Globalization
Definition
• Global industrialism or
globalization is the
impact of
industrialization and
its socioeconomic,
political, and cultural
consequences on the
nonindustrialized
societies of the world.
The Economics of Globalization
• Neo-Classical
Economic Theory
Marginal Product
Revenue Theory
Marginal Product Revenue Theory
• Equilibrium is achieved where
supply and demand meet in a
competitive market.
• The business world does not
like equilibrium because it
limits profits.
• The more unique the offering
the more the company can
charge in excess of their costs.
Marginal Product Revenue Theory
• The Result: business will always seek
new markets and new products to offer.
The Global Village
• Since humans developed
culture, we’ve moved toward
globalization.
• We live in a world in which all
regions are in contact with one
another through the mass
media, instantaneous
communication, and highly
integrated economic and
political networks.
What changes is this having on the
world today in terms of:
–Environment
–Demography
–Technology
–Economy
–Politics
–Ethnicity
–Religion
Environmental Trends
• Non-industrial societies depleted the
environment by slash-and-burn
horticulture, overgrazing, soil erosion,
and species extinction.
• Industrialized societies have far more
ways to damage the environment:
– Mechanized Agriculture
•
•
•
•
Agribusiness
Green Revolution
Genetic engineering
Loss of biodiversity
– Air Pollution
• Ozone depletion
• Acid rain
• Global warming/greenhouse effect
Population Trends
• Demographic-transitional
model
• Applied
– Palaeolithic = 10 million
– 2000 A.D. = over 6 billion
– 2050 A.D. = 10.2 billion?
• However, Western society has
achieved ZPG (zero population
growth) = people just replacing
themselvesand some countries
are shrinking
– One-Child policy in China
Globalization and Bands
• Fourth world societies
• Violent changes
– Ethnocide
– Genocide
• Ethnographic examples:
– Ju/’hoansi in Namibia and Botswana
– Mbuti Pygmies
– Siriono of Bolivia (500)
Globalization and Tribes
• North American horticulturists
– Effects of contact
– Forced relocation
• Manifest Destiny
• Trail of Tears
• South American horticulturists
– Yanomamö
• Pastoralists
– Bedouins
– Qashqa’i pastoralists
Iran
Chiefdoms, Resistance, Preservation
• Chiefdoms
– Hawaiian Islands
• Resistance
– Native Americans
– Melanesia and New Guinea
– Hawaiian Religion
• Preservation
Colonization – Who grabbed what
• Latin America – Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish
(the rest)
• Africa – British (East and West), French (North
and West), Dutch (South), Belgians (Central), and
Germans (East)
• Caribbean – Primarily the Spanish, however,
the British, French, and Dutch also obtained some
land
Colonialism
• Latin America
– Columbus, conquistadors, Cortés
• Africa
– Slave trade
• Caribbean
– Plantations
• Middle East
– Suez Canal
• Asia
– Cash crops
Cash Crops of Colonization:
Top – Tobacco in Cuba
Middle – Rice in China
Bottom – Sugar in Jamaica
Demographic Changes
• The colonized areas experienced
great reductions in native
populations.
