ANTH-322

The Colonial Sublime

Week 11: Media & Society - African Cinema and Nollywood Affirming European technological superiority ("the colonial sublime") → idea is that by showing advanced technologies that Africans never seen before, colonists could get them to submit to colonial rule

African Cinema Movement

Week 11: Media & Society - African Cinema and Nollywood Basic Features: Has political message, professional quality, screen at film festivals, directors educated at film schools, government funded, seek to counteract Hollywood portrayals and develop "African aesthetics", and modernity and traditions in service of political goals. Media = central to independence movement and even after independence was gained • media infrastructures taken over by national gov'ts become "icons of independence" • Larkin tells us that in the case of Nigeria, govt that came into power wasn't interested in tradition at all but in a modern nation state • Discussion of witchcraft has made a resurgence • Films as "mental tractors"...breaking the hard ground of tradition to plant the seeds of progress "a critical cultural project with roots in the early independence era" "sought to repudiate stereotypes of Africans in Hollywood and ethnographic films by revealing the depth of Africa's cultural heritage" "aesthetically and politically avant-garde using alternative narrative and visual forms that were distinctively African" "tied into the wider effort to combat cultural imperialism and build a 'new world information order'" • FEPACI (check acronym) • Start holding congresses and making declarations → modeled on the pan-African congress movement o At second congress in1975, filmmakers issue statement about need to raise awareness through didactic political messages o This explains why these films are popular with a more cerebral audience at film festivals than at universities • Ousmane Sembene "the father of African cinema" → exception of rule of African films not being watched in Africa o Intelligent, well-made films that explore cultural and social issues that emerge during independence movement o E.g., Xala wrestling of tradition and modernity i.e., man wearing a suit, drinking Evian water, yet wanting to partake in traditional polygamy

N!ai; The Story of a !Kung Woman

Week 12: Discourses of Gender -Directed by John Marshall and Adrienne Miesmer -point: to see different types of ethnographies -the same people who were in the hunters over 20 years later -see a huge progress in John Marshal's approach to documenting → he had this voice of god approach and wasn't reflexive in first film but this has change by this film -these individuals have all been relocated to these homelands and can no longer hunt and are all facing issues of poverty and disease because of colonialism -Methodological approach tells us the story of culture change through the eyes of N!ai instead of through the voice of the narrator Report info in informant's own words → this approach originates in discipline of women's and gender studies - Marshall is reflexive now about his own presence as an ethnographer in the film and of his impact on N!ai e.g. she comments on his impact on her experiences

Reassemblage

Week 13: Visual Anthropology and Sensory Ethnography -Reassemblage film directed by Trinh T. Minh-ha •issue of gender: -dont see many men-very "woman centric" -see close ups of women's breasts- the more you see an image the more you become desensitized to it- trying to force the viewer (western) to think about their own norms when it comes to nudity in order to realize that it is only one was of looking at the world -women as the "keepers of fire" -she seems to be more interested in images for their shock/asthetic value -another interpretation- the reason why you only see women- because the men are out hunting- see a contrast with "the hunters" -she inserts anecdote of a man and his wife going to see a slide show of this community and the man claiming that he has seen pornography- these women walking around topless is not pornographic- it is their way of life -peacecorps volunteer who comes in to train women to grow vegetables- sits on his front step of his newly constructed house listening to his walkman (ignoring and interacting with people around him) also see a scene of women griding millet, corn a crop they have grown and harvested for centuries (shows the irony of someone coming in to teach them how to plant crops)- suggests an inorganic relationship- in both cases (the ethnographer who comes to study society but falls alseep with his tape recorder off when he has finished analyzing what he is interested in) people have come for a particular purpose and tend to miss important aspects of society- they look at the village in individually critical ways without actually experiencing it -also hear some voices untranslated because she is more interested in the visual- but we still don't get to know what they are trying to say -she is not trained as an anthropologist, but she is critical of anthropology- she sees this as a different way of engaging with those she is studying -she has been criticized for having a low level of knowledge of those she observes *Reassemblage- 1982* - filmed 5 different ethnic groups in rural Senegal - she claims that her work is stand alone and does need context and interpretation - the film is experimental, sound is not always synced with film, used jump cuts- doesn't want you to get too comfortable- wants you to remember that there is someone editing it and putting it together - draws attention to development, how underdeveloped they are and to the various levels of undress they take for granted - she definitely wants us to feel uncomfortable about observing them- she also makes a point of alluding to the idea that observing from afar might voyeuristic and culturally grounded- when she observes the women washing their clothes from afar, they see her and invite her to film them up close - sensory ethnography- about constructing images that speak from body to body- more emotional-rather than mind to mind- like seeing someone touching a hot stove and burning their hand- you will feel that in your body rather than if your heard about it - "polygamy, its good for the man" - "I'm in a circle of looks" • this is her trying to undercut her own authority- as she looks at other people, there all these people looking at her with their own perspectives - shows that her perspective is one perspective among many • it is not a linear narrative - there have been a lot of criticisms of Trinhs work- seen as problematic • she is still objectifying the people she documents- just in a different way • is it ok to use a close up of a woman's breast to make a point of western views on nudity when the woman may not understand the full implications of the use?

engaged anthropology

Week 14: Participatory Video and Indigenous Media Aside: Engaged Anthropology "an engaged anthropology is committed to supporting social change efforts that arise from the interaction between community goals and anthropological research." -American Anthropological Association

Transcultural cinema

Week 14: Participatory Video and Indigenous Media Aside: Engaged Anthropology Transcultural cinema- David Macdougall - the fact when images evoke sense memories in the viewer- the viewer projects these senses back onto the film - links the self and the other through the common sensory world (the viewer connects with what they are viewing because they have been there before)

The "Year of Africa"

Week 4: Pan Africanism and Independence Movements Cesaire and Senghor- Negritude • 1960 " The Year of Africa", 17 African countries gained independence • Angola did not gain independence until 1975 • Liberation struggle continued for the next two decades "1960 is sometimes called the Year of Africa because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. The year represented a peak in the decolonization of Africa and the sudden appearance of the continent as a major force in the United Nations. These rapid political changes led to speculation and hope about the future of Africa as a whole; yet at the same time, the continent was beginning to face the realities of post-colonial violence. This year also saw the beginning of armed opposition to South African Apartheid government, with political ramifications across Africa and around the world."

Invented Traditions

Week 6: New Understandings of Modernity and Tradition - Anthropology after Independence Ranger reading Invented traditions • The colonial powers wanted to make it look like the way they were governing was a continuation of African societies, but that was only on surface, at deeper level was trying to reshape African tradition Invented Traditions in Rural Africa: • Changes in role of village chiefs: Given jurisdiction over fixed territory, checks n authority was eliminated e.g., of reshaping that happens under colonialism : before chief had jurisdiction over a kinship group and now it was over a territory o Decentralized despotism (Mandani) local despots that could rule but only exercising will of colonial govt • Codification of previously flexible traditions of ule now have to write everything down and have rules can go to in order to know how rule should be exercised in a given situation • Reshaping and sometimes complete making up of ritual divisions Invented Traditions in Urban Africa: • Direct enforcement of colonial laws; Africans subject to colonial police, courts, etc... • A rift opens btwn "traditional" rural and "modern" urban Africans: each group conceives political belonging in a different way. Rural Africans through tribe, urban Africans through the state these two groups had different privileges under the colonial system Invented Traditions and Africanism: • the tribe this elite that generates the leaders that come to power after independence o goal is to achieve success within container of the state and then to take it over for themselves • stereotypes created by anthros e.g., every African should be divided into a tribe : probably genuinely believed that Africans were all involved with a tribe bc this is how anthros have been writing about Africans for the past century • V.Y. Mudimbe's theory of "Africanism" philosopher and professor from the DRC o He's interested in the ways in which African is produced out of a power relationship btwn Africa and the west o For him, Africanism is an implicit body of knowledge enacted in Western art and literature o Because Western representations of African are always informed by preexisting repertoire, can never be accurate o E.g., African Witchcraft subconscious network of value judgments that is a result of own social background BUT he says that now even Africans have begun to think of Africa in the way Europeans do ▪ Draw on a network of preconceived value judgments witchcraft = illogical ▪ Way of thinking about Africa in the west, always implies this sort of hierarchy Western people think western way of understanding the world is universal but African way of understanding the world can never achieve the same thing • European conception of tribal identities based on accounts of travelers, missionaries, and anthropologists, as well as European understandings of how group identity operated; "Every African belongs to a tribe, just as every European belonged to a nation" • In reality, before colonization, many Africans were not "members" of one sealed tribe, but were involved in various "overlapping networks of association and exchange" identity conceived in diff way than it was conceived in Europe o In all cases, colonial authorities misinformed thought they were returning Africans to true way of life Invented Traditions and African Agency: • many Africans manipulated traditions to own advantage • it is not only Europeans who reshape African traditions. Africans manipulate conceptions of "tradition" for their own purposes • For e.g., many chiefs complicit in maintaining role of chief more authoritarian • "invented" tribes serve as a source of unity for revolt against colonialism Invented Traditions and the "Problem" of the African State • Ethnic/tribal division persist after independence • Urban cities = divided • Seek control to whole nation conflict with rural leaders • Systems of government also remain largely unchanged • Persistence of ethnic divisions, along with European systems of government, leads to "tribalization" of bureaucracy and government • Conflict btwn urban elites and rural leaders, often playing out along tribal/ethnic lines • Africanization : removing non-Africans from jobs, then distinguished unfairly to different ID groups, creating relations btwn ethnicities• Ranger argues that this primordial identities of Africans were actually a colonial construct o Colonists did this bc helped them exercise rule if have clear idea which tribe is which and which leader is which, have a clear schema of who was powerful and would enforce power over whom o But European colonists also influenced by underlying biases - had idea in Europe that everyone was the member of one nation state and this was kind of your core identity and, as with a lot of other things, assumed that since this is true of Europe, it must be true of Africa as well ▪ Bc didn't have formal nation states, figured they all must have a tribe ▪ If know what tribe belong to, then know in what ways to rule them • But even during colonialism, many Africans kept many allegiances

The "anti-politics machine"

Week 8: Development as Discourse Development Discourse and 'The Anti-Politics Machine' • Ferguson uses the metaphor of the machine which appears to be neutral but is actually spreading state power • Rather than looking at who's politically responsible for poverty, positions them as a technical problem that needs to be solved • It's not one political party advancing its control or cause but just well-meaning people trying to make the situation better • Not only govt. of Leostho that got to expand control bc of this project, it's also Western institutions and govts which are able to expand control in other countries through development projects • We act as thought it is one actor that is doing something and Ferguson points out that not one actor such as govt or state that can do things, really a hub that this network works around → not attribute agency to a state or a govt.

