******************************************************
* http://www.anthropologymatters.com *
* A postgraduate project comprising online journal, *
* online discussions, teaching and research resources *
* and international contacts directory. *
******************************************************
Begin forwarded message:
> From: "Amanda Vinson" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 4 March 2009 12:23:02 GMT
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: 2009 Presidential Address
>
> 2009 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
>
> Will be given by
>
> PROFESSOR ROY ELLEN FBA
>
> President of the Royal Anthropological Institute and Professor of
> Anthropology and Human Ecology, University of Kent
>
> On
>
> “Theories in anthropology and anthropological theory”
>
> Thursday 9 April 2009
> at 1.15 pm
>
> during the Annual Conference of the Association of Social
> Anthropologists in the Great Hall, Wills Memorial Building,
> University of Bristol
>
> All welcome, whether registered for the main conference or not.
>
> Enquiries to: RAI, 50 Fitzroy St, London W1T 5 BT; tel 020 7387 0455;
> email [log in to unmask]
>
> You can attend the wider ASA conference through buying either day or
> full conference registration. The programme and the registration
> details are obtainable from the website,http://www.theasa.org/conferences/asa09/
> .
>
>
> Abstract:
> What is it that makes a theory ‘anthropological’ beyond being a
> theory that anthropologists use? Assuming a framework that
> understands anthropology in its broadest sense, the address invites
> us to remind ourselves what theories are actually supposed to do.
> Distinguishing theories in terms of the scale of presumption in
> their claims, it argues for a pyramid of nested levels of
> explanation. As we move from the base to the tip of the pyramid, so
> our explanations and the interpretation of our data must become
> increasingly simple to accommodate the forms of measurement that
> each level demands. Given such a model, how can we reconcile
> evolutionary theories based on individual behaviour geared to
> immediate survival and reproduction, with theories that best explain
> the uncertainties of 'emergent systems', or which consider how
> individual actions are in turn constrained by the systems of which
> they are part? Anthropology, we must conclude, has always acquired
> its vitality by being critically 'conjunctural', and must be
> ultimately and necessarily a strategic cross-disciplinary
> theoretical compromise.
>
>
*************************************************************
* Anthropology-Matters Mailing List *
* To join this list or to look at the archived previous *
* messages visit: *
* http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/Anthropology-Matters.HTML *
* If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all *
* those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to: *
* [log in to unmask] *
* *
* Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new *
* CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com *
* an international directory of anthropology researchers *
***************************************************************
|