Chapter 15 Flashcards
Define Hermeneutics
Is the basis of many recent critiques of scientific anthropology as it has been traditionally practiced. It is the branch of philosophy that studies the interpretation of meaning: in this sense, hermeneutics is a philosophical counterpart to literary theory which involves the interpretation of texts for their symbolic and substantive content.
Describe “ideological state apparatus”
Coined by Michel Foucault. These are ideas that the state propagates.
Describe Orientalism:
Edward Said used this term to designate a Western academic and artistic tradition of prejudiced interpretations of the East. Also the title of his book.
Define reflexivity
Postmodernists say that anthropology should be “reflexive,” foregrounding the experience and perspectives of the fieldworker, so that the reader at least knows which biases he or she is subjected to when reading the ethnographic account as well as the personal and political circumstances that led to its creation. This implicitly rejects the idea of privileged and objective knowledge.
Describe “speaking the truth to power”:
means believing deeply in what you say and fighting every day to have that heard. It may not be popular; it means taking a risk, it means standing for something
US “culture wars”:
conflict between traditionalist or conservative values and progressive or liberal values.
Participant action research:
The anthropologist works with people on the ground, the anthropologist has skills and the people in the culture have needs. Applied anthropology is geared toward filling a niche and a need. The work that we do should always be aimed at the betterment of the people. Different from development work that is a top down process.
Who is Michel Foucault?
Discussed power and knowledge. He is best known in anthropology for reformulating the way in which we conceptualize power, viewing it as a dimension of individuals or institutional claims to knowledge.
Who is Jacques Derrida?
A follower of Martin Heidegger, argued that all cultures construct their own worlds of meaning that are self-contained and to a large extent impenetrable to outsiders.
Associated with deconstruction
Who is Louis Althusser?
Utilized Marxist ideals in the state and in the minds of individuals. French structural Marxist Louis Althusser, who observed that states govern both through force and an “ideological state apparatus” or the institutions by which the state promotes is version of the “truth.”
Who is Nancy Scheper-Hughes?
Advocated for barefoot anthropology. Critical of virulent forms of postmodernism, people are snowflakes they are all different and we can’t simply make one assertion that is true. This notion that if the emperor is naked you just say the emperor is naked. It is not our job to change the world, and who are we to decide when to change the structure. We are anthropologists not do gooders. Believes in speaking the truth to power. She viewed textual approaches as “cop-outs,” a way of simply avoiding tough questions and the examination of injustice.
-SPEAK THE TRUTH TO POWER
Who is Edward Said?
Published an influential book, Orientalism, in 1978 which raised concern about representing the “other.” Said used this term to designate a Western academic and artistic tradition of prejudiced interpretations of the East. Reflected concerns about representation, many anthropologists argue that they should be guided by an imperative to “privilege” the “voice of the other” over that of the ethnographic observer.
How does “deconstruction” work?
Derrida is considered the most prominent advocate of deconstruction, an approach to critically reading a text in order to uncover its implicit meanings rather than overt message. Paul De Man is the founder of deconstructionism.
Claims made by Michel Foucault regarding power and knowledge.
Foucault argued that the traditional Marxist conception is far too restrictive. His work builds upon the ideas of french structural Marxist Louis Althusser, who observed that states govern both through force and an “ideological state apparatus” or the institutions by which the state promotes is version of the “truth.” Similarly, for Foucault, power does not simply involve physical or economic coercion, but exercised through discourse and knowledge and, as such, power relations pervade all of society’s institutions. Modern states reserve the right to all legitimate sources of power, self-defense is the only source of individual power. However, the remainder of power was exercised by the state. Ideological state apparatus–ideas that the state propagates (doesn’t have to be repressive) can be used to help people. For example, surgeon general can influence better healthcare. Who is deviant is determined by the ideological state apparatus.
Why is the writing of ethnography tied to “knowledge claims” and Truth?
What is written matters. Claims to knowledge and the truth are the means by which institutions, bureaucracies, and even individuals dominate others. In short, it is power, wealth, and privileged status, rather than “evidence,” that determines what is “true.”
