ABSTRACT
Anthropologists recognized the value of the perspective acquired from cross-cultural knowledge. The cross-cultural perspective is not simply about diversity. Metaphoric and anthropomorphized expressions using time are plentiful. But some people in fact do perceive time in those terms. Anthropological field studies produced many ethnographic accounts showing different ways across cultures by which populations experienced time. Whatever critique is made of anthropological studies it is recognized that it has made valuable contributions in bringing to knowledge diverse cross-cultural manifestations of time and time-reckoning. Anthropologists themselves are self-critical about leaving out the historical factor. Alfred Gell saw the role of anthropology as one focusing on real action by real people in real time. During the period between the 1920s through the 1970s many anthropologists were involved in ethnographically recording how different groups mark time. Like time, privacy is a non-material intangible abstract notion.
