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2700:2025:3 [2025/03/08 16:40] – Ryan Schram (admin)2700:2025:3 [2025/03/09 20:03] (current) – [Anthropology should take place in the world(-system)] Ryan Schram (admin)
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 It leads them to a set of corollaries about social systems: It leads them to a set of corollaries about social systems:
  
-  * Societies, social systems, and the collective existence of people are examples of a total phenomenon. They are totalities or wholes which are more than the sum of the parts that make them up. +  * **Societies, social systems, and the collective existence of people are examples of a total phenomenon.** They are totalities or wholes which are more than the sum of the parts that make them up. 
-  * Individual facts and social facts are fundamentally different. There’s a fundamental opposition between that which pertains to individual conscious experience on the one hand and social reality on the other. +  * **Individual facts and social facts are fundamentally different.** There’s a fundamental opposition between that which pertains to individual conscious experience on the one hand and social reality on the other. 
-  * Collective things like the norms of a society have their own logic. It’s the logic of the mail sorting machine. Individual experiences and actions have a completely different logic.+  * Collective things like **the norms of a society have their own logic**. It’s the logic of the mail sorting machine. Individual experiences and actions have a completely different logic.
     * The logic of collective facts is also a logic that we can only see in synchronic time, a freeze frame where everything exists simultaneously and we can see the connections among them.     * The logic of collective facts is also a logic that we can only see in synchronic time, a freeze frame where everything exists simultaneously and we can see the connections among them.
     * Individual behaviors come from wants, desires, choices, and preferences. This is intuitively real and pertains to diachronic time, the time of cause and effect.     * Individual behaviors come from wants, desires, choices, and preferences. This is intuitively real and pertains to diachronic time, the time of cause and effect.
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 Please go to Mentimeter: https://www.menti.com/alz8weo3ccn6 (or https://menti.com and use code ''%%5331 1924%%''). Please go to Mentimeter: https://www.menti.com/alz8weo3ccn6 (or https://menti.com and use code ''%%5331 1924%%'').
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 +
  
 ===== The ethnographic present induces historical amnesia ===== ===== The ethnographic present induces historical amnesia =====
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 There are two different yet interconnected critiques of allochronism in anthropology: There are two different yet interconnected critiques of allochronism in anthropology:
  
-  * Anthropology is an unwitting product of a long tradition of European thought in which people define themselves in opposition to an other, i.e. East versus West; North versus South; modern versus primitive (see Said [1978] 2014; Trouillot [2003b] 2016).+  * Anthropology is an unwitting product of a long **tradition of European thought** in which **people define themselves in opposition to an other**, i.e. East versus West; North versus South; modern versus primitive (see Said [1978] 2014; Trouillot [2003b] 2016).
     * Sometimes the stereotype of the other of the West is positive and sometimes it’s negative but the dichotomy is never questioned (Trouillot [2003b] 2016, 23)     * Sometimes the stereotype of the other of the West is positive and sometimes it’s negative but the dichotomy is never questioned (Trouillot [2003b] 2016, 23)
     * According to Rousseau, New World Indians are noble savages. They are closer to nature than Europeans, and live in just societies (Rousseau [1755] 1964, 132–33, 178–79).     * According to Rousseau, New World Indians are noble savages. They are closer to nature than Europeans, and live in just societies (Rousseau [1755] 1964, 132–33, 178–79).
     * According to Montesquieu, societies of the East are despotic and societies of the West are fair and just. (Montesquieu [1748] 1777, 356)     * According to Montesquieu, societies of the East are despotic and societies of the West are fair and just. (Montesquieu [1748] 1777, 356)
     * European thought has always had a “savage slot” where it puts images of the other to confirm its sense of a modern European self (Trouillot [2003b] 2016, 19). Anthropology creates knowledge that slots right in there.     * European thought has always had a “savage slot” where it puts images of the other to confirm its sense of a modern European self (Trouillot [2003b] 2016, 19). Anthropology creates knowledge that slots right in there.
-  * The idea of a total social system has been interpreted too literally. We assume that we should look for actual groups living in actually closed, self-contained systems. Nobody society is actually isolated or closed in a literal sense.+  * **The idea of a total social system has been interpreted too literally.** We assume that we should look for actual groups living in actually closed, self-contained systems. Nobody's society is actually isolated or closed in a literal sense.
     * Functionalist explanations of social structure are based on an organic analogy and a machine metaphor. They deliberately ignore diachronic time to examine a synchronic structure (e.g. Radcliffe-Brown [1924] 1952).     * Functionalist explanations of social structure are based on an organic analogy and a machine metaphor. They deliberately ignore diachronic time to examine a synchronic structure (e.g. Radcliffe-Brown [1924] 1952).
     * Evans-Pritchard describes the Nuer of southern Sudan (today South Sudan) as an “acephalous” society that is “libertarian” (Evans-Pritchard 1940a, 296), “egalitarian,” and “democratic” (Evans-Pritchard 1940b, 181).     * Evans-Pritchard describes the Nuer of southern Sudan (today South Sudan) as an “acephalous” society that is “libertarian” (Evans-Pritchard 1940a, 296), “egalitarian,” and “democratic” (Evans-Pritchard 1940b, 181).
     * Radcliffe-Brown says societies based on kinship have a tendency toward stability and homeostasis (Radcliffe-Brown [1935] 1952).     * Radcliffe-Brown says societies based on kinship have a tendency toward stability and homeostasis (Radcliffe-Brown [1935] 1952).
     * Classical anthropology, as epitomized by Radcliffe-Brown and Evans-Pritchard, believes in a myth of the “static, primitive isolate” (Wolf 1984, 394).     * Classical anthropology, as epitomized by Radcliffe-Brown and Evans-Pritchard, believes in a myth of the “static, primitive isolate” (Wolf 1984, 394).
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 ===== Anthropology should take place in the world(-system) ===== ===== Anthropology should take place in the world(-system) =====
  