Expectations of Modernity

Week 9: Globalizing Modernity Ferguson - Expectations of Modernity p.16 Can't really neatly separate theory and the thing theory is supposed to be analyzing anymore Thinks these theories are leaving something out concerning global inequality Africans don't see themselves as equal to the west → not enough to say Africa is modern too and modern in their own way bc for many people Ferguson is interviewing, modernity seems to be out of reach for them Kwame's photo project: • While people are real, trapping of modernity in the murals or images aren't Most of Zambians he interviews don't conceive modernity as something they have now but something they have lost and achieved once

Global Flows

Week 9: Globalizing Modernity For the adherents of the cultural hybridization thesis,the global flows of commodities, capital, information, technologyand ideology have fed on the displacement and differentiation of territorial space and cultural artifacts, thereby "giving rise to hybridentities that are not reducible to either the global or the local" (Ritzer, 2010, p. 274). Globalization vs. modernity: • Globalization → notion of international flows is something that Ferguson wants to take up in his reading o None of these definitions are right or wrong → key point is whether the way in which the person defines it allows us to use the concepts to illuminate a finding o Globalization of Capital → increased flow of investment o Transformations in Governance → o Changes in Culture → how local cultures are globally influenced and they change Globalization of Capital • Emergence of capitalist "global economy" • Economic growth a path to social improvement ("global convergence narratives") • The big general narrative that Africa is modern allows us to side step the general inequalities within Africa → there is a risk that a really triumphal narrative (like the clip about how Africa is modern as a whole) can sweep inequality under the rug • Ferguson: capital does not "flow" it "hops" from place to place → capital does not flow as much as hop from one place to another ...get people investing where there is economic development but that doesn't flow outward to whole country and whole economy o Hopping from place-to-place has become more prevalent in recent years • Global capital has gone from socially thick to socially thin → governments don't require social investment from countries investing in...just care about investment itself o Seen in Zambia → during economic boom individual Zambians saw their lives get better but now the areas that are invested in are more isolated and employ a very small number of workers and are usually imported from abroad instead of being hired locally Transformations in Governance • "hollowing out" of the African state → happened differently in different places o changes in governance are often uneven within the same nation state • "useful Africa" → governed by NGOs or lawless (the useful part of the government is governed differently than the useless parts - more guarded, higher levels of investments, national law does not apply Changes in Culture • What is modernity?: Johannes Fabian, 'Time and the Other' • Anthropologists need to stop looking at Africa as an earlier version of the west • Idea that they are living ancestors and that by analyzing these cultures we can connect with out past • Fabian argues that anthros need to place Africans on the coevol timeline with the west o African traditions are just as modern as what goes on in western societies Arjun Appadurai 'Modernity at Large' • There might be different ways of bieng modern • Modernity should be applied to any cultural practice being performed in contemporary era • There are alternative ways of being modern

"Priority in time"

Week 10: Reconceptualizing Identity Background: Changing Definitions of Indigeneity • Prior to 1980s "essentialist" definition based on "priority in time" o In non-settler context, it was kind of unclear if there were indigenous people or if they were who they were • But in 1980s see a new architecture for human rights and a new conception of indigeneity • These new institutions need to define who gets to be a member o Rather than doing it based on this essentialist method, UN decides they need a new definition of indigeneity or who qualifies to be indigenous o Have a general guideline of who gets to participate but anyone who identifies as indigenous can participate o Africans started to participate in this indigenous peoples' movement

Strategies of Extraversion

Week 10: Reconceptualizing Identity E.g. wear traditional garb at international meetings in an effort to show "I am indigenous" emphasizes that you belong there even though on a regular day, you wear western clothing • Idea that we were here first, therefore, we must be indigenous → identifying yourself as being culturally distinctive and marginalized people • Basically how the indigenous say they are indigenous

U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Week 10: Reconceptualizing Identity The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. Africans began to participate in early 1990s Formation of umbrella organizations such as UNPFII 2 of 8 expert positions in UNPFII reserved for Africans Participation on the basis of cultural distinctiveness and discrimination by national majority groups Why do Africans invoke indigenous identity?: 1) gaining support for longstanding claims to land rights and cultural autonomy 2) access to donor funds targeted for indigenous organizations 3) genuine feelings of solidarity and commonality with other indigenous groups

Strategic traditionalism

Week 10: Reconceptualizing Identity • Informal mechanisms of recognition → if delegates recognize you as one of them, accepted and if they don't then you're not flexible definition of indigeneity means that criteria for membership is the acceptance of claims by other indigenous peoples Example: Rehoboth Baster (see below) continued lack of recognition by home states, marginalization of Africans in indigenous peoples movement groups thus engage in "strategies of extraversion" designed to emphasize cultural distinctiveness, continued practice of traditional livelihoods, etc. o E.g., Rehboth Baster → community in Namibia • Forced off their land after Namibian independence bc land given to black Namibians Representatives of this community stood up and then Namibian govt. said that that's only bc they took the land from Namibians Didn't see this as a legitimate claim to indigeneity Not really about legitimacy over grievance of the land but more "you're not indigenous and this is the wrong forum for you to bring this up"

Nollywood

Week 11: Media & Society - African Cinema and Nollywood Basic Features: "crowd pleasing plot", poor technical quality, distributed on DVD, directors have no formal training, privately funded, borrow freely from a variety of outside styles, and depictions of modernity and tradition reflect popular belief. Different infrastructures → While African cinema tends to be shot on film, now Nollywood = distributed on videotapes and DVDs Differing Views on Nollywood: Some see it as bad for Nigeria's image, sexist, misogynistic, glorifying consumption and religion, and use of primitive stereotypes. Others see it as a democratic, popular form of communication, transcending traditional media hierarchies, and in tune with the values, hope and views of the majority of Nigerians. "What is good about Nollywood is...that it has revealed to us where the collective desires of a large portion of the African population reside. We can now go to work to try to understand what these desires are made of and what can be done about them cinematically." Nollywood and society: a response to economic insecurity and inequality "compress politics, wider social conflict, and material inequalities into relations between people" e.g., importance of family and informal networks for economic advancement

Milking the Rhino

Week 11: Media & Society - African Cinema and Nollywood Directed by David E. Simpson • Main topic is community conservation in Maasai community and Himba (check) and both communities experimenting with tourism as a way to preserve wildlife and to create revenue • In both these cases we see community led conservation → community conservation tries to move beyond harsh model, these projects want to create an economic incentive to preserve wildlife bc wildlife attracts tourists o Benefiting from tourism revenues, have incentive to maintain these animals o But what comes along with tourists is they don't only want to see the animals but also the local people and local culture → see problems that are inherent when bring in outsiders in order to experience in a particular culture • Seems to be outsiders dictating two local communities on how to present their culture Also see self-conscious objectification of some groups of their ethnic and cultural identities for economic purposes in this film

Ethnicity, Inc.

Week 11: Media & Society - African Cinema and Nollywood Ethnicity Inc. is a term coined by John and Jean Comaroff in their book of the same name. It was discussed during the lecture on indigeneity and pastoralism. Ethnicity, Inc. refers to the self-conscious objectification by some groups of their ethnic or cultural identities for economic purposes such as attracting tourism. Ethnicity, Inc. is significant because it is an example of strategic traditionalism. Strategic traditionalism helps to break down the idea, prevalent in early anthropology, that African cultures are less "modern" or "evolved" than Western cultures. Instead, the concept of strategic traditionalism shows that, even when they appear to be partaking in "traditional" practices, African cultures are fully part of the modern world. Contrary to writers who believe that the objectification of ethnicity renders it less authentic or shallow, Comaroff and Comaroff argue that Ethnicity, Inc. can serve as a way of preserving revitalizing ethnic identity and cultural practices. We saw an example of Ethnicity, Inc. in the film Milking the Rhino. The Maasai and Himba communities depicted in this film are marketing a certain vision of their traditional culture to tourists, but are using this to fund community projects such as schools. As Milking the Rhino shows, however, there are also perils to Ethnicity, Inc., for instance the need to ensure that it is community members, and not outsiders, who benefit from cultural tourism.

Media Infrastructures

Week 11: Media & Society - African Cinema and Nollywood See infrastructures of media start to be built → the technology in order to produce media yourself also becomes more accessible "Infrastructure...refers to [the] totality of both technical and cultural systems that create institutionalized structures whereby goods of all sorts circulate, connecting and binding people into collectives" (6). Can be "hard" (e.g. broadband networks) or "soft" (e.g. language knowledge) The "scaffolding" of transnational mediascapes New infrastructures build on old infrastructures Larkin has an expansive notion of what infrastructure means → he has this concept of soft infrastructure which may not be something physical or tangible but something like knowing a language which can help videos circulate outside a place to different audiences • The "scaffolding" of transnational mediascapes • New infrastructures build on old infrastructures → have new flow of technology operating through and old infrastructure • With the idea of soft infrastructure → see in Nollywood through convos has, guy talking about how colonialism was driving force behind Nigerians starting their own films

Mediascapes

Week 11: Media & Society - African Cinema and Nollywood Things like video cameras and televisions and satellites start to become more accessible to the average person in an African country The global spread of "the electronic capabilities to produce and disseminate information" and the images and ideas created with these technologies Circulation of images and ideas as part of transnational mediascapes can serve to "produce locality." • There is now more of a broad-based transnational distr. Of technologies and infrastructures that make it possible to create and distribute medias internationally • While these networks are global in scope, they are local in their effects

The aesthetics of outrage

Week 12: Discourses of Gender "A narrative based on continual shocks that transgress religious and cultural norms and are designed to provoke and affront the audience" (Larkin, p. 184). "The negation of morality in the film is designed to stimulate it in the audience, vivifying social norms and making them subject to public comment" (p. 186) An effect of feeding school children and adults alike with a consistent menu of misrepresentations about Africa...is the reproduction of hierarchies that exclude and render invisible African humanity and creativity"

