The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography Literature and Art

About this book

The Predicament of Culture is a critical ethnography of the West in its changing relations with other societies. Analyzing cultural practices such as anthropology travel writing collecting and museum displays of tribal art Clifford shows authoritative accounts of other ways of life to be contingent fictions now actively contested in postcolonial contexts. His critique raises questions of global significance: Who has the authority to speak for any groups identity and authenticity? What are the essential elements and boundaries of a culture? How do self and "the other" clash in the encounters of ethnography travel and modern interethnic relations? In discussions of ethnography surrealism museums and emergent tribal arts Clifford probes the late-twentieth century predicament of living simultaneously within between and after culture.