Title: Andrew Bank and Leslie J. Bank, Eds. 2013. Inside African Anthropology: Monica Wilson and Her Interpreters
Abstract: Andrew Bank and Leslie J. Bank, eds. 2013. African Anthropology: Monica Wilson and Her Interpreters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 354pp. The second cover page of book begins with praises four scholars for new concept of Inside African Anthropology. In a world where women have been regarded as inferior, time came in history of social anthropology as is seen in African Anthropology: Monica Wilson and Her Interpreters, when a new breed of woman anthropologists, with a wealth of experience in field work, training, teaching, supervising students' theses, collaboration, etc. challenged determinedly what is regarded as the official history (p.10) of social anthropology. This well-researched book also synthesizes Wilson's and her research assistants' publications through contribution of nine scholars, most of whom are either historians or anthropologists. It gives insights into anthropology and its relation to history and sociology South African societies, having a new feature: contribution of women anthropologists to field research and ethnography with emphasis on Monica Wilson and role and position of African interpreters in field research. The book captures well definition of interpreters in context of social anthropology, bringing together their function and qualities. Thus, book can be described as an authentic African social anthropology as Wilson engaged with discipline 'from inside' (p. 3) and from tent (p. 14), and as explicit expression of intellectual equality with men, something quite possible to achieve. The photograph of Monica Wilson with her interpreters on cover of book is a good illustration of this engagement. Carefully conceived, book is divided into four parts, for a total of ten chapters. Part 1 deals with Wilson's fieldwork in Pondoland and Eastern Cape. Part 2 discusses Monica and Godfrey Wilsons' fieldwork in Bunyakyusa. Part 3 is about Monica Wilson's life and career at Fort Hare and University of Cape Town. The last part focuses on her legacy. It is important to mention here that in first chapter, Wilson's academic success depended largely on her geographical, ethnic, family and class background (p. 37). There are repetitions of information in ten chapters of book, but they are complimentary as they relate to a common basis, social anthropology. Although disciplines like archaeology, biology, history and anthropology are in one way or other related or complementary, Wilson showed her limitations regarding origin of mankind in spite of tremendous advances made in those disciplines. …
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-12-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot