Marilyn Strathern
British anthropologist who analyzed kinship, gender, and property in Melanesia and Euro-American contexts.
Most quoted
"Anthropology is not just about understanding others; it is also about understanding ourselves through others."
— from Partial Connections, 1992
"The world is not simply 'out there' to be discovered; it is constantly being made and remade."
— from Partial Connections, 1991
"The anthropologist's task is not to explain away difference, but to render it intelligible."
— from Property, Substance and Effect: Anthropological Essays on Persons and Things, 1999
All quotes by Marilyn Strathern (107)
The boundaries between 'self' and 'other' are always permeable.
Anthropology teaches us to be suspicious of universal claims.
The concept of 'relatedness' is not fixed, but actively produced.
The act of writing is an act of creation, not just transcription.
The 'object' of study in anthropology is always in relation to the 'subject' studying it.
The world is not simply 'out there' to be discovered; it is constantly being made and remade.
The concept of 'value' is always culturally mediated.
Anthropology is a conversation, not a monologue.
The 'facts' of social life are always interpreted facts.
The idea of 'choice' is not universally understood in the same way.
The past is not simply gone; it is continually re-enacted in the present.
The anthropologist's presence in the field inevitably alters the field.
To describe is to intervene.
The concept of 'personhood' is not a universal given.
Kinship is not just about biology; it's about social relations and cultural practices.
The 'truth' in anthropology is always a situated truth.
The act of giving is never simple; it is always entangled in power relations.
Anthropology is a method of inquiry, not a body of fixed knowledge.
The concept of 'rights' is culturally constructed and historically contingent.
The unexpected is often the most revealing aspect of social life.
Contemporaries of Marilyn Strathern
Other Anthropologys born within 50 years of Marilyn Strathern (1941).