Hell of a question, that one. (was re: question)

Michael Bauser (MBAUSER@kentvm.kent.edu)
Thu, 27 Apr 95 20:35:07 EDT

And from Columbia, yet.

In article <Pine.SUN.3.91.950425175808.13814A-100000@ciao.cc.columbia.edu>
Curious <jab82@columbia.edu> writes:

>How did anthropology first begin?

Depends what exactly you mean by "anthropology" and "begin"

Let's see:

1) In the sense of "walking around and writing down everything I see
people do and everything they tell me" is usually attributed to
Herodotus (484 BC to 425 BC) who wrote _History_ about all sorts
of stuff.

2) Otherwise, um, I dunno. The idea of ethnology & anthropology as
science goes back to at least the early 1800s (I don't habitually
read stuff older than that, you know). I'd suggest looking in
"The Rise of Anthropological Theory" by Marvin Harris. It might
have a good answer.

--

Michael Bauser <mbauser@kentvm.kent.edu>

"It's participant observation.  Honest!"