Indigeneity and Indigenous Knowledge

Todays post continues from the Mark Dowie article in The Guardian, which I mentionned on monday. The latest issue (June 2009) of Current Anthropology also carries an article examining indigenity. Although the two articles do not look at precisely the same thing, I thought nonetheless that it would be interesting to compare the articles; one popular and one academic. Given the current crisis in our discipline and the drop in publishing and popularisation of anthropology, this could prove an illuminating insight in to how anthropology could popularise itself.

The Guardian article looks at the roles played by the different sides (indigenous people and conservationists / scientists) and then goes on to describe the attitudes of each party. This simplifies the complex background behind the various motives and actions and makes it easy for anyone to understand. The Current Anthropology article on the other hand begins with a complex analysis of the term indigenous, difficult for anyone to get their head round - I certainly didn't find it easy. Even in a more popular journal, there are the same problems. In an article from Anthropology Today, 2002, Indiginous Rights and the Collective Conscious, the opening paragraph looks at comparative world philosophies. The articles continue in similar veins, the Current Anthropology article just gets more and more complex, really not an easy read. Whereas the Guardian article looks at examples of clashes between conservationsits and indigenous people and even ventures to offer some solutions, the CA just looks at theoretical issues.

Is it any wonder people don't choose anthropology for a bit of light reading. I know that no one wants to see the discipline dumbed down just to make it a bit more popular, but I honestly don't see why popularity and integrity have to be mutually exclusive. Physicists, Chemists and even Evolutionary Anthropologists all manage to publish popular works and don't lose face. Maybe anthropologists are just stubborn and dont want to simplify their work for public consumption.

Looking at the Guardian article, we need to learn that its ok to simplify anthropology, it is so hard to read otherwise. That article is an excellent example of popular anthropology and I would urge anthropologists or ethnographers to try it!

Check out the articles at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/03/yosemite-conservation-indigenous-people

http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/597667

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/118915984/PDFSTART

Picking up this week with...

With the majority of blogs only posting Monday - Friday, I thought I would start this week by looking at how the Internet closed up last week.

There was a definite focus on applied anthropology and politics. Blogs are looking at issues ranging from business to indigenous knowledge, below are just a few of the highlights:

On June 3rd there was an article in The Guardian by Mark Dowie looking at clashes between indigenous and global environmental knowledge in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/03/yosemite-conservation-indigenous-people). Really interesting and easy to read, definitely recommended!

This blog sits at the intersection... ended the week with a post about problems in the air industry (an interesting time for it given the Air France crash last week). Though I'm not quite sure where the anthropology was in this post, it is still interesting to see an anthropologist looking at a purely economic issue.

The latest AnthroGoggles post breaks down the roles of individuals in online protests, specifically looking at Amazonfail. The post sits well in contemporary anthropological theory, very deconstructive and all that... Have a look at www.anthrogoggles.com

In Open Anthropology, Maximillian Forte has been looking at the changes in funding for Canadian Universities. Not a particularly interesting topic I know, but the conclusions he draws are fascinating. He looks at the impact that these changes have had, in particular that focus has moved from a search for truth, beauty etc to a search for profit.. Very relevant for all of us who are experiencing these changes for ourselves!

I hope you find these few examples good as indicative of the trends to come this week in anthropology. They are mirrored in the journals as well and their importance should not be underestimated..

Racism, Integration and Lectures...

Hello, everyone. I was hoping to have a nice fun post today to coincide with the lovely weather. Unfortunately I couldn't find one, so here is an article from the latest issue of Anthropology Today entitled 'Racial Cultures: Racial Integration at a South African University', by John Sharp and Rehana Vally.

The article raises a lot of interesting questions and uses a huge amount of ethnographic data from the University of Pretoria. Whilst it was fascinating reading there were many more questions raised than answered (which was a bit annoying really).

I never considered the racial tensions at South African Universities, of course I know that there are problems in the country but I assumed that at university students would be more idealistic and left wing than that. The authors also had these assumptions but as they found out they are not true. Although there are very few acts of racism at university, there is more an underlying tension and segregation. Black and white students do not tend to mix in friendship groups, societies or seating arrangements. There have been attempts from university bodies to force students to mix, known as enforced integration. However, in reality this means that whilst black and white students may share a place they do not create a shared space. The article goes on to discuss differences in culture or finances that have created divides. The authors state that black and white students alike prefer to keep within their own cultural groups and find it less embarrassing to be with people who are in a similar financial situation.

But like I said before, yes this is all very interesting but hardly helps to promote further integration or help the situation at all. I suppose though, that no one really knows what to do. This is the main weakness of anthropology - it can provide an illuminating and fascinating analysis of a situation, often revealing more truth than any other discipline could manage but it falls short on actual answers or advice. This article is a prime example of that. Fascinating read but it isn't going to change anything, if I were to rate it, 6/10.