The Past and Present Society

History and Anthropology

Author(s): Keith Thomas
Source: Past & Present, No. 24 (Apr., 1963), pp. 3-24
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society
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 HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY*
THERE IS NOTHING NEW OR ECCENTRIC ABOUT THE SUGGESTION THAT
historiansmightprofitfroman acquaintancewith anthropology.
Professor Tawneysuggestedas muchin his InauguralLectureat the
London School of Economicsthirtyyearsago' and it was not often
thattheadviceofthismostinfluential historianwentunheeded. That
it did so in thiscase can probablybe attributed to thefirmly empirical
traditionof Britishhistoricalscholarship, whosereputationhas long
restedupon a rigorouscommandof the primarysources,a distaste
fortheoryand speculation, and a properaversionto thesuperficiality
which a nodding acquaintancewith other disciplinesfrequently
bringsin itstrain. These qualitiesin all theirstrength and weakness
arebestexemplified in thepresentstateofmedievalstudies- austere,
disciplinedand profoundly hostileto outsideinfluence.
To some extent,however,the anthropologists have themselvesto
blame for this separation. Betweenthe wars social anthropology
underRadcliffe-Brown was a veryambitiousaffairindeed and one
whose aims were avowedlyunhistorical.The subjectwas defined
as "the studyof the phenomenaof cultureby the same inductive
methodsthat are in use in the naturalsciences". Its basis was
thoughtto be "theexperimental method"and itsobjectthediscovery
ofsociologicallaws,generalizations abouthumansociety. Radcliffe-
Browndeclaredcategorically thathistoryand anthropology were"two
quitedifferent methodsof dealingwiththefactsof culture"and that
"thereare manydisadvantages in mixingthe two subjectstogether
and confusing them".2 His insistenceupon the need forgeneraliz-
ation and his justifiably disparagingreferences to the "conjectural
history"oftheethnographers3 helpedto giveBritishanthropological
studies a franklyanti-historical bias and to make the chances of
co-operation betweenthetwo disciplinesincreasingly remote.
In recentyears,however, therehasbeena reaction, led byRadcliffe-
Brown'ssuccessorin the OxfordChairof Social Anthropology.In
his MarettLectureof I950, ProfessorEvans-Pritchard assertedthat
the differences betweenthe two subjectswere those of technique
ratherthanofaim,and he has subsequently donemuchto urgea new
rapprochement between them. "In practice," he says, "social
* The author of this article is not an anthropologist(as will be obvious to
the attentivereader). His interestin the subject was firstaroused by Professor
Evans-Pritchard's lecture, Anthropologyand history,(Manchester, I96I), but
neither ProfessorEvans-Pritchardnor any other anthropologistis to be held
responsibleforany unwittingmisinterpretations of theirwork.

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4 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 24

anthropologists today generalizelittlemore than historiansdo."4

Nowadaysit is fashionableto regardthe strengthof Britishsocial
anthropology as lyingin theintensityand precisionofits field-work,
in the traditionof Malinowski,ratherthan in the formulation of
generallaws along the lines urgedby Radcliffe-Brown.It is even
said thatno such laws haveyetbeen discovered. Nor,it is implied,
are theyever likelyto be.5 A social anthropologist todaydoes not
set out to produce sweepinggeneralizations about the whole of
human society. He is more likelyto devote a lifetimeto the
specializedstudyofat mosttwoorthreesocieties,a studyin whichhe
willbe as muchconcernedas thehistorian withtheuniquenessoffact
and situation,a studywhichis likelyto carrywithit a certaindegree
ofemotionalinvolvement,6 andwhich,in itsintimacy ofacquaintance,
remindsone of G. M. Young's famousinjunctionto historians"to
go on reading until you can hear people talking". Some
anthropologists have even engaged in straightforward pieces of
historicalwriting,for example Evans-Pritchard'sThe Sanusi of
Cyrenaica,the storyof the transformation of a religiousmovement
intoa nationalist one overa periodofsomehundredyears.7
At the same time thereare some indicationsthat historiansare
moreinclinedto seekgeneralizations thantheyused to be. They do
notask universalquestionsor seek universallaws. But,forall their
interestin the individualand the particular,theyare morelikelyto
believe that, in the words of ProfessorPostan, "the microscopic
problemsof historicalresearchare and shouldbe made microcosmic
- capableof reflecting worldslargerthanthemselves".8Historical
fashionschangeslowly,but therehas been no lack of supportfor
Mr. E. H. Carr'srecentstatement that"the moresociologicalhistory
becomesand the more historicalsociologybecomes,the betterfor
both".9 Certainly itis morerepresentative
ofopinioninthehistorical
profession thanwas Tawney'salmostidenticalassertionthirtyyears
ago.10
The wholetendencyof recentworkin bothsubjectshas thusbeen
such as to draw togetherwhatwere alwayscloselyparallellines of
investigation.Anthropologists are no longerexclusivelyconcerned
withprimitive societies,anymorethanhistorians aresolelyconcerned
withadvancedones. Nor are anthropologists necessarilyengagedin
thestudyofa societyat one momentoftimeratherthanovera period
of years. Some of them study social change, notably the
"Westernization" of native societies. Admittedly,the most
characteristicformof anthropological explanationof an institution
is to demonstrateits contribution to keepinga given societyin

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 HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY 5

being, and this sort of functionalism oftenstandsin the way of

formulating theoriesofsocialchange.11 Butit is also true
intelligible
thathistorians can sometimesbe extremely staticthemselves. It is
veryhard,forexample,to extractanysenseof movement and change
fromthestudiesofeighteenth-century politicsbythefollowers of Sir
Lewis Namier; the notion of "the eighteenth-century political
system"withwhichthe averageundergraduate emergesis certainly
as lackingin dynamicelementsas the mostaustereanthropological
"system".12 A greatdeal ofhistorical writingtodayis concernedless
witha successionof eventsthanwithenduringrelationships.13As
for the argumentthat the anthropologist, unlikethe historian,is
concernedwith the present,it should not be forgotten that the
normalpatternof an anthropologist's careersees him spendingthe
remainder ofhis lifewritingup hismemoriesofa societyhe visitedin
his youth. Evans-Pritchard, for example,has untilrecentlybeen
publishingbooksabout theNuer,withwhomhe spentabout a year
betweenI930 and I936.14 Such an act of reconstruction would
seemto involvean effort of whatis almostthehistorical imagination
and thereis clearlya sense in whichthe "ethnographic present"is
comparableto the historicpresent.
The basic differencebetween anthropologyand historymay
thereforebe fairlyreduced to this, that in most cases15 the
anthropologist did oncelivein,or at leastvisit,thesocietywhichhe is
describing, whereasthehistorian usuallyhas to workexclusively from
documentsor archaeologicalremains. This distinctionis hardly
sufficient to justifyour dismissing thetwosubjectsas fundamentally
different disciplines.
If we maketheinitialassumptionthatanthropologists are engaged
in a roughlysimilaractivity to ourown,it becomeseasierto see what
we mightlearnfromthem. In thefirstplace,it is hardto denythat
modernsocialanthropology usuallyexemplifies greaterdisciplineand
precisionof thoughtthanis commonlyfoundin historicalwritingof
the interpretative kind. Here, the old traditionthatanthropology
is a science has been of great advantage. Contemporary anthro-
pologicalwritingis frequently austere,even jagged,but it is seldom
disfigured by the rhetoricand impressionism whichis so frequently
encounteredin the workof leadingpractitioners of modernhistory
(and whose originsmay well lie in the educationaltraditionof
encouraging historyundergraduates to producedogmaticand personal
interpretations on thebasisofrapidreadingin thesecondary sources).
It is truethatthereaderhas usuallyto takelargelyon trustwhatthe
anthropologist saysaboutanothersociety,forthereare fewfootnotes,

