Maurice Godelier. Elogio y defensa de la antropología

Abstract

An analysis of the work of M. Godelier begins with the criticism made by this author of some of the truths long accepted by anthropologists, which are in question due to their lack of an empirical basis. Its objective is to find a series of solid principles from which to reconstruct a knowledge base such as the anthropological one which has been questioned through post-modern deconstruction until it was almost dissolved in “cultural studies”. Given this situation, Godelier offers a series of proposals which reach the core of anthropology and attempt to give it a basis. These are as follows: 1. Besides the things that are sold or given away, there is a third type which form the basis of their identity and related to the sacred. 2. There have never been societies based on kinship, since these links are insufficient to form a society. 3. Human sexuality is fundamentally asocial in that the sexed body of men and woman is a sort of “ventriloquial machine“ that explains the strengths and interests in relationships in society. 4. The type of relationships that make up human groups is denominated a “politico-religious” society. 5. All social relations contain “imaginary knots” as constitutive elements that function through symbolic practices. 6. Man in his relationships with other beings (human and divine) use the representations as imaginary links composed of “mental” and “material” elements forming a unified whole.

Key words: kinship; politico-religious relationships; sexuality; mental-material; symbolic; domination; sacred; gift; power; imaginary.