Clifford Geertz’s Interpretive Anthropology

This book refers the voice of Polish anthropology in the Western debate on the Clifford Geertz's interpretive anthropology. This book will show how principle categories such as text, interpretation, thick description have been absorbed by anthropological discourse, which influence theories (epistemology) and research methods in anthropology.

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Over the last decades Clifford Geertz' interpretive anthropology has played an important role in the field of socio-cultural anthropology. The study presents the critical reception of his thoughts in Western countries and Polish anthropology. Interpretive anthropology is based on the category of interpretation and the concept of thick description: the assumed indexical nature of reality and the possibility of unraveling its order through semiotic analysis has influenced the epistemological reflection in anthropology, the approach to theory, fieldwork and the research process.