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6 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 24

and sourcesmay have to be disguisedor suppressed;16indeed the

onlyobjectivetestofa monograph's reliabilityseemsto be thatofits
own internalconsistency.Yet, despite the reader's inabilityto
check sources and the writer'sobvious readiness to arrive at
theoreticalconclusionson the basis of a single field-study,17 one
cannotescape the impressionthatanthropologists do not generalize
lightlyand thattheirconclusionsrestupon a sound foundationof
empiricalfieldwork, beside which the selectiveuse of incomplete
evidence,uponwhichthewriting ofhistorymustnecessarily depend,
appears flimsyin the extreme.18The studentof contemporary
anthropology is unlikelyto encountersuch a rhetorical tourdeforce
as Professor Trevor-Roper's pamphleton The Gentry;19 neitheris he
likelyto meetmanyhypotheses putforward dogmaticallyas fact,and
substantially discreditedlargelyon the basis of alreadyexisting
evidence withinfive years of their publication. Anthropological
tasteschange,and the elementof subjectivism can neverbe entirely
absent,butit seldomseemsto getout ofcontrol.20The cautionand
unpretentiousness of most social anthropology may make for dull
reading,particularly whencombinedwitha susceptibility to jargon;
but,at least,suchqualitiesafford an agreeablecontrast withthework
of thosemanymodernhistorians whoseurgeforself-expression and
forreinforcing a personalviewoftheworldis so oftenmoreapparent
thana disinterested wishto findoutwhatreallyhappenedin thepast.
It would,however,be rashto base thecase forsocialanthropology
upon so unpalatablean assumptionas that of the alleged moral
superiorityof its practitioners.Instead, emphasismay be more
profitably laid upon what would seem to be the most distinctive
featureof anthropological explanation, namelythat,in the wordsof
ProfessorFirth, "however specialized be his study of kinship,
witchcraft, chieftainship or social class, the anthropologist always
makesit againsta backgroundof his conceptionof thesocial system
to whichit is related".21 The importance of the contribution made
byan individualanthropologist is notmeasuredbythevolumeofnew
facts which he records,for that is mere ethnography, generally
regardedas a muchlower-level activity,butbytheinterpretation and
interrelation of thosefacts. He mustattemptnot just a descriptive
synthesis of events,but a theoretical integration of them,22 thatis to
say, he should aim at serious analysisratherthan that random
impressionism ofwhichMacaulay'sThirdChapterprovidesthemost
famousexampleand some sectionsof the OxfordHistoryofEngland
the mostrecent. Anthropologists frequently takeone smallsociety
and studyit as a whole. Thus Evans-Pritchard writesabout many

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 HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY 7

differentaspectsoftheNuer - politicaland socialstructure, kinship

and marriage,religion. But historiansstill specialize by subject-
matter- economichistory, legal history,militaryhistory- as the
titlesoftheirprofessionaljournals indicate. For a historianto write
about both eighteenth-century religion and eighteenth-century
agriculture would be highlyeccentric.
The consequenceforhistory ofthisspecializationbysubject-matter
is thatmanyofa topic'ssociallymostimportant aspectsgo unnoticed.
For all theactivity
ofWeber,Tawneyand Christopher Hill,thestudy
of ecclesiasticalhistory,for example,is still largelyconductedin
a vacuum,whereliturgy, ritual,theologyand churchgovernment are
isolatedfromtheinfluence ofmoresecularpreoccupations.Similarly,
the studyof economichistoryis much concernedwithprovingor
disprovingcurrenteconomictheories,to the consequentneglectof
thesocialaspectsofthesubject.23 If,as a reactionto thissegmented
approachto the factsof history,manyhistoriansnow subscribe,if
onlyimplicitly, to a brandof vulgarMarxism,thismaybe takento
indicatelesstheseductiveeffects ofthatparticulardoctrinethantheir
lackofacquaintancewithanyothertheoretical attempts to effectthat
interrelationand mutualexplanationofsocialfactswhichtheywould
so muchliketo see. For suchpersons,theattraction ofanthropology,
whether"functional","structural"or "cultural",is that it does
constitute such an attemptto explainthingsin termsof each other,
ratherthan treatingthem separately,like patientsin a hospital.
Marxismhas had manybeneficialeffects, and thepossibilitieslatent
in the explanationof social factsby theirrelationto economicones
are by no means exhausted. But economicwants are themselves
culturallydetermined, and itis onlysomeformofanthropology which
holds out the hope of providingthat sociologicalexplanationof
economiclife whichthe economicinterpretation of social life has
cometo require. One ofthegreatanthropological lessonsis thatthe
studyof economicscannotbe isolatedfromthe studyof society.
"In a primitivesocietythereis no relationship whichis of a purely
economic character".24
If appliedto churchhistory, the conclusionsof the anthropologist
are just as interestingas are the suggestionsof Marx, who, with
Machiavelli,offered theonlysocialinterpretationofreligiouslifewith
whichmostofus arefamiliar. A calendar,saysDurkheim,expresses
the rhythmof society's collective activitiesand assures their
regularity.25Armed with this dictum,we can recognizethat the
hagiography of the Middle Ages was linkedwiththefestivalsof the
Church year, which, in turn, closely reflectedthe rhythmsof

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8 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 24

agriculturallife,as Mr. Homans,a sociologistturnedhistorian,has

quitedefinitively shown.26 Conversely, thePuritanattackon saints'
daysand theiremphasison the Sabbathwouldseemto be connected
withthenewrhythms ofa commercial society.27One ofthefunctions
of ritual,says Radcliffe-Brown, is to maintainand reinforcethe
systemof sentiments upon whichsocietydepends.28 Viewed from
thisangle,thefeelingsarousedbythevariousProtestant attacksupon
Roman Catholic ceremoniesat the Reformationbecome more
intelligible. So do thePuritanobjectionsto thechurching ofwomen,
whenwe recallRadcliffe-Brown's statement thattaboosfixthesocial
value of certainoccasions.29The knowledgewhichcan be gained
fromthe anthropologists concerningthe importanceof dancingas
a bond of community life30tells us somethingabout the possible
implications of the Puritanattackon maypolesand Sabbath sports.
Indeed so manynew sidelightsupon Puritanismappear when it is
seen fromthispointof viewthathistoriansmayyetcome to regard
its true significance as lyingless in any supportof capitalism,of
whichso muchhas beenmade,thanin itsimplacablehostility to what
can be seen to have been featuresof a moreprimitive society- not
just communitydancing,but ritual sports borderingon animal
sacrifice(such as bear-baitingand bull-baiting),the attachment of
magicalqualitiesto certainplaces, instruments of worshipor days
oftheyear,taboossurrounding womenafterchildbirth, sexualorgies
at keyperiodsoftheyear(May Morning,Midsummer and Christmas),
ritualand ceremonygenerally.
In additionto teachingthis firstand most essentiallesson that
historiansshould study topics in relationto societyas a whole,
anthropologists can also providethe inestimableadvantageof direct
experienceofmatters aboutwhichhistorians haveonlyreadin books.
Such features ofprimitive societyas witchcraft ortheblood-feudform
a largeelementoftheanthropologist's dailyconcern,whereasforthe
historiantheyconstitute relatively exoticmatter. Not thatthereare
any obvious universallaws about witchcraft to be learned from
anthropology, but,at least,someacquaintancewithitsfindings would
preventhistoriansfromsuccumbingto the temptationof treating
thepracticeas someextraordinary survivalofunreasonto be explained
in Voltaireanterms of priestlycunning and popular credulity.
Instead,witch-beliefs can be closelyrelatedto the societyin which
they appear. Evans-Pritchard's study of witchcraftamong the
Azande shows,amongotherthings,thatit can be a positiveformof
social cement,since,if we thinkour neighboursmay have magical
powerto do us physicalharm,we are likelyto takecarenotto offend

