Ethnology and History Author(s): Julian Pitt-Rivers and Robert Jaulin Source: RAIN, No. 3 (Jul. - Aug.

, 1974), pp. 1-3 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3032060 Accessed: 13/12/2010 12:02
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ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE NEWSLETTER

D RADE

I July/August 1974Number 3 Every 2 month Y. Published London WC2N 5NG byRAI,36 Craven Street,

RobertJaulin is knownas the authorof La Paix Blanche (Seuil, 1970) and La MortSara and Gens du soi,gensde l'autre (Union Generaled'Editions,1971 and 1973). He is also knownas an activeorganiser of the movement against ethnocide and was responsible fora conference a fewyearsago at the CentreNationalde la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, on thesubjectof ethnocidein the Americas. He pushesthecritique of imperp.... *~~~~~~~~.... . ialism to itslogicalextreme, arguing not merely thatthe physical destruction(genocide)of a people is but thatthe destruction wrong of their way of life(ethnocide)is no better. He maintains moreover that modern western civil isationwhich is reallyin hisview'decivilisation'the destruction of our own culture by ourselves-is thegenerating force of ethnocide throughout the world; and thatit derives from the denial of the existence of others, whichis theequivalent of death,forit is onlythrough others thatwe realise ourselves as individuals, and not butas collectivionlyas individuals tieswitheach one itsown way of life.Centralisation and standardisationare therefore meansof autodestruction, the destruction of our own culturefrom within. Our notionof progress is the oppositeof whatit claimsto be and all forms of towardsthe other 'do-goodery' peoplesof theworldhavea lethal intention beneaththe levelof awof the would-bebenefactors, areness forto imposeour ideologyin any form upon thoseof anotherculture is an infringement of theirright to liveas theywish.By attempting to makethemconform to our notions Two natives of NewGeorgia, SolomonIslands, early1890's (RAI photographic of whattheyshouldbe, we are presented byAdmiral A print from collection, a cracked BoyleSomerville. plate.).

LastMay,Robert Jaulin spokeat a joint meeting organised by theRAI and the French in London.Wehave Institute translated a short article byJaulin setting outhisviews, and weinvited an English anthropologist familiar with his work to contribute someintroductory comments.

ETHNOLOGY AND. HISTORY

.........

...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

collection, presented by E.H. Man).

everykind,progressive States; let us rely on the State of Civilisation, let us place ourselvesin otherhands than our own; let us leave our smallness,which is an enclosuresmelling of death. Qan one reallymistakefor lifewhat only amounts to relationships between men of flesh, relationships witha palpable universe, not a universe on paper but concrete relationships measuredby the human scale or limitedto the visiblehorizon? No-let's be serious. Those worlds are dead, those civilisations have well and trulyceased to innovate-of theirown accord, it is implied.' 'Of theirown accord'; it is an unspoken implication. This cal s fora pause and a moment'sthought. We remember, perhapswith pride,that a good partof our Historyis that of numerouswars,noble conquests at the end of which Nationsand Empireswere JulianPitt-Rivers forged.This is faraway, but it is nearat hand too because historybooks and school primers are near at hand. It is as if Ethnology and History Nationsand Empireshad existed only by RobertJaulin fromfighting each other,had only made (Note:The French usageof 'ethnology' themselves each other. by unmaking corresponds to theEnglish roughly term They all followthe same model. Their Jsocial anthropology'). wars were the expressionof theircommon Notvery long ago,a finance company movement, theircommon logic, the wascontrasting itsowndynamism with dynamism of UniversalHistory(by their that ofcivil isations which haveceased 'wars', let us understand the affirmation to innovate. Suchpublicity a expresses of structures of power and not just the climate inwhich we aresteeped andto exchangeof blows and shots). Certainly which a thousand other signs testify. European wars,wars close to us, between To sayofa civilisation thatithas whitesand whites,among ourselves, ceased to innovate thatit is half- were easily reducibleto this image-and implies dead,andthat we maysuitably innovate so History,Humanityon the march,were on itsbehalf. Thisreasoning iswhatthe presented to us. bankiing implicitly suggests: publicity Distantwarson the periphery, wars 'You aresavages, and deep moribund, waged againstothers,'coloured' people, downyou knowit;letus civilise you,get could be less easily grasped. It could not, us to invent waysof living on your to beginwith,be denied that therewas Wewillmake conflictbetweenone civilisation account, openan account. and youbearfruit (letus bearfruit ourselves), others. Ideologywas called to the rescue, wewillgetyou outof thelethargy of to raise impudentequivocations and desthese thedead civilisations; "others", of troyall doubts about the legitimacy then thegreat newworld willbe built, our campaigns.By ideology,lmean philotheonlyworld, thatof Unitary Man, sophy and theology;and I am thinking life.' innovation, of the controversy in the 16th Century On all sides, we arereminded, we between Las Casas ** and manyof his must become our money, invest ourI also mean sociology contemporaries. selves, lockourselves insomewhere else, (which is tingedwiththeology) and the beyond ourselves and beyond ourdaily manyunitary theorieswhose impactwe actsof existence andsubsistence. 'Let have suffered from.And I mean ethnousplaceourselves inthehands of remote logy,or ethno-theology, with its linear market businesses, economies, compeitssearchfor mythical constructions, tentpowers, reliable Statesof States, universals-from brain-size to incest,pass-