-**Immanuel Wallerstein (1974) theorizes what he calls the capitalist world-system.**+### Immanuel Wallerstein (1974) theorizes what he calls the capitalist world-system.
  
   * The global system of capitalism is based on a network of unequal exchanges between core and periphery.   * The global system of capitalism is based on a network of unequal exchanges between core and periphery.
   * The origins of the unequal exchange between core and periphery begin in the era of European expansion.   * The origins of the unequal exchange between core and periphery begin in the era of European expansion.
  
-**Wolf applies Wallerstein’s framework, concluding that:**+### Wolf applies Wallerstein’s framework, concluding that: 
  
   * all societies are products of historical changes. They are never static.   * all societies are products of historical changes. They are never static.
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 You may have heard about dialectic change as a three-step process. This is a simplification that can be a little misleading since it emphasizes distinct stages over flux itself (Mueller 1958). You may have heard about dialectic change as a three-step process. This is a simplification that can be a little misleading since it emphasizes distinct stages over flux itself (Mueller 1958).
 +
 +
  
 ===== Dialectic processes in society at large ===== ===== Dialectic processes in society at large =====
  
-**Private property contains its own opposite.**+### Private property contains its own opposite.
  
   * If I own something, it means you don’t.   * If I own something, it means you don’t.
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   * A society based on owners of capital and nonowners of that same capital is a society of two interdependent classes at war with each other.   * A society based on owners of capital and nonowners of that same capital is a society of two interdependent classes at war with each other.
  
-**Colonialism contains its own opposite**+### Colonialism contains its own opposite.
  
   * Colonization is the process by which one society expands into a new territory by setting up a new settlement.   * Colonization is the process by which one society expands into a new territory by setting up a new settlement.
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   * Colonialism is, then, two contradictory realities at once, and it is neither of them.   * Colonialism is, then, two contradictory realities at once, and it is neither of them.
     * Colonialism is, as Ryan says, “a system of racial governance.” It creates a rigidly stratified society in which a colonizing stratum dominates a subordinate, colonized stratum.     * Colonialism is, as Ryan says, “a system of racial governance.” It creates a rigidly stratified society in which a colonizing stratum dominates a subordinate, colonized stratum.
 +
  
 ===== Encountering Fiji: History Etched in Everyday Life ===== ===== Encountering Fiji: History Etched in Everyday Life =====
2700/2025/3.1741480848.txt.gz · Last modified: 2025/03/08 16:40 by Ryan Schram (admin)