Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

For a long time Mexicans believed that the pursuit of knowledge would bring its own rewards. In recent years, however, the legitimacy of the notion of a pure, self-contained, impartial science has become increasingly questionable. In no scientific field has this proved to be so true as in the social sciences. Anthropologists, in particular, have been quick to point out the ways in which historical misrepresentations, racial doctrines and nationalistic dogmas have distorted the social needs of ethnic “minorities,” producing as a result more detrimental effects than human well-being. As the Australian anthropologist Nadel rightly points out: “A science that could be thus abused must no longer hope to recover its spurious detachment. It will find redemption only in closeness to the problems of our existence as society and civilization” ( Nadel 1942 :vi). More recent critiques have led to what some see as a permanent identity crisis within sociocultural anthropology, even among those who have attempted to replace such models with more revolutionary approaches (e.g. Garcia Mora and Medina 1983, 1986 ). Events and observations made from within the Latin American social sciences, however, would seem to suggest that this “crisis” has been less devastating and more productive than some would claim. This is particularly true of one of the most important developments in Latin American anthropology: ... log in or subscribe to read full text