Abstract
THE Frazer Lecture in Social Anthropology delivered before the University of Liverpool on October 23, 1946, by Dr. E. W. Smith, has now been published under the title "Plans and a People —A Dynamic Science of Men in the Service of Africa" (London : Lutterworth Press, 1948. 3s. 6d. net). Dr. Smith reviews first some developments iti anthropology since 1908, stressing particularly that the study of acculturation in Africa is very largely the study of a disintegrating society and that our prime purpose in social anthropology is to study African society for its own sake, to understand how its component parts function, what changes are taking place in it and in what directions it tends to develop. Delay in publication has enabled Dr. Smith, in succeeding chapters on the new dynamic Colonial policy, advances in sociological research and the place of anthropology in planning, to take account of events since the address was given, and to assess how far the purpose of government is now not merely the maintenance of security and order but also the general social betterment of the people, and the extent to which the five-year and ten-year plans which Colonial governments have drawn up in broad outline meet his criteria for success. He points out that the recent review of the Colonial Empire, 1939–47, recognizes the importance of research into the nature of native society and its institutions, and he believes that the International African Institute has not only influenced the progress of social anthropology in Great Britain but also the British Government's decision to finance scientific research in Africa. He agrees that the value of social anthropology to the arts of politics and administration depends upon its theoretical advance, but holds that there is room for anthropological study which is at once scientific in method and directed towards the solution of practical problems. While we may differ as to ultimate values, there is much common ground, and in the spheres of nutrition, education, and the improvement of economic and social conditions the anthropologist may join his efforts with those of other scientific workers.
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Administration and Anthropology. Nature 162, 482–483 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162482c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162482c0