Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of human commonality and diversity, past and present, anywhere in the world. It addresses human origins, cultural practices, societal structures, communication, and meaning and applies anthropological knowledge to solving human problems. Rooted in the era of European exploration and colonial expansion, initial studies devised unilinear evolutionary rankings of the world’s peoples and cultures. Emphasis soon shifted to documenting the sites and lifeways of indigenous groups threatened by Western expansion before they disappeared.

Anthropology emerged as an academic discipline at the turn of the twentieth century. Field research and excavations often occurred in colonies or annexed territories, including the Native Americas. Like explorers who preceded and tourists who followed them, early anthropologists were concerned with the untouched and exotic. Any presence of tourism was ignored in their publications, reflecting ambivalence that stemmed from embarrassing...