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 HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY 9

them.31 Elsewhere,accusationsof witchcraft are normally levelled

againstthosepersonswhosetraitsare condemnedas anti-social,and
a beliefin witchesthusbecomesa sanctionagainstundesirablesocial
activityand helpsto maintainthe currentsystemof values. This is
not the sort of conclusionwhichthe historianwould be likelyto
cometo withoutexternalaid, forhe is notpersonally acquaintedwith
the circumstances whichproducedisplacedaggressionof this kind
and has neverobservedthewaysin whichtensionsin socialrelation-
shipsmayresolvethemselves in the formof witch-beliefs.Yet it is
clearthatthe majorityof personsaccusedof witchcraft in sixteenth-
and seventeenth-century Englandwerealreadyregardedas embodying
valueshostileto thecommunity in whichtheylived,byreasonoftheir
isolation,povertyor ugliness. For the most part they were old
women- "poore, mellenchollie, envious,mischevous,ill-disposed,
ill-dieted",as a contemporary describedthem32 - and theyusually
displayeda frankmalevolenceto the societyin which theylived.
Similarly,chargesof witchcraft wereusuallymade as an explanation
forsocial or economicfailureof some sort; theyaccountedforthe
failureofthecropsto grow,or ofthecowsto givemilk. Was it only
coincidencethatthe peak of the witch-scare in Englandoccurredat
the end of the Civil War whenthe consequentpoliticaland social
instabilitybred unusual tensionsand when the normalmeans of
social control,notablythe ecclesiasticalcourts,had collapsed? We
are told on good authority that "Africanbeliefsabout witchesare
startlinglylike those of Shakespeare'sday".33 It seems likelythat
the studentof the one mightlearnsomethingfromthe investigator
of theother.
Similarly,those interestedin Anglo-Saxonsociety,where the
historicalstudyof kinshipcan hardlybe avoided,mightwell learn
somethingfromanthropological analysesof the operationof the
blood-feudin othersocieties,someofwhichsuggestconclusionsvery
different fromthosewhichhistorianshave reachedon moreslender
evidence.34 Again, an anthropologist who knows about initiation
ritesmightwell have something freshto say to historiansinterested
in the ceremoniessurrounding baptismor confirmation, the orderof
knighthood,or the admissionto medieval gilds or to academic
degrees.35 The majorityof modernanthropological studies have
been concernedwiththe small,isolatedcommunity, and it is upon
analogoushistorical communities thatone wouldexpecttheirfindings
to shed mostlight. In such a worldwhereties are personalrather
thananonymous, and wherethesameindividualsappearin a variety
of social roles,social cohesionis greatlyenhancedby the absenceof

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IO PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 24

any conflictof values,such as thosebetweenworkand church,or

parentsand employer, whicharea feature oflargerindustrialsocieties.
Such must have been the attributesof the medievalvillage,and
anthropologists have frequently commentedupon the resemblances
betweenthissortofprimitive societyand thatofruralEuropebefore
the eighteenth century.36To reconstruct thetextureof lifein such
a worldseemsa disproportionate burdento throwupon theunaided
historical
imagination, whenthereare rigorousand detailedaccounts
of such societies available today. Hardly any medievalisthas
botheredto draw upon the resultsof anthropological field-work.
Yet, "how", asksEvans-Pritchard, "can an Oxforddon workhimself
into the mind of a serfof Louis the Pious?"37 How indeed.
In most cases he is unlikelyto try,but will be contentto study
labourservicesand commutations, treatingthe serfas a convenient
unitin economichistory, but no more. Yet anthropological studies
of primitivementalitycould provide valuable reinforcement for
historiansconfronted by a paucityof evidenceforthe mentallifeof
the lower reaches of the distantsocietytheyare studying. The
extremesofreligiousactivity - tranceand ecstasy- whichwereso
commonin theMiddleAgesand areso rarenow,havebeenobserved
bymodernstudentsofprimitive religion.38Whiletheanthropological
studyoftheactivities ofmodernChristianmissionsin Africaor New
Guinea mightthrowsome lightupon the sourcesof Anglo-Saxon
resistanceto the Conversion,as well as upon some of the possible
implicationsand motivesof theirsurrender.39
Parallelsbetweenthe historicalexperienceof our societyand the
contemporary experienceof moreprimitive societiescan be endlessly
adduced. Some are superficial;some are not. All are worth
investigating.Wherecan one finda betterexplanation oftheDivine
Rightof Kings thanin Evans-Pritchard's analysisof the kingshipof
the Shillukof Sudan?40 Whereis therea closeranalogywiththe
medieval and Elizabethan world-picturethan in the Tikopia
conceptionof the futurelife,in which thereare divisionsof the
heavens correspondingto the social divisions of the Tikopia
themselves ?4 The emphasisuponthebindingforceofoathsamong
theKikuyuis reminiscent ofseventeenth-century England,wherethe
oathprovidedthe sanctionforalmosteveryformof legal,official or
ecclesiasticalarrangement.42 The Cargo cults of Melanesia are
obviouslyanalogouswithsuch millenarian movements as thatof the
FifthMonarchyMen in England;43in thisconnection, Mr. Worsley's
interpretationoftheritualdefianceoftraditional taboosin Melanesia
makesmoreintelligible the flouting of social and sexualconventions

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 HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY II

by the Anabaptistsor the Quakers.44 It is not surprisingthat

historianslike ProfessorCohn or Mr. Hobsbawmfeltimpelledto
employ anthropologicalfindingsin their study of such popular
movements of protest.45
Much can be learntfromanthropology whichcouldbe ofserviceto
economic history,where the assumptionson which Western
economistsnormallyoperateare oftenquite inappropriate for the
study of a primitivesociety.4i'Accountsof traditionalized price
systemsin primitive economiesmayhelp us to understandwhythe
price of monasticland afterthe Dissolution tended to remain
stubbornly at twentyyearspurchase,despitethefluctuations ofsupply
and demand.47 Monographson giftexchangein Polynesiamaylead
us to pay moreattention to thegivingand receivingof hospitality as
a meansof economicdistribution, or to the lavishexchangeof New
Year giftsat the courtof JamesI.48 Studiesof the social and legal
effectsof land hungerupon contemporary Africancountriescan tell
us somethingabout whytherewas so muchlitigationin sixteenth-
centuryEngland,as wellas ofthesocialeffects of over-population in
general.49The Malayanhabitof avoidingprohibitions on usuryby
lendinga sum less thanthatactuallyrecordedas due to be repaidis
strikinglyreminiscent of accountingmethodswhichare said to have
been employedin fifteenth-century England.50 While,if debt was
a formof social cementamongthe Irishpeasantry, it maywell have
once servedthe same purposein ruralEngland.5l
The historianinterestedin the industrialization of eighteenth-
centuryEngland would be ill-advisedto ignorethe manyanalyses
oftheprogressof underdeveloped countriestoday.52 The problems
involvedin persuadingAfricans to adopttherhythms ofan industrial
societyin place of the moreerraticpace of primitive lifeare almost
exactly those which confrontedJosiah Wedgwood when he
endeavoured to convert the feckless, easy-going populace of
Staffordshire into "such machines ... as cannot err".53 The
preferenceforleisureoverhighwages,whichstoodin thewayofthe
creationofa labourforcein theearlydaysoftheIndustrialRevolution,
was presumablybrokendown onlyby the appearanceof new wants
amongstthelabouringclasseswhichprovidedtheincentiveforextra
labour. How were thesewantscreated? The answeris not easy
to findin currentaccountsof the earlyIndustrialRevolution. But
anthropological studies,such as those by AudreyRichards,of the
SouthernBantu and of the Bemba of NorthernRhodesia,help to
suggestsome possibleanswers. Have any historians, forexample,
yet consideredthe connectionbetweenregularmeals and regular

