Anthropology is the study of various aspects of humans within past and present societies. This study is practiced in multiple countries, each of whom has their own history of how anthropology has developed in their respective countries.
Latin America Anthropology in Latin America is a well-established discipline that has existed for over 100 years. The countries that are summarized in this section include Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, the Andean region, Costa Rica, and Colombia. For the moment, not included are discussions of anthropology (or ethnology) in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, or Haiti. Latin America anthropologists established their discipline in conjunction with American and European anthropologists, and revised their disciplines to study cultural phenomena through their own perspectives, independent of American and European thought.
Andes Andean anthropology's roots began during the turn of the 20th century, containing social movements between two groups in Peru, and from academia within the United States. The mestizo (non-native) and indigenous intellectuals known as indigenistas competed for political and intellectual space and recognition in Peru. Indigenous intellectuals advocated for interculturalidad, where indigenous thought could occupy Peruvian society as its own entity and not become blended as a singular national identity that the mestizaje proposed.
The mestizaje perspective sought to modernize Peru and model their society similar to the United States. José María Arguedas was a writer and ethnographer in Peru, who classified himself as an indigenous intellectual that challenged Western thought and ideology. John Victor Murra, an anthropologist teaching in the United States collaborated with Arguedas. Their collaboration stemmed from Murra's travels in 1952 to the Latin American region when he was working under the anthropologist Sidney Mintz as a PhD student. Indigenistas were active in social and political movements in Latin America and collaborated with people inside of the United States, but still sought to be independent from Western thought.
In 1936, the American Anthropological Association initiated studies in Latin America on how to incorporate indigenous people in Latin American society, termed acculturation studies, and in 1935, the Social Science Research Council, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Committee on Latin American studies worked to benefit the interests of the United States. The Peruvian government funded anthropological institutions beginning in the 1940s, and the establishment of the Instiuto de Etnologia y Arqueologia and a Peruvian sector in the Instituto Indigneista Interamericano followed. By the 1960s Peruvian governmental funding decreased, and became reliant upon the United States for funding. The indigenous incorporation into the goal of a singular society was termed cholification by the Peruvian sociologist Anibal Quijano. In the 1990s during the Neo-liberal era, indigenous thought became more recognized with political conflicts in the Andean region, and interculturalidad was pursued again for Andean states to recognize the diversity of the people that occupied them.
Argentina
Brazil
Anthropology in Brazil was institutionalized in 1930 at the beginning of the Vargas Era. Later during the 1950s and 1960s, Brazil was experiencing political authoritarianism. As a result, anthropology began to address inter-ethnic friction. In the 1970s anthropologists began to consider nearby urban studies as a topic of research. The 1980s kicked off a more modern type of anthropology where anthropologists began to look at themselves as “the other”. Brazil did not have an issue of alterity or exoticism, because it existed within its own borders. Brazil began to value exoticism and viewed it as the acknowledgement of cultural diversity according to Mariza Peirano. In general, the overall current goal for Brazilian anthropology was to better the future for modernization by enlightening modern political elite and identifying relevant topics for investigation. Some of Brazil's main anthropological institutions are the University of Brazil, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, and the Brazilian Association of Anthropology.
Colombia Anthropology in Colombia was institutionalized during the mid-1940s. Between the 1950s-70's, Colombian anthropologists sought to integrate into national society and began to deal with terms like culture, integration, and assimilation. However, during the 1970s, this early understanding of anthropology was opposed and anthropologists began to confront terms such as national integration because they felt it was loaded with other issues like racial supremacy. Emerging social movements encouraged this new way of thinking because it recognized the rights of peasant and ethnic populations as well as the influence of Marxism. Anthropologists continued this way of thinking through the 1980s although a larger influence from militant anthropology became apparent. By militant anthropology, Myriam Jimeno refers to anthropologists who often debate and participate, but write very little. The goal of this type of anthropology was to alter the symbols of national identity and to accompany new ethnic movements in finding representation. Anthropologists and ethnic groups aimed to challenge the way indigenous groups were being ostracized by cultural hegemony. Later on in 1991, Colombia underwent a process of constitutional reform and development in attempt to recognize more cultural and ethnic rights. Some of its current most influential institutions are the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, the Colombian National University, and the National Institute of Ethnology.
