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Contributions from
the Column
Media
On Peace on Earth
Land Reform in Namibia and Southern Africa
History of Social Anthropology
HIV/AIDS – a Practioners Guide
10/2005 |
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Social Anthropology:
Development studies are missing
Werner Petermann:
Die Geschichte der Ethnologie
(The History of Social Anthropology).
Wuppertal, Peter Hammer Verlag 2004, 1095 pages,
59.90 Euro, ISBN 3-87294-930-6
This comprehensive volume on the history of social anthropology could clearly not be considered required reading for the average person interested in development. However the book – ambitious yet well-written in view of the complexity of the subject – takes the reader to the heart of a field which can inspire and stimulate an understanding of the cultural conditions of development. The introduction outlines the earliest discussions of culture by Herodotus. The world’s first historian wrote copiously about foreign peoples, by this means providing generations of cultural scientists with source materials on topics such as perception of others, cultural difference and ethnocentricity.
After an introduction to the basics of ancient ethnology, Petermann examines the European voyages of exploration and colonial conquest. A portrayal of the philosophical foundations of cultural studies in the 18th century follows. Most of the articles on the 19th century introduce the reader to the emergence of empirical research – a field that was strongly dominated by Great Britain. The 20th century saw an escalation in the number of theoretical schools of thought, mainly driven by academics from Germany, Britain, the USA and France. Keywords here are functionalism, structuralism and cultural ecology.
In all eight chapters, the author creates a vivid picture by weaving together information on how the scholars of each era approached foreign cultures, facts on methodical questions, numerous biographical sketches on individual people, and important terms. He devotes a great deal of space to the “prehistory and early history” of the discipline, but becomes increasingly unforthcoming as he approaches the present day. Very little light is shed on developments during the past ten years. It is almost as if nobody had appeared on the scene after Michel Foucault, and there had been no further discourse, either at the theoretical or practice-oriented level.
The latter comment touches on the greatest shortcoming of this book: its failure to include “applied” and “development anthropology”. This sub-field has been around for 30 years in the USA. In Germany “development ethnology” has existed for the past 20 years. Anyone with an interest in development would be justified in expecting more here. Nonetheless the book, with its comprehensive bibliography, extensive list of names and subject index, can be recommended without question as a meaningful history of social anthropology.
Frank Bliss
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