| Abstract: | A questioning of the theoretical and methodological focus and strategies of sociodemographic research has been evident especially in Latin America since the 1970s. This work discusses the shortcomings of most current attempts to integrate anthropological and demographic approaches to population, and introduces eight articles on various aspects of population that appeared in the same publication. Most were first presented in a work session entitled "Anthropology in Sociodemographic Investigation" at the Thirteenth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences in 1993. The need to incorporate diverse dimensions of reality and different disciplinary perspectives in the explanation of demographic events and changes has been a significant preoccupation of sociodemography itself. A growing volume of studies of fertility, migration, processes of health and disease, sexuality, and the role of women, the family, and social institutions in reproduction, almost exclusively conducted at the micro level, reflect interest in incorporating anthropological viewpoints into sociodemographic analysis. An increasing number of scientific meetings and committees within population groups are devoted to the same themes. This introduction synthesizes the principal findings and recommendations of the eight articles, which examine very diverse topics using varied analytical approaches. All, however, offer reflections on the theoretical and methodological relevance of incorporating the anthropological perspective into sociodemographic investigation. Some also demonstrate the type of empirical findings that may result from a successful integration. |
