--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Of all the modern social sciences…" description: "\"“Of all the modern social sciences, anthropology is the one historically most closely tied to colonialism, since it was often the case that anthropolog..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79c/edward-said-6412_anthropologists_of-all-the-modern-social-sciences-anthro_2916261.jpg" --- # Of all the modern social sciences, anthropology is the one… ![“Of all the modern social sciences, anthropology is the one historically most closely tied to colonialism, since it was often the case that anthropologists and ethnologists advised colonial rulers on the manners and mores of the native people.” quote by Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79c/edward-said-6412_anthropologists_of-all-the-modern-social-sciences-anthro_2916261.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79c/edward-said-6412_anthropologists_of-all-the-modern-social-sciences-anthro_2916261.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79c/edward-said-6412_anthropologists_of-all-the-modern-social-sciences-anthro_2916261.jpg) > ““Of all the modern social sciences, anthropology is the one historically most closely tied to colonialism, since it was often the case that anthropologists and ethnologists advised colonial rulers on the manners and mores of the native people.”” [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Anthropology historically served colonial powers, shaping policies about native cultures. **In simple terms:** Anthropology once helped colonizers. Key Takeaway Question the legacy of academic fields. Themes colonialism anthropology ethics Mood critical reflective Type academic ethical When to use this quote - academic curricula - policy analysis - cultural studies Key Concepts history political science Questions to Reflect On - How can anthropology be ethical today? - What steps undo past harms? A Different Perspective Modern anthropology also strives for decolonization and empowerment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Anthropologists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anthropologists/) [Anthropology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anthropology/) [Anthropology Historically](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anthropology-historically-4226643/) [Colonialism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Sciences Anthropology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sciences-anthropology-4226645/) [Tied Colonialism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tied-colonialism-4226644/) ## Related quotes > [In anthropology, which historically exists to 'give voice' to others, there is no greater taboo than self-revelation. The impetus of our discipline, with its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-behar/in-anthropology-which-historically-exists-to-give-voice-to-others/) [Ruth Behar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-behar/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Anthropology... has always been highly dependent upon photography... As the use of still photography - and moving pictures - has become increasingly essential as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/anthropology-has-always-been-highly-dependent-upon-photography-as-the/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [The Restless Anthropologist is a rich, powerful, and compulsively readable collection of essays by anthropologists who look back at the multiple relationships between their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherry-ortner/the-restless-anthropologist-is-a-rich-powerful-and-compulsively/) [Sherry Ortner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherry-ortner/) > [Geneticists believe that anthropologists have decided what a race is. Ethnologists assume that their classifications embody principles which genetic science has proved correct. Politicians…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lancelot-hogben/geneticists-believe-that-anthropologists-have-decided-what-a-race-is/) [Lancelot Hogben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lancelot-hogben/) > [“Instead of looking for explanations for the fact of inequality, anthropologists should look for the explanation for the notion of equality.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-gomez-davila/instead-of-looking-for-explanations-for-the-fact-of-inequality/) [Nicolás Gómez Dávila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-gomez-davila/) > [Anarchism and anthropology go well together because anthropologists know that a society without a state is possible because so many exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/anarchism-and-anthropology-go-well-together-because-anthropologists/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [The real controversy comes with anthropologists - not all, but some - who see themselves as studying culture, and they then see culture from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-whitehead/the-real-controversy-comes-with-anthropologists-not-all-but-some-who/) [Hal Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-whitehead/) > [The anthropologist must relinquish his comfortable position in the long chair on the veranda of the missionary compound, Government station, or planter's bungalow, where,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bronislaw-malinowski/the-anthropologist-must-relinquish-his-comfortable-position-in-the/) [Bronislaw Malinowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bronislaw-malinowski/) > [The historical development of the work of anthropologists seems to single out clearly a domain of knowledge that heretofore has not been treated by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-boas/the-historical-development-of-the-work-of-anthropologists-seems-to/) [Franz Boas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-boas/) > [...to make the world safe for democracy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woodrow-wilson/to-make-the-world-safe-for-democracy/) [Woodrow Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woodrow-wilson/) > [Because