ISSN 1993-8616
2008 - number 5
Claude Lévi-Strauss: The View from Afar
© UNESCO/Danica Bijeljac
Claude Lévi-Strauss at UNESCO, 2005.
Listen to "Race and Culture" read by Claude Lévi-Strauss at UNESCO in 1971. Watch the video coverage of his last public speech, made on the same podium in 2005. This month's Courier, published in his 100th year, pays special tribute to Claude Levi-Strauss, a man who has changed his century. It offers a selection of articles written by him and published in our magazine since the early 1950s. It also includes unpublished documents, along with his photographs and sketches from the 1930s. more
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Claude Lévi-Strauss and UNESCO
One of the architects of the first UNESCO declaration on race (1950), author of Race and History (1952) and Race and Culture(1971), written at the request of UNESCO, Claude Lévi-Strauss recently participated in the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Organization (2005). Half a century of history. More
Pakistan –spiritual home and national reality
There is more to Pakistan’s troubles than merely economic problems, asserts Levi-Strauss in the first article he wrote for the Courier, in May 1951. A young nation founded on an ancient civilization, Pakistan synthesizes in its problems the whole of human development. More
The West has much to learn from Asia
Europe, by forcibly incorporating the still primitive Asia in a world economic system that was solely concerned to exploit raw materials and manpower, brought about a crisis, which today it is its to duty to remedy, declares Levi-Strauss in this June 1952 Courier article. More
“Primitives”?
The term implies the idea of a beginning. It refers to people who live as they did at the dawn of human history? A tempting hypothesis, but one that leads to serious misunderstandings, says Levi-Strauss, explaining in this May 1951 Courier article why the notion of primitive society is an illusion. More
Human mathematics
Human mathematics will escape the despair of «great numbers» - the raft to which the social sciences, lost in an ocean of figures, have been helplessly clinging, says Lévi-Strauss in an article published in the Social Science Bulletin in 1954, which recommends co-ordinating methods of thought. Excerpts More
How the social sciences have humanised technical civilisation
Contrary to what one might believe, the mathematization of social sciences is not at all accompanied by dehumanization, as Claude Lévi-Strauss declared in this archive document, dated 8 August 1956. Technological civilization is not a separate civilization. Humanization is based on all humans and all the sciences. More
Giving : Making a wish
Imagine Caligula in the vestibule of his palace waiting for his presents. Or Queen Elizabeth I jumping for joy at receiving silk stockings and garters from her lords. Citing anecdotes, Levi-Strauss traces the origins of gift-giving and examines its social role, in the August-September 1955 Courier. More
Witch-doctors and psychoanalysis
While in Europe the mentally ill were shackled, some primitive societies treated them using methods much resembling psychoanalysis, explains Levi-Strauss in the July-August 1956 Courier article, where he draws parallels between shamanistic rituals and modern psychotherapies. More
These cooks did not spoil the broth
Did you know that for certain peoples, eating is an indecent act? They take their food in solitary confinement. In this April 1957 Courier article, Levi-Strauss ponders not only the social aspects of food, but also the human adventure of seeking out flavours. More
Today’s crisis in anthropology
At the time when African countries were gaining their independence, it seemed anthropology was about to fall victim to a dual conspiracy, fostered by the people hostile to it and those becoming extinct. What is the role of antropology in the modern world? Levi-Strauss replies in the November 1961 Courier. More
A difficult survey
UNESCO’s decision to undertake a survey on the main trends of research in the social and human sciences did not delight Lévi-Strauss. In this 13 March 1964 text, of which we are printing excerpts, he points out the problems this project raises. More
