Transcript Anthropology

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.