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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Continuities, culture and the commonplace: searching for a new ethnographic approach in South Africa
Author:Spiegel, Andrew D.ISNI
Year:1997
Periodical:African Studies
Volume:56
Issue:2
Pages:9-29
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:research methods
social sciences
anthropology
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Anthropology and Archaeology
Bibliography/Research
External link:https://doi.org/10.1080/00020189708707866
Abstract:This essay represents an exploration into the possibilities of an analytical method for southern African anthropology that attempts to go beyond exclusively instrumentalist explanations of continuity and change while remaining within a generally materialist framework. In developing such a method the focus must be on practice in and of itself. Anthony Giddens's notion of structuration and his distinction between discursive and practical consciousness offer a frame in order to differentiate between those practices that are instrumentally maintained or even created and those that persist for other reasons. However, to tap into the practical consciousness which allows people to 'go on' with their commonplace everyday practices will require far more intensive participant observation in South African anthropology than has been the case in recent years. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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