The Authority of Style – Social Analysis 1987

‘In Paul Rabinow’s monograph Symbolic Domination (1975) the anthropologist examines the history of a Moroccan village and its dominant lineage descended from a seventeenth century saint Sidi-Lachen. A second book, Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco (1977), examines the anthropologist’s relationships with the informants of the first book, whose “names have been changed to protect their anonymity” (Rabinow 1977:vi). Although only one ‘informant’ is mentioned in the 1975 text, it is surprising to find only in 1977 that identities have been protected – the validity and extent of this ‘fictionalization’ is confusing and all Rainbow’s proper names are put under a cloud’ Authority of StyleDownload