I remember an anecdote told in an anthropology class I took long ago. I forget which anthropologist was named, but he had lived and studied among the Inuit for a year or more and was preparing to return to the university to write up his reports. He asked his hosts why they had never inquired about his way of life. They replied that asking people questions was rude. But, if asking questions is rude, he asked, why had they answered his so patiently? They replied that obviously his customs were different, and it would be polite to go along with his curiosity. The story ends with the anthropologist musing: "Was I returning to civilization, or leaving it."

Looking back, I realize that this cute story did not acknowledge the power differential between the obviously wealthy white person, coming with the power of the government behind him, and the people that he was studying. This was at the tail end of the sixties, when cultural relativism ruled anthropology, and remaining fears of McCarthyism kept politics out of discussions, especially in state funded institutions. I wonder how much of the research we were being taught had been funded by the CIA or other agencies. I abandoned the discipline when I realized that the anthropological community did very little to actually help the peoples they made their living from. For example, using their research to support Indian land claims or to protect sacred sites did not appear to be priorities.