Indigenous Anthropologists Research Articles

White Supremacy and the Making of Anthropology

This review presents a historical and contemporary view of white supremacy as an entrenched global system based on presumed biological and cultural difference, related practices of racism, the valorization of whiteness, and the denigration of nonwhiteness. We center the role of the discipline of anthropology, and contend that the discipline is shaped by, and shapes, structures of white supremacy. In this article, we detail anthropology's role in the development of racial science and the subsequent placement of whiteness at the top of the world's global political and cultural systems of power. We examine the early critiques of anthropology's racializing practices by Black and Indigenous anthropologists, which set the stage for an anti-imperial analysis that addressed how white power was entrenched within the discipline and broader society. Last, we discuss emerging scholarship on the anthropology of white supremacy and the methodological and theoretical shifts that push the discipline and refine the concept.

Chapter 4 Good Medicine: Prescriptions for Indigenous Archaeological Practice

ABSTRACTWhile the history of North American archaeology points to a long engagement with tribal elders and scholars, these encounters largely consist of unequal, extractive relationships wherein Indigenous collaborators and Indigenous archaeologists have been treated more as objects of study and pity—what Bea Medicine refers to as “creatures”—rather than as equal research partners. As an Indigenous woman and a settler Chicanx woman, we reflect on the life journey and scholarship of Bea Medicine, a Lakota scholar‐activist and mentor to Indigenous anthropologists. Dr. Medicine's work has provided generations of Indigenous anthropologists with the means to participate in the discipline with their whole selves and, importantly, on their own terms. We argue that Medicine's contributions provide good medicine for the field in the form of concrete strategies for continuing to decolonize the discipline and for doing work that centers the direct needs and perspectives of Indigenous peoples. When read alongside Indigenous archaeologies’ often overlooked grandmothers, mothers, and aunties, Medicine's work also highlights continuing disparities in archaeological practice, from our relationships with and to Indigenous nations to the relations we cultivate in the Academy as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

Ti binni ruyubi, beyond binaries and median points

Using theoretical debates about how to deploy reflexivity in ethnographic research to contextualize anthropological knowledge, this article begins with an awkward encounter between an anthropologist from the Global South and a research participant to reflect on some of the intersectional complexities of identity and relationality when an ethnographer of color does fieldwork within a community of color: in this case, a brown-skinned Mexican researching same-sex attracted Chinese men in Australia. Following Indigenous anthropologists’ calls for more locally grounded frameworks and methodologies, we propose the Diidxazá term binni ruyubi (“person who searches”) to extend concepts of reflexivity beyond the Western/native, insider/outsider, and other binaries and median points, to give a more complex account of intersectional reflexivity, one that attends to the interaction between identity and background characteristics including skin tone, Indigeneity, sociocultural background, language, sexuality, economic status, and colonial histories in Westernized universities.

Anthropological Knowledge Production in Oceania

In Oceania, as elsewhere, power relations in knowledge production have been highly debated for many decades. Oceanian anthropologists have developed challenging proposals to decolonise anthropology and academia in Oceania at large. Nevertheless, insights from this region do not figure prominently in recent theoretical discussions about coloniality and decolonisation “about the subaltern” (Grosfoguel 2007, 211). By focusing on the long-lasting Oceanian discourse in a Swiss peer-reviewed journal, this article aims to contribute to the decolonisation of Swiss academia by proposing an anthropology “with and from a subaltern perspective” (Grosfoguel 2007, 211). Drawing on recent online research, and experiences with teaching the anthropology of Oceania, this article familiarises a European readership with Indigenous anthropologists from Oceania, and their struggles with our discipline. It looks at Indigenous scholars’ reflections about and propositions for different ways of knowledge production and Indigenous research methods. The article concludes with suggestions to further the decolonisation process within (Swiss) academia.

As perguntas das antropólogas: Percepções sobre a demarcação do território da escrita e o costurar dos conhecimentos

This article is written by an indigenous anthropologist from the people Karipuna of Amapa who conducts research on the voices and experiences of some of the women of her people, who are her direct relatives by matrilineal lineage. By drawing on my Karipuna experiences, my being an anthropologist and being at the university, through this writing I seek to weave some reflections on what would be the anthropological knowledge carried out by the indigenous anthropologist and what kind of relationships indigenous knowledge can weave with anthropology, when we are the researchers themselves.

