Showing papers by "Fredrik Barth published in 2012"
12 Oct 2012
TL;DR: The concept of boundaries is important and versatile, but often unclear and even quite mystifying in contemporary anthropological thought as mentioned in this paper, and to what extent it provides a figure of thought, a concept that is used generally by people to perform mental operations and construct categories.
Abstract: The concept of boundaries is important and versatile, but often unclear and
even quite mystifying in contemporary anthropological thought In the
following, I wish to raise the twin issues of how we think when we use a
notion of boundaries, and to what extent it provides a figure of thought, a
concept, that is used generally by people to perform mental operations and
construct categories Since I am associated with an influential formulation
thirty years ago on the theme of ‘ethnic groups and boundaries’ (Barth
1969), I should signal clearly at the outset that what I take up here is quite
a different set of issues from those that then concerned me – though I will,
towards the end, have something to say on the question of ethnic boundaries
and their variable salience But my general purpose in this essay is to explore
some cognitive aspects of the concept of boundaries: both its variable uses by
actors in different social systems, and its uses and abuses for our own
analytical purposes
96 citations