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http://www.jstor.org PATRICIAM. GREENFIELD Departmentof Psychology Universityof California,Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 90095
What Psychology Can Do for Anthropology, or Why Anthropology Took Postmodernism on the Chin
T he dictatesof postmodernismrequire that I specify with empiricism,scientific generalization is also an object my own perspective.Obviously, there are an infi- of derision.In the courseof this essay, I hope to convince nite numberof statusesthat influence anyone's per- my readersthat the babies of Empiricismand Generaliza- sonal perspectiveon anything.This is partof the postmod- tion havebeen thrownout with the bathwatersof Objectiv- erndilemma. However, there is a restrictedset of historical ity, CulturalHomogeneity, Fact, Truth, Otherness,and conditionsthat are relevantto a particulartask. What is Science as an Apolitical Enterprise.In short, to accept relevantabout my historyto the task thatI have set myself these lattersix assumptionsas valid targets of the postmodern in this essay is my relationto the disciplinesof psychology critique does not necessarily entail a turningaway from em- and anthropology.Therefore, in talking about what psy- pirical methodology;it does not necessarily entail the redefi- chology has to offer anthropology,I want to makeit clear nition of anthropologyas literaturerather than science. thatI am not a psychologisttalking about anthropology as An analysisof psychology'sapproach to some of the ex- someoneelse's discipline.Although I am in a department tremelyimportant problems identified by postmodernism of psychology,I receivedboth my degreesfrom the Depart- may provideideas for how culturalanthropology can re- ment of Social Relations at Harvard,an interdisciplinary turnto itself as an empiricalenterprise, stronger and wiser mix of social psychology,social anthropology,and sociol- than before the buffets of the postmoder critique.How- ogy. Forme, bothpsychology and anthropology have always ever, before beginningmy argument,I must addresstwo been partof my tool kit. In fact, I am revisingthis essay major issues that complicateit in interestingways. The from the School of AmericanResearch in SantaFe, an in- firstissue has to do with the fact thatsome of the potential stitutefor advancedstudy in anthropology.In discussing inputsand insightsfrom the field of psychologyhave al- whatpsychology has to offer anthropology,I am therefore readybeen integratedinto the anthropologicalsubfields of talkingto myselfas well as to my colleaguesin anthropology. psychologicalanthropology, linguistic anthropology, biolog- Until quite recently,I, like Fish (2000), had given con- ical anthropology,and applied anthropology.Many em- siderablethought to what anthropologyhad to offer psy- pirical methodsfrom psychology are well entrenchedin chology (Greenfield1996). Like many culturaland cross- psychologicalanthropology (Bock 1999; Hollanand Wel- culturalpsychologists (Jessor, Colby and Shweder 1996; lenkamp1994, 1996). Linguisticanthropology offers ex- Triandisand Berry 1980), I was particularlyimpressed plicit methodologyand a new arrayof techniquesthat pre- with the ethnographicmethod. How to reconcilethis admi- serve concretedata and subjects'voicing in the face of the rationfrom the field of psychologywith the breast-beating postmoder critique(Duranti 1997). In biological anthro- and self-flagellationgoing on in culturalanthropology? In pology, anthropologymakes common cause with psychol- thinkingabout this problem,it suddenlyoccurred to me ogy, remindinganthropology of the biologicalsubstrate of that the methodologyof psychology had successfullyad- human behaviorand challengingthe dualism of biology dressed some of the principalproblems identified by the andculture (issues that will not be pursuedin this essay).In postmodemcritique of anthropology.I now believe that appliedanthropology, a series of books (Schensuland Le- this may be why psychology has weatheredpostmod- Compte1999) treatsethnography as an empiricalmethod- ernismbetter than anthropology. By "weatheringpostmod- ology thatcan be described,learned, and taught.Many of ernismbetter" I referto an optimisticsense thatthe tradi- these inputsfrom within anthropology also constitutecon- tion of empirical research will continue to yield rich structiveempirical responses to the postmodemcritique. rewardsin ourknowledge of humannature. However,within anthropology these are minorityvoices, Of course,my premisemay be instantlyrejected by cul- and it is not clear whetherthese voices have always been turalanthropologists, for empiricismitself is of courseun- heardby thepostmodem majority of culturalanthropologists; der attackin the postmoder critique(Geertz 1973). Along in addition, even within the subfields of psychological,
AmericanAnthropologist 102(3):564-576. Copyright? 2000, AmericanAnthropological Association GREENFIELD / WHAT PSYCHOLOGY CAN DO FOR ANTHROPOLOGY 565 linguistic,biological, and appliedanthropology, there are Just as no source is given for her historicalstatements, many for whom empiricalresearch has been derailedby no evidenceis given for hercontemporaneous conclusions. the postmoder critique(D'Andrade 1999). If the minority Thus,when talkingabout intercultural relations, she states, voices had been moreheeded by culturalanthropology and "Tradingand the hiringof laborfor the fields areresponsi- anthropologyas a whole, the postmoder critiquemight ble for most relations"(Guiteras-Holmes 1961:17-18), but well have done less damageto the empirical,scientific in- we are given no indicationof the evidence for this state- vestigationof cultureand cultures.In this essay, I hope to ment.This conventionof the generalstatement without his- give new ammunitionto these minorityvoices within the toricalsource or ethnographicevidence is followedthrough- field of anthropology. outthe book and is generallytrue of classicethnography. The second issue stems from the fact that psychology The methodologicalimplications of the general state- has hadits own postmoder critiques(Gergen 1990, 1995). ment withoutevidence is that methodsdo not matterbe- Althoughthey have been a minormode withinthe field of cause thereis an objectivetruth, homogeneous throughout the culture.The never scientific,empirical psychology (and in this sense psychol- underlying(but spoken)assumption is thatit does not matterhow the ogy has weatheredpostmoderism betterthan anthropol- you get yourinformation; conclusionwill be the same because it ogy), they merit serious consideration.Also, where Ger- always is, objec- true. gen's (1985, 1991a, 1991b)postmoderism has been most tively, influentialin psychology-in family therapy(Nichols and Schwartz1995)-his postmoder influencehas had a con- Critique of the Objectivity Assumption structiveeffect on practice,without having any negative in Anthropology impacton the scientificenterprise. This of an or outsidelook at a ho- I also what thinice I am on as a assumption objective recognize psychologist. mogeneous cultural system receives harsh criticism in In "Thick Towardan of Description: InterpretiveTheory postmoder anthropology.Clifford (1986:22), in the intro- Culture,"the first block of Geertz building postmodernism, duction to