Levi-Strauss on Religion: The Structuring Mind

Levi-Strauss, the 'father of modern anthropology', is one of the most influential thinkers of the Twentieth Century. His development of 'structuralism' - the identification of patterns of human cognition and behaviour - greatly influenced Althusser, Lacan, Foucault and Derrida. -Levi-Strauss on Religion- presents one of the only examinations of the importance of Levi-Strauss' thought and work to the study of religion. The book examines his methodology as well as his contributions to the study of kinship, totemism, and myth. The issues raised by Levi-Strauss' anthropological, political and philosophical texts are placed alongside contemporary debates in religious studies and the student is introduced to the thinkers and theories that informed his writings. This book will be invaluable to students of the anthropology and phenomenology of religion.

Paul-Francois Tremlett is a Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies and a Visiting Lecturer at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. He has published essays on theory and method in the study of religions, on religion and nationalism and religion and masculinity in the Philippines and on the anthropology of religion on Taiwan. He is currently co-editing a volume of essays about Taiwan entitled Re-Writing Culture: Perspectives via Taiwan.