ABSTRACT
This is the first full length account of the life and ideas of Mary Douglas, the British social anthropologist whose publications span the second half of the twentieth century.
Richard Fardon covers Douglas' family background, and the pervasive influence of her catholic faith on her writings before providing an analysis of two of her most influential works; Purity and Danger (1966) and Natural Symbols (1970). The final section deals with Douglas' more controversial writings in the fields of economics, consumption, religion and risk analysis in contemporary societies. Throughout, Fardon highlights the centrality of Douglas' role in the history of anthropology and the discipline's struggle to achieve relevance to contemporary, western societies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|71 pages
Beginnings: 1920s – 1950s
chapter 1|21 pages
‘Memories of Acatholic Girlhood’ : 1920S And 1930s
chapter 2|23 pages
Oxford Years: 1940s
chapter 3|25 pages
The Africanist: 1950s
part II|52 pages
Synthesis: 1960s
chapter 4|27 pages
Purity and Danger Revisited
chapter 5|23 pages
Natural Symbols Defended
part III|81 pages
Excursions and Adventures: 1970s–1990s
chapter 6|17 pages
Rituals of Consumption
chapter 7|24 pages
Verbal Weapons and Environments at Risk
chapter 8|17 pages
Returning to Religion – In the Contemporary West
chapter 9|21 pages
Returning to Religion – In the Old Testament
part IV|55 pages
Conserving Anthropological Modernism