a classic work of postmodernanthropology, is not he is also (1973) only antiscientific, antipsychological, WritingCulture, writes, "Thereis no longerany place of and so. Geertz's between unabashedly However, dichotomy overview (mountaintop)from which to map humanways the science in searchof law" and "an "experimental inter- of life, no Archimedeanpoint from which to representthe in pretiveone searchof meaning"(1973:5) is a false one. world."Postmoder criticismhas drawnattention to gen- Culturalpsychology, not to mentionlinguistic anthropol- derand political positions as influenceson the way dataare ogy and psychological anthropology,have shown them- collected and conclusionsdrawn, as well as myriadother selves to be extremelycapable of using systematicempiri- potentialinfluences. The notion is that all ethnographers cal means to investigatethe makingand interpretationof have a particularposition from which they work;therefore meaningas a centraltheme in humannature (Greenfield 1996). the notionof objectivityas beyondthe "bias"of a particu- larvantage point is simplyinvalid. The Objective Perspective Fromthe perspectiveof linguisticanthropology, Duranti writes(1997:85-86): In anthropologicalethnography, culture was tradition- ally treatedas an objectivewhole. Althoughthe ethnogra- Withrespect to ethnography,the problems with the term "ob- pherwas a participant-observer,the final ethnographywas jectivity"arise from its identificationwith a formof positivis- writtenas thoughthe observerwere omniscient,devoid of tic writingthat was meant to excludethe observer's subjective any particularitiesof perspective.A majorway in which stance,including emotions, as well as political,moral, and theoreticalattitudes. Such an in its more this came out was in the form of statements,with- exclusion, extremeor general is not to it is also a out informationas to the source of the statementsor "purist"form, only impossible achieve, any that it would a evidence for them. An at is the questionablegoal, given produce very poor example (taken random) recordof the ethnographer'sexperience (De Martino1961). following sentence from Guiteras-Holmes'sclassic eth- Howwould one be ableto saywhat people are doing without nography,Perils of the Soul (1961:10):"What is todaythe at leasta minimalidentification with their point of view?One Stateof Chiapasbelonged to the captaincygeneral of Gua- would end up saying things like "peoplesquat on the floor, temala,one of the two administrativesubdivisions of the grab their food with their hands and bring it to their viceroyalty of New Spain." Guiteras-Holmesmakes no mouth-and this, they call 'eating.'" As it is obvious from this ratherthan mentionof the sourceof this information.This is particu- example, being "objective"and impartial,ac- she has in- counts of this kind can easily be read as implyinga negative larly striking because, immediatelybefore, evaluationof local is a formedus that data are scarce" in the practices.Equally implausible descrip- "[h]istorical (p. 10) tionthat completely identifies with the native and she is because of perspective region discussing.Yet, anthropological does not, in some fashion,reflect the researchers'perception convention,she does not feel it necessaryto tell us where of thedescribed events.... A scienceof people,a humanscience, she foundher data. cannotbut also exploitthe researchers'ability to identify, 566 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST * VOL. 102, No. 3 * SEPTEMBER2000
empathizewith the peoplethey arestudying. This impliesthat strategy responds not only to the objectivity critique but there exists in ethnographya certainplayful element which also to the "otherness"critique, a later topic of discussion.) consists of changing the familiarinto the strange and, vice versa,the strangeinto the familiar(Spiro 1990). Why Psychology Has Been Less Vulnerable to the Objectivity Critique: Operationalization Critique of the Objectivity Assumption and Description of Methods in Psychology The of methodol- Kenneth the in the field predictions Gergen notwithstanding, Gergen, leading postmodernist has not been dethronedin Indeed, it is of writes that "if our conventions of ogy psychology. psychology, writing ironical that the so criticized in on social and these very methodology harshly by are, turn, dependent agreements, Geertz and has made less vulnerable to with them various Gergen psychology agreements carry ideological biases, the This is one reason the at objectivity critique. perhaps why then all scientific writing-all our attempts objectiv- of has survived in both under- value saturated of social hegemony methodology ity-are essentially products and education, unscathed by This line of leads graduate graduate virtually agreement" (1990:28). argument Gergen The for to the conclusion that the matter of has Gergen's critique. argument methodology goes subject psychology back to the history of vanished: psychology. On a philosophical level, scientific psychology was postmodernismraises fundamentalquestions with the as- founded on the principle that a psychological construct sumptionthat our language about the worldoperates as a mir- does not exist outsidethe specific way in which it is mea- ror of that world. Ratherdiscourse about the world operates sured. For example, a classic definition of intelligence largely on the basis of social conventions,which in turnare within the field of psychology has been "Intelligence is crystallizedin terms of various rhetoricalrules and options what the intelligence tests measure."This is an intrinsically as rules of to the in- (such properstorytelling). Thus, presume relativistic notion; the idea is that, if you change your test, dependentexistence of a subjectmatter, reflected by the dis- also of would be to in an unwarranted you change your concept intelligence. course, engage objectification In researchers are to de- of the discourse.[1990:29] psychology, always obliged scribe how they obtained their data and how they went Gergen's critique of objectivity leads to the "marginali- from their data to their conclusions. The obligatory meth- zation of method" in psychology: ods section in a psychology article includes a description of the subjects who furnished the data, the operations that under underwenta virtual modernism,methodology apotheosis. were used to elicit the data, the that was used to in- was the meansto truthand andthus to sal- system Methodology light, or code the data, and the statistics that were used to vation.... Under however, terpret postmodernism, methodology the data. even more than loses its coveted position.Under postmodernism methods are analyze Although psychology, has reified the it none- viewed as a misleadingjustification device. They misleadingly anthropology, objective observer, operateas truthwarrants for particularpropositions, when pro- theless requires explicitness about procedures. Implicitly, positions are not fundamentallycapable of "carryingtruth." the description of procedures does locate the researcher's [1990:30] perspective to some extent. For example, we know if the observer was behind a video camera, was taking notes on a situation, or was on an inter- Anthropology's Response to the Objectivity Critique naturally occurring carrying view out of