Ethnography and Ethnohistory

Their Application in Middle American Studies

Bibliographic Data

ID2741809
AuthorsRobert M Carmack (corresponding author)
Year1971
Volume18
Issue2
Pages127
Publication date1971-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnohistory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0014-1801 • E-ISSN: 1527-5477
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/481309
OpenAlexW2328675138
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited24

The of the relationship between ethnography and ethnohistory is reviewed, especially as it relates to Middle American studies. Examples are drawn from the author's ethnographic field work among the Quiche-Maya of highland Guatemala to demonstrate how these efforts were aided by documentary research, and to show how understanding of the historical record can be improved through knowledge of the living culture. ETHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY The development of ethnology in anthropology has been summarized in many places (e.g., Lowie 1937; Herskovits 1965). Under the influence of Boas, ethnology dominated anthropological studies in the United States for the first third of the present century (Eggan 1954). Analysis of ethnographic data was focused primarily on determining cultural diffusion between geographically adjacent cultures, and reconstructing the temporal sequences of cultural change. Ethnology, then, was primarily culture history, as may be seen from the most important studies in that period (Wissler 1917; Spier 1921; Sapir 1916; Kroeber 1923). The development of social anthropology in Great Britain is well known also (Evans-Pritchard 1964; Tax 1955; Eggan 1954). The dominating influence came from Radcliffe-Brown and Malinowski, both of whom stressed functional relationships over culture historical ones. Comparison of social structure was emphasized, and ethnology to a large extent was pigeon-holed as conjectural history (Radcliffe-Brown 1961: 50; Malinowski 1944). Social anthropology became synchronic, and structure-functional.2 The above characterizations represent general tendencies, for a certain amount of culture and functionalism can be found in the early works of

Ethnography · Ethnohistory · Sociology · Anthropology · Archaeology and Natural History · History · Latin American history and culture · Psychedelics and Drug Studies