Radcliffe-Brown - (Methodology & History in Anthropology) by Isak Niehaus (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Alfred Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1955) is widely renowned as a founder of modern social anthropology. This biography challenges popular stereotypes of him as a misplaced positivist and colonial conservative. It shows Radcliffe-Brown to be a thoroughly cosmopolitan scholar, a committed fieldworker and a sharp critic of colonialism. Radcliffe-Brown engaged strategically with colonial authorities to further the interests of his discipline and invoked scientific credentials to critique central aspects of colonial rule. His struggle for intellectual autonomy and advocacy of a comparative sociological approach speaks to many contemporary concerns"--

Book Synopsis

Alfred Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1995) is widely renowned as a founder of modern social anthropology. This biography challenges popular stereotypes of him as a misplaced positivist and colonial conservative. It shows Radcliffe-Brown to be a thoroughly cosmopolitan scholar, a committed fieldworker, and a sharp critic of colonialism.

Review Quotes

"I found this book absolutely outstanding. It is admirable in its commitment to what must have been a decade-long process of research and writing and refreshing in its methodological quest for scholarly rigour." - Andrew Bank, University of the Western Cape

About the Author

Isak Niehaus teaches social anthropology at Brunel University London. He has previously published Witchcraft, Power and Politics (Pluto Press, 2001), Witchcraft and a Life in the New South Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and AIDS in the Shadow of Biomedicine (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018).