Anthroman
In China, whenever researchers refer to ethnology, it means the study of 55 ethnic groups instead of 56. That means Han is a standard, a criterion， from which the study of other 55 ethnic groups must learn. There are many famous anthropologists who have been aware of his but never speak of it. Mr. Fei Xiaotong is one of them. Chinese anthropological study will not have its own position before Chinese anthropologists realize that all 56 and other people within Chinese boundary are of equal significance in anthropological research and there is no ethnic group that should be in a position of supervision.
The evolutionary scheme another obstacle in Chinese anthropological research. If we say that people in plains are in a stage of highest civilization, these who in plateau are less civilized, and these who in mountainous areas are the least civilized or primitive and savage, we are not doing social science but constructing social science. >> continue
(inspired by Ethno::log: Fei Xiaotong dies age 94)
SEE ALSO:
Book review: Yan Yungxian: Private Life under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village (American Ethnologist)
The New Chinese Anthropology: A View from Outside by J.S. Eades The Centre for Social Anthropology and Computing, University of Kent, UK
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