Cultural relativism and indigenous rights: Rethinking some dilemmas in applied anthropology (part 2)

The basis on which people should understand and relate to each other is a crucial dilemma for applied anthropology and a human rights organization such as the Forest Peoples Programme. Cultural relativism rejects universalism, critiques the individualist emphasis of human rights as Western imperialism and teaches that every society must be understood on its own terms. While it is true that some countries have resisted the impositions of the human rights regime, most have also ratified the key human rights treaties. It is clear that the notion of ‘human rights’ is a cultural construct of Western civilization, with a long gestation dating back to the ancient Greeks. Human rights have three foundational principles: individual rights, non-discrimination and self-determination. The tension between the three creates space for cultural specificity, decolonization and the assertion of collective rights. Indigenous peoples have effectively used the human rights system of the United Nations to reclaim their collective rights and, in so doing, accept that these universal norms also apply to their own societies, which they reform through their self-determined efforts. Ultimately, all human rights trace back to various conceptions of freedom – free will, freedom of belief, autonomy and self-determination – and even in societies where personhood is more relational and communal, notions of collective freedom are readily discernible. We need an ‘anthropology of freedom’ that builds on the insights of cultural relativism but is open to supporting self-determined movements for reform.     

Rethinking ethnography: A study in public anthropology

This editorial calls for an alternative approach to writing ethnographies. Instead of treating a group as a cultural whole to make writing about it easier, the author emphasizes the importance of understanding the intracultural diversity that exists within that group. In addition, he asks ethnographers to step away from a framework which places them as the primary interpreters of a group. Instead, he calls for more dialogic, multicentric narratives, that allow the people they study (as well as their readers) to compose their own empowering narratives about the group. Intracultural diversity ensures there is not one true account, but many.     

Umkomasia (megasporophyll): part 1 of a reassessment of Gondwana Triassic plant genera and a reclassification of some previously attributed

The genus Umkomasia, a megasporophyll, belonging to the pteridosperms (seed ferns) in the family Umkomasiaceae (Corystospermaceae), is reassessed comprehensively worldwide. All previous records are analysed. Certain fertile structures previously attributed are reclassified. Umkomasia is shown to be restricted to the Triassic of Gondwana where it is associated with the genus Pteruchus, a microsporophyll, and the genus Dicroidium, a vegetative leaf. It is well represented from Argentina, Australia and southern Africa where the Molteno Formation is by far the most comprehensively sampled with eight species described. Two specimens from the upper Permian of India attributed to Umkomasia are reclassified as cf. Arberiopsis sp. A whorled fertile structure from Antarctica, previously assigned to Umkomasia, is reclassified in a new genus as Axsmithia uniramia. Another compression fossil and the permineralized Umkomasia resinosa remain as valid records from Antarctica. The material described as Umkomasia from the Triassic of China is reclassified as Stenorachis asiatica. The Lower Jurassic record from Germany is placed in a new genus as Kirchmuellia franconica. The records of Umkomasia sp. from the Rhaetic of Germany are reclassified as cf. Kirchmuellia sp. and the single specimen from the Jurassic of Libya as genus et sp. indet. The Lower Cretaceous record from Mongolia has been reclassified by other researchers as Doylea mongolica. A pictorial key to Umkomasia species is provided, geographic and stratigraphic distributions are tabulated.     

Grey owl's return: Cultural ecology and Canadian indigenous peoples*

Bruce Cox, ed. Cultural Ecology: Readings on the Canadian Indians and Eskimos. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1973. 331 pp. Maps and appendix. $4.95 (paper).     

Guns,anthropology, and cultural relativism: A response to Hugh Gusterson's ‘Making a killing’, AT28(1) (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

This comment responds to Hugh Gusterson's guest editorial on gun control in the February 2013 issue and applies is to the case of Gambia.     

科学建构非物质文化遗产理论体系——非物质文化遗产相关概念和若干专业问题的再思考

民众对非物质文化遗产的认识越来越深入,但是概念及若干专业问题还有待厘清。非物质文化遗产没有"缓冲区",不具"唯一性"而具"游移性",非物质文化遗产中"文化空间"与作为非物质文化遗产组成部分的"一般场所"是不相同的概念,遗产的评定不受"生源地"所限。保护"非物质文化遗产"的规范性文件中使用"代表性"或"代表作"有其立法用意,非物质文化遗产法与知识产权法保护的客体(对象)既有相同点也存在区别,而"非物质文化遗产"与"非物质文化遗产产品"也是完全不一样的概念。     

Rethinking Cultural Genocide: Aboriginal Child Removal and Settler‐Colonial State Formation

This paper examines the use of the concept of cultural genocide to understand one particular episode in Australian legal, political and social history, the removal of Aboriginal children from their families, mostly during the 20th century. After outlining the approach of Australian courts to the idea of cultural genocide, the paper examines the construction of the UN Genocide Convention, particularly the clause concerning the forcible removal of children, which illustrates the underlying instability of the boundary between a cultural and a physical understanding of genocide. It then explores how this instability was manifested in the development of early 20th century Australian legislation concerning the ‘protection’ of Aborigines, indicating the underlying racially‐oriented coerciveness of conceptions of Aboriginal ‘welfare’, and concludes by reflecting on the wide range of ways in which the concept of genocide can and should be used, especially in capturing the experience of Indigenous peoples under settler‐colonialism.     