the context of daily life. Yes, methodology has been dethroned in anthropology In essence, the assumption within psychology-that re- (D'Andrade 1999). Geertz (1973) (based on the psycho- sults and conclusions are intrinsically relative to the meth- logical notions of an earlier era) dealt a body blow to op- ods used-has spared psychology from the degree of dam- erational definition and systematic methodology. Thence age suffered by anthropology at the hands of the objectivity arise conceptually important ethnographies (such as Tsing critique. This is not to say that psychology is methodologi- 1993) that innovate important ideas (e.g., intercultural in- cally invulnerable. Its reification of objectivity is a crack in teraction), yet have loosened the ties between data and the armor against postmoder criticism (and leads to the analysis, to the point where data and analysis travel two unconscious ethnocentrism so well described by Fish quite independent paths (Marcus 1998). This disconnec- [2000] in his companion article to this one). However, be- tion is the natural result of the tenet that methodological cause of its methodological relativity and self-conscious techniques and procedures are irrelevant (Geertz 1973). treatmentof methods, psychology has, as a discipline, been Still another response is to move from the assumptions free to develop new methods to deal with varying subjec- of objectivity in a traditional ethnography (e.g., Dumont tivities. A good illustration from cross-cultural/cultural 1972) to an explicit description of the ethnographer's own psychology is the collaboration of researchersfrom each of perspective and relationship with the subjects of study in the cultures being compared in a cross-cultural study (e.g., the same community (e.g., Dumont [1978]1992). (This Stevenson et al. 1985). This technique enables the research GREENFIELD / WHAT PSYCHOLOGY CAN DO FOR ANTHROPOLOGY 567 potentiallyto have bothan outsiderand an insiderperspec- chronologicalfield noteswere converted into ethnographic tive on each of the culturesin the comparison. conclusions and writing. Seymour's (1999) fascinating ethnographyof long-termfieldwork and social change in Potential Application to Anthropology Indiais impeccablein this respectand, interestingly, repre- sents a contributionfrom the subfieldof psychologicalan- In the field of education we should (or perhaps call this thropology. a more radicalutilization of appliedanthropology), multi- Anotherinstructive example comes fromBambi Schief- has been ple perspectives developed by Tobin, Wu, and felin, a linguistic anthropologistwho has been metho- Davidson the multivocal The multi- (1989): ethnography. dologically influencedby trainingin psychology (taken vocal is an with ethnography ethnographycomposed many underLois Bloom in the DevelopmentalPsychology De- ratherthan the voice of the voices, single anthropologist. partmentat TeachersCollege, ColumbiaUniversity). In and Davidson'smethod of multivocal Tobin, Wu, ethnog- Schieffelin's (1990) ethnographyof the languagesociali- utilizes data.Because such dataare raphy videotaped per- zationof Kalulichildren, she includesa 12-pagesection on manent the moretraditional (unlike observations),they can "Methodand interpretation"(pp. 24-36). The titles of the be viewed and interpretedby multipleparties (the multiple subsectionsthemselves provide evidence that she not only andDavidson made of in voices). Tobin,Wu, tapes activity has covered all of the territoryencompassed by psycho- three one in one in andone in the preschools, China, Japan, logical methodology but, in addition, has adapted the UnitedStates. Teachers and fromall three parents cultures methodologicalcategories from psychology of subjects, saw and commentedon from all three countries. tapes procedure,and data analysisto her studycommunity and the Thus, data from each country were interpretedfrom researchtopic. The titles of her subsectionsare as follows: both insider and outsider Note in this perspectives. that, "Selectingfamilies and contexts,""Collecting the speech the in which a Westernob- method, typical ethnography dataand preparing the annotatedtranscripts," "Reading the serverstructures the Easternculture as an of is object study transcriptsand interpreting the examples,""Some thoughts but also turnedon its head retained, by the additionof reci- on writingthis ethnography."This last sectionwould seem The Easternobserver now has an procity. opportunitynot to owe its existencemore to Cliffordand Marcus's (1986) to his or her own culturebut to the only interpret interpret notionof writingculture than to psychology.However, it is Westernone as well a second Eastern Al- (plus culture). interestingthat once the notion of writingculture is inte- and Davidson theirmethod thoughTobin, Wu, developed gratedwith a moreself-conscious methodology, it does not and in the methodology contextof a cross-culturalstudy of lead to the self-flagellationof "How can we ever know educational and it is an of practice values, example a new anything?We arehopelessly trapped in our limitedand bi- kind of thatis to ethnography potentiallyapplicable any of ased perspectives."Instead, it leads to an integratedde- the traditionalarenas of anthropologicalethnography. scriptionof the methodsthat constitute an importantaspect The is termed precedingexample ethnography,even of the "perspective"of Schieffelin'sstudy. it utilizes the of video. But could an- though technology At the same time, such descriptionleads to appropriate make use of the more traditionalmethodo- thropology any modesty aboutone's work. Gone is the theoreticallyom- and conventionsfrom I logical assumptions psychology? niscientethnographer. In his or her place is the ethnogra- believe so. The could tell us what he or she ethnographer pherwho understandsand can makeexplicit the realityof did to the gain knowledgethat led to a particularconclu- his or her relationshipto the cultureand the access this re- sion. For when example, Guiteras-Holmessays (1961:24), lationshipafforded. Schieffelin writes (1990:23-24): "He who is away from home expresseshis longing to re- turn,"a psychological researchermight suggest that the As a woman,I wasgiven privileged access to theactivities of anthropologisttell us whom she talkedto or observedand womenand children. No mancould have sat in thewomen's under what circumstances.For example, did the anthro- sectionor gone bathingwith small children. As a mother,I pologist draw her conclusionfrom interviews,or did she wasseen as anadult, one who shared some perspectives with otherwomen. an observerwas neither lear it as a participantwhen travelingaway from home Being impartial possi- with herinformants? ble nor desirable.Kaluli incorporated me into theirsocial worldand social system, and according to my variousrela- Withinanthropology, Warren (1996) has noted thatan- tionshipsI was givenkinship or relationshipnames used by thropologyneeds to add a relationshipbetween field notes friends. and publishedwork. Psychology already has establisheda paralleldistinction between data (often encapsulated quan- This paragraphis importantbecause it shows that the titatively),coding (where relevant),and discussionof re- particularityof perspectiveis not necessarilya negative; sults. The implicationfrom psychology is that a valuable such negativeconnotations are containedin the termbias. additionto ethnographywould be samplesof field notes,a However,the particularityof perspectivecan be a strong descriptionof the guiding principlesin taking the notes, positive,as femalegender and motherhood were in Schief- and, most important,a descriptionof the methodby which felin's studyof the languagesocialization of children. 568 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST * VOL. 102, NO. 3 * SEPTEMBER 2000
