Marxist theory and anthropological practice : the application of French Marxist anthropology in field-work

Contents: 1. Introduction (is there a case for a Marxist approach in anthropological fieldwork - the structure of our argument). 2. The level of production as a problem in anthropological fieldwork (data on production - the concept of 'mode of production' - variations in the 'lineage mode of production' in Black Africa - the 'lineage mode of production' in North Africa - discussion). 3. Production and politics (the danger of functionalist teleology - Meillassoux and the politics of kin-group composition among the Guro (Ivory Coast) - Rey and determinism - class alliance between elders and capitalists: the Maka case (S.E. Cameroon) - the Zambian Nkoya as a contrasting case - analysis in terms of class? - the extended-case method). 4. The ethnography of articulation (the problem - production at a Zambian chief's court - capturing articulation in ethnographic data). 5. Field-work on ideology, belief and ritual (some theoretical problems - religious plurality and articulation of modes of production: the Nkoya case). 6. Concluding remarks. Notes, ref