from Dan Mouer 1/24/97
 
<SNIP>
 But when we begin with categories
>pre-determined by present concerns, we will, of necessity, find those
>categories in the past and we will, I am afraid, perpetuate them
>into the future.
>
>Dan
>
 
Good point, and well-taken.  I've argued before, though, that we need to
turn to the ethnohistoric and oral records in order to better contextualize
our interpretations.  Levi-Strauss analyzed for Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) myths,
and from his perspective achieved a degree of successful interpretation.
From the Ho-Chunk view, though, he missed by about a light-year in most
areas.  So, archaeologists typically bring an etic view to their project,
but we can blunt our own biases by trying to understand an emic (or more
emic than etic) view of what we are working with.  It is possible in many,
if not most, historic cases I think.
 
cheers - john
 
John Staeck         There are 3 kinds of lies:
Anthropology            lies, damned lies, and statistics!
Luther College        paraphrase of Mark Twain, who
Decorah, IA 52101     attributes the comment to Benjamin
319-387-1284          Desraeli
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