Defining hunter-gatherers: Enlightenment, Romantic, and Social Evolutionary Perspectives

Alan Barnard

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

A concept of the hunter-gatherer similar to the one we possess today, and more specifically a concept of hunter-gatherer society, emerged during European Enlightenment. Before that time, the idea of a ‘hunter-gatherer’ was subsumed under an idea of human nature or natural humanity. The existence of hunter-gatherer society was predicated on a theory of society in which economics became a defining attribute, and this came to be the case during the eighteenth century, especially in Scotland. In the Romantic period, interest in the hunter-gatherer as a category waned. Nevertheless, the idea re-emerged among successors to the Romantic tradition, and in particular, in German-language and American anthropological traditions. Ultimately, the idea of hunter-gatherers gained prominence among evolutionists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is this tradition that we inherit in modern hunter-gatherer studies.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-Gatherers
EditorsVicki Cummings, Peter Jordan, Marek Zvelebil
Place of PublicationOxford
PublisherOxford University Press
Pages43-54
ISBN (Print)978-0-19-955122-4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 Apr 2014

Publication series

NameOxford Handbooks in Archaeology

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • enlightenment
  • romantic period
  • evolutionist

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