Can anthropology be decolonized PDF

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SAN2 Week 8 Systems of Power and Knowledge: Anthropology Otherwise (includes presentation assignment text plus seminar notes)...

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Can anthropology be decolonized?

Presentation Text: When we speak of decolonizing academia, and attempt its implementation, we are working towards an awareness of the political nature of knowledge production, learning and teaching as well as working towards a more representative acknowledgement and recognition of the histories of violence and naturalization of inequality that underlies current systems of power and knowledge, in which we as students - particularly as students of anthropology- are enmeshed. The aim is to disentangle and decentre the hegemonic epistemologies and ways of knowing/learning/seeing that form the represented history of our discipline - as well as wider Western academia. To approach the question of whether anthropology can be decolonized, I’m going to discuss the ways in which the readings address the historic and, sometimes enduring, issues of evolutionism, racism, colonial patterns of thought, ethnocentrism and fetishization in anthropology as well as some ways in which we may be able to implement decolonizing practices into our anthropological learning, research and practice - as suggested in both our lecture and the readings on and off the given reading list for this seminar. As Jafari and Jobson put it, we begin by ‘‘Understanding decolonization as an ongoing project that seeks to apprehend and, ultimately, displace a “logic of coloniality” that undergirds the experiment of Western modernity (Mignolo 2011; see also Quijano 2000)...Our aim is not to canonize or ossify a singular genealogy of the anthropology of race and post/colonialism but to reflect on the significance of unheralded contributions.’ p.130. For more on understanding the history of the decolonization project, from its inception in the 1980s/90s, Jafari and Jobson’s paper is a good place to start, although I won't rehash that history here as it was a required reading. So, in engaging with decolonization we must take A Critical and Honest view of the History of Anthropology ● This entails not just critique of the valorized ‘fathers of anthropology’, but engagement with non-Western academics in conjunction with hallmark thinkers in order to re-interpret ‘classic anthropological texts’. This includes thinkers who were contemporary to influential Western academic voices of our discipline’s history, and those that are contributing to academic sphere today - this is a point I will return to later. On top of this, it includes the ‘non-academics’ that make significant contributions to anthropology those who anthropology has historically treated as repositories of ethnographic data to be processed into theory by anthropologists in Western universities - areas that Harrison describes as the ‘prestige zones of institutional hegemony’, moving towards a system of collaboration and co-authorship; such as ‘The Falling Sky’ co-authored by Davi Kopenawa (Yanomami Shaman) and anthropologist Bruce Albert. ● Rather than viewing indigenous theories of culture, epistemology and ontology as raw

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material, mined and extracted by the anthropologist to be refined in these prestige zones, a decolonized anthropology works in collaborative partnership, whilst attempting to engage with -what Jafari and Jobson termed the ‘perennial anthropological questions regarding the proper relationship between the internal logics and ethics of the discipline, the people who are studied, and those who are studying; the tension between particularity and similarity (or, e.g., nation and diaspora.); and the challenges of representation and textuality?’ (130). However to reach this ideal, we need to know what the decolonizing toolkit is, and how it can be mobilized in critical discourse and practical application - and the processes of undergraduate and graduate teaching, research and praxis.

DECOLONIZING PRACTICES LEARNING This involves engaging with non-Western academics and subaltern voices of anthropology that are hidden behind the veil of ethnography. Examples given in the readings include Jafari & Jobson’s discussion of Anténor Firmin’s work ‘The equality of human races’ - Firmin was a 19th Century Haitian scholar, who critiqued the then-emergent field of anthropology. Jafari and Jobson consider the impact that this piece would have on disciplinary conventions of theory, method, and practice that are institutionalized in undergraduate and graduate curricula. They also point to the work of ‘key anthropological critics such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Fredrick Douglass, and Zora Neale Hurston, who located themselves in a variety of positions within and outside of the academy’ (131). Faye Harison has also emphasized the reclamation of non-canonical knowledge, and the inclusion of such thinkers in anthropological canon, drawing attention to the politics of canon setting and the selection of whose knowledges count. Similarly, Sonya Atalay reminds us that decolonized practices should not be viewed as postcolonial practices, as that has an implied past-tense. The effects of colonialism are still felt very strongly by Indigenous communities around the world For Atalay a decolonizing practice is one which has an indigenous framework and perspective; ‘that is in synch with and contributes to the goals, aims, hopes, and curiosities of the communities whose past and heritage are under study, using methods and practices that are harmonious with their own worldviews, traditional knowledges, and lifeways.’ p.284 Indeed the ontological turn ideally aims for a permanent decolonization of thought through raising indigenous ontologies to the level of theory-in-their-own-right rather than seeking to explain them with Western theories. This is exemplified in Eduardo Vivieros de Castro’s work on Amerindian cosmology and ontology. Martin Holbraad similarly describes this as ‘use[ing] the ethnography to rethink our analytical concepts’ ‘Rather than using our own analytical concepts to make sense of a given ethnography’. The critiques of this turn in anthropological thought has/will be addressed in Jakob’s presentation. It should be noted that decolonizing anthropology is not a project that is the sole responsibility of

