| Abstrakt: |
Born and reared in a firmly orthodox Jewish family, Marcel Mauss was the nephew ofÉmile Durkheim, already at the time of Mauss’s birth one of the leading figures in French sociology. Durkheim, who took pains to direct his nephew’s education, both early and late, steered Mauss toward philosophical studies at Bordeaux, where he was thoroughly grounded in neo-Kantian thought. Later, at the École Practique des Hautes Études, Mauss turned to the history of religion, and in 1897-1898 he embarked upon a tour that included a period of study under British social theorist Edward Tylor, often considered the father of cultural anthropology. During his university years, Mauss also began an intensive study of languages, including Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Sanskrit, that would serve him well throughout his career. By 1901, Mauss had assumed a teaching chair at the École Practique in the history of the religion and philosophy of “noncivilized” peoples, a position he held for the rest of his life. |
