Pathways of Power

Building an Anthropology of the Modern World

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by Eric R. Wolf,

Edited by Sydel Silverman,

Introduction by Aram Yengoyan

University of California Press

Due/Published January 2001, 488 pages, paper

ISBN 0520223349

This collection of twenty-eight essays by Wolf is a legacy of some of his most original work. Of the essays, six have never been published and two have not appeared in English until now. Shortly before his death, Wolf prepared introductions to each section and individual pieces, as well as an intellectual autobiography that introduces the collection as a whole. Sydel Silverman, who completed the editing of the book, says in her preface, "He wanted this selection of his writings over the past half-century to serve as part of the history of how anthropology brought the study of complex societies and world systems into its purview."

"Eric Wolf has literally set the terms for anthropological thinking about peasantries, culture and power, complex societies, and interactions between noncapitalist societies and capitalism. Every item in this excellent collection has stimulated and influenced both my own thought and that of many others in our field, as well as beyond it. "--Katherine Verdery, University of Michigan

 "This powerful body of work begins ('Anthropology') and ends ('Concepts') in a rather speculative vein, taking us into the ideas of others and then back to Wolf. In these two sections we get a picture of the development of currents in anthropology (and the social sciences more broadly) from the early fifties to the present and the way in which Wolf's intellectual and political development was threaded through those debates and controversies. In the middle two sections ('Connections' and 'Peasants') we get the pathbreaking pieces that made Wolf the major figure he is. "--Gavin Smith, University of Toronto

 "There is a large audience, to be found in anthropology and in related fields like history, cultural studies, gender studies, etc., who will receive the writings of Eric Wolf with appreciation. . . . His work is fully in the comparative anthropological tradition . . . [and] demonstrates the power of comparative historical analysis. "--Abraham Rosman, Barnard College, Columbia University

Review

It would be hard to imagine the development of post-war American anthropology without the influence of Eric Wolf. So many of his ideas, especially in relation to the interconnectedness of power and culture, are so ingrained in the writings of later anthropologists that we tend to lose sight of how original many of his ideas were and are. Wolf came of age as an anthropologist at a time when notions of culture as articulated by Boas, Mead, Benedict, and others held sway and placed little emphasis on issues of history and politics. Wolf, influenced by Marxist theories and a desire to infuse anthropology with a more humanistic viewpoint, viewed culture and power as inextricably tied. He also went against the mid-century antropological status quo by suggesting that notions of culture, rather than being bounded and homogeneous, shift and are constantly negotiated. As this collection demonstrates, Wolf explored a variety of cultures and was constantly building upon and reshaping his ideas. Writings in Pathways to Power include discussions of the use of culture and ideology by elites in Nazi Germany and Aztec civilization, the social organization of Mecca, the peasantry in Latin America and Indonesia, and explorations of such concepts as culture, ethnicity, race, and power. What also distinguishes Wolf's work is his continuing concern with the role of the anthropologist in how he or she approaches his subject and the implications of scholarly work. The twenty-eight essays included here are introduced by Wolf himself.

In a review of the book, Gavin Smith writes, "This powerful body of work begins ('Anthropolgy') and ends ('Concepts') in a rather speculative vein, taking us into the ideas of others and then back to Wolf. In these two sections we get a picture of the development of currents in anthropology (and the social sciences more broadly) from the early fifties to the present and the way in which Wolf's intellectual and political development was threaded through those debates and controversies. In the middle two sections ('Connections' and 'Peasants') we get the pathbreaking pieces that made Wolf the major figure he is."

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