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Re: Anthropology: unity through diversity?Patricia Clay (pclay@WHSUN1.WH.WHOI.EDU)Fri, 14 Oct 1994 12:10:12 -0400
> I've often thought that anthropologists frequently treat of the same > data as do epidemiologists, historians, geologists, biologists, or > whatever, but do so with a peculiar slant or spin. (Or, to agree > with MRK, they do *when* they in fact are DOING anthropology). I know > faculty in other departments to whom I send my Master's students for > cognate course work feel the same and often end up scratching their > heads in wonder at the *intriguing* questions these non-historians (to > take only one example) are able to raise, when the historically trained > grad students sit there baffled. I have always felt that anthropology was not so much a topic of study as a worldview and a set of methodologies. After all, as an anthropologist I can study any aspect of human behavior, or any other topic that I feel can shed light on human behavior (primate studies, for example). This is part of what drew me to anthropology; I didn't have to narrow my interests. What distinguishes me as an anthropologist is then -- at a minimum -- a holistic perspective, comparison and relativism, and the use of participant-observation. Trish Clay **************************************************************************** Dr. Patricia M. Clay, Anthropologist voice: 508-548-5123 National Marine Fisheries Service fax: 508-548-5124 Northeast Fisheries Science Center email: pclay@whsun1.wh.whoi.edu 166 Water St. Woods Hole, MA 02536 Favorite quote: "So what do you U.S.A. study? The social behavior of fish? ****************************************************************************
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