Cultural Survival

The increased contact among cultures has created

increased possibilities for the domination of one
group by another, through various means.
Development and Environmentalism
Currently, domination comes most frequently in

the form of core-based multinational corporations

causing economic change in Third World cultures.
It is noted that even well-intentioned interference

(such as the environmentalist movement) may be

treated as a form of cultural domination by
subject populations.
 Culture Clash

Two sources of culture clash:

When development threatens indigenous
peoples and their environments (e.g.,
Brazil and New Guinea).
When external relations threaten
indigenous peoples (e.g., Madagascar,
where sweeping international
environmental regulations affect
traditional subsistence life-ways).
 Resistance and Survival
Variation within Systems of Domination
Scott (1990) differentiates between public and hidden
transcripts of culturally and politically oppressed peoples.
Public transcript refers to the open, public interactions between
dominators and the oppressed.
Hidden transcript refers to the critique of power that goes on
offstage, where the dominators cannot see it.
Gramscis (1971) notion of hegemony applies to a politically
hierarchical system wherein in the dominant ideology of the
elites has been internalized by members of the lower
classes.
Bourdieu (1977) and Foucault (1979) argue that it is much
easier to control people's minds than try to control their
bodies.
 Weapons of the Weak
As James Scotts (Weapons of the Weak 1990)
work on Malay peasants suggests, oppressed
groups may use subtle, nonconfrontational
methods to resist various forms of domination.
Malay peasants protest the introduction of combine
harvesters, steal things, and kill animals.
Examples of antiauthoritarian discourse include
rituals (e.g., Carnaval) and folk literature.
Resistance is more likely to be public when the
oppressed come together in groups (hence the
antiassembly laws of the antebellum South).
 Cultural Survival and Tourism
http://
www.ecotour.org/destinations/k
akum.htm
http://
www.maasai.com/maasai.htm
 Cultural Imperialism
Cultural imperialism refers to the spread of one
culture at the expense of others usually because of
differential economic or political influence.
While mass media and related technology have
contributed to the erosion of local cultures, they are
increasingly being used as media for the outward
diffusion of local cultures (e.g., television in Brazil).
E.G. Satellite Dreaming-Australian Aborigines
The Broadcasting in Remote Aboriginal Communities Scheme
(BRACS) enables Aboriginal communities to intercept incoming
satellite signals from the ABC and substitute locally produced
programming [Venner 1988, pp 37-43]. On mainstream television,
Aboriginal windows provide limited episode current affairs
programming for Aboriginal audiences.
 Popular Culture

According to Fiske (1989), each

individual's use of popular culture is
a creative act.
Popular culture can be used to
express resistance.
Popular Culture is not simply a
passive reception of mass
produced cultural goods.
Indigenizing Popular Culture

Cultural forms exported from one culture to

another do not necessarily carry the same
meaning from the former context to the latter
context.
Aboriginal interpretations of the movie Rambo
demonstrate that meaning can be produced
from a text, not by a text.
Appadurais analysis of Philippine indigenization
of some American music forms demonstrates
the uniqueness of the indigenized form.
 A World System of Images
Mass media can spread and create
national and ethnic identities.
Cross-cultural studies show that locally
produced television shows are
preferred to foreign imports.
Mass media plays an important role in
maintaining ethnic and national
identities among people who lead
transnational lives.
Transnational Culture of Consumption

As with mass media, the flow of

capital has become decentralized,
carrying with it the cultural influences
of many different sources (e.g., the
United States, Japan, Britain, Canada,
Germany).
Migrant labor also contributes to
cultural diffusion.
 Postmodernism
Postmodernity describes our time and situation--
todays world in flux, these people on the move
who have learned to manage multiple identities
depending on place and context.
Postmodern refers to the collapsing of old
distinctions, rules, canons, and the like.
Postmodernism (derived from the architectural
style) refers to the theoretical assertion and
acceptance of multiple forms of rightness, in
contradistinction to modernism, which was based in
the assumed supremacy of Western technology and
values.
 Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasing
connectedness of the world and its
peoples.
With this connectedness, however, come
new bases for identities (e.g., the
Panindian identity growing among formerly
disparate tribes).
Postmodern moments refers to a series of
personal examples bearing out global
linkages.
The Continuance of Diversity

Anthropology has a crucial role to

play in promoting a more humanistic
vision of social change, one that
respects the value of cultural
diversity.
The existence of anthropology is itself
a tribute to the continuing need to
understand social and cultural
similarities and differences.
 Cultural Survival
http://www.cs.org/
 Effects of Anthropology
If anthro is so super, why no bigger effect?
more research than applied work.
things published in Social Science Journal does
not have much effect on Policy makers.
Conflict between Policy and Anthros
Cult. relativism and holism important to
anthros but not the govt.
Anthro studies take a long time, govt. want
answers right away.
Tensions between anthro ethics and govt.
Growing Areas of Anthropology

Medical Anthropology
brings together biological and cultural aspects of health
and medicine.
*i.e. We know the scientific name of tuberculosis is
Myobacterium tuberculosis, but poverty and malnutrition
are the main contributing factors.
Diseases are always experienced by people as mediated
by their culture.
*i.e. the stigma attached to Aids.
Development Anthropology
concerned primarily with poverty, environment, disease,
malnutrition, gender inequity, and ethnic conflict.
Understand nature of development.
Importance of long-term research.
Sensitivity to environmental issues