This chapter examines two moments in the twentieth century when anthropology made a major contribution to developmental research or was in a position to do so. I seek to clarify what progress has been made up to now and discern what can be done to find a way forward.

The question of whether anthropology can make a central contribution to our understanding of human development has been asked – and answered affirmatively – at least since Margaret Mead (1928, 1930, 1931) raised it in the first third of the 20th century, and numerous times since then by the Whitings (e.g., J. Whiting, 1954; Whiting & Whiting, 1960) and others, including several contributors to this volume. Forceful arguments, vivid illustrations, and empirical evidence have been assembled – repeatedly, recently as well as in the past, and in interdisciplinary forums – to argue the necessity of cross-cultural research on childhood environments and development for a science of human child development and, more specifically, for developmental psychology and psychiatry. Is there any need to make this case again?

Apparently so. All the evidence I am aware of suggests that even in this first decade of the 21st century, with the exception of nutritional science, anthropological, and other cross-cultural studies remain marginal to and of minor significance in the mainstreams of the research disciplines investigating child development (developmental psychology, child psychiatry, pediatrics, and education).