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Native Rights Issues: Anthropologists under attack

Published on December 12, 2005 by lorenz Posted in aboriginees, anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, indigenous people / minorities

In Australia, anthropologists have been criticized for “conducting themselves as advocates for Aborigines instead of impartial experts”, the Australian writes. Because anthropologists frequently had long-term relationships with particular groups of Aborigines, their ability to give objective evidence was sometimes open to attack, Graeme Neate, president of the National Native Title Tribunal says.

Similar findings can be found in a report that was produced for the tribunal last year. It found there was “a certain form of entrenched amateurism” among anthropologists outside universities. “Some expert witnesses have been held to be manifestly advocates for the claimants”.

>> read the whole story (link updated)

UPDATE:

1. Comment by Tad McIlwraith:

It seems unreasonable to expect anthropologists not to feel empathy for the people they work with and, often, have lived with … but does that eliminate the possibility of objectivity? What about academics with long-term associations with the government? I suspect that the courts are not likely to reduce the value or credibility of their testimonies. Are we simply back to the problem of the power-relations inherent in land and title cases that rely on ’settler’ courts?

>> read Tads whole post: The Problem of Anthropologists as Advocates

2. Jamie writes:

Perhaps it was anthropological or scientific research that led the anthropologist to feel that advocacy was necessary in the first place!

>> continue

3. Kambiz Kamrani thinks:

Studying cultures and peoples cannot be done without the give and take of personalities, behaviors, beliefs; in my opinion… and that maybe one of the reasons why anthropology has not become the “universal intellectual discipline” that it has potential to be.

>> read the whole post

In Australia, anthropologists have been criticized for "conducting themselves as advocates for Aborigines instead of impartial experts", the Australian writes. Because anthropologists frequently had long-term relationships with particular groups of Aborigines, their ability to give objective evidence was sometimes…

Tomorrow in Sweden: “Lucia” , the bearer of the light , is no longer blue-eyed

Published on December 12, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, Europe

All over Sweden, schools, workplaces, towns and homes are planning their Lucia celebrations. Lucia, the bearer of light in the dark Swedish winter, has been celebrated in Sweden for centuries. Lucia used to be blonde and blue-eyed. Isolde Palombo, 21, a molecular biology student, is far from blonde. But that didn’t stop Stockholmers voting her Lucia this year, according to sweden.se.

Agneta Lilja, lecturer in ethnology at Södertörn University College Stockholm, says festivities are far more civilized than they used to be:

“In agrarian society people used to dress up as monsters and wander through the neighborhoods, singing and drinking. It has become a cultural phenomenon because we have honored the tradition for so long, especially in schools.”

>> read the whole story

AAA: “Expanding willingness among anthropologists to listen to Native peoples”

Published on December 8, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, indigenous people / minorities, Native American

For decades, a stereotypical and frequently inaccurate mindset dominated the way anthropologists and museum curators treated Native Americans in research and exhibits. But several attendees on this year’s American Anthropological Association conference noted an expanding willingness in the field to pay attention to the voices of Native peoples in the development of new museum exhibitions and in the evolution of older ones, according Inside Higher Education.

Bruce Bernstein, the National Museum of the American Indian’s assistant director for cultural resources said: “I think that people are largely enlightened now,” said Bernstein. He recalled that while presenting similar ideas on American Indian voices within museums at an American Anthropological Association conference in the early 1990s, “the crowd was not pleased.”

He adds:

“If, as anthropologists, we’re really looking to work with people — to understand them better — then repatriation [of objects] is really the best thing that ever happened for museums. It puts them in one-to-one contact with the very people that they want to be in contact with and generate information about.”

Has the dialogue sometimes gone too far, Native Indians taken over the control? Elizabeth M. Brumfiel, president of the association, says why Indians still need anthropologists:

“There’s been a lot of dialogue by Native Americans, asking ‘Why do we need anthropologists to speak for us? We can speak for ourselves,’. I think that’s a legitimate question, but I think there’s an answer to it. Nobody — including anthropologists — see themselves objectively. People benefit from dialoguing with an outsiders point of view. If anthropologists are outsiders, that’s also good for Native people to be in dialogue with them. It’s also good for anthropologists.”

>> read the whole story

Graeber drops appeal, leaves Yale this spring

Published on December 8, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, University / Academia

Anarchist anthropologist David Graeber agreed to leave Yale University this spring, dropping an appeal over whether his termination was politically motivated, according to ap. David Graeber said he will teach two classes next semester, then take a yearlong paid sabbatical, after which he will not return:

“Normally, you get a sabbatical on the condition that you come back and teach the following year. I’m getting the sabbatical on the condition that I don’t come back and teach.”

His final two classes will be an introduction to anthropology and a course titled “Direct Action and Radical Social Theory.”

UPDATE: Article no longer online, read rather:

Graeber agrees to leave University (Yale Daily News)

Solidarity with David Graeber – Webpage

Review of Graeber’s book: Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology / download the whole book

Anthropology News December: Comparative studies of flood management in neoliberal, social-democratic states needed

Published on December 7, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, ecology nature, journal articles / papers, politics

One month before Katrina resulted in floods in New Orleans, a similar “natural” disaster occurred in Mumbai, India. Judy Whitehead, associate professor at the University of Lethbridge in Canada ~~the United Kingdom~~, has conducted disaster research in partnership with an NGO that brought together organizations working with slum dwellers. In Anthropology News December, she sums up some similarities between the disaster in Mumbai with the Katrina disaster in Florida.

Both disasters reveal “common problems in both neoliberal states’ disaster management”:

States that minimize public safety, leaving “civil society” and the market to meet social needs, may well be ones that are deficient in safety planning and provisioning.

Similarities:

– Like New Orleans, Mumbai has de-industrialized in the past two decades. The city’s textile industry has closed down under competition from the power loom sector.

– Like New Orleans, Mumbai, too, has a vulnerable topography.

– Like New Orleans, the vacuum created by state inaction was filled by the press who excelled in Mumbai in “speaking truth to power.”

Her conclusion:

Since economic reforms were installed in India in 1991, “good governance” has come to mean that state and municipal governments should be pared down, while social services are contracted out to non-governmental organizations. The notion of a state that relies on “civil society” to meet its social programs ignores long-term investment in infrastructure to prevent disasters and long-range planning that focuses on preparedness for the worst-case scenarios.

Comparative studies of flood management in neoliberal, social-democratic states provide important insights in resulting problems in disaster management.

>> read the whole article

When applied anthropology becomes aid – A disaster anthropologist’s thoughts

New website: Understanding Katrina: Perspectives from the Social Sciences