The Politicization of Culture - Susan Wright
The Politicization of Culture - Susan Wright
The Politicization of Culture - Susan Wright
and this is not because children do not make sounds: in tact, children make l‹its ot sounds; invitesounds
but these the reader
or to, as it were, say her/his
piece during the break. I believe that such a text would
be what Kit Davis, with Umberto Eco, has called an
—1988, The Gender of ltte ‘noise’ ’ children are muted, n‹it by way of’ silencing, ‘open work’ (Davis 1993): in the ‘open work’, the audi-
€1i ft, Manchester U.P.
Toren, C?. 1953. but by the absence of a li stening will. It might be flat- ence becomes the performance. With every new reader,
Thinking
Symbols: A Critique of tering to think at m yself as working towards a repre- or new reading, the account is re-written.
N9Cf bflf ( l 92h ). NH (n.S.) mentation of smaller voices, but all 1 can in fact do is I cannot claim to have understood individual child-
18, pp,26(1-26S.
— l99tL Mak ing .km.sr ‹›{ provide an account of how I sought to listen. ren’s particular experiences, nor to have t‘elt the imme-
I have argued that whilst, in discussing fieldwork diacy with which they lived their daily lives as ‘small
practice, it is important to acknowledge the field- people’. I can only write an account of and from my
London: LSE M‹inographs
worker’s political and historical conditioning, it is own perspective. And I believe that it is through the
no.6 I . equally important, in the production of ethnography, to involvement of an audience that such an account
— 1993. Making hist‹iry: seek to escape the dictates which autobiographical auth-
the si gnificance ‹1t
would, if at all, be meaningful; in the same way as it
childho‹id ority might impose. I ha›'e, moreover, suggested that was only through the children"s presence that I began
the dialogue between past and present, the distinction reinventing own concepts of self, and it was through
antliropol‹igy ot’ rriind. /lJun
(n.s.), 28, pp.4f› 1 -47S.
between autobiography as tool and autobiography as this re-membering of a smaller, less authoritative, me
Whiting, B. & C.
Edwards. 1958. £:iiil‹ir u ‹›J perspective, and the tension between participation and that I could begin tt› approach a group of people who l
hope will one day read, re-open, and challenge my ac-
Brh‹i vi ir. Harv‹ird U. P. to speak, interrupts itself. And a text which interrupts count. O
— I 9h7. "l’he white such a concept to deal with their situation: to give them and pol it ical survival.
Jiscursyc ‹rdcr: the Brii sh
Ken' kigh’s d Recourse un an identity and distinguish themselves as a ‘culture’ on Turner shows that ‘culture’ can be used to very dif’-
«Omrul rac,n dirt a par with other indigenous people and v'/s-ñ- r'/i the t‘erent effect, depending on who is doing the rlefining.
dt›minant natitinal society in an inter-ethnic state sys- The UNESCO Report, Our Cre‹itii'e Di versitv. seems to
.S i/i.if›ury Fe i.'iew'’ in
Zai”ula, Iris, van Hii k, Teun tern. be seeking the positive outcomes from the autonomous
and Turner says that the Kayapo were visited by many definition of culture evident among the Kayapo. How-
anthropologists 2ñ years ago who respectfully sought to ex'er it neglects to see that the mows taf creativity that it
learn and record Kayapo ‘culture’. He says that anthro- associates with vigt›rous ‘cultures’ is a product of con-
poh›gists were innocent of the pol it ical implications ot tinutiu s assertion of the ptiwer to define in a pr›litical their
J‹›hn Ben,|amins.
participant observation. Htiwever, the Kayapo process involving local, national and internati renal ac-
reuli Zed that u. hat missionaries and state admini strattirs tors. This political dimension of meaning making, well
used as justit‘ication ior subtirdinatit›n and exploitation. understtiod by Kayapo ptiliticians, is a dynamic which
another set ot‘ Westerners valued highly. ‘Culture". is absent t’rom the UNESCO
reptart. which had seemed an impediment, rule' appeared as a
Sinireieh, L. 1983.
