Talk:History of anthropology
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Brief History of Anthropology including the prominent personalities of this science.
This article does not serve its subject well at all.
There is no mention of key anthropological concepts and debates. Most of the important figures in anthropological history are missing.
Some of the things that ought to be included or referenced:
Frazer (Golden Bough) ought to be mentioned as a founder of comparative anthropology and Edward Burnett Tylor for cross-cultural analysis Functionalism: Radcliffe-Brown, Malinowski Culture and Personality: Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, Cora Dubois
Franz Boas and the American School -- "participant observation" -- dissemination v. independent invention to explain similarities in culture (and material culture)
The Manchester School of Thought -- conflict within social systems: Max Gluckman, Victor Turner
Ecological anthropology: Leslie White
Claude Levi-Strauss: structuralism
Edward Sapir
Paul Radin
MArshall Sahlins
Vine Deloria
Kroeber and acculturation
Not complete, of course
Some internet resources that might help: http://www.aaanet.org/gad/history/index.htm
http://www.anthrobase.com/Browse/home/hst/hist-links.htm
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/
http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/Faculty/murphy/anthros.htm
http://www.indiana.edu/~wanthro/sociocultural_theory.htm
I'd classify this article as it stands as a stub, and a problematic one at that.
74.220.66.80 03:43, 15 April 2007 (UTC)Lucy Kemnitzer, ritaxis@cruzio.com
[edit] Good outline, let's talk
This is a good outline of the main currents; we could add more. I'd suggest that we might separate the current scope of the main Anthropology article and this History of Anthropology article, as I've been attempting to do. Previously the two seemed to have substantial overlap, and the Anthropology article was almost entirely about 19th-century scientific racism/polygenism/colonialism, with almost no discussion of actual modern anthropology. I can see a few ways that we might want to take this. One would be to have this page deal in more detail with 1800 up to 1980s/1990s or so, while Anthropology only covers enough to give a broad overview. Another would be to split off some of the very early material, or the scientfic racism/colonialism article into a third article, while expanding the list proposed here on the talk page into a fairly good coverage of sociocultural anthropology c. 1890-1980s. Yet another option would be to have this History of Anthropology page itself mainly give an overview, while expanding the topics listed here into individual entires (which they probably all deserve eventually; some already have them, such as Levi-Strauss). Thoughts? Anyone able to contribute to this? Mccajor 23:59, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Muslim antecedents of anthropology
User:Jagged 85 has added a section on Muslim antecedents of anthropology. However, it is not clear from the new section what exactly these medieval Muslim scholars did that constitutes an antecedent to modern anthropology. A number of earlier scholars wrote about other peoples. For example, Herodotus (484 BCE–ca. 425 BCE) is sometimes called the "father of anthropology" as well as the "father of history", as the first writer in the Western tradition to attempt a comparative description of various peoples and their customs; similarly, the Roman historian Tacitus (ca. 56 – ca. 117 CE) is our source for knowledge of the customs and social organization of many peoples of northwestern Europe, and has matched up well with the archaeological record. I suspect there are likely similar scholars in medieval or ancient China, India, Japan, etc. It would be interesting to know more about the Muslim scholars cited, if the current entry could be expanded, and whether their writings had any sort of historical connection with modern anthropology. If they have not had any particular connection to modern anthropology, then perhaps it would be more appropriate to put them in a section or separate article along the lines of "Comparative studies of culture in the pre-modern period". On the other hand, if they have contributed to or have been taken up by anthropologists or sociologists in the modern Muslim world, perhaps Jagged 85 could add a new section on "Anthropology in the Muslim World" or something along those lines. I am also a bit concerned at present that the tone is rather uncritical. The first article cited, for instance, is commentary by an anthropological historian, in the context of discussing whether an objective anthropology is compatible with Islam, and citing these two medieval Muslim scholars as evidence that it is possible to practice comparative study of cultures without compromising one's faith in Islam or one's objectivity. Fine and good, but for this section to frame the material adequately really requires far more treatment than is currently present. I am going to edit it a bit to frame it somewhat, but it would be good if Jagged 85 or some other interested party followed up with Akbar's later book to address some of these issues. Mccajor 20:47, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
- I agree with most of your points. I was just stating a few passages from the cited articles, and was thinking about expanding it later on when I have more time. I provided a few sources, just in case other editors might want to expand it in the mean time. For now, I agree with your last edit. The section could do with some more explaining, but I think it might also be a good idea to get some references for the other parts of the article as well. Jagged 85 21:32, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
- Thanks. I'll be interested to see it as it develops. Mccajor 22:36, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
[edit] article of concern
would people who watch this page please review the article, Early infanticidal childrearing, which makes many claims about anthropology and about non-Western societies? I was once involved in a flame-war with another editor, and it would be inappropriate for me to do a speedy delete or nominate the page for deletion. More important, I think others need to comment on it. I engaged in a detailed exchange recently with one other editor here, on the talk page; you may wish to review the discussion but it is getting involuted and I ask that you comment separately. Thanks, Slrubenstein | Talk 12:33, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
