Etudes Durkheimiennes
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Supplément à M.S.H. INFORMATIONS ISSN 0154-9413 Etudes durkheimiennes Bulletin d'information Préparé par le Groupe d'études durkheimiennes ,, Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme DECEMBRE 1979 N° 4 54 bd Raspail, 75270 Paris Cedex 06 Tél. 544-38-49 Rédaction : Philippe BESNARD SOMMAIRE Lettres de Radcliffe-Brown à Mauss p. 2 France's first chair of sociology : a note on the origins p. 8 Dépouillement de l'Année sociologique p. 14 Réunions p. 17 Coordination des publications p. 18 Complément à la bibliographie de Dürkheim p. 19 Traductions en anglais de Dürkheim p. 21 Bibliographie des écrits sur Dürkheim p. 22 Les études durkheimiennes au Japon p. 27 LETTRES DE RADCLIFFE-BROWN A MAUSS Les photocopies de ces deux lettres de has asked me to give you some informa- Radcliffe-Brown à Mauss nous ont été tion on the subject. I am at present just communiquées par Steven Lukes. Elles finishing a work on the Andaman Islan- avaient été mises à sa disposition par ders in which I shall be able to show Raymond Aron (voir Lukes, S. Emile Dur- that they must probably be regarded as kheim. His life and work. New York, an example of a pre-totemic type of so- Harper and Row, 1972, p. 527, n.41). cial organisation. In the last chapter S. Lukes a publié dans son livre (pp. of my book I am giving a thorough ana- 527-528) deux extraits de la première lysis of the religious beliefs and cus- lettre relatifs à Durkheim. On notera toms of the people, and I am able to qu'à ce moment Radcliffe-Brownn' est pas show that they are all based on a single en relation épistolaire avec Durkheim. notion of a magico-religious power inhe- Celui-ci lui écrira le 9 novembre 1913 rent in everything that in any way affects en réponse à l'envoi de 1'article "Three the society either favourably or adver- tribes of Western Australia"(qui est en sely. The most important part of the fait la première publication de Radcliffe- ritual depends on the belief in a magico Brown de quelque importance): voir "Dur- religious power inherent in all food kheim' s letter to Radcliffe-Brown" et le substances. (The initiation ceremonies commentaire qu'en fournit J. G. Peristiany, of this people for instance are based pp. 317-324 in K.M. Wolf (ed.) Essays on entirely on this belief). I am sending sociology and philosophy, New York, Har- this chapter in a few days to Dr. Rivers per and Row, 1964. who has promised to read it for me. If you wish it I shall be very pleased to Nous tenons à remercier Alain Testart send it to you at some time. I am afraid d'avoir bien voulu éclairer ces lettres the book will not appear for some months en situant certaines préoccupations qu ' y exprime Radcliffe-Brown dans le cadre de A brief description of the social orga- sa problématique générale. A. Testart a nisation of three tribes of Western notamment publié : Des classifications Australia will appear shortly in the dualistes en Australie. Essai sur l'évo- Journal of the Anthropological Institute lution de l'organisation sociale. Paris, I shall be very pleased to send you a Ed. Maison des Sciences de l'Homme et proof as soon as it is in type. Descrip- Presses de l'Université de Lille III, tions of some other tribes will be pu- 1978. blished later in the same periodical. In all about 20 different tribes will be Aug. 6. 1912 briefly described, belonging to four 45 Cromtpton Road somewhat different types of social or- Handsworth, Birmingham. ganisation. In all the tribes there is totemism whith male descent and ceremo- Dear Monsieur Mauss, nies of the intichiuma type. My papers Dr. Haddon has written to me to say that in the Journal will represent only the you have expressed an interest in the preliminary results of a general survey work that I am intending to publish, and of a considerable area. In a few months time I am returning to of the society, with the consequent Australia to continue my work there. My need of further organisation of social plans are not yet fixed, but I wish to rights and duties, would lead to the spend a short time with the Dieri and format ion of the classificatory system Urabunna tribes in order to clear up of relationship. I regard this system certain obscure points in the previous as a method of organising social rights descriptions of these tribes. I shall and duties on the basis of the widest then if possible visit some tribe of the possible recognition of relations of Kamilaroi type with the same purpose. consanguinity. (That the classificatory After that I shall be at work for some system in Australia is really this my months in North Queensland in the neigh- studies there have enabled me to demons- bourhood of Cairns. trate, I think, conclusively). The orga- nisation of the society into clans I The material that I have collected and regard as an essential part of the clas- shall collect will be published from sif icatory system in its normal forms- time to time in the Journ. Anthr. Inst. (Evidence for this view I have found in It will be some years before I shall pu- Australia, but I cannot yet regard the blish it in book form. I am preparing point as definitely proved. It is in the a theoretical work on the Social Organi- hope of being able to test my theory on sation of Australia, but I shall not be this point that I have planned my work able to complete this until I have clear- in Eastern Australia). Granted that the ed up a number of obscure points in con- class ificatory system with its division nection with the tribes with maternal of the society into clans might arise descent of the totem. from such a social organisation as the Andamanese, the other step to totemism As I owe a great deal to your writings is a matter of which it is easy to de- I shall be very glad to keep in commu- monstrate the necessity. In the Andamans nication with you and let you know from the whole society stands in a magico- time to time the result of my investi- religious relation to all the substances gations . used for food. When the society becomes differentiated into clans there is a I was somewhat disappointed with Pro- differentiation of the religious rela- fessor Durkheim's last work. Starting tion of the society, in such a way that from the same fundamental principles as each clan stands in a special relation Prof. Durkheim and yourself I have ela- to one or more of the more important borated a somewhat different theory of food animals or plants. This special totemism, which I first explained in relation is the essential feature of lectures in Cambridge and London in 1910. clan totemism. Perhaps you may be interested in a brief outline. Taking the Andamanese as an Of course this is only an outline of an example of the pre-totemic type, we find argument that will require a whole book in that society no classificatory system to explain in full. I have ventured to of relationship, no clans, and no trace give it in the hope that it may be of of either male or female descent. The help to you to know what one other worker greater part of the ritual of the Anda- in the same subject as yourself is doing. mans is connected with the belief in a My chief criticisms of Durkheim are that power or force inherent in all substan- he has misunderstood the real nature of ces used for food. I explain the origin the Australian social organisation,parti- of the totemic type from such a society ticularly the classificatory system (of as this by showing that a concentration which the phratries and classes are simply a part), and the clans (which are help but regard as misinterpretation of also, as I see it, a part of the classi- the real facts. ficatory system). He has also exaggerated the importance of the clan-emblem. The With all best wishes, waninga and carved bull-roarer exist in I am many parts of Australia and are sacred, Yours sincerely without being in any way associated with the totems. Such association seems to be A.R. Brown confined to the tribes of the centre. I have collected a good deal of material for a study of symbolism in Australian Dec. 31st. 1912 tribes and I think it can be shown that 45 Crompton Road in most cases this symbolism (waninga, Handsworth, Birmingham ornamentation etc.) is independent of Angleterre. totemism. Dear Monsieur Mauss, I should very much like to have a chance to talk with you on these and other sub- I have been obliged to postpone my sail- jects. I understand that you are leaving ing to Australia, and therefore my visit England very shortly, and in any case I to Paris. I do not expect to be able to am afraid I could not spare the time just pay my promised visit to you till Fe- at present. I will try to spend a few bruay or March, but I will let you know days in Paris before I leave Europe again, my plans as soon as I possibly can. in the hope of getting some conversation with you. I made an effort to meet you I am very pleased to hear that you are when I was in Paris in 1910 but just mis- taking charge of Strehlow's M.S.