Auto-ethnography

Week 12: Discourses of Gender *Cornwall* Are there problems with the ways in which African women are portrayed? How do we get beyond problematic discourses to account for real lived experiences? - Various anths have tried to develop new ways of writing about women's experiences. Often there is something male about how African cultures have been objectified, so we need to find new ways of documenting knowledge which don't reinscribe these hierarchies. Alternative Methodologies: - Personal narrative approach adopted by reading [Abwunza]: directly transmits words of African informants. As a critique of this. An auto-ethnography; she studies her own paternal village.Auto-ethnography vs personal narratives? We need to overcome structural obstacles which stand in the way of producing auto-ethnographic accounts, says Amadiume. She went back to her home. She says 'third world women' (written in the 90s), are uniquely suitable to carry out these ethnographies as they have multiple identities - they can have one foot in both European and African worldviews. She also has a different take on ethnography - she thinks it is incredibly personal and cannot be objective. She herself changed over the course of her fieldwork. In many ways, her book is an account of finding her own way within a complex community. Her writing style is very different from Abwunza, who writes things in a very traditional way. Amadiume throws us into the middle of the community and instead expects the reader to search through this and make sense of it. She also includes long quotations - e.g. a meeting with women's council. A key difference is that she reports her own words as well as the women's words - dialogical, she is reflexive and doesn't try to objectively transmit local narratives. She accounts for the ways that Nyamnjoh asks - she is implicated in the knowledge construction which is given to the reader. She does, however, see that western ethnographers can do things successfully which don't reinforce problematic relations. She says you have to 'let yourself go', open yourself up to different ways of seeing the world. Other potential solutions used to get around discourses: - Rather, we need to find accounts produced by African women of their day to day lives which already exist - eg look to literature by African women writers, says Griffiths. Eg So Long a Letter. - The last solution is a refusal of narrative completely. Sees that we can't get beyond discourse: Minh-ha writes in a way which tries to disorient, challenge you and make you think about knowledge construction.

Personal narratives approach

Week 12: Discourses of Gender Emerges from feminist theory in late 80s and 90s. Developed from a book and a group. Abu-lughod was the forefront of this as she explored Bedouin women. This approach often is referred to as narrative ethnography Often characterised by extensive use of direct transcriptions of the words of female research informants Tries to avoid the tendency to speak FOR women. There is something appealing about this - a narrative ethnography. Feminist theory at the time was particular concerned with the day to day experiences of women and the meanings that gender had, and so the best way to understand these things were through local, narrative accounts. Example: Abwunza Book is her result of her husband's community in western Kenya. She says she is interested in gender roles, institutions such as marriage, women's work, interested in traditional gender roles are changing. In many ways her ethnography is an example of the 2nd trend by Cornwall - a concern with the gender division of labour. She desires to account for women's power and agency. She sees women are not always acted on - they are also actors. We get a sense of internal diversity as well as agency of local women which we wouldn't if it wasn't a narrative account 2nd example: N!ia, a !Kung women. Another example of these personal narratives. What strikes you about these accounts? Auto-ethnography vs personal narratives? We need to overcome structural obstacles which stand in the way of producing auto-ethnographic accounts, says Amadiume. She went back to her home. She says 'third world women' (written in the 90s), are uniquely suitable to carry out these ethnographies as they have multiple identities - they can have one foot in both European and African worldviews. She also has a different take on ethnography - she thinks it is incredibly personal and cannot be objective. She herself changed over the course of her fieldwork. In many ways, her book is an account of finding her own way within a complex community. Her writing style is very different from Abwunza, who writes things in a very traditional way. Amadiume throws us into the middle of the community and instead expects the reader to search through this and make sense of it. She also includes long quotations - e.g. a meeting with women's council. A key difference is that she reports her own words as well as the women's words - dialogical, she is reflexive and doesn't try to objectively transmit local narratives. She accounts for the ways that Nyamnjoh asks - she is implicated in the knowledge construction which is given to the reader. She does, however, see that western ethnographers can do things successfully which don't reinforce problematic relations. She says you have to 'let yourself go', open yourself up to different ways of seeing the world.

Male daughters, Female Husbands

Week 12: Discourses of Gender in Igbo communities, gender and biological sex are not necessarily coterminous understanding of alternative gender systems is crucial when studying political position of women in African societies Ifi Amadiume, 'Male Daughters, Female Husbands', p. 2 from Cornwall, 'Readings in Gender in Africa' The methods adopted by Western feminists in the 1960s and 70s "indicated to Black women that White feminists were no less racist than the patriarchs of social anthropology whom they were busy condemning for male bias. The fantasized a measure of superiority over African and other Third World women." Amadiume, Male Daughters, Female Husbands, p. 3 Recall: Barbara Heron, Colonial Continuities Example: Abwunza She describes a gender system which is very different to a European system of male/female. She saw that gender and biological sex are not necessarily coterminous.

the pictorial turn

Week 13: Visual Anthropology and Sensory Ethnography - The Pictorial Turn: "Until the 1980s, all the dominant theoretical paradigms were based on general principles of abstraction and generalization. In contrast, film, by its nature, is resolutely concrete and particular" - Paul Henley- feels that up until 1980s, all dominant paradigms in anthropological films were based on genral principles of abstraction and generalization- wanted to say something in general about a particular culture- yet film is really good at showing particular people in particular instances Therefore, in contrast to text, film by it's nature, is concrete and good at showing particular people and particular instances

Trinh Minh-ha: Woman/Native/Other

Week 13: Visual Anthropology and Sensory Ethnography - not an anthro, well known by traditional anthropologists for criticizing the anthropological way of traditionally objectifying knowledge- the taken for granted universals that are actually western world views • work is concerned with exposing the discourses implicit in objective ethnographic knowledge- she was writing in the early 1980s-90s- at the time she was concerned with the failure of anthropologists to acknowledge that they were bringing their own worldview into their analysis of other cultures (assumes they are all male) • she is asking for subjectivity- the understanding that the way you look at a the world is not universal, but a product of tradition • she wants to tear down the whole idea of object knowledge, not just give a different prospective • her hope is that in challenging and disorienting her audience, they will question their own biases- will start to realize that what they believe is not universally true • she studies in Senegal - she cuts together her footage to make her audience uncomfortable- to expose something about the western way of looking at the world- see a lot of breast- not pornographic, just another way of dress - women/native/other: the traditional subjects and blind spots of anthropology • thinks that the methodologies that relegates certain people to either beings subjects or omitted- the traditional way of using language privileges those with power (white english men), and marginalizes those who don't (locals, women, etc.) • she includes herself in the category of other even though she does come from a prestigious academic background- she acknowledges that her film is just one perspective of things- - not speaking about, but speaking nearby- instead of providing an authoritative account- she talks about what it is like to live among them without saying anything concrete

Shared Anthropology

Week 13: Visual Anthropology and Sensory Ethnography -Approach created by Jean Rouch • Best known for his approach to filmmaking which he called "shared anthropology" filmic subjects deeply involved in determining film content, style, message films often explicitly acknowledge the ethnographer's presence "Most ethnographic filmmakers have tried to create the illusion of the ethnographic present, without anthropologist. The possibilities of Rouch's approach are important. It is not just a matter of showing the anthropologist in a scene or two but of building the films around the inescapable fact that an anthropologist and a filmmaker are on the spot and are interacting with the people and thus influencing behavior." • In this approach, subjects allowed to speak for themselves and also deeply involved in planning, shooting and editing the film → became a co-constructing btwn people and Rouch o People determined content, style and message of the film o E.g., Moi un Noir → made in late 1950s so there was no sync sound so when you think it seems they're talking Rouch actually let them come into studio and improvise what was going on in that filmed scene • Rouch liked to incorporate himself in his films and acknowledge his presence e.g., Chronicle of a Summer → last scene of the film is him and his co-directors walking around and talking about whether they were hapy with film, what they left out etc... so see them reflecting on their limitations and shortcomings and the way they could've constructed the film • See that Rouch is ahead of his time in terms of reflexivity and acknowledging his positionality that most anthros don't start doing until the 1970s and 80s • "ethno-fiction" using fiction/fantasy to reveal emotion/experience e.g., moi un noir we see fantasy sequence where Edward G Robinson is fantasizing about beign a boxer and see him in the ring and knowcks out the guy and wins the match → not clear where real life ends and fantasy begins but for Rouch it's beyond the point bc he doesn't think he can depict exactly what that life is bc he is not them and living in their lives but can reveal what the experience of that life can be like and part of that experience is people's dreams and not an objective account but a personal one

Jean Rouch

Week 13: Visual Anthropology and Sensory Ethnography -he is an outlier- made most of his films in West Africa -best known for his approach to film making known as "shared anthropology" -Karl Heider- sees that Rouch is really ahead of his time- acknowledges positionality and reflexivity (most other anthros began in 1970s and 80s) • Best known for his approach to filmmaking which he called "shared anthropology"

The Harvard Movement

Week 13: Visual Anthropology and Sensory Ethnography • John Marshall (The Hunters) Robert Gardner (The Nuer) and Timothy Asch are three founding fathers of post-war ethnographic film → Start to work together at Harvard University • The first big success in terms of the films is the hunters → widely watched in anthro classes but also did the film festival circuit and became widely popular and accessible to general audience as well o Start to merge these two notion of film making (of popular audience as well as for documenting actual cultural practice) • Increased interest in subjective experience of filmic subjects • Films appeal to both anthropologists and general audiences • Harvard directors were transparent about things like 4 different giraffe hunts taking place but still shows how a giraffe hunt is actually done o Maintains scientific integrity of their films • Criticism → Rarely allowed subjects to speak for themselves o Dominant voice until early 1970s is the ethnographers or voice over artist reading words of director o Subjects not allowed to comment reflexively on a film being done about them • These films are primarily teaching tools and are illustrations of ethnographic knowledge

"the quick"

Week 14: Participatory Video and Indigenous Media Aside: Engaged Anthropology - "The quick"- Macdougall - a fleeting moment in which a film evokes a sensory/emotional response(havnt really formulated into words) in a viewer as apposed to a rational thought in response to language - images can speak from mind to mind and "body to body" evoking sense memories in the viewer- feeling a pang of sadness/ cringed in pain- the feelings we get from an image or film and that we can sort of describe in language, but not really films can speak from "body to body" evoking "sense memories" in the viewer → engage all of our senses including our emotions e.g., #1 the Nuer forehead marking scene evokes pain in viewer • example 1- the Nuer- cut lines in boy's forehead- seen as a beauty mark- very bloody- speaks to own emotions and senses that languages cannot communicate • example 2- boy cradling baby goat- The Himba- might evoke what it feels like to have a soft furry thing in your arm - John Berger- the photograph is lucid because it speaks to the memory of what our finger tips have felt- and brings back the pleasant feelings associated with it- speaks to our bodies and senses and not to intellect/mind - this is seen to not be a part of traditionally ethnography- does not answer any of the traditional question that traditional ethnography ask (what are their beliefs, etc.)- doesn't tell us anything scientific about their culture • this kind of sensory or emotional response falls out of the realm of anthropology → traditional theorists of ethnographic film like Heider would say this o thinks it wouldn't be a successful ethnography bc doesn't answer any important questions e.g., what are kinship relations like, how do they construct language? None can be answered in a passage showing a baby boy playing with baby goat → nothing scientific in it - What qualifies as ethnographic knowledge? → MacDougall's wanted to re-conceptualize what ethnographic knowledge is

