"Many of us even grew up believing that this West has a genealogy, according to which ancient Greece begat Rome, Rome begat Christian Europe, Christian Europe begat the Renaissance, the Renaissance the Enlightenment, the Enlightenment political democracy and the industrial revolution. Industry crossed with democracy, in turn yielded the United States, embodying the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."-Eric Wolf, Europe and the People Without History, 1982

"For it is only through repetition that things cease to be perceived or remarked, that they become so habituated as no longer to be noticed. At the same time, however, no hegemony is ever total (Williams 1977:109); it constantly has to be made and, by the same token, may be unmade." -John and Jean Comaroff, 1992

"Well, anthropology is not on the verge of disintegration. Institutional inertia alone will keep it going for some time. More significantly, anthropology has useful and important things to teach the world, but more pressing is what it has to teach itself." -George Marcus, Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary, 2008

"Photographs and voice are integral to the performance of one another, connecting, extending and integrating ways of telling histories."-Elizabeth Edwards, 2006

"When change reaches a certain pace, reference works become impossible." -William Reddy, The Structure of a Cultural Crisis: Thinking About Cloth in France Before and After the Revolution, 1986