Anthropology and Sociobiology: A Brief Account of the Revival of a Debate

Authors

  • Lorenzo Macagno Universidade Federal do Paraná

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/2179-0892.ra.2018.145512

Keywords:

Sociobiology, CPI-FUNAI-INCRA 2, Napoleon A. Chagnon, Brazilian Anthropology Association, Controversies

Abstract

At the end of 2016, a Petition issued by members of a Parliamentary Inquiry Committee (CPI), known as CPI FUNAI-INCRA 2, requested the breaking of bank and fiscal confidentiality of the Brazilian Anthropological Association (ABA), and of its president. To support the accusations against the ABA, the Petition cited, in one of its passages, arguments of Napoleon A. Chagnon. These included the statement that Brazilian anthropologists are not engaged in science, but in activism. Chagnon was one of the few anthropologists to adopt the postulates of the so-called sociobiology. By evoking the name of Chagnon, the Petition of the CPI was, unwittingly, “reviving” a moribund debate: anthropology versus sociobiology. Based on the accusatory scenario created by the CPI FUNAI-INCRA 2, this article returns to the fundamental debate that has divided anthropologists and sociobiologists since the 1970s.

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Published

2018-04-27

Issue

Vol. 61 No. 1 (2018)

Section

Special Issue - Who is Afraid of the Anthropologist? Dilemmas and Challenges for Production and Scientific Practices

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How to Cite

Macagno, L. (2018). Anthropology and Sociobiology: A Brief Account of the Revival of a Debate. Revista De Antropologia, 61(1), 47-59. https://doi.org/10.11606/2179-0892.ra.2018.145512