O dia em que virei índio – a identificação ontológica com o outro como metamorfose descolonizadora

Este texto combina reflexões sobre as dificuldades encontradas em meu trabalho etnográf ico junto à Fundação Cacique Cobra Coral, em especial no que diz respeito a transformações na forma como a alteridade foi vivida ao longo do processo etnográfico, com críticas de antropólogos indígenas à antropologia e suas práticas, de modo a fazer com que elementos da pesquisa etnográfica iluminem, na medida do possível, dimensões pouco compreendidas das referidas críticas. O texto então busca oferecer algumas reflexões sobre os impactos do aparecimento de todo um contingente de antropólogos declaradamente “animistas” dentro de um contexto em que a antropologia tacitamente reproduz, em algumas de suas práticas, o naturalismo materialista das ciências ditas “duras”.

Anthropologists in Unexpected Places: Tracing Anthropological Theory, Practice, and Policy in Indians at Work

ABSTRACTDuring the 1930s, anthropologists were frequent contributors to the periodical, Indians at Work, published by the Office of Indian Affairs (OIA). While the magazine's primary purpose was to chronicle American Indian participation in federal relief programs, it also served as a larger forum for publishing and reprinting ethnographic works authored by anthropologists about American Indian communities. As such, it was a key site for mid‐twentieth‐century disciplinary debates, particularly in regard to establishing the subfield of applied anthropology. The varied contributions expose differences regarding the purpose and goals of the discipline as well as growing tensions between anthropologists and the OIA about the application of disciplinary knowledge to governmental policy. These struggles reveal the difficulty anthropologists had in locating contemporary American Indian communities within the larger US nation‐state. Critically, the magazine also provided a space for tribal members as well as Indigenous anthropologists to engage in debates regarding ethnographic (mis)representation. [history of anthropology, anthropological practice, Indigenous studies, United States]

Entre la academia y la aldea. Algunas reflexiones sobre la formación de indígenas antropólogos en Brasil

The enrolment of indigenous students at universities is an event which constitutes a great challenge for groups which have historically been excluded from the academic knowledge production process. Based on my own experience as an indigenous anthropologist, in this article I share my reflections about the training of researchers who are looking to conduct fieldwork in their own native communities. Using two stories, one from the academic setting and the other from my own community, I not only want to discuss some central anthropological concepts, such as “keeping one’s distance” and “neutrality”, but also to problematise the historically-constituted relationship between the Subject Who Knows and the Object Which Is Known inside our discipline.

Two anthropological assemblages: New Zealand museums, Native policy, and Māori ‘culture areas’ and ‘adaptation’

In this paper we investigate two anthropological assemblages in Aotearoa/New Zealand in the 1920s and 1930s and how each were used in the adjudication of forms of governmental regulation of Māori populations. We explore the radically different agencements and socio-technical arrangements of people, things and ideas that were formulated within these contexts. Henry Devenish Skinner, curator of the Otago Museum and Anthropology lecturer at the University of Otago, Dunedin, formulated his assemblages based on archaeological fieldwork, ethnology and Wissler’s culture area concept. Indigenous anthropologist Peter Buck and his associates the politicians Āpirana Ngata and Māui Pōmare formulated their distinct assemblages for operating on the Māori social according to living performative culture and anthropological fieldwork. Through these contrasting collecting, fieldwork and ordering regimes, different views of Māori as liberal subjects emerged to articulate ways the Indigenous population could enter into the cultural life of the emerging nation. Indigenous agency was ultimately to become of paramount importance in liberal governance.

