In Defense of Anthropology: An Investigation of the Critique of Anthropology

Abstract

This book argues that the history and character of modern has been egregiously distorted to the detriment of this intellectual pursuit and academic discipline. The of anthropology is a product of the momentous and tormented events of the 1960s when students and some of their elders cried, Trust no one over thirty! The Marxist, postmodern, and postcolonial waves that followed took aim at and the result has been a serious loss of confidence; both the reputation and the practice of has suffered greatly. The time has come to move past this damaging discourse. Herbert S. Lewis chronicles these developments, and subjects the critique to a long overdue interrogation based on wide-ranging knowledge of the field and its history, as well as the application of common sense. The book questions discourses about and colonialism, anthropologists and history, the problem of exoticizing 'the Other, ' anthropologists and the Cold War, and more. Written by a master of the profession, In Defense of Anthropology will require consideration by all anthropologists, historians, sociologists of science, and cultural theorists.

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