ABSTRACT

Adam Kuper’s iconoclastic intellectual history argues that the idea of “primitive society” is a western myth. The “primitive” is imagined as the opposite of the “civilised”. But this is a protean myth. As ideas about civilisation change, so the image of primitive society must be adjusted.

By way of fascinating account of classic texts in anthropology, ancient history and law, Kuper reveals how this myth underpinned academic research and inspired political programmes. Its ancestry is traced back to classical western beliefs about barbarians and savages, and Kuper also tackles the latest version of the myth, the idea of a global identity of “indigenous peoples”.

The Reinvention of Primitive Society is a key text in the history of anthropology, and will interest anyone who has puzzled about the very idea of “primitive society” – and so, by implication, about “civilisation”.

part |2 pages

Part I The idea of primitive society

chapter 1|13 pages

The myth of primitive society

chapter 2|15 pages

Barbarian, savage, primitive

part |2 pages

Part II Ancient law, ancient society and totemism

chapter 3|16 pages

Henry Maine’s patriarchal theory

chapter 4|19 pages

Lewis Henry Morgan and Ancient Society

chapter 5|25 pages

The question of totemism

part |2 pages

Part III Evolution and diffusion: Boas, Rivers and Radcliffe-Brown

chapter 7|22 pages

From Rivers to Radcliffe-Brown

part |2 pages

Part IV Descent and alliance

part |2 pages

Part V Back to the beginning

chapter 10|13 pages

The return of the native

chapter 11|5 pages

Conclusion