Maurice Bloch
Encyclopedia
Maurice Bloch
Maurice Bloch (born in 1939 in Caen
, Calvados
, France
) is a British anthropologist.
He attended the Lycée Carnot
in Paris
and the Perse School in Cambridge
, moving to Britain at the age of eleven. His move to the UK was because his father had been killed by the Nazis when in the French Army and his mother, a marine biologist, had remarried the British biologist John S. Kennedy whom she had met at a conference. His mother was a niece of Durkheim and a first cousin of Mauss
. Bloch was an undergraduate at the London School of Economics
, attending lectures at the School of Oriental and African Studies
, continuing his training in anthropology at Cambridge University where he obtained his doctorate in 1967. His subsequent career has been almost entirely at the London School of Economics where he was appointed a full professor in 1983.
In 2005 he was appointed European Professor at the Collège de France
. He was until 2009 visiting Professor at the Free University of Amsterdam. He has taught and has been an occasional visiting professor in most European countries as well as Japan. In the US, he was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley
, at the Johns Hopkins University
in Baltimore and at the New School for Social Research in New York. At present, he is Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics
and an associate member of the Institut Jean Nicod
of the École Normale Supérieure
in Paris.
He has supervised many younger anthropologists, several of whom hold prestigious posts in the UK, US, Australia, Japan, France, Canada, the Netherlands, China, Argentina, Madagascar and Malaysia. His writings have been translated in at least twelve languages.
In 1990, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.
. One field site has been among the peasants of central Imerina; and the other in a remote forest inhabited by a group of people called Zafimaniry
. His writing deals with religion, kinship, economics, politics and language. His research has been much influenced by French Marxist
ideas.
He has been an innovator in always relating social anthropology to linguistics
and cognitive psychology
. Much of his theoretical work since the 1970s has concerned the interface between cognition and social and cultural life. What he has written on this subject faces two ways: on the one hand, he criticises anthropologists for exaggerating the particularity of specific cultures; on the other hand, he criticises cognitive scientists for underestimating it.
He has published more than a hundred articles and many books, half of which concern Madagascar in some way.
Maurice Bloch (born in 1939 in Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
, Calvados
Calvados
The French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) is a British anthropologist.
He attended the Lycée Carnot
Lycée Carnot
The Lycée Carnot is a public secondary and higher education school located at 145 Boulevard Malesherbes in the 17th arrondissement, Paris, France. A prestigious Parisian high school, it is also known as one the best classe préparatoire aux écoles de commerce...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and the Perse School in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, moving to Britain at the age of eleven. His move to the UK was because his father had been killed by the Nazis when in the French Army and his mother, a marine biologist, had remarried the British biologist John S. Kennedy whom she had met at a conference. His mother was a niece of Durkheim and a first cousin of Mauss
Mauss
Mauss is a surname that may refer to the following people: , German-Austrian Roman Catholic priest and journalist , Austrian politician , French rock singer...
. Bloch was an undergraduate at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, attending lectures at the School of Oriental and African Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
, continuing his training in anthropology at Cambridge University where he obtained his doctorate in 1967. His subsequent career has been almost entirely at the London School of Economics where he was appointed a full professor in 1983.
In 2005 he was appointed European Professor at the Collège de France
Collège de France
The Collège de France is a higher education and research establishment located in Paris, France, in the 5th arrondissement, or Latin Quarter, across the street from the historical campus of La Sorbonne at the intersection of Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue des Écoles...
. He was until 2009 visiting Professor at the Free University of Amsterdam. He has taught and has been an occasional visiting professor in most European countries as well as Japan. In the US, he was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, at the Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
in Baltimore and at the New School for Social Research in New York. At present, he is Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
and an associate member of the Institut Jean Nicod
Institut Jean Nicod
The Institut Jean Nicod is a CNRS research center based in Paris, France. Founded in 2000, its name commemorates the French philosopher and logician Jean Nicod...
of the École Normale Supérieure
École Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
in Paris.
He has supervised many younger anthropologists, several of whom hold prestigious posts in the UK, US, Australia, Japan, France, Canada, the Netherlands, China, Argentina, Madagascar and Malaysia. His writings have been translated in at least twelve languages.
In 1990, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.
Research
Bloch's field research has been mainly carried out in two different areas of MadagascarMadagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
. One field site has been among the peasants of central Imerina; and the other in a remote forest inhabited by a group of people called Zafimaniry
Zafimaniry
The Zafimaniry are a sub-group of the Betsileo ethnic group of Madagascar inhabiting the forested mountains of the southern central highlands. The Zafimaniry speak a dialect of the Malagasy language, which is a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language group derived from the Barito languages,...
. His writing deals with religion, kinship, economics, politics and language. His research has been much influenced by French Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
ideas.
He has been an innovator in always relating social anthropology to linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology exploring internal mental processes.It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.Cognitive psychology differs from previous psychological approaches in two key ways....
. Much of his theoretical work since the 1970s has concerned the interface between cognition and social and cultural life. What he has written on this subject faces two ways: on the one hand, he criticises anthropologists for exaggerating the particularity of specific cultures; on the other hand, he criticises cognitive scientists for underestimating it.
He has published more than a hundred articles and many books, half of which concern Madagascar in some way.
Publications
Among the books he has published are:- 1971 Placing the Dead: Tombs, Ancestral Villages, and Kinship Organization in Madagascar, London: Seminar Press (Extracts translated into Malagasy).
- 1975 Political Language, Oratory and Traditional Society, (ed.) London: Academic Press.
- 1975 Marxist Analyses and Social Anthropology (ed.), A.S.A. Studies. London: Malaby Press.
- 1982 Death and the Regeneration of Life (ed. with J. Parry), Cambridge: CUP.
- 1983 Marxism and Anthropology: The History of a Relationship, Oxford: Clarendon.
- 1986 From Blessing to Violence: History and Ideology in the Circumcision Ritual of the Merina of Madagascar, Cambridge: CUP.
- 1989 Money and the Morality of Exchange (ed. with J. Parry) Cambridge: CUP.
- 1992 Prey into Hunter: The Politics of Religious Experience, Cambridge: CUP
- 1998 How We Think They Think: Anthropological Studies in Cognition, Memory and Literacy. Boulder: Westview Press.
- 2005 Essays in the Transmission of Culture. Berg: London.
Interviews
- "Interview of Maurice Bloch": Maurice Bloch interviewed by Alan Macfarlane on 29 May 2008
- "The Reluctant Anthropologist": Eurozine interview of Maurice Bloch by Maarja Kaaristo on 29 July 2007
- "Maurice Bloch" La Huit interview of Maurice Bloch
External links
- Some of Maurice Bloch’s publications are available via LSE Research Online:
- http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/