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An Inconstant Profession: The Anthropological Life in Interesting TimesAuthor(s): Clifford GeertzSource:

Annual Review of Anthropology,

Vol. 31 (2002), pp. 1-19Published by: Annual ReviewsStable URL:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4132869

Accessed: 26/06/2009 20:04

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Annual Review of Anthropology.

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Annu. Rev.Anthropol.2002. 31:1-19doi: 10.1146/annurev.anthro.31.040402.085449Copyright

2002byAnnualReviews. Allrightsreserved

ANINCONSTANT

ROFESSION:

TheAnthropologicalifenInterestingimes

CliffordGeertz

InstituteorAdvancedtudy,insteinDrive,Princeton,ewJersey8540;email:geertz@ias.eduKeyWordssocialsciences,history,hirdworld,modernization,oldWarMAbstractIgiveanoverallviewofanthropologyndofmycareerwithin t overthepast fiftyyears,relatinghemtochangesn the world ngeneralduringhat ime.All lessons aremplicit,all moralsunstated,ll conclusionsundrawn.

INTRODUCTION

Ihavearrived,tseems,at thatpointinmylifeandmycareerwhen whatpeoplemost want to hear from me is not some newfact oridea,but how Igotto thispointinmylifeandmycareer.Thisis a bitdiscouraging,notjustbecause ofitsmomentomoriovertones(whenyouareseventy-five,everythinghas mementomoriovertones),butbecause,having spentthe whole ofmyadult lifetryingtopush thingsforward n thehumansciences,I am nowbeingaskedto considerwhatthat hasentailed-whyI thinkmydirection canbecalledforward,andwhat,ifthatdirectionstobesustained,he nextnecessarything mightbe. As aresult,Ihaveengagedin thepastfewyearsinatleasttwomore or lessorganizedattemptsto describethegeneralcurve ofmylife as aworkinganthropologist,nd thisessaywill be thethird,and,Itrust,helast.Talkingaboutone's self andone'sexperiencesin ahomileticalmanner--"gothou and do likewise"-is abit much the firsttimearound.Recycled,itloses charmaltogether.The first of theseessaysinapologetical retrospection,originallygivenas aHarvard-Jerusalemecture in1990,became thechapterentitled"Disciplines"nmybookAftertheFact(Geertz1995a).ThereI concentratedmostlyon mattersofresearchandscholarship,mostespeciallyonmylong-termieldwork n Indonesiaand Morocco-astoryofprojectsleadingto outcomesleadingto otherprojectsleadingto otheroutcomes. Thesecond,originallygivenas an AmericanCouncilof LearnedSocieties "Life ofLearning"ecture n1999,became thefirstchapter,entitled"PassageandAccident,"ofmymost recentbook,AvailableLight(Geertz2000).ThereIpresenteda morepersonal,semi-introspectiveccount of bothmylife andmycareer;asort of sociointellectualautobiographyndself-accounting.This time-this last time-I want to dosomethingelse:namely,to trace the0084-6570/02/1021-0001$14.001