ABSTRACT
Anthropology is the study of culture. Early anthropology had its roots in colonialism impacted by theoretical constructs, such as unilineal evolution. In the 1930s, Evans-Pritchard began studying the political and economic systems of the Nuer to benefit British expansion and interest in what is now South Sudan. His early writings focus on the intermingling of cattle with human cultural rituals and everyday life. Geertz in the chapter Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight moves beyond the structural analysis of Evans-Pritchard and looks to symbolism where the cockfight embodies the culture, social networks, and rituals of Balinese life. It provides a review of every anthropological study involving animals over time, Evans-Pritchard and Geertz show how animals have been and continue to be a central focus of anthropological inquiry, but the questions change as theory develops. Non-human animals have always played a role in anthropological research and fieldwork.
