Re: [Pen-l] Article on Jared Diamond scandal in Science magazine

[Jim Devine <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

>The affair has raised concerns among anthropologists familiar with PNG, who worry that The New Yorker's "Annals of Anthropology" banner has tarnished the field's reputation.<

I know that anthropology isn't a licensed profession, but Diamond is
no anthropologist. He's a physiologist and geographer.

I don't know the fellow, but quite it's arrogant to think one can "do
anthropology" (or sociology, for that matter) without the requisite
training. (For example, these days anthropology puts a major emphasis
on cultural relativism in method, not imposing one's own world-view
and ethical system on the communities being studied.) Of course, some
people in my profession invade other fields all the time ("economic
imperialism" a la Gary Becker) and there's nothing strictly wrong with
this practice, but part of doing research concerning any question is
to make an effort to learn the canon and controversies about it before
leaping in with both feet. What's wrong with econ. imperialism is the
arrogance that says that you don't need to know anything about
someone's institutions (for example) before theorizing about them. If
Diamond didn't study the existing literature on "blood feuds" (or lack
thereof) in PNG, he's the lowest kind of journalist.

-- 
Jim Devine / "If heart-aches were commercials, we'd all be on TV." -- John Prine
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