Withincultural and psychologicalanthropology, a new often withinthe coversof a single volume.[(1932)1949: genrehas grownup, the individuallife history.This genre, 509-510] as in the beautifullycrafted TranslatedWoman by Ruth The notionof the omniscientinformant continues to be Behar makes its methods and sources (1993), extremely questioned within anthropology.Indeed, an article by clear. Behar's whole book is edited from quotations Wassmann(1995) is titled "The Final Requiem for the kitchen table conversationswith the Esperanza, pseudo- OmniscientInformant?" Lawrence (1995:216), in her re- of her This is a of culture nym subject. way studying ply to Wassmann,argues that all informantshave some a case thatmakes a connec- through particular study strong specializedknowledge, are experts in some field;however, tion betweendata and conclusions. none is omniscient,"all-knowing and all-revealing." Generalizingthis point, Ochs (1994), coming from the Culture as a Unitary Whole disciplinaryperspective of anthropologicallinguistics and discourse notes that differentmembers of a cul- Whereasthe last sectiondealt with a critiqueof the om- analysis, ture have different of cultural no one niscientanthropologist, this sectiondeals with a critiqueof pieces knowledge; the omniscient informant. The traditional assumption personhas the whole.Wassmann (1995:176) writes that "it within anthropologyhas been that cultureis a homogene- becomes necessaryto study individuals,or categoriesof ous, unitary, and, possibly, superorganicwhole. Each people in theirown rightrather than merely as some kind memberof the cultureshares the same culturalknowledge. of cultural'subunits.' " This point is particularlyapplica- An assumption,derived largely from Durkheim,"that un- ble to children,who are in the process of being inducted derlies much of traditionalfieldwork practice [is] that an- into the culture(Zukow 1989) and so, by definition,have thropologistsare not concernedwith individualsas such, incompletecultural knowledge. but merelywith their functioning qua carriers of a common Indeed,the partialityof the view of the subjectsof study culture"(Wassmann 1995:176). Insofar as everyoneshares parallelsthe partialityof the view of the ethnographer.Just a common culture, informantsare both interchangeable as Schieffelinwent placesno male ethnographercould go, and omniscient vis-a-vis their own culture. As Sapir so Kaluli women went places no male Kaluli could go. ([1932]1949:509)put it: Kaluli women are experts on parts of the culture about which Kalulimen are ignorant,and, of course,vice versa. It is whatall the individualsof a societyhave in commonin Other variables besides come into whichis to constitutethe true sociological gender theirmutual relations supposed such as social and economic status. Each of these matterof cultural and If the play, subject anthropology sociology. statuses certain of both behavior and testimonyof an individualis set downas such,as oftenhap- privileges aspects pensin ouranthropological monographs, it is notbecause of knowledge. Then add to the differencesemanating from an interestin the individualhimself as a maturedand single variables of social stratification,individual differences organismof ideasbut in his assumedtypicality for the com- emanatingfrom temperamentand personalityvariables. munityas a whole. All of these factorsare sourcesof within-culturedifferen- tiation.In traditionalethnography, all of these factorsaf- fect the informantsand the and Critique of the Anthropological Assumption ethnographer's knowledge behavior are able to for the that Culture Is a Unitary Whole they display anthropologist. Yet, as Cliffordpoints out (1986), it is the rareethnogra- Sapirhimself realized the dangersof this approach: pherwho describesindividual informants. own field in Mex- It is truethat there are statementsin our My experience Zinacantan,Chiapas, many ethnological ico, illustrateshow the social of an informantcan which,for all that are in position monographs they presented general not facilitate but influencere- terms,really rest on theauthority of a few individuals,or even only methodology actually of one individual,who have had to beartestimony for the searchresults. In 1969, I went to the Maya communityof groupas a whole.Information on kinshipsystems or rituals or Zinacantainas part of the HarvardChiapas Project. Two technologicalprocesses or detailsof social organizationor anthropologists,Evon Vogt, the directorof the project,and linguisticforms is notordinarily evaluated by thecultural an- GeorgeCollier, an alumnusof the project,selected an in- thropologistas a personaldocument. He always hopes that the formantfor me. His namewas Xun Pavlu.They thoughthe individualinformant is nearenough to theunderstandings and would be good for me, andhe was. needs were differ- intentionsof his to them My society report duly,thereby implic- ent from those of an ethnographer.As a researcherin cul- itlyeliminating himself as a factorin themethod of research. All realisticfield workersin nativecustom and belief are tural,developmental psychology, I neededa lot of subjects for Xun did not data for he moreor less awareof thedangers of suchan assumption and, my experiments. provide me; naturallyenough, efforts are generallymade to "checkup" providedsubjects. He used his politicalinfluence and his statementsreceived from single individuals. This is notalways extensive networkof extendedfamily and compadrazgo possible,however, and so ourethnological monographs pre- (co-godparents)to persuadeparents to let theirchildren par- senta kaleidoscopicpicture of varyingdegrees of generality, ticipateand to participatethemselves. Without his position GREENFIELD / WHAT PSYCHOLOGYCAN DO FOR ANTHROPOLOGY 569 of influence, the more than one hundredsubjects he re- often analyzed.Nonetheless, I agree with Fish (2000) that cruited(out of a village of about fifteen hundred)would the analysis is often superficial;an importantquestion is not have been possible. Furthermore,when I returnedin whetherit is possibleto combineethnographic depth with 1991 to studythe next generation,his social andeconomic unbiasedsampling of within-culturedifferences, and this characteristicsnot only facilitateddata collection but also issue is pursuedin the next section. had an importantinfluence on the resultsof my longitudi- nal communitystudy. Potential Application to Anthropology I retured to Xun's hamlet of Nabenchaukin 1991 to study the effects of the economic transitionfrom agricul- The main applicationof psychology in addressingthe ture to commerceand entrepreneurshipthat had been go- critiqueof the unitarywhole is to make it known in one's ing on since I hadleft in 1970 (Greenfield1999; Greenfield writingsexactly who the