David and Judith MacDougall

Week 14: Participatory Video and Indigenous Media Aside: Engaged Anthropology - David and Judith Macdougall: - one of their most known films- Wedding camels- discussing bride wealth payment and its surrounding issues in a Turcana community - approach that does away with voice of god narration- actually shows the ethnographer getting to know and understand the community - there are clear topics that they are interested in - advantage of working as a husband/wife team- allows for greater access to a different informants - there is no narration- all written in subtitles - Judith does speak Turkana- so you hear her posing questions - what is innovative- it doesn't claim any sort of ethnographic authority- just show a series of conversations that occur with film makers and member of the community- shows a slice of life- don't make broad statements of the culture- any broad statement- "women marry older men" is sort of undercut by people who belong to the culture- show that you can't generalize

sensory ethnography

Week 14: Participatory Video and Indigenous Media Aside: Engaged Anthropology - visual anthropology/sensory ethnography • attempt to convey information that cannot be translated into language • concerned with experience not facts, speaks to the sense not the intellect • might experience some aspect of their culture that we can't actually express through words • example Hillary Harris and Robert Gardner : the Nuer 1971 • see the ways in which the herders interact with their cattle - relatively few anthropologists are using these types of innovative methodologies - more conventional anthropology methods are still being used- sensory ethnography- about constructing images that speak from body to body- more emotional-rather than mind to mind- like seeing someone touching a hot stove and burning their hand- you will feel that in your body rather than if your heard about it Sensory ethnography (MacDougal) - the key idea is that images provide an understanding that words can't

Visual anthropology of the particular

Week 14: Participatory Video and Indigenous Media Aside: Engaged Anthropology David and Judith MacDougall: Visual Anthropology of the Particular - their whole thing is that you can get information from a film that you can't get from words - "particular"- they are not interested in giving an account of a cummunity in general like Evans Pritchard and the Azanade - looks at a way in which various forces converge to form the experience of particular individuals at a particular place and time - experience may be intellectual, emotional, and sensory - technique: intense focus on a few individuals, little/no outside narration - made 3 films in the 1970s with the Turcana - the film documents a conflict with Turcana pastorialists with bridal payments- shows internal diversity of community rather than making general statements about it - get a sense that you have gotten to know the subjects as people rather than reps of a culture - the Macdougalls make their presence known, and show how they integrate into the community, how they gain access, very reflexive of their positionality by showing the process of making the film

The "crisis of representation"

Week 14: Participatory Video and Indigenous Media Aside: Engaged Anthropology Film and the crisis of Representation - starts with France Fernand in 1960s - collision with various schools of thought that happens in the late 80s and 90s - 1980s: draws on porstcolonial critique (eg Fanon) and more recent critical works (Mudimbe's invention of Africa) - what all these works have in common- pose a challenge to the authoritative voice of western anthropologists- encourages them to turn inwards and acknowledge their positionality and question the ethics of representing another culture - methodological innovation, including new ways of using film - Macdougalls- Films are concidered an alternative to written ethnography and no longer a compliment to it Visual Anthropology-film and the "crisis of representation" - methodological innovation- anthropologists invested time in creating new ways at approaching ethnography in order to avoid these problemsPV For Research • *A number of anthropologists use Participatory video (PV) as a research tool* • It is a response to the "crisis of representation"/"participatory turn" in development practices in the 70s and 80s development organizations starts to think about ways to involve local communities more in planning and determining how local projects will be organized • Reveals local dynamics, priorities, etc... in a different way than other methods can e.g., use of video allows people to talk about issues that may not feel comfortable talking about in group discussion or written work o E.g., Prof using videos as evidence Much more focused on political advocacy and show video for support to get this palm oil project stopped o Community members need to talk about issues openly to clarify their objectives and create an agenda for moving forward o E.g., Baka woman can't travel to NYC to discuss issues but she can be filmed and then projected to audience in NYC

Indigenous Media

Week 14: Participatory Video and Indigenous Media Aside: Engaged Anthropology Films, videos, and other media objects conceived, directed, edited. And/or produced by indigenous people • Community participation → while not all indigenous media = participatory video, there tends to be more focus on community involvement and community buy-in to these projects than there would to a traditional film • Also, not all participatory videos are made in indigenous communities • Legacy of ethnographic filmmaking → Hire local community members to be crew and assist with making of films and community members began to develop technical skill and often, indigenous directors, got their start as assistant directors or assistants of ethnographic films • Anthropologists become interested in empowering the "native voice" → instead of only speaking on behalf of communities work with, think of ways for the locals to speak for themselves and give them technology to speak for themselves • Media technology becomes more accessible → becomes a lot easier to get this equipment into a rural indigenous community • Global indigenous rights movement → indigenous media makers not only have tools to make these films but also these political objects which they are hoping to accomplish o High quality professional films that portray indigenous communities in a different way than ethnography would e.g., Atanarjuat The Fast Runner • Indigenous directors often interested in something beyond making film aesthetically pleasing but have a political agenda behind it Purpose of Indigenous Media: • 1st point: Reviving or reimagining certain cultural practices or traditions • 2nd point : especially as the global indigenous rights movement is gaining strength, start to use film to communicate across communities a national solidarity movement of indigenous peoples around the world • 3rd point : might make a video in order to lobby the govt. to change a certain program or practice or get an NGO to become more involved or less involved in your community • 4th point : self-explicatory on slide • these 4 broad purposes correspond to 4 different types of audience: o 1st = local community → sometimes film only made for local consumption • e.g, a project that brought together members of both groups and engaged them in discussion to express their views to the broader community and hopefully improve relations between two groups o 2nd = other indigenous communities → can be international • Example #1 : Cholera Prevention → went into rural communities with educational material on sanitation measures but problem was that brought in posters and posters were in French and had white people on them with stoves to boil water on - not very good for Baka that had no stoves and didn't speak French So made a video in Baka community in their language boiling water in their way and then had portable projector and showed this video to other rural Baka communities and this shares materials of different communities of the same indigenous group • Example #2 : Video Dubbing Project → dubbing videos from around the world in Baka language and then took into Baka village and did community screenings where show video from around the world where facing the same problems as Baka So communities that spoke different languages could help share information with one another o 3rd = gov't and NGO actors → might target them with film and target interventions • Example: Addressing Problems in Baka Schools Punishment posting for government postings and Baka people tend to get worst police officers and teachers bc challenging places to work → these teachers and police officers have messed up in their previous employment and get sent to work in Baka Gov't rely on report of principals and teachers but need to go to school to rectify problems and seeing children actually speaking and real people testifying on screen can be a lot more powerful o 4th = general public → show film at Cannes for instance and help them understand something about your indigenous community - a community very different from their own • Example #1 : Indigenous Voices on Climate Change → not only shows support for communities but stimulates broader public actions on these issues Eng'eno film → participatory video • Example 2: WWF Pressure Campaign → the Cameroonian gov't beginning in 1980s implemented Fortress Conservation Model (set territory aside as national park and no one is allowed to go in there) and this has been a very damaging policy for a number of indigenous communities that have been using this land sustainably for generations The WWF has consistently denied that there responsible for any abuses → local people refer to eco guards in film with slang word is doby-doby Most of WWF money comes from individual donations for animals and don't realize other things organization is implicated in → want to address indigenous rights so created campaign called Parks Need Peoples (encourages a model of conservation where local are involved in planning and executing conservation and provided with financial incentives while being allowed to maintain livelihood strategies)

Participatory video

Week 14: Participatory Video and Indigenous Media Aside: Engaged Anthropology • Underlying knowledge that builds understanding and that being in light = better than being in dark but prof. believes we need to go beyond this obtaining new info is not a good enough reason to conduct ethnography of a particular people and place o Ethnographic research needs to think really hard about the political state and how your being there as a researcher is going to benefit them and help them accomplish their political objectives • Community participation while not all indigenous media = participatory video, there tends to be more focus on community involvement and community buy-in to these projects than there would to a traditional film • Also, not all participatory videos are made in indigenous communities Participatory Video • A community or group of community members decide together about a film's content and style and who it is going to be seen by • Distinction btwn collaborative video (less community involvement) and on other end of spectrum have participatory video where locals involved in EVERY aspect of the making of the film

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Week 2: Reflexivity and Positionality -3 blind men and the elephant- because of their position they can only explain the part the touch/experience -elephant is Africa, blind men are anthropologists who refuse to acknowledge their own positionality and discuss Africa as a whole, which is impossible because of all the different cultures and traditions -the goal is not to discover some objective truth, but to share experiences and traditions -he does not want to get rid of anthropologist in order for africans to write their own stories- everyone has their own biases- if everyone could just speak to each other, they could create a more impactful account of whatever they are studying -there is a bias against native anthropologists- they are often marginalized and not heard and if they are heard it is because they have altered their views in order to fit the status quo- if they don't play along, not many people are going to read what they are going to write- a lot fewer people per capita are able to get a PHD in anthropology (become an anthropologist) in Africa

Francis Nyamnjoh

Week 2: Reflexivity and Positionality -Nyamnjo explores issue of positionality and how it impacts how and what we study 'Blinded by Sight' • Literal position in relation to the elephant is determining what they think the ENTIRE elephant is • Assume personal experience of this big object sums up the truth of what it is • Anthropologists have failed to ... • They have then gone to give accounts of Africa as a whole without acknowledging the ways their own position are influencing what they are saying • Claims there might be some things of the elephant that you just can't describe → beyond words o So we have to account for this as well so can only account for some aspects of it o He proposes that anthropology should be les of a monologue and more of a dialogue → more African voices included in the creation of African accounts not just one writer but a collaboration o Collaboration of an outsiders AND perhaps someone from the community • Might be contradictory and not reveal everything but will be interesting! • Does not think that solution is to get rid of anthropologists but rather a platform and equal playing where everyone can touch the elephant so that the account they produce is more impactful and relevant • There's a bias against native anthropologists and that African anthros. are marginalized and can't have voices heard and when they do have voices heard, it's bc they are conforming to status quo or reproducing the same type of knowledge instead of pushing things forward o African Anthros have to play along or won't have their work read or voices heard • He also proposes that we have to look at different places where ethnographic accounts could be written i.e., not only PhDs o A native can have a wealth of knowledge, more-so than a PhD that has spent a few years in the community o he wants to break down some of these institutional barriers

