WHEN ANTHROPOLOGY IS AT HOME: The Different Contexts of a Single Discipline

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▪ Abstract For a long time anthropology was defined by the exoticism of its subject matter and by the distance, conceived as both cultural and geographic, that separated the researcher from the researched group. This situation has changed. In a few years we may assess the twentieth century as characterized by a long and complex movement, with theoretical and political implications, that replaced the ideal of the radical encounter with alterity with research at home. But “home” will, as always, incorporate many meanings, and anthropology will maintain, in its paradigmatic assumption, a socio-genetic aim toward an appreciation for, and an understanding of, difference. In some cases, difference will be the route to theoretical universalism via comparison; in others, it will surface as a denunciation of exoticism or a denial of its appeal. This review examines different moments and contexts in which an attempt at developing anthropology “at home” became an appropriate quest.

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