SC2218: Anthropology and SC2218: Anthropology and the Human Conditionthe Human Condition

Lecture 12: Recent Work, New Lecture 12: Recent Work, New Directions & World AnthropologiesDirections & World Anthropologies

Eric C. ThompsonEric C. Thompson

Semester 1, 2011/2012Semester 1, 2011/2012

Where Are We Going?Where Are We Going?

• Part 1: What is Anthropology?– Strangers Abroad, Race, Culture

• Part 2: What do Anthropologists Study?– Kinship, Gender, Economy, Community

• Part 3: Current Debates and Trends– The “Crisis of Representation”– The Poetry of Culture– World Anthropologies & Current Trends– Review

YOU AREHERE

Today’s Lecture:Today’s Lecture:Anthropology in the 21Anthropology in the 21stst Century Century

Three Challenges to Anthropology:• 1. The Human Challenge

– Who are the anthropologists of the 21st century?– How and why does it matter who the anthropologists are?

• 2. The Theoretical Challenge– What are anthropology’s major theoretical frameworks?– How will they change and how are they relevant to

contemporary questions?

• 3. The Empirical Challenge– How is the world changing?– How is anthropology relevant in a new kind of world?

In a changing world, In a changing world, how shall anthropology how shall anthropology

get on with the job?get on with the job?

Who are the Anthropologists?Who are the Anthropologists?“Strangers Abroad” and Others . . .“Strangers Abroad” and Others . . .

The Human Challenge:The Human Challenge:Anthropologists in the 21Anthropologists in the 21stst Century Century

Three Models of Anthropologists:• “Colonial Encounters”

– 19th & 20th Century historical roots of Anthropology

– Rivers, Evans-Pritchard

• “Native” Anthropologists– Non-Europeans studying their “own” society

from an anthropological perspective.– George Hunt, John Waiko

• Post-colonial “Strangers Abroad”– Anthropology in a post-colonial, global era– Beyond a North-South, West-East relationship– Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh

John Waiko

““A Man without Pigs”A Man without Pigs”

• How does John Waiko’s approach to anthropology compare to that of other anthropologists we have studied in this course? What are some of the similarities and differences? How does John Waiko’s experience compare to that of other “strangers abroad”?

• What is John Waiko’s status in his home village? How does that compare with and relate to his status outside his village?

• What sort of politics and economics do you see in action in the film? How would a structural or structural-functional analysis help us to understand Bendari political-economy? How would a poststructural (discursive, historical) analysis help? What would be key features to focus on in each type of analysis?

• How is the system of debts and relationships changing? Why?

American Anthropology, c.2010American Anthropology, c.2010• Early 20th century: Anglo-American

Anthropology (British & American)• Late 20th century: American anthropology

became dominant; British anthropology declined in prominence.

• American Anthropology is the most influential anthropology worldwide today.

• What are recent trends in American Anthropology?

Twenty-three Influential ScholarsTwenty-three Influential Scholarsin American Anthropology Todayin American Anthropology Today

• Survey of Graduate Students (October 2010)*• Venerable Generation (pre-1970s PhD)

– Benedict Anderson, Talal Asad, Mikhail Bakhtin, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, Clifford Geertz, David Harvey, Edward Said

• Senior Generation (1970s PhD)– Arjun Appadurai, Joan Comaroff, John Comaroff, Veena

Das, Bruno Latour, George Marcus, Sherry Ortner, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Michael Taussig

• Recent Generation (1980s PhD)– Phillippe Bourgois, James Ferguson, Akhil Gupta, Webb

Keane, Anna Tsing, Aihwa Ong

*Survey of Six leading graduate schools in cultural anthropology.Conducted by NUS Graduate students in SC6212: The Anthropological Perspective.

Who is Shaping American Anthropology?Who is Shaping American Anthropology?(Based on List of 23 Scholars)(Based on List of 23 Scholars)

• Nationalities: American(7), French(3), Indian(3), British(2), South African(2), Australian(1), Malaysian(1), Palestinian(1), Saudi(1)

• 17 Men, 6 Women– All 7 of the “venerable” generation are men.– 9 men, 6 Women in more recent generations.– In 6 departments surveyed, faculty members are 61 men

and 60 women; those with PhD’s since 1991, 29 women and 14 men.

• Disciplines: American Anthropology(11), British Anthropology(4), French Sociology(3), Literary Theory(2), Geography(1), Indian Social Anthropology(1), Politics(1)

Trends by PhD FieldTrends by PhD Field• PhD Fields by Generation:• Pre-1970s: French Sociology(2), Literary

Theory(2), American Anthropology(1), British Anthropology(1), Geography(1), Politics(1)

• 1970s: American Anthropology(4), British Anthropology(3), French Sociology(1), Indian Social Anthropology(1)

• 1980s: American Anthropology(6)

Trends in American AnthropologyTrends in American Anthropology• Few anthropologists from pre-1970s

• Influence of French Sociology (Bourdieu, Foucault, Latour)

• Declining influence of British Anthropology

• All of the most recent generation are trained in American Anthropology.

