Review

Reviewed Work(s): Essays on Individualism: Modern Ideology in Anthropological

Perspective by Louis Dumont; The Other Mind of Europe: Goethe as a Scientist by J. P. S.
Uberoi; Reason and Morality by Joanna Overing
Review by: R. S. Khare
Source: American Ethnologist, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Feb., 1989), pp. 177-179
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/644808
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fills
fillsininmany
many details
details
on rituals
on rituals
overlooked
overlooked distinction
distinction
in most in most or partition
or partitionwhenever whenever
encountered encountered
South
SouthAsian
Asian
village
village
ethnographies.
ethnographies. within
within thetheanthropological
anthropologicaldiscourse.discourse.
Each is alsoEach is also
concerned
concerned withwith
assigning
assigning
a distinct
a distinct
analytical status
analytical status
and
androle
roleto to
non-Western
non-Western systemssystems
of knowledge,
of knowledge,
ex- ex-
Essays
Essaysonon Individualism:
Individualism: ModernModern
Ideology
Ideology
in in
perience,
perience, andand
values.
values.
If Dumont
If Dumont
does so bydoes
practic-
so by practic-
Anthropological
Anthropological Perspective.
Perspective.
LOUISLOUIS
DUMONT.DUMONT.ing
ingwhat
what he he
callscalls
a "radical
a "radical
comparison
comparison
... in ... in
Chicago:
Chicago:University
Universityof Chicago
of Chicago
Press, Press,
1986. x 1986. x wewe
which
which ourselves
ourselves
[that is,
[that
the modern
is, theWest]
modern are West] are
+ 284 pp., bibliography, glossary, index. involved"
involved" (p. (p.
8), Uberoi,
8), Uberoi,
from India,
from proposes
India,de- proposes de-
$27.50 (cloth). fiance
fiance ofof
"the"the
European
European
monopolymonopoly
of the scientific
of the scientific
The Other Mind of Europe: Goethe as a Scien- method,
method, established
established
in modern
in modern
times" (p.times"
9), while(p. 9), while
tist. J. P. S. UBEROI. New York: Oxford Univer- Overing
Overing andand
several
several
of herof
Western
her Western
collaborators
collaborators
reformulate
reformulate
sity Press, 1984. 94 pp., plates, figures, refer- Dumont's
Dumont's
positionposition
and question
andthequestion the
ences, index. $12.95 (cloth). moral
moralsuperiority
superiority
and authority
and authority
of Western
ofration-
Western ration-
Reason and Morality. JOANNA OVERING, ed. ality (p. 21).
ASA Monographs 24. London and New York: In Dumont's analysis, the other enters as an ax-
Tavistock Publications, 1985. 277 pp., figures,iom of anthropological comparison, following
notes, references, indexes. $35.00 (cloth), Mauss's emphasis on difference, with "fundamen-
$15.95 (paper). tal difference" that "dominates all others" (p. 2).
The Western observer, "a bearer of modern ideas
R. S. KHARE
and values," opposes the observed, a traditional so-
University of Virginia ciety. Once we add to this Mauss's teaching "al-
ways to maintain a double reference-a reference
The cultural "other" is an enduring anthropolog-to the global society on the one hand and, on the
ical conundrum: if anthropology chases "other cul-other, a reciprocal reference of comparison be-
tures" around the globe, it also discovers "other-tween observer and observed" (p. 5), we have the
ness" in the familiar and the intimate. The other and essential ingredients of Dumont's comparative
otherness, together pose a continuing epistemolog- method and analysis. In this formulation, the other
ical challenge to anthropology, and demand atten- is seen as logically opposed and unmistakable in
tion to the crises of sociocultural alienation and rep- terms of a Western anthropology (comparison) and
resentation. Recent analyses of the subject include anthropologist (observer). Dumont proposes, how-
a critical evaluation of the Western vis-a-vis non- ever, that the anthropologist's involvement with the
Western cultural discourse and a debate on the lim- observed allows for culturally diverse human
beings to "thrust themselves ... as brothers, we
its of scientific rationality and its superiority on the
basis of logic, objectivity, and universality. Anthro- might say, rather than as objects" (p. 6); yet, he ad-
pology thus must be prepared to account for culturemits, a remnant of social distance (and cultural
from diverse sources of morality, "cultural reason- dominance) continues to shadow the anthropolo-
ing," and "truth value," opening further the issue ofgist's other (pp. 17-19).