historically oppressed and/or marginalised groups, and that it cannot become a tokenistic gesture. In Sumayah Kassim’s article ‘The Museum will Not Be Decolonized’, she explores the difficulties of confronting ‘systemic racism’ and ‘white fragility’ in the process of co-curating the #ThePastIsNow exhibition at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. She points to the ‘weight of responsibility to represent and narrativize the perspectives of our communities’, the fear of tokenization and exploitation, warning us that ‘As interest in decolonial thought grows, we must beware of museums’ and other institutions’ propensity to collect and exhibit because there is a danger (some may argue an inevitability) that the museum will exhibit decoloniality… [as] part of Britain’s national narrative as a pretty curio with no substance – or, worse, for decoloniality to be claimed as yet another great British accomplishment’. She states that ‘Rather than place the onus on people of colour – either as facilitators or as an audience for the museum – we need to flip the narrative and ask how the museum can facilitate the decolonial process for its majority white audience in a way that does not continue to exploit people of colour.’ This sentiment extends not just to anthropology, but to all areas of academia that are working for decolonization. As such, we as students can push for a decolonized anthropology by asking questions and speaking up in seminars, lectures or supervisions. This will not only benefit our own learning and understanding but those of our peers, as you may raise a point that someone else hasn’t been thinking of. Similarly, creating spaces for those that do not feel safe speaking up or are seeking solidarity to engage in a constructive discourse about their own experiences. It is difficult to say whether or not anthropology can ever truly be decolonised, as we are at the beginning of a very long project. //However I would note the importance of the project of decolonization in a discipline such as our own which, by its very manner of knowledge production, is political. Additionally, the knowledge and material produced through anthropological theory, method and practice is highly susceptible to political manipulation. // Implementing decolonizing practices, whilst entailing a deconstruction and analysis of anthropology’s history and the contemporary implications of that history, does not mean a destruction of the discipline. Rather, their implementation is a step towards a co-authored anthropology that is better equipped to prevent and defend itself against such political misappropriation, and will help to build a discipline that is more open and collaborative (not just consultative) - and therefore stronger than the iterations that preceded it. Furthermore, decolonization in anthropology is essential to the discipline's modern integrity, to take an (extensive) quotation from Jafari and Jobson; ‘Uniquely situated as the axiomatically “most humanistic” of the sciences, an anthropology of the contemporary must draw from a variety of disciplines and methodological approaches if it is to link its corpus of theory and criticism to a liberatory praxis. In a moment in which long-standing features of graduate training in anthropology are being actively reconsidered, the ardent calls of the decolonizing generation and the Association of Black Anthropologists can be ignored only at the peril of the discipline.’ (136)

With that in mind, I’d like to hear more about what practices other people feel will help to decolonize anthropology based on readings from on or off the reading lists.

Cambridge Solidarity and Decolonization Groups ● Decolonize Anthropology’s safe space and various reading groups ● CUSU Women’s Campaign ● CUSU BME Campaign ● CUSU Disabled Student’ Campaign ● Class Act Ontological turn: ● Thinking runs with that which is observed, without generalizing the observed theoretically. ● Relativists relativise by pointing out the ways in which forms of knowledge ● Ontological turn questions the universal validity of everything ● Holbraad ● Involves showing that questions of ‘why’ are founded on misconceptions of the ‘what’ that people are doing ● Political ontology - what things might be as opposed to what they are. How things exist not what exists. ○ Ontology as a new category replacing cultures.

Role of the subject in museums Inability to provide thick descriptions Museums as a social space - contact zone Difficult to provide a ‘message’ in the exhibition What is the role of museums? If the description is inevitably flawed by its insubstantiality then maybe embrace materiality of museums- the fact that it is a contact zone, to prompt more qs and point to research - how do this ● Oceania challenging the view of the RA as they aren’t used ot these narratives/histories challenging them. ME says he wants research on Oceania. Disjunction of context and content? How does the context change the ‘way of seeing’ - i.e placing Oceania in the RA is a certain KIND of audience, certain KIND of reviewer (reviewed in arts of the guardian) ○ Pacifika styles exhibition - artists that came and did residencies and made pieces based off historic pieces. Real tension between artists and curators - art did simple captions. ■ Go back to ATALAY too for how to do decol in museums ○ Art as about interpretation, objects as about thick description and history. ○ Depends on message and intention of artist and curators. ■ Sign and signifiers ■ Meaning of objects depends on the actor/view imbuing them with