Section News

Abstract:For your convenience, this month's Section News PDF includes bookmarks for each section. After opening the PDF, select the “Bookmark” tab on the left side of your screen, and click on the name of the section you are interested in reading.American Ethnological Society (AES): Caitrin Lynch, ed.Anthropology and Environment Section (A&E): Terre Satterfield, ed. “Environmental Anthropology and Sustainable Development in China” by Bryan TiltArcheology Division (AD): E Christian Wells, ed.Association of Black Anthropologists (ABA): Bianca C Williams and karen g williams, eds. “Global Circulations: A View from the Caribbean” by Tami NavarroAssociation for Feminist Anthropology (AFA): Damla Isik and Jessica Smith Rolston, eds. “Three Decades of Feminist Archaeology” by Colleen MorganAssociation of Indigenous Anthropologists (AIA): Valerie Lambert, ed. “On Firm Footing and Forward” by Jason YounkerAssociation for Latina and Latino Anthropologists (ALLA): Luis FB Plascencia and Pablo González, eds. “Una Red en Peces: Transborder Alliances Between US Chicanos and Indigenous Communities in Baja California” by Pablo GonzálezAssociation for Political and Legal Anthropology (ALPA): Mona Bhan and Noelle Molé, eds.“Law, Culture and the Boundaries of Geographical Indications” by Erica A FarmerAssociation for Queer Anthropology (AQA): David L R Houston, ed.Association of Senior Anthropologists (ASA): Paul Doughty, ed.Central States Anthropological Sociey (CSAS): Evelyn Dean‐Olmsted and Angela Glaros, eds.Council on Anthropology and Education (CAE): Steve Bialostok, ed. “Get Ready for the 2011 Annual Meeting” by Greg TanakaCouncil for Museum Anthropology (CMA): Margaret Bruchac, ed. “Answering a Grand Challenge by Transforming Access to Museum Collections” by Alex W BarkerCulture and Agriculture (C&A): Susanna Donaldson and Joan Mencher, eds. “Upcoming SfAA Meeting” by Joan MencherEvolutionary Anthropology Society (EAS): John P Ziker, ed.General Anthropology Division (GAD): Luke Eric Lassiter, ed. “2011 Call for Nominations” by Christopher A FurlowMiddle East Section (MES): Yasmin Moll, ed. “Recap of MES in New Orleans” by Gregory StarrettNational Association for the Practice of Anthropology (NAPA): Eva Friedlander and Tara Eaton, eds. “Consulting: The Move to Practice from Academia” by Betty J HarrisNational Association of Student Anthropologists (NASA): Keri A Canada, ed. “Letter from the Field: Practicing Anthropology at Intel Corporation” by Kathi KitnerSociety for Anthropological Sciences (SAS): Stephen Lyon, ed. “Abstract of ‘Encrypted Humor and Social Networks in Rural Brazil’” by Thomas Flamson and H Clark BarrettSociety for Anthropology in Community Colleges (SACC): Lloyd Miller, ed.Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness (SAC): Peter N Jones, ed.Society for the Anthropology of Europe (SAE): Vasiliki P Neofotistos, ed. “Message from the SAE President” by Deborah Reed‐Danahay; “What is Left for Anthropology to Say about Europe?” by Marcy Brink‐DananSociety for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (SAFN): Alyson Young and Kenneth Maes, eds. “Adolescent Culture and Food Consumption in Tanzania” by Elizabeth DanforthSociety for the Anthropology of North America (SANA): David Kamper, ed. “Augmenting Interaction: Design and Use of Assistive Communications Technologies” by Christopher R EngelkeSociety for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR): Jennifer Selby, ed. “2010 Clifford Geertz Prize” by Sue KenyonSociety for the Anthropology of Work (SAW): Theresa Preston‐Werner, ed. “Susanna Donaldson Receives Wolf Prize” by Ann Kingsolver; “SAW Welcomes Student Involvement” by Theresa Preston‐WernerSociety for East Asian Anthropology (SEAA): Anru Lee and Bridget Love, eds. “Material Asia: Join the Discussion in Jeonju, Korea” by Laurel KendallSociety for Humanistic Anthropology (SHA): Frederic W Gleach and Vilma Santiago‐Irizarry, ed.Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology (SLACA): Annelou Ypeij, ed. “The Survival of Andean Pastoralism” by Ralph BoltonSociety for Medical Anthropology (SMA): Kathleen Ragsdale, ed. “The Medical Anthropologist as Interventionist: Culturally‐Based Approaches to Public Health Problems” by Stephen L SchensulSociety for Psychological Anthropology (SPA): Jack R Friedman, ed. “Boyer Prize Winner 2010” by Yehuda C Goodman; “Stirling Prize Winner 2010” by Claudia StraussSociety for Urban, National, and Transnational/Global Anthropology (SUNTA): Jayne Howell, ed. “Farming the Crescent City Tour” by Sandra McLeanSociety for Visual Anthropology (SVA): Wendy Dickinson, ed. “Anthropological Film Festival in Israel” by Nurit Kedar; “Introducing the Ultrashorts for the SVA Film and Interactive Media Festival” by John Bishop; “SVA Film and Interactive Media Festival” by Karen Nakamura

