American anthropology as seen from France

摘要

First of all I would like to salute my American colleagues for suggesting we take the method we all use and turn it on them. Now it is not 'how we, as anthropologists, see other cultures', but 'how anthropologists from another culture see American anthropology'. Ever since I accepted Rob Borofsky's invitation, I have been wondering how to go about playing this game. Needless to say, having chosen, some thirty years ago, to do a long fieldwork and to do it in New Guinea, I have since been in constant contact with the different generations of American colleagues who have worked in that part of the world, and there have been a lot. But that is not really what I want to talk about, since it is obvious that a specialist will be in contact with the people working in the same region. I think the game needs to be transposed onto another level.