Reflexivity

Week 2: Reflexivity and Positionality -the ability to determine, surface, and factor in the extent to which our dispositions, social backgrounds, and social positions influence, in often veiled and subtle ways, the perspectives we hold on how different or similar to us those we study are (Nyamnjoh) Different types of reflexivity: • 1) reflexivity about specific issues or omissions (e.g., gender) → see article by woman speaking about how women aren't asked questions in ethnographic research (Joesphine Beoku-Boets) • 2) reflexivity about power relations underlying production of ethnographic texts → want to study people not under privileged but people more privileged than you or differently privileged and get around these power dynamics • 3) reflexivity about how ethnographic texts are written and interpreted ethnographic texts → an increasing understanding that ethnographies are not pure representations of "facts", but are interpretations open to multiple different readings Cristicism of Reflexivity: • Archie Mafeje → there is no way to do anthro that doesn't reinforce these power dynamics or become so reflexive that no longer about culture but about you and your experience • Sally Falk Moore → Might encourage you to improvise or just write fiction, maybe do deeply engage with people you came to study but don't require careful research → sloppy research that seem committed and engaged so can say you did research and probably still going to produce a more valuable account than someone who stays somewhere for a day o Don't be afraid to ask questions about someone's work

Positionality

Week 2: Reflexivity and Positionality -• In order to be reflexive, need to acknowledge one's own positionality • Best thing to do is acknowledge your influences • Nyamnjoh claims that all such positionality should be acknowledged in the text and that this was rarely done until recently • Positionality affects what researchers look for, what questions they ask, what interested in etc... • Every time giving an account of someone else, really giving an account of yourself bc all that is influenced by ones positionality • "it's easy to miss something you're not looking for" -The ethnographer's given attributes such as race, nationality, and gender which are fixed or culturally ascribed. Such attributes require textual disclosure when they affect the data, as they always do to some degree -a persons social, economic, sexual, etc. background -it's never really possible to filter these things out, so its better to just acknowledge them and how they influence your work

Presentism

Week 3: Anthropology in Africa during the Colonial Era (1884 - 1960): Evolutionism and Structural Functionalism - With reference to political, social, artistic or intellectual values as they are respected here and now --> using modern theories to critic theories of the past - Important to avoid a presentist reading of Morgan's work

The Berlin Conference

Week 3: Anthropology in Africa during the Colonial Era (1884 - 1960): Evolutionism and Structural Functionalism -1884 berlin conference- held amongst european governments- wanted to set about rules about governing land held in african continent - there was a concern that as european countries fought over land there would be actual war in Europe -set out criteria for recognizing other countries holding on the continent "effective occupation"- had to build up the area, had to effectively occupy it -Europe was hungry for the wealth Africa had to offer

The Hunters

Week 3: Anthropology in Africa during the Colonial Era (1884 - 1960): Evolutionism and Structural Functionalism -Directed by John Marshall -The hunters- example of structural functionalist approach -there was almost no presence of women -whenever a woman is mentioned, she is never given a name- always referred to as so and so's wife -there was a concentration on male activity- clearly it was more acceptable for the person filming (male) to spend time with the men of the community -when this was filmed- synced sound was not possible- have a voice of God narration -not being very reflexive about why he finds the things he finds interesting -does not acknowledge his actual presence

Lewis Henry Morgan

Week 3: Anthropology in Africa during the Colonial Era (1884 - 1960): Evolutionism and Structural Functionalism -Example: Lewis Morgan (ancient Societies 1877) •societies all evolve the same way- Savagery, Barbarism, Civilization •what determined what stage you are in is what tools your society uses, your social practices, etc. •african societies were thought to be at the lowest end •such theories played a key role in underwriting colonialism -important to avoid a presentist reading of Morgan's work (when you use modern theories to critique theories of the past)

Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic

Week 3: Anthropology in Africa during the Colonial Era (1884 - 1960): Evolutionism and Structural Functionalism -he is not interested in what is happening the community, but in constructing a functional account of how the Azande developed their belief system- removed external influences in order to see how they got there- completely ignore colonial influence -didnt use their witchcraft theory to make them seem less evolved- they simply have a different way of understanding things -he writes about a collapse of a grainery- they admit that termites has a part it the actual collapse, but the person who died in the collapse ( we would say it was chance because we have no way of explaining it) they would see it as witchcraft- just another way of seeing things

Armchair Anthropology

Week 3: Anthropology in Africa during the Colonial Era (1884 - 1960): Evolutionism and Structural Functionalism -increasing colonial control lead to increased access to the peoples traditions and culture- big shift in anthro from arm chair anthropology- could move in, live and learn about the culture first hand -evolutionists tend to be arm chair anthropologist who rely on sensationalized travellers and missionary account

Evolutionism

Week 3: Anthropology in Africa during the Colonial Era (1884 - 1960): Evolutionism and Structural Functionalism -involves comparing and often ranking different cultures -influenced by theories of social evolution -societies can be ranked and compared to each other by relatively simple and primitive to complex and civilized cultures -Spencer thought that societies could be ranked in a linear way -European-style civilization seen as the telos (end goal) of social evolution -Example: Lewis Morgan (ancient Societies 1877) • societies all evolve the same way- Savagery, Barbarism, Civilization • what determined what stage you are in is what tools your society uses, your social practices, etc. • african societies were thought to be at the lowest end • such theories played a key role in underwriting colonialism *the first ethnographies* -Felix Regnault- didn't believe that africans were men- looked at them as prehistoric beings -made these films because he was interested in scientific categorization of racial difference -age of evolutionism- at the time it wasnt believed that all races came from the same historical origin

The "Scramble for Africa"

Week 3: Anthropology in Africa during the Colonial Era (1884 - 1960): Evolutionism and Structural Functionalism -was set off by the Berlin Conference -sets off scramble for Africa: over the next 20 years over 90% of Africa was claimed for european occupation • 1880s and 90s were years of terrible upheaval fleet upon fleet of foreign and armed soldiers came to Africa • all this because of massive changes in Europe such as the industrialization period where there was high demand for luxuries from overseas → mass international trade • explorers had found the riches that lay in Africa and Britain and France already owned many African ports • but wasn't just about economics o colonialism became a big feat → nations fighting for supremacy • Act of Berlin → agreement to abolish slavery and allow free trade BUT also drew borders in Africa aka it legalized "the scramble for Africa" • Africans not aware that there were conferences being held to draw lines on their map • A partnership btwn Christian missionaries and colonialists • Racism is part of a colonial system • Cotton industry rose • African towns modeled to look like Dijon, France o And the more French you spoke, the better a chance you had o Created grievances in Africa o Made to believe that they had no civilization and no culture • British colonialists lacked credibility in the eyes of the people • King Leopold → brutal dictator of the Congo o People underwent mutilations if they became work-shy o Rapid development came at expense of personal freedoms • Africans forced to fight for their motherland in 1914 WWI even if they had never set foot on motherland's soil • After WWII there were reforms in colonial system o Idea of extension of citizenship to all people *have to be careful in thinking colonialism happened to Africans as if they had no agency → Africans exercised agency in all sorts of ways → some made alliances, some resisted and when resistance failed, were able to carve out autonomous zones • need to consider agency of people who were colonized and not perceive them as powerless

Structural Functionalism

Week 3: Anthropology in Africa during the Colonial Era (1884 - 1960): Evolutionism and Structural Functionalism -what happens in 20s and 30s- when anthro actually move in with societies- the nature of what they study changes- no longer a need to classify where they rank on scale- more interested in how they work as a society -this system is a system oriented approach •tribal vs. modern industrial systems -systems are composed of social institutions and laws developed in order to achieve social stability -difficulty accounting for social change- often there is no account for how societies have changed over time, how they are being reshaped/ drastically shaped by the colonial system that is being put into place -in some ways a progressive school of thought •functionalists often believe that african belief systems are simply a different way of evolving given their environment *critiques* -african tribe societies seen as frozen in time- -overemphasize on tribal isolation- and how trade with outsiders could have changed things -underplaying of social conflict and change -africans portrayed as noble savages- sort of a longing or wistfulness, purer of closer to nature and lacking problems that occurred in Europe of the time -western beliefs are universal and african beliefs are particular when structural functionalism comes to the floor and ethnographic fieldwork •there were two kinds: -1)research footage: made by and for professional anthropologists- in order to avoid losing information by transmitting it through text -shows aspects of culture that cant easily be described in words -film shot by George Basdin- started out by writing sensational travel accounts, but then became more interested in being objective and scientific-started documenting through film- not meant for general public, meant to gain credibility with Royal Anthropological Institute• 2)Narrative: made in 1920-30 as cinema became popular to general audience in Europe and US - these films provided genuine films of foreign people, took a lot of liberties in transmitting factual accounts of these cultures - would change names so that they were easier to say, would caste actors in the roles of inuit families, developed set- the idea was to use these things to get at something culturally true - use artifice in the surface of entertainemnt and a larger truth - anthropologists viewed these as popular entertainment- eventually they were taken as more relevent

E.E. Evans-Pritchard

Week 3: Anthropology in Africa during the Colonial Era (1884 - 1960): Evolutionism and Structural Functionalism Structural functionalist *witchcraft, oracles, and magic among the Azande (1937)* -not reflexive: -nowhere does he say that he was a colonial official while he collected all his information -french anthropologists- more interested in ways of thinking, conceptualizing things- see this influence in Evans words -evans pritchard text doesnt not tell us anything about the azande- we just have to realize that it is only one version of the story An example of an account that doesn't include colonial reshaping of the Azande: • Interested not in what is happening in community he lives in but of constructing an account of how Azande social systems work (remove external influences and figure out how things work and write about it before external influences got there) • Didn't use their witchcraft superstition to make them seem less evolved but took it seriously → treated it as just a different way of understanding things • He writes about the collapse of a grainery and that the Azande might believe this to be a consequence of witchcraft whereas western thought would say that termites gnawed at wooden beams and if someone died bc of it, would say it was coincidence or chance and wouldn't blame it on someone having bewitched him o So in Western civilization, don't have an explanation for what happened to this person either, chalk it up to chance whereas Azande chalk it up to witchcraft (actually they believe sudden deaths are from sorcery not witchcraft)

