Clío y la antropología. Pensando con la historia en el presente de Ávila y de Évora

Abstract

After a long period dominated by functionalism and structuralism, since the 1980's anthropology has benefited from its closeness to history, comparable with the increasing interest by historians in anthropology. The author has lived through this transformation, which has taken place at the time of her own development as an anthropologist and can be perceived in her publications. Her research on the symbolic construction of historyladen cities such as Avila and Evora facilitated this development. However, it is not a matter of easily complementing one discipline and approach with the other, as though each would have found at last its better half. Although anthropologists must study history, the classical approach of history —the analysis of documents from the past— will not be enough for them. Anthropologists must study history as source and organization of meanings in the present. Should he look closely, the anthropologist of the present will realize that his informants are not only heirs to history, but think with it too.