The Social History of a Village: The Terra Incognita

Anthropology and social history have much in common in spite of establishing themselves as two disciplines. Almost every anthropological study has a social historical aspect, while social history is nowhere devoid of anthropology. But one problem is that they are tilted much towards one side. While a significant amount of research is being done in both fields, works that can be called social histories in the anthropological sense are rarely found. One such example is the seminal work on the Indonesian town. Even this highlights the lack of such works on the village proper. This calls for research in such orientation taking cues from both the disciplines and weaving them together in ample proportions. This paper asserts the need for such works after reviewing the relevant literature in anthropology and social history and trying to highlight the related research gaps.