informantsare in terms of their andChilds 1996; Greenfieldet al. 1997). I wantedto study individualcharacteristics and social positions. A second the descendantsof my old subjectsin orderto assess the ef- applicationmay be to engage in some sort of systematic fects of the historicalchange, uncontaminated by extrane- samplingif the goal of a studyis to accountfor the whole ous factors.Xun once againmade his networkavailable, as culturerather than the cultureas experiencedby a few indi- he had two decadesearlier. What became clear was thatof viduals. The methodologicalnotion of sampling (from all the familiesin Nabenchauk,the Pavlufamily was most psychologyor sociology) challengesthe idea of ethnogra- involved in commerceand entrepreneurship.All of Xun's phy, with its classical use of a few informants.However, seven sons andall but one of his threesons-in-law were in- anthropologistand informantoften develop very close re- volved in commerceor entrepreneurshipas eithertruck or lationships.This is not the case for psychologistsand their van ownersor drivers.The remainingson-in-law was quite numeroussubjects. Consequently, there can be trade-offs involved in the consumeraspect of commerce.He had a of depthand breadththat need to be carefullyconsidered technicaljob in a factoryin TuxtlaGutierrez and therefore andcontrolled. had a certainamount of disposableincome for consumer Dasen (a cross-culturalpsychologist) and Wassmann(a products.Because Pavlu family memberswere commer- cultural anthropologist)have recently made some ad- cial leadersin the community,our sampleincluded those vancesin thisproblem area by consciouslyintegrating psy- families who had been most affected by the historical chology and anthropology.They have developeda three- trends of pertinenceto the study. If the hypothesishad stage approachto theirresearch in cognitiveanthropology merit,this was the sampleto demonstrateit. (Wassmannand Dasen 1994). Stage 1 is ethnographic;it As we saw in relationto the ethnographer,this example then forms the foundationfor observingeveryday activity shows how the social positionof the informantcan have a (Stage 2) and for developing culturallyrelevant experi- positive effect on the researchif the positionis one thatis ments administeredto many subjects(Stage 3). However, facilitativefor the particularproblem under study. As in even in the ethnographicphase, Wassmann and Dasenuse the case of the the natureof the informant's ethnographer, a samplingtechnique that bears the markof psychology. social both limits and facilitates.Which outcome position They use not one but multipleinformants, and they select occursin a case on the be- particular depends relationship theirinformants systematically in orderto sampledifferent tween the informant's and the under position problem socialroles and statuses in thecommunity (Wassmann 1995).1 study.If I hadwanted to studysocialization in the mosttra- ditionalfamilies in Nabenchauk,for Xun Pavlu's example, Fact vs. Interpretation positionwould have been a hindrancerather than a help. Ethnographersused to thinkthat they were emerging from As the Science of Individuals, Psychology Has Not theirstudies with facts.Now they feel belittledby learning Been Affected by the Critique of the Unitary Whole thatthey are emerging with interpretation. Denzin (1996), for example, writes of the representationalcrisis. This crisis Because the unit of in analysis psychology is the indi- stems fromthe fact that"researchers can no longerdirectly has not been to the vidual,psychology susceptible critique capturelived experience; such experience, it is argued,is cre- of the whole. the of individualdiffer- unitary Indeed, study ated in the social text writtenby the researcher"(Denzin ences is much a of the science and of very part practice 1996:127).In Clifford'swords, "every version of an 'other,' The of the influence psychology. study of social factors whereverfound, is alsothe construction of a 'self' "(1986:23). such as class and economic status also has a tradition withinthe discipline(although the come from originsmay A Contribution from Psychology sociology). In the methodssection of a psychologyarticle, the backgroundcharacteristics of a sample,including the Thesecriticisms are discouraging. They imply a research- rangesof pertinentdescriptor variables, are oftenpresented; er who has no escape from his or her own framework. the role of gender,social class, andeducation in behavioris Even as one attemptsto understanda new culture,one is 570 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST * VOL. 102, NO. 3 * SEPTEMBER2000 merelybuilding an edifice thatis a mirrorof the self. This mightbe withoutthe knower [read:anthropologist]" (von seems like a closed circle. However,because psychology Glasersfeld1984:3). has a long traditionof studyingvarying subjectivities, this is not necessarilya seriousproblem. Indeed, the construc- Constructivism: The Postmodern Critique of Truth tion of meaningis centralto the emergingdiscipline of cul- "Truth"has been deconstructed.In tural psychology (Bruner 1990; Shweder 1990). We can radically anthropol- as in fields, became mere "social open the closed circle by seeing how subjectsinterpret us, ogy, many knowledge conventions with their own biased not merely how we interpretthem. Just as we construct developed by people and motives" and Schwartz ourselvesby studyingour subjects,our subjectsconstruct perspectives (Nichols themselves us. 1995:119). Thus, in Geertz's words, "Whatwe call our throughstudying data are our own constructionsof other Thereare some wonderfulexamples of reciprocalinter- really people's constructionsof what andtheir are to" pretationin culturalpsychology. The classic one comes they compatriots up (1973:9). from Glick. Cole, Gay, Glick, and Sharp(1971) took an object-sortingtask to Liberia,where they presentedit to to the their Kpelle subjects.There were 20 objects that divided Anthropology's Response Critique evenly into the linguisticcategories of foods, implements, The dominantresponse has been for the researcherto of taxo- food containers,and clothing. Instead doing the explicatethese biases andmotives. A well-knownexample nomic sorts the sub- (categorical) expectedby researchers, is In the Realm of the Diamond Queen by Tsing (1993). jects persistentlymade functionalpairings (Glick 1968). The dangerhere is thatthe numberof pages devotedto the For example, ratherthan sorting objects into groups of study populationcan be small, relativeto the numberof tools andfoods, subjectswould put a potatoand a knife to- pages devoted to the researcherand his or her cultureof gether because "you take the knife and cut the potato" origin.Duranti (e-mail to author,June 27, 1998) puts the (Cole et al. 1971:79).According to Glick (1968), subjects dilemmain anotherway: "How do we tell stories about often justified their pairingsby stating "thata wise man otherpeople without pretending that we weren'tthere?" could only do such andsuch" (p. 13). In totalexasperation, the researchers 'How woulda fool do it?' The "finallysaid, Psychology's Response to the Critique result was a set of nice linguistically ordered catego- ries-four of them with five items each"(p. 13). In short, Constructivismhas playeda very significantrole in psy- the