Anthropological epistemologies

Journal/Book: Int Soc Sci J. 1997; 49: 108 Cowley Rd, Oxford, Oxon, England OX4 1JF. Blackwell Publ Ltd. 333.

Abstract: It has long been recognized that anthropology is distinctive among social sciences disciplines for its grounding in ethnographic fieldwork. The significance of this basis has, however, changed in recent decades as anthropological texts are increasingly read and responded to by the peoples studied. The expanded audience for anthropological writing makes anthropological knowledge contentious in a novel way,and exposes contradictions in the notion that ethnographers ought to adopt a 'native point of view', which has long been a cherished, if unexamined aspiration. Together with shifts away from systemic totalizations and the dominance of linguistic models, this shift in the status of anthropological knowledge creates new risks and promises for the discipline.

Note: Article Thomas N, Australian Natl Univ, Ctr Cross Cultural Res, Canberra, Act 0200, AUSTRALIA

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