Pan-Africanism

Week 4: Pan Africanism and Independence Movements -the idea that all africans share the same root was the base of many liberation theories -"The idea of one Africa uniting the thoughts and ideals of all native peoples in a dark continent" -the earliest pan-african writers believed in a common african identity based in biology -later writers moved away from this-turned to common historical experience, values, political struggle -these are not anthropological writers- there was a lot more concern with looking at power dynamics and self reflexive and self criticism approaches -anthropologists could no longer rely on colonial access to culture- the relationship between outside anthro and the culture he wanted to study had to be renegotiated under new terms *Critiques of Pan-Africanism* -Traffics in essentialist, romanticized representation of african culture -Ali Mazrui- Pan-Africanism and Essenitalism: •romantic primitivism: "celebrating what is simple about Africa" •Romantic Gloriana: emphasizes that africans had complicated civilizations before colonialists arrived that they would have regarded as valid and important •problem- don't really do anything to challenge these universal ideas of progress and civilization- essentially just trying to fit european status quo •they essentially reclaimed negative stereotypes- but saw them as a way of uniting people and advancing politically- saw them as positive and a way of charting a different path forward -goal is accommodation within colonial modern industrial system -glosses over internal differences between African cultures -Appiah- the idea that descenting voices/ internal differences are just not heard- goes against idea that african are unanimous is believing certain things

Negritude

Week 4: Pan Africanism and Independence Movements Cesaire and Senghor- Negritude -movement emerges in french african diaspora in 1930s -africans united by common cultural characteristics- noble savage characteristics that were discussed in Europe --> Common cultural characteristics, not biological ones, used to help unify Africa -rejects the idea the africans are uncivilized because they possess different culture --> Rather saw them as a different way of being in the world and simply a different culture -These very characteristics that made Africans look uncivilized were given a positive spin and used to provide Africans with a sense of unity → could all identify with these characteristics and be united in them o Wanted to use past values in order to move forward politically o They technically reclaimed negative stereotype but saw them as a way of uniting people and advancing politically → saw them as positive and a way of charting a different path forward - The political objective of pan-afr. Shifted over time → getting rid of colonialism isn't seen as realistic objective but rather the goal is to be treated EQUALLY under colonial rule o However, goal increasingly turns to independence rather than accommodation -critiqued for being essentialist (complete fiction), praised for anticipating theories of cultural hybridity (influenced both by precolonial institutions, and ideas and traditions that came with european colonialism) -• Fanon Rejected both European philosophies and African negritude philosophies->thought they were all indicative of fact that colonizers had created these African intellectuals who were creating these philosophies of negritude

The Colonized Intellectual

Week 4: Pan Africanism and Independence Movements Cesaire and Senghor- Negritude -psychological side effects of when traditional and colonial philosophies encounter each other in the same person these educated africans assimilate as much into colonized culture- start to believe that everything good comes from europe- become "more modern than europeans themselves" -internalization of a modern narrative this educated person goes back to their traditional roots and then they rebel against european colonialism -Fanon- revolutionary Pan Africanism idea of african philosophers or politicians- educated and brought up in western system- they are susceptible to becoming a colonized individual -rejects different philosophies, esp. Negritude -Fanon rejects this kind of thinking because according to him- this is the way Colonialism conquered the African individual

Franz Fannon

Week 4: Pan Africanism and Independence Movements Cesaire and Senghor- Negritude Fanon and Revolutionary Pan-Africanism • Best known African liberation author concerned with liberation on a national level (liberation of Algeria) • Trained as a psychologist so writes a study based on psychological effects of those being colonized • Debatable whether he can be considered a Pan-Africanist • He was very critical of the other Pan-Africanists bc believed that liberation needs to be informed by national cultures->rejected idea of common identity linking Africans of Diaspora and Africans on continent and not helpful to find commonalities btwn the two groups and also rejected idea that Africans share a common personality • He would argue that since colonialism is a violent system and relies of violence, it's legitimate to use violence in service of liberation i.e., if you have been hit first, more justified in hitting back • He died quite young and only ever wrote two famous books: Black Skin White Masks more concerned with psychological perspective of colonialism • Rejected both European philosophies and African negritude philosophies -thought they were all indicative of fact that colonizers had created these African intellectuals who were creating these philosophies of negritude • Paradoxically relying on European theories of socialism and the noble savage • Criticizes idealized construction of African structure->colonial system is so exploitative makes African culture look good by comparison but still based on European stereotypes of African traditions • Believes that in order to be free, African must move beyond this idea of embracing universal ideals • Not to return to past but that liberation has to happen in the here and now and in the struggle against colonialism and not outside philosophies or notions of the past o He argues that the fears that liberation struggles will destroy past traditions are always evoked by colonizers to preserve the status quo o Preserving these traditions doesn't matter to him bc new traditions will be formed in the struggle

Black Consciousness

Week 4: Pan Africanism and Independence Movements Du Bois and Black Consciousness -Political activist and one of first people to articulate socio-historical rather than biological account of African identity -credited with associated a sociological understanding rather than biological one -a socio-historical rather than biological understanding of african identity -common black consciousness links all people of african decent → rooted in common heritage, social experience and common consciousness -key participant in pan-african congress movement → played major role in independence movements -His goal wasn't to change how societies involved but rather that African people should have equal piece of pie therefore goal was still accommodation/participation within american/european democratic and industrial society- wanted them to get an equal share of the pie- wanted them to unite and move forward to advance their political objectives *Note that this notion was not shared by all pan-african advocates - Wanted to unite for same political objectives such as emancipation from slavery in America and for liberation of African countries on the African continent - We don't want to paint the whole pan-african movement as though there were no internal differences

Moi, un Noir

Week 5: From Structural Functionalism to Social Change - Directed by Jean Rouch - shot in 1957 in treichville in Cote D'ivoire - where poor migrant labourers went to work - shot by an anthropologists- one of the first anthropologists to use film to document a culture and social change - the film is being shot around the same time as the hunters- impossible to sink audio and sound (50s) - collaborated with the people who would have been the subject of your research in order to cocreate - women's role gender and sex- narrator constantly referred to women in a sexual manner, and showed that they had clear access to them (bed room scene)- yet they couldn't dub her real voice -Role of women and sex and gender-didn't include voices of women and made them seem complacent the entire movie -Film is good example of new found interest in urbanizing Africans and the changes brought about by colonialism -Interesting approach collaborating with people who traditional will be subject of research and allowing them to create the knowledge with you -We see a moving away form a consideration of social systems and what belief systems a society has and putting individuals at centre -Status of men changed in this new urban milieu

The Rhodes Livingstone Institute

Week 5: From Structural Functionalism to Social Change -founded in 1938-in southern Rhodesia- now Zambia -Gluckman becomes director in 1941- his original research operates more in the traditional functionalist mode- but then gets more interested in contemporary realities and processes of social change •the trend for anthropologist became to stop ignoring the changes in society and the effects of industrialization and to actually include them in their analysis •Gluckman and colleagues rejected the idea of change- you have modern industrialization and traditional cultures- thought that change was more dynamic- all societies are always changing- not to look at cultures as if they were always the same, but too look at how different aspects of the culture have evolved over time - emphasis on conflict, change, and contemporary situation of African people and communities- conflict was at the centre of all of their studies because they viewed at something that could incite change- realized that conflict is not always resolved by social institutions, if it is big enough it can actually change the institutions themselves -"The Manchester School" of anthropology- a term that Gluckman uses a lot- Focus on individuals rather than system- • for structural functionalists the individual was a prisoner of the system that they live in- • social change is more concerned with how a person influences institutions and beliefs - study more urban areas- looked at things like colonial presence, development of heavy industry and migrant labor- and the interaction of modern belief systems and practices with modern industrial ones - Topical sub-specialization- see the end of a totalization of a culture- begin to focus on specific subsystems and cultures- go from writing a book about the belief systems of the Azande to a book about mining systems in a particular culture - first to Use quantitative methods- borrowed tools for economics in order to better understand how a city operates - studies of rural areas focus on village life rather than tribal customs- didn't think of a rural community as an unchangeable whole *Critiques of Rhodes Livingston Institute* - these anthropologists considered themselves progressive- generally very supportive of african independence- staunch advocates for African Interests- as long as they were in an industrial capitalist system - but modern industrial system taken as a given: trying to promote african interests within western-dominated system, rather than change the system itself- moved passed evolutionist ideas

Max Gluckman

Week 5: From Structural Functionalism to Social Change Became director in 1941 of the Rhodes Livingstone Institute Gluckman was a political activist, openly and forcefully anti-colonial. He engaged directly with social conflicts and cultural contradictions of colonialism, with racism, urbanisation and labour migration. Gluckman combined the British school of structural-functionalism with a Marxist focus on inequality and oppression, creating a critique of colonialism from within structuralism. In his research on Zululand in South Africa, he argued that the African and European communities formed a single social system, one whose schism into two racial groups formed the basis of its structural unity. His original research operates more in the traditional functionalist mode, but then gets more interested in contemporary realities and processes of social change: • The trend for anthropologists became to stop ignoring the changes in society and the effects of industrialization and to actually include them in their analysis • Gluckman and colleagues rejected ideas of change that have traditional cultures on one end and modern industrialization on the other • Thought that change was more dynamic and that all societies are always changing and not to look at cultures as if they were always the same but to look at how different aspects of culture have evolved • Emphasis on conflict, change, and contemporary situation of African people and communities o Conflict was at the center of their studies because they viewed as something that could incite change • Refers to his approach as "the Manchester school" of anthropology

The Manchester School

Week 5: From Structural Functionalism to Social Change The Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester, founded by Max Gluckman in 1947 became known among anthropologists and other social scientists as the Manchester School. Notable features of the Manchester School included an emphasis on "case studies", deriving from Gluckman's early training in law and similar to methods used in law schools. The case method involved detailed analysis of particular instances of social interaction to infer rules and assumptions. The Manchester School also read the works of Marx and other economists and sociologists and looked at issues of social justice such as apartheid and class conflict. Recurring themes included issues of conflict and reconciliation in small-scale societies and organizations, and the tension between individual agency and social structure.

