“The past is a foreign country”? Acculturation theory and the anthropology of globalization

Etnográfica, 15 (2): 313-336

Contemporary anthropology has developed a consistent interest in the study of modes of circulation of people, objects and ideas associated with current cultural globalization. This interest is usually presented as a new development in anthropological theory and its possible predecessors, such as diffusionism and acculturation theory, dismissed as irrelevant. Focusing on the works of Melville Herskovits and Roger Bastide, this article argues for a less biased imaged of acculturation theory and stresses the ways in which some of its achievements can inspire current approaches to cultural globalization.