he did not have time to read every new book in his field, the great Polish anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski used a simple and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-postman/because-he-did-not-have-time-to-read-every-new-book-in-his-field-the/) [Neil Postman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-postman/) > [The anthropologist respects history, but he does not accord it a special value. He conceives it as a study complementary to his own: one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/the-anthropologist-respects-history-but-he-does-not-accord-it-a/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Most anthropologists are doing straightforward ethnography, and should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/most-anthropologists-are-doing-straightforward-ethnography-and-should/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [“The raw data of anthropologists can be misleading; it can make the differences in values between cultures appear greater than they are...It is only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-rachels/the-raw-data-of-anthropologists-can-be-misleading-it-can-make-the/) [James Rachels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-rachels/) ## More by Edward Said > [Beginning is not only a kind of action. It is also a frame of mind, a kind of work, an attitude, a consciousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/beginning-is-not-only-a-kind-of-action-it-is-also-a-frame-of-mind-a/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [It's very hard, for example, to justify the thirty-four-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It's very hard to justify 140 Israeli settlements…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/it-s-very-hard-for-example-to-justify-the-thirty-four-year-occupation/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [ \[9/11\] was bloody-minded destruction for no other reason than to do it. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/9-11-was-bloody-minded-destruction-for-no-other-reason-than-to-do-it/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Look at situations as contingent, not as inevitable, look at them as the result of a series of historical choices made by men and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/look-at-situations-as-contingent-not-as-inevitable-look-at-them-as/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [I was one of the first people in the Palestinian world, in the late 1970s, to say that there is no military option, either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/i-was-one-of-the-first-people-in-the-palestinian-world-in-the-late/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Take a young man from Gaza living in the most horrendous conditions - most of it imposed by Israel - who straps dynamite around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/take-a-young-man-from-gaza-living-in-the-most-horrendous-conditions/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [ \[One task of intellectuals is\] to break down the stereotypes and reductive categories that are . . . limiting to human thought and communication. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/one-task-of-intellectuals-is-to-break-down-the-stereotypes-and/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [I have never known what is Arabic or English, or which one was really mine beyond any doubt. What I do know, however, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/i-have-never-known-what-is-arabic-or-english-or-which-one-was-really/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/every-single-empire-in-its-official-discourse-has-said-that-it-is-not/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [ The just response to this terrible event \[9/11\] should be to go immediately to the world community, the United Nations. The rule of international… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/the-just-response-to-this-terrible-event-9-11-should-be-to-go/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Since when does a militarily occupied people have the responsibility for a peace movement?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/since-when-does-a-militarily-occupied-people-have-the-responsibility/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Refuse to allow yourself to become a vegetable that simply absorbs information, pre-packaged, pre-ideologized , because no message.. is anything but an ideological package…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/refuse-to-allow-yourself-to-become-a-vegetable-that-simply-absorbs/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [No cause, no God, no abstract idea can justify the mass slaughter of innocents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/no-cause-no-god-no-abstract-idea-can-justify-the-mass-slaughter-of/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [What we must eliminate are systems of representation that carry with them the authority which has become repressive because it doesn't permit or make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/what-we-must-eliminate-are-systems-of-representation-that-carry-with/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Part of the main plan of imperialism... is that we will give you your history, we will write it for you, we will re-order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/part-of-the-main-plan-of-imperialism-is-that-we-will-give-you-your/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) [Explore all 97 Edward Said quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) ## More Anthropologists quotes > [As a social anthropologist, I naturally accept and even stress the fact that there are major differences, both mental and psychological, which separate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-leakey/as-a-social-anthropologist-i-naturally-accept-and-even-stress-the/) [Louis Leakey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-leakey/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The world of rumor and gossip is like a privileged world with which a social scientist or an anthropologist can take the temperature of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-c-scott/the-world-of-rumor-and-gossip-is-like-a-privileged-world-with-which-a/) [James C. Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-c-scott/) > [What did the last Easter Islander say as he chopped down the last tree? The Easter Islanders didnt have anthropologists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jared-diamond/what-did-the-last-easter-islander-say-as-he-chopped-down-the-last/) [Jared Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jared-diamond/) > [Shamanism is not some obscure concern of cultural anthropologists. Shamanism is how religion was practiced for its first million years. Up until about 12,000…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/shamanism-is-not-some-obscure-concern-of-cultural-anthropologists/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [An anthropologist at Tulane has just come back from a field trip to New Guinea with reports of a tribe so primitive that they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-letterman/an-anthropologist-at-tulane-has-just-come-back-from-a-field-trip-to/) [David Letterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-letterman/) > [Modernity sees humanity as having ascended from what is inferior to it - life begins in slime and ends in intelligence - whereas traditional…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huston-smith/modernity-sees-humanity-as-having-ascended-from-what-is-inferior-to/) [Huston Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huston-smith/) > [“Increasingly anthropologists are being asked "what can you do for us?" by the people whose societies they are doing research on. It is sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-seeger/increasingly-anthropologists-are-being-asked-what-can-you-do-for-us/) [Anthony Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-seeger/) > [Anthropologists are a connecting link between poets and scientists; though their field-work among primitive peoples has often made them forget the language of science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-graves/anthropologists-are-a-connecting-link-between-poets-and-scientists/) [Robert Graves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-graves/) > [What if the book (of Genesis) is describing a dawning awareness of the world? The anthropologist Edmund Leach has argued that the 'bit' or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-hampden-turner/what-if-the-book-of-genesis-is-describing-a-dawning-awareness-of-the/) [Charles Hampden-Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-hampden-turner/) > [People like ourselves may see nothing wondrous in writing, but our anthropologists know how strange and magical it appears to a purely oral people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-postman/people-like-ourselves-may-see-nothing-wondrous-in-writing-but-our/) [Neil Postman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-postman/) > [Anthropologists have found evidence of romantic love in 170 societies. They've never found a society that did not have it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-fisher/anthropologists-have-found-evidence-of-romantic-love-in-170-societies/) [Helen Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-fisher/) > [As a journalist, or an anthropologist, the convention is that people are there for you to study, and they are your objects.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annia-ciezadlo/as-a-journalist-or-an-anthropologist-the-convention-is-that-people/) [Annia Ciezadlo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annia-ciezadlo/) > [Anthropologists have often described what happens to a primitive society when its spiritual values are exposed to the impact of modern civilisation. Its people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/anthropologists-have-often-described-what-happens-to-a-primitive/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [We chose to do this work mathematically, which has the advantage of precision but is not always appreciated by readers. It is perhaps for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luigi-luca-cavalli-sforza/we-chose-to-do-this-work-mathematically-which-has-the-advantage-of/) [Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luigi-luca-cavalli-sforza/) [Browse all 91 Anthropologists quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anthropologists/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Of all the modern social sciences, anthropology is the one historically most closely tied to colonialism, since it was often the case that anthropologists and ethnologists advised colonial rulers on the manners and mores of the native people.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edward Said" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/of-all-the-modern-social-sciences-anthropology-is-the-one/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Anthropologists" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/of-all-the-modern-social-sciences-anthropology-is-the-one/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79c/edward-said-6412_anthropologists_of-all-the-modern-social-sciences-anthro_2916261.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79c/edward-said-6412_anthropologists_of-all-the-modern-social-sciences-anthro_2916261.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79c/edward-said-6412_anthropologists_of-all-the-modern-social-sciences-anthro_2916261.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Of all the modern social sciences, anthropology is the one historically most closely tied to colonialism…” — Edward Said", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Edward Said", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Of all the modern social sciences,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/of-all-the-modern-social-sciences-anthropology-is-the-one/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/of-all-the-modern-social-sciences-anthropology-is-the-one/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```