The principle of cultural relativism thus forced anthropologists to develop innovative methods and heuristic strategies. In addition, participant observation often requires permits from governments and research institutions in the area of study, and always needs some form of funding.[25]. There are multiple methodologies that can be employed: [34] Anthropologists have written extensively on the variations within marriage across cultures and its legitimacy as a human institution. This site was conceived as an introduction to some of the basic approaches that cultural anthropologists have pursued from the mid-19th century to the late-20th century. Today almost all socio-cultural anthropologists refer to the work of both sets of predecessors, and have an equal interest in what people do and in what people say. [25] The method originated in the field research of social anthropologists, especially Bronislaw Malinowski in Britain, the students of Franz Boas in the United States, and in the later urban research of the Chicago School of Sociology. Lewis Henry Morgan (1818–1881), a lawyer from Rochester, New York, became an advocate for and ethnological scholar of the Iroquois. [34] Instead of relying on narrow ideas of Western normalcy, kinship studies increasingly catered to "more ethnographic voices, human agency, intersecting power structures, and historical contex". [47] Additionally, some anthropology of institutions examines the specific design of institutions and their corresponding strength. [11] Cultural relativism involves specific epistemological and methodological claims. The ethnographer, or cultural anthropologist, tries to get information from many angles to see whole picture--again, striving for that holistic view. These anthropological findings, according to Third World feminism, cannot see gender, racial, or class differences as separate entities, and instead must acknowledge that they interact together to produce unique individual experiences. However, these approaches have not generally been successful, and modern ethnographers often choose to include their personal experiences and possible biases in their writing instead. [17] By the 1970s the authors of volumes such as Reinventing Anthropology worried about anthropology's relevance. Cultural anthropology has more recently suggested to historians new techniques of research based on the analysis and criticism of oral tradition. In the early 20th century, socio-cultural anthropology developed in different forms in Europe and in the United States. ", Geertz's interpretive method involved what he called "thick description." For example, a multi-sited ethnography may follow a "thing," such as a particular commodity, as it is transported through the networks of global capitalism. [32], There are similar foundational differences where the act of procreation is concerned. [43], The role of anthropology in institutions has expanded significantly since the end of the 20th century. In doing so, he fought discrimination against immigrants, blacks, and indigenous peoples of the Americas. There have also been fruitful exchanges with other disciplines quite distinct from cultural anthropology. [citation needed], Boas and his students realized that if they were to conduct scientific research in other cultures, they would need to employ methods that would help them escape the limits of their own ethnocentrism. For instance, the Nuer of Sudan and the Brahmans of Nepal practice polygyny, where one man has several marriages to two or more women. [25] This focus may change once the anthropologist is actively observing the chosen group of people, but having an idea of what one wants to study before beginning fieldwork allows an anthropologist to spend time researching background information on their topic. At this time, there was the arrival of "Third World feminism", a movement that argued kinship studies could not examine the gender relations of developing countries in isolation, and must pay respect to racial and economic nuance as well.