Rethinking Law and Violence: The Domestic Violence (Prevention) Bill in India, 2002

This essay focuses on the controversy generated by recent proposed legislation on domestic violence in India. An alternative draft bill on domestic violence prepared by the feminist legal NGO, the Lawyers’ Collective, and supported by women's groups nationally, includes a demand that victims of domestic violence (usually wives) be permitted by law to continue to occupy the domestic home, a demand that the Government bill has refused to include. This demand is theoretically informed by a politics of space. Bodies and space are linked, to the extent that each is an abstraction without the concept of the other to ground it. The feminist legal proposal challenges property‐as‐absolute‐(male) ownership by conceptualising the household as, instead, shared domestic space. The proposal does not dissimulate common sense – it is conscious of being radical, in part at least because it demystifies the ‘domestic’ as an ideological construct and offers it instead realistically and minimally as simply an alternative to destitution. The recognition that there are no support structures for dependant women outside the family (such as, for example, state‐sponsored welfare institutions), so that destitution can be both sudden and real for women of any class and circumstances, has led to the conceptualisation of a law that formulates a right to shared space as one that makes no claim to shared ownership – while at the same time questioning the other's absolute property right. Despite the limited nature of the claim it makes, this proposal has been viewed as threatening by Indian law‐makers.     

Change and continuity: Case studies in cultural anthropology

George D. Spindler and student collaborators. Burgbach: Urbanization and Identity in a German Village. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973. x + 134 pp. Glossary, references, recommended reading, maps, illus. $3.25 (paper).

Oriol Pi‐Sunyer. Zamora: Change and Continuity in a Mexican Town. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973. xii + 134 pp. Glossary, references, recommended reading, map, tables, illus. $2.75 (paper).

Richard A. Barrett. Benabarre: The Modernization of a Spanish Village. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974. xiv + 106 pp. References, recommended reading, map, tables, illus. $3.00 (paper).

Helen Icken Saga. The Urban Poor of Puerto Rico: A Study in Development and Inequality. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974. xii + 110 pp. Glossary, references, map, tables, illus. $3.00 (paper).     

Citizenship,property rights and dispossession in postwar Poland (1918 and 1945)

After both the First and Second World Wars, the Polish state used nationality law as a tool for ethnic de-integration and dispossession, albeit in varying measure and with differing impact. After 1918, legislation and implementation focused less on economic interests than on those of the nation-state. Through the liquidation of private property against compensation, the German population, especially in Western Prussia, Poznań and Pomerelia, were to be persuaded to leave Poland voluntarily. These measures were within the legal framework set by the Versailles Treaties and the national tradition of civil law.     

Metaphor and performance: Thought and action in contemporary anthropology

Bauman, Richard, Story, Performance, and Event: Contextual Studies of Oral Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. x + 130 including chapter references and index. $34.50 cloth, $10.95 paper.

Fernandez, James W., Persuasions and Performances: The Play of Tropes in Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986. xvi + 304 pp. including chapter references and index., price unmarked.

Peacock, James L., The Anthropological Lens: Harsh Light, Soft Focus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. xii + 124 including chapter references and index. $24.95 cloth, $6.95 paper.     

Cultural and trade practices in Sincu Bara (Senegal): a multi-proxy investigation

The Sincu Bara site in Senegal is one of the most famous archeological sites in Western Africa. Here we present the results of a multi-proxy study that combined microscopic analyses, carbon content, stable carbon isotope (δ¹³C) and radiocarbon (¹⁴C) measurements. This investigation exhibits a chronological framework in two phases: from 400 yr AD to 650 yr AD and 650 yr AD to 900 yr AD. Furthermore, it shows that besides basic potteries, some potsherds are notable for a temper exclusively made with human-harvested C4 plants. Finally, the ¹⁴C analysis performed on the organic slip strongly indicates the use of bitumen or bitumen-derived products for red slip preparation. This suggests the establishment of trade relationships with Nigerian and/or Trans-Saharan populations as early as 400 yr AD.     

Women's studies in anthropology: Old debates and new issues

Powers, Maria N. Oglala Women: Myth, Ritual, and Reality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. xv + 241 pp. including reference notes and index. $19.95 cloth.

Wolf, Margery. Revolution Postponed: Women in Contemporary China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985. viii + 285 pp. including notes, and index. $24.95 cloth.

Simms, Margaret C., and Julianne M. Malveaux, eds. Slipping Through the Cracks: The Status of Black Women. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books, 1986. 302 pp. including chapter references. $12.95 paper.