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Transcript
Towards a Native Anthropology Hou FangDi (I38023) 11/30/2015 Table of Contents 1. Who is Delmos J. Jones? 2. What is Field Research? 3. What is Anthropology? 4. What is "Native Anthropology"? 5. Case Study: Lahu, Thailand vs. Black Community in Denver ▪ The Problem of Point of View ▪ Data Analysis and Publication 6. Conclusion & Discussion 1. Who is Delmos J. Jones? Delmos J. Jones (1936-1999) was an African American anthropologist who dedicated his life to studying the lives of oppressed people. Raised in impoverished circumstances in Alabama, he was the first and the only member of his family to get an education. “He argued that the perspective of subordinate populations would demonstrate the conflict within societies and their complexity and help to correct the overly cohesive model of culture, then prevalent in the discipline” (Susser, 582). 2. What is Field Research? Field research or fieldwork is the collection of information outside of a laboratory, library or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists may simply observe animals whereas social scientists may interview or observe people in their natural environments. It involves a range of methods: informal interviews, direct observation, participation in the life of the group, etc. results from practical or online activities and life-histories. The method generally is characterized as qualitative research, but it may also include quantitative dimensions. 3. What is Anthropology? Anthropology = ánthrōpos (human) + lógos (study), tanslated into "the study of humanity", meaning the scientific study of what it means to be human. Eric R. Wolf states "ideas about race, culture and peoplehood or ethnicity have long served to orient anthropology's inquiries ..." 4. What is Native Anthropology? Most of researches in anthropology were carried out by an "outsider" or "stranger" who enters a society and attempts to learn about the way of life of its people. Thus, most discussions center on problems encountered by the outsider. Native anthropology is a research conducted by an "insider" - the person who himself is a member of cultural, racial, or ethnic group that he wants to study and research. The goal of this article is to explore some of the different problems that both the "insider", namely, native anthropologist and the "outsider" do face during his or her own field work. Native Anthropology and Native Anthropologist Native Anthropology is a set of theories based on non-Western precepts and assumptions. - Modern anthropology was developed based on western values and beliefs, and its discipline was once dedicated to prove the superiority of western culture during the colonial period. Boas encourages traditional anthropologist to be trained as a native anthropologist. For anthropologists and anthropology-majored students, in order to maintain the degree of objectivity desirable, anthropological research experiences must be gained initially in another culture instead of working among his own people. - Counter-example: the "native" conducting field work in his own society overseas. Q1: What are the requirements of being a good anthropologist? Q2: What are the advantages of being a native anthropologist or the insider? The basic aim of anthropological field work is to describe the total culture of a group of people in the view point of natives. For the anthropologist to obtain such a description, he must become actively involved in the life of the people, communicated with them, and spend a considerable period of time among them. Therefore, it seems obvious that the trained native anthropologist has immeasurable advantage to produce and collect the best and most reliable data, also it is much easier for him to authentically reveal intimate thoughts and sentiments of the natives, since he knows the language, has grown up in the culture, and has little difficulty in becoming involved with the people Q3: Is it possible to acknowledge that the trained native anthropologists (insiders) have absolute superiority over foreign anthropologists (outsiders) in doing field work? Jones: it is undoubtedly true that insider may have easier access to certain types of information as compared to an outsider, but outsider may also have certain advantage in certain situation. Q4: What are the advantages of being an "outsider"? Jones' personal experience: in his research practicum in the hospital at rural southern black community, white students pointed out distinct cultural feature that the author himself, who was identified as both black and southern, was not able to find. The crucial point is that insiders and outsiders may be able to collect different data; they also have different points of view which may lead to different interpretations of the same set of data. Boas encouraged natives to become anthropologists, he also encouraged women because they could collect information on female behavior more easily than a male anthropologist. This attitude strongly implies that native and female anthropologists are seen as potential "tools" to be used to provide important information to the "real" for white male anthropologists. 