ABSTRACT
Time has always been an important concept in the social sciences as it pervades many different aspects of the study of human societies (see Adam 1990 for a review of the concept in sociology). More particularly, anthropologists have long been interested in how other societies perceive time (Munn 1992). Modern discussion of the subject in social theory can be traced back to Durkheim, who argued that the concept of time is embedded in social life and is, correspondingly, a social category of thought, re-working an original concept by the eighteenth-century German philosopher Kant (Durkheim 1915: 9–11). He noted, quite rightly, that it is impossible to talk about time except through the particular ways in which it is articulated in our society – such as our calendrical system and cycle of anniversaries and ceremonies. Phrases such as: ‘last week’, ‘at four o’clock’, ‘at Christmas’ and ‘in 1997’ are all very culturally specific. And even when we think we are familiar with something, there can be subtle differences that reveal alternate temporal perceptions. In English when I say ‘half five’, I mean half past five or 5.30; in Icelandic (hálf fimm) I mean half of five, or 4.30; failure to appreciate this subtle difference can cause major misunderstanding. This difference in an otherwise shared cultural time-consciousness not only can cause confusion, but expresses, albeit in a small way, a slight difference in the perception of time. In highlighting the importance of the social life of time, Durkheim opened the field, particularly for anthropological investigation of how different societies conceive time. Many studies have been done on other societies’ time perception, such as Bohannan’s study of the Nigerian Tiv (Bohannan 1953), but among the earliest and most famous was Evans-Pritchard.
