An Alternate History of Anthropological Science (original) (raw)

This paper had as its genesis the debates that followed the events last year that became known by the hashtag #aaafail on Twitter, regarding changes to the long-range plan of our sponsor organization and the elimination of the word 'science' in several key contexts in that statement. These events have since led to much hand-wringing, soul-searching, name-calling and other forms of blank-blankingfeel free to insert the attributes of your choiceamong some of us in this room, and many others, including some in the broader scholarly community who previously were unaware that there even was a debate as to whether anthropology is a science. But even as the immediate sources of the controversy have faded into the background, I contend that the root of the debacle is not what actually happened, or did not happen, in the past year. I am going to argue today that the root of this debacle is a lack of imagination over several decades by multiple parties.