Abstract

In Against the Anthropological Grain Washburn critically examines key anthropological beliefs, especially in the importance of cultural relativism and Western colonialism's harmful effects on Third World cultures. He turns the tables on theorists from the discipline. He questions whether anthropology has a credible past, whether anthropologists should even involve themselves in inter-tribal conflicts, whether museums should return "sacred objects" from their collections, and whether museums provide adequate physical care of their collections.