The Theft of Anthropology

Bibliographic Data

ID2352247
AuthorsChris Hann (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany,, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume26
Issue7-8
Pages126-147
Publication date2009-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTheory Culture & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0263-2764 • E-ISSN: 1460-3616
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0263276409348084
OpenAlexW2125786023
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited41

Social anthropology flourished in the 20th century but ethnographic methods and intensifying 'creative destruction' in the elaboration of theory have combined to deflect attention away from earlier concerns with long-term historical change. The 'theft of history' that took place within anthropology refers to this loss, which is not to be confused with healthy interdisciplinary borrowing. With the demise of the evolutionist paradigm and intensifying global connectivity, anthropologists have struggled to find a new balance between empirical ethnographic description, the interpretation of other social worlds, and theoretical explanation. It is not so much that the canon has continued to change but that many practitioners no longer acknowledge any canon. The difficulties are illustrated with a critical discussion of the Anglophone anthropological literature in a field that is novel for the discipline: socialism and its aftermath. The work of Jack Goody has a surprising relevance here; more generally, Goody's oeuvre shows how ethnographic excellence and intellectual originality can be harnessed together to serve a longue durée comparative historical anthropology

Applied anthropology · Demise · Epistemology · Ethnography · Evolutionism · Excellence · Interpretation (philosophy · Originality · Political science · Relevance · Relevance (law · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Law · Philosophy · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies