The Foundations of PrimitiveThought

by C.R. Hallpike

Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Christopher Robert Hallpike (born 1938) is an English-Canadian anthropologist and an Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. He is known for his extensive study of the Konso of Ethiopia and Tauade of New Guinea.

Reviews

[Mikael Hall · Rating 1 out of 5]

I lied, I didn't read it at all and I won't put in my 2022 list. Thinking it would be some interesting scholarship on acephalous and other non-state societies. But on the introduction the author already revealed a few unsettling starting points. He presented a very evolutionist view of human societies where contemporary gatherer-hunters are viewed as analogue to prehistoric societies. While this evolutionism has come under critique and had a small revival this was not my main issue. He goes on to state that he believes that the mind of "primitive" peoples are different from our own even speculating in racial origins of this. But even without the racialist speculation he aims to apply development psychology to understand "primitive peoples" that is to say to view them essentially as children. So when I after a few hours of work was ready to return to the book I had a change of heart and decided to let it go.