French thinker - anthropologist - humanist Levi-Strauss dead at 100

[The Straight Story]

French thinker Levi-Strauss dead at 100

French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, who helped shape Western thinking about human civilisation, has died at the age of 100, his publisher and colleagues said on Tuesday.

Levi-Strauss died on Friday and was buried at a private service in the Burgundy village of Lignerolles, where had a house, senior colleagues said.

"Two years ago he broke his hip and he had been very tired ever since. He died at a grand old age," said Philippe Desacola, his successor as head of the social anthropology laboratory at the College of France research institute.

Trained as a philosopher, Levi-Strauss shot to prominence with his 1955 book Tristes Tropiques (A World on the Wane), a haunting account of travels and studies in the Amazon basin and one of the 20th century's major works.

Paying tribute, President Nicolas Sarkozy gave "homage to a tireless humanist, a curious academic who was always in search of new knowledge, to a man free of any sectarianism or indoctrination."

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/french-thinker-levistrauss-dead-at-100-20091104-hvo5.html

[ddeclue]

1. and clothier?

[whopis01]

10. um.... no. n/t

[malaise]

2. I was about to post this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8340936.stm


Rec

[PretzelWarrior]

3. i thought he was famous for copper rivets

[lpbk2713]

4. He did well to live to be 100.

Longevity must have been in his jeans. :eyes:

[ddeclue]

5. DUZY!

[malaise]

6. DUzy

:rofl:

[leveymg]

7. If you like Levi Strauss, you should read Prof. Rene Girard

Some of the best post-structuralist anthropology around today. His work on ritual domination will change how you view religion, society and politics. Particularly, see, "Violence & The Sacred", and "The Scapegoat".

[mix]

8. +1

[Javaman]

9. damn, he made one hell of a pair of pants. nt

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

11. Structuralist - Triste Tropiques, La Pensée Sauvage (The Savage Mind)

We read him at the University of California in the early 70s and he was considered one of the deep thinkers of the era.

[comrade snarky]

12. 80s and 90s too

"The Raw and the Cooked" and "The Origin of Table Manners" are the ones I remember though his star had faded a bit by that point.

I didn't always agree with him or the Structuralist interpretation but there's no denying his brilliance. His critiques were amazing too, always brought up great questions about the work of other anthropologists. If I remember right he handed Frans Boaz his own ass to wear as a hat.