The Taste of Ethnographic Things: The Senses in Anthropology (Contemporary Ethnography) [Paperback]

Paul Stoller (Author)

Book Description

Series: Contemporary Ethnography | Publication Date: September 1, 1989

Anthropologists who have lost their senses write ethnographies that are often disconnected from the worlds they seek to portray. For most anthropologists, Stoller contends, tasteless theories are more important than the savory sauces of ethnographic life. That they have lost the smells, sounds, and tastes of the places they study is unfortunate for them, for their subjects, and for the discipline itself.

The Taste of Ethnographic Things describes how, through long-term participation in the lives of the Songhay of Niger, Stoller eventually came to his senses. Taken together, the separate chapters speak to two important and integrated issues. The first is methodological—all the chapters demonstrate the rewards of long-term study of a culture. The second issue is how he became truer to the Songhay through increased sensual awareness.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An ingeniously constructed springboard for a criticism of anthropology."—African Studies Review

"This tantalising exploration of the anthropologist's relation to the Other provides a refreshing, optimistic and creative outlook on the perennial dilemma of ethnographic representation. Based on more than seven years' fieldwork amongst the Songhay of Niger, Stoller concocts an anecdotal mIlEe of sights, sounds and smells that flavour the natives' inner world. His exegesis is a masterly example of concision and ingenuity, narrating both mundane and extraordinary incidents that occurred during his initiation as a Songhay sorcerer—An eminently digestible recipe of Songhay socialization, peppered with provocative musings on the anthropological endeavour."—Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford

"This book is one of the most interesting and useful recent instances of anthropology at the crossroads. . . . [Stoller] fluidly articulates the central tension in the discipline today."—Man

"The author succeeds in being provocative, making claims that are contrary to conventional anthropological wisdom or have long been incorporated as basic tenants, but which are questioned afresh"—Anthropology and Humanism

About the Author

Paul Stoller is Professor of Anthropology at West Chester University and the author of Sensuous Scholarship, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (September 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812212924
• ISBN-13: 978-0812212921
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #197,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Stoller is an ethnographer, memoirist and novelist who has authored 11 books. His most recent work, a memoir, is called The Power of the Between: An Anthropological Odyssey, which was published in December of 2008 by the University of Chicago Press. He loves to hear and read good stories which inspires him to try to tell and write good stories. He is currently working on a new novel, The Sorcerer's Burden and is learning Spanish which he hopes to practice on his next trip to Ecuador.