The French anthropologist, Claude Levi-Strauss, has died, aged 100. Levi-Strauss was one of the towering intellectuals of the second half of the twentieth century. At Crikey, Guy Rundle provides an appreciation, and contextualises Levi-Strauss’ thought and influence for our times.
7 Responses to “Claude Levi-Strauss”
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Rest in jeans, Claude.
Not bad, a jeans pun in the first comment.
All great thinkers were great underminers and Levi-Strauss was the great underminers of the dehumanising assumptions of colonialism.
By bringing together the commonality of humanity he moved the ball along from the Enlightenment’s Rights of Man stalling at who gets to be a man with rights. He was in the second half of his long life before Aboriginal Australians got the vote.
If I had heard of his death [although I read about it last night]from the ABC P.M.then maybe,just to read what Rundle had to say,as expert on the Levi Strauss influence, to see ,if in fact that, that could be more believable.Being low income person whose mother worked on a telephone exchange at a place called Grassdale,famous for being near Merino ,in Victoria,in the year 1958, I found it extremely difficult to accept this man Strauss had been “globally attacked”,or words to that effect,in the 1930s.A transcript of Colvin and PM.will clear up that expression involving the word global.If there is hardly any proof that he was academically excepted in Australia,then there is a high probability that from the very small number of Libraries across Australia that there would be even a water stain smidgin of criticism of his works in the 1930.s.So excuse me,if I just say,lookI know I am not a Jew,but, if you are desperate for a Jewish Intellectual to fill your bloody day,why not an Australian one.Like Ian Cohen MP. struggling against Court costs,forced on him by an American who took exception to being called a thug and bully,whereas from now on,those words need changing too.Tug and Pulley.Thunder and lightning getting loud round here.
I dropped a n’t from had.Oh!Dear!
PT, you are another piece of racist slime.
And a thread de-railer to boot!