Breaking the Frames

CHAPTER 4

Individuals

AbstractTheorizing about the individual has a long history in anthro-
pology, but has often been vitiated by the imposition of frames that
oppose the individual to the collective or social realms and/or to the
dichotomy between primitive/civilized societies. A historical and
processual view sees the ongoing dialectical relationship between cate-
gories. Customs are not static but change, while still maintaining aspect
of continuity. Thoughtful discussions are found in Anthony Cohen’s work
stressing self-consciousness. He criticizes Louis Dumont’s argument that
the concern with the individual is an ethnocentric western notion.
Another arena of debate has been in Papua New Guinea, where the
question of dividuals versus individuals has dominated debates. Our
term, relational–individual, mediates this dichotomy, introducing a dia-
lectical ontology.

KeywordsAnthony Cohen
Customs
Dichotomies
Dividuals
Papua
New Guinea
Relational–individual

Individuals exist everywhere. Classically, the concept of the individual has
been both linked to and opposed to the idea of the collectivity, with
several normative implications. Individuals are a part of the collective.
They may sometimes oppose it or come into conflict with it. The collective
is also composed of individuals with varying roles and identities. People

© The Author(s) 2017
P.J. Stewart, A.J. Strathern,Breaking the Frames,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-47127-3_4

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