One discipline, four ways : British, German, French, and American anthropology / Fredrik Barth, Andre Gingrich, Robert Parkin, Sydel Silverman ; with a foreword by Chris Hann.

"The twenty chapters of this volume derive from a series of lectures titled Four traditions in anthropology, which were organized to mark the inauguration of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle (Saale), Germany, in June 2002"--Fwd.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [349]-387) and index.

Foreword / Chris Hann.-- Britain and the Commonwealth / Fredrik Barth.--1. The Rise of Anthropology in Britain, 1830-1898.-- 2. From the Torres Straits to the Argonauts, 1898-1922.--3.Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown, 1920-1945.-- 4. The Golden Age, 1945-1970.-- 5.Enduring Legacies of the British Tradition, 1970-2000.-- The German-Speaking Countries / Andre Gingrich.-- 1. Prelude and Overture: From Early Travelogues to German Enlightenment .-- 2. From the Nationalist Birth of Volkskunde to the Establishment of Academic Diffusionism: Branching Off from the International Mainstream.-- 3. From the Late Imperial Era to the End of the Republican Interlude: Creative Subaltern .-- Tendencies, Larger and Smaller Schools of Anthropology. --4. German Anthropology during the Nazi Period: Complex Scenarios of Collaboration, Persecution, and Competition.-- 5.Anthropology in Four German-Speaking Countries: Key Elements of Post-World War II Developments to 1989.-- The French-Speaking Countries / Robert Parkin.-- 1. Pre-Durkheimian Origins. -- 2. Durkheim and His Era. --3. Mauss, Other Durkheimians, and Interwar Developments.-- 4. Structuralism and Marxism. --5. Practice, Hierarchy, and Postmodernism.-- The United States / Sydel Silverman. --1. The Boasians and the Invention of Cultural Anthropology .--2. Postwar Expansion, Materialisms, and Mentalisms.-- 3. Bringing Anthropology into the Modern World. --4. Rebellions and Reinventions. --5. American Anthropology at the End of the Century.--References. -- Index.

One Discipline, Four Ways offers the first book-length introduction to the history of each of the four major traditions in anthropology - British, German, French, and American. The result of lectures given by distinguished anthropologists Fredrik Barth, Andre Gingrich, Robert Parkin, and Sydel Silverman to mark the foundation of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, this volume not only traces the development of each tradition but considers their impact on one another and assesses their future potentials. Moving from E. B. Taylor all the way through the development of modern fieldwork, Barth reveals the repressive tendencies that prevented Britain from developing a variety of anthropological practices until the late 1960s. Gingrich, meanwhile, articulates the development of German anthropology, paying particular attention to the Nazi period, of which surprisingly little analysis has been offered until now. Parkin then assesses the French tradition and, in particular, its separation of theory and ethnographic practice. Finally, Silverman traces the formative influence of Franz Boas, the expansion of the discipline after World War II, and the "fault lines" and promises of contemporary anthropology in the United States.