In this article it is argued that, since the abuse of anthropology in the colonial and apartheid eras, the responsive relationship between anthro pology and society has been re-emphasised. In the reconstruction of South African society, therefore, anthropologists will not be allowed the luxury of evading their social responsibility. In their re-invention of anthropology as a humane science, and the reiteration of their commitment to accountability and relevance, these scientists ought to build

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... heir discipline upon the in vestigation of the major consequences of differential power and inequality. This could be helpful in creating new forms of co-existence in South Africa. It is time that we lend "the sanction of scienec" to eliminating oppression, and one (but only one) way of doing this is to make clear and attack the role of an thropology in creating, preserving, and implementing ideologies of oppression (Farris, 1973:170).