Anthropology, Culture and Society Series Editors: Dr Katy Gardner, University of Sussex Dr Jon P. Mitchell, University of Sussex Professor Thomas Hylland Eriksen, University of Oslo Land, Law and Environment: Mythical Land, Legal Boundaries Edited by Allen Abramson and Dimitrios Theodossopoulos The War of Dreams: Exercises in Ethno-Fiction Marc Augé Orange Parades: The Politics of Ritual, Tradition and Control Dominic Bryan Identity and Affect: Experiences of Identity in a Globalising World Edited by John R. Campbell and Alan Rew Risk Revisited Edited by Pat Caplan Women of a Lesser Cost: Female Labour, Foreign Exchange and Philippine Development Sylvia Chant and Cathy McIlwaine Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference Edited by Jane K. Cowan Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives Thomas Hylland Eriksen Life on the Outside: The Tamil Diaspora and Long-Distance Nationalism 0IVIND FUGLERUD Anthropology, Development and the Post-modern Challenge Katy Gardner and David Lewis Power and its Disguises: Anthropological Perspectives on Power John Gledhill Anthropological Perspectives on Kinship Ladislav Holy Locating Cultural Creativity Edited by John Liep Anthropology of the Self: The Individual in Cultural Perspective Brian Morris New Directions in Economic Anthropology SUSANA NAROTZKY Ethnography and Prostitution in Peru Lorraine Nencel Witchcraft, Power and Politics: Exploring the Occult in the South African Lowveld Isak A. Niehaus with Eliazaar Mohlala AND RALLY ShOKANE Anthropology and Cultural Studies Edited by Stephen L. Nugent and Cris Shore Social Mobility in Kerala: Modernity and Identity in Conflict FlUPPO OSELLA AND CAROLINE OSELLA Being There: Fieldwork in Anthropology Edited by C. W. Watson Human Rights, Culture and Context: Anthropological Perspectives Edited by Richard A. Wilson SMALL PLACES, LARGE ISSUES An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology SECOND EDITION Thomas Hylland Eriksen 4b Pluto Pp«|pl Press LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA First published 1995 Second edition 2001 by PLUTO PRESS 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012, USA www.plutobooks.com Copyright © Thomas Hylland Eriksen 1995, 2001 The right of Thomas Hylland Eriksen to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 7453 1773 1 hardback ISBN 0 7453 1772 3 paperback Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. Small places, large issues: an introduction to social and cultural anthropology / Thomas Hylland Eriksen.—2nd ed. p. cm. — (Anthropology, culture, and society) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7453-1773-1 (hardback) —ISBN 0-7453-1772-3 (pbk.) 1. Ethnology. I. Title. II. Series. GN316.E75 2001 306—dc21 00-012920 } J ľ1 a L i <->-, i. '' 10 9876543 Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services, Fortescue, SidmouthEXlO 9QG Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton Printed in the European Union by Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne, England CONTENTS Preface vii Preface to the second edition ix 1. Introduction: Comparison and Context 1 2. A Brief History of Anthropology 9 3. Fieldwork and its Interpretation 24 4. The Social Person 40 5. Local Organisation 58 6. Person and Society 73 7. Kinship as Descent 93 8. Marriage and Alliance 108 9. Gender and Age 124 10. Social Hierarchies 142 11. Politics and Power 157 12. Exchange 176 13. Production and Technology 193 14. Religion and Ritual 209 15. Modes of Thought 227 16. The Challenge of Multiple Traditions 245 17. Ethnicity 261 18. The Politics of Identity: Nationalism and Minorities 275 19. The Global, the Local and the Glocal 294 Epilogue: And So What? 312 Bibliography 314 Index 332 v