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I2 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 24

work, which she demonstratesto be all-important ?54 More

can tellus a greatdeal abouttheimpactof
anthropologists
generally,
upon olderties of kinshipand family,illuminating
industrialization
the materialcontainedin such accountsas Miss Pinchbeck's
further
Womenworkersand the IndustrialRevolution.55 While anyone who
has wonderedwhetherto followup the isolatedsuggestions of Mr.
S. A. Peytonand Professor Richconcerning themobility oflabourin
Tudor Englandmaygainheartfrommoderndiscoveriesofthegreat
distances which African labourers will travel in search of
employment.56
One greatincentiveforhistorians to read anthropology, therefore,
is thatthe anthropologists can offerdetailedanalysesof phenomena
roughlycomparableto thosewhichthe historiansare endeavouring
to reconstruct witha good deal less evidence. It may,however,be
reasonablyobjectedthathistorians are notall medievalists, studying
relatively primitive societiesor theirbreak-up,and thatit is onlya
minutepart of Englishhistorywhichis occupiedby blood-feuds,
witchcraft or totemism.57To this the answeris thatit would be
wrongto givetheimpression thatit is onlyas regardsthosefeatures
whichWesternsocietyhas or had in commonwithprimitive society
thatthe anthropologists have anything to teachus.
For it is not onlysurfaceresemblances of the kindoutlinedabove
whichmakeit desirablethatsome acquaintancewithanthropology
shouldformpartof the equipmentof everyhistorian. Instead,the
real case foranthropology is twofold:firstof all, thatit can help to
widenthepresentsubject-matter of academichistory;secondly,that
it can provideus withthe techniqueto deal, notonlywiththisnew
subject-matter, but withsome alreadyfamiliarhistoricalproblems.
As Tawneydrilyobserved,"thereis no reasonwhysavagesshould
have all the science".58
To takethe secondpointfirst. Anthropologists are notoriousfor
adoptingparadoxicalexplanations ratherthancommon-sense ones.59
Some of theseparadoxesmightwell be applied by historianswith
a view to re-scrutinizing the assumptionsbehindwhatis normally
regarded as common knowledge. Most medieval historians,for
example,wouldpointto thesemi-elective characterofthelate Saxon
and early Norman kingship,with its corollaryof rebellionsand
successionwars,as a signof weaknessin the Anglo-Norman state.60
But if they read ProfessorGluckman'saccount of a comparable
situationin South East Africathey would be confrontedby the
argumentthat,in a primitive societylackingan integrating network
of communications and a singleeconomicstructure, it is essential

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 HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY I3

for the survival of that state that conflictshould take the form of
a contestforthe controlof centralizedpower,forthe alternativewould
be local separatism. In such a situation "periodic civil wars...
strengthenedthe systemby canalizing tendencies to segment,and by
stating that the main goal of the leaders was the sacred kingship
itself".61 Lack of definitionabout the rules of succession make it
possible for a weak contender to be eliminated and replaced without
the collapse of the monarchy or the setting up of regional states.
"The very structure of kingship thrusts struggles between rival
houses, and even civil war, on the nation; and it is an historicalfact
to state that these struggles kept component groups of the nation
united in conflicting allegiance around the sacred kingship."
Struggles over the succession kept the component groups united in
conflictwhen other factorsmight have broken it down. A rebellion
against a tyrantor an usurper is a rebellion in defence of the system
of kingship. Similarly, struggles between rival houses for the
succession help to avert class conflict. "A prince can invite
commonersto rebel and attackhis kinsmanking withoutinvalidating
his family'stitle. In this situation rulers fear rivals fromtheir own
ranks and not revolutionaries of lower status . . . Every rebellion
thereforeis a fightin defence of royaltyand kingship and in this
process the hostilityof commoners against aristocratsis directed to
maintain the rule of aristocrats,some of whom lead the commons in
revolt".62 This seems to be a valuable commentary,not only upon
early English historyor the Wars of the Roses, but also upon such
Tudor risings as the Pilgrimage of Grace and such succession rules
as those of the Ottomans or Oriental despots. There are some pages
in Mr. Jolliffe'sConstitutionalHistory which come near to saying
this,63but they do not go the whole way.
For a second example of the value of peculiarly anthropological
explanation we may take the study of historyitselfand the attitudeof
men to claims to social or political authorityfounded upon the past.
Ever since the pioneering theories of Malinowski, anthropologists
have observed how myth in primitive society serves less as a
historicallyaccurate record of the past than as a validating "charter"
for current relationships. As those relationships alter, so do the
myths, which are adapted and reshaped to suit changing needs.
Thus the value of mythsor legends to the historianlies in what they
tell him about the society in which they were composed, not what he
can learn fromthem about the distant past to which they purportto
relate.6 4
Acting on this principle,Mrs. Bohannan has shown that among the

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I4 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 24

Tiv of NorthernNigeria genealogiesare not to be regardedas

historicalaccountsof the past so much as a summaryof existing
relationships.Whentherelationships changeso do thegenealogies.
In thiswaychangecan takeplace withoutsocietyhavingto recognize
thatit has occurred. "Social changecan existwitha doctrineof
social permanence".65This seems an exact descriptionof whyso
many sixteenth-century Englishmenhad pedigrees forged for
themselves,66 whySir RobertFilmerfoundit necessaryto arguethat
CharlesI was in thedirectlineofdescentfromthesonsofNoah, and
whytheearlyseventeenth-century House of Commonsclaimedto be
exercising no morethantherightsenjoyedbytheirfourteenth-century
or evenAnglo-Saxonancestors. But,as Mrs. Bohannanpointsout,
a lineagesystem,likethatoftheTiv, can probablyonlysurvivein an
illiteratesociety,since,once the genealogyupholdingthe statusquo
is put on record,it soon becomesimpossibleto changeit withoutthe
accusationofforgery.Oraltradition moremalleablethan
is infinitely
a writtenone, and populareducationand the availability of public
recordswillunseata politicalsystemwhichclaimsto be based solely
on tradition. Perhapsthis explainswhy the seventeenthcentury
saw the politicalargumentbased on historicrightsgiveway to that
based on naturalrights.67
The studyofhistoriography fromthispointofviewholdsoutmany
possibilities. Mr. Barneshas shownhowan appealto history was for
theNgoniofNorthern Rhodesiaa meansofmaintaining theirseparate
existenceat a timewhenculturaldistinctions betweengroupswere
breakingdown.68 Similarly,the upsurge of romantichistorical
writingin the early nineteenthcenturycan be interpretedas
a reactionagainstthe cosmopolitanism of the eighteenth.Such a
connectionbetweenhistoryand nationalism is familiarenough,but
therehas as yet been no systematicstudyof the whole range of
Europeanhistoriography in thelightofsuchdictaas thatofProfessor
Fortesthat"the politicaland socialstructure, includingtheprincipal
politicalvaluesofa people,directly shapesthenotionsoftimeand of
historythat prevail among them".69 Members of the Annales
school of Frenchhistoryhave made some passingremarksof great
interestupon the medievalsense of time,70but, withsome notable
exceptions,the examinationof historicalmythsand narrativesfor
the lighttheythrowupon the societyin whichtheywerecomposed
has onlyjust begun.7' The same is trueof the scientific studyof
folklore,children'sstoriesand popularfiction, althoughit is obvious
thatthe typeof storywhichpredominates at any one timecan tell
one muchaboutthe community in whichit is popular. Even today

