From the tribe to the Web: Anthropology today
What is to be an anthropologist today? Not only going to rummaging in those corners of the world that Claude Lévi-Strauss dubbed ‘the dustbins of history,’ but also asking questions on cultural flows and movements crisscrossing the whole planet and our society. Though still using its traditional toolbox, anthropology today take a fresh approach to current issues in which the distinction between ‘us’ and ‘the others’ is increasingly blurred. Issues such as identity or tradition are considered through the prism of history in an attempt at coming up with new and more dynamic keys to the understanding of contemporary societies.
Marco Aime, is professor of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Genoa. He has conducted research on the Alps and in West Africa. He regularly contributes to ‘La Stampa’ and ‘Liberazione’ newsdailies, and has been a consultant to ‘Pistoia-Dialogues on Man’ since its first edition. He also sits on the jury of the Chatwin Prize. In addition to his many scientific papers, Aime has authored a number of books: Le radici nella sabbia (EDT, 1999); Diario Dogon (Bollati Boringhieri, 2000); La casa di nessuno. I mercati in Africa occidentale (Bollati Boringhieri, 2002); L’incontro mancato (Bollati Boringhieri, 2005); Gli specchi di Gulliver (Bollati Boringhieri, 2006); Timbuctu (Bollati Boringhieri, 2008); Il diverso come icona del male (with E. Severino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2009); Gli uccelli della solitudine (Bollati Boringhieri 2010); La macchia della razza (Ponte alle Grazie, 2009); Eccessi di culture (Einaudi, 2004); Il primo libro di antropologia (Einaudi, 2008); Una bella differenza (Einaudi 2009); Il dono al tempo di Internet (with A. Cossetta, Einaudi, 2010); Verdi tribù del Nord. La Lega vista da un antropologo (Laterza, 2012).