Articulating Experience. C. Jason Throop

7/27/2019 Articulating Experience. C. Jason Throop

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AnthropologicalTheory

Copyr igh t 2003S A G EP ub li ca t ion s(London,Thousand O aks,C A

and N ew D e lh i)Vo l 3(2): 219241

[1463-4996(200306)3:2;219241;033163]

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Articulatingexperience

C. JasonThroopUniversityofCalifornia, LosAngeles, USA

Abstract

Thisarticleengagesincriticaldialoguewithwhatappearsto beanemergingfinde

sicleconcernwiththeunexaminedtheoreticalusageoftheconceptofexperiencein

anthropology. Thearticle beginswitha briefreviewoftheworkofanumberof

scholarswhoshareagrowingdissatisfactionwiththeproblemofexperiencein

contemporaryanthropologicalandsocialscientificwritings. Inordertoevaluateand

situatetheserecentcriticalperspectives, thearticlethenshiftstoexploreingreater

detailthewritingsoftwoanthropologistswhohavesignificantlycontributedto

contemporaryanthropologicaltheorizingofexperience:VictorTurnerandClifford

Geertz. Finally, inanattempttolaythegroundworkforareturntoexperiencein

anthropologicaltheorizingandresearch, thearticleconcludes byoutlininga

complementalmodelofexperience. Drawingfrominsightsintothetemporal

organizationofexperiencefoundinthephenomenologicalwritingsofWilliamJames,

EdmundHusserl, andAlfredSchutzthismodelattemptsto bridgewhatsomescholars

believeto beacontroversialgap betweengranularandcoherencetheoriesof

experiencethatpermeatemanyoftheanthropological(andphilosophical)discussions

ofthetopic.

KeyWords

anthropologicaltheoryexperiencephenomenologytemporality

Experience, I believe, has no . . . inner duplicity; and the separation of it intoconsciousnessandcontentcomes, not bywayofsubtraction, but bywayofaddition.

WilliamJames, 1904a

Thewordexperienceisthemostdeceitfulinphilosophy.AlfredNorthWhitehead, 1927

Toreachrealityonehasfirsttorejectexperience.

ClaudeLvi-Strauss, 1955

I.INTRODUCTION

Therearecertainconceptsinanthropologicaltheorizingthatarefoundational. Because

these conceptsprovide thegrounduponwhichanthropologistsareable toconstruct

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carefullyhowdifferingmethodologiesmayprivilegeaccounts thatdraw fromoneoranotherformoftemporalorientationseemto beessentialtoensuringthatexperienceis

exploredethnographicallythroughouttheentirerangeofitsvariousarticulations.

AcknowledgementsIwouldliketothankRobertDesjarlais, JenniferDornan, LindaGarro, KevinGroark,

DouglasHollan,MichaelJackson, AllenJohnson, CharlesLaughlin, CherylMattingly,

KeithMurphy, ElinorOchs,MarikoTamanoi,WarrenThroop, RichardWilsonandtwoanonymousreviewersforcarefullyreadingandcommentingonearlierversionsofthisarticle. IamespeciallyindebtedtoAllenJohnsonforallowingmetopursuemanyoftheideasfoundinthisarticleinthecontextofadoctoralqualifyingexamwrittenduring

thesummerandfallof2001.

Notes

1 Seefor instance:Csordas(1994a, 1994b);Ewing, (1990);Good (1994);Hastrup

(1995);Howes (1991); Jackson (1989, 1996); Kleinman and Kleinman (1991,

1997);MarcusandFischer(1999);Wikan(1991).2 Itisinterestingtonotethatarguablythemostprolificeraofwritingonexperience

inphilosophyalso beganattheendofacentury:seeBergson(1910 [1889]);Dewey

(1958 [1929], 1980 [1934]);Dilthey (1985 [1887], 1989 [1883]); James (1950

[1890], 1996a [1909], 1996b [1912]);Husserl (1970 [1900/01], 1962 [1913],1964 [1905/10], 1993 [1931]);Oakeshott(1933)andWhitehead(1978 [1929]),

amongothers.

3 This isaplayon the titleofJefferyAlexanders book, FindeSicleSocialTheory:Relativism, Reduction, andtheProblemofReason(1995).

4 IwouldliketothankMarikoTamanoifor bringingthisarticletomyattention.

5 WalkerPercywasaphysicianturnedphilosopherandauthorwhodrewfromPeirceandMeadtoarguethathumanconsciousnessissymbolicandintersubjectivetoitscore(seePercy, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1961).

6 SeealsoWhitehead(2001 [1920]: 3434).

7 SeeCasey (2000 [1987]);Gurwitsch (1964);Schrag (1969);Schutz (1966) andWilshire(1968).

8 AsLevinas (1998: 143)pointsout, forHusserl [c]onsciousnessof time isnot areflectionupontime, buttemporalizationitself.

9 Husserl(1997: 108).10 InHusserlsterminologystreaminghyleticdata.11 SeeSchutz(1967 [1932]: 51).

12 Schutz(1967 [1932]: 81)callsthesestructures, coherences, orpatternsthatariseinthereflexivearcofmonotheticattentionschemesofexperience.

13 The following section is basedon a reworkingof aparagraph fromThroop andMurphy(2002).

14 Acomparableperspectiveisadvanced byPeircewhoarguesthat

wehearonlywhatispresentattheinstant, andanorderlinessofsuccessioncannotexistinaninstant. Thesetwosortsofobjects, whatweareimmediately consciousofandwhatwearemediately consciousof, arefoundinallconsciousness. Some

A N T H R O P O L O G I C A L T H E O R Y 3(2)

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elements(thesensations)arecompletelypresentateveryinstantso longastheylast, whileothers(likethought)areactionshaving beginning, middle, andend,andconsistinacongruenceinthesuccessionofsensationswhichflowthroughthemind. Theycannot beimmediatelypresenttous, butmustcoversomeportionof

pastorf

uture.Th

ou

ght

isathreadofmelodyr

unningthrou

gh

th

esu

ccession

ofoursensations[emphasisinoriginal](Peirce, 1992 [1878]: 129;seealsoRicoeur,1991: 212).

15 SeeOchsandCapps (2001) foran insightfuldiscussionofnarrativesofpersonalexperiencethatdonotconformtostandardsofemplottedcoherence.

16 Forinstance, intheanthropologicalandphenomenologicalstudyofpain, thereisa

growingconsensusthatpainisoftenexperiencedasdisjunctiveandworld-destroy-ing (seeDaniel, 1994;Good, 1994;Leder, 1985, 1990; Scarry, 1985;Throop,2002).

17 SeealsoOchsandCappsdiscussionofthetension betweenpolesofcoherenceandauthenticity in thecontextofeverydaynarratives (OchsandCapps, 2001: 26,1718, 24, 156, 2789, seealso 1997).

18 SeeBerger(1997: 481);seealsoBerger(1999: 124);BergerandDelNegro(2002:7172).

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C. JASONTHROOPisadoctoralcandidateintheprogramforpsychoculturalstudiesandmedicalanthro-

pology intheDepartmentofAnthropology, UCLA. He iscurrentlyconductinghisdissertationfieldwork

investigatingtheexperienceofchronicpainsufferersontheislandofYap(Waab), FederatedStatesofMicrone-

sia. Address: DepartmentofAnthropology, UniversityofCalifornia, LosAngeles, 341 HainesHall, P.O. Box

951553, LosAngeles, CA 900951553, USA. [email:[email protected]]


Articulating Experience. C. Jason Throop

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