Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. [Volume 39, Number 2. 11th March 1976]

Anthropology

Anthropology

Towards a Structural Configerational Approach in Cross-Cultural Comparitive 'Study; Some Problems in the Conceptualisation of Highlands Social Structure.

or; How Anthropology Fails to Save the Bacon of the Alienated Western Intellectual.

Scene - Anthropologist wearing loin cloth and sandshoes enters village. Note book in left hand, stenographers' pencil in other. Approaches 'big man' who is dressed in white shirt and sports trousers, listening to 'Voice of America' over a Sony 3 band transistor, thumbing through latest edition of 'Current Anthropology'. 'Big man' notices anthropologist and extends hand in greeting.

'Hello. I'm your native informant. My name is Andrew Smith but you can call me ego. I received your letter of introduction the other day. They tell me you've come to do in-depth ethnographic research on our society and culture using the structural configurational paradigm'.

Anth. - 'er....yes....of course.'

'Naturally, since reality is socially constructed and as part of that reality we also are social constructions with no intrinsic identity of our own, you will not be interested in our personal existential existance - day to day joys and misery etc - so much as their social significance. This being so, I guess the best thing I could do is show you a few social facts; then you will know all about us and when your thesis research grant ends, you can go home, write about the dialectics of our social life and answer the central question to which anthropology is address, what is man?'.

Anth. - 'er....yes....of course.'

'Well then, let us begin. On your immediate left you will observe our iniation ceremony, where my mother's brother's father's sister's husband's son is being drawn and quartered. This is to signify his passing from adolescence into manhood. Though this is a very real experience to him - since he is suffering extreme agony - as an anthropologist, I'm sure you will agree that such signified events are better comprehended as extrinsically defined relata, rather than as events in themselves; part of the on-going reconfiguration of social signs that is our dynamic social condition, rather than a boy learning that pain is the price of the responsibility that adulthood brings. It's nothing personal you understand, just part of our culture.'

Anth. - 'er....yes....of course.'

'Now, just here is marriage is going on between some cross cousins. Exchange and reciprocity as you probably well know, is the basis of our whole existance in the highlands. Here the woman is being exchanged for some shells and a few pigs. Over there is the pig's house, the wife and kids sleep there too. Not very sanitary, I must admit, but we mustn't be ethnocentric about these things. As I say, they're just part of our culture.'

Anth. - 'er....yes....of course.'

'Over the hill, a ritualised battle is raging. It started generations ago and persists as each side in turn, takes vengence for those killed in the previous battle. We won't bother to go and see it, if you've read about one you've seen them all. As I'm sure you will agree, it's hardly peculiar to our area alone. Going to see it would only allow you to see the actual killing and bodily mutilation of individuals and this is scarcely necessary for you to recognise war as a common place reality in our lives. Suffice it for you to note, it's just another everyday part of our culture'.

Anth. - 'er....yes....of course.'

'And over here we have a mother feeding her baby and the house-hold pigs alternately from the same breast. She is suffering from malnutrition and has had too many children already. If she lives through the next child birth she may well be forced to commit infanticide - especially if it's a girl - because of economic pressure and scarcity of resources. An yes, I forgot to mention; the baby she has now may well catch disease or contract sores from the mother's breast because of the pig's salivating. Yaws are also a problem in this respect, but their asthetic repulsiveness and personal discomfort need neither worry nor distress you, since this would be a value judgement on your part, above and beyond that called for. Your participation in our lives is after all, in the final analysis, to facilitate your observation of us for your thesis. Mind you, the personalised touch is in vogue these days, though from your point of view I can't think why. Think of the enormous advantages the more distanced, rational mentalistic approach offers. With all that is human reduced to 'social facts' any need for personal committment or action is alleviated. Why bother to change things for the better good, when 'better' and 'good' are culturally defined relative terms? And what basis is there for social action anyway, when all that you see, is for you, just part of our culture?'

Anth. - 'er....yes....of course.'

'Well, I guess that's just about it; except for one last thing. In order" to let you develope your participant observation technique to a greater degree, we have decided to give you soc a demonstration of our indigenous cooking - an area of vital relevance to anthropology, and, as I'm sure you will agree, a very important part of our culture.'

Anth. - 'er....yes....of course.'

'Good! I'm so pleased you agree. Since we prefer the cooked to the raw we are now going to skin you alive, place you over the fire to roast, tear you limb from limb, eat your flesh and give your bones to the pigs. It's nothing personal you understand, just part of our culture'.

Anth. - 'er.........