The Research On Geertz And The New Cultural History Of Contemporary West

As a prominent contemporary master of Interpretative Anthropology, Geertz Clifford has played an extremely important role in the transition of Anthropology since the 1960s. His research works in areas of thick description, local knowledge and semeiology are all marked by the basic ideology of "Interpretative Anthropology". According to Geertz, the essence of human culture is symbolic and interpretative, and, as a science of research in culture, the nature of Anthropology is also interpretative. Geertz's study model has broken through the situation of wallowing in Structuralism, which is a great pioneering work in the Anthropology.Geertz Clifford has not only made a great influence in Anthropology but also History since the New Cultural History risen in the 1970s. As the main trends of development of the contemporary Western History, New Cultural History has two features. Firstly, it focuses on the cultural elements and cultural aspects in the past. Secondly, it explores the cultural meanings by using some advanced approaches of other fields, like Anthropology, Linguistics, Literary theories, and cultural studies. During its formation, New Cultural History has three main sources, that are, British New Marxist History and French Annales School, Post-Modernist History, and Cultural Anthropology. Especially, Interpretative Anthropology has been extensively concerned and adopted by New Cultural historians, as American historian Natalie Zemon Davis, Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg, and American historian Robert Darnton. They have used much the Cultural interpretation, micro-analysis, explaination of symbols and rituals, and narrative, to propel the New Cultural History forward. In short, the New Cultural historians borrowed the concept of culture, analytic tool of thick description, and local vision from Interpretative Anthropology to promote the combination of History and Anthropology. It is a great boon.This paper introduces Geertz's research process, as well as the theories and practices of Interpretative Anthropology in detail. Expect to summarize systematically the effects of Geertz on New Cultural History, and to sum up the revelations from Interpretative Anthropology by analyzing the representative books of New Cultural History.