Section News

Abstract:For your convenience, this month's Section News PDF includes bookmarks for each section. After opening the PDF, select the “Bookmark” tab on the left side of your screen, and click on the name of the section you are interested in reading.American Ethnological Society (AES): Caitrin Lynch, ed. “Puerto Rico in the Making of Anthropology” by Ismael García‐ColónAnthropology and Environment (A&E): Terre Satterfield, ed. “State of the Section Report” by Paige WestArcheology Division (AD): E Christian Wells, ed. “Response to the Controversy over the Revision of the AAA Long‐Range Plan” by Ben A NelsonAssociation for Africanist Anthropology (AfAA): Jennifer E Coffman, ed. “AfAA in NOLA” by Jennifer E Coffman and Yolanda Covington‐Ward; “Submission Information for 2011 Meetings” by David TurkonAssociation of Black Anthropologists (ABA): Bianca C Williams and karen g williams, eds. “Celebrating 40 Years and Growing Stronger” by karen g williamsAssociation for Feminist Anthropology (AFA): Damla Isik and Jessica Smith Rolston, eds. “Politics of Absence: Women in Search of the Disappeared in Kashmir” by Ather ZiaAssociation of Indigenous Anthropologists (AIA): Valerie Lambert, ed. “Ethics and Diversity” by Edward A JolieAssociation for Latina and Latino Anthropologists (ALLA): Luis F B Plascencia and Anahí Viladrich, eds. “Celebrating Las Posadas in the Heartland: Creating Home in New Destinations” by Aidé AcostaAssociation for Political and Legal Anthropology (APLA): Mona Bhan and Noelle Molé, eds. “Organized Crime and the Shadow State in Postwar El Salvador” by Ainhoa MontoyaAssociation for Queer Anthropology (AQA): David L R Houston, ed.Association of Senior Anthropologists (ASA): Paul L Doughty, ed. “Good‐bye and Fare Well” by J Anthony ParedesBiological Anthropology Section (BAS): Virginia Vitzthum, ed. “Disability and Disease in the Ancient Midwest: A Paleopathological Analysis of the Morton Site, IL” by Allison FoleyCouncil on Anthropology and Education (CAE): Steve Bialostok, ed.Council for Museum Anthropology (CMA): Margaret Bruchac, ed.Culture and Agriculture (C&A): Susanna Donaldson and Joan Mencher, eds. “News from the 109th Annual Meeting” by Richard MooreEvolutionary Anthropology Society (EAS): John P Ziker, ed.General Anthropology Division (GAD): Luke Eric Lassiter, ed.Middle East Section (MES): Yasmin Moll, ed.National Association for the Practice of Anthropology (NAPA): Eva Friedlander and Tara Eaton, eds. “What's Special about the NAPA‐OT Field School?” by Gelya FrankNational Association of Student Anthropologists (NASA): Keri A Canada, ed. “Examination of Vital Statistics and ‘Racial Integrity’ in Early 20th‐Century Virginia” by Ryan Hechler and Charles SharifiSociety for Anthropological Sciences (SAS): Stephen Lyon, ed.Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges (SACC): Lloyd Miller, ed.Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness (SAC): Peter N Jones, ed.Society for the Anthropology of Europe (SAE): Vasiliki P Neofotistos, ed.Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (SAFN): Kenneth Maes and Alyson Young, eds. “News from the SAFN President Emeritus” by Janet ChrzanSociety for the Anthropology of North America (SANA): David Kamper, ed. “President's Report” by A Lynn BollesSociety for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR): Jennifer Selby, ed.Society for the Anthropology of Work (SAW): Theresa Preston‐Werner, ed. “Fran Rothstein Awarded First SAW Book Prize” by Eve Hochwald; “Call for 2011 Annual Meeting Submissions” by Carrie Lane and Susanne CohenSociety for Cultural Anthropology (SCA): Jean M Langford, ed. “New Editors’ Greeting” by Anne Allison and Charles PiotSociety for East Asian Anthropology (SEAA): Anru Lee and Bridget Love, eds. “Gumbo and Dialogue: SEAA Graduate Students Connect at the 2010 AAA Annual Meeting” by Susan McArver and Xia ZhangSociety for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology (SLACA): Annelou Ypeij, ed. “President's Message 2010” by Ramona PerezSociety for Linguistic Anthropology (SLA): James Stanlaw and Mark Allen Peterson, eds. “Report on the 2010 SLA Business Meeting” By James StanlawSociety for Medical Anthropology (SMA): Kathleen Ragsdale, ed. “Highlights: 2010 SMA Annual Business Meeting and Awards Ceremony in New Orleans” by Jeannine CoreilSociety for Psychological Anthropology (SPA): Jack R Friedman, ed.Society for Urban, National and Transnational/Global Anthropology (SUNTA): Jayne Howell, ed. “CORI at the New Orleans AAAs” by Lisa Maya KnauerSociety for Visual Anthropology (SVA): Wendy Dickinson, ed. “Call for Submissions and Photo Essays” by Liam Buckley; “2011 Annual Meeting: Call for Invited Session Proposals” by Jenny Chio

