Читать книгу Anthropology For Dummies - Cameron M. Smith - Страница 21

IN THIS CHAPTER

Figuring out exactly what anthropology studies

Discovering how anthropology defines humanity and culture

Reviewing the historical roots that led to modern anthropology

In 1949, anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn published “Mirror for Man,” an introduction to the study of anthropology, the study of humanity (anthro meaning “of humanity” and logy meaning “the study of”). Since then, attitudes have changed a little (most people now speak of “humanity” rather than “mankind”), but Kluckhohn’s words still ring true: “Anthropology holds up a great mirror to man and lets him look at himself in his infinite variety.”

Anthropology is the mirror of our species; a place for humanity to reflect on itself. But you have to do that looking, and the discovering that comes from it, with care. If you want to understand anything, you need to see everything, warts and all. As a species we’ve found time and again that our cultural biases — our ethnocentric way of thinking that our culture is superior to all others — are simply wrong; humanity has found many ways to be human. Anthropology studies those many paths.

What does humanity see in the great mirror of anthropology? Before answering this question, you need to understand where anthropology came from. It didn’t just pop up out of nowhere, and it wasn’t invented overnight: It was cobbled together, refined, reinvented, crafted, and then reimagined and reinterpreted such that today anthropology is a very diverse field holding up many mirrors for humanity.

Instead of giving you the whole history of anthropology — which would take a separate book — in this chapter I introduce the main ideas that paved the way to modern anthropology. As with any idea, you see that some were specific products of their times and have since fallen by the wayside, while others were more lasting, and continue to fascinate anthropologists today.