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Chinese Kinship Reconsidered: Anthropological Perspectives On Historical Research*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

James L. Watson
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Extract

Social historians and social anthropologists may differ in respect to methodology but they often study the same kinds of problems and ask similar questions of their data. This is particularly true in the field of Chinese studies. Anthropologists who work in Chinese villages, towns or cities cannot help but be aware of historical issues; if they are not their hosts will soon set them straight. Historians, in turn, must become anthropologists of sorts if they hope to understand the complexities of Chinese social institutions.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 92 , December 1982 , pp. 589 - 622
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1982

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Footnotes

*

An earlier version of this paper was prepared as a discussion document for a conference on Family and Kinship in Chinese History, sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies. The author would like to thank the following people for their comments and criticisms: William Atwell, Hugh Baker, Patricia Ebrey, Evelyn Rawski and Rubie Watson.

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