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HandbooK of Methods in Cultural Anthropology. H. Russell Bernard, ed. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 1998. 816 pp.
The Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology promises to become a necessary resource for anthropologists of all theoretical persuasions, including those who might make the sign of the cross at the mere mention of "methods." The handbook is organized into four parts: "Perspectives," "Acquiring Information," "Interpreting Information," and "Applying and Presenting Anthropology." The contributors have two things in common: faith in the importance of the ethnographic enterprise, and they have put substantial effort into their respective papers, some more effectively than others. The last handbook, edited by Naroll and Cohen, was published in 1970 (Natural History Press). Much has changed; in particular, this handbook includes interpretivist concerns that have influenced our epistemological stance toward methodology. At the same time, much has remained the same; most anthropologists still do fieldwork and still rely on participant-observation to elicit information. Anthropologists still need to be able to record and incorporate field data into their ethnographic descriptions and analyses. Most of the papers address these permanent features of the ethnographic enterprise.
The "Perspectives" section offers seven chapters that are intended as general thought pieces that consider the place of methods in anthropology from the perspective of the author's specialty. Bernard states that his goal was "to put together a handbook that would be useful to academic anthropologists and practicing anthropologists; to interpretivists and positivists; to idealists and materialists" (p. 8). In the introduction, Bernard recounts the history and developments of methods in cultural anthropology. Quoting Wolf's observation that "Anthropology is the most humanistic of the sciences and the most scientific of the humanities" twice (pp. 10, 596), Bernard seeks a marriage of positivism and reflexivity, objectivism and subjectivity. Both, he writes, are needed "to contribute to the amelioration of suffering and the weakening of false ideologies-racism, sexism, ethnic nationalism-in the world" (p. 16).
In chapter 2, "Epistemology: The Nature and Validation of Anthropological Knowledge," Schweitzer clearly and logically lays out humanist and scientific approaches to three epistemological problems: (1 ) the nature of truth, (2) the relationship between understanding and explanation, (3) and the construction and evolution of social theory. Schweitzer criticizes the assumption that the goals of "empathic verstehen" and...