Wendy James (1940-2024) taught at the University of Khartoum and had research experience in the Sudan and Ethiopia. She was Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford.

“Each of the essays in this volume deals with various facets of his work, and all of them should be read.” • American Anthropologist“This book offers a unique insight into the influence of one of the discipline’s most important theorists. James and Allen are thoughtful editors … their respect produces the best form of criticism in fourteen essays by British, and other European, anthropologists … This is intriguing and stimulating reading … Mauss’s work receives careful attention in this book which is helpful, incisive, and broadly significant to anthropology.” • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI)

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsINTRODUCTORY ESSAYChapter 1. ‘One of us’: Marcel Mauss and ‘English’ anthropologyWendy JamesTHE SCHOLAR AND HIS TIMEChapter 2. An intellectual self-portraitMarcel MaussChapter 3. Mauss’s Jewish background: a biographical essayW. S. F. PickeringFOUNDATIONS OF MAUSSIAN ANTHROPOLOGY Chapter 4. A vague but suggestive concept: the ‘total social fact’Alexander GofmanChapter 5. The Maussian shift: a second foundation for sociology in France?Bruno KarsentiChapter 6. Derrida’s reading of MaussTim JenkinsCRITIQUES OF EXCHANGE AND POWERChapter 7. Uncertainties of the ‘obligation to reciprocate’: a critique of MaussAlain TestartChapter 8. Mutual deception: totality, exchange, and Islam in the Middle EastPaul DreschChapter 9. Modern philanthropy: reassessing the viability of a Maussian perspectiveIlana SilberChapter 10. Mauss, Dumont, and the distinction between status and power Materiality, body, historyJonathan ParryMATERIALITY, BODY, HISTORYChapter 11. The category of substance: a Maussian theme revisitedN. J. AllenChapter 12. The study of techniques as an ideological challenge: technology, nation, and humanity in the work ofMarcel MaussNathan SchlangerChapter 13. Form, movement, and posture in Mauss: themes for today’s anthropologyClaudine HarocheChapter 14. Mauss in Africa: on time, history, and politicsWendy JamesSelect BibliographyA: Reading Mauss in FrenchB: Work by Mauss available in EnglishC: Selected secondary sourcesNotes on contributorsIndex

Wendy James (1940-2024) taught at the University of Khartoum and had research experience in the Sudan and Ethiopia. She was Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford.

“Each of the essays in this volume deals with various facets of his work, and all of them should be read.” • American Anthropologist“This book offers a unique insight into the influence of one of the discipline’s most important theorists. James and Allen are thoughtful editors … their respect produces the best form of criticism in fourteen essays by British, and other European, anthropologists … This is intriguing and stimulating reading … Mauss’s work receives careful attention in this book which is helpful, incisive, and broadly significant to anthropology.” • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI)

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsINTRODUCTORY ESSAYChapter 1. ‘One of us’: Marcel Mauss and ‘English’ anthropologyWendy JamesTHE SCHOLAR AND HIS TIMEChapter 2. An intellectual self-portraitMarcel MaussChapter 3. Mauss’s Jewish background: a biographical essayW. S. F. PickeringFOUNDATIONS OF MAUSSIAN ANTHROPOLOGY Chapter 4. A vague but suggestive concept: the ‘total social fact’Alexander GofmanChapter 5. The Maussian shift: a second foundation for sociology in France?Bruno KarsentiChapter 6. Derrida’s reading of MaussTim JenkinsCRITIQUES OF EXCHANGE AND POWERChapter 7. Uncertainties of the ‘obligation to reciprocate’: a critique of MaussAlain TestartChapter 8. Mutual deception: totality, exchange, and Islam in the Middle EastPaul DreschChapter 9. Modern philanthropy: reassessing the viability of a Maussian perspectiveIlana SilberChapter 10. Mauss, Dumont, and the distinction between status and power Materiality, body, historyJonathan ParryMATERIALITY, BODY, HISTORYChapter 11. The category of substance: a Maussian theme revisitedN. J. AllenChapter 12. The study of techniques as an ideological challenge: technology, nation, and humanity in the work ofMarcel MaussNathan SchlangerChapter 13. Form, movement, and posture in Mauss: themes for today’s anthropologyClaudine HarocheChapter 14. Mauss in Africa: on time, history, and politicsWendy JamesSelect BibliographyA: Reading Mauss in FrenchB: Work by Mauss available in EnglishC: Selected secondary sourcesNotes on contributorsIndex