Power, Legitimacy, Historical Legacies : A Disenchanted Political Anthropology

The coherence of the various contributions presented in this book is determined by a distinct vision of political anthropology based on the interpretative approach of Max Weber and his successors, in particular Alfred Schütz. Accordingly, a disenchanted political anthropology does not conform to fashionable trends, but rather is shaped by the classics of social sciences, anthropology and sociology foremost. The disquieting allure of disenchanted anthropology lies precisely in its nonconformist and deeply sceptical regard éloigné through which, by means of discomfiting empirical material and unconventional theoretic reasonings, it challenges some of Western society's certainties about both itself and societies classified as other. But the ultimate goal of this book is precisely this unveiling of our faded idols deeply rooted in our common sense and in the current anthropological conformism.