Journal•ISSN: 0739-7917
Central Issues in Anthropology
Wiley
About: Central Issues in Anthropology is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Applied anthropology & Health care. It has an ISSN identifier of 0739-7917. Over the lifetime, 82 publications have been published receiving 358 citations.
Papers
More filters
TL;DR: The Relational Perspective as mentioned in this paper is a holistic, cross-cultural, and interdisciplinary approach focusing on the phenomenology of personal and relationships as key factors influencing the development of culture and identity in folk and urban societies.
Abstract: This article describes a new synthesis of social science theory, the “relational perspective,” which is a holistic, cross-cultural, and interdisciplinary approach focusing on the phenomenology of personal and relationships as key factors influencing the development of culture and identity in folk and urban societies. Four ideal types (the tribe, peasantbased society, early modern society, and the bureaucratic planning system) are briefly described. Futher, it attempts to illuminate the “urban bias” of modern social science.
54 citations
TL;DR: A review of the use of the ethnographic biography in American anthropology is given in this article, where the problems as well as the prospects of this important tool are discussed as well.
Abstract: The ethnographic biography has always had an important use in American anthropology. It has, however, been used for a variety of purposes and has employed various techniques in its application. These various uses and applications are explored in this review analysis of the “place” of the ethnographic biography in anthropology. The problems as well as the prospects of this important tool are also discussed.
20 citations
TL;DR: The symbolic aspects of material features of medical systems have been discussed in reference to biomedicine, but little discussion has been devoted to these symbolic dimensions of traditional medical systems.
Abstract: Therapeutic healing symbols should be recognized as being embedded in and arising from a cultural context, which both specialists and nonspecialists then draw upon in treating the sick. The symbolic aspects of material features of medical systems have been discussed in reference to biomedicine, but little discussion has been devoted to these symbolic dimensions of traditional medical systems. Ethnographic data from an Andean hamlet in Northern Peru provides evidence that the symbolic content of remedies is rooted in the collective experience of the people and can be shared across all types of healing encounters. The three symbolic qualities of materia medica identified are blackness, topicality and liquidity, [index words: symbolic healing, ethnomedicine, medical anthropology, Peru, Andes]
15 citations
TL;DR: The work of some ethnohistorians shows that if more ethnohistorical studies were to pursue positivistic, scientific goals, they might achieve a higher standing within anthropology.
Abstract: Ethnohistory is not highly regarded within anthropology because of two factors. The first is that anthropologists do not value library research. The second, and more fundamental, factor is that ethnohistorians have largely failed to deal with problems of broad anthropological interest. Too often ethnohistorical studies deal not with culture but with chronology. The work of some ethnohistorians shows this need not to be the case. If more ethnohistorians were to pursue positivistic, scientific goals, they might achieve a higher standing within anthropology.
14 citations
14 citations