Abstract

DAVILA, Lena. Humanitarian Sentiment and Scientific Utilitarianism in Argentinean Anthropological Practice: The Transition between the 19th-20th and 21st Centuries. Antipod. Rev. Antropol. Arqueol. [online]. 2021, n.44, pp.45-69.  Epub May 26, 2021. ISSN 1900-5407.  https://doi.org/10.7440/antipoda44.2021.03.

The purpose of this article is to show how anthropologists and anthropological museums express the tension between humanitarian sentiment and scientific utilitarianism with respect to native peoples and indigenist policies in Argentina between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century and from the end of the 20th century until now. The methodology adopted was based on archival work, which involved a process of selection and analysis of documentary sources collected in Argentina and Germany. The starting point was the conviction that both the records drawn up explicitly to provide an account of professional life and private documents are fundamental sources of evidence. Furthermore, the analysis of the sources pointed to an anthropology of anthropology that provided an account of the complexity of elements present at each moment considered, as well as reconstructing the perspective of the natives in accordance with the reasoning of their time. The time period selected for the analysis corresponds to two distant moments of the discipline, with a view to contrasting them to ensure a lively discussion. Admitting the presence of tension between humanitarian sentiment and scientific utilitarianism in the two periods examined and accepting that the disciplinary past implies the adoption of a new attitude. One that is politically and ethically committed to both the recognition of the history of anthropological practice, and to the abuses committed against native peoples from and by anthropology, in the name of science and an ideal of progress conceived as inevitable. The study promotes the discussion of a little addressed issue of anthropological and socio-political importance for Argentina and the region, such as the restitution of the mortal remains of indigenous people and the right to access to public information.

Keywords : Anthropology of anthropology; anthropological museums; Argentine anthropology; humanitarianism; native peoples; utilitarianism.

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