’C‹,nuep% of culture anU resource to negotiate their co-existence with the d‹›mi- Conclusion
nant society. I have distinguished between two sets of’ ideas about
After a Di.\’‹lf›fiieuriny Wol IJ documentary was made, culture in anthropol‹agy: an older set of ideas which
— 198a. Is lhe concept equates ‘a culture’ with ‘a people’ which can be del i -
the Kayapo sought further documentaries so us to reach
of* culture a paradigm for
understanding organizations the sympathetic elements in thc west. When they ar- neated with a boundary and a checklist ot charac-
dna OUFS01xeS'?‘ In F'**' ranged to meet the Brazilian government tti oppose the teristics; and new meanings of ‘culture’, as not a ‘thing’
Pelcr. Mt›‹›rc, Larry, Lt›ui ,
Altamira dam. they choreographed themselves tor the but a p‹ilitical process of contestati‹an over the power to
Mar)'l Rees and Lundberp,
Craig (eel s) (Jrk on ion fir»s/ western mediu in order to gain support of the western detine key concepts, including that of ’culture’ itself.
audience and add pressure on the government. Gone Earlier thi s century, anthropologists used the old ideas
$tocking, George. 1974.
“I'h r Shut in j of Altte ri‹-cii i were the shorts, T-shirts and haircuts that had appeased ot ‘culture’, the constructit›n of an objective classifica-
Anilii opolog x', I sx.i- In11. A the missionaries; with men’s bare chests, body orna- tion of people. as a strategy for appearing t›utside of
ment and long ritual dances, the Kayapo perf‹armed politics. Now anthropologists who adcapt new ideas of
their ‘culture' as a strategy in their increasingly confi- “culture’ are compelled to recognize that academic de-
dent opposition to the state. t’initions of ‘culture’ are themsel ves positi on ed and pol-
The Kayapo were ehceptional in the Amazon area in itical and therefore a resr›urce f’or anthropologists and
not only obtaining f unding for their owti video cameras uthers to use in establishing or challenging processes of
’Fhompsun, L. and Byr:inn. and training t’or their ti I m cre ws. but al so in surviving domination and marginalization.
in sul’ficient numbers and having the economic and ‘Culture" in both its old and new senses has been
Culture. Clevedon. Av‹in:
British Association for phys ical strength to rest st their oppression. Turner says introduced into many new domains in the l98t)s and
Applied Linguistics in that by the 1990s the Kayapo had obtained videos, 199()s, including cultural racism and multiculturalism,
association with
radios, pharmacies, vehic les, drivers and mechanics. an cc›rporate culture and culture and development. Some-
Turner, Terence. 199 I . aeroplane to patrol their land, and even thei r own times anthropologists have been directly in volved, as in
‘Representing, resisting. missionaries. Supported by machinery hitherto associ- preparing the UNESCO report or fil ming the Kayapo.
rethinking’ in St‹›ckiny,
Gc‹›rye (ed. ) C"u/r›/ /u/ ated with dependency, these now-consummate ethnic Sometimes politicians or managers have appealed to
politicians had learnt to objeclify their everyday lit’e ‹is ‘anthropological ideas of’ culture’ fi‹ir legitimacy. Either
p W isct›nsin: NJ. o1 ‘culture’ ( in the old sense) and use it as a resource in way, unihropologists are implicated in the politicization
Wi4ci›nsin
negotiations with government and international agen- of ‘culture’
Turner. Victcr. 1974. cies. ln the political strategies explored in this paper, ac-
/Jruitiu.S, fi1'elJ.i ‹1n‹I
M‹•I‹//›/ir›r,S'. jtha«a, NY:
Kayapo politicians seem to have been t‘ully aware ot tors have deployed ‘culture’ in a number ot different
wuys and w ith dittei ent material effects. British New
l•rin1ilivy Culture. *°• dealt with contests among themset v’es over the power to Right politicians have appropriated the new idea of
Yt›rk: Harper.
define. They exploited the way the old idea of ‘culture’ ‘culture’, turned it into a euphemism for race, and mo-
C’reuriv'e l9ieer.sin'. Report of Tasks power differentials within groups and they bor- bilized it to reinforce exclusion and marginalization. ln
the Wofld Comml8.Sl()n O rowed western filmic tropes of real ism and authenticity ‘c‹irporate culture’, old and new ideas of ‘culture’ have
See the giraf”fe as uprights ln a world of ht›rizontals. Employ the poised violence Of dappled javelins.
Broomsticks, ladders And tent-poles,
Then pull aw‹ty the rug.
Imagine you are a giratfe And send yoursel f’ postcards Homesick for the veldt,
Filled with wish-you-were-heres. End with the one ab‹ ut
The man who st ipped Into hi s bed
And never came out.