Western and non-Western values and viewpoints. When Dumont began his study of modern ide-
The three books reviewed here represent a so-ology in 1964, he inverted the approach "needed
phisticated and varied commentary on current an- for a sociological understanding of India" (p. 9) and
thropological discussions of the other and otherness studied the West (his own culture) by anthropolog-
in the 1980s. Dumont's book, a collection of essaysical comparison, finding "on close examination"
written over more than three decades, offers anthat "modernity and nonmodernity have combined
overview of a major French scholar's complex in-intimately" (p. 18). In his historical exercises on in-
tellectual journey conducted between the other- dividualism, the most representative construct on
ness of the familiar (Europe) and the other (essen-modern ideology, he explicated Europe's internal
tially India), analyzed with Maussian inspiration,"otherness" (French, German, British), adopting
and pursued according to an unfolding (Dumont's Goethe's counter-cultural view that "there is a crisis
"logical") research plan. Uberoi, a Western-trainedin the model of science" (p. 222). Uberoi, reversing
Indian anthropologist, accounts for the other's (that Dumont's "us" versus "them," discusses the other
is, the West's) "other science" in a short but highlyfrom exactly such a point of view, focusing on what
subtle, reflexive (and in some ways, perhaps Goethe (and others) represented to European
unique) commentary. His non-Western reading ofthought.
the West's "other mind" reverses Dumont's cul- Uberoi explores "the self, the world, and the
tural location of "us" versus "them," and some
other" by way of science and semiology. He cele-
more. The third book, a volume of papers edited by Goethe's insights on science and poetry, un-
brates
Overing, introduces a definite but controlled diver-
ity and diversity, systems and symbols, and a gen-
sity into the discussion of the same subject. As aeral
vol-
science of man and nature, knowing that they
ume commemorating the Malinowski centennial go against the official, established science of Coper-
year, it summarizes anthropological discussion of
nicus, Galileo, and Newton. And he also knows his
the other (and its moral quandaries) by a whole gen-
"labor" over Europe's "other mind" is that of "a
eration of anthropologists. Juxtaposed to Dumont,
lone Indian fountain pen" ranged "against the
they are concerned with comprehending "other
massed typewriters." His larger goals are to:
minds," without separating "morality from the pur-
suit and grounds of truth." recognize also other "non-standard" methods of
All three books produce a welcome critique the of organization of knowledge in the science and
the arts, within and without the university, and
modernity, science, and Western tradition as they
other principles of the relation of knowledge to
approach the other/otherness issue beyond a simple

reviews 177

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 life, whether European or non-European. This in son and Morality undertakes, along with a question-
turn will require independent studies of the de- ing of "the other" as a moral value.
velopment of modern European culture, not only Overing's book, a collection of papers that ex-
in its relation to India and Asia during the modern plores issues pertinent to contemporary anthropo-
colonial period, but also in relation to itself dur- logical theory, seeks to develop a critical discourse
ing its period of creation (1500-1650), opening on "other minds" and human nature. Theoretically
with the Renaissance and the Reformation, its
and ethnographically stimulating, the essays con-
phase of institutionalization (1650-1800) and fi-
verge on the issues of rationality, moral values, and
nally the phase of its diffusion as a pattern of cul-
relativism, providing a critique of the rationalist's
ture throughout the world (1800-1950) [p. 9].
position on the universality of "reason" in human
Uberoi illustrates Goethe's epistemology, based cultures. This approach differs from those of Du-
on the Paracelsian tradition of symbols (in contrast mont or Uberoi by reserving a place for the emo-
to the Copernican "systems"), by resorting to bo- tional, the contradictory, the chaotic, and the un-
tany (archetypal plant), optical physics, and "logic reasonable in human social life (elements admitted
of the unity in the duality" (microcosm and macro- into Uberoi's discussion more than into that of Du-
cosm). A plant signifies "the law of development mont).
