Topic > 2019th Century Anthropology Essay - 703

Sir Baldwin Spencer, considered by many to be the father of cultural anthropology, studied a civilization such as Australia. When studying the Australian Aborigines, Baldwin's methods involved him talking to people and finding out about their culture. He monitored their way of life and formulated theories about how they ran their organization, using Darwin's theory of natural selection as a basis. Moving on to the 20th century, we can take a look at anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski, famous for his work with the Torbriand Islanders. He was also involved in fieldwork similar to Spencer's in Australia, but what made him different was the way he vigorously immersed himself in the indigenous cultures he was studying. He embraced the value of studying everyday life in all its aspects. It wasn't simply enough to sit, listen, and record what tribe members said about their culture, it was extremely important for him to study how their culture was reflected in the way they lived their lives. Therefore, from this we can see the main difference between the anthropological practices of the 19th century and the anthropological practices of the 20th century. The 19th century anthropologist, using Baldwin Spencer as an example, focused primarily on theory and did little to try to interact with culture when forming his theories. But in the 20th century, individuals were more involved