Lévi-Strauss et l’Asie. L’anthropologie structurale « out of America »

Abstract

This article analyzes the role of Asia in Lévi-Strauss’s works, and draw conclusions for a structural anthropology of this continent. If Lévi-Strauss seems to devalorize Asia in the literary meditation of Tristes tropiques, he revalorizes it in his scientific writings, seeing it as a continuation of America where phenomena of division and transformation of societies occur with greater length. This link between America and Asia leads Lévi-Strauss to criticize the Durkheimian focalization on Australia and to leave aside the African continent. The last part of the article draws from there hypotheses for an anthropology of Avian flu.

Keywords

• cultural area
• dual organization
• structural anthropology
• symbol