Fieldwork guides and ethnographic register. A revision on the approach to children in the Guide for the classification of cultural data

Abstract

Comparative studies have been the backbone of the formation of anthropology as a discipline. Within the comparative studies of the mid--twentieth century, the use of fieldwork guides in local ethnographic is common. The aim of this paper is to address the context and the production of the guides, considering as a central point of analysis George Murdock’s guide. This guide has been a relevant tool in the local training of anthropologists, in the beginnings of anthropology as a career of systematic studies at the university. The approach to the guide is going to be focused the particular way that children are considered in this guide. In this paper we are going to consider the contrast between this kind of approach and the current outlook for the study of these groups of populations.