A world of science fiction

Abstract

Anthropology has had two important burdens in its history: one, the traditionalist static approach in studying societies on the brink of disappearance or transformation due to modernity, whether they were primitive or agrarian; and two, a melancholic sense derived from that feeling of loss. Anthropology has not been nostalgic, unlike folklore, but it has been abundant in melancholy, or a sense of irreversible loss, as can be observed, for example, in "Tristes Trópicos" by Claude Lévi-Strauss. Anthropology is a naturally avant-garde discipline that proposes, without methodological or objective limits, to venture into unknown paths of culture.