The Gift of Theory: Epistemology and reciprocity in the anthropological “datum” circuit

Authors

  • Bruno M. N. Reinhardt Universidade de Brasília

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5380/cam.v7i1.5431

Keywords:

hermenêutica, dádiva, feitiçaria

Abstract

Postulating the intrinsic relation that binds the analytical and the reflexive dimensions of anthropological knowledge, this article critically recuperates the discursive conditions which articulate the ethnographical datum and social theory in two important works: the classic The Gift, by Marcel Mauss, and Les Mots, la Mort, le Sorts (Deadly Words), by Jeanne Favret-Saada. Based on a comparative approximation of the meta-theoretical circle of hermeneutics and the theoretical circles of the gift and sorcery, the text attempts to produce an epistemological reflection on the articulation between anthropological knowledge and native knowledge. By crossing information originated in those three circles, it builds an argument which starts from the gifts theory in the direction of an epistemology of the gift, or the gift of the theory.

Author Biography

Bruno M. N. Reinhardt, Universidade de Brasília

Bacharel em Ciências Sociais pela UFMG e mestrando em Antropologia Social pela Universidade de Brasília

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Published

2006-07-14

How to Cite

Reinhardt, B. M. N. (2006). The Gift of Theory: Epistemology and reciprocity in the anthropological “datum” circuit. Campos - Revista De Antropologia, 7(1), 135–157. https://doi.org/10.5380/cam.v7i1.5431

Issue

Vol. 7 (2006)

Section

Artigos

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