Shifting Contexts

To suppose anthropological analysis can shift between global and local perspectives may well imply that the two co-exist as broader and narrower horizons or contexts of knowledge. The proof for this can be found in ethnographic accounts where contrasts are repeatedly drawn between the encompassing realm and everyday life, or in value systems which simultaneously trivialize and aggrandize, or in shifts between what pertains to the general or to the particular. Shifting Contextsoffers an original critique of current Western thinking: it does not take for granted that "global" and "local" indicate orders of magnitude or scales of importance. Rather, it addresses the techniques by which people shift the contexts of their knowledge and thus endow phenomena with local or global significance. It is an unusual and original collection of essays by seven leading anthropologists, in the company of two specialists in research policy. This book will appeal to anthropologists andall those working in areas such as the philosophy of social science, cultural studies and comparative sociology.

Marilyn Strathern is Professor of Social Anthropology at Cambridge University.