researchers'criterion for "intelligent"behavior was the chology, especiallydevelopmental psychology and family subjects'criterion for "foolish";the subjects'criterion for therapy.For example, "With this postmodem assump- "wise"behavior was the researchers'criterion for "stupid." tion-that there are no realities, only points of view- Here,both subjectand researcherhad a chanceto interpret comes an interestin how the narrativesthat organize peo- each other.Each interpretationgave as much information ple's lives are generated.Postmoder psychologies con- aboutthe culturalvalue system of the interpreteras it did cern themselveswith how people make meaningin their aboutthe natureof the world. lives; how they constructreality" (Nichols and Schwartz This one example is cited and describedin a myriadof 1995:119-120). An example of this approachin psycho- articles.It is instantlyrecognizable as showing something logical anthropologylies in Hollan and Wellenkamp's profoundabout the Kpelle's definitionof intelligence,as (1994, 1996) explorations of meaning-makingin the well as aboutthe culturalrelativity of our own definition. Torajacommunity of Indonesia.In otherwords, instead of Yet the opportunityfor reciprocalinterpretation is rarein emphasizingthe meaning-makingof the researcher(as cultural psychology, as it is in anthropology.Nonetheless, it is a anthropologydoes) in responseto postmoderism, methodthat could be generalizedand utilizedin both eth- psychologicalapproaches have emphasizedthe meaning- of the andhave taken nography and psychology. By systematically studying making subject this activityas an ob- of Bruner multiple subjectivitiesin a cross-culturalstudy, the re- ject study (e.g., 1990). Indeed,constructivism since been at the center searchercan escapethe hermeneuticcircle. has, Piaget(1954), of the studyof cognitivedevelopment. Thereis Truth vs. Constructivism anotherradical difference between the response of psychology and the response of anthropologyto con- The traditional,or modem, positionis that science re- structivism.Whereas anthropology has seen constructiv- quires truthand that the ethnographerwill discover the ism as undermininganthropology as a science,psychology "true"culture through the time-honoredmethods of par- has recognizedthat all the sciences,bar none, arenarrative ticipant-observation.The general notion about cultural constructions.For example, de Shazer asks, "But, don't knowledge,like othertypes of knowledge,is thatit "should physiciststell stories aboutsubatomic particles and black reflect, depict, or somehow correspondto a world as it holes so that they can let one anotherknow about such GREENFIELD / WHAT PSYCHOLOGY CAN DO FOR ANTHROPOLOGY 571 things?Are these storiesscience or narrative?"(1991:49). Anthropology as the Science of the Other If all sciences are narrativeconstructions, then, from the Anthropologywas conceivedas the scienceof the Other point of view of psychologyas a researchfield, the human (Trouillot1991). "Fromthe earlynineteen hundreds to the constructionof realityprovides insufficient reason to de- clareoneself in the humanitiesrather than in the social sci- secondworld war the primaryagenda of social andcultural ences. anthropologywas to documentthe life of nonliteratepeo- the was for lit- Psychologyhas had anotherresponse to constructivism: ples" (D'Andrade1999:2). Clearly agenda to move fromconstruction as an individualactivity to con- erate people from Western societies to get to know and structionas an interindividualactivity (Vygotsky 1978). understandnonliterate peoples from non-Western societies. Indeed,social constructionis an importantpart of both de- velopmentalpsychology and family therapy(Nichols and Critique of Anthropology as the Science of the Other Schwartz The field of looks to Ger- 1995). family therapy Accordingto the postmodercritique, there are two prob- 1991a, for "the of gen (1985, 1991b) emphasizing power lems with this agenda.The first is that it is impossibleto social interaction in for generating meaning people" knowthe Otherbecause the Otherhas his or herunique per- (Nichols and Schwartz 1995:120). Social constructionis spective(Geertz 1983). Given that there is no suchthing as also the basis for the early developmentof social conven- an objectiveperspective and that it is impossibleto know tions betweenmother and child (Bruner1983) andthe later another,cultural anthropology's data and objectsof study creationof sharednorms among children(Piaget [1932] have disappeared.This leadsto "epistemologicalrelativism 1965). Again, the empiricalstudy of these developmental (thereis no real foundationfor knowledge)"(D'Andrade constructionshas been an importantpart of the field of 1999:8). developmentalpsychology. Accordingto thepostmoder critique, the secondproblem withthis agenda is thatstudying the Other exaggerates differ- Application to Anthropology ences betweenthe peoplebeing studiedand the researcher. Geertz(1973:12) notes that"culture consists of socially This exaggerationcreates what Tsing calls "the fantasized establishedstructures of meaning."How do these struc- gulf betweenthe West and its Other"(1993:13). In Tsing's tures get establishedthrough interaction? Postmodern an- view, the depictionof sucha gulf has an importantpolitical thropologyemphasizes the creationof meaningsthrough a dimension;it expressesa relationshipof colonizerto colo- process of negotiation. The interactionalprocesses by nized.(I returnto the politicaldimension of the postmoder which meaningsare negotiated are a majorempirical focus critiqueat the end of thisessay.) of linguisticanthropology (Duranti 1997) andcultural psy- chology (Greenfieldet al. 1998). These processes could Why Psychology Has Been Less Vulnerable to also become an empiricalfocus for culturalanthropology. This I believe thatthere has been a barrierto this construalof Critique constructivismin anthropology.This barrieris the concep- Psychologyarose as thescience of theself. One of theorigi- tual emphasis on individualconstruction in the form of nal psychologicaldeveloped in Germany,was introspec- writingand reading. tionism.While introspectionismwas laterbanished for its lack of "objectivity,"psychology remainedbasically the Thereader to thetask of brings readingall of hisprevious ex- scienceof ourselves,not the scienceof others.Of course,in periences,all previoususes of thewords and which concepts, combinationwith the universalisticambitions of psychology contaminatewhat he reads.For this, the deconstructionists (as the science of humanbeings), this is an- usethe term Seenin this onecannot read, perspective "misreading." way, other factor in unconsciousethnocentrism one can only misread.All textsallow for a hostof potential psychology's This ethnocentrismis also an ele- misreadings.[de Shazer 1991:50-51] (Fish 2000). important mentin Misraand Gergen's (1993) postmoderncritique of Yes, this is generallytrue for writtentexts. But spokendis- psychology(see alsoDasen's [1993] critique of ethnocentrism course,with its interactionalcomponent, is often a process in psychology). Whereas in anthropology the struggle has in which the interactantsconstrain and build on each been how to understand theperspective of others without as- other'smeanings. This processis thereforemuch less sol- suming essentialistic differences, the struggle in psychol- ipsisticthan the communicationbetween writer and reader. ogy has been how to understand the perspective of others It is ironicalthat postmoder culturalanthropologists have without assuming essentialistic similarities. These diamet- focused on their own individualconstructions rather than rically opposedproblems should tell us that the truthlies studyingthe social constructionsof theirsubjects. somewherein the middle. 572 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST * VOL. 102, NO. 3 * SEPTEMBER2000
