For well over a half century, Norman Whitten has spent a third of
his professional life undertaking ethnography with Afro-Latin
American and Indigenous peoples living in tropical forest-riverine
environments of northern South America. He has spent the other two
thirds engaged with theory construction in anthropology in
institutional settings. In this memoir, he tells of his
contributions to ethnography as a theory-constructive endeavor, and
depicts an academic and practical environment in which strong
support exists, but where obstacles and strong resistance must also
be navigated. Ethnographers construct theory within and sometimes
against disciplinary frameworks, working back and forth between
explication and explanation to make contributions to diverse and
sometimes divergent literatures. This book traces Whitten's career
from graduate student through a long and productive career as an
anthropologist and ethnographer. Along the way, the reader gains
valuable and sometimes surprising perspectives on American
anthropology from 1950s to the present day, and insights into the
different roles of the professional anthropologist. Whitten
poignantly describes and analyzes the wrenching experience of
moving from immersion in an Amazonian shamanic universe to
administrative duties in a dysfunctional academic setting. As a
mentor, author and editor of prominent books and journals, he
highlights the importance of connecting a local study with the
wider world. As a museum curator, he argues that it is above all a
deep connection with living people that gives resonance to objects
on display and agency to those studied. Throughout, Whitten makes a
resounding case for serious, longitudinal ethnography as the
foundation of anthropological theory, past, present and future.
Patterns Through Time offers a moral and intellectual compass for
all those who are embarking, traveling, looking back upon, or
otherwise navigating the journey from casual observer of human life
worlds to engaged ethnographer and accomplished professional
anthropologist. This thoughtfully crafted, imaginative, and
powerfully written memoir by a respected elder with more than five
decades of experience as an ethnographer, author, editor, and
beloved mentor should be required reading for all anthropologists
and anyone who cares about the future of the discipline's unique
blending of scientific rigor and humanistic values. Jonathan D.
Hill, Professor of Anthropology, SIUC and President, Society for
the Anthropology of Lowland South America (2014-17)
General
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