through contradiction"-light and dark, upper and In Overing's words, "The contributors to this vol-
lower, stem and root, sky and earth, and air and ume question the tendency of many ethnographers
water (p. 37). Uberoi discusses Goethe's theory of and philosophers to adhere uncritically to a re-
light and colors at several levels-physical, phys- ceived philosophy of mind and human nature. They
iological, religious, symbolic, and occult, giving are also sceptical about the notion that human na-
room to such critics as Helmholtz, Schopenhauer,
ture is already charted and as such comprised of
Heisenberg, and Pauli. Here the visible world be-
specific features that are universally shared" (p. ix,
comes a scheme of gradations-of light, shade and
author's emphasis). This means questioning the un-
color, or of perceptions, cognition, and volition.
disputed priority modernity accords to the Western-
Though insightful, the theory still is denied recog-
initiated standard of universal rationality in order to
nition in the "official scientific tradition" (p. 82).
account better for what Overing calls the "other
Uberoi adopts Goethe's logic of parts and the
theories of knowledge" and the authority of other
whole, "of the unity in the duality of spirit and na-
(specific) logics.
ture," a logic that strives to "reunite" sameness and
While Uberoi's analysis attempts to reinstate the
difference, proximity and distance by forging "the
threefold unity of ... the eye, and mind and the meaningfulness of other rationalities and (the "un-
hand" (p. 74). The other and otherness are resolved derground") logic of the West to itself, Overing and
here through "active reflection," mediating dis- her contributors begin to delineate much that in
tance from self. In such a cosmology, science is not Uberoi remains either implicit or vague in alterna-
out to conquer and destroy the world because of the tive science and its cosmology. They propose par-
modern mind's unresolved alienation. "Nature is ticular rationalities rather than "a general human
the equal partner of man in creation rather than rationality." Unlike Dumont's "us" versus "them,"
only his opponent or antagonist. . ." (pp. 10-11).they are not concerned with typologies so"broad in
Uberoi contributes to symbolic and hermeneutic scope and political in tone as only to distinguish 'ra-
anthropology as he systematizes and interprets var- tional scientists' from 'traditional other'" (p. 7).
iants of "the circle of science" (pp. 34, 46, 76). HeLike other anthropologists of the mid-1980s, they
argues for a semiology that unifies things and signs,are asking the critical question: "Is modern Western
subject and object, never directly "but only as it thought cognitively superior?" Overing's volume
were, 'reflectedly' " (p. 86). answers the question from the West, assigns more
If Dumont's method mediates the other by the significance to cultural sense and sensibility over
observer's "involvement," and finds the resultingreason, admits emotions, judgments, and "unrea-
situation satisfactory, Uberoi's approach cannot sonable thoughts" as the proper subject of ethno-
rest there. The self and the other must unite in a cos-
graphic analysis, and recognizes the critical role of
mological sense; Uberoi invokes "the logic of "human a agency which would include both the an-
non-dualist mysticism that denies the monist one asthropologist's awareness of self, as well as the
well as the dualist two principles of ultimate expla-
'other' " (p. 17). The other and otherness are thus
nation" (p. 64). made more accessible; the epistemological blink-
Uberoi and Dumont represent two clearly dis- ers that issues of reason, irrationality, emotion, and
tinct-if contrasting-approaches to the nature of
objectivity set up in the West are lowered for a fuller
the other and otherness in science and culture.