Section News

Abstract:For your convenience, this month's Section News PDF includes bookmarks for each section. After opening the PDF, select the “Bookmark” tab on the left side of your screen, and click on the name of the section you are interested in reading.American Ethnological Society (AES): Caitrin Lynch, ed. “New Forms of Difference/New Forms of Connection: AES and SUNTA Conference, April 14–17, 2011 in San Juan, Puerto Rico” and “News from the AAA Meetings in Philadelphia”Anthropology and Environment (A&E): Terre Satterfield, ed. “Beyond Virtuous Language” by Stuart KirschArcheology Division (AD): James M Skibo, ed. “Patty Jo Watson Distinguished Lecture” and “AAA Annual Meeting Highlights” by Stephen W SillimanAssociation for Africanist Anthropology (AfAA): Jennifer E Coffman, ed. “AfAA Reception and Distinguished Lecture in New Orleans” and “AfAA Annual Award Recipients” by Bennetta Jules‐Rosette and “Remembering the Unforgettable Nancy (Penny) Schwartz” by Maria CattellAssociation of Black Anthropologists (ABA): Bianca C Williams and karen g williams, eds. “ABA Celebrates 40th Anniversary” by Bianca C WilliamsAssociation for Feminist Anthropology (AFA): Damla Isik and Jessica Smith Rolston, eds. “Preview of AFA events in New Orleans” by Holly Dygert and Sharla BlankAssociation of Indigenous Anthropologists (AIA): Candessa Tehee Morgan, ed. “The Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair”Association for Political and Legal Anthropology (APLA): Mona Bhan and Noelle Molé, eds. “The Privatization of Neuroscience: The University, the State and the Moral Aims of Science” by Mark RobinsonAssociation for Queer Anthropology (AQA): David L R Houston, ed. “And the Winners Are…” and “Changes in the Web”Biological Anthropology Section (BAS): Virginia J Vitzthum, ed. “WW Howells Book Prize” and “AAA Annual Meeting”Central States Anthropological Society (CSAS): Evelyn Dean‐Olmsted and Angela Glaros, eds. “CSAS at AAA” and “2011 CSAS Conference”Council on Anthropology and Education (CAE): Steve Bialostok, ed. “Annual Meeting” by Teresa McCarty and Kathy SchulzCulture and Agriculture (C&A): Ronald Rich, ed. “C&A Sessions in New Orleans” by Todd Crane and Shiloh MoatesEvolutionary Anthropology Society (EAS): John P Ziker, ed. “EAS Sessions at the 2010 AAA Annual Meeting”Middle East Section (MES): Yasmin Moll, ed. “The Material Boundaries of the Qu'ran: A Summary” by Natalia K SuitNational Association for the Practice of Anthropology (NAPA): Eva Friedlander and Tara Eaton, eds. “Getting Together Again” by Mary Odell ButlerNational Association of Student Anthropologists (NASA): Keri A Canada, ed. “Where Are the Anthropologists?” by Julia KirstSociety for Anthropological Sciences (SAS): Stephen Lyon, ed. “AAA Annual Meeting SAS‐Sponsored Workshops” and “Spring Meeting of SASci 2011” and “MACT Special Issue on Dravidian Kinship” and “Section Membership”Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges (SACC): Lloyd Miller, ed. “SACC Fests” and “Current Issues: Five‐Fields Panel” and “On New Web Home: saccweb.net” and “Atheists Will Convene in Des Moines, IA!”Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness (SAC): Peter N Jones, ed. “Anthropology and Ethnometaphysics”Society for the Anthropology of Europe (SAE): Deborah R Altamirano, ed. “Memories of Conflict Featured in SAE Distinguished Lecture” by Elizabeth L Krause and “SAE Invited and Volunteered Sessions and Section Events”Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (SAFN): Alyson Young and Kenneth Maes, eds.Society for the Anthropology of North America (SANA): David Kamper, ed. “Performing Christianity with Navajo ‘Believers’” by Kimberly J MarshallSociety for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR): Jennifer Selby, ed. “From the Field” by Naomi HaynesSociety for the Anthropology of Work (SAW): Angela Jancius, ed. “SAW in New Orleans” by Bianet Castellanos, Susanne Cohan and Ann KingsolverSociety for Cultural Anthropology (SCA): Jean M Langford, ed. “Culture@Large in New Orleans” and “Militarization of the Social: A Fieldtrip to Jackson Barracks and Holy Cross” and “New Horizons in Publishing”Society for East Asian Anthropology (SEAA): Jennifer Hubbert and Gordon Mathews, eds. “Francis LK Hsu Book Prize” by Jennifer RobertsonSociety for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology (SLACA): Annelou Ypeij, ed. “AAA Annual Meeting 2010: SLACA Program” by Andrew OrtaSociety for Linguistic Anthropology (SLA): Mark Allen Peterson and James Stanlaw, eds “Circulating among the Language Panels in New Orleans” by Mark Allen PetersonSociety for Medical Anthropology (SMA): Kathleen Ragsdale, ed. “The American Academy of Family Physicians, Coca‐Cola and Ethics: A ‘Consumer's Alliance’ Serving the Public's Health?” by Joshua FreemanSociety for Psychological Anthropology (SPA): Jack R Friedman, ed. “Circulating Psychological Anthropology: 2010 AAA Annual Meeting Preview”Society for Urban, National and Transnational/Global Anthropology (SUNTA): Jayne Howell, ed “SUNTA Program in New Orleans” by Don Nonini and “New Forms of Difference/New Forms of Connection: A Conference Sponsored by AES and SUNTA (April 14–17, 2011, San Juan, Puerto Rico)”Society for Visual Anthropology (SVA): Wendy Dickinson, ed. “Ethnographic Terminalia and Art Spill in New Orleans” by Maria Brodine and “Society for Visual Anthropology Media Festival”

