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Cultural Survival
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The increased contact among cultures has created
increased possibilities for the domination of one group
by another, through various means.
Development and Environmentalism
 Currently, domination comes most frequently in the
form of core-based multinational corporations causing
economic change in Third World cultures.
 It is noted that even well-intentioned interference
(such as the environmentalist movement) may be
treated as a form of cultural domination by subject
populations.
Culture Clash
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Two sources of culture clash:
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When development threatens indigenous
peoples and their environments (e.g., Brazil
and New Guinea).
When external relations threaten indigenous
peoples (e.g., Madagascar, where sweeping
international environmental regulations affect
traditional subsistence life-ways).
Resistance and Survival
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Variation within Systems of Domination
Scott (1990) differentiates between public and hidden
transcripts of culturally and politically oppressed peoples.
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Public transcript refers to the open, public interactions between
dominators and the oppressed.
Hidden transcript refers to the critique of power that goes on
offstage, where the dominators cannot see it.
Gramsci’s (1971) notion of hegemony applies to a
politically hierarchical system wherein in the dominant
ideology of the elites has been internalized by members
of the lower classes.
Bourdieu (1977) and Foucault (1979) argue that it is
much easier to control people's minds than try to control
their bodies.
Weapons of the Weak
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As James Scott’s (Weapons of the Weak 1990)
work on Malay peasants suggests, oppressed
groups may use subtle, nonconfrontational
methods to resist various forms of domination.
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Malay peasants protest the introduction of combine
harvesters, steal things, and kill animals.
Examples of antiauthoritarian discourse include
rituals (e.g., Carnaval) and folk literature.
Resistance is more likely to be public when the
oppressed come together in groups (hence the
antiassembly laws of the antebellum South).
Cultural Survival and Tourism
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http://www.ecotour.org/destination
s/kakum.htm
http://www.maasai.com/maasai.ht
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Cultural Imperialism
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Cultural imperialism refers to the spread of one culture
at the expense of others usually because of differential
economic or political influence.
While mass media and related technology have
contributed to the erosion of local cultures, they are
increasingly being used as media for the outward
diffusion of local cultures (e.g., television in Brazil).
E.G. Satellite Dreaming-Australian Aborigines
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The Broadcasting in Remote Aboriginal Communities Scheme (BRACS)
enables Aboriginal communities to intercept incoming satellite signals
from the ABC and substitute locally produced programming [Venner
1988, pp 37-43]. On mainstream television, Aboriginal windows provide
limited episode current affairs programming for Aboriginal audiences.
Popular Culture
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According to Fiske (1989), each
individual's use of popular culture is a
creative act.
Popular culture can be used to express
resistance.
Popular Culture is not simply a passive
reception of “mass” produced cultural
goods.
Indigenizing Popular Culture
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Cultural forms exported from one culture to
another do not necessarily carry the same
meaning from the former context to the latter
context.
Aboriginal interpretations of the movie Rambo
demonstrate that meaning can be produced
from a text, not by a text.
Appadurai’s analysis of Philippine indigenization
of some American music forms demonstrates the
uniqueness of the indigenized form.
A World System of Images
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Mass media can spread and create
national and ethnic identities.
Cross-cultural studies show that locally
produced television shows are preferred to
foreign imports.
Mass media plays an important role in
maintaining ethnic and national identities
among people who lead transnational
lives.
Transnational Culture of Consumption
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As with mass media, the flow of capital has
become decentralized, carrying with it the
cultural influences of many different
sources (e.g., the United States, Japan,
Britain, Canada, Germany).
Migrant labor also contributes to cultural
diffusion.
Postmodernism
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Postmodernity describes our time and situation-today’s world in flux, these people on the move who
have learned to manage multiple identities
depending on place and context.
Postmodern refers to the collapsing of old
distinctions, rules, canons, and the like.
Postmodernism (derived from the architectural style)
refers to the theoretical assertion and acceptance of
multiple forms of rightness, in contradistinction to
modernism, which was based in the assumed
supremacy of Western technology and values.
Globalization
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Globalization refers to the increasing
connectedness of the world and its peoples.
With this connectedness, however, come new
bases for identities (e.g., the Panindian
identity growing among formerly disparate
tribes).
Postmodern moments refers to a series of
personal examples bearing out global
linkages.
The Continuance of Diversity
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Anthropology has a crucial role to play in
promoting a more humanistic vision of
social change, one that respects the value
of cultural diversity.
The existence of anthropology is itself a
tribute to the continuing need to
understand social and cultural similarities
and differences.
Cultural Survival
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http://www.cs.org/
Effects of Anthropology
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If anthro is so super, why no bigger effect?
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more research than applied work.
things published in Social Science Journal does not
have much effect on Policy makers.
Conflict between Policy and Anthros
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Cult. relativism and holism important to anthros but
not the govt.
Anthro studies take a long time, govt. want answers
right away.
Tensions between anthro ethics and govt.
Growing Areas of Anthropology
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Medical Anthropology
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brings together biological and cultural aspects of health and
medicine.
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Diseases are always experienced by people as mediated by their
culture.
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*i.e. We know the scientific name of tuberculosis is Myobacterium
tuberculosis, but poverty and malnutrition are the main contributing
factors.
*i.e. the stigma attached to Aids.
Development Anthropology
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concerned primarily with poverty, environment, disease,
malnutrition, gender inequity, and ethnic conflict.
Understand nature of development.
Importance of long-term research.
Sensitivity to environmental issues