| caption: |
shift of anthropology away from tribes |
| text: |
The years following the second world war witnessed a major change in the orientation of anthropological research. Until then anthropologists had been concerned mainly with the study of primitive and preliterate societies, but now they turned their attention increasingly to the peoples of more advanced and complex civilizations. Instead of living with small isolated groups in remote jungles, deserts, or hill regions, anthropologists settled in the crowded villages of India, Mexico, or the Near East, and shared the life of peasants rooted in the traditions of some of the great historic civilizations. In these years it became unfashionable to concentrate on the study of primitive tribes, and many of the younger anthropologists of our day have never had the experience of living in a society which lacks contacts with the modern world. |