Section News

Abstract:For your convenience, this month's Section News PDF includes bookmarks for each section. After opening the PDF, select the “Bookmark” tab on the left side of your screen, and click on the name of the section you are interested in reading.American Ethnological Society (AES): Joanna Davidson, ed. “Sharon Stephens Prize for First Book,” by Sharryn KasmirAnthropology and Environment Section (A&E): Terre Satterfield, ed. “State of the Section Report,” by Janis B AlcornArcheology Division (AD): James M Skibo, ed.Association for Africanist Anthropology (AfAA): Jennifer E Coffman, ed. “AfAA in Philadelphia,” by Bennetta Jules‐Rosette and Jennifer E CoffmanAssociation of Black Anthropologists (ABA): karen g williams and Bianca C Williams, eds. “Mining Our Scholars' Work,” by karen g williamsAssociation for Feminist Anthropology (AFA): Damla Isik and Jessica Smith, eds. “Sex Work and Ethnography,” by Svati P ShahAssociation of Indigenous Anthropologists (AIA): JoAllyn Archambault, ed.Association for Latina and Latino Anthropologists (ALLA): Luis FB Plascencia, ed.Association for Political and Legal Anthropology (APLA): Mona Bhan and Noelle Molé, eds. “Masculinity, War and Sacrifice at Home,” by Jessica JohnsonAssociation of Senior Anthropologists (ASA): Paul L Doughty, ed. “On Stupidity,” by Alice KehoeBiological Anthropology Section (BAS): Virginia J Vitzthum, ed.Central States Anthropological Society (CSAS): Evelyn Dean‐Olmstead and Angela Glaros, eds.Council on Anthropology and Education (CAE): Steve Bialostok, ed.Council for Museum Anthropology (CMA): Margaret Bruchac, ed. “Increasing the Relevance of Museum Anthropology,” by Alex W BarkerCulture and Agriculture (C&A): Ronald Rich, ed.Evolutionary Anthropology Society (EAS): John P Ziker, ed.General Anthropology Division (GAD): Luke Eric Lassiter, ed. “2009 GAD Awards and 2010 Call for Nominations,” by Christopher A FurlowMiddle East Section (MES): Emilio Spadola, ed. “Brinkley Messick Wins MES Distinguished Scholar Award,” by Anne Meneley (Trent U); “MES for Students Is Now on Facebook!” by Yasmin MollNational Association for the Practice of Anthropology (NAPA): Christine Miller, ed. “Circulation: Preparing for the 2010 AAA Meeting,” by Carol HaffordNational Association of Student Anthropologists (NASA): Keri A Canada, ed.Society for Anthropological Sciences (SAS): Stephen Lyon, ed. “A Message from the Incoming President,” by Peter N PeregrineSociety for Anthropology in Community Colleges (SACC): Lloyd Miller, ed. “SACCFEST 2010—San Francisco,” by George Rodgers; “Speaking of Twitter…” by Bob MuckleSociety for the Anthropology of Europe (SAE): Deborah R Altamirano, ed. “Old and New Minorities in Europe,” by Vasiliki P Neofotistos; “Lévi‐Strauss, Europe and the Ends of Anthropology,” by Deborah Reed‐Danahay and Kate DonahueSociety for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (SAFN): Rachel Black, ed. “News from the SAFN President,” by Janet ChrzanSociety for the Anthropology of North America (SANA): David Kamper, ed. “Bioarchaeological Cemetery Analysis,” by Margaret L DavidSociety for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR): Jennifer Selby, ed. “Book Review: Charles Price's Becoming Rasta,” by Riva BerleantSociety for the Anthropology of Work (SAW): Angela Jancius, ed. “Balancing Children and the Academy,” by Susanne Cohen and Csilla KalocsaiSociety for Cultural Anthropology (SCA): Jean M Langford, ed.Society for East Asian Anthropology (SEAA): Jennifer Hubbert and Gordon Mathews, eds. “SEAA Convenes in Philadelphia: AAA 2009,” by Junko TeruyamaSociety for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology (SLACA): Annelou Ypeij, ed. “President's Message 2009,” by Ramona PerezSociety of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists (SOLGA): David LR Houston, ed.Society for Linguistic Anthropology (SLA): James Stanlaw and Mark Allen Peterson, eds. “Report on the 2009 SLA Business Meeting,” by James StanlawSociety for Medical Anthropology (SMA): Kathleen Ragsdale, ed. “SMA at the 2009 AAA Meeting,” by Stéphanie LarchanchéSociety for Psychological Anthropology (SPA): Jack R Friedman, ed.Society for Urban, National and Transnational/Global Anthropology (SUNTA): Jayne Howell, edSociety for Visual Anthropology (SVA): Wendy Dickinson, ed. “2010 Annual Meeting Call for Proposals,” by Stephanie Takaragawa and Jenny Chio