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 HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY 15

it mightbe said thatthe academicstudyof historystill servesas

a chartervalidatingthe assumptionsof contemporary society,by
re-interpreting the past in such a way as to finda place therefor
problemsof economics,sex, class,or whateverour currentanxieties
maybe.
So much for the way in which anthropology can enhance our
methodsof historicalexplanation. As for the need to widen the
subject-matterof historyas it is studied and taught in the
universities,a seriesof InauguralLectureshas madethisa common-
place.72 It wouldbe possible,buttedious,to embarkupona catalogue
ofthewiderangeofsocialbehaviouron whichanthropological writing
now exists,but whichyet awaitsits historian.73Some important
instances, however, may be cited. Domestic and community
relationsformthe verystuffof social anthropology and, for that
matter,of mostpeople'slives,but one wouldneverdeducethisfrom
the subject-matterof most historical inquiry. Examination
syllabuses,whateverthe privateinterestsof thosewho compileand
administerthem,still reflectthe primacyof politicalhistoryand
a dispositionto regardall otheraspectsofthesubjectas moreor less
peripheralor "fringe". Yet
How small, of all that human heartsendure
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.
The studyofthefamilyin Englishhistory has simplynotbegun,and
the historian who now attempts it without consulting the
anthropologists runstheriskofmissingmanyoftheproblems,as well
as havingto forgoa whole vocabularydesignedto cope with the
description of different
systemsof marriage,inheritanceand descent.
Most studentsapproaching themarriagesofthemedievalaristocracy,
forexample,wouldbe likelyto assumethatsuchlovelessaffairs must
have been unstable. In fact,anthropologists have shownthat the
large-scale exchange of propertyaccompanyinga marriage is
associatedwitha lowrateofdivorce,though,admittedly, theydisagree
as to whetherthis is because such an exchangegives the kin an
interestin maintainingtheunion,or becausesuchan exchangewould
notoccurin thefirstplace unlessthekinshipstructure made forthe
stabilityof marriages.74As forthe betrothalof children,whichthe
historianis normallycontentto deprecateor to explainin termsof
parentalavarice,this unfamiliarpracticemay be partlyrelatedto
society'sdisapprovalof illegitimacy.There is a huge quantityof
interestingworkto be doneon thefringesoffamilyhistory and sexual
morality. Is it true,forexample,thatromanticlove is the product
of a poorlyintegratedsociety,in the way thatthe literaryformof

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I6 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 24

tragedyis said to be?75 "In any society",says ProfessorFirth,

"thestructure ofkinshipis stronglysupportedbymorality".76How
many historianscould offeran illustratedcommentary upon this
statement? And who knows anythingabout the relationship
betweenthenormsof sexualmorality and thepractice;forexample,
the workingof incestprohibitions in a medievalvillage? Where
can one findan explanation ofwhythenumberofprohibited degrees
should have been so drastically reducedat the Reformation, or of
whytheseventeenth and eighteenth centuriesshouldhavewitnessed
a briskdiscussionon themeritsand de-merits ofpolygamy ?77
Anotherobvious topic is the educationof children. Modern
pyschology has showntheconnection betweenthisand theformation
of social and politicalattitudes;the popularwritingsof Margaret
Mead are but the best-knownanthropological treatmentof the
subject.78 There is no shortageof historicalmaterialhere,but it
has neverbeen properlystudied,althoughtheresultswouldbe most
illuminating and might,amongotherthings,throwa completely new
lightupontheoriginsofwell-known religiousor politicalmovements.
If thereis anythingin theFreudianviewthattheoriginsofconscience
are to be foundin our earliestformsof instruction, thenit maybe
thatthe beginningsof Puritanismare betterstudiedat the level of
familyeducationthanin sermonsdesignedforadultaudiences.
Fromtheunionoftechniquesderivedfromsocialanthropology and
social pyschology therecould arisea wholenew worldof historical
investigationwhich mightilluminateso much of what is most
bafflingand mostcrucialto humanexistence. There would be the
study of social attitudesto birth,adolescenceand death, of the
nervousand mentallifeof societyas reflected in dreams,79 attitudes
to pain,80suicide,8'the treatment of animals,drunkenness, and the
changingconceptions ofsanityand insanity.82NeithertheAmerican
studyof social pyschology83 nor the historicalinvestigation of the
mentallifeofsocietiespioneeredbytheFrench84 haveyetstruckdeep
rootsin this country. As a consequence,thereare whole areas of
humanexperiencewhichhave eithernotbeen studiedhistorically at
all or neverinterwoven withthe fabricof social history. There is,
forexample,thehistory ofclothes,whichhas a chronology ofitsown,
withcirca i8oo as thegreatturning-point, whenWesternEuropean
man ceased to be the moregaudilydressedof the two sexes.85 Or
thereis the historyof art as a reflectionof fundamental changesin
human perception.86How much is made intelligiblewhen we
recallProfessorFirth'sobservation thata primitive artistreflectsthe
socialratherthanthephysicalproportions of a subject.87 Does this

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 HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY I7

explain why fifteenth-century women are usually portrayedas

pregnant ? Finally, there is the whole history of personal
relationships.Have we not neglectedE. M. Forster'scharacteristic
observation that"the truehistoryof the humanrace is the storyof
humanaffections ?"88
It is perfectly truethatnotall thesetopicsare muchdiscussedby
contemporary anthropologists, at leastnot by the Britishones,who
constitutea distinctschool,witha prescribedsystemof training,89
and a sharplydefinedrange of interests,both geographicaland
topical. The concernwithAfricaand withsocial structure("the
foundationof the wholesocial lifeof any continuing society"90)has
producedwhatappearsto theoutsideras a disproportionate emphasis
on law,government and,aboveall,kinship,witha consequentneglect
of pyschology, technology and economics.91Anyonewhoseinterest
in thesubjecthas been stimulated by such popularworksas thoseof
MargaretMead or Ruth Benedict92is likelyto find his initial
acquaintance with British social anthropologysomethingof a
disappointment.
But these are only questionsof emphasis,and highlydebatable
ones too. Whatis morecertainis thatmodernsocial anthropology
containsmuchfromwhichthehistorian canlearn. Seriousstructural
analysisof remotesocietiescan onlybe done well afterthe intensive
field-work in whichthe anthropologist has observedforhimselfthe
inter-connections betweensocial facts. The historianhas so often
to relyupon his imagination to tracelinksor deduce consequences
whichthe anthropologist can see beforehis eyes. Is it too muchto
suppose thatthe historianwho is familiarwiththe findingsof the
anthropologist is in a betterpositionto askintelligentquestionsofhis
materialand morelikelyto comeup withintelligent answers?
But it is notonlythetechniqueoftheprofessional historianwhich
is involved;thereis also the broadereducationalquestionof what
academichistoryshould be about. Whetherone regardsit as the
serious analyticstudy of human societyor whetherwe preferto
engagein the imaginative re-creationof past experience,the present
circumscribedcharacterof historicalstudies would seem equally
unjustifiable.From the second point of view the case was given
classicstatement by Macaulayin his essayon Sir WilliamTemple:
Of that informationfor the sake of which alone it is worth while to study
remoteevents,we findso much in the love letterswhich Mr. Courtenayhas
published [the lettersof Dorothy Osborne], that we would gladly purchase
equally interestingbillets with ten times their weight in state-paperstaken
at rrndo;m. To us it is surely as useful to know how the young ladies of
England employed themselves a hundred and eighty years ago, how far

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i8 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 24

theirminds were cultivated,what were their favouritestudies, what degree

of liberty was allowed them, what use they made of that liberty, what
accomplishmentsthey most valued in men, and what proofs of tenderness
delicacy permittedthem to give to favouredsuitors,as to know all about the
seizure of Franche Comte and the treaty of Nimuegen. The mutual
relationsof the two sexes seem to us to be at least as importantas the mutual
relationsof any two governmentsin the world.93
From the more austere view-pointof the social scientist,the
subject-matterof modernanthropology will be recognizedas giving
a betterimpressionof whatl'histoire integrale mightbe thando the
pages of mosthistoricaljournals.
The justificationof all historicalstudymustultimately be thatit
enhances our self-consciousness, enables us to see ourselvesin
perspectiveand helpsus towardsthatgreaterfreedomwhichcomes
fromself-knowledge.The artificial limitation of the subject-matter
ofmodernhistory is educationallya tragedy. It can onlybe a matter
forregretthatthe university historyschoolsof thiscountryturnout
menand womenwhoseunderstanding and self-awarenessin everyday
mattersare seldom enhanced by their historicalstudies. They
mayrealisethatpoliticaland socialstructures change,but theyhave
littleconceptionof the evolutionof humanand familyrelationships
or of the social factorswhichdeterminethem. Yet the historical
studyof moreimmediateaspectsof humanexperiencewould have
beenmorelikelyto capturetheirimagination thantheendlessanalysis
of the gymnasticsof minor politicians. F. W. Maitland once
remarkedthatanthropology mustchoosebetweenbeinghistoryand
being nothing. As Professor Evans-Pritchardobserves,94the
dictummustalso be reversed.
St. John'sCollege,Oxford KeithThomas

NOTES
'R. H. Tawney, "The study of economic history",Economica,xiii (1933).
Tawney had alreadyshown his interestin the subject in his Prefaceto R. Firth,
PrimitiveEconomicsof the New Zealand Maori, (London, I929).
2 A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, Structureand functionin primitivesociety,(London,
I952), pp. I22-3, I54, I86 n. 1; Methodinsocialanthropology, ed. M. N. Srinivas,
(Chicago, 1958), pp. 7, 8.
3 Radcliffe-Brown,Methodin social anthropology, pp. 5-6, 26-8. In practice,
Radcliffe-Brown'sattitude to historywas more sympatheticthan his theory.
See the editor's introductionto Methodin social anthropology, p. xii.
4 The Marett Lecture is printedas "Social anthropology:past and present",
Man, i (1950). See also E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Anthropologyand history,
(Manchester, I96I). The statementquoted is on p. 2.
Evans-Pritchard, "Social anthropology: past and present", p. I20, and
Social anthropology, (London, 1951), p. 117.