our own merely demonstrating and the lust internal inadequacy fordominance thatgoes withit: all powercorrupts! of our Jaulin would be worthy ifonlyforthe moralconattention of hisdemonstration of sistency a I'envers; but more ethnocentrism thanthis,hisvoice has the power and hisrhetoric of passion, vibrates witha newself-consciousness. readers Anglo-Saxon mayfind or over-alluJaulin's proseelliptical in translation, but sive,especially is compensated any lackof clarity forby otherqualities.Withhis and indignation, his hatred anguish of hypocrisy and his love of nature, theJeremiah he is,veryprecisely, of modern anthropology.

ingthroughthe sole of the foot, language, smile. and (most recently)the universal too of the silences and I am thinking co mplicitiesof ethnology.The ideology a matter of which I mean is certainly politics. of ours-or rather, This civilisation or Deciviliof emptying, this movement sation-was not always presentedin the same way. 'Christian'theystressedin the 16th Centurywhen theywere butchering AmericanIndians.'Formed by nations and the fatherland' theyshouted during the French Revolutionwhich was lost 'In the name of liberty and to Hitlerism. theytelI us today, with bombs progress' to back up tleir argumentin case we are as was in dangerof not understanding, proved in Vietnam. Howeverdifferent these proceduresmay be, they are only diverseinstancesof one and the same world,one and the same 'coherence'. That this'coherence' is a coherence of death, and so an incoherence,is obvious in the eyes of those who are dying,and in the eyes of the multipledestroyedmodes of lifeand civilisations. This obviousness is spreadingfast. But what about here? Shouldn't this incoherence concern us as well? Isn't it inscribed in our everydaylife,in our multiple and innovative progressive constructions, machines,in the heavysocial theories withwhichwe are sated and leftwithan emptystomach? A sort of discomfort accompanies today the currentproposition accordingto which there is a progressivecivilisation on the one hand, savageries on the otherhand. Thingsare reversed:

of consist one asks:'Did not Civilisation civilisations, multiple and distinct those of deathour and wasnot their procedure Decivilisation?' and unitary owncommon
Let's go back to History. The conquest of the new world and the colonisationof Africaand Asia made of multiple clear the confrontation with A Historythatwe humanhistories call westernor white.These multiple histories were absorbed into our History. Our wars were,and are, only one aspect among othersof theirdestruction: among others,because abuse and destruction took place at everylevel,because it is important forthe uniquenessof the west to giveoccupation to our consciences and our knowledge,to be everywhere, Those civiliabsolutelythe sole survivor. sationshad to die of theirown accord,

joint camwithin thesamecamp.Their of wasaimedat thedestruction paign civilisations, and itpartly humani multiple realised thatdestruction. th-at Itoften certainly, happened, tooktheoffensive civilisations damaged butthewestwasto andarmed their men, Examples struggles. makeup forthese in South aretheBolivian revolution, here; Revolution, the French America, in Black movements today's guerrilla in 1789 sawtheir The peasants Africa. of werepart lands shrink-lands which communal lands civil isations, peasant The which these civilisations. permitted and more more appropriated bourgeoisie off ofthem; at thesametimeitcut itself helditself aloof more from thepeasants, More from andexploited them. them, made thanthepeasants themselves-but civilisation nevertheless--their bythem tried to fight back.Weknow theresults. the Oftheacreage of France before 40 or 45% wascommon Revolution, How is itapporlandor small-holdings. tioned or thesenseof today?History, on a longtime-scale, and events, plays Furetissurely to givea right Frangois Revoofexistence to theFrench century the extend butwe must surely lution, thequestions stillmore and rephrase time acwe ask.Thenthemovement really a meaning. quires centuries, thatinpreceding It istrue and Monarchy, of Church theinstitutions lands, had preuestsofforeign andconq the Revoforor 'madepossible' pared byan itself expressed lution. Butthis tempo.Nor of theWestern acceleration since diminished hasthisacceleration doubt Without thecontrary. then-quite times to several tried Paris, or itspeople, are powers (which thecentral riseagainst backedup. butitwas never notParis);

were always The apparentadversaries

andwe made ourperfidy; notthrough or elsethe our'ancestors' either them madepossible which anderrors attempts evenpartial and ridiourownexistence, of Human Universality. culousexpressions for did notpose problems wars Distant and institutto thepolicing thanks long, Las ofthought and knowledge. ionalising Casascouldonlylosethegame.Allthat logicofthe wastheapparent remained happened to hand;everything warsnear Thecomedy thatour thewest. within playout forus-a comedy history primers western-is because thesceneisentirely on sidelight notonlya farce, a mere doubt,ethnobutalso,without history, cide. inthe Renaissbegun Theabsorption, of theother, ance,oftheidentities of intotheidentity civilisations distant, a means of unifywascertainly thewest, and of politics at thelevel ingEurope It isas if,sincethatperiod, ideology. wars wereonlya matter ourclose-at-hand against of fiefs fiefs, powers against capitalism nations, against nations powers, theunderhand inshort socialism, against thesearch forone and of History, jobbery This on earth. or hell, thesameheaven, The History buta cover. wasall nothing ofwarring ofthewestis notthestruggle wasnotone betheopposition factions, The menor between armies. tween aresecondary. contradictions internal

