Overview

Is Marxism a reflection of the conceptual system it fights against, rather than a truly comprehensive approach to human history? Drawing on recent work in anthropology, history, and philosophy, Donald Donham confronts this problem in analyzing a radically different social order: the former Maale kingdom of southern Ethiopia. Unlike capitalist societies, wherein inequality is organized by contracts between ""free"" individuals, in Maale powerful men were thought to ""beget"" others through control of biological fertility and material fortune. Donham scrutinizes this unusual system of domination in order to sharpen issues in social and cultural theory. He concludes that the interpretation of symbols and analysis of historical contingency should be crucial steps in any Marxists investigation. The result is a provocative and original re-reading of the Marxist tradition, and a spirited defense of its continued vitality and relevance. ""Every once in a while there appears a book that . . . opens up new ways of inquiring into the ways of the world. Donald Donham has written such a book. The style is quiet and judicious, but the effect is stunning. . . . In putting inherited partisan approaches to the test of explaining the realities of Maale society and culture, Donham enriches anthropology and imparts new vigor to the analytical Marxian traditions. History, Power, Ideology embodies a major accomplishment.""—From the Foreword

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9780520213371

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""Among the most impressive contributions to social anthropology and Marxist social theory in recent memory. . . . It deserves a central place in contemporary anthropological literature"" * Journal of Anthropological Research * ""An enormously thoughtful and imaginative reflection on [history, power, and ideology]. . . . This book re-directs our attention to enduring questions with which all social and cultural theory must ultimately grapple—the big questions of historical explanation and historical determination that refuse to dissolve quietly into textuality. In thinking through, with rare intelligence and control, what indeed remain 'our deepest questions,' Donald Donham has produced a challenging ethnographic and theoretical treatise of enduring value."" * Anthropological Quarterly *

"""Among the most impressive contributions to social anthropology and Marxist social theory in recent memory. . . . It deserves a central place in contemporary anthropological literature"" * Journal of Anthropological Research * ""An enormously thoughtful and imaginative reflection on [history, power, and ideology]. . . . This book re-directs our attention to enduring questions with which all social and cultural theory must ultimately grapple—the big questions of historical explanation and historical determination that refuse to dissolve quietly into textuality. In thinking through, with rare intelligence and control, what indeed remain 'our deepest questions,' Donald Donham has produced a challenging ethnographic and theoretical treatise of enduring value."" * Anthropological Quarterly *"

Among the most impressive contributions to social anthropology and Marxist social theory in recent memory. . . . It deserves a central place in contemporary anthropological literature * Journal of Anthropological Research * An enormously thoughtful and imaginative reflection on [history, power, and ideology]. . . . This book re-directs our attention to enduring questions with which all social and cultural theory must ultimately grapple-the big questions of historical explanation and historical determination that refuse to dissolve quietly into textuality. In thinking through, with rare intelligence and control, what indeed remain 'our deepest questions,' Donald Donham has produced a challenging ethnographic and theoretical treatise of enduring value. * Anthropological Quarterly *

Author Information

Donald L. Donham is Professor of Anthropology at Emory University and author of Work and Power in Maale, Ethiopia (1994). Eric R. Wolf is author of Europe and the People without History (California, 1982).

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