Psychology's Response to This Struggle they are also sittingin ourclasses, assessingour descriptions, and,hopefully getting trained to ask new questionsand propose Many minorityand internationalscholars now fill the new answers.[p. 98] ranksof psychology.For the most partthey are caringfor The last is for middle-class clients from their own groups in the clinical fields. To step, suggestedby psychology, Whiteresearchers to theirown communitiesfrom an some extent they are researchingand publishingabout the study developmentand social relationsof theirown groups.The anthropologicalperspective. Studies of the dominantcul- insider's perspectiveis validatedin practiceif not in the- tures in the United States and Europehave been excep- ory. The same struggleremains: after being educatedin the tionalin the historyof anthropology(e.g., Bourdieu1984; field of psychology as it exists, to what extent can these Ortner1991; Schneider [1968]1980). Whether they arebe- psychologists abandonthe ethnocentricallyuniversalistic comingmore frequent is unclear. frameworks of classical psychology and validate the Instead,the dominantresponse to the problem of the frameworksof thosefor whom these frameworks do notfit? Otherin culturalanthropology is to spendmore time writ- It can be done. For example,Triandis (1989, 1993) val- ing about yourself and your relationshipsthan about the orized his Greekheritage in opposingthe concept of col- Othersyou went to study;this is the reflexivityof postmod- lectivism to the individualisticassumptions of U.S. psy- ern anthropology.One of its constructiveempirical conse- chology. Markusand Kitayama (1991) had a cross-cultural quenceshas been a host of studiesthat focus on the inter- collaboration(U.S.-Japanese) that expandedthis concept section of "us" and "them"-topics such as globalism, more into the realm of social with squarely psychology colonialism,and tourism(Appadurai 1991; Ortner1991). their of the self. With concept interdependent Rodney However, this response simultaneouslyinvalidates the Cocking, I edited a book called Cross-CulturalRoots of classical of cultureas "sources Child that researchersfrom ethnography:explorations Minority Development joined of value, meaning, and ways of understanding"(Ortner aroundthe non-Westernworld (Asia, Africa,Mexico, and 1991:187).One way to preservethe ethnographicstudy of Native America)with minorityresearchers to identifycon- culture while eliminatingthe "Otherness"of the ethno- tinuities,discontinuities, and change in ancestraland ethnic graphicsubject is to encourageanthropology students and patternsof socializationand development (Greenfield and researchersto theirown communities;this Cocking 1994). While insider perspectives purposely study approach rid the the Otherin a thatstimulates dominated,outsider perspectives were also introducedinto gets of problemof way ratherthan research. the discussion.(At the same time, we must acknowledge stymiesethnographic There to be barriersto this The first is the the biculturalperspectives that occur when membersof appear plan. Third World societies are inducted into the culture of anthropologicaldistrust of empathy(Geertz 1973). Tsing schooling,academia, and the social sciences [Limon 1991].) (1993) writes abouthow feministanthropologists fear be- ing discreditedunless they avoid "any assumptionsthat women Application to Anthropology anthropologistshave a special rapportwith the women of other cultures"(p. 224). Abu-Lughod(1991) has to travel this Anthropology begun same route. speaksof a closely relatedbarrier: anthropology's "convic- WhereasU.S. used to have to to a anthropologists go very tion thatone cannotbe objectiveabout one's own society" "different"culture from their are now an- own, they doing (p. 139).Thus, cultural anthropology possesses the ironyof researchin the UnitedStates. However, one thropological advocatingan interpretiveapproach yet denigratingthe re- more step is necessary.The is typical study community lationshipsof closeness and familiaritythat could maxi- poor, disadvantaged,and an ethnic minority,whereas the mize correctlyinterpreting the Other's perspective.The usual researcheris middle-class,advantaged, and a mem- ideal of detachedobjectivity has not yet been ber of the dominantmajority. The studypopulation is still completely banishedfrom cultural Nonetheless,the in- the Other.But thereare signs of change:whereas minority anthropology. sider to be alive and well in andforeign researchers used to also studyOthers, it is now perspectiveappears linguistic and urban Goodwin much more common for young anthropologiststo study anthropology(e.g., 1994; Morgan Ochs theircommunities of origin(e.g., Lim6n 1991). 1996; et al. 1989; Vigil 1997); whetheror not these In LinguisticAnthropology, Duranti (1997) writes: models were stimulatedby psychology,other cultural an- thropologistscan derive inspirationfrom these dynamic As a new generationof studentsfrom a wide rangeof ethnic, andtheoretically important examples. racial,and nationalbackgrounds enters the westernacademic arena,our descriptionsare bound to be affected;our discourse Science as Apolitical of the Otherwill neverbe the same.The grandchildrenof the "primitives"described by the foundingfathers (Boas, Mali- Across fields, the traditionalposition sees truthas apo- nowski, Radcliffe-Brown)and mothers(Benedict, Mead, E. litical. This position characterizestraditional psychology C. Parsons)of anthropologyare not just readingour books, as well as traditionalethnographies. GREENFIELD / WHAT PSYCHOLOGY CAN Do FOR ANTHROPOLOGY 573
The Postmodern Critique: Anthropology Is Political andcollectivism (Triandis 1993) andhow immigrantsgen- erally brought collectivistic cultural backgroundswith The in sees the differ- postmoderncritique anthropology them from theirhomelands when they came to the United entiationof self and the colonial context in which Other, States. I took this conceptualframework with me when I much traditionalethnography was done, and the nonliter- returnedto Zinacantanin 1991 for the first time in 21 ate statusof as a formof manysubjects representing politi- years.What I foundwas the following.If I thoughtof Zina- cal in her of from oppression.Ortner, history anthropology cantec culture as highly collectivistic, the culture as a the sixties the recountsit thus: through eighties, whole made sense for the firsttime. Not only that;I could In anthropology,the earliestcritiques took the formof de- finally figureout how to act in (andunderstand) new situ- nouncingthe historicallinks between anthropology on one ations-because I had a general principle,collectivism, hand,and colonialism and imperialism on theother. But this thatcould be appliedin