from did notrecover worlds The peasant with enrolled soldiers their defeat, their or themartyrs theybecame theenemy, of colonialconof industry, pioneers or the fordemocracy quest,werekilled take themselves letting before Nation of ofa society partintheestablishment thebanner weak,under and/or thesolitary These or liberty. socialism ofeither of an idea weresignificant covers diverse which andan ideaof equality of progress ofexisthequality neither concerned relationnorthevalueof everyday tence, a manand peoplesimilar shipsbetween a manand between to him, or rather from him. peopledifferent circuits Eventoday,inthemanifold of life, we arereminded ofoureveryday andof theneedto abandon oursavagery intothe ourselves to enter ourselves, thatis aliento us of a civilisation account at thebank).This an account (including us happidoes notbring lossof ourselves we nessonly;we doubtourhappiness; sickened by it. areevenseriously forbeing, our longing This'we', with great factthatthewestsuppistheother isthatit iswell The implication resses. to almost andtruly dead,dead of itself,

ourgreat regret-for arenotmuseums, ourexpressions folklore and ethnology and ofcondolence? It leavesus dreaming isalso a nuisance. to comprehend claimed Ethnology it.So one would otherness, notto reject and committed liketo imagine ithappy to confronting with artificialisation people.Thisis not itsconcern forother andone can hardthecase byanymeans, wereeverto lyexpectitto be. Ifthis of happen itwouldmeanthatthefabric to fray. thewestwas beginning However, thesky.Wecan imanothing falls from actually taking part ginetheethnologist thehappiina movement of happiness, himself andthere-discovery nessof being to be oftheother. Thisis thechange builtup,a victory to be wongradually.
RobertJaulin

from the French) (translated

wasa Dominican andfora timeBishop He campaigned of Chiapas, Guatemala. of Indians in theforced labour against of his Hispaniola, butfailedinan attempt colonisation ownto introduce peaceful himself.

** Bartolome' de las Casas (1474-1566)

FORTHCOMING RA CONFERENCESAN COUSE

is theroleoftheold inoursociety? What between is there variation How much of treatment intheir cultures different a precious theold? Arewe wasting when off'ourelders, by'writing resource to teach hasso much experience their obfrom can we learn What theyoung? theroleof old peopleinother serving inourown sub-cultures cultures-and be able to apply we might society-that inpractice? is widespread Just now,whenthere aboutthe1960s'cultof disillusion seemsa goodtimeto stimulate youth', socialquestion. inthisneglected interest week-end a short The RAI is organising on 20thand (non-residential) conference 1974 at theRoyal 21stSeptember Street, inWimpole of Medicine Society forsocial LondonWI. It is intended and socialscientists doctors, workers, with The co-organiser public. thegeneral theRAI is Dr.JohnKeet,MRCP,lecturat University gerontology er inmedical School.Speakers Medical CollegeHospital willinclude: proA.N. Exton-Smith, Professor College University fessor of geriatrics, School; Medical Hospital research senior Bigot, Dr.Arthur at gerontology fellow inpsycho-social University; Nottingham Honorary Professor LucyMair, on of theRAI anda specialist Secretary Africa;
The Role of the Old in Society FridaySeptember20th-Saturday September21st

on a 'gerontocraDr. PaulSpencer, tic'society, Barbara Ward, a specialist on China. widely The roleof old peoplevaries and theconto another, one society from willreflect byanthropologists tributions this variety. at 6pmon willbegin The conference a buffet 20thwith September Friday at 1 Wimsession andan evening supper on the WI. Itwillresume poleStreet, 21st, September of Saturday, morning at about5.30pm.The Conference closing on the supper Fee of ?4.50 wfl include and afternoon coffee and morning Friday, members: (Non-RAI tea on theSaturday. F5.50). shouldbe sent Bookings andenquiries to theDirector of the RAI,36 Craven LondonWC2N5NG Street,
VanishingPeoples of the World FridayNovember1st-Sunday November 3rd

at Attingcourse A weekend residential AdultCollege, The Shropshire hamPark, Fee: ?7.50 Shropshire. nr.Shrewsbury, and from Shropshire for thosecoming ?8.50 for authorities, other contributing can thatarea (applicants thoseoutside whether theCollege they find out from or to a contributing authority belong but forRAI members, not). No reduction PRIORITY BOOKING: MAKECLEAR IN WRITINGYOU ARE AN RAI MEMshouldbe sentdirectBER. Applications address of theCollege, lyto theWarden continued .asabove, _ 3