Relationships, links, interaction: the anthropologist's view

Patrice GODIN, Associate professor in anthropology, Université de Nouvelle-Calédonie, TROCA Laboratory

The aim of the paper will be to show the heuristic interest, for the anthropologist, of distinguishing two dimensions of social relations: links and interactions; and this not to oppose them radically, but to articulate them and better understand their very economy, coherence and dynamics. How can we think of societies that are already there for individuals, that pre-exist their birth and constitute a substratum that they must internalise if they are to develop their own identity and autonomy; but also of societies that, at the same time, because of the brevity of human life and the sequence of generations, are constantly being reformulated and reconstructed? How can we think about the permanence of societies and social change at the same time? the continuity and transformations of social relations?