Gamero, I. 2015. Los límites del concepto de frontera en distintas teorías antropológicas posmodernas. Cinta moebio 52: 79-90

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The limits of the concept frontier in different postmodern anthropological theories

Dra. Isabel G. Gamero Cabrera (ig.gamero@filos.ucm.es) Instituto de Investigaciones Feministas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Madrid, España)

Abstract

The main interest of this paper is to understand how different theories have influence in the anthropological study of boundaries spaces. First, I will refer to Wolf’s and Barth’s critique against the particularism of the first ethnographies (namely, Boas’ or Evans-Pritchard’s theories). These first anthropologists maintained an isolated and separated conception of culture and consequently, they were unable to apprehend links between different human groups. In contrast, I will mention new approaches (transnationalism and the anthropology of the boundaries), more sensible to the differential situations in borders and the existence of transnational nets among regions. Lastly, I will allude to the difficulties that three contemporary anthropologists (Appadurai, García Canclini and Kearney) must face, when they link these new approaches with some postmodern concepts (such as “rhizome”, “porous border” or “hybridity”) and therefore, they cannot apprehend either the complexity of the boundaries.

Key words: boundary, postmodernity, theoretical frame, particularism, transnationalism