(and more communicative) anthropological analy-
Uberoi's essay, in my view, is an exercise in radical
sis (see the essays by Firth, Wolfram, Parry, and Salt-
cultural criticism-pointing to the dominant cul-
man). Other theories of knowledge and cosmology
ture's otherness (and its representative, Goethe), to
come into view, showing the different transforma-
launch his own critique of Western culture via
tional values posited between knowledge and ac-
Western science. In the context of recent debates
on rationality and relativism, Uberoi's position de-tion, thought and emotion, and will, reason, and so-
mands that Western logic and reason open up ear-cial behavior.
nestly to human moral values and insights. Included Dichotomies and oppositions others often as-
in such a critique is a relativist pursuit of "specific" sume are opened for critical evaluation, especially
human logics and truths, an exercise Overing's Rea-by way of rich and sensitive ethnography. The pa-

178 american ethnologist

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pers
pers of
of Ardener,
Ardener,Salmond,
Salmond, Parkin,
Parkin,
andand
Hobart
Hobart
at- at- its
its titles
titlesdown
downa real
a real or or
imaginary
imaginaryline,line,
considered
considered
tempt
tempt totocapture
captureanan"epistemological
"epistemologicalbreak"
break"
thatthatlegitimate
legitimateasaslong
longas as
this
this
continuity
continuitycan express
can express
it- it-
diverse
diverse cultures
culturesand
andtheir
their
epistemologies
epistemologies
provide,
provide, self
self in
inthe
thelanguage
language of of
kinship
kinship
or of
oraffinity
of affinity
or ofor of
suggesting
suggestingthat
thatWestern
Westernrationality
rationality
must
must
open
open itself both"
itself both" (p.(p.153)
153)was
wasadopted
adopted by by
the the
members
membersof anof an
to
to them
them (rather
(ratherthan
thantry
try
toto
overpower
overpower
them).
them). As Ar- international
As Ar- internationalresearch
researchgroup
group
of the
of the
Centre
Centre
National
National
dener
dener suggests
suggests(p.
(p.62),
62),sociocultural
sociocultural
anthropology
anthropologyde
de la
la Recherche
Recherche Scientifique
Scientifique
in Paris,
in Paris,
in search
in search
of a of a
is "post-modern"
"post-modern"when whenit it
is is
willing
willing(as (as
it usually
it usually
is) is) shared
sharedframework
framework to to
organize
organize their
their
respective
respective
field field
to
to criticize
criticizethe
theepistemological
epistemological ground
ground it stands on on research.
it stands research.Their
Theirmain
main objective
objective waswas
to find
to find
a con-a con-
to
to improve
improveitsitsunderstanding
understanding of of
thethe
other.
other.ButBut
to beto be ceptual
ceptualtooltoolthat
that would
would allow
allow
comparison
comparison among among
able
able to
to do
dososomeans
meansa acontinuous
continuous andand deepening
deepening extremely
extremelydiversified
diversified societies
societies
of insular
of insular
southeast
southeast
ethnographic
ethnographicinvestigation
investigation ofofwhat
whatSalmond
SalmondcallscallsAsia.
Asia. According
According totoCharles
Charles MacDonald
MacDonald (p. 10),
(p. this
10), this
"local
"local intellectual
intellectualtraditions"
traditions" (p.(p.
260).
260). exercise
exerciseshould
shouldeventually
eventually leadlead
to the
to the
unraveling
unravelingof of
A general
generalandandcrucial
crucialpoint
point ofofOvering's
Overing's volume the
volume the principles
principlesofof sociohistorical
sociohistorical differentiation
differentiation of of
would be missed if the issue of the other and oth- the
the Southeast
SoutheastAsianAsian social
social
formations.
formations. The The
present
present
erness were not explicitly considered in terms of book
book isisthe
theresult
resultofoftwotwoyears
years
of exchanges
of exchangesand dis-
and dis-
"the moral, social, political, and legal power of re- cussions
cussionson onthat
thattheme.
theme. It presents
It presentsthe the
conclusions
conclusions
ceived logics and their imposition by one people reached
reachedasastotothetheusefulness
usefulness of the
of the
concept
concept
for thefor the
upon another" (p. 7). If contemporary discussions understanding
understandingofof societies
societies found
foundin three
in three
geograph-
geograph-
show an increasing awareness of these dimensions, ical
ical areas:
areas:Borneo,
Borneo, thethePhilippines,
Philippines, and and
the peasant
the peasant
their significance is far from explicated. It is impor- societies
societiesof ofJava
Java andandPeninsular
Peninsular Malaysia.
