Prof. Jérôme Rousseau

Research Interests: Social Inequality in Middle-Range Societies

To date, anthropological studies of the evolution of societies have focused primarily on either: a) the balance of equality and inequality among hunter-gathers or, b) the development of state organizations. My research is designed to fill a gap by focusing on small-scale sedentary societies, which occupy an intermediate position between hunter-gatherers and large-scale societies: hunter-gatherers do not have the need or means to achieve these features, and state societies have either modified or discarded them. Evolution is not a linear process from simplicity to complexity. On the contrary, middle-range societies demonstrate a greater diversity of social systems than either hunter-gatherers or state societies. Such diversity is particulary evident in relation to social inequality. I look at gender, kinship, age categories, hierarchy, leadership, violence within the group and warfare between groups, and the importance of group identity.

Recent Publications

"Hereditary Stratification in Middle-range societies", in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, NS 7, 2001, pp. 117-31.

Central Borneo and its Relations with Coastal Malay Sultanates, in Outwitting the State, P. Skalnik, ed., Political Anthropology, New Brunswick, Transaction Publishers, v. 7 1989, p. 41-50.

Gender and Class in Central Borneo, in Female and Male in Borneo, V. Sutlive, ed., Williamsburg, Va., The Borneo Research Council Monograph Series, v. 1, 1991, p. 403-413.

From Shamans to Priests: Towards the Professionalization of Religious Specialists Among the Kayan, in The seen and the Unseen: Shamanism and Spirit Mediums in Borneo, R. Winzeler, ed., Borneo Research Council Monograph Series, no. 2. 1993, p. 131-150.

The Subject of Knowledge, in The Order of the Text: Asceticism and Violence in the Interpretation of Culture, G. Bibeau and E. Corin, eds., Berlin, Mouton de Gruyter, 1995, p. 289-302.

Books

Kayan Religion. Leiden: KITLV Press. 1998.

The Peoples of Central Borneo, Kuching, Sarawak Museum, 1974.

Central Borneo. A Bibliography, Kuching, Sarawak Museum, 1988.

Central Borneo: Ethnic Identity and Social Life in a Stratified Society, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1990.

L'adoption chez les Esquimaux Tununermiut, Québec, Centre d'Etudes Nordiques, Université Laval, 1970.

© 2001, Anthropology Department, McGill University
http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/programs/anthro/
Last update : June 13, 2002