MIKESELL, Marvin W. Geographic Perspectives in Anthropology.

Annals of the Association of

American Geographers, 57:3, 1967, p. 617-634.

- as duas ciências tem ancestrais comuns, como Ratzel. Elas também procuram produzir
generalizações a partir de comparações, embora o que ambas buscam “no campo” seja distinto. (p.
618)

- “One of the serious problems facing any student of the relations of anthropology and geography
thus results from the fact that their respective intellectual developments are not in phase. For
example, the attack led by Boas and his students against “extreme evolutionism” was launched
twenty years before geographers began to undermine the foundations of environrnentalism.” (p.
619)

- APROXIMAÇÃO ENTRE O CONCEITO DE “REGIÃO HOMOGÊNEA” E DE “ÁREA

CULTURAL”: “Again, although Wissler, Kroeber, and most other early students of cultural
distributions were concerned with dynamics-growth, spread, and intensity-rather than distribution
per se, the culture area concept can usually be equated with the geographic concept of uniform
rather than nodal region. Language plus livelihood and various elements of material culture provide
the basis for most delimitations.” (p. 621)

- argumento de que tal método raramente revela grande capacidade de diferenciação de áreas. Uso
desta metodologia é feita, geralmente, em termos pedagógicos e num nível intermediário de análise.
(p. 621). EXATAMENTE! É PARA APRESENTAR O RIO DE JANEIRO E O SUBÚRBIO.

- “Similarly, although vast amounts of empirical data are analyzed in Kroeber‘s work, from basketry
to rituals and from single traits to entire complexes of traits, his determinations of intensity and
discontinuity were always impressionistic or arbitrary to some degree.” TAL MAPA SERÁ
IMPRECISO. ISTO É NECESSÁRIO FICAR CLARO. PORÉM, ELE ME PARECE UMA
CONTRIBUIÇÃO AINDA ASSIM VÁLIDA. Caráter mesmo pedagógico, uma introdução ao
recorte da tese, não é um fim em si mas um instrumento de análise a partir do problema da
escala

- Aproximação das relações entre natureza e cultura com o possibilismo lablachiano (e ratzeliano,
em certo sentido): “In short, the writings of anthropologists on the relations of nature and culture
invariably suggested a neutral interpretation, roughly comparable to the geographic concept of
possibilism. As Boas suggested, “environment always acts upon a pre-existing culture, not on a
hypothetical cultureless group. Therefore, it is important only insofar as it limits or favors
activities” (p. 627)

- “Moreover, Steward’s notion of the “cultural core,” the constellation of features which are most
closely related to subsistence activities and economic arrangements, coincides almost exactly with
the French geographic concept of genre de vie” (p. 633)