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This content downloaded from 128.148.252.35 on Tue, 12 Aug 2014 15:35:44 UTC
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Balinese Cockfights /
and the /
Seduction of /
Anthropology^'BY WILLIAM ROSEBERRY
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1014 SOCIAL RESEARCH
Materialists
and Idealists
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THE SEDUCTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY 1015
among infrastruc-
Harris goes on to make rigiddistinctions
ture,structure,and superstructureand tellsus that
The eticbehavioralmodesof production and reproduction
determine
probabilistically the etic domesticand
behavioral
political
economy, whichin turnprobabilistically
determine
the
behavioraland mentalerniesuperstructures.7
Note thatcultureis reduced to a set of ideas, or a "learned
repertoryof thoughtsand actions."Cultureis a product;it is
4 Clifford Theoryof Culture,"
Towardan Interpretive
Geertz,"ThickDescription:
in Interpretationof Cultures,pp. 3-30.
''Ibid., p. 5.
6 Harris, CulturalMaterialism, 47.
p.
7Ibid.,pp. 55-56.
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1016 SOCIAL RESEARCH
Or:
. . . cultureconsistsof sociallyestablishedstructures
of meaning
in termsof whichpeople do such thingsas signalconspiracies
and join themor perceiveinsultsand answerthem.. . .9
Or:
8 Geertz, "Thick
Description,"p. 5.
9Ibid.,
p. 13.
10CliffordGeertz,
"Deep Play: Notes on a Balinese Cockfight,"in Interpretation
of
Cultures,p. 452.
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THE SEDUCTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY 1017
CulturalProductsas Texts
11Ibid.,pp. 412-453.
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1018 SOCIAL RESEARCH
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THE SEDUCTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY 1019
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1020 SOCIAL RESEARCH
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THE SEDUCTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY 1021
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1022 SOCIAL RESEARCH
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THE SEDUCTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY 1023
and Process
Differentiation
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1024 SOCIAL RESEARCH
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THE SEDUCTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY 1025
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1026 SOCIAL RESEARCH
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THE SEDUCTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY 1027
called for, is to move culturalanalysisto a new level that
renderstheold antinomiesof materialism and idealismirrele-
vant.36
It mightbe argued thatthisis preciselywhatGeertzdoes.
As one of our mostable ethnographers, he is one of the few
anthropologists who can provide detailed ecological, eco-
nomic,and politicalinformationat the same time that he
engagesin sophisticated symbolicanalysis.His recentexami-
nationof the theaterstate in nineteenth-century Bali is an
example of this: we find treatments of politicaland social
structureat hamlet,irrigationsystem,and templelevels,of
castedivisions,of trade,and of theritualsof hierarchy.37
That
Geertzsees all of theseas necessaryfora culturalargument,
and thathe sees his inclusionof theseelementsas rendering
an "idealist"charge absurd,is clear fromhis conclusionto
Negara.But althoughall the elementsare presentedand con-
nectedin a fashion,theyare neverfully joined. Cultureas text
is removedfromthe materialprocess of its creation;it is
thereforeremovedfromthe historicalprocessthatshapes it
and thatit in turnshapes.Whenwe are toldthatin Bali ". . .
culturecame fromthe top down . . . whilepowerwelled up
fromthe bottom,"38 the image makesperfectsense giventhe
analysisof state structurethat precedes it. But the image
impliesseparation,a removalof culturefromthe wellings-up
of action,interaction,power,and praxis.
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1028 SOCIAL RESEARCH
p. 18.
39Geertz,"ThickDescription,"
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