Marcel Mauss

Wendy James (1940-2024) taught at the University of Khartoum and had research experience in the Sudan and Ethiopia. She was Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford.

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsINTRODUCTORY ESSAYChapter 1. ‘One of us’: Marcel Mauss and ‘English’ anthropologyWendy JamesTHE SCHOLAR AND HIS TIMEChapter 2. An intellectual self-portraitMarcel MaussChapter 3. Mauss’s Jewish background: a biographical essayW. S. F. PickeringFOUNDATIONS OF MAUSSIAN ANTHROPOLOGY Chapter 4. A vague but suggestive concept: the ‘total social fact’Alexander GofmanChapter 5. The Maussian shift: a second foundation for sociology in France?Bruno KarsentiChapter 6. Derrida’s reading of MaussTim JenkinsCRITIQUES OF EXCHANGE AND POWERChapter 7. Uncertainties of the ‘obligation to reciprocate’: a critique of MaussAlain TestartChapter 8. Mutual deception: totality, exchange, and Islam in the Middle EastPaul DreschChapter 9. Modern philanthropy: reassessing the viability of a Maussian perspectiveIlana SilberChapter 10. Mauss, Dumont, and the distinction between status and power Materiality, body, historyJonathan ParryMATERIALITY, BODY, HISTORYChapter 11. The category of substance: a Maussian theme revisitedN. J. AllenChapter 12. The study of techniques as an ideological challenge: technology, nation, and humanity in the work ofMarcel MaussNathan SchlangerChapter 13. Form, movement, and posture in Mauss: themes for today’s anthropologyClaudine HarocheChapter 14. Mauss in Africa: on time, history, and politicsWendy JamesSelect BibliographyA: Reading Mauss in FrenchB: Work by Mauss available in EnglishC: Selected secondary sourcesNotes on contributorsIndex

“Each of the essays in this volume deals with various facets of his work, and all of them should be read.” • American Anthropologist“This book offers a unique insight into the influence of one of the discipline’s most important theorists. James and Allen are thoughtful editors … their respect produces the best form of criticism in fourteen essays by British, and other European, anthropologists … This is intriguing and stimulating reading … Mauss’s work receives careful attention in this book which is helpful, incisive, and broadly significant to anthropology.” • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI)