Clifford Geertz was born in 1926. He was an anthropologist who taught at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He worked on the study of symbols. He made his first studies in Java and Bali between 1960 and 1970. He was also interested in studying Morocco. He published 'The Souk of Sefrou'in 1979. 'The Souk of Sefrou' is an ethnographic study.
He gives a lot of importance to the description of the phenomena before he analyzes it.
The first part of the text deals with the bazaar as an object of study and training process of this institution.The second part deals with the bazaar as a cultural institution. The third part describes the bazaar as economic institution.
In this paper we will first study the articulation of the text. This is relatively long because of its monographic character. Then we will offer a comment and a criticism of the general, theoretical and methodological questions of the reality of the souk.
Tags - Clifford Geertz, Sefrou, souk, anthropology
[...] Research information is described at the level of the individual who traverses the souk. We can also mention: "Life in the suwwaq consists of a series of battles between man and man." However, the macro is not absent from this perspective. It might be the words of the author, "micro and macro play into each other." Moreover, Geertz emphasizes the requisite overlap between theory and practice. Even if it takes a large part of the description for proper understanding of the bazaar, there arises no question of abandoning the evaluation of the observed phenomena, which is justified by the existence of phenomena that is symbolic or ritual, that require direct analysis. [...]
[...] For example, we can look at the overall picture of the souk: the crowd "including the man who squats on the carpet and tell sad stories of the death of kings, [ . ] the player, the pickpocket the prostitute, the snake charmer [ . ] or statements that are unwarranted and subject to discussion: "the Moroccans are strong- minded, stubborn and argumentative". All this affects the scientific quality of the work. In the same spirit, the proof is sometimes a little light, indeed a simple rhetorical effect to articulate the different descriptions. Some observations are generalized hastily through platitudes. [...]
[...] This vision is linked to a conception of the social split, on one side as a set of institutions and symbolic phenomena, as we have said, sharing and acting together in a community, the suwwaqa of the souk, but on the other side as a social intersubjectivity following Weber. If it appears that the socialized concept strays close to interactionism, since the theory of the proposed paper is based on reports of transmission of information between individuals, the fact remains that on the other mentioned points, micro-macro, practical theory and under-over socialization, Geertz has a nuanced position. Despite that, some approaches remain controversial in many ways. III - Review Firstly, we have the absence of statistics and numbers. [...]
[...] Moreover, not only do certain passages remain pure description, but others are placed in a relatively arbitrary manner. How does one justify that bargaining and patronage are key institutions in the souk?. Linguistic analysis is interesting, but nothing is known of the importance of words analyzed, chosen without being justified in the use. In short, Geertz affirms the importance of information without leaving us the choice to see something else. Bibliography - Geertz, The souq of Sefrou. The bazaar economy Paris, Bouchene Editions. [...]
[...] The institutions of the bazaar are divided depending on whether are divided depending on whether or not they promote the flow of information. Thus, clientelism refers to the tendency to enter always in relation to the same person, from whom were obtained guarantees, knowing that the partner is an "adversary”. From this follows bargaining, competition between buyer and seller, marked by custom and determined by the quality of information. Finally there is a "set of information" similar to horse racing: the essential thing is to have more information than others. [...]
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