structural Anth is strongly tied to the Cultural Anth part of the subject.
I must admit I didn’t think he was still alive. As others have said, I might have to dust off one of his books and re-read it.
People, he was not the Levi Strauss who emigrated from Germany and created blue jeans, who died in 1902. He was Claude Levi-Strauss, the famed anthropologist from France!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.