1st Edition

Connections Brain, Mind and Culture in a Social Anthropology

By Stephen Reyna Copyright 2002
    234 Pages
    by Routledge

    234 Pages
    by Routledge

    Have you ever wondered how the internal space of our brain connects with the external space of society? Drawing on hermeneutics and neuroscience Stephen Reyna develops an anthropological theory that explains the relationship between the biological and the cultural.
    Recent popular interest in the brain is evident, and now social anthropologists are starting to consider connections between science and anthropology. Reyna is an anthropologist prepared to tackle big and difficult questions. This accessibly written book will cause quite a stir in anthropology, and will appeal to those interested in the mysteries of the brain.

    List of Illustrations, Preface, List of Abbreviations, 1. Introduction, Part I: Bungled Connections, 2. Conjectural hermeneutics and 'insurmountable dualism', 3. Confronting the 'insurmountable', Part II: The Connector, 4. Neurohermeneutics, 5. A neurohermeneutic theory of culture, Part III: Coda, 6. What neurohermeneutics is not and is: is not a biological uber-determinism; is a knotty causation, 7. A Boasian social anthropology, Notes, References, Index

    Biography

    Stephen P. Reyna is Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Hampshire, USA and a Visiting Senior Research Professor at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany.