The student of primitive sociology, on the other hand, is called upon to digest the reports of other observers, who have not always understood the conditions which they describe, who have failed to define to themselves what they are endeavouring to make clear to others, and who make use of a terminology created for an entirely different set of conditions, as if exact definition and care in the use of terms were the last and not the first duty of the observer when he frames his report.
Try replacing “primitive sociology” with your favorite discipline. Sound familiar?
From the British Library:
Northcote Whitridge Thomas (1868-1936) was an anthropologist appointed by the British Colonial Office, who saw the need to research the customs of people living under British Colonial rule. Thomas carried out fieldwork in Nigeria and Sierra Leone from 1909 to 1916. Little is now known of him, as he was not attached to any university and so did not have any students taking after him. However, he made a huge contribution to anthropology and his methodology, with its attention to detail, is considered ahead of his time. Thomas not only made over 700 wax cylinder recordings during his fieldwork, but also took thousands of photographs, now in the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Thomas’ reports on the Edo and Ibo cultures of Nigeria, and of the Timne (or Themne) in Sierra Leone are extremely thorough. The reports detail laws and customs within tribes and include dictionaries, proverbs and maps outlining the boundaries of ethnic groups. His reports also contain transcriptions and translations of many of the recordings. He recommended students to listen to his cylinders, duplicates of which were at the time in the Royal Anthropological Institute.
Here’s a photograph Thomas took in Nigeria.
The British Library doesn’t mention Thomas’ book on Crystal Gazing, though. Wonder why? Actually, now I wish I could find out about Mr Thomas online, if only to find out why he wrote it.