Anthropological descriptions of cultural groups often include discussions of the role of the anthropologist herself in conductin
g the research. This provides important context to the reader, and is a concept known as: 1 ethnology.
2 qualitative analysis.
3 reflexivity.
4 anonymity.
Anthropology as we know it is based on three conceptual polarities that we could call conditional or congenital: the oppositions between Primitive and Civilized, Individual and Society, and Nature and Culture. Virtually all the theoretical debates and important scholastic distinctions of the last century revolved around the relative weight of each of the poles of these three dualities in defining the object of the discipline. In the last years of the century, however, such polarities were the target of close criticism and entered a terminal crisis. Today, they no longer define the horizon of the discipline.
