Marshall Sahlins: Anthropology

Marshall Sahlins embodies the modern history of anthropology. From early work on “stone age economics” to a brilliant theory on who killed Captain Cook to a recent, revolutionary approach to kinship, he has repeatedly reset the agenda for the discipline. A one-time colleague of Claude Lévi-Strauss, Sahlins looks back on decades of studies of Oceanic societies and shares insights into his unparalleled career. The University of Chicago scholar, rabble-rouser, campus activist, and inventor of the teach-in holds forth on his home turf. He will be joined in conversation by CHF's Marilynn Thoma Endowed Chair for Artistic Leadership and UChicago anthropology PhD Matti Bunzl.
This program was recorded on October 26, 2014 as part of the 25th Anniversary Chicago Humanities Festival, Journeys: chf.to/2014Jour...
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[@DaveTielung]

Rest in Power Marshall Sahlins 1930-2021

[@prerna363]

Great interview. His laughter goes straight to the fifth gear tho 😂

[@SandroMassarani]

Wonderful interview. Sahlins is really a legend.

[@MaxHarden]

Except for the interviewer

[@EricJacobusOfficial]

Man, this guy's amazing, just discovered him. Such a great good sense of humor too.

[@TheyCallMeGroucho]

A truly informative interview. Thank you for the opportunity to listen to this scholar. Great questions from Prof. Bunzl. Would like to hear more, especially concerning the role of Marvin Harris in Prof. Sahlin's career and research approach. Again, thank you. Larry, Taiwan

[@yunli5038]

This is insightful and brilliant

[@Wesley-km8kb]

I learned about captain cook in college. In high school, I learned how communism became an influence starting at the end of WW2 and how capitalism got stronger during WW2. I remember watching the bombing of North Vietnam which was operation rolling thunder. I lived in New York city as a kid. In the summer of 1966 I vacationed in Washington D.C. when the third rolling thundered resumed. I remember seeing college students on their way to schools to attend teach-ins.

[@Wesley-km8kb]

I was seven years old when it was the first and only time I saw teach-ins which was in New York city. I was probably eight or seven when I first went to Washington D.C. in 1966. The war in Vietnam really started to escalate once again. I was actually born in Canada.

[@ciscocastillo7255]

I heart the interviewer

[@youngbahss3220]

Love you Dad!

[@yogi2436]

The account of Cook's death seems totally fanciful to me.

[@RoyaIArtz]

That interviewer looks eerily like syndome from The Incredibles

[@igorcarvalho5478]

The interviewer keeps interrupting Sahlins. Very annoying

[@MaxHarden]

“Um, maybe we um, need a new art director um, for the humanities, uh…”

[@Jeronimus8090]

17:54 food system

[@7KINDUSTRY]

Jerónimo I just commented on this as well, cultural revolution via tacos

[@Foxyfeline99]

The interviewer is hard to tolerate

[@7sd957]

Cant agree more

[@Pierdoria]

muito bom mesmo

[@BrettElliott33]

Outstanding interview. Dreadful interviewer...

[@7KINDUSTRY]

@20:08 like how taco bells start was because McDonald's was a thing, add seasonings to beef and you get culture?

[@AMan-rg4en]

Thetis was a raw woman who gave birth to a cooked man as offering to Zeus.

[@Donama13]

Thank´s you!!! Are you cuestions biology and religión at XXI??

[@luizacosta3666]

poderiam legendar em português

[@sandeepan25]

😇

[@rogerwelsh2335]

He makes a comment about science and table. Then goes to show how anthropology is more beneficial in his story of Fiji cannibalism. I found that funny because that story showed that the lack of scientific study caused the cannibalism and strange beliefs in these Fiji tribe

[@dennistoft8458]

He makes a joke about the different scientific processes. If you listen closely, then you can hear him explain their rationale. You should read E.E. Evans Pritchard's "Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande", I think his argument could widen your perspective.

[@heliocentric68]

Two things pissed me off in the first 10 minutes of this interview. 1. Any scientist should not start his interview by knocking, or claiming, his field of science is superior or more valuable than other fields of science. 2. Calling Native Americans, Indians.

[@caleasterling8559]

1. He has a right to state his opinion 2. You are right about it

[@watson1381]

1. He is not a scientist, he is an anthropologist 2. He is not claiming that anything is better than the other, just describing anthropology via comparing in a way that is comical and easy to understand. 3. He is old, people used to call then Indians. can't teach an old dog new tricks.

[@caleasterling8559]

I live in Oklahoma and MOST Native Americans here call themselves Indians. They have perhaps appropriated the term in order to minimize the sting.

[@perifericarage6831]

As cal stated, it is already a category, when you try to delete that "Indio" category, is like you are trying to hide what happened, so, it is what it is

[@Cherchara]

Is there freedom of thought in USA universities today?

[@caleasterling8559]

Not a lot, but there are still some pockets, mostly at small religious colleges where you are even allowed to pray!

[@sahilmarya2597]

Were you expecting some kind of discussion thread from this? There is more freedom of thought than most other places in the world.

[@sahilmarya2597]

@@caleasterling8559 you are allowed to pray wherever you want...

[@squatch545]

The interviewer is truly cringe worthy.

[@10act37]

Dumb twat! Got nothing else better to say?

[@detlefschwertfeger8885]

Great interview right up until Sahlins launches into a McCarthyist anti-China rant at 46:10.

[@sahilmarya2597]

fearing maligned influence from china in the 1940's is different from expecting it from an aggressive 2022 rising power. his apprehension of academic integrity makes sense to me

[@romainvas4382]

well... Sahlins might be a great anthropologist but Maurice Godelier is really the greatest anthropologist alive

[@Fatenashc]

Levi-Strauss and Marilyn Strathern are the greatests...

[@trave7644]

A terrible structuralist. Listen to his comments on "dinner" time in America.

[@depalans6740]

Anthropology seems like an apology on humans. Take for instance the example of cannibalism in Fiji that is supposed to make sense. I am more concerned about man who is being sacrificed or woman being bartered than anything else. Clearly the study seems to be study of power in the garb of western angst of relativism. Anthropology ends where humanity begins. These people have severely degraded societies across the world by freezing it in its primitiveness for western gaze. PS: Also strongly protest on the usage of Indians for native Americans

[@nick358]

Are you concerned with the people that are sacrificed for the sake of war and capitalism in America

[@andrewbrown6307]

Yawn

[@Andandand25]

This is just a dumb comment and it’s almost a perfect summary of everything that anthropology is against. Surely, anthropology has a tendency to be overly relativistic but on the other hand, colonialism/imperialism has degraded so many people by calling them savages.

[@brobro6706]

⁠@@Andandand25I think the problem with anthropology as a whole is that it is heavily dependent on colonialism and white imperialism to exist, as studying people in the fashion anthropologists do has proven time and time again to be done by white colonialists studying native Americans and other cultures for research. Sure their reasoning is different than to colonise itself but is the exploitation of cultures and their tradition outside of being natively British not in itself colonisation?