Nine tribes. The heritage of the indigenous peoples and the roots of modernity

Book lɔ:ntʃ

With: Prof. em. Dr. Karl-Heinz Kohl (Emeritus Professor of Ethnology at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, member of the “Normative Orders” research center)

C. H. Beck 2024

What do Montaigne’s cultural criticism and American democracy, Freud’s totemism theory and Lévi-Strauss’ structuralism, bridge painters and surrealists, hippies and the sexual revolution have in common? Karl-Heinz Kohl uses the example of nine tribes to show how these and many other theories, avant-garde currents, emancipation and protest movements were shaped by a fascinated view of indigenous peoples. He explains how the indigenous peoples themselves made use of their fascination with the West and how closely intertwined the seemingly contradictory worlds are in the modern age. His vividly and captivatingly written book is a major achievement that will revitalize debates about “cultural appropriation”. Ever since the first great voyages of discovery on the threshold of the modern era, reports of foreign lands and people have captivated Europeans. Their nudity has called European customs into question. Their social orders inspired protest movements. Their art inspired the European avant-gardes. And ethnographic descriptions – from Friedrich Engels’ materialist view of history to post-colonial “anthropophagism” – have led to a flood of theories, some of which still shape our image of man today. Karl-Heinz Kohl explains why the West has found its alter ego above all in nine tribes. He explores the reports about them, tells vividly how they have turned European culture on its head for over 200 years, and uses many surprising examples to show how indigenous cultures have also changed in this process.

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Further information about the book: Here...

Organizer: Research Center “Normative Orders” of the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main in cooperation with the Frobenius Institute for Cultural Anthropological Research at the Goethe University Frankfurt