Realism vs. Romanticism

In Michael Elliot, "Ethnography, Reform, and the Problem of the Real: James Mooney's Ghost Dance Religion," he gives a discussion of the different ethnographic perspectives and methods of scientific studies that arose in relation to the study of indigenous cultures, specifically the Sioux reservation and their Ghost dance. Throughout his article, Elliot presents two of the poignant perspectives of studies: romanticism and realism.

From the romantic viewpoint the 'real indian,' his practices, beliefs and language are sought  to be preserved and free from contamination from the American civilization. Realism, on the other hand, involved studies that would produce "results that would be of practical value in the administration of Indian Affairs" (Elliot, ). Elliot further gives an example of a realistic study where a study of "population size, habits and language would be [used to the help strength the military]" (Elliot, 1998).

I can agree with Elliot's stance on these two perspective- that there is a problem with realism, as the article title states- in that in knowing the necessary information an ethnographer needs from the indigenous people, and through their works, allowing the American government officials to learn more about these cultures, the indigenous people can be gradually led to civilization and given "intelligent citizenship" and Christianization (Elliot, 1998). Believing that one's race and culture can be "eradicated" in order to gain "intelligent citizenship" further leads to an underlining theory that race is a possession, a property that one can have or leave behind to gain a seemingly better culture. Clearly, this theory of possession and repossession of one's race is not a logical perspective of an ethnographer.

Lastly, it occurred to me that even the romantic ethnographers might not be entirely guiltless of having the wrong viewpoint when making their studies. Could it be that some romanticists might want to preserve the indigenous cultures just to gain an experimental grounds for their own research and not only to understand said cultures?