Sc2218 lecture 10 (2011)

SC2218: Anthropology and the Human Condition Lecture 10: Anthropology, Ethnography and the Crisis of Representation Eric C. Thompson Semester 1, 2011/2012

Where Are We Going? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],YOU ARE HERE

To Summarize… Domains Anthropologists Study: ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

From Domains of Study to Questions of Representation ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

In This Lecture… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Anthropology c.1960-1980 ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Challenges c.1960-1980 ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ Sight Unseen” (An Example of “New” Ethnography) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Representing Bali ,[object Object],[object Object],Structural... Culture… “Product” Poststructural... Discursive… “Process” *Does the film privilege the “product” or “process”? *Is either more “real” than the other?”

The “Crisis of Representation” ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],*Reflexive – an action directed or turned back on the agent of that action; marked by or capable of reflection

Contributing to the “Crisis”… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Ethnography ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],* http://www.m-w.com/

Writing Culture / Anthropology as Cultural Critique ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Power & Politics of Representation ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],*The argument that it does matter is sometimes called standpoint epistemology ; i.e. knowledge is not neutral, but depends on your point of view (or ‘standpoint’)

Two Avenues of Critique ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Case 1: Gender Man the Hunter ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

The Woman That Never Evolved ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Sarah Hrdy * Androcentric : Centered on or biased toward men.

“ Feminist Standpoint Epistemology” ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Case 2: Social Evolution ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Lower Savagery Middle Savagery Upper Savagery Lower Barbarism Middle Barbarism Upper Barbarism Civilization Lewis Henry Morgan’s Scheme of Social Evolution L.H. Morgan

Critiquing Anthropology ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Talal Asad Daniel Goh Syed Hussein Alatas * Eurocentric : Centered on or biased toward Europe or European people.

“ On Cannibalism” ,[object Object],[object Object]

Are Anthropological Representations about Power? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Ethno… (a group of people) graphy… (writing about or of) Revisited and Revised…

“ These peoples (foragers) , despite their cultural and geographic diversity, have a core of features in common , and this core of features represents the basic human adaptation stripped of the accretions and complications brought about by agriculture, urbanization, advanced technology, and national and class conflict – all of the “advances” of the last few thousand years .” (Lee 2003: 3) Echoes of 19 th Century Social Evolution in Lee’s Dobe Ju/’hoansi

A “Land Filled with Flies”* ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],*The land is “filled with flies because of cattle. Many San people are now and in the past were cattle herders.

“ I no longer believe that studies of contemporary hunter-gatherers are primarily a tool for understanding the evolution of human behavior . Understanding hunter-gatherer ecology, however important, is not enough. One has to both build on it and transcend it by looking at adaptation in a much broader sense, including the internal dynamics of foragers and their articulation with wider political economies .” (Lee 2003: 195) Lee Revised (in response to criticisms)

Ongoing Debates… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Subjectivity, Fieldwork, Representation ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Aihwa Ong UC Berkeley Eric Thompson National U of Singapore

Ongoing Debates… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],*Many postmodernists do not believe in “better”… but that is another story 

Final Thoughts… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Anthropologists think about these questions both in reflecting on their own writings and within the societies they study.

Sc2218 lecture 10 (2011)

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