The Anthropology of the Malay Peasantry: Critical Reflections on Colonial and Indigenous Scholarship

AbstractThere has been a continuous anthropological interest in the Malay peasantry for the past 70 years. This has resulted in a rich theoretical and empirical literature. This article offers a critical genealogical account of knowledge production spanning some four generations of anthropologists. The first two generations were dominated by Western anthropologists — notably Raymond Firth and Michael Swift — working in the context of late colonialism. The latter two generations were represented by indigenous scholars who consciously dealt with the intellectual legacies of the past while, at the same time, opening up new research vistas. Using a close reading of some of the key anthropological texts produced on the Malay peasantry, as well as an analysis of the institutionalisation of professional anthropology in Malaysia, the article discusses the tensions of inter-generational continuities and ruptures. While acknowledging the enormous debt that many indigenous scholars clearly owed to their Western mentors it is argued that there emerged a qualitative break with the past during the late 1970s and 1980s. This saw indigenous anthropologists grappling with post-peasantry studies and opening up new fields of inquiry to do with larger issues of agrarian change, capitalist modernity, ideational formation and contemporary politics.

Antropología indigenista en el Ecuador desde la década de 1970: compromisos políticos, religiosos y tecnocráticos

Este artículo responde interrogantes sobre las oportunidades y problemas que se presentan al hacer ciencia social en lugares política y económicamente inestables, sobre la inserción del investigador en los procesos sociales y políticos que analiza, y sobre las dificultades de la producción y la participación académica de los antropólogos indígenas en la antropología ecuatoriana. Uno de sus hallazgos es que los actores que contribuyeron a la organización del movimiento indígena en el Ecuador, la iglesia progresista y la izquierda, son también los principales productores de pensamiento antropológico; por tanto, cuestiona la creencia generalizada de que la izquierda no comprendió la importancia de la cultura y la etnicidad. Finalmente, analiza la relación ambigua de los académicos con el movimiento indígena y sus posibles efectos políticos.

Have We Been Thinking Upside-Down?: The Contemporary Emergence of Pacific Theoretical Thought

Among the reams of volumes published on the Pacific, mostly by foreigners (but increasingly by Pacific Islanders), only a few have examined Pacific thought and how it relates to contemporary ideas, paradigms, and ways of doing. Existing material in this area has been written mainly by Pacific theologians, educators, and more recently by native and indigenous anthropologists and sociologists. While theological works have remained essentially hidden in library stacks in unpublished theses, articles written by native and indigenous anthropologists and sociologists have been published in recent editions of The Contemporary Pacific. The voice of educators, led particularly by the USP School of Education but present also in other parts of the Pacific, is still somewhat marginal in terms of its impact on mainstream education. Put together, the work of these Pacific scholars represents an important building block for the elaboration of a body of Pacific thought, which, like an open fale, should not shut out the world but invite it in on its own terms. In turn, this body of Pacific thought should contribute to the affirmation of a Pacific philosophy and ethic: a body of applicable concepts and values to guide interaction within the region and beyond.

