There Is No Such Thing as an African Value of Dependence & What Is the Matter with Values?: A Reply to Joel Robbins & A Response to Lockwood.

In "Anthropology Bright and Dark," Joel Robbins encourages anthropologists to identify "visions of the good" and to explore whether they enable or inhibit "human flourishing." Ethnographic work on dependence in southern Africa informs his approach and provides a key example of a "model of the good l...

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Publicado en:Social Analysis Vol. 69; no. 1; pp. 82 - 109
Autores principales: Lockwood, Peter, Robbins, Joel
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Berghahn Books 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: There Is No Such Thing as an African Value of Dependence & What Is the Matter with Values?: A Reply to Joel Robbins & A Response to Lockwood.
      aug:
        au:
          Lockwood, Peter
          Robbins, Joel
        affil:
          Research Fellow, University of Manchester, UK
          Professor, University of Cambridge, UK
      su:
        Anthropology
        Ethnology
        Politics & culture
        Holism
        Social change
      sug:
        subj:
          Anthropology
          Ethnology
          Politics & culture
          Holism
          Social change
      keyword:
        Africa
        anthropology of the good
        dark anthropology
        dependence
        history
        human agency
        political economy
        the good life
        Africa
        anthropology of the good
        dark anthropology
        dependence
        history
        human agency
        political economy
        the good life
      ab: In "Anthropology Bright and Dark," Joel Robbins encourages anthropologists to identify "visions of the good" and to explore whether they enable or inhibit "human flourishing." Ethnographic work on dependence in southern Africa informs his approach and provides a key example of a "model of the good life" in which patron-client relations are seen as ideal social arrangements. But by locating visions of the good in culture, Robbins's approach obscures questions of history, agency, and political economy. The consequence is a misreading of the economic conditions in Africa under which dependent social relationships are sought. Instead of isolating visions of the good, this reply argues that anthropology must reclaim its original holism—its capacity to create synthetic accounts of history, political economy, and moral thought.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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