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Alfred Russel Wallace as ancestor figure: Reflections on anthropological lineage after the Darwin bicentennial (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate )
Author(s) -
Lowrey Kathleen Bolling
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
anthropology today
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.419
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1467-8322
pISSN - 0268-540X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8322.2010.00748.x
Subject(s) - ancestor , darwin (adl) , lineage (genetic) , ethnography , ontology , history , anthropology , genealogy , sociology , environmental ethics , philosophy , epistemology , biology , genetics , gene , archaeology , systems engineering , engineering
The article argues that anthropology might look to Alfred Russel Wallace as an ancestor figure for three reasons. First, it is under‐recognized that he was an accomplished and sympathetic ethnographic fieldworker. Second, evidence is emerging that his intuitions were surer than were Darwin's as to evolutionary mechanisms. Third, he was willing to appear as a “crank” on questions of ontology. These last two issues animate anthropology as we presently know it, and Wallace's stances on both may serve as a salutary inspirations.