Costa Rica
Costa Rican anthropology was institutionalized in 1967 under political influence. According to Margarita Bolaños Arquín, increasing notions of nationalism and anti imperialism led to the institutionalization of social sciences in Costa Rica. During the 1960s, around the time of institutionalization, social scientists' primary focus was on the birth and implications of social movements, as well as the consequences of modernization in rural areas. Later, French Structural Marxism influenced the social sciences to take an interest in the study of class structures. Over time, anthropology in Costa Rica was highly criticized in its struggle to find its identity. Caught in a sort of balancing act between western and Latin American practice, anthropology in Costa Rica eventually learned to take the criticisms of other anthropologies and made a name for itself with a focus on gender studies, identity studies, and developmental problems. To legitimize their discipline, anthropology contributed to other sciences such as linguistics, agriculture, and psychology. However, during the 1980s Costa Rica endured a recession, and anthropological institutions were under threat. During this time, globalization was becoming increasingly popular and while during the recession of the 1980s Costa Rica was not seen as a power player, at the start of the 1990s, the country could now participate in ways that were productive. It was not until around the 1990s that anthropologists regained the opportunity to research and, after such political and economic turmoil, there was much to question. Throughout the 1990s the focus of anthropology and other disciplines such as sociology continued to research in rural areas but shifted their research to the survival of the poor during tough economic times.
Cuba
Anthropology in Cuba, and in many of the Greater Antilles, had its earliest roots in the accounts of the chroniclers, such as Cristóbal Colón and Fray Bartolomé de las Casas.Suñol, J. G. V. La antropología en Cuba: esbozo histórico y perspectivas actuales. Saberes locais, experiências transnacionais, 119. In these accounts important valuable ethnographic data about the indigenous Taíno society was stored. However, it was not until 1877 that anthropology was institutionalized.González, A. G., & Orovio, C. N. (1998). Antropología,“raza” y población en Cuba en el último cuarto del siglo XIX. Anuario de Estudios Americanos, 55(1), 267-289. This happened in Habana where the Anthropological Society of the Island of Cuba was created, it dissolved later due to the resumption of independence struggles.Tudela, J. A. G. (2018). Hacia una historia de la antropología sociocultural en Cuba. Batey: una revista cubana de Antropología Social, 11(2), 4-33. The institutionalization was influenced by Charles Darwin's theory on evolution.
In 1899, formal teaching of anthropology began, being focused on physical and biological anthropology. An important figure for physical anthropology is Felipe Poey; he kickstarted it with the study of human remains found on the Island.Zamora, A. L. (2012). La antropología en Cuba: retos, realidades y perspectivas. Batey: una revista cubana de Antropología Social, 3(3), 69-77. Following the Cuban Revolution, in 1962 anthropology departments started being created in places like the School of Biological Sciences of the University of Havana and the Academy of Sciences of Cuba. As of 1990 Cuban anthropology has adopted and applied methods from the anthropologies of other countries, like Germany, France, and others.de la Calle, M. R., Martínez, A. J., Tejedor, Ó., & Soto, H. (1990). Desarrollo, situación actual y perspectivas de la Antropología física en Cuba. Estudios de Antropología Biológica, 9. Fernando Ortiz is also an important figure to anthropology in Cuba, given that he spearheaded the sociocultural side of anthropology with his studies on Afro-Cuban culture.
Another important figure of Cuban anthropology is Lydia Cabrera. Cabrera was known for her Afro-Cuban folklore studies. Despite all three important figures not having formal anthropological training, because of their works, they are still considered pioneers of the field. Anthropology in Cuba was primarily dedicated to physical anthropology, with the purpose of scientifically legitimizing the racial hierarchies and population policies of the time.
Mexico
Manuel Gamio, the first Mexican anthropologist, earned his PhD in 1921, having studied under Franz Boas. The first anthropology department was established in 1938. Indigenous population studies known as indigenism, are an integral part of Mexican anthropology, and became popular during the presidency of Lázaro Cardenas, serving from 1934 to 1940. The National Institute of Anthropology and History was established by President Lázaro Cárdenas in 1939, and remains a prominent place of anthropological study in Latin America. The nation-building interests of incorporating the indigenous population into the Mexican state also led to the establishment of the Inter-American Indian Institute in 1942, in Mexico City, along with the establishment of the academic journal, America Indígena. Marxist theory was predominantly used to analyze social phenomena, and was combined with social evolution theory that viewed Mexico in three historical time phases: pre-Hispanic, Colonial, and Modern.
In the 1970s, Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, an anthropologist who was formerly a medical doctor worked for the federal government and promoted critical anthropology in Mexico that used Marxist theory and rejected imperialistic practices from the United States. Mexico's urban populations began to increase in the 1970s, which became another topic of study for anthropologists. In the 1980s, Gramscian Marxism became the theoretical center, and studies included rural and urban populations, and labor. Institutions of anthropology have continued to increase since the 1980s, offering undergraduate and graduate degrees. Neo-liberal market transformations in the 1990s have affected anthropological training presently, as students may find careers not only in the universities, but non-governmental organizations.
Pacific