Africa primarily through the slave trade,
but also, through brutal means of control
Latin America and Caribbean primarily
through the introduction of disease as well
as the harsh imposed labor conditions
Changes - Demographic
• Mesoamerica, South America, Caribbean
– Population decline (25 to 1.5 million people)
initially
• Disease, labor effects, famine
– Population increase later
• Medical and sanitation practices
• Middle East and Asia
– Population growth, reduction of death rates
Changes - Religious
• The introduction of Christianity
• Religious syncretism: Incorporation of
pre-existing beliefs and practices into
Christianity
–
–
–
–
Africa and Pacific – Missionization
Latin America - Catholic church
Caribbean – Voodoo
Middle East and Asia
• Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism
The practice of vodoun on Haiti
Religion and Secularization
• Secularization – religion becomes a private
affair in industrial societies
• Persistence of religion
– Marx predicted religion would disappear, but it
hasn’t
– Religious leaders emphasize cultural values, often of
an ethnic group
– Revival because of secularization (fundamentalist
movements)
– Helps people feel a sense of power over their lives in
the face of global processes they can’t control
Changes - Political
• Initially Indigenous control
• Colonial rule imposed upon acquisition
• Following WWII the colonies eventually
become independent
• Latin America and Caribbean
– Political autonomy (Bolívar)
• Africa
– Independence movements
• Ghana (1957), Congo (1960), Kenya (1963)
• Apartheid in South Africa (Mandela, 1994)
• Middle East and Asia
– India – Gandhi, 1947
– China – Democracy to Communism (Mao, 1949)
Simon Bolívar
Nelson Mandela
Mahatma Gandhi
Mao Tse Dong
Economic Changes
• Still Occurring
Complete disruption of indigenous systems
Introduction of the peasant into the global
marketplace (Open Peasant Communities)
Currently transitioning from peripheral to
semi-peripheral, and slowly encroaching on
core societies.
Changes - Economic
• Americas, Africa, Caribbean
– Mining, plantation (hacienda)
system
– Disruption of indigenous system
• Middle East and Asia
– Cash crops superceded peasant
villages
– More dependent on core societies
Finsch Diamond Mine, South Africa
Economic Trends
• Multinational Corporations
– Promote spread of technical and cultural knowledge
– Reorganized production, might eventually manage
global affairs
– Positives: capital and jobs
– Negatives: inhibits self-sufficiency, diverse economy (=
neo-colonialism?)
• Case Study: Western Samoa
– Low leasing/royalties
– Large employer, but only a shift of labor
– Peasants had no fall-back plan
House in Western Samoa
•Anthropology can help assess causes of changes in the world and
help develop policies based on links between local practice and
global processes.
• Green Revolution in Shahidpur, India
– One village switched from subsistence to
mechanized agriculture, anthropologist
Murray Leaf documented it.
– Switch proved economically
Farmers: India (above) and Haiti (below)
advantageous.
• Conservation of Wood in Haiti
– Deforestation is a major problem for
peasant farmers.
– Murray found that peasants feared they’d
lose land, livelihood if forests were
replanted.
– solution: the introduction of fast-growing
hardwoods
Changes – Social Structure
• Latin America
– Dyadic contract, patron-client ties, machismo
• Africa
– Non-nuclear family, polygyny, patriarchy
• Middle East
– Required marriage, divorce, complex gender
relations (compare Egypt to Saudi Arabia)
• Asia
– Communism in China muted patriarchy and
some kinship ties
– Open marriage options, women’s right to
work
Traditional purdah
Ethnic Trends
• People don’t think government
cares about individuals
• Ethnonationalism as a reaction
to global processes (Québécois,
Scots)
• Ethnic group is a refuge from
globalization
Ethnonationalism
• Definition: secessionist
developments
• Arose in European-colonized areas,
in eastern Europe after the collapse
of the Soviet Union
• Response to the trend of
globalization, the McWorld
tendency
• Cosmopolitanism
Indigenous rights
What does indigenous mean?
UN definition
‘Indigenous populations are composed of the existing
descendants of the peoples who inhabited the present territory
of a country wholly or partially at the time when persons of a
different culture or ethnic origin arrived there from other
parts of the world, overcame them, and by conquest,
settlement or other means, reduced them to a non-dominant
or colonial situation.
also
includes
isolated
or
marginal
populations not colonized or conquered
also the idea that they are placed under the
state structure which incorporates mainly the
national, social and cultural characteristics
of the dominant society.
Indigenous Groups and Government
who is indigenous is decided by government ministers
national governments have different criteria because
indigenous groups may be able to claim state benefits
By such means governments are able to keep control over
the character and size of their indigenous populations
In Canada the federal Indian Act. defines
an Indian as "a person who, … is registered
as an Indian or is entitled to be registered as
an Indian." Persons registered under the
Indian Act are referred to as Registered
Indian Status. To be eligible to receive
benefits under the Indian Act, individuals
must be registered in the Indian Register,
which is maintained by the Department of
Indian Affairs and Northern Development
(DIAND).
