Against the Anthropological Grain

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Transaction Publishers, 1998 - 211 páginas

"Readers can benefit from exposure to a cross-grained critic, especially one who write well and accessibly as Washburn does." -- "Choice"

Washburn critically examines key anthropological beliefs, especially the importance of cultural relativism and Western colonialism's harmful effects on Third World cultures. He turns the tables on theorists from the discipline. The questions raised force us to rethink our entrenched assumptions about the human condition, national identity and the future of anthropology.

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Contenido

Does Anthropology Have A Creditable Past?
17
The Promise of Cultural Relativism Why Did It Fail?
35
What Are Anthropological Ethics?
45
Should Anthropologists Involve Themselves in the Politics of Individual Tribes?
63
Should Anthropologists Involve Themselves in Intertribal Conflicts?
81
Should Anthropologists Try to Influence Public Policy?
93
Do Ideology and Archaeology Mix?
109
Should Museums Collect Information or Objects?
113
Should Museums Return Sacred Objects from Their Collections?
133
Is There a Museum Science?
141
Is There a Museum Profession?
149
How Have Museums Changed in the Past Twenty Years?
167
Is Anthropology Continuing to Ignore the Rights of the Individual Within the Group?
175
Does Anthropology Have a Future?
187
Sources of Original Essays
203
Index
205

Do Museums Provide Adequate Care of their Anthropological Collections? The Frobisher Relics
123

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Pasajes populares

Página 103 - It is scientifically incorrect to say that we have inherited a tendency to make war from our animal ancestors; (2) It is scientifically incorrect to say that war or any other violent behavior is genetically programmed into our human nature...
Página 37 - Even where political systems exist that deny citizens the right of participation in their government, or seek to conquer weaker peoples, underlying cultural values may be called on to bring the peoples of such states to a realization of the consequences of the acts of their governments.
Página 47 - From the very beginning therefore we have defined action anthropology as an activity in which an anthropologist has two coordinate goals, to neither one of which he will delegate an inferior position. He wants to help a group of people to solve a problem, and he wants to learn something in the process.
Página 103 - It is scientifically incorrect to say that in the course of human evolution there has been a selection for aggressive behavior more than for other kinds of behavior.
Página 152 - Museums, a museum is defined as an organized and permanent non-profit institution, essentially educational or aesthetic in purpose, with professional staff, which owns and utilizes tangible objects, cares for them, and exhibits them to the public on some regular schedule.
Página 98 - These methods of warfare deeply offend human nature. We ask that all governments put an end to their use at once and proceed as rapidly as possible to a peaceful settlement of the war in Vietnam.
Página 5 - The anthropologist must relinquish his comfortable position in the long chair on the verandah of the missionary compound, Government station, or planter's bungalow, where, armed with pencil and notebook and at times with a whisky and soda, he has been accustomed to collect statements from informants, write down stories, and fill out sheets of paper with savage texts. He must go out into the villages, and see the natives at work in gardens, on the beach, in the jungle...
Página 29 - Let this be very clear: When the Indians organize it will be first under Federal laws enacted by Congress to enable them to organize, under Federal laws. Second, the organized bodies of Indians? will become agencies of the Federal Government. Instrumentalities, or, if you like, branches of the Federal Government.
Página 86 - Yuma and such other Indians as the Secretary of the Interior may see fit to settle thereon: Provided, however.

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