Download
1 / 14
140 likes | 326 Views
ANTH 1616: African Intersections. Contemporary Problems in the Anthropology of Africa Spring, 2010. Difference: Myths & Realities. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66pTPWg_wUw Happy Africa Sad Africa Africa as a construct Africa as an imaginary Africa as a real place, with real people.
E N D
ANTH 1616: African Intersections Contemporary Problems in the Anthropology of Africa Spring, 2010
Difference: Myths & Realities http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66pTPWg_wUw Happy Africa Sad Africa Africa as a construct Africa as an imaginary Africa as a real place, with real people
Damned Lies and Statistics Official and Unofficial Languages Overwhelming mortality rates Urbanization Gender Inequity Global Ghettoization Massive Corruption Violence HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases Basic Facts More than 1,000 languages 53 Sovereign Countries More than 50% of population under 25 years of age Major exports: diamonds, coltan, bauxite, petroleum, gold, timber, uranium Africa as a source of inspiratino for global culture, music, dance, and religion
Culture & Difference Early American Anthropology: Franz Boas I often ask myself what advantages our 'good society possesses over that of the 'savages' and find, the more I see of their customs, that we have no right to look down upon them. . . We have no right to blame them for their forms and superstitions which may seem ridiculous to us. We 'highly educated people' are much worse, relatively speaking. . . Franz Boas to Marie Krackowizer, December 23, 1883. Franz Boas’ Baffin Island Letter-Diary, 1883-1884, edited by Herbert Cole (1983:33).
“Anthropology” – F. Boas We do not discuss the anatomical, physiological, and mental characteristics of man considered as an individual; but we are interested in the diversity of these traits in groups of men found in different geographical areas and in different social classes. It is our task to inquire into the causes that have brought about the observed differentiation, and to investigate the sequence of events that have led to the establishment of the multifarious forms of human life. In other words, we are interested in the anatomical and mental characteristics of men living under the same biological, geographical, and social environment, and as determined by their past. E.E. Evans-Pritchard Among the Zande
Culture and Difference 2 • Symbolic Anthropology: Search for universal cultural processes – i.e. Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger • What culture does with “ambiguity” or difference: • Relabel it something familiar • Physically control it • Avoid it • Call it dangerous • Turn it into a symbol for ritual transformation • How much is anthropology in Africa an effort to manage, relabel, control, avoid, or transform Difference?
Culture and Difference 3 The Chicago School: Clifford Geertz Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun…” “I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of a law, but an interpretive one in search of meaning.”
Cultural Relativism It’s all good, we’re just different! I’m ok, you’re ok, we’re all ok! I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and gosh darnit, people like me… And you, too!
Post-Colonial Critiques Edward Said "Neither imperialism nor colonialism is a simple act of accumulation and acquisition… Out of imperialism, notions about culture were classified, reinforced, criticised or rejected.” Culture and Imperialism • Engaged Anthropology • Boasian Activism • Cultural Relativism • Indigenous Rights • Human Rights • “Giving Back”
