Who Are We? Where Do We Come From? Where Are We Going? Malinowski, Mead, and The Present State of Anthropology

Abstract

At a time when there is talk of a crisis in anthropology and if the lack of a dominant paradigm, self-reflecting anthropology represents a strong and polar contemporary trend. Applying the Lstorical and comparative perspectives of anthropology to contemporary anthroplogy, this paper argues that the roots of this trend are to be found in the works of Malinowski, Mead and Luckhohn. Continuities are observed and their implications are robed by asking: anthropology for what? and for whom?