• Rising influence of anthropologists and others from former British colonies (India, Malaysia, Palestine, Middle East)

INTERMISSION…INTERMISSION…

The Theoretical Challenge:The Theoretical Challenge:Culture, Discourse, & TheoryCulture, Discourse, & Theory

Evolving Anthropological Theory:• 19th Century: Race• 20th Century: Culture• 21st Century: Discourse, Power

• New concepts and ways of understanding human diversity evolve out of ongoing empirical research and theoretical reflection.

Evolving Anthropological Theory:Evolving Anthropological Theory:• 19th Century: Race

– Human behavior and variation explained by biology

• 20th Century: Culture– Human behavior and variation explained by symbolic

systems (culture) and human relationships (society)

• 21st Century: Discourse, Power– Culture is a process, always changing, always in

motion; not a fixed thing, structure or ‘product’ (see: film “Sight Unseen”)

– Culture is not neutral. It involves Power; contested ideas of understanding of ourselves and others.

Trends in American AnthropologyTrends in American Anthropology Theory and Practice, 1980 - Now Theory and Practice, 1980 - Now

• Critique of Traditional Anthropology• Postcolonialism• Postmodernism• Poststructuralism, Discourse• Nationalism, Imagined Communities• Globalization• Neoliberalism• Applied/Action Anthropology

Contemporary Themes:Contemporary Themes:

• From describing cultures to understanding cultural processes.

• Understanding the global through the local

• The political… and personal

• Anxious selves and others (the American perspective).

• And Et cetera…

About the following…About the following…• The following slides are based on an analysis of

three leading anthropology journals: American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist, Cultural Anthropology

• Analysis by participants in the graduate course SC6216: The Anthropological Perspective (Sem 1, 2011/2012).

• The number in parentheses refers to the number of times the keyword appeared across all three journals (2001-2010).

Culture abides... with a differenceCulture abides... with a difference• Cultural (59) processes remain at the heart of

anthropology.• Shift from describing culture (29) to various

cultural processes.• Ethnography (33) remains cultural anthropology’s

main methodology.• Old themes of language (39), history (25), law

(24), ritual (22) and kinship (20) remain important, though approached in new ways.

Global Theory, Local PerspecitveGlobal Theory, Local Perspecitve• Away from “primitive, isolated, villages…”• Theorizing globalization (59), transnationalism (24),

modernity (38); but from local perspectives.• Concern with indigenous peoples (46), as well as

migration (21) and tourism (12).• Understandings histories of colonialism (24),

postcolonialism (18), postsocialism (18) and imperialism (13).

• Local experiences of neoliberalism(45), consumption (23), development (21), capitalism (14).

The Political…The Political…

• Concern with issues of politics (41) and power (13)…

• Especially with regard to nationalism (40), states (39), governmentality (21), citizenship (20), biopolitics (13), and democracy (10).

• Culture is not apolitical.

……and Personaland Personal• How do people experience the world?

• Through identities (39) and subjectivity (22), especially of:

• Gender (53), including issues of sexuality (19), women (17) and masculinity (12).

• Religion (35), Race (29), Ethnicity (24) and Class (17), including issues of labor (17)

• Attention to agency (16), the body (14) and embodiment (11).

Anxious Selves and Others…Anxious Selves and Others…• These American-based journals reflect certain

“American” concerns in the world…• The main topics include: Islam (40), the United

States (38), Mexico (22), China (21), Christianity (20) and Japan (11).

• But also places Americans in general know little about: Indonesia (24), Africa (20), and India (19).

• Concern with Violence (30), War (14) and Human Rights (11).

And Et Cetera…And Et Cetera…

• If humans do it, anthropologists study it!

• Technology (20), food (19), childhood (18) and youth (10), ethics (18), materiality (17), music (15), place (15), public (15), science (15), knowledge (14), narrative (12), performance (11), environmentalism (10), time (10), urbanism (10)… etc…

The Empirical Challenge:The Empirical Challenge:Globalization & PostmodernityGlobalization & Postmodernity

• Historically, anthropology has focused on (cultural) difference associated with (relative) isolation.

• Radical “time-space” compression is a hallmark of globalization and postmodernity.*(*See for example: Arjun Appadurai (1996) Modernity at Large; David Harvey (1989) The Condition of Postmodernity)

• Anthropologist now must apply their concepts (culture, social structure, discourse, etc.) and develop new concepts for understanding phenomena such as:– Mass Culture (mass communications, television, etc.)– Multiple identities (e.g. John Waiko: Professor of Anthropology,

Member of a Binandere Clan)

What to make ofANTHROPOLOGY?

1st GenerationCultural Structures

(Grammars, Words, Styles, Signifiers)

1st GenerationAgents (Subjects/Individuals)

(Drawing on the Structures to relate to others, influence action, interpret meanings – their own and others)

Culture as an Iterative Process

Agents are “Subjects” of (“subject to”) cultural structures – they cannot operate meaningfully outside of the structure.Cultural Structures are emergent structures, dependent on the agents for their existence.

1st GenerationCultural Structures

1st GenerationAgents (Subjects)

2nd GenerationAgents (Subjects)

2nd GenerationCultural Structures

Culture always changes,CULTURE IS WHAT YOU

MAKE IT!

AnthropologyAnthropologyanthropos = humankind

logia = study of

the study of YOU, AND ME AND ALL OF US