Symbolic Anthropology:
emphasis on culture as meaning expressed
through symbols (popular especially in 1950s, 60s, and 70s)
Famous Proponents
of Symbolic Anthropology:
Harold Schneider—famous
for idea of “core symbol”
Clifford Geertz—famous
for ideas of “thick description” and “webs of meaning”
Victor Turner:
Victor
Turner (1920-1983)
Student
of Radcliffe-Brown as an undergraduate, Max Gluckman as a graduate student
Some of his influences:
structural functionalists
Max Gluckman's political anthropology and emphasis on
conflict
psychoanalytic ideas of Sigmund Freud
Van Gennep's ideas about rites of passage with what
he identified as three stages of (1) separation; (2) margin (what Turner
referred to as liminality); and reaggregation (or, reincorporation
Important
ideas:
Liminality
Communitas
Notion of symbols as having efficacy, as accomplishing
something for members of a community