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 HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY I9

4 "An anthropologisthas failed unless, when he says goodbye to the natives,

there is on both sides the sorrow of parting", Evans-Pritchard, Social
anthropology, p. 79.
7 (Oxford, 1949). I. Schapera describes his Married lifein an Africantribe,
(London, 1940), as "a social history"(p. 7). Other good examples of historical
writingby anthropologistsare S. F. Nadel, A black Byzantium. The kingdom
of the Nupe in Nigeria, (London, 1942), pp. 69-146; E. R. Leach, Political
systemsof Highland Burma ... , (London, I954), pp. 227-63; J. A. Barnes,
Politics in a changingsociety. A political historyof the Fort JamesonNgoni,
(London, 1954). L. H. Gann, The birthof a plural society. The development
of NorthernRhodesia under the British South Africa Company, 1894-19I4,
(Manchester, 1958), is by a historian,but commissioned by anthropologists.
The author in his preface and ProfessorM. Gluckman in his forewordboth
commenton the importanceof anthropologyforthe study of Africanhistory.
8 M. M. Postan, The historicalmethodin social science. . , (Cambridge,
1939), P. 32.
9E. H. Carr, What is history?, (London, I96I), p. 59.
10"The futureof history,and, in particular,of economic history,depends
on its ability to acquire a more consciously sociological outlook", "The study
of economic history",p. I9.
1tSee Mr. Leach's comments,Political systemsof Highland Burma, pp. 4, 7,
285.
12 Cf. Miss L. S. Sutherland's
picture of the "intricate political machine"
which "Walpole ingeniouslybuilt up and Pelham painfullymaintained", which
suffereda "partial breakdown" with the fall of Newcastle, and "creaked
dismally" under George III and his ministers,but was "workingagain" under
Pitt. It was, she says, "a stable if inert political system". "The East India
Company in eighteenth-century politics", Econ. Hist. Rev., xvii (1947), p. 17.
13 Evans-Pritchard'sdescriptionof anthropologists as engaged in composing
"integrative accounts of primitive peoples at a moment of time" ("Social
anthropology:past and present", p. 122) is hard to distinguishfromPostan's
picture of historians "weaving . . . some historical facts with other historical
factsinto a cloth of an epoch" ("Function and Dialectic in Economic History",
Econ. Hist. Rev., 2nd ser., xiv [1962], p. 403).
14 The Nuer .. ., (Oxford, I940); Kinship and marriageamong the Nuer,
(Oxford, 1951); Nuer religion,(Oxford, 1956).
", Though not all. See, for example, the re-workingof Malinowski's
material by J. P. Singh Uberoi, Politicsof the Kula Ring, (Manchester, 1962).
16 As is admittedin Schapera, Married lifein an Africantribe,p. 9.
1' Cf. E. Gellner, "Time and theory in social anthropology",Mind, lxvii
(1I958),p. 185.
18 There are important problems relating to the causes of economic and

social change to which anthropological fieldworkhas seldom provided the

answer: for example, mattersrelatingto the size of population and its rate of
growth.
19 H. R. Trevor-Roper, The gentry,I540-I640, (Economic History Review
Supplements,no. i) n.d. [1953].
20This may be wistful. Cf. the criticismsmade by Mr. E. R. Leach (Pul
Eliya. A village in Ceylon... , [Cambridge, I96I], p. 9), who asserts that
"case-history material in anthropological writings seldom reflectsobjective
description".
21 R. Firth, Social
anthropology as scienceand as art, (Dunedin, 1958), p. i.
22 Evans-Pritchard,Social
anthropology, p. 95.
23
Cf. the comments of 0. R. McGregor, "Some research possibilities and
historicalmaterialsfor familyand kinship study in Britain", BritishJournalof
Sociology,xii (1 96).
24 R. Firth,Primitiveeconomics of theNew Zealand Maori, p. 482. There are
some interestingcriticismsof Marxism froman anthropologicalpoint of view

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20 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 24

in R. Firth, PrimitivePolynesianeconomy,(London, 1939), pp. 361-364.

25
E. Durkheim, The elementaryformsof thereligiouslife,trans. J. W. Swain,
(New York [Collier Books edn.], I96I), p. 23.
2a G. C. Homans, English villagers of the thirteenth century,(Cambridge,
Mass., 1942), chapter23.
37 I hope to offera detailed discussion of this point on anotheroccasion. It
is made by C. Hill, The Centuryof Revolution,I603-1714, (Edinburgh, I96I),
pp. 84-5.
28A. R. Radcliffe-Brown,The Andaman Islanders,(Cambridge, 1933), pp.
233-4.
29
Radcliffe-Brown,Structureand functionin primitivesociety,p. 151.
30
Radcliffe-Brown,The Andaman Islanders, pp. 246-55; E. E. Evans-
Pritchard, "The dance", Africa, i (1928); M. Hunter, Reaction to conquest.
Effectsof contactwithEuropeanson thePondo of South Africa,(London, I936),
pp. 369-70, 375-6. There is interestingmedical material in E. L. Bockman,
Religiousdancesin theChristianChurchand inpopularmedicine,trans.E. Classen,
(London,I952).
31 E. E. Evans-Pritchard,Witchcraft, oracles and magic among the Azande,
(Oxford, 1937), p. 117.
32 Quotedby K. M. Briggs, Pale Hecate'steam. . , (London,i962), p. 3.
33 M. Fortes in E. E. Evans-Pritchard et al., The institutions
of primitive
society, (Oxford, I954), p. 88. Various interpretationsof witchcraft are
discussed by S. F. Nadel, Nupe religion,(London, I954), pp. 201-6. On magic
as a remedy for various kinds of social frustrationsee B. Malinowski, Magic,
science,and religionand otheressays,(Glencoe, Ill., I948), esp. pp. 6o-i, and
on witchhuntingas displaced aggression see C. Kluckhohn and D. Leighton,
The Navaho, (Cambridge, Mass., I946), pp. I72-8I. There is a discussion of
the relationship between witchcraft and economic circumstances in
M. Gluckman, Customand conflictin Africa, (Oxford, I955), chapter 4. See
also M. S. Marwick, "The Social contextof Cewa witch beliefs", Africa,xxii
(I952).
34On the blood-feud as an instrumentof cohesion see Gluckman, Custom
and conflict in Africa,chapteri, esp. pp. 2 I-2, wherethe fallacy,common among
medievalists,that the feud led to incessant private warfareis exposed. (The
substance of this chapteris to be found in ProfessorGluckman's article, "The
peace in the feud", Past and Present,No. 8 [1955]). His observationsdo not
seem to have been heeded by the latest historian of Anglo-Saxon society,
H. R. Loyn, Anglo-Saxon England and the NormanConquest,(London, I962),
pp. 206, 294-7. They were profitablyemployed,however,by J. M. Wallace-
Hadrill in his account of the frankishblood-feud, The long-hairedkingsand
otherstudiesin frankishhistory,(London, i962), pp. 121-47.
35 Cf. M. Eliade, Birth and rebirth. . . , trans. W. R. Trask, (New York,
I958). Anthropologicaltheoryis put to ingenious use by W. J. Ong, "Latin
language study as a Renaissance pubertyrite", Studies in Philology,lvi (I959).
36 E.g. R. H. Lowie, Social organization, (London, I950), pp. 19-22;
M. J. Herskovits,The economiclifeofprimitivepeoples,(New York, I940), p. I2.
On some of the features said to be common to all peasant societies see
R. Redfield,Peasant societyand culture. .. , (Chicago, I956), p. io8.
37 and history,pp. I3-14.
Anthropology
38E. Norbeck, Religionin primitivesociety,(New York, i96i), chapter 6.
39 Cf. I.
Schapera's comments on the all-importantrole of the chief, in
I. Schapera (ed.), The Bantu-speakingtribesof South Africa ..., (London,
I937), p. 362. There are some interestingremarkson the resultsof Christian
influencein M. Hunter, Reactionto conquest,p. 355.
40 E. E. Evans-Pritchard, The divine kingshipof the Shilluk of the Nilotic
Sudan, (Cambridge, I948), p. 36.
41R. Firth, Elementsof social organization,(London, I95I), p. 236. Cf.
E. M. W. Tillyard, The Elizabethan worldpicture,(London, I948).