In USA you have to be
registered which means you
have to be able to trace
your relationship to an
ancestor who was
registered in 1906
indigenous peoples
themselves often reject
these state definitions and
emphasize culture and self
identification and
distinctiveness
RAIN-IN-THE-FACE
Sioux
Frank Fiske c. 1900
Populations
300 million indigenous people
about half of the counties in the world have an indigenous
population whose right to self determination is being denied
indigenous peoples are generally a demographic minority
Native Americans 1.5% of
Canadian population
Australian aborigines less
than 2% of the population
USA native Americans about
.5%
Sweden less than .1%
Relation to Land
The struggle in the last two decades has centred on land.
Land contains their history and sense of identity and it ensures
their economic viability as an independent people
for indigenous peoples land is often the seat of their spirituality
and has a sacred quality generally absent from Western thinking
Ayers Rock/ Uluru, the world's largest monolith and an Aboriginal
sacred site located in the Kata Tjuta National Park, which is owned
and run by the local Aboriginals. The Australian government
handed ownership of the land back to the Aboriginals some years
ago.
land is revered and respected and its inalienability is
reflected in virtually every indigenous philosophy
They see Westerners as trying to gain dominion over the
land, while they see land as a living entity which can neither
be claimed for oneself or subjugated.
Buffalo Hunt under the White Wolf
Skin: An Indian Strategem on the
Level Prairies
After George Catlin, undated
Across the Continent:
"Westward the Course of
Empire Takes Its Way"
Frances F. Palmer, 1868
A spiritual rapport with the land is common in the
philosophy of indigenous peoples, but is at odds with the
prevailing materialist notions of Western society
West sees that land which is not owned by title or deed is
unclaimed and can be seized,
natural resources that
are left untouched by
indigenous peoples are
considered as wasted and
are exploited;
economic activities
which do not extract the
greatest commercial
benefits are judged
inefficient and primitive
The common way of life of indigenous peoples, one that has a
reverence for the land, is threatened by this attitude of cultural
superiority and materialism.
As a consequence indigenous peoples all over the world face a
similar struggle to protect their land, their culture.
California's Native
American nations were
decimated first by the
diseases the 49ers brought
with them, then by the
new California state
government, which put
bounties on the heads of
native people.
The Yanomami, had little contact with the rest of Brazil until the arrival of the
first garimpciros (gold miners) in the 1970s. By 1987 an estimated 80,000 miners
had flocked to the area, polluting rivers and spreading malaria. Decimated by
disease, the number of Yanomamis living in Brazil (many also live in Venezuela)
fell from 20,000 to about 8,000 in just 20 years. In Aug 1993 23 Yanomami Indians
were massacred by goldminers.. The dead included men, women and children who
were decapitated with machetes
In the words of Yanomami
representative "What we do not want
are the mining companies, which
destroy the forest, and the
garimpciros, who bring so many
diseases. These whites must respect
our Yanomami land. The garimpciros
bring guns, alcohol, prostitution, and
destroy nature wherever they go. The
machines spill oil into the rivers and
kill the life existing in them and the
people and animals who depend on
them. For us, this is not progress."