a multitudeof specific situations.I merelyscratched the surface. The issue quickly moved to the had a deep principlethat was generativeboth for under- deeperquestion of the natureof ourtheoretical frameworks, standingZinacantec behavior and attitudes and for produc- andespecially the degree to whichthey embody and carry for- behavior while I was in the Zinacantec wardthe of Westernculture. ing appropriate assumptionsbourgeois [1984:138] Mayahamlet of Nabenchauk.I was muchmore successful All generalizationbegan to be seen as oppressive. and confident in integratinginto the Zinacantecmilieu once I hadlearned this one verygeneral principle. Froma theoretical I have concludedthat in- Psychology's Response to Politics perspective, dividualismand collectivism are deep principles of cultural Political and social relevancehas come to psychology interpretationand organizationthat have tremendousgen- also; however,it has not yet done damageto the empirical erativevalue. They do not obliteratespecific culturalcus- imagination.D'Andrade states, "If moraladvocates in so- toms; the customsare simplyculturally variable instantia- cial psychology do good experimentalwork, and if this tions of the principles(Greenfield 2000). It is much the supportstheir moralpositions, so much the betterfor the same as the way thatspecific languages are culturally vari- discipline.Such work, whateverits animus,because it ad- able instantiationsof the generallanguage capacity. The vances knowledge,promotes rather than threatens the sci- implicationfor anthropologyis that it should be open to entific agenda"(1999:8). such generalprinciples as a way of advancingdeep under- standingof culturesand of avoidingthe uninterestingpit- Specific Customs vs. fall of ethnographiesas collectionsof exotic customs. In- Deep Structure of a Culture deed, Fiske (1991), a psychologicalanthropologist who has taughtin a leadingdepartment of psychology,has four The last issue relatesto a peculiarityof culturalanthro- "structuresof social life" thatare refinementsof individu- pology that antedatesthe postmoderncritique. This is the alism and collectivismand are candidatesfor what I term fascinationwith exotic customs and the distrustof deep the "deepstructure of culture."Fiske's structuresof social cultural that di- general principles,principles might group life, like individualismand collectivism, are interpretive verse cultureson the one hand and diversebehaviors and frameworks.As a consequence,their recognitionallows attitudeson the other. in are al- Psychologists, contrast, for scientificgeneralization (important to the disciplineof for such It is of the fasci- ways looking just principles. part psychology)within the contextof the interpretivemethod nation with universalsand the reductionisticdesire to ex- (importantto anthropology). plain humanbeings by a minimumnumber of principles. Cultural anthropologists,in contrast,are deeply distrustful Conclusion of reductionism,which is antitheticalto first principlesof the discipline.However, I would like to tell a story about In culturaland cross-culturalpsychology, we are accus- my own experiencein the field. This experiencesuggests tomedto admiringanthropology and considering its contri- both a heuristicand a theoreticalvalue to the idea of gen- butions to our field, both methodologicallyand substan- eralprinciples and deep culturalstructure. tively. Anthropologists,in contrast,rarely if ever express When I first went to Zinacantainin 1969, I was prepared admirationfor psychology and its amory of methods. by experiencedmembers of the HarvardChiapas Project. However, cultural anthropologyin general and ethno- They gave muchuseful informationconcerning how to act graphicmethodology in particularhave, in recent years, in specific situations.However, I perceivedthis informa- been buffetedby the postmoderncritique. By andlarge, the tion as disconnectedbits andpieces thatI had to memorize responsehas been self-flagellationand a movementaway individually.When I went back to Zinacantainin 1991, I fromempirical research. Titles such as "TheEpistemological had just organizeda conferenceon cross-culturalroots of Crisis in the HumanDisciplines" (Denzin 1996) abound. minoritychild development (Greenfield and Cocking 1994). Thepoint of thepresent essay is to presentanother response- Its major themes were the constructs of individualism a responsefrom the otherflank, so to speak.This response 574 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST * VOL. 102, NO. 3 * SEPTEMBER2000 is from the discipline of psychology. Although grounded in 1990 Acts of Meaning.Cambridge, MA: HarvardUniversity Press. a no-longer-tenable principle of objectivity, psychology Clifford,James has some intrinsic epistemological assumptions that have 1986 Introduction:Partial Truths. In Writing Culture: The Po- made its enterprise much less vulnerable than empirical etics andPolitics of Ethnography.James Clifford and George to the anthropology postmodern critique. E. Marcus,eds. Pp. 1-26. Berkeley:University of California I used to think that the reason psychology had been left Press. relatively unscathed by postmoderism was that it was Clifford,James, and GeorgeE. Marcus,eds. simply behind the times. However, I now feel-and hope 1986 WritingCulture: The Poetics andPolitics of Ethnogra- this essay has shown-that psychology holds the seeds to phy.Berkeley: University of CaliforniaPress. John A. andDonald W. solving anthropology's dilemmas concerning a number of Cole, Michael, Gay,Joseph Glick, Sharp issues: a vs. cul- 1971 The CulturalContext of Learningand Thinking.New single objectivity multiple subjectivities, York:Basic Books. ture as a homogeneous whole vs. culture as a set of differ- D'Andrade,Roy entiated fact vs. truth vs. culture-bearers, interpretation, 1999 The Sad Storyof Anthropology1950-1999. Paperpre- the of re- construction, the problem of the Other, politics sentedat the AnnualMeeting of the Society for Cross-Cul- search, and specific customs vs. the deep structure of cul- turalResearch, February. ture. By planting seeds for resolving each of these issues, Dasen, Pierre psychology offers a response to postmoderism opposite 1993 L'Ethnocentrismde la Psychologie(The Ethnocentrism of In et to the prevailing one: empirical methodology for investi- Psychology). Psychologie Clinique Interrogations Culturelles:Le le Face aux gating the construction of meaning. Psychologue, Psychotherapeute Enfants,aux Jeuneset aux Famillesde CulturesDiffer6ntes (ClinicalPsychology and Cultural Questions: The Psycholo- Notes gist, the PsychotherapistFaced with Children, Young People Different Micheline Acknowledgments. An earlier version of this essay was and Familiesfrom Cultures). Rey-von ed. 155-173. Paris:L'Harmattan. presentedat a conference called "The Concept of Anthropol- Allmen, Pp. De Martino,Ernesto TransdisciplinaryApproaches to the Human,"University ogy: 1961 LaTerra del Rimorso.Milan: II of Constance, 29-31, 1997. I am indebtedto Bock, Saggiatore. May Philip NormanK. Jerome Alessandro Duranti, Jefferson Fish, Karl Denzin, Bruner, 1996 The Crisisin the Human Dolores Susan Jim and Isa- Epistemological Disciplines: Heider, Newton, Seymour, Wilce, theOld Do theWork of theNew. 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