Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Object [Paperback]

Johannes Fabian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1983

An anthropological study of time, and how it is employed, to discuss humans and human endeavors.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A widely informed and deeply reflective study of the ways anthropologists (and some significant related thinkers, such as historians and philosophers) use various concepts of time, wittingly or unwittingly, to define their sense of other human beings who are the subjects of anthropology. -- Walter J. On

Delivers a radical epistemological critique of anthropological writing. -- George E. Marcus

About the Author

Johannes Fabian is professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Amsterdam.

Matti Bunzl is professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 205 pages
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr (April 15, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231055919
• ISBN-13: 978-0231055918
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,640,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a thriller, but a foundation of modern anthropology, December 29, 2005

By 

Richard R. Wilk (Bloomington, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Object (Paperback)

A lot of the critique of how anthropologists "make their object" in the 80s and 90s can be traced back to some of the ideas in this book. It is a profoundly important analysis of how time is manipulated in such a way as to create a boundary between "them" and "us." As the other reviewer says, it is not an easy read, but I don't think you can really know the history of recent anthropological theory without giving this book some of your attention.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A critical view of anthropology, November 12, 2010

By 

AQuintao - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Object (Paperback)

In this book the anthropologist Johannes Fabian, who received his PhD from the University of Chicago, brings a fresh insight to a central topic in anthropology: time. Fabian criticizes structuralism's perspective of time and aims to prove how time is often ignored in ethnography as coevalness is usually denied to the other.

14 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting yet unreadable, April 22, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Object (Paperback)

The thesis of this book I found quite interesting and accurate: that anthropologists consider their subjects as existing in a different time from themselves, in some mythical past. However, the style of the writing seemed as if it was literally translated from the German. I found it very difficult to understand, opaque, and wondered many times why I was bothering to slog through the thing.