Locating Bourdieu (New Anthropologies of Europe)

225 Pages·2004·1.04 MB·English

by  Deborah Reed-Danahay

Anthropology • Cultural Studies • Biography Deborah Reed-Danahay
R
e
e
“In this fi ne study, Deborah Reed-Danahay invites us to revisit Bourdieu’s
d
oooeeeuuuvvvrrreee wwiitthh aann eeyyee ffoorr oofftteenn nneegglleecctteedd aassppeeccttss——hhiiss aauuttooeetthhnnooggrraapphhyy,, hhiiss - LOCATING
D
treatment of emotions and personal narratives, the connections between
a
his early work in the Béarn and in Algeria. Her analysis is refreshingly
n
dispassionate and always thoughtful and well-informed.” a
h
—Michèle Lamont, Harvard University a
y
“This is an excellent introduction to the major themes that have made of
Bourdieu an inescapable monument in late 20th-century social thought.
Reed-Danahay makes an insightful contribution.”
—Hervé Varenne, Teachers College, Columbia University
Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002) had an enormous infl uence on social and cultural thought in
the second half of the twentieth century, leaving a mark on fi elds as diverse as sociology,
L
anthropology, education, critical theory, literary criticism, art history, and media studies.
O
From his childhood in a rural French village, to his fi eldwork in Algeria, to his ascension to
the Chair of Sociology at the Collège de France, Bourdieu’s life followed a trajectory both
C
complex and contradictory. In this original and eloquent study, Deborah Reed-Danahay
A
offers fresh insights on Bourdieu’s work by drawing on the perspectives of ethnography and
autobiography. Using Bourdieu’s own refl ections upon his life and career and considering T
the totality of his research and writing, this book locates Bourdieu within his French milieu I
N
and within the current state of theorizing on Europe and its colonial legacy. Locating Bourdieu
revisits major themes and concepts such as structure and practice, taste and distinction, G
habitus, social fi eld, symbolic capital, and symbolic violence, adding new perspectives and

discovering implications of Bourdieu’s work for understanding emotion, social space, and
B
personal narrative. The result is a work of impressive scholarship and intellectual creativity
O
that will appeal to scholars, students, and non-specialists alike.
U
DEBORAH REED-DANAHAY is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at
R
Arlington. She is editor of Auto/Ethnography: Rewriting the Self and the Social and author of
D
Education and Identity in Rural France: The Politics of Schooling.
I
E
New Anthropologies of Europe
U
Daphne Berdahl, Matti Bunzl, and Michael Herzfeld, editors
Cover photograph by Louis Monier courtesy Gamma
BOURDIEU
INDIANA
University Press
INDIANA
http://iupress.indiana.edu
Bloomington & Indianapolis 1-800-842-6796
Insider/Outsider Ethnography in Algeria and France I i
LOCATING BOURDIEU
ii I Acknowledgments
NEW ANTHROPOLOGIES OF EUROPE
EDITORS
Daphne Berdahl, Matti Bunzl, and Michael Herzfeld
Insider/Outsider Ethnography in Algeria and France I iii
Locating
Bourdieu
DEBORAH REED-DANAHAY
Indiana University Press
Bloomington and Indianapolis
iv I Acknowledgments
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
601 North Morton Street
Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA
http://iupress.indiana.edu
Telephone orders 800-842-6796
Fax orders 812-855-7931
Orders by e-mail [email protected]
© 2005 by Deborah Reed-Danahay
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of
American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes
the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information Sciences—
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-
1984.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reed-Danahay, Deborah.
Locating Bourdieu / Deborah Reed-Danahay.
p. cm. — (New anthropologies of Europe)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-253-34508-1 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-253-21732-6
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Bourdieu, Pierre. 2. Sociologists—France—Biography.
3. Anthropologists—France—Biography. 4. Sociology.
5. Anthropology. 6. Educational sociology. I. Title. II. Series.
HM479.B68R44 2004
301'.092—dc22
2004009429
1 2 3 4 5 10 09 08 07 06 05
Insider/Outsider Ethnography in Algeria and France I v
To my children, Emily and Ian
vi I Acknowledgments
Insider/Outsider Ethnography in Algeria and France I vii
So the little boy’s mind began to focus on the idea of surviving
the hardships of school.
Surviving.
Getting through it.
And that, he could tell, was estranging himself from his family
by opening pockets of solitude in the core of his being.
Patrick Chamoiseau, School Days (1997 [1994])
viii I Acknowledgments
Insider/Outsider Ethnography in Algeria and France I ix
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS / xi
Introduction 1
1. Bourdieu’s Point of View 22
2. Education 37
3. Insider/Outsider Ethnography in Algeria and France 69
4. Habitus and Emotion 99
5. Situated Subjectivities 129
Conclusion 151
APPENDIX I. REMEMBERING PIERRE BOURDIEU, 1930–2002 / 161
APPENDIX II. SUGGESTED READINGS / 165
NOTES / 167
BIBLIOGRAPHY / 177
INDEX / 203