From Text to Context: How Anthropology Makes Its Subject

Much has been said about writing culture. I argue that, underlying anthropological lies not just ethnographer as author but, more importantly, institutional embeddedness of scientificity and rootedness of academia in a public sphere. I have chosen to review critically development of anthropology of Taiwan to show in what senses it shares problematic features with social scientific subjectivity everywhere. At same time I will describe certain excesses in bureaucratization and politicization of knowledge.' Moreover, indigenous anthropologists have ironically long been studying their own societies-but not in way it has been trumpeted naively by advocates of the new ethnography. Far from being pristine, content and form of this knowledge reiterate even more academia's embeddedness in politics of public sphere. Over 25 years ago, in a work largely ignored by mainstream academics that became a cult classic among counterculture anthropology students, Robert Murphy (1971) pointed out that breadth and diversity of U.S. anthropology, as opposed to British anthropology, for example, were less a matter of intellectual influences than a function of rules of tenure and modes of academic

Indigenous Mestizos: the politics of race and culture in Cuzco, Peru, 1919-1991

Marisol de la Cadena, Duke University Press, 2000, 408 pages.Reviewer: Maria-Ines ArratiaMarisol de la Cadena has written an interesting, detailed and insightful historical-ethnographic account of the politics of identity in the city of Cuzco, Peru, a highly significant centre for the entire Andean region. This is the kind of in-depth study for which an indigenous anthropologist is particularly well suited, since probing into the very roots and sustenance of a complex, solidly established class system, can certainly benefit from an intimate, self-reflected exposure to its values, its implications and its pervasive long-term consequences. It is a prime example of embodied learning coupled with anthropological sophistication.The book is composed of seven chapters, each dealing with one context where the politics of identity construction become manifest. The agents involved in these politics include intellectuals, dominant elites, political ideologists, writers, and, of course, aboriginal populations dubbed Indians by the Conquistador. Attention is given to the relationship between the State andIndigenous peoples, the particular role of academics and the politics of representation. Copious explanatory notes decoding some otherwise implicit meanings and a broad bibliography add value both to de la Cadena's analyses, as well as to the work as a resource for Andeanists. It is important to note that references are drawn from Peruvian sources as well as from international scholars.The volume is historically rich and replete with details of the complex dynamics involved in the construction of indianness and mestizaje in the 20th century, which are so relevant and revealing in understanding the complexities of current day, postcolonial politics in Peru. The many-layered and textured account includes archival research and ethnographic examples, and provides the basis for a new style of postcolonial Andean ethnography, that incorporates historical developments, rural-urban interactions, socially dominant-subordinate dynamics, and includes the reproductive aspects of hegemony, as well as the symbolic aspects of legitimation and authenticity in the creation and reproduction of expressive culture intended to make visible and position diversity as part of a regional heritage.Indigenous Mestizos introduces the interpenetrated, patterned constructions of identities in the economic, social and symbolic contexts, carefully and explicitly attending to gendered differences. Breaking with the highly prevalent binary oppositions that characterize Andean ethnography, de la Cadena uncovers the essentialism of a cultural racism that constitutes the basis of the class system in Cuzco. Her ethnographic cases illustrate the currency of her historically drawn analyses bringing forth the voices of the informants, who use their own embodied learning experiences as the basis of their native exegesis.De la Cadena deals particularly well with the politics of representation, by unpacking complex hegemonic processes. The hegemony of decency is defined as the symbolic capital of the elites, to which the Mestizo cannot aspire, and the Indian, even less. Education and respect are two values that subaltern groups can harness for themselves in the process of accumulating their own symbolic capital. …

Indigenous anthropologists in socialist Romania

I came into sharp confrontation with the authorities while carrying out research in Romania on the nature of interethnic rela? tions and economic specialization [2]. No one was particularly curious about my resi? dence within a Saxon German household of an increasingly Romanian village, nor with interviews carried out among Hungarian speaking villagers of the commune where I carried out research for a year. But, when attempting to grasp the place of Gypsies in this socioeconomic matrix, disapproval was universally voiced. In isolated instances the response to my work on Gypsies was severe and at one point, while being detained, I was reprimanded and told to "go and study minorities and their problems in my own country!" [3]. The vigor with which this part of my work was rejected made me question the nature of Anglo-American research in socialist countries [4] and present? ly the role of indigenous anthropologists in studying interethnic relations. Although Anglo-American anthropology is not repre? sented as a discipline in Romania, rural sociological and ethnological disciplines that share common roots with anthropology have large numbers of devotees. Their problematic role, particularly in the study of ethnic groups, is the subject of this article. Fortunately, I had an opportunity to discuss this matter with a number of Romanian scholars and became a participant in two brief cooperative field work projects that provided further insight into the problem. This article is based on these experiences.