Senior Research Seminar with Dr Christine Lee (East China Normal University)

Dr Christine Lee (East China Normal University)

A Handful of Grass: Catholicism and Anthropology via Evans-Pritchard, Turner and Douglas

Catalysed by Vatican II's radical reforms and theology, which pursued more historically, culturally, and experientially-grounded approaches to faith, Mary Douglas (cradle Catholic, and E. E. Evans Pritchard and Victor Turner (adult converts) wrote their faith into their scholarship, and vice versa. Their work was formative for anthropology, especially British social anthropology—and although their faith tends to be interpreted as a biographical rather than theoretical feature, their scholarship and anthropological projects reflected both their commitment to their faith and to the discipline. Furthermore, they often sought to bridge the gap between the two—such as through the push for anthropology to move away from modelling itself as a science and towards modelling itself on the humanities (Evans-Pritchard) or the development of new analytical frameworks for ritual, religion and hierarchy (Douglas, Turner). Examining the theoretical impact of their Catholicism on their anthropology—as well as the theological roots of the different ways they chose to be Catholic—yields a contrasting perspective to Protestant-focused accounts of Christianity's impact on anthropology, as well as substantiating recent calls for sustained, transformative engagement between anthropology and theology.