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 HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY 21

42 H. E. Lambert,
Kikuyu social and political institutions, (London, i956);
some impression of the importance of oaths in seventeenth-century England
can be gained from(R. Garnet), The bookof oaths,and theseveralformsthereof,
bothantientand modern... ., (London, I649).
43 See P.
Worsley,The trumpet shallsound. .. , (London, I957); K. Burridge,
Mambu. A Melanesian millennium, (London, 1960); I. Leeson, Bibliography
of cargocultsand othernativisticmovements in theSouth Pacific,(Sydney [South
Pacific Commission], I952).
44The trumpetshall sound,pp. 249-50.
45N. Cohn, The pursuitof the Millennium,(London [Mercury Books
edn.],
1962): E. J. Hobsbawm, Primitiverebels. . . , (Manchester, I959).
46 See Professor Firth's comments, PrimitivePolynesian economy,pp. 7,
22-9, 360-I.
47R. Thurnwald, Economicsin primitivecommunities, (London, 1932), p. 264;
Herskovits, The economiclifeof primitivepeoples,pp. 210-2; Firth, Elementsof
social organization,p. I34. Cf. H. J. Habakkuk, "The marketfor monastic
property,I539-I560", Econ. Hist. Rev., 2nd ser., x (I958), esp. p. 372.
48B. Malinowski, Argonautsof the WesternPacific . . . , (London, 1922);
M. Mauss, Thegift... , trans.I. Cunnison, (London, I954). Mr.T. H. Aston
has drawn my attention to the discussion of "dark age" gift exchange by
P. Grierson,"Commerce in the Dark Ages: a critique of the evidence", Trans.
Roy. Hist. Soc., 5th ser., ix (I959), pp. 137-9.
49Firth,Elementsof social organization,pp. 102-6.
50R. Firth, Malay fishermen:theirpeasant economy,(London, I946), p. I69.
Cf. K. B. McFarlane, "Loans to the Lancastrian Kings: the problem of
inducement",CambridgeHistoricalJournal,ix (I947), pp. 65-8.
51C. M. Arensberg, The Irish countryman. An anthropologicalstudy,
(London, I937), pp. I70-6. Cf. a ratherdifferent case of social bonds created
by indebtednessin J. C. Holt, The Northerners. A studyin the reignof King
John, (Oxford, I96I), pp. 72-7.
5 There are usefulbibliographicalguides to this subject in CurrentSociology,
i, 4 (I953), iii, I (I954-I955) and vi. 3 (I957) and in M. Mead (ed.), Cultural
patternsand technicalchange,(New York, I955), pp. 333 f.
53
Quoted by N. McKendrick, "Josiah Wedgwood and factorydiscipline",
HistoricalJournal,iv (I96I), p. 46.
54 A. I. Richards,
Hunger and workin a savage tribe.... (London, I932);
Land, labour and diet in NorthernRhodesia . . ., (London, I939).
5 I. Pinchbeck, Women workersand the Industrial Revolution,I750-I85O,
(London, 1930). Cf. H. I. Hogbin, Transformationscene. The changing
culture of a New Guinea village, (London, I95I) and Social Change . . .
(London, I958), pp. I68-73; Hunter, Reactionto conquest,p. 480; W. Watson,
Tribal cohesionin a moneyeconomy. A studyof theMambwepeople of Northern
Rhodesia,(Manchester, 1958).
56 S. A. Peyton, "The village population in the Tudor lay subsidy rolls",
Eng. Hist. Rev., xxx (I915); E. E. Rich, "The population of Elizabethan
England", Econ. Hist. Rev., 2nd ser., ii (I950). Cf. M. Read, "Migrant labour
in Africaand its effectson triballife", InternationalLabour Review,xlv (I942);
I. Schapera, Migrant labour and tribal life ... , (London, I947), esp. p. 75;
D. Niddrie, "The road to work: a survey of the influence of transporton
migrantlabour in Central Africa", The Rhodes-Livingstone Journal,xv (I954),
esp. p. 36.
s7 On totemism cf. G. L. Gomme, Folklore as an historicalscience. . .
(London, I908), pp. 274-96.
58 "The study of economic history",p. 20.
59 See Gellner's comments, "Time and theory in social anthropology",
p. I83.
60E.g. H. W. C. Davis, England undertheNormansand Angevins,1066-I272,
(London, 13th edn., 1949), pp. 5-6. "So long as social duties are envisaged

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22 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 24

in the formof personal obligations,monarchyis the one practicable form of

government, and it is better that the monarchy should be hereditary".
Harold's failurewas a resultof his attemptto induce the nation to tamperwith
the principle of hereditarysuccession (p. 6); G. 0. Sayles, The medieval
foundationsof England,(London, 2nd edn., 1950), p. I79: "Indeed, it is unlikely
that monarchywould have survivedas the effectiveinstitutionit was if it had
been mainlyelective,forthis would have opened the way to such civil war and
anarchyas was to come laterin Stephen's reign".
61M. Gluckman,Ritualsofrebellionin S.E. Africa,(Manchester, I954), p. 25.
62 Ibid., pp. 25, 23-4. See also Gluckman, Custom and conflictin Africa,
chapter 2, and P. M. Worsley, "The analysis of rebellion and revolutionin
modernBritishsocial anthropology",Scienceand Society,xxv (1961). Professor
Gluckman, whose analysis obviously owes much to Evans-Pritchard, The
Divine kingshipof the Shilluk of the Nilotic Sudan, esp. pp. 37-8, stressesthat,
once the kingdom is integrated by a complex economy and more rapid
communication,the ritualof rebellionis no longersafelyenacted,fordivergent
class interestsare likelyto convertrebellioninto revolution.
63J. E. A. Jolliffe,The constitutionalhistoryof medieval England ....
(London, I937), pp. I55-65 (on the ritual characterof feudal rebellion). The
medieval historianwho seems to come nearestto Gluckman's notion of unity
W. Stubbs, TheConstitutional
in conflictis, interestingly, historyofEngland ....
(Oxford, 4th edn., I883), vol. i, pp. 319, 366 and 585.
64 B. Malinowski, "Myth in primitivepyschology",firstpublished in 1926
and reprinted in Magic, science, and religion and other essays. See also
C. Kluckhohn, "Myths and rituals: a general theory", Harvard Theological
Review,xxxv (1942); S. F. Nadel, A black Byzantium,p. 72; M. Fortes, The
dynamicsof kinshipamongthe Tallensi . . . , (London, I945), pp. 21-7; R. Firth,
Historyand traditionsof Tikopia, (Wellington,N.Z., I96I), esp. chapters I and
i0. This is the principleanimatingMr. M. I. Finley's The Worldof Odysseus,
(London, I956). Cf. his criticisms of continuing attempts by ancient
historiansto reconstructhistoryfromorallytransmittedmaterialsin the face of
what the anthropologistshave repeatedlytaught,New Statesman,6 July I962,
pp. 19-20.
"' L. Bohannan, "A genealogical charter,"Africa, xxii (1952), p. 314.
~6 See, e.g., J. H. Round, Family originsand other studies,ed. W. Page,
(London, I930), pp. 5-6.
67C. Hill, Puritanismand revolution. . ., (London, I958), p. 75.
6 J. A. Barnes, "History in a changing society", The Rhodes-Livingstone
Journal,xi (I951).
ti9 The dynamicsof clanshipamongthe Tallensi, p. xi.
0 M. Bloch, Feudal society,trans. L. A. Manyon, (London, I96I), pp. 72-5.
L. Febvre, Le problemede l'incroyanceau XVIe siecle. La religionde Rabelais,
(Paris, I942), pp. 426-34.
71Some of the possibilities in the study of historical myth are shown in
Mr. Hill's investigationof "The Norman Yoke", Puritanismand revolution,
chapter 3. Mr. E. R. Leach's reminder(Political systemsof Highland Burma,
chapter ix) that there may be rival versions of the same myth, reflecting
contradictoryclaims by differentsocial groups, might possibly help to resolve
the livelycontroversyon the originsof Robin Hood (Past and Present,Nos. 14,
18, I9 and 20). Instead of assumingthatthe "real" Robin Hood was the hero,
either of the gentryor the peasantry,one might reasonablyconclude that (in
different versions) he was both, as Mr. Holt suggests(No. I8 [I960], p. 99 and
No. 19 [I96I], p. I8). It is common for ballads of aristocraticorigin to be
unconsciously adapted by the lower social groups who take them over, e.g.
M. J. C. Hodgart, The ballads, (London, 1950), p. 102. Anthropologistsmight
have much to say about the Robin Hood question. Apart from some raised
eyebrowsat Mr. Holt's talk of "a good yarn" (No. i8, p. 92) and at Mr. Keen's
assertionthat "the memoryof the common people is the longeston the earth"

