Studying People

Ethnography As Politics

WE ARE TELLING OUR OWN STORIES, RICH AND ALWAYS ALIVE. “ETHNOGRAPHY AND POLITICS” SEEKS TO QUESTION ANTHROPOLOGISTS AND ETHNOGRAPHERS WHO STUDY AND TRANSLATE CULTURES. IN THE BEGINNING THIS TEXT, THERE WAS A STATEMENT MADE THAT IN THE PAST “ANTHROPOLOGY WAS A POLITICALLY NEUTRAL QUEST FOR OBJECTIVE KNOWLEDGE” HOWEVER TODAY THE MAIN CONSENSUS HAS BEEN THAT“ ANTHROPOGY (IN FACT) IS POLITICS.”(88) IN THE PAST, MOST ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH WAS DONE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A WESTERN, LIBERAL, OR CONSERVATIVE,OR TO BE MORE UP FRONT,A WHITE OR CAUCASION MALE'S PERSPECTIVE. WHETHER THE AIM WAS TO GLEAM INTO “THE OTHER WAY OF LIFE”, EXOTICIZE, PROVE HIERARCHY IN THE WORLD, OR TO JUST UNDERSTAND DIFFERENT CULTURES THESE WERE THE SOLE OBJECTIVES UNDERGIRDING THEIR ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDIES. WHOEVER IS TELLING OR TRANSLATING THE INFORMATION, WHETHER OR NOT THE INDIVIDUAL IS BROWN, WHITE, OR BLACK, THE STUDY IS GUARENTEED TO BE SLANTED. THE IDEA IS TO HAVE A WIDE RANGE OF SLANTED OPINIONS OR PERSPECTIVES SO THAT WE ARE ABLE TO CONNECT AND TELL OF DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES WHILE TELLING INHERENT TRUTHS OF CULTURAL OBSERVED. THE SOONER WE COME TO THIS CONCLUSION, THE BETTER OFF WE’LL BE. ACCORDING TO MAGUBANE AND FARRIS, TWO ANTHROPOLOGISTS, “FREEDOM AND EQUALITY CANNOT EMERGE UNTIL ANTHROPOLOGY BORN OF THE RATIONALIST AND LIBERAL INTELLECTUAL TRADITION IS DESTROYED.”(88)
LUCKILY,WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW IS THAT PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT AND LIKE CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS ARE TELLING OF CULTURE, COMMUNITY, AND EXISTENCE FROM THEIR OWN PERSPECTIVES, AS ETHNOGRAPHERS.
OF COURSE, BY THE TRANSITIONING OUT OF THE OLDER IDEA OF ETHNOGRAPHY, WHICH IS MORE CALCULATED OR IS SEEMINGLY EXPERIENCED MORE OBJECTIVELY WILL STIR THOSE WHO CALL THEMSELVES PREEMINENT FIGURES OR CLASSIC ANTHROPOLOGISTS. HOWEVER, CURRENT TRENDS, WHICH SET THE TONE FOR THE FUTURE LANDSCAPE, ARE AFFECTING THE MAKEUP OF ETHNOGRAPHY DRASTICALLY. WITH THE EMERGENCE OF THE INTERNET, DIGITAL MEDIA, AND PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF DOCUMENTATIVE DATA A NEW ANTHROPOLOGIST HAS ARISEN.
A POINT THAT MAY HAVE BEEN OVERLOOKED IN THE TEXT WAS THAT HAD MORE INFORMATION AND NECESSARY EQUIPMENTS BEEN MORE ACCESSIBLE TO “OFFSET THE EUROCENTRIC AND COLONIAL CHARACTER OF THE DISCIPLINE’S METHODOLOGY, PERSONNEL, AND TRAINING PROGRAMS” THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE PRODUCTION OF “NATIVE” OR “INDIGENOUS” ANTHROPOLOGY. (88). FOR EXAMPLE, THE INTERNET ALLOWS INFORMATION THAT ONCE WAS OUT OF REACH NOW AVAILABLE RIGHT AT, YES, OUR FINGERTIPS. ‘HOW DO WE RESEARCH ETHNOGRAPHIC DATA, ANALYZE IT, DOCUMENT, AND TRANSCRIBE THIS INFORMATION?’ ARE ALL QUESTIONS THAT CAN BE ANSWERED, OVER THE WORLD WIDE WEB. DIGITAL MEDIA ALLOWS FOR A MORE DEMOCRATIC WAY OF “RENDERING SENSITIVE AND INSIGHTFUL ETHNOGRAPHIC ACCOUNTS”(89). WITH THE ADVENT OF DIGITAL MEDIA, THE CONCEPT OF THE DOCUMENTARY WAS POPULARIZED. THERE IS A STRONG WANT FROM PEOPLE TO KNOW THE TRUTH. AS A RESULT MORE NON-FICTIONALIZED ACCOUNTS OF PEOPLE, PLACES, AND CULTURE HAVE BEEN MADE AND WATCHED THAN EVER BEFORE WHICH AGAIN IS “CONTRIBUTING TO THE DECOLONIZATION OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE AND AUTHORITY.” (89) I AM DEFINITELY SAYING THAT WHERE IF THESE TOOLS HAD NOT BEEN AROUND THE NUMBER OF DIVERSE PEOPLE MAKING AND CONSUMING THIS INFORMATION WOULD NOT BE AS PREVALENT BUT THERE IS STILL EVEN IN THESE “NATIVE/ INDIGENOUS” GROUPS INDIVIDUALS WHO MAY NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THESE TOOLS. THIS PUTS INTO CONTEMPLATION THE FORMIDABLE QUESTION OF WHETHER CLASS, RATHER THAN GENDER, RACE, OR SEXUALITY REPRESENTS THE NEW DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS THAT DU BOIS, WHO IS ALSO MENTIONED IN THE TEXT, HOLDS AS A TRAIT STRICTLY RESERVED FOR THOSE OF A DARKER TONE. AGAIN THIS MAKES ME WONDER WHETHER ANTHROPOLOGY HAS TRANSFORMED FROM BEING POLITICS INTO “A POLITICALLY NEUTRAL QUEST” JUST YET (88)
IT IS SAID, “SOME OF THE MOST THOUGHTFUL AND CONSTRUCTIVE ALTERNATIVES WITHIN U.S ANTHROPOLOGY HAS EMERGED FROM BLACKS AS WELL AS WOMEN-PARTICULARLY FEMNINISTS”. (88, 89)
A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THIS IS JOHNETTA COLE, A PAST OR PRESENT PRESIDENT OF SPELMAN COLLEGE WHO WENT IN THE 70S TO DOCUMENT AND UNDERSTAND THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CLIMATE OF JAMAICA AND ITS UNDERCLASS POPULATION.AS A RESULT OF THE BATTLE FOR POLITICAL SUPREMACY BY THE PNP (SOCIALISTS) AND THE JLP (LABORITES/CAPITALISTS) GANGS AFFILIATED WITH POLITICAL IDEOLOGY OF EITHER GROUP WERE THE TOOLS THROUGH WHICH VIOLENCE WORKED THROUGH KINGSTON. ALTHOUGH IT WAS A DANGEROUS SITUATION FOR ANY PERSON, SHE FOUND, AS AN AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN, THAT SHE WAS ABLE TO RELATE IN MANY WAYS TO THE JAMAICAN RESIDENTS OF “OCEANVIEW” ON MANY LEVELS. BEFORE THERE IS CONCLUSION HERE, THE ASSUMPTION THAT HER JOURNEY WAS WITHOUT PAINS CONSIDERING HER RACE WOULD BE TRITE, FOR “TO BE EFFECTIVE THE ETHNOGRAPHER IS OFTEN COMPELLED TO MANEUVER IN A COMPLEX POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT”. (95) COLE REMEMBERS “ I WAS AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD ON A DAILY BASIS, INTENSIVELY MINGLING WITH SOCIALIST, LABORITES, PTA MEMBERS, AND STREET GANGS.” WHICH IS OF COURSE PART OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL PROCESS ITSELF. (97) ALONG WITH ASSUAGING JUDGMENTS ACCORDING TO HER SKIN COLOR, GENDER, AND PRIMARY LOCUS COLE WAS STILL ABLE TO FIND COMMONALITIES BETWEEN HER HOME, FAMILY, RELIGION, AND COMMUNITY AND JAMAICAN CULTURE. UPON LEAVING SHE WAS PRESENTED WITH A PAINTING BY HER JAMAICAN BORN ASSISTANCE WHICH “ CONSISTED OF MYSELF AND A GIANT SIZED JAMAICAN FLAG WHICH REFLECTED HIS ACCEPTANCE OF ME AS A SISTER FROM THE SAME ANCESTRAL MOTHER-AFRICA.” (104)
THIS SYMBOLIZES NOT SO MUCH AN ANALYZING OR TAKING OF CULTURE FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER BUT A SORT OR SHARING AND UNDERSTANDING OF CULTURES IN ETHNOGRAPHY TODAY. IN ALL, THIS SIGNALS A TRANSFORMATION OF HOW WE IN WESTERN SOCIETY USE AND OBJECTIFY CULTURES. I THINK WE WILL COME TO UNDERSTAND BETTER THE NUANCES OF PEOPLE AND PLACES AND CONTINUE IN HOW MAGUBANE AND FARRIS PUT IT, “ A NEW GLOBAL ORDER COMMITTED TO SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE, SOLIDARITY, AND LIBERATION” (88)