An appeal for principled symmetry: Anthropologies in South Africa and elsewhere

Abstract

This article summarises and elaborates the author's arguments as presented in the round table on ‘Perspectives on “Doing Anthropology” in Contemporary South Africa' that was held during the ASnA conference in Cape Town, on December 5, 2006. It is suggested, by way of personal reflection, that some of the ethical, methodological and theoretical challenges of ‘doing anthropology’ in post-apartheid South Africa can productively be met by a pre-theoretical commitment to ‘principled symmetry’. This commitment is also helpful in addressing the questions ‘Is “relevance” still relevant?' and ‘How to engage public culture and the postcolonial state’?