From: coonstot@quads.uchicago.edu (charles orville onstott)
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
Subject: Demarcation of Anthropology
Date: 14 Oct 92 01:08:49 GMT
Reply-To: coonstot@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations

Demarcation of Anthropology

CO -- Charles Onstott
GH -- Gil Hardwick
 
CO:

Either I have not made myself clear, or I am in total
misunderstanding of one of my own fields of study.  I argue that
anthropology  studies the interaction of the individual, the
participation of  the individual. This should not be confused
with the individual-type study that the field of psychology would
make.  I see that my abbreviated focci of fields did not make
this explicit.  But  my understanding is this:  interaction of
individuals which may or may not involve institutions. 
 
GH:

What you have plainly not done, sir, is read any Anthropology. If
one of your fields of study is in fact Anthropology, you are
indeed in total misunderstanding of it. Absolutely lacking any
comprehension of the material whatsoever. Away from the fields of
Physical Anthropology and Linguistics reasonably claiming their
own place under the rubric, Anthropology studies societies and
cultures. The method is *ethnographic*. 

CO Reply:

  The question that you fail to see that I am addressing is "in
what way does Anthropology study societies and cultures?"  I have
stated that anthropology studies societies and cultures by means
of human interaction within a particular society or a particular
culture.  (Sociology studies societies and cultures as well as
Women's Studies, Men's Studies, and  psychology--and it was the
demarcation of Women's Studies that was originally asked for.) 
Physical Anthropology as well as Linguistics can reasonably argue
that they belong within the field of "Anthropology" by means of
the fact that they study the interactions of human beings within
a particular society and culture.  
	For a linguistic example, though archaic, I could refer you
to the writings of Max Muller who argues that language plays a
critical role in the formation of religious and mythological
systems and that these systems, in turn, affect the interaction
of the participants.  Without the interaction thesis, linguistics
becomes a different field of study than anthropology as, for
example, it could become one that studies the physiology,
psychology and physical elements of speech formation.(I do not
intend to limit the field of linguistics to just these studies as
obviously it looks into other things than this.  The point I am
making here refers to the fact that this latter development of
linguistics is not included under the field of Anthropology per
se because the focus is no longer human interaction but
biological phenomena(even under the heading of psychology)).  
	Although Muller himself was not an anthropologist nor
particularly euhemerous in his studies, we find that Andrew Lang,
an anthropologist and a contemporary of his, found Muller's
writings significant enough to warrant further study.  To begin
his book _Myth, Ritual and Religion_, Lang writes:  "Now, the
whole crux and puzzle of mythology is, 'Why, having attained (in
whatever way) to a belief in an undying guardian, 'Master of
Life,' did mankind set to work to evolve a chronique scandaleuse
about Him?  And why is that chronique the elaborately absurd set
of legends which we find in all mythologies?"(p.4)  Here, we see
clearly the question of interaction being posed.  For an example
of the ethno-centric conclusion which Lang draws from the
interactional elements of mythology, I quote:  "We regard low
savages as very irrational and debased characters, consequently
the nature of their myths does not surprise us....[hence he can
write]...and it seems to follow that we do not wholly understand
the savage mind...[This is my personal
juxtaposition(COO)"(Idid.).  Since myths are regarded to be
social phenomena, thus a product of social interaction, we find
that Lang argues, in effect, that the individual irrational
elements of each "savage" when combined in a social dynamic will
bring forth "irrational mythology."  This is an anthropological
study of mythology using interactive premises.

GH: 
"The literature of Anthropology is manifest and abundant, and
nowhere does it study either the interaction or the participation
of the individual however long you want to stand there and argue
references to an idea of your very own about "the individual-type
study (???) that the field of psychology would (???) make." 

CO Reply:
  From my first reply, it is evident that your claim is false as
at least one anthropologist has studied the interaction and the
participation of the individual.

GH: 
Interaction with what? Participation in what? 

CO Reply:
 	In this example, Lang is studying the interaction of
individuals within a religion.  However, the study extends to the
interaction of the individuals within the given mythology(not
institutionalized religion) of their time as well as any
established religion.  In the most basic form, this is a study of
the interaction among these "savages" by means of participation
in their given religious or mythological beliefs.  This is
different than a study that would look into the anthropology of
schools, religious institutions, etc.


GH:
The most attention we pay to individuals is as informants of
their own society and culture, but we do not study them as such. 

CO Reply:

	I agree that anthropology does not study individuals in and
of themselves(as I have already argued this is the branch of
psychology), I maintain some reservation as to the degree of
attention an anthropologist pays to the individual.  In any
event, the use of individuals as informants gives you a window to
their society and culture which are products of individual
interaction.

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Charles O. Onstott, III                    (coonstot@midway.uchicago.edu)
Graduate Student in Religion and Human Sciences
The University of Chicago Divinity School

"Les dieux existent : c'est le diable."
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