> This discussion seems to be based on a caricature of
> pre-modern & non-Western cultures as stable, pristine,
> internally homogeneous, independent units disconnected
> from each other.
>
i think bodley takes time and trouble to establish and justify to what extent he makes such a claim as the above, along with showing that the claim is not absolute. even in the small section i quoted, he uses examples of tribal peoples who have co-existed with "civilization". to my admittedly non-expert eye, his presentation of tribal cultures seems neither a caricature nor unsubstantiated (he provides copious examples and references). perhaps his work as a scholar in the field has been discredited and i am unaware of that (would the text you point to be the place to look for this)? if not, apart from the various examples provided in the quoted text, i can post the explicit examples and references that bodley presents in his book.
--ravi