Final answer:
Missionaries initially acted as anthropologists, documenting Indigenous cultures for religious conversion, but later ethical concerns arose about their practices. The field is now reflective, aiming to undo colonial impacts and work collaboratively with Indigenous communities.
Step-by-step explanation:
Early missionaries often became the first anthropologists due to their work in documenting Indigenous cultures with the aim of converting them to Christianity. In these initial efforts, they gathered extensive knowledge about these societies, which effectively laid the groundwork for anthropological studies. While some were sympathetic to Indigenous peoples, others held an ethnocentric viewpoint, regarding European civilization as the pinnacle of cultural development. This, along with collecting cultural objects for profit, is now viewed as unethical.
However, many of these early anthropologists, including those hired by the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE), eventually abandoned this work due to several factors. The drive to collect artifacts often came at the expense of a deeper analysis and understanding of the cultures they studied, leading to vast collections that were rarely examined thoroughly. Additionally, their methods and Eurocentric theories have been criticized for reinforcing colonialism and marginalizing Indigenous voices.
In recent periods, a more reflexive and ethical approach to anthropology has emerged. This includes acknowledging the agency and perspectives of Indigenous peoples and reexamining archived materials as well as the anthropologists' role in the past and present. The discipline now aims to rectify earlier exploitations and biases through collaborative efforts with Indigenous communities and a focus on social justice by scholars from diverse backgrounds.