Situation of Indigenous Peoples
 face discrimination and suffer disadvantage
 less access to medical care since live mostly in rural areas
 more likely to be unemployed than the majority
 paid less than comparable workers and generally in lower paid
manual jobs
 in nearly all countries which have an indigenous population,
governments have created special agencies for their welfare
 more often than not these bodies serve as mechanisms of control
over indigenous minorities and thereby compound the
discrimination talking place elsewhere
1990, the Supreme Court held that
Oregon could deny unemployment
compensation to two Native Americans
dismissed from their jobs for smoking
peyote as part of tribal religious rituals
under the state’s narcotics laws ~
receive less opportunities for schooling
 basic education is often hampered by an absence of any lingua
franca --- in Brazil 120 different languages
 education is usually in the dominant language
 locations means that education is inaccessible, especially if
nomadic
where formal education is
available it is often
antagonistic to the
traditions of indigenous
people
 It does not impart
indigenous culture and few
efforts are made to
accommodate to the needs
of indigenous communities
education is often seen as a means of gaining control of
indigenous peoples and subverting their culture
 Missionaries, teachers and governments have recognized that
the way to civilise their indigenous communities was to take hold
of the children before their parents could teach them the tribal
way of life.
Indigenous
cultures often
thought to be
inferior and
needed to be bred
out of them
 Assimilation or partial assimilation of indigenous peoples
has led to a concomitant despair at the loss of traditional
social cohesion
 This, coupled with an understandable disillusion with the
opportunities offered by the wider economy has created
serious problems among indigenous communities
 violent and accidental deaths and high suicide rates
 a universal problem is that in time their culture will
disappear
alcoholism and prostitution
The Issues
1. .Self-determination
 tied in with all aspects of life - political, economic, social,
and cultural-how people choose to live
 seeking to assert their political voice along with their
economic, cultural and social perpetuation and development
 the most problematic topic
Questions the legitimacy of
the settler regimes
the establishment of
Nunavut may be an indicator
of change
2. Intellectual property rights
 for medicines developed from plants and traditional medical
practices of indigenous peoples
 In most cases no compensation is given to the tribe which
had preserved and actually discovered the medicine.
 A proposal to reform
the process to ensure
compensation to the
indigenous people
involved was recently
discussed and rejected by
the World Intellectual
Property Organization.
3. Control over the exploitation of natural
resources located on the traditional indigenous
lands.
 At present these
resources are usually
claimed by the settler
society
 which gets any fees
or profits from
exploitation without
regard to the needs or
desires of the
indigenous peoples;
The coal-fired Navajo Generating
Station near Page, Arizona
The ownership is:
U.S.Bureau of Reclamation 24.3% , SRP 21.7%
LA Dept. of Water & Power 21.2% , Arizona Public
Service Company 14.0%, Nevada Power 11.3%,
Tucson Electric Power 7.5%
4. Preservation of cultural traditions and languages
 a high priority for many indigenous peoples who are usually a
minority in the settler society.
 Most majority societies have been extremely reluctant to allow
the use of indigenous languages in formal governmental
activities.
There does
appear to be
movement toward
greater acceptance
of this demand
Whale Hunting Among the Makah
• Place: Neah Bay, on the
Olympic Peninsula in
Washington State
• May 17, 1999- 1st Gray Whale
Killed in 75 Year by
Indigenous Whale Hunters
• Media Coverage Explosion
• Debates upon Two Recurrent
Themes: Indigenous Rights
and Environmental Impacts of
Whaling
The Whale Debate
Questions to Consider:
1. What were the
Makah trying to
protect by returning
to whale hunting?
2. What were
environmental
groups who opposed
the Makah whale
hunting trying to
protect?
5. Compensation for the
theft of land and property
by the settler societies.
Includes return of artefacts now
in museums
 also return of skeletons and the
right to bury them according to
tradition
The totem pole is from Star House in
Massett village on the Queen Charlotte
Islands (Haida Gwaii), Canada. Now at
the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford
Green = unsettled land claims
Yellow= settled claims
Organge= treaty boundaries
Indigenous rights and International Law
 International law does not consider indigenous peoples
rights separately from the concerns of the general matters
of international law.
 generally simply as issues of human rights
 the specific concerns of indigenous peoples have been
submerged by the dominant colonial societies
 which control access to domestic and international legal
agendas or access
International Legislation
1945 The principal of self-determination of peoples was embodied
as a central purpose of the United Nations in its Charter
From 1957 until 1982, the ILO was the only international law body
with any concern with indigenous peoples rights.
