Archeology of ViolencePierre Clastres broke up with his mentor Claude Levi-Strauss to collaborate with Gilles Deleuze and Felix Gattari on their Anti-Oedipus. He is the rare breed of political anthropologist—a Nietzschean—and his work presents us with a generalogy of power in a native state. For him, tribal societies are not Rousseauist in essence; to the contrary, they practice systematic violence in order to prevent the rise in their midst of this "cold monster": the state. Only by waging war with other tribes can they maintain the dispersion and autonomy of each group. In the same way, tribal chiefs are not all-powerful; to the contrary, they are rendered weak in order to remain dependent on the community. In a series of groundbreaking essays, Clastres turns around the analysis of power among South American Indians and rehabilitates violence as an affirmative act meant to protect the integrity of their societies. These "savages" are shrewd political minds who resist in advance any attempt at "globalization." |
Contents
The Last Frontier | 9 |
Savage Ethnography | 29 |
The Highpoint of the Cruise 337 | 37 |
Copyright | |
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Abipone alliance ancestors Andean anthropology arrows autonomous big-man Birnbaum Boétie century chabuno Chaco Chaco tribes chants chief chieftainship Chulupi cult cultural dead death desire for power difference discourse dominated economic economic anthropology effect enemies ethnocide ethnographic ethnologists ethnology evil existence exploit fact forest freedom function glory Godelier Guaicuru Guarani Guayaki huaca human hunting Incan Incas Indians inscribed institution JEAN BAUDRILLARD Kaanoklé karai kinship La Boétie Lévi-Strauss living Lizot logic machine Marshall Sahlins Marx Marxist misfortune missionaries myths nature never obey PAUL VIRILIO PETER LAMBORN WILSON PIERRE CLASTRES political precisely prestige primitive economy primitive social primitive society question reality refusal relationship religion religious rites ritual Sahlins Savages scalp SEMIOTEXT(E shaman soci social body social division society's sociological South America Spanish territory thought tion tive Toba tribes Tupi-Guarani undivided society violence Viracocha warlike warrior group words Yanoama Yanomami young