Malaysia.It in-It in-
tant that discussion be carried on in ethnography cludes
cludes papers
papersby byseven
seven authors
authors(six (six
from from
FranceFrance
and and
and in anthropological theory, without an attempt one
one from
fromEngland,
England, most
most of of
themthem
ethnologists
ethnologistswith with
by the West to abort or diffuse the issues. Anthro- long
long field
fieldexperience),
experience), extracts
extractsfrom from
two two
confer-
confer-
pology must pass through this rite of passage in or-ences held at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sci-
der to be genuinely global and to be true to its her- ences Sociales in 1986 (one by James Fox from the
itage and aspirations; it cannot afford to be defen- Australian National University, the other by Jer6me
sive, aloof, or smug, even in the shadow of its own Rousseau from McGill University, Montreal), and
presuppositions. extracts from the discussions that followed (the in-
The discussions by Dumont, Uberoi, and Over- terventions of five discussants). Four contributions
ing and collaborators could contribute toward are a in English (two papers, one conference, and one
successful development of "critical ethnography," of the conclusions).
where cultural alienation and empathy engage in a The introduction, by MacDonald, gives a good
creative discourse between the West and the non- overview of the context in which this project was
West. Such an ethnography is dependent on an un- born and of the objectives pursued. Both conclu-
interrupted-and increasingly meaningful-global sions, one by Bernard Sellato in French, the other
cultural discourse. This venture proceeds with the by Stephen Headley in English, pull together the nu-
realization that anthropological knowledge, like merous strings left loose in the various contribu-
any other, implicates issues of judgment, cultural tions. Sellato's synthesis (in the conclusion) is a real
influence, and control. Hence, ethnography must tour de force; well done, it confirms the author's
accord diverse systems of knowledge equal authen- wide knowledge of the area and his sympathy for
ticity and weight to allow a genuine dialogue of cul- the concept that he manages to salvage.
tural persuasion to develop among them-discov-The papers in the main part of the book do not all
ering thereby a more complete discourse on the confirm the usefulness of the concept of "la mai-
cultural other and otherness.
son." Even if the editor declares that the contribu-
tors did not wish to defend this notion at all cost (p.
186), we sometime wonder at the elasticity of the
de la hutte au palais: societes "a maison" en
vocabulary and the slippery usage of the concept.
Asie du Sud-Est insulaire. Textes reunis par
CHARLES MACDONALD et les membres de
Yet, even if one sometimes disagrees with the use
made of the notion "la maison," there is much to
I'ECASE. Paris: Editions du Centre National de
be appreciated and to be learned in this book. In
la Recherche Scientifique, 1987. ix + 218 pp.,
their overview of the various ethnic groups of Bor-
maps, figures, notes, appendix, references,
neo and the Philippines, for instance, Sellato and
bibliographies.
MacDonald face the challenge of choosing a basis
MARIE-ANDREE COUILLARD for the classification of these groups and point out
the difficulties of such an enterprise. Both try to
Laval University, Quebec
identify the societies where the concept of "la mai-
son" might be correctly applied, both find that the
The cognatic kinship systems of insular Southeast
most hierarchic groups fit Levi-Strauss's definition,
Asia, not easily reduced to any universal structural
model, constitute a challenge to those working while the more egalitarian ones do not. Antonio
within the structuralist tradition. Levi-Strauss him- Guerreiro who discusses the Modang, and Ghis-
self has, at times, tried to solve this puzzle. His con- laine Loyre who compares the Maguindanao and
cept of "la maison" (the house), publicized duringthe Marano confirm that stratified societies lead
a lecture at the College de France in 1978, is a case more readily to an application of the concept of "la
in point. This concept, defined as "a corporatemaison."Headly who worked in Java, and Janet
body holding an estate made up of both material Carsten who studies the Malays of Pulau Langkawi
and immaterial wealth, which perpetuates itselfconclude that "la maison" is not found as a con-
through the transmission of its name, its goods, and crete group but rather as an "ideal representation."

reviews 179

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