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 HISTORY AND ANTHROPOLOGY 23

(The outlaws of medieval legend, [London, I961], p. 36), they would be

sympatheticto the attemptto study the ballads as the embodimentof popular
values and aspirations,while theirbelief in the connection between mythand
ritual might lead them to devote more attentionto the Robin Hood games,
which Mr. Keen (op. cit., pp. 22I-2) dismissesratherbriefly. (Miss Briggs,
however, argues that the games and ballads ran on differentlines, Pale
Hecate's team,p. 216.)
72R. W. Southern, The shape and substanceof academic history,(Oxford,
I96I) and J. S. Bromley, History and theyoungergeneration,(Southampton,
1962).
'3 A useful guide to the sort of questions asked by anthropologistsis
Notes and Querieson anthropology, by a committeeof the Royal Anthropological
Institute,(London, 6th edn., I951).
7 M. Gluckman in A. R. Radcliffe-Brownand D. Forde (eds.), African
systemsof kinshipand marriage,(London, I950), pp. I90-3. Cf. M. Hunter,
Reactionto conquest,p. 212.
-5Z. Barbu, Problemsof historicalpsychology,(London, I960), pp. I66 n,
I67-79. For a cruder theoryof the social origins of one kind of tragedysee
L. Goldmann, Le dieu cache. ttudes sur la visiontragiquedans les Pensees de
Pascal et dans le Theatrede Racine,these,(Paris, n.d. [1956]).
6 Elementsof social organization,p. 210.
'7Some of the relevanttexts are cited by A. 0. Aldridge,"Polygamyin early
fiction:Henry Neville and Denis Veiras", Publicationsof theModern Language
Associationof America,lxv (1950) and "Polygamyand Deism", The Journalof
Englishand GermanicPhilology,xlviii (I949).
78Comingof age in Samoa, (London, I929); Growingup in New Guinea . . .
(London, 1931); (with M. Wolfenstein [eds.]). Childhood in contemporary
cultures,(Chicago, 1955). There is an older general treatmentin N. Miller,
The child in primitivesociety,(London, 1928), and a historyof the study of
primitivechildhood in 0. F. Raum, Chaga childhood ..., (London, 1940),
pp. 1-54. P. Aries, Centuriesof childhood,trans. R. Baldick, (London, I962),
is a recenthistoricalstudy.
79B. Malinowski, Sex and repressionin savage society, (London, 1927),
pp. 92-7; J. S. Lincoln, The dream in primitivecultures,(London, I935);
E. R. Dodds, The Greeksand theirrational,(Berkeleyand Los Angeles, 195i),
chapter 4; G. D. Kelchner, Dreams in Old Norse literatureand theiraffinities
in folklore. . . , (Cambridge, I935). There is some interestingmaterial in
P. Goodwin, The mystery ofdreames,historically
discoursed.. , (London, i658).
aoM. Zborowski, "Cultural components in response to pain", Journal of
Social Issues,viii (1952) (a modernsociologicalstudy).
81A briefguide to the anthropologicalliteratureon this subject is provided
by the footnotesto R. Firth, "Suicide and risk-takingin Tikopia society",
Pyschiatry,xxiv (1961).
a' R. Linton, Culture and mental disorders, (Springfield, Ill., I956);
M. Foucault, Folie et deraison. Histoire de la folie a l'dge classique, these,
(Paris, I961).
H3ParticularlyA. Kardiner, The individualand his society.. ., (New
York,
1939) and (et al.), The pyschological
frontiersof society,(New York, 1945).
a4Urged by L. Febvre (e.g. Combatspourl'histoire,[Paris, I953], pp. 207-38),
and exemplifiedby R. Mandrou, Introductiona la France moderne. Essai de
psychologiehistorique,I500-I640, (Paris, I96I). Cf. A. Dupront, "Problemes
et methodes d'une histoire de la psychologie collective", Annales, i6e annee
(1961).
85On which see J. C. Flugel, The pyschologyof clothes,(London, I930),
pp. 110-3. There are some remarks on the implications of the subject by
H. J. Perkin in H. P. R. Finberg (ed.), Approachesto history. A symposium,
(London, 1962), pp. 69-70, and by R. Barthes, "Histoire et sociologie du
vetcmcnr. quclqucs observationsm6thodologiques",Annales, I2" ann&e (1957).

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24 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 24

Q. Bell, On humanfinery,(London, I947), is largely an application of the

theoriesof Thorstein Veblen.
86 P. Francastel, Peintureet socite , . . (Lyon,
I95I).
87 Elements social
of organization,p. I75. On the comparable moral values
of Victorian art and that of the New Zealand Maori see E. R. Leach in
Evans-Pritchard,The institutions ofprimitivesociety,p. 37.
88 Quoted by Iris Origo in J. L. Clifford(ed.), Biographyas an art . . .
(London, I962), p. 213.
89
Brieflyoutlined by Evans-Pritchard,Social anthropology,
p. 76.
90M. Fortes, "The structure of unilineal descent groups", American
Anthropologist, Iv (1953), p. 23.
91Though, as far as economics go, the work of ProfessorFirth constitutes
an obvious exception. Mr. E. R. Leach makes some strongcriticismsof the
exaggerated emphasis laid on descent as the fundamentalprinciple of social
organizationto the exclusion of more obvious economic considerationsin Pul
Eliya. A village in Ceylon, p. 301, and Rethinkinganthropology,(London,
I96I), p. 122.
92R. Benedict, Patterns of culture,(London, [Routledge paperback edn.],
I96I) (firstpublished in England in 1935).
93Lord Macaulay's Essays and Lays ofAncientRome,(London, i886), p. 424.
94
Anthropologyand history,p. 20.

The ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the Past and

PresentSocietywillbe heldat I2.I5 p.m. on Thursdayii July
I963 in BirkbeckCollege, London, at the conclusionof the
morning sessionoftheAnnualConference.

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