Eric Wolf
A prominent historical anthropologist known for his work on power, political economy, and the historical connections between different societies.
Quotes by Eric Wolf
The world of humankind is a world of organized violence.
Anthropology is the most scientific of the humanities, the most humane of the sciences.
The concept of the 'isolated' society, the 'primitive' society, is a fiction.
Power is not a thing, but a relationship.
History is not a unilinear progression, but a complex interplay of forces.
The world is not a collection of billiard balls, but a web of interconnected processes.
Culture is not a static entity, but a dynamic process of meaning-making.
The 'primitive' is not a stage in human evolution, but a construct of Western thought.
The past is not dead; it is not even past.
The study of power is central to understanding human societies.
Anthropology must engage with the big questions of history and power.
The 'Third World' is not a separate entity, but an integral part of a global system.
Ideas are not disembodied entities; they are rooted in social relations.
The 'people without history' are not without history; they have been denied their history.
The anthropologist's task is to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar.
The world is not a collection of separate cultures, but a single, interconnected system.
Power is not just repressive; it is also productive.
The 'nation-state' is a relatively recent invention, not a natural form of human organization.
Anthropology must be critical, not just descriptive.
The 'global' is not outside the 'local'; it is constituted by the local.