In 1957 the ILO promulgated Convention 107 on Living and
Working Conditions of Indigenous Populations.
This document tended to reflect the views of the settler societies
and promoted the absorption of indigenous populations into the
settler societies.
1982 the Working Group on Indigenous Populations
Created (WGIP) --- the principal UN group concerned with
indigenous peoples rights.
has called for a "comprehensive study of the problem of
discrimination against indigenous populations".
The main project of the WGIP has been the drafting of a
Universal Declaration on Indigenous Rights.
has rejected the
Convention 107,
assimilationist
orientation
of
ILO
in favour of recognition of the independent nature of the
existence of indigenous peoples.
 sets out guarantees of cultural rights and called for recognition of
"collective property" rights and compensation
 deals with indigenous economic and social systems
 gives standards for self-determinism by indigenous peoples
(controversial since the settler states do not desire to lose their
control over indigenous peoples' land) Particular objection to
paragraph which describes a collective right to "autonomy".
 define a dispute resolution process
 describes the property rights of indigenous peoples
 This has not been well received by all nations
Indigenous peoples and Modern Communications
 The Internet is playing an expanding role in supporting the selfdetermination of peoples and emergent nations.
Many peoples are dispersed, having been forced away from their
homeland for military, political or economic reasons.
 Internet makes possible a certain level of cohesion allowing Self
Determination movement to form and assert itself.
 means that territoriality, in one sense, is not nearly as important
in the creation of feelings of community.
Self-determination struggles may benefit from the ability to form
''virtual communities.''
 e.g. Tibet Online http://www.tibet.org/tibet.org/index.html
“operated by the international Tibet Support Group community,
providing information on the plight of Tibet and serving as a
virtual community …. dedicated to ending the suffering of the
Tibetan people by returning the right of self-determination to the
Tibetan people. “
For educational purposes.
 In Barrow, Alaska, the Inuit have built a $48 million
system that allows two-way interactive video.
 When the temperature is 40 below zero, high school
teachers in Barrow can continue teaching the kids at
their homes.
To develop Indigenous Networks
 indigenous peoples have much in common in their struggles
for political identity, voice, and recognition, and sovereignty
over their land and natural resources.
 the establishment of relations between various peoples allows
sharing experiences, resources, and insights so that those who
have learned in one way or another can share their knowledge
convey their culture to the world
 and by co-ordinating actions for solidarity and enhanced
effectiveness.
 The Internet provides opportunities for such networking.
To give people a voice
 There's been so much written about native people, but none
of it by native people
 a few groups have created their own Web sites and on-line
discussion groups
 Eg NativeWeb (http://www.nativeweb.org),
 contains extensive information about a range of native
subjects, geographic regions, and cultural groups, along with
material on native literature, languages, newsletters and
journals, organizations, and bibliographies.
having a voice allows greater representation of one's own
people and provides a forum for international attention
To educate non indigenous people
 so there can be better understanding between their 2
worlds
 Information can be used to sway world public opinion
Provides access to Information Resources
Documents specifically related to indigenous issues can
be found at the Fourth World Documentation Project,
 organized by the Center For World Indigenous
Studies (CWIS) in 1992.
horticulturalists living in the rain
forests of Eastern Brazil.
The politicization of
'culture
Mid 1970s 700 of the 800 died of
disease. total population: 4,000
The Kayapo
 Missionaries provided medicine
in exchange for the Kayapo's
adopting western clothes, building
their village along a street, and
suppressing their ceremonials
A state organization controlled
their trade and communication with
the outside, and embezzled their
cash from the nut crop
The Kayapo felt dependent and in a situation over which
they had no control
The anthropologist proceeds as if
what is being studied is 'a culture'.
In the process, what people had
hitherto experienced as an
embedded way of life becomes
objectified and verbalized invented - as 'culture'.
