Clifford Geertz
Clifford Geertz
Clifford James Geertzwas an American anthropologist who is remembered mostly for his strong support for and influence on the practice of symbolic anthropology, and who was considered "for three decades...the single most influential cultural anthropologist in the United States." He served until his death as professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth23 August 1926
CountryUnited States of America
people secular
Two people have been really liberating in my mind; one is Wittgenstein and the other is Burke. I read Burke before he was a secular saint, before everyone was reading him.
fall knowledge nature rhetoric
We need to think more about the nature of rhetoric in anthropology. There isn't a body of knowledge and thought to fall back on in this regard.
moving thinking diversity
I don't think things are moving toward an omega point; I think they're moving toward more diversity
destroying scholar employed
A scholar can hardly be better employed than in destroying a fear.
feminist female anthropology
Anthropology in general has always been fairly hospitable to female scholars, and even to feminist scholars
book mean writing
I'm writing a review of three books on feminism and science, and it's about social constructionism. So I would say I'm a social constructionist, whatever that means
looks done amusing
It's always amusing to look at how something early in the 20th century was written in anthropology and how it's written now. There's been an enormous shift in how it's done, but yet you can't put your finger on someone who actually did it
thinking people consciousness
I do think the attempt to raise consciousness has succeeded. People are very aware of gender concerns now
paragraph satisfied sentences
I never leave a sentence or a paragraph until I'm satisfied with it
real anxiety matter
Anthropology never has had a distinct subject matter, and because it doesn't have a real method, there's a great deal of anxiety over what it is
book moon views
I've written a lot of books which are written from the moon - the view from nowhere.
facts arguing fit
If there's ever a place where you can't argue that you can put the facts over here and the text over there and see if they fit, it is surely in anthropology
people soul literature
I was trained in the '50s as a New Critic. I remember what literature was like before the New Critics, when people stood up and talked about Shelley's soul and such things
atmosphere alive fields
I don't feel that an atmosphere of debate and total disagreement and argument is such a bad thing. It makes for a vital and alive field.