meaning How do you draw colonialism into the conversation/ unmask the hidden motives. ● In this way this museum can never be decolonized (Sumaya Kassim) The tools of the master can never give you freedom. However you can do decolonization within a museum - the question is how to do it within an exhibition. THIS FOR DISS/PhD. Brining in source communities/collab - how else? ○ Phd on rep of pacifika in 4 new pacific galleries (bishop, quai branly, New Cali cultural centre, fine arts in s. taiwan) ○ AShe will be here on the 12th of Dec - maybe try to meet? ■ She was just in Rapa Nui ● Curator of Bishop museum is an archaeologist in Rapa Nu ○ Honolulu visit to see this exhibition? Kaline Duron’s thesis on pacifika Exhibitions as part of something bigger - colonialism, tourism, development This is about exhibitions and far more Find an edge ○ Public discourse - role of Oceania in increasing awareness/ talk of decol. Explore context Relationship between repat/restitution plus colonisation repat UEA - Sainsbury Research Unit. Steve Hooper. Look into. ○ Pacific presences. ○ Rapa nui - Americas Team. ■

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Tracing Pacific Identities and inter-cultural realtionships in Museum Representations Colonial/ exotisicm/ fetishization Gift exchange Agency of islanders during transformative phase in late 18th/early 19th centruy Representation of the modes of interaction throughout Pacfic History Summary: Allen, Jafari, and Ryan C. Jobson. 2016. ‘The Decolonizing Generation: (Race and) Theory in Anthropology since the 1980s. Current Anthropology 57 (2): 129–48. ● ‘Understanding decolonization as an ongoing project that seeks to apprehend and, ultimately, displace a “logic of coloniality” that undergirds the experiment of Western modernity (Mignolo 2011; see also Quijano 2000), we caution against an approach that circumscribes what a decolonized anthropology can be.3 Our aim is not to canonize or ossify a singular genealogy of the anthropology of race and post/colonialism but to reflect on the significance of unheralded contributions.’ p.130 ● Paper interrogates what the decolonizing toolkit is, how it can be mobilized in critical discourse and practical application. - & how does ‘project of decolonizing anthropology

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ground and respond to perennial anthropological questions regarding the proper relationship between the internal logics and ethics of the discipline, the people who are studied, and those who are studying; the tension between particularity and similarity (or, e.g., nation and diaspora.); and the challenges of representation and textuality?’ 130 ‘In its search for an unblemished object of study—a pristine native crafted in accordance with the discursive project ofWestern modernity—anthropological discourse has been structured upon silences that conveniently obscure the conditions of intellectual production from which a taxonomy of enlightenment Man qua human was birthed and sustained (see Baker 1998). Among these silences, we include Caribbean anthropologists Fernando Ortiz’s and Jean Price-Mars’s largely uncredited contributions to Herskovitsian theories of acculturation and syncretism (see Allen 2011; Apter 2004; Coronil 1995; Yelvington 2001), the writings of nineteenth-century Haitian anthropologist Anténor Firmin (see Fluehr-Lobban 2000), and the exclusion of key anthropological critics such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Fredrick Douglass, and Zora Neale Hurston, who located themselves in a variety of positions within and outside of the academy (Baker 1998; Blakey 1998; Harrison 1992; Mikell 1999). Among others, these absences and erasures demonstrate the ways in which anthropology has been, and remains, invested in a positivist telos of social scientific knowledge as a linear accumulation of advances and innovations.’ p.131

Bessire, L. & D. Bond. 2014. ‘Ontological anthropology and the deferral of critique’. American Ethnologist 41: 440-456. Blaser, M. 2013. ‘Ontological conflicts and the stories of peoples in spite of Europe: toward a conversation on political ontology.’ Current Anthropology 54(5): 547-568. Wang, M.M. 2002. ‘The third eye: towards a critique of nativist anthropology’. Critique of Anthropology 22(2).

Escobar, Arturo. 2010. Worlds and knowledges otherwise: the Latin American modernity/coloniality research program. In Globalization and the decolonial option. Walter D. Mignolo and Arturo Escobar, eds. Pp. 33–64. London: Routledge. Harrison, F. V. (ed.) 1997. Decolonizing anthropology: moving further toward an anthropology for liberation. 2nd edition. Arlington, VA: American Anthropological Association. Restrepo, E. & A. Escobar. 2005. ‘Other anthropologies and anthropology otherwise: steps to a world anthropologies framework’. Critique of Anthropology 25(2) Smith, L. T. 2012. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London: Zed Books....