This particular piece of writing is
the introduction to a book, and therefore only outlines the general thesis of
the book, which is that Anthropology, and social anthropology in particular,
have had to adapt to an expanding, integrating global climate and thusly ditch
their isolated holistic subjects of study in favor of more complex, but less
holistic subjects. Essentially as the world gets more connected, they’ve had to
include that in their studies, as isolated tribes gain more and more contact
with “civilization.” The previous abstract model of tribes and civilization
seems to be outdated, as it does not take into consideration groups that do not
fit into the mold, eg: the peasant villages in Meso-America.
In this chapter the author almost
exclusively used secondary research in showing the evolution of anthropology.
To a certain extent, since the author was tracing the origins of this field of
study, using research in the field as examples could be considered primary
research. The point the author is trying to make is outside the realm of
anthropological study, because the point encompasses the entire field. As for
the quality of the research itself, the author makes good usage of the flow
from the beginnings of this relatively new field of study to where we are
currently, or rather when this book was published. It has a largely Eurocentric
point of view on “civilized” versus “non-civilized” cultures, but more or less uses
the research in a fair manner. I’m still uncertain, however, what precisely to
call this for of research.
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