NA TURE 



717 



THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 3. VfXi. 



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Anthropology and Empire. . 



ANTHROPOLOGY has been slow to secure 

 recognition as having a practical bearing on 

 the affairs of life. The Royal .Xnthrojxjlogical 

 Institute, which has just completed the fiftieth year 

 of its existence, while steadily pursuing its main 

 object of promoting the study of man, has con- 

 stantly insisted upon the importance of this science 

 as a fundamental element in certain departments 

 of legislation and administration, particularly in 

 relation to the native peoples of our Colonies and 

 Dependencies. Until comparatively recently it has 

 obtained a sympathetic hearing more often than a 

 tangible result. 



It is unnecessary to enumerate here the many 

 occasions on which this subject has been brought 

 to the notice of the Government at home and of 

 the authorities in our Dependencies. The latest 

 attempt to secure official recognition of the place 

 of anthropological studies in the training of 

 administrative officials was initiated by Sir 

 Richard Temple at the Birmingham meeting of 

 the British Association in 1913. He advocated the 

 establishment of an Imperial School of .Anthropo- 

 logy attached to one of the universities. Unfor- 

 ^tuhately, the outbreak of war interrupted a move- 



Intent which had secured wide and influential sup- 

 port.. 



It is important to note that the conception of 



the vital importance of "applied anthropology " as 



an essential part of the training of an adminis- 



1 is not academic in origin. Its strongest 



.ites are, or have been, men like Sir Herbert 



Kisley, Sir Bampfyldc Fuller, Sir Richard Temple, 



.Sir Kvcrard im Thurn, and Sir Reginald Wingatc, 



NO. 2675, VOL. 106] 



to name a few only, who have themselves had a 

 prolonged administrative experience, and have 

 found a knowledge of native manners and customs 

 essential to the successful performance of their 

 duties. Sir Reginald Wingate, in particular, as 

 Governor-General of the Sudan, asked the Uni- 

 versities of Oxford and Cambridge to provide in- 

 struction in anthropology to probationers for the 

 Sudan Service, and it was at his special request 

 that Prof, and Mrs. Seligman were sent to the 

 Sudan to collect information which might be avail- 

 able for this purpose. 



It is a matter of common experience that .sym- 

 pathy based upon knowledge is a first essential 

 for both administrator and trader. Habits, 

 customs, beliefs, and, particularly, etiquette must 

 be intimately known and thoroughly understood. 

 Ignorance of etiquette has been responsible for 

 more than one punitive expedition, costly in both 

 life and money. During the war, when compara- 

 tively large numbers of British officers had to be 

 drafted to Indian battalions, it was found essential 

 that they should receive instruction, not merely 

 in the language, but also in the social grades, 

 customs, and beliefs of their troops. Knowledge 

 of native manners, customs, and beliefs has proved 

 a bond of sympathy between governors and 

 governed. Successful administrators have 



acquired this knowledge painfully and as a result 

 of many mistakes. As one observer of consider- 

 able experience has said, the knowledge which 

 had taken years to gain could have been acquired 

 by a trained anthropologist in a few weeks. 



If sympathetic knowledge is a factor of such 

 importance in the relations between individuals, it 

 is a paramount consideration in determining the 

 character of administrative regulations and legis- 

 lative measures which deal with the native in the 

 mass. Success in maintaining law and order 

 depends, in the long run, on the avoidance of any 

 infringement of the customary rights of individuals 

 and social units, as well as of any offence to the 

 modes of thought and beliefs of the subject popu- 

 lation. Further, when European culture comes 

 intimately and extensively into touch with a lowei 

 culture, it is inevitable that; many customs and 

 beliefs of the less highly advanced must seem 

 repugnant and even intolerable when judged by 

 the standard of the more civilised race. Canni- 

 balism and the practice of sail in India are cases 

 in point. It is a matter of experience, however, 

 that any modification or restriction of custom 

 should be attempted only after very careful con- 

 sideration of its place in the life of the people and 



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