Postmodernism
and Reactions to It
Self and Other in the Making of
Anthropology
7/17/2016
Self and Other in the Making of
Anthropology
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Postmodernism and
Grand Narratives
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Collapse of metanarratives of reason, e.g. the search for a
universal cause of history, a grand theory that will explain
everything, e.g. class conflict, the unconscious.
Metanarratives of reason shown to be historically and
culturally constructed and particular.
In anthropology, this involved examining the ways that
anthropological writings had:
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Rhetorically maintained the power relations between
anthropologists and subjects.
How grand theories originating in the west, functioned to
marginalize ‘other’ cultures.
7/17/2016
Self and Other in the Making of
Anthropology
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Writing Culture (1984) and
‘Herme’s Dilemna’.
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What is the anthropologist’s role in maintaining western hegemony?
Call attention to the constructed nature of anthropological accounts:
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Newly problematized relationship between the writer, reader and subject matter.
Geertz and a semiotic approach:
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Criticized on rhetorical grounds.
Relationship of authority is established primarily between Geertz as anthropologist and his
readers, i.e. other western anthropologists and anthropology students.
Geertz establishes himself as an individual, while ‘the Balinese’ are a collectivity; they
become homogenized as a single subjectivity.
Blurring of ‘the Balinese’ and Geertz’ understanding of the Balinese.
Retains ‘positional superiority’ of the anthropologist as translator through these rhetorical
devices.
Balinese may become subjects and not objects, but they are homogenized into essentialized
symbol makers.
Anthropologists need to create new rhetorical devices that will capture a more person to
person ethnographic style: e.g. dialogues, co-productions.
Culture is composed of seriously contested codes of meaning. Anthropologists should
recognize this and not present unitary ethnographies on THE Balinese culture, THE Nuer.
Self and Other in the Making of
Anthropology
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Responses to Postmodernism
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Mascia-Lees, Sharpe and Cohen, ‘Cautions from a Feminist
Perspective’
Both feminism and anthropology are grounded in the cultural politics of
securing recognition that women and the non-western are crucial
elements in human understanding.
Argue that postmodernism itself needs to be situated within geopolitics:
 Past 3 decades, western white middle-class males have
experienced a political and cultural decentering.
 Postmodernism can be understood as a metaphor for the anxiety
such individuals are facing as they sense that the ground is shifting
under their feet.
 Clifford: did not include feminist voices within postmodern critique of
anthropology because it ‘has not produced either unconventional
forms of writing or a developed reflection on ethnographic
textuality.’
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Self and Other in the Making of
Anthropology
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Beyond Postmodernism? Thinking
Through Anthropology and the
‘Savage Slot’
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Simply changing rhetorical devices is not enough.
Postmodernism falls short of a revised anthropology
because it does not examine the conditions under which
it became defined as a discipline.
Collapse of metanarratives found in many societies
under colonial rule.
Postmodernism must turn its methods upon itself.
Self and Other in the Making of
Anthropology
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Fields and ‘fields’ of anthropology
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Discursive field of anthropology was set before it emerged as a
discipline.
Characterized by two major tropes surrounding small-scale, ‘primitive’
societies.
These are the ‘savage’ and the ‘utopian’:
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The first derived from the necessities of governance in colonial
situations.
The second constituted the alter-ego to the West; a site of ‘freedom’,
‘simplicity’, ‘honesty’, ‘sharing’.
Utopias only make sense in terms of the order against which they
were projected.
They, too, feed upon foundational thought and amplify it, if only as its
negation.
Future of anthropology depends upon the dismantling of this slot.
Self and Other in the Making of
Anthropology
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Real Life
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Give an example or real life
anecdote
Sympathize with the audience’s
situation if appropriate
Self and Other in the Making of
Anthropology
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What This Means
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Add a strong statement that
summarizes how you feel or think
about this topic
Summarize key points you want
your audience to remember
Self and Other in the Making of
Anthropology
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Next Steps
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Summarize any actions required of
your audience
Summarize any follow up action
items required of you
Self and Other in the Making of
Anthropology
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