Download Chapter Four

Chapter 15
 The Struggle for Cultural Survival, Revival, and
Revitalization
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© David Eller 2009
Cultural anthropology has not only become—and perhaps always
been—the study of humans in crisis
It has tended to see itself as the voice of the voiceless, the revelation of
the invisible, speaking not only about but also for peoples who could
not speak for themselves
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© David Eller 2009
Cultural anthropology has tended to focus not only on the “other” but
on the disadvantaged other, the “lower” other = the subaltern
But non-Western and natives peoples increasingly can and want to
speak for themselves and to determine their own lives and futures—
as do all peoples
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© David Eller 2009
Anthropology’s conventional interest has been Fourth World
peoples, also known as indigenous societies or First Peoples = the
original or earliest inhabitants of places, or at least those present
prior to colonial contact
 usually small, pre-state or non-state societies
 live within the borders of states in which they are disempowered
minorities
 typically the poorest and weakest groups in the state
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© David Eller 2009
It is commonly calculated that some 6,000 societies exist in the
world, of which
 more than 3,000 have less than five thousand members
 more than 300 have over a million members
 more than one-third live in Asia
 more than 800 live just in Papua New Guinea
 up to one-third are in danger of language loss or total extinction
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© David Eller 2009
Many if not most indigenous groups have suffered loss of land, lives,
and culture
 homelands taken for settlement and development by other peoples
 depopulation through war, disease, malnutrition, and despair
 artifacts, knowledge, and even physical remains extracted for study
or sale
 ways of life under assault by state governments and globalization
processes
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© David Eller 2009
Some steps have been taken to protect indigenous land, people, and
culture
 United States:
Indian Self-Determination Act (1975)
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990)
 Australia:
Report on Recognition of Aboriginal Customary Laws (1986)
Native Title Act (1993)
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© David Eller 2009
Many indigenous peoples have also become articulate spokespersons
for their own interests, problems, and ways of life
 constitutional lawyers among Native American societies
 political leaders and activists
 authors, filmmakers, musicians, artists, etc.
 trained social scientists, including anthropologists
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© David Eller 2009
In the contemporary world, culture is often a resource in struggles
over land, wealth, power, recognition, rights, and sovereignty
Cultural differences or disputes give rise to cultural movements
 efforts to change or improve social circumstances on the basis of
culture or identity
 often involve an “ethnographic” awareness of their own culture
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© David Eller 2009
Compared to the conventional view of culture, cultural movements
tend to be
 more self-conscious and intentional
 more vocal, even argumentative (i.e., opposed to something)
 more mobilized, often militant—sometimes prepared to use force
and violence
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© David Eller 2009
Anthony Wallace called such cultural activities revitalization
movements = “a deliberate, organized, conscious effort by
members of a society to construct a more satisfying culture” (1956:
265)
“Revitalization is thus…a special kind of culture change phenomenon:”
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 “the persons involved…must perceive their culture, or some major
areas of it, as a system (whether accurately or not)
 ‘they must feel that this cultural system is unsatisfactory
 “and they must innovate not merely discrete items, but a new
cultural system, specifying new relationships as well as, in some
cases, new traits”
Therefore, revitalization is not just old culture mobilized but, in a
sense, new culture
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© David Eller 2009
Process of Revitalization:
 Steady state (“tradition”)
 Period of Increased Individual Stress
 Period of Cultural Distortion
 Period of Revitalization
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Mazeway reformulation (prophet)
Communication
Organization (charisma)
Adaptation
Cultural transformation
Routinization
 New Steady State (new culture)
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© David Eller 2009
Revitalization movements can take many forms, often in combination:
(1)
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Syncretism = the mixing or blending of elements from two or
more cultural sources to produce a new, third, better culture or
system
© David Eller 2009
Syncretism is not so much a “type” of culture change as the essence of
culture change, and of culture itself
 can mix elements from different cultures
 can mix elements from different domains or aspects of a culture—
e.g. politics, economics, arts (music, movies, television), religion,
popular culture, technology, etc.
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© David Eller 2009
(2) Millenarianism = movement to prepare for or elicit the end of the
present (inferior, unhappy, or wicked) era and the start of a new,
better era
(3) Irredentism = movement to recover and/or re-occupy a lost
homeland
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© David Eller 2009
(4) Modernism/vitalism = movement to import and accept foreign
(especially “modern,” especially Western) cultural ways, in part or in
total
(5) Nativism/fundamentalism = movement to restore, re-affirm, or
protect local or “traditional” culture and values, usually in resistance
or opposition to alien or “modern” culture and values
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© David Eller 2009
Where does culture go from here?
Since
 culture is not static
 the boundaries of culture and society are not firm and permanent
 much of the world is deeply dissatisfied by its current cultural
condition
 the technologies and media of culture and culture change are widely
available
we can be assured that culture will continue to change, organize,
mobilize, and resist
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© David Eller 2009
Modern vs. Postmodern Culture
At least since the 1700s, “modern” culture has been characterized as:
 rationalistic—committed to knowledge (“science”), prediction, and
control
 progressive—believing in the ideal of continual progress or
improvement
 optimistic—sure that things will get better
 integrative—dedicated to transcending differences and building
bigger (even universal) systems and institutions
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 bureaucratic—becoming increasingly organized and hierarchical,
based on expertise and efficiency
 secular—restricting the power and reach of religion, even expecting
the demise of religion completely
However, by the early 1900s (if not earlier, for some philosophers and
artists), modernity seemed to give way to “postmodern” society:
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 dominated by the irrational, the emotional, even the unconscious
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(e.g. Freud)—will to power, instinct, sex drive
saw limit to progress and optimism, sometimes emphasized fear
and despair
loss of faith in absolute universal truths or “grand narratives” of
history (Lyotard)
subjective (no ultimate truth), decentered
superficial, playful—essential expression of postmodern sensibility
was the collage, the surrealist painting, the MTV video
© David Eller 2009
The fact that culture is produced and reproduced led to intentional
making and marketing of culture—culture as a commodity
 cultural tourism
groups can display or offer their culture for sale
visitors can consume culture
 popular culture
entrepreneurs can create and distribute
culture to a mass
audience
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© David Eller 2009
The Future of Culture
Whatever culture will be in the future, it will not be quite the same
thing it is today—certainly not “traditional”
Cultural anthropology has a valuable role to play in the understanding
and interpretation of future culture, and perhaps even in the
production of such culture(s)
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© David Eller 2009
Possible future #1: One-World Culture
With increasing travel, technology, and global integration, all societies
converge into a single global culture
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© David Eller 2009
Possible future #2: Jihad-vs-McWorld (Barber)
Binary opposing cultural forces:
 globalization, largely Western corporatism
 ethnic/cultural fragmentation
Neither force respects human freedom
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© David Eller 2009
Possible future #3: Clash of Civilizations (Huntington)
World fractures along regional/continental lines, dividing into
competing and conflictual culture-families or civilizations
(West/Christendom, Islam, China, Africa, etc.)
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© David Eller 2009
Possible future #4: Multiple Modernities
Cultures do not become one, two, or a few, but very many
 cultural diversity persists
 some old cultural forms lost, other new ones created
 each culture develops its own form of or makes its own
accommodation to “modernity”
 “modern” as currently known is distinctly Western but not the only
possible form
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© David Eller 2009
Whatever the future of culture holds
 you and your descendants will have to live in it
 it will be a product of human agency—an invention, guided by
cultural and “traditional” values and practices
 cultural anthropology will be a valuable and necessary discipline for
understanding, assessing, and critiquing cultural processes and
products
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© David Eller 2009