The Kayapo did not see it like
that: it was just the way they did
things
This Kayapo chief wears a
feather headdress which
establishes his rank.. He is
smoking natural tobacco
in his traditional pipe
made out of ironwood.
They did not have a concept
through which to objectify and
label their everyday life as a
'culture'.
A Kayapo chieftain wears the
traditional botoque through his
lower lip. The plate is made out of
balsa wood, and is a sign of courage
meant to frighten the enemy.
they needed such a
concept to deal with
their situation: to give
them an identity and
distinguish themselves
as a 'culture' on a par
with other indigenous
people and vis-à-vis the
dominant national
society in an interethnic state system.
The Kayapo realized that
what missionaries and state
administrators used as
justification for
subordination and
exploitation, another set of
Westerners valued highly.
'Culture', which had
seemed an impediment,
now appeared as a resource
to negotiate their coexistence with the
dominant society
After a Disappearing
World documentary was
made, the Kayapo
sought further
documentaries so as to
reach the sympathetic
elements in the west.
In 1989 the Kayapó protested a government proposal to build
hydroelectric dams along the Xingu River. Their appeal aroused
worldwide support and the project was shelved. If it had been
implemented, the damming would have flooded much of their
territory
When they arranged to meet the Brazilian government to
oppose the Altamira dam, they choreographed themselves for
the western media in order to gain support of the western
audience and add pressure on the government.
Gone were the shorts, T-shirts
and haircuts that had appeased the
missionaries; with men's bare
chests, body ornament and long
ritual dances, the Kayapo
performed their 'culture' as a
strategy in their increasingly
confident opposition to the state.
by the 1990s the Kayapo had
obtained videos, radios,
pharmacies, vehicles, drivers and
mechanics, an aeroplane to patrol
their land, and even their own
missionaries.
Young Kayapo girls
painted with Jemipapo, a
black paint which is made
from Jemipapo fruit
crushed and mixed with
fish oil.
Kayapo had learnt to
objectify their everyday life as
'culture' (in the old sense) and
use it as a resource in
negotiations with government
and international agencies.
Kayapo politicians seem to
have been fully aware of the
constructedness of 'culture'
They presented themselves
as a homogeneous and
bounded group
They defined 'culture' for
themselves and used it to set
the terms of their relations
with the 'outside world'
In a history spanning forty years,
missionaries, government officials, the
Kayapo, anthropologists, international
agencies and non government agencies
had all competed for the power to define
a key concept, 'culture'.
 Missionaries and government agencies
initially had used the concept to define
an entity that could be acted upon,
producing disempowerment and
dependency among the Kayapo.
Kayapo girls dancing
during the Jemipapo
ceremony. Note the girl
at the lower center with
the traditional Kayapo
haircut.
The Kayapo strategy to wrest control
of this concept from missionaries and
government officials and turn it against
them was part of a struggle not just for
identity but for physical, economic and
political survival.
Kayapo leaders have used ethnographic film to assert their
own definition of their 'culture' and used the strategies others
have used against them to challenge the processes that have
marginalized them
Topical trends
If the cultural world is shrinking is
anthropology losing its subject matter
Exotic cultures untouched are non
existent
Soon cultures of the world are
homogenized into a single culture
1. Cultural Survival of Indigenous
Peoples
N Americans are concerned with preserving their
cultures
Concern is not so much a matter of
anthropological research as it is for basic human
rights issues.
2. The study of complex societies
A growing interest in applied anthropology after the affluent
decade of the 1950s and 1960s witnessed the rediscovery of ethnicity
and poverty, birth of which were defined as urban problems.
Therefore policy makers have been more inclined to use the
findings of anthropologists to help some of these social problems at
home.
Research opportunities in other cultures have diminished – newly
independent countries reluctant to let western anthropologists in
Funding problems
study small ethnic communities, socialized occupation groups, or
other sub cultural groups which operate in within the complex
societies.
3. The Greater Use of Anthropological
Knowledge
So that anthropological insights will have an
impact on policy makers.
Development agencies
Companies
Governments