LEVI-STRAUSS - THE ANSWERS

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>LEVI-STRAUSS</FONT><BR> THE STRUCTURAL ANTHROPOLOGIST</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>All is Revealed</B></FONT><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>SAVAGE THINKING</B></FONT><BR> Lévi-Strauss concentrated his attention on primitive, what he termed "cold", societies. These were societies "outside of history", and retained a mythic mode of thinking. By contrast, the "hot" societies were driven by time with their emphasis on "progress" which they associate with constant technological change. They had suppressed the timeless mythic mode of thinking. However, in the primordial logic of myth lies evidence of "le pensée sauvage" , which though suppressed and unconscious, is an element of all human minds. Lévi-Strauss sees myths as "machines for the suppression of time". His myth analysis unearths the deeper logic of the <A HREF="../t03/g033.html" TARGET="_top">mind</A>.<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>TOTEMISM</B></FONT><P> <TABLE ALIGN=Left BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=2 CELLPADDING=1> <TR> <TD><IMG ALIGN=Left SRC="2404a.jpg" WIDTH="180" HEIGHT="284" ALT="TOTEMIC FIGURE"></TD> </TR> </TABLE> Lévi-Strauss offered a new and different interpretation of "totemism", a feature of many cultures which had fascinated anthropologists and others. This is a phenomenon in which an animal, plant or other object (a totem) becomes identified with a particular social group ( generally a tribe or clan). Sociologist, Emile Durkheim viewed it as a primitive form of religion. Psychologist, <A HREF="../20/20f01.html" TARGET="_top">Freud</A>, saw it as related to the incest taboo. But Lévi-Strauss considered it a system of signs by which means pre-literate societies could organise their relation to nature. He considered the entire concept of totemism as an artifact of western thinking imposed by anthropology. It was a projection of Christian thought, which clearly separated man and nature, on societies whose thought patterns still functioned in a mythic, timeless mode.<BR clear=left><BR> <FONT SIZE=4><B>THE HUMAN MEANING BEHIND COMMON PRACTICE</B></FONT><BR> Different cultures may have different ways of doing things, but the importance of adhering to established practice is common to all cultures. The official partnering of a male and female in any culture will be celebrated with elaborate ceremony and often feasting - with different rituals, different menus. Always there will be explanations for particular practices. These may be related to law, history, or myth. But this is not the level of meaning that the structural anthropologist seeks. Structural analysis will trace such practices back to a more fundamental expression of being human. Both food preparation and exchange of women are part of man's affirmation of himself as an animal with culture, part of the language which binds the group. <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>