2014 | Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 4 (1): 291–294

COLLOQUIUM

Diagrams

Mauro William Barbosa de Almeida,

State University of Campinas

I am inspired by Marshall’s reading of Philippe Descola’s quadripartite ontological

taxonomy. Actual ontologies are much more complex, as he points out. I wonder if
diagrams could make this more explicit, and I attach a few suggestions.
Diagram 1 is just Sahlins’ original diagram. Diagram 2 is a transformation of
Sahlins’ original diagram (Diagram 1) suggested by Lévi-Strauss’ “totemic opera-
tor” (thanks to Kelly for the reminder).
Diagram 3 introduces multiple combinations, many of them suggested by Sah-
lins himself. It suggests two possible readings of Sahlins’ point: one more concerned
with “superstructures,” and the other more along the lines of an “order of orders”
which connects “superstructures” and “infrastructures”.
In Diagram 4 all hell breaks loose. No complete taxonomy of categories is
possible.
These diagrams have an interesting history which links two seemingly disparate
sources: first, Lévi-Strauss’ totemic operator in La pensée sauvage (1962) and in
his diagrams in Histoire de lynx (1991; transformed by Eduardo Viveiros de Cas-
tro); second, “Galois lattices” invented by Barbut and Monjardet (1970) and put to
use more recently by Parrochia and Neuville (2013).

 his work is licensed under the Creative Commons

T
| © Mauro William Barbosa de Almeida.
ISSN 2049-1115 (Online). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14318/hau4.1.014
 Mauro William Barbosa de Almeida292

ontologies

anthropomorphism naturalism

default
animism anthropomorphism

communal segmentary hierarchical

(animism) (totemism) (analogism)

Diagram 1: Sahlins’ lattices.

ontologies—nature

nonnaturalistic

naturalism anthropomorphism segmentary hierarchical communal

person groups

ontologies—societies

Diagram 2: Totemic operator format.

2014 | Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 4 (1): 291–294

293 Diagrams

ontologies

nonanimistic animistic

naturalism anthropomorphism totemism analogism animism

individualistic anarchistic segmentary hierarchical communal

sociologies

Diagram 3: Sahlins´ lattice in Galois–Lévi-Strauss format.

2014 | Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 4 (1): 291–294

 Mauro William Barbosa de Almeida294

ontologies

naturalism anthropomorphism

naturalism anthropomorphism totemism analogism animism

Open to multiple connections.

individual class segmentary hierarchical communal

State Non-state

societies

Diagram 4: An order-of-orders version. In the line “open to multiple connections,” there

could be as many lines as desired.

References
Barbut, Marc, and Bernard Monjardet. 1970. Ordre et classification. Paris: Hachette.
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1962. La pensée sauvage. Paris: Plon.
———. 1991. Histoire de lynx. Paris: Plon.
Parrochia, Daniel, and Pierre Neuville. 2013. Towards a general theory of classifications.
Basel: Springer.

Mauro William Barbosa de Almeida is Professor of Social Anthropology at the

State University of Campinas in São Paulo, Brazil. His areas of research include
Amazonia, extractive reserves, social diversity, and anthropological theory. He par-
ticipated in the planning of Forest University (Universidade Federal do Acre—For-
est Campus).
Mauro William Barbosa de Almeida
Professor, Department of Social Anthropology
State University of Campinas
São Paulo, Brazil
mwba@uol.com.br

2014 | Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 4 (1): 291–294