Paper short abstract:

In combination, Marcel Mauss and Ludwig Wittgenstein enable a conception of society and culture as intersubjective phenomena that consist of complex and multifarious relational ramifications that extend in both space and time to retool the relationship between anthropology, history, and archaeology.

Paper long abstract:

Aspects of Marcel Mauss's work and Ludwig Wittgenstein's later philosophy can be brought into dialogue to shed light on recent anthropological conceptions of culture and society. Wittgenstein's emphasis on the interrelationships between language, practices, and objects, and Mauss's ideas of techniques and technology, articulate with contemporary concerns for culture and society as unbounded, partial, and heterogeneous entities. In combination, the ideas of Mauss and Wittgenstein can be used to explore the complex relationships between interlocking phenomena of different kinds that ramify across various social domains. Furthermore, they provide intersubjective conceptions of meaning that allows for the tracing of such relational ramifications beyond the boundaries of what used to constitute the ethnographic field context. As such, they enable conceptions of meaningfulness that do not coincide with social, political, ethnic, or indeed linguistic boundaries. In settings where multilingual capabilities are common, and especially where they involve related languages, these issues rise to a heightened concern. By means of ethnographic material from Africa, these ides will be explored in order to suggest a lateral conception of relational meaning that extends through space and recedes toward a geographical horizon. It is also possible to trace such relational ramifications historically toward a temporal horizon, thus allowing for a renewed engagement between anthropology, archaeology, history, and philosophy.