An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo
by Mary Douglas
- Author(s)
- Mary Douglas
- Publication, year
- London ; New York : Routledge, 2022
- Scope
- 272 Pages, 19,5 cm.
- ISBN
- 9780415289955
Purity and Danger is a 1966 book by the anthropologist and cultural theorist Mary Douglas. It is her best known work. The line of inquiry in Purity and Danger traces the words and meaning of dirt in different contexts. What is regarded as dirt in a given society is any matter considered out of place. (Douglas took that lead from William James.) She attempted to clarify the differences between the sacred, the clean and the unclean in different societies and times, but that did not entail judging religions as pessimistic or optimistic in their understanding of purity or dirt, such as dirt-affirming or otherwise. Through a complex and sophisticated reading of ritual, religion and lifestyle, Douglas challenged Western ideas of pollution and clarified how context and social history are essential.
- Keywords
- (on)gelijkheid / (in)equity , body culture , anthropology
- Location
- Cabinet 31 - 2: Lichaam en omgeving / Body and Space
- Extra themes
- Expanded Space ; Global Art ; Algemeen
- Remarks
- First published 1966. With new preface by the author to the Routledge Classic edition, 2002
