One of the Anthropologists talked about in Graeber's book: Toward an anthropological theory of Value, was Clifford Geertz. Clifford Geertz was born on august 23rd 1926 in San Fransisco. His work focused on interpreting symbols that he believed gave both meaning and order to peoples lives. Most of His theories focused mostly on culture and cultural interpretation. he is "considered the founder of interpretive and symbolic anthropology" according to the NY times. His writing has been given numerous awards and is considered to be valuable beyond just the field of cultural sciences and anthropology. Geertz was influenced heavily by Ludwig Wittgenstein and Max Weber and this is clear in many of his works. Geertz's theory of understanding others' understandings and his examining of public meanings or symbols is what he takes away from Wittgenstein. Geerts also uses Weberian framework (use of culture religion and ideals to explain modernization), in a few of his writings such as Agricultural Involution and Peddlers and Princes. Geertz attended grad school at Harvard University and finished with a philosophy major and a PHD in anthropology. He continued on to teach a Harvard, University of California, University of Chicago and Oxford University. Geertz did field work in Indonesia and Morocco during this time as well. It is clear in all aspects of his work that the term value to him is referring to how the symbols of a culture are an expression of the underlying principles, values, and behaviors of the culture. Geertz died at age 80 from complications with heart surgery.
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