Accommodative Religion

Week 6: New Understandings of Modernity and Tradition - Anthropology after Independence *Kwame Anthony Appiah* - Syncretism between African traditional religions, christianity, islam, and science due to accommodative nature of african religions • not worried about impact of other religions- he is worried of impact of western scientific rationality- because it assumes that there is only one way of viewing the world and that it cannot coexist with african traditional religions • as more africans receive western education- the more they will attribute their own traditions with metaphors and their traditions will fade away • suggests the global spread of scientific rationality is form of neo colonialism - influence of western scientific rationality renders this syncretism less feasible problems of translation - the translation of african ways of thinking into western languages and concepts simplifies, trivializes, and disempowers them. - african ways of speaking may sound violent or silly when translated because you lose the complexity and nuance - if we want an egalitarian engagement with african cultures what should we do?*QUE FAIRE? given this intervention, how do we move forward?* - we can't escape our cultural backgrounds- we just need to acknowledge them - need to approach other beliefs with an open mind- see them as filling in the gaps of our own misunderstandings - example of South East Asia- oral history saved lives in 2004 tsunami- they believed that the ocean is the embodiment of their dead ancestors- and passing this down is what led to them surviving- while our scientific knowledge failed us

Ontology of Invisible beings

Week 6: New Understandings of Modernity and Tradition - Anthropology after Independence - traditional african religions distinguished by belief in the ontology of invisible beings • the belief that invisible being like a spirit or a dead ancestor exists in the world in a real way • The famished road by Ben Okri- called magical realism- might have two characters talking in a bar and a ghost taps on their shoulder and wants to join in the conversation, not seen as abnormal, just seen as normal and accepted • the spirit realm and the real realm combine - these contrasts with modern christianity, which has been demythologized, is symbolic • give the christian idea that god is love- that idea that you can hold a rational belief system and christian belief system and they can both still be relevant • these philosophers claims that these beliefs are not true, they're just metaphors- no one actually speaks to their dead grandmothers • but the problem here is this is false- in African traditional religion- africans really mean what they say- according to Appiah - Syncretism between African traditional religions, christianity, islam, and science due to accommodative nature of african religions • not worried about impact of other religions- he is worried of impact of western scientific rationality- because it assumes that there is only one way of viewing the world and that it cannot coexist with african traditional religions • as more africans receive western education- the more they will attribute their own traditions with metaphors and their traditions will fade away • suggests the global spread of scientific rationality is form of neo colonialism - influence of western scientific rationality renders this syncretism less feasible

The Nuer

Week 6: New Understandings of Modernity and Tradition - Anthropology after Independence -Directed by Robert Gardner & Hillary Harris - visual anthropology/sensory ethnography • attempt to convey information that cannot be translated into language • concerned with experience not facts, speaks to the sense not the intellect • might experience some aspect of their culture that we can't actually express through words • example Hillary Harris and Robert Gardner : the Nuer 1971 • see the ways in which the herders interact with their cattle - from the early 1970s- filmed a couple years preceding that - bulk of the footage was filmed by Hillary Harris- and was helped by Gardner - the nuer are a famous people in anthropology- a lot of ethnographies were written on them when people were interested in categorizing social groups - located within the boarders of Ethiopia and the rift valley area - they were an example of headless organization- organized anarchy (evans pritchard)- every now and then someone would step up-but no organized leadership - salvage ethnography-the idea of documenting the ways of a people before they disappear off the face of the earth-fits in with the way they were documented- not much commentary/narration

Syncretism

Week 6: New Understandings of Modernity and Tradition - Anthropology after Independence -the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought *Ali Mazrui - Triple Hertiage* • Contemporary African beliefs and practices have been shaped by 3 historical forces: Euro-Christ., Islam, and precolonial African trads. • Traditional African religions allow for simultaneous participation in Christianity of Islam • Critique puts forward an idealized, unitary conception of "African culture" Mazuri: "the semitic tradition insists on a dichotomy-one cannot be both a Christian and a Muslim. The indigenous African tradition encourages mixture-most African Muslims retain links with indigenous religious practices; so do most African Christians." *Kwame Anthony Appiah* - religious syncretism- triple heritage- african religions combine with christianity and islam- a mesh of everything • example the wedding- see a mix of a few traditions- different religious influences and philosophies of understanding the world are combined - Big brother Africa- shows the ways in people in Africa combine local religious traditions with global religions/competing belief systems - African cultures are "non-traditional", in transition from tradition to modernity • there is a traditional and modern african belief system and there's an in between that we don't really know what they're doing-completely contradicts ranger • mainly interested in metaphysical understanding of how world operates(more abstract, what happens when different belief systems collide and how do people make sense of the world)- ranger is interested in forms of political organization, more every day things • beliefs that christianity/islam and traditional belief can coincide

Performative Ethnography

Week 6: New Understandings of Modernity and Tradition - Anthropology after Independence Attempt to move beyond interviews and observation to gather information in a way that unsettles power dynamic between informant and ethnographer Example Johannes Fabians "Performative Ethnography" → idea is not to ask people for info to get them to give it to you but create a space within which they can explore power "As long as one participant asks questions and the other is expected to respond with information the situation will remain asymmetrical. Performances, on the other hand, although they can be asked for, are not really responses to questions. The ethnographer's role, then, is no longer that of a questioner; he or she is but a provider of occasions, a catalyst in the weakest sense, and a producer (in analogy to a theatrical producer) in the strongest.

Indirect Rule

Week 6: New Understandings of Modernity and Tradition - Anthropology after Independence Colonialism and anthropology a symbiotic relationship - evolutionary anthro helps to justify the project of colonialism - colonial conquest and control opens Africa up to ethnographic researchers, leading to important changes in anthropological theory - british practiced indirect rule- kept local chiefs-weren't really maintaining traditional ways of doing things but picking and molding traditional ways in order to facilitate colonial rule - french practiced direct rule- forced assimilation - both colonial powers would have preferred to completely replace african culture with european - increasing colonial control lead to increased access to the peoples traditions and culture- big shift in anthro from arm chair anthropology- could move in, live and learn about the culture first hand British- system of governance developed by British non colonial dependencies (called Protectorates) would leave government administration to traditional rulers- still put then within a system was not their own British would still play a role in external affairs -right up there with invented traditions- chiefs got more power and checked authority -Colonial administrators made big changes in the role of an African chief in order to make them fit in Colonial administration African Chiefs who used to run based on kinship- now given authority over fixed pieces of land -any other traditional levels of government were combined in one person- they African Chief- if it did not work with the colonial admin- it was simply taken away

Africanism

Week 6: New Understandings of Modernity and Tradition - Anthropology after Independence Invented Traditions and Africanism • the tribe this elite that generates the leaders that come to power after independence o goal is to achieve success within container of the state and then to take it over for themselves • stereotypes created by anthros e.g., every African should be divided into a tribe : probably genuinely believed that Africans were all involved with a tribe bc this is how anthros have been writing about Africans for the past century • V.Y. Mudimbe's theory of "Africanism" philosopher and professor from the DRC o He's interested in the ways in which African is produced out of a power relationship btwn Africa and the west o For him, Africanism is an implicit body of knowledge enacted in Western art and literature o Because Western representations of African are always informed by preexisting repertoire, can never be accurate o E.g., African Witchcraft subconscious network of value judgments that is a result of own social background BUT he says that now even Africans have begun to think of Africa in the way Europeans do ▪ Draw on a network of preconceived value judgments witchcraft = illogical ▪ Way of thinking about Africa in the west, always implies this sort of hierarchy Western people think western way of understanding the world is universal but African way of understanding the world can never achieve the same thing • European conception of tribal identities based on accounts of travelers, missionaries, and anthropologists, as well as European understandings of how group identity operated; "Every African belongs to a tribe, just as every European belonged to a nation" • In reality, before colonization, many Africans were not "members" of one sealed tribe, but were involved in various "overlapping networks of association and exchange" identity conceived in diff way than it was conceived in Europe o In all cases, colonial authorities misinformed thought they were returning Africans to true way of life *Mudumbes theory of africanism* - Africanism is a subconscious "body of knowledge", or "repertory" of images and ideas, enacted in western art, literature, and scholarship that informs and constrains the ways in which Africa and Africans are represented and understood in the west. - this would be considered a discourse

Invented Traditions

Week 6: New Understandings of Modernity and Tradition - Anthropology after Independence Ranger Reading : Invented traditions • The colonial powers wanted to make it look like the way they were governing was a continuation of African societies, but that was only on surface, at deeper level was trying to reshape African tradition Invented Traditions in Rural Africa • Changes in role of village chiefs: Given jurisdiction over fixed territory, checks n authority was eliminated → e.g., of reshaping that happens under colonialism : before chief had jurisdiction over a kinship group and now it was over a territory o Decentralized despotism (Mandani) → local despots that could rule but only exercising will of colonial govt • Codification of previously flexible traditions of ule → now have to write everything down and have rules can go to in order to know how rule should be exercised in a given situation • Reshaping and sometimes complete making up of ritual divisions Invented Traditions in Urban Africa • Direct enforcement of colonial laws; Africans subject to colonial police, courts, etc... • A rift opens btwn "traditional" rural and "modern" urban Africans: each group conceives political belonging in a different way. Rural Africans through tribe, urban Africans through the state → these two groups had different privileges under the colonial system Invented Traditions and Africanism • the tribe → this elite that generates the leaders that come to power after independence o goal is to achieve success within container of the state and then to take it over for themselves • stereotypes created by anthros → e.g., every African should be divided into a tribe : probably genuinely believed that Africans were all involved with a tribe bc this is how anthros have been writing about Africans for the past century Invented Traditions and African Agency • many Africans manipulated traditions to own advantage • it is not only Europeans who reshape African traditions. Africans manipulate conceptions of "tradition" for their own purposes • For e.g., many chiefs complicit in maintaining role of chief more authoritarian • "invented" tribes serve as a source of unity for revolt against colonialism Invented Traditions and the "Problem" of the African State • Ethnic/tribal division persist after independence • Urban cities = divided • Seek control to whole nation → conflict with rural leaders • Systems of government also remain largely unchanged • Persistence of ethnic divisions, along with European systems of government, leads to "tribalization" of bureaucracy and government • Conflict btwn urban elites and rural leaders, often playing out along tribal/ethnic lines • Africanization : removing non-Africans from jobs, then distinguished unfairly to different ID groups, creating relations btwn ethnicities

