From Savage to Good: A Brief Genealogy of Anthropology

• Type of Material: Conference Paper
• Authors: Bruce M. Knauft, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2018-11-17
• Publisher: Emory University Libraries
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2018 by the authors; licensee SCIEPublish, SCISCAN co. Ltd.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/bknauft/files/2019/03/From-Savage-to-Good-AAA-paper-2018.pdf
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: By Route of the Primitive, the Dark, and the Suffering Subject
• Conference or Event Name: AAA meetings
• Keywords: language; primitive; connotation; savage; anthropology; English
• Research Categories: Language, Modern; Anthropology, Cultural

Abstract

History is always in part a history of the present, reflecting our figure-ground relation to the past. So too, arguably, anthropology over the decades has arguably reflected its particular time and place as this has changed over time. We can presently consider this in relation to the terms "savage" and "primitive" in our field. First, some objective evidence concerning the validity of our session statement can be taking from ngram - Google's calculation of the frequency of word use in English language books.