A critical paradigm for the histories of anthropology: the generalization of transportable knowledge

Abstract

The article presents a discussion focused on Regna Darnell's concepts of critical paradigm and transportable knowledge in relation to contemporary studies in history of anthropology, put forward in her essay based on the text written for the keynote address at EASA's History of Anthropology Network and reproduced in BEROSE International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology. Assessing the changing disciplinary scene of humanities and social sciences, Darnell argues that an urgent rethinking of paradigmatic bases underlying the practices of historians of anthropology is necessary. She reviews the legacy of George Stocking, Jr., and the often-discussed opposition between historicism and presentism, as well as the legacy of Boas and his contemporaries, to examine the paths taken and not taken in understanding the historical development of the anthropological knowledge. Darnell's arguments and suggestions are discussed by an international group of scholars in their contributions including “Presentism and Historicism in the Histories of Anthropology in Russia and North America” by Sergei Alymov, “After the History of Anthropology” by Dmitry Arzyutov, “On the Critical Paradigm for the History of Anthropology” by Jason M. Gibson, “Doing History of Anthropology in a Post-Colonial and International World” by Frédéric Keck, “Boas and Stocking in Russian Anthropology (on ‘Sacred Cows')” by Igor Kuznetsov, “The Struggle for Recognition and Parahistory” by Axel Lazzari, “On the Margins of Darnell's ‘Critical Paradigm'” by Herbert S. Lewis, “Paradigmatic Basics, or What Do We Mean by Paradigm?” by Nancy J. Parezo, “Writing Transnational Histories of Anthropologies” by Gustavo Lins Ribeiro, “History(-ies) of Anthropology: Some Remarks on Reflexivity” by Nathalie Richard, and “Distance as an Issue in the Discipline's History Research” by Sergei Sokolovskiy.