Are anthropologists necessary to the great hunt for a unified theory of mind? Will cognitive anthropology decisively confirm whether anthropology as a whole is part of the humanities or the sciences? Are cognitive anthropological methodologies compatible with the research methods of other subfields of cognitive science? These are the big questions, of course, and to address them exhaustively is a near-impossible task for any researcher, and there is indeed conflict among anthropologists, even those who identify specifically as cognitive anthropologists, as to how this field can and should proceed. The goal of this brief article is to act as a primer, an introduction to this colorful and, I will argue throughout this series, necessary pillar of human cognitive studies.