Sociology

 Growth of Anthropology in India

Anthropology, even though a new subject, anthropology occupies an important position in the academic arena of the world. Today it is taught in almost all the famous universities of the world. Moreover, anthropologists are employed at different levels of administration. Anthropology took a long time to develop as an independent teaching and research discipline. Even though humans were intrinsically curious to know about worldly phenomena, a systematic analysis of human life originated very late. Here we shall examine how the subject of anthropology achieved its present status in the world and in India.

Anthropology is comparatively a new subject, and the origin and growth of the subject have taken place through centuries. T. K. Penniman in his book ‘Hundred Years of Anthropology’ (1935), classifies the development of anthropology into four periods are discussed below:

1. Formulation period (before 1835): 

This is the first and longest period in the history of Anthropology. It extends from the time of the Greek historians, philosophers, and naturalists.

1. Penniman considers Herodotus (484-425 BC) as the first anthropologist. He is also considered the father of Greek Ethnography. He collected a large number of facts about people in different cultural stages. He not only talked about the origin of culture but also described the spoken language, physical types, material culture, marriage and divorce, social laws, customs, etc.

2. Protagoras (480-410 BC) is another Greek philosopher who contributed to the knowledge about human beings and culture. In his opinion, “man is the measure of all things.” He was the first to propose the theory of relativism. He also introduced the evolutionary scheme, which explains how different social traits exist.

3. Socrates (470-399 BC) was of the opinion that certain universal values guide every society. He mainly put forward the philosophical aspect of social thinking.

4. Another Greek thinker, Plato (428 – 348 BC), proposed ideas about the state, marriage, education, etc. According to him, humans outside social control are animals, and it is the society that makes the individual a social being.

5. Like Plato, Aristotle (384 – 322 BC) also proposed his view of the state and humans. He had clearly understood the difference between functional and structural similarities. This is clear from the fact that he classified bats with mammals and not with birds and the whales with mammals and not fishes. Aristotle believed that the state determines the behaviour of humans. Without law and justice, humans would be the worst of all animals, and he also proposed that human beings are social animals.

Various travelers and explorers wrote details about the people they encountered in the medieval period. Among these, Marco-polo (1224-1313) and Vasco-Da-Gama (1397-1499) contributed much towards enriching knowledge of Anthropology.

During the 17th century, Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes formulated different theories for the study of society. John Lock provided the metaphysical foundation upon which the Anthropologist formulated their formal definition of culture. German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) wrote the book Anthropology in 1789, suggesting the animal origin of man and concluding that human knowledge comes from pre-human conditions.

There was a lot of curiosity to learn about the different races of humankind during the 16th century. The demonstration of blood circulation by William Harvey in 1628 and the discovery of the microscope by Leeuwenhoek opened a new world of study. Vesalius had attempted to compare human beings with apes. He also tried to dissect the human body. In 1735, Carl Linnaeus published his book ‘Systema Naturae,’ which mentioned the inclusion of humans in the Zoological classification.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Christian missionaries traveled worldwide to spread Christian ideology and convert people to Christianity. They studied the culture of native people to make their conversion attempt easy. British administrators conducted many studies on native people during colonization to make their administration easy. Edgar Thurston (Castes and Tribes of India), William Crook (Tribes and Castes of the North Western Provinces), Verrier Elwin (Philosophy of NEFA), and John Russel made significant contributions to Anthropology by conducting various studies on the culture of different groups in India.

2. Convergent Period (1835-1859): 

During this period, scholars of different countries expressed divergent views about the origin of biological and social aspects of human beings. Among these, the contribution of Karl Marx (1818–1883), Charles Lyell (1797–1895), and William Smith (1769–1839) are essential. Marx accepted the dialectical process as the moving power of history. In the field of Archaeology, Boucher Deperthe’s discoveries of a flint implement at Abbeville in 1838 and 1846, and Dr. Rigollet’s discovery at Saint Acheul in 1854 are some of the new developments. Neanderthal’s discovery at Dusseldorf in 1857 gave a new outlook on human evolution. James Prichard classified and systematized the facts about races of humankind in his book The Natural History of Man in 1833 and Physical History of Man in 1836. He proposed the differences in colour, hair, stature, and form and examined the criteria of racial classification. The convergence of all these ideas was completed with Charles Darwin’s book “The Origin of Species” (1859). In this book, he proposed his theory of organic evolution, popularly known as ‘Darwinism.’ With the publication of this book, the physical evolution of the human being based on the scientific investigation was established. Thus, the diverse arguments expressed about the origin of human beings and society ended with the publication of Origin of Species.

3. Constructive Period (1859–1900): 

During this period, Anthropology started as an independent discipline in many universities. A Department of Anthropology was started at Oxford University in 1884 and Cambridge University in 1900. Scientific research and publications by scholars like E. B. Tylor, James Frazer, Henry Maine, and L. H. Morgan emerged during this period. Different branches of anthropology like ethnology, pre-history, and social and physical anthropology also evolved.

Apart from England, Germany, and the USA, anthropological research flourished in France and some other countries. The contributions of Emile Durkheim in France helped to popularize Anthropology in France. Some important journals like ‘American Journal of Folklore,’ ‘Bulletin of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland’ (now known as ‘Man’), etc., started during this period. A large number of anthropological articles were published in these journals. Colonial administrators had also published their reports and papers in this journal. The research done by British officers like Edgar Thurston, Russel, and others facilitated the growth of anthropological tradition in India.

4. Critical Period (1900 onwards): 

Penniman used the term ‘critical’ to denote this period because of the crucial contribution made to the development of Anthropology during this period. Some significant developments also marked this period. The first chair of social anthropology was started in 1908 at the University of Liverpool in Britain. Sir James Frazer chaired it. The first Anthropology department in India was created at the University of Calcutta in 1920. In 1919, Social anthropology was introduced as a subject in the Department of Sociology at the University of Bombay.

During this period, different schools of thought in anthropology were founded. The functional school of thought, structural school of thought, school of diffusion, and culture and personality school are prominent among them. Authors of this period specialized in theorizing the concepts, definitions, and different aspects of culture. For instance, B. K. Malinowski, based on his field expedition among the Trobriand Islanders, proposed his idea of Functionalism. Based on his study of the Andaman Islanders, Radcliffe Brown established his theory of Social Structure during this period. Similarly, American scholars such as A. L. Kroeber, Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, and Clark Wissler played their own role in shaping the destiny of world anthropology.