V.Y. Mudimbe

Week 6: New Understandings of Modernity and Tradition - Anthropology after Independence • V.Y. Mudimbe's theory of "Africanism" philosopher and professor from the DRC o He's interested in the ways in which Africans are produced out of a power relationship btwn Africa and the west o For him, Africanism is an implicit body of knowledge enacted in Western art and literature o Because Western representations of Africans are always informed by preexisting repertoire, can never be accurate o E.g., African Witchcraft subconscious network of value judgments that is a result of own social background BUT he says that now even Africans have begun to think of Africa in the way Europeans do ▪ Draw on a network of preconceived value judgments witchcraft = illogical ▪ Way of thinking about Africa in the west, always implies this sort of hierarchy Western people think western way of understanding the world is universal but African way of understanding the world can never achieve the same thing • European conception of tribal identities based on accounts of travelers, missionaries, and anthropologists, as well as European understandings of how group identity operated; "Every African belongs to a tribe, just as every European belonged to a nation" • In reality, before colonization, many Africans were not "members" of one sealed tribe, but were involved in various "overlapping networks of association and exchange" identity conceived in diff way than it was conceived in Europe o In all cases, colonial authorities misinformed thought they were returning Africans to true way of life

Meta-Anthropology

Week 6: New Understandings of Modernity and Tradition - Anthropology after Independence • meta-anthropology - uncovering and analyzing the flaws and biases in historical and contemporary ethnographic texts - reflexivity about specific issues or omissions- gender - reflexivity about power relations underlying production of ethnographic texts- tradition of studying up (more privilege, or differently privileged) - reflexivity about how ethnographic texts are written and interpreted - and increased understanding that ethnographies are not fact- but interpretations - two authors can describe the same phenomenon- based on their personal background and experience- the audience will get a completely different understanding - Criticism -Archie Mafeje- there is no way to do anthro that does no reinforce these power dynamics and imbalances/ or you become so reflexive that it is no longer about the culture, it is about you and your experience • Sally Falk Moore - a stance that acknowledges that your own harshiality might encourage you to improvise and fictionalize- maybe you do actually deeply engage with the people you came to study- don't require careful research and work Meta-anthropology - the idea of modernization has been internalized and that ethnography is no longer advancing because of this - the theories that africans have made of african societies have now become intertwined in the local understanding of their own culture and practices- it is now hard to separate the two - Ferguson feels that these theories are leaving out something about global inequality

"Right makes white"

Week 8: Development as Discourse ''Whiteness is constituted through doing what is 'right'''. Doing what is right implies that white Westerners know what is right for Othered people and have a monopoly on the knowledge and values necessary to help Othered subjects progress toward modernity. In Desire for Development: Whiteness, Gender and the Helping Imperative, Barbara Heron (2007) argues that the desire for white, female development workers to help the Third World is shaped by development workers' understanding of racialized Others and thus, simultaneously, their white subjectivity and bourgeois identity. For Heron (2007), Third World nations are represented in development discourse as ''places of 'suffering, starvations and bloodshed' via persistent magazine and newspaper articles, television programs and news clips, as well as direct-mail and TV fundraising drives'' (p. 2). Importantly, these supposedly unlucky places can be helped through Western intervention. She argues that a bourgeois identity, which is both ''mythical and normative,'' cannot be divorced from feelings and perceptions of moral superiority over Others (p. 6). Heron (2007) argues, the helping imperative requires that asymmetrical global economic systems are obscured, and necessitates the erasure of the agency of people who are Othered in these processes (Heron, 2007, p. 3).

Colonial Continuities

Week 8: Development as Discourse Heron says that obviously a lot has changed since colonial era, but many representations of Africa have remained the same • People in the west seek to define and understand and construct their own identities by making reference to a culture that is everything they are not and comparing themselves to it → Western need for a "defining other" • Stereotyped portrayals of Africa reinforce Western superiority and justify Western intervention • The benefits of development to Western development workers of ten central to narratives about development • Narratives with a virtuous white person have a life changing experience in Africa → benefit for person doing development work is greater than the benefit of the work being done on the local people themselves How important is accuracy and how important is efficacy? E.g., prof's story where kids told to look sad on camera bc only way they can raise money

Discourse

Week 8: Development as Discourse Michel Foucault: Discourse are body of "acceptable statements and utterances" about a certain topic (socially acceptable way of speaking about a subject) Discourses reproduce power relations independently, without individual agency An underlying "complex structure of knowledge" determines how people think and understand • Power is contained and exercised through discourses that reproduce power relations independently, without individual agency • Ferguson p.18 --> For Ferguson, this discourse of development helps obscure some of the non-development related projects. Importance lies in "side effects" of development even if failed to do what it intended to Concept of 'discourse' involves a "decentered conception of power" → Decoupling an analysis of power from analysis of agency Power isn't something an organization does, it is sort of diffuse in people's way of thinking and talking about things Example Mudimbe's theory of Africanism → He's interested in the ways in which Africanism is produced out of a power relationship btwn Africa and the west. He says that now even Africans have begun to think of Africa in the way Europeans do. He argues that the way of thinking about Africa in the west, always implies this sort of hierarchy → Western people think western way of understanding the world is universal but African way of understanding the world can never achieve the same thing Not people intentionally representing Africa this way, just this passed-down way of representing Africa that influence people's decisions Therefore, in a nutshell, discourse is often a subconscious way of thinking and speaking about a certain topic or set of topics that conditions individual actions in relation to that topic. Discourses imply and reinforce certain power relationships.

DevSpeak/DevThink

Week 8: Development as Discourse Ways of speaking and thinking about development: • devspeak → a common pool of "experts" with common ways of defining, speaking, and addressing development "problems" • devthink → "a distinctive style of reasoning backward from the necessary conclusions - more "development" projects are needed - to the premises required to generate those conclusions" (260) → taken for granted assumption that development projects always thought of as a good solutions to this development "problem" Film watched → propose Western solutions and assume that type of intervention and interaction will be the same wherever it is o definitely a power dynamic where person implanting development is "developed" and the people implanting it on are not o everything in the video claims development is always positive → never mention how it can be detrimental e.g. "side Effects" of the Thaba Tseka Project • these improvements to infrastructure etc... were a way for the govt. to gain control of the area → gained control bc now had easier access to area and also bc gained a lot pf public support bc no govt could provide services people wanted. Ferguson's argument comes back to the notion of discourse of development → something inherent about the logic of development programs (an outsider coming in wanting to changing something).

Development Discourse

Week 8: Development as Discourse Where does aid go? Shows how little of it goes to the common person rest goes to training and research and administration etc... A lot of people continue working in a conventional mode of modern ethnography. Ferguson interested in development on a macro level/institutional level o key question → why big organizations keep taking on large scale projects in developing countries esp. since these projects don't succeed in meeting their goal o development itself is a discourse → should help underdeveloped people develop Heron is interested in development on a micro level/individual level o How these people internalize this idea of what development means o "desire for development" the result of discourses of Africanism, gender → related to a Mudimbe idea of Africanism o gender functions in Canadian society that makes women particularly interested in gender development 'Mainstream' Views on Development: • insider/capitalist approach: o capitalism = good o capitalist development to fight poverty o problems with development are "technical" and "Managerial" Views on Development: • Marxist/dependency approach: o Capitalism = exploitative o Goal of development is to incorporate 3W in global capitalist system o Development is essentially meant to fail and never will achieve goal so not worth it *Ferguson wants to argue that both of these arguments are insufficient → neither of these theories help to explain why they keep happening • for him, development isn't a matter of interest • cannot explain development success of failure in terms of objective "interests" of those involved o just bc know what people want to gain from project doesn't mean can predict what will happen • interests are shape and constrained by "a complex set of social and cultural structures," which are "deeply embedded and....ill-perceived" (17). -→ if we have an underlying understanding of progress, then that's going to condition the ways in which development projects happen o not a matter of one person behind the scenes looking at the world wanting to enrich themselves o this is often subconscious

Multiple Modernities

Week 9: Globalizing Modernity "Western patterns of modernity are not the only authentic modernities" Ferguson's Critique of Multiple Modernities • for Ferguson, modernity isn't a question of culture but of socioeconomic status • when local people talk about modernization, they don't say that they have it in a different way, they say they want it and that they lack it • Ferguson on Hannerz → people are not proud of having to make due with scraps and leftovers as they cant have access to the real thing Invented traditions → Ranger • These aspects of more traditional African groups are said to be barriers to academic growth but then the quote in exam prep. goes on to say that not backward but represent multiple modernities • What are invented traditions? Ranger is arguing that these primordial tribal identities were colonial constructs and were invented by colonialists • What else could we talk about? Can move into the whole issue of multiple modernities → instead of saying tribal identity was based on what colonial people thought it was, can say that innate cultural traits are products of certain historical forces that might not be cultural at all o At once you can be a woman, Italian, vegetarian and can take on all these identities at once and become not just traditional or modern and not on this continuum of being less modern and more modern o Need to break this thought of a continuum setting the stage for multiple modernities - we have Fabian and he talks about how anthros need to stop looking at Africa as an earlier version of the west and place Africa on a coeval time with the west o Also have Appaduiai who says that modernity should be applied to all cultural practices and that there is no continuum o Ferguson argues for a more socioeconomic status whereas the other two talk about issues that come with modernization are integral to global system and we always look at something as dichotomized as traditional or modern

Un Matin Bonne Heure

Week 9: Globalizing Modernity Directed by Gahité Fofana Mimicry and Membership I • Many Africans do, in fact want to become "like the west" • An "embarrassment" for postcolonial anthropology • There are current African societies that say they want to evolve and become like Europe in certain ways and to preserve certain other things • Mimicry isn't always a form of resistance but a legitimate attempt to assimilate

Creolization

Week 9: Globalizing Modernity Term used to describe hybridization A response to "cultural convergence" theories ("McDonaldization," "Coca-Cola-ization") globalization does not destroy local culture but creates "a "cut and mix" world of surprising borrowings, ironic reinventions, and dazzling resignifications" --> Only recently, scholars fully begun to understand Creolization as a mutual exchange rather than the acculturation of colonized peoples to a dominant culture. Creolization is the process in which Creole cultures emerge in the New World.[1] As a result of colonization there was a mixture between people of indigenous, African, and European descent, which came to be understood as Creolization. The mixing of people brought a cultural mixing which ultimately led to the formation of new identities. It is important to emphasize that Creolization also is the mixing of the "old" and "traditional," with the "new" and "modern." Furthermore, creolization occurs when participants actively select cultural elements that may become part of or inherited culture. Ulf Hannerz introduced creolization into anthropology • theories simplistic in how they explain culture • people take global practices and adapt them to fit local realities and need