5. Case Study: Lahu, Thailand vs. Black Community in Denver Lahu: a hill tribe of Northern Thailand. In Thailand, the problem, basically from the culture-related literature and anthropologists' tendency, was to study intracultural variation among six villages, and The goal was to determine and to measure the range of variation in cultural behavior among villages of the same tribal group, from an outsider's perspective. In Denver, involved much more intuition, experience, and selfinterest (more properly, group interest) than logic, the problem was to use "insider" approach to study and understand the relationship between social structure and black self-concept. Factor of point of view was much more significant in Denver study while it was virtually absent in Lahu study. As a scientist, one must allow for the possibility that the findings are indeed correct no matter how unwilling he is to accept. But as a skeptic (UK sceptic), one can also consider the possibility that there may be something in the situation that other people are missing. Q5: When we doubt the accuracy and authenticity of one research result, how could we determine whether it is fundamentally wrong, or just a bit of accurate and authentic evidence is missed by researchers? Problem 1. Gaining Access In both areas, Jones was the new comer to the community. - In Lahu: "a chain of introduction which leads at least to the threshold of his group"; - Even in Denver, he (as an insider) had to develop a contact since he did not return to the same community in which he grew up. Problem 2. Establishing a continuing role Difference has observed based on the different social structure of two communities. Lahu: small, close-knit village. Once accepted, anthropologist could take a role within the context of community. Denver: urban neighborhood. Researcher might have to establish a role for himself with each individual that he meets. Problem 3. Perception on outsiders Lahu: 3 types of outsiders, which are trader, missionaries, and government agencies. - Author had to overcome the perception of him as a missionary. - Being resolved it by participating in pagan ritual dance. Denver: Ghetto dwellers had many kinds of outsiders, such as social workers, bill collectors, salesman, researcher, representatives of agencies. Jones faced much less hostility due to his black identity during the research, comparing to other white anthropologists. - Being easier to convince Denver black people than people in Lahu, and no one refused interview. - Being looked as someone looking for a friend rather than undesirable stranger. Problem: often being suspected as Black Panther. - Being occurred during the expression of his political and economical view point. - Being much easier to convince than Lahu villagers. Problem 4. Communication Communication involves more facial expression, movements, tones of voices, ect. than verbal exchange. body Lahu: he had no choice but to face mannerism that requires considerable amount of time to understand. Denver: considering Jones' personal experience in the poor black community, he was able to have common understanding with most of local black people, sharing the stories about racial discrimination and quite similar dialect. Problem 5. Perception toward research Lahu: the reason to be in the remote village like the inhabitants is needed. - Falling to understand why someone is interested in their life. Denver: knowing what research is and having been interviewed before. - Three different reactions: 1) no commitment or perception on interview. 2) positive view: only black researcher can make valid research on black people. 3) think research is unnecessary and action is needed. - Explaining about research in Thailand and Denver had different complexion: existence of personal reaction. ▪ Data Analysis and Publication Both inside and outside viewpoint has a room for distortion, inaccuracies, half truths. Outsider: might overlook important elements or make misinterpretation due to his own cultural perception. Insider: no native wants to publish the results that can be negative to his host culture. No vantage point can be said. Outsider may enter the social situation armed with a battery of assumptions which he does not question and which guide him to certain types of conclusion; and the insider may depend too much on his own background, his own sentiments, his own desires for what is good for his own people”. Therefore, we can say, insiders have no privilege because they may distort the “truth” as much as the outsider. 6. Conclusion Both inside and outside anthropologist face the same empirical problem. Anthropological fieldwork during 60’s produced dull and uncreative reports, not because the researchers were white but their way of looking people lost relevance. Robert Redfield & Italian peasant community: different reports on peasant values might be due to the choices made by observers and writers as to which aspects of social situation they choose to stress. Native anthropologist can deal with social phenomena from the point of view different from that of the traditional anthropologist. The role of the third world students who are now being trained are becoming aware of the biases in social science and are not bound by the old values of objectivity and neutrality. - The emergence will contribute to an essential decolonization of anthropological knowledge. THANK YOU! Q&A? "What concerns me... is that anthropology is essentially a discipline that studies oppressed peoples, but the concepts and theories used to describe the lives of these groups do not adequately deal with the realities of their oppression." —— Delmos Jones, Anthropology and the Oppressed: A Reflection on "Native Anthropology", 1995.