Royal Anthropological Institute Research Articles

Anthropological Glimpses of Japan in Nineteenth-Century Britain

This article explores two early anthropological works on Japan that were produced in Britain during the nineteenth century. The first is James Cowles Prichard's chapter on Japanese culture from the third edition of his Researches into the physical history of mankind (1844) . It represents the first formative study by a leading ethnologist to tackle the subject. The second is Edward Burnett Tylor's essay on Japanese belief for the Journal for the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1877). During the later decades of the nineteenth century, information about Japanese society still remained relatively incomplete. When Tylor wrote his important essay about Japan in the 1870s, he still drew on the same sources Prichard had used three decades earlier. Very little new ethnographic information had travelled back to England by the second half of the nineteenth century. As a result, researchers continued to struggle when writing about Japanese culture. What we get in these nineteenth-century writings is best described as anthropological ‘glimpses’ of Japan. By exploring these early sketches of Japan, a more textured disciplinary history emerges that helps to complexify and challenge the heroic and teleological narratives of British anthropology's supposed success story.

Doing Conservation Differently: Toward a Diverse Conservations Inventory

Many scientists and environmental activists argue that the scale and scope of contemporary conservation must increase dramatically if we are to halt biodiversity declines and sustain a healthy planet. Yet conservation as currently practiced has faced significant critique for its reliance on reductionist science, advocacy of “fortress”-like preservation measures that disproportionately harm marginalized communities, and integration into the global capitalist system that is the root cause of environmental degradation. The contributions to this special issue, developed from a panel at the Anthropology and Conservation conference co-hosted by the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Society of Ethnobiology in October 2021, collectively argue for what we, borrowing from Gibson-Graham’s diverse economies framework, call “doing conservation differently.” By bringing marginalized, hidden, and alternative conservation activities to light, researchers can contribute, in the spirit of Gibson-Graham’s work, to making these diverse conservations more real and credible as objects of policy and activism. This special issue contributes to inventorying the diverse conservations that already exist, which opens new spaces for ethical intervention and collective action.

Re:]Entanglements: Colonial Collections in Decolonial Times curated by Paul Basu

Re:]Entanglements: Colonial Collections in Decolonial Times curated by Paul Basu

Un autre monde possible: Gilles Deleuze face aux perspectivismes contemporains

In 1996, the anthropologist Eduardo Viveiros de Castro chose a sentence by Gilles Deleuze as the epigraph for an article, published in the Brazilian journal Mana, on Amerindian perspectivism. (A modified version of the article appeared in English two years later, in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.) Since then, Deleuze's name has appeared often in works about perspectivism, but Chamois's new book is the first monograph to focus on perspectivism and Deleuze. Among the most important contributions of Chamois's analysis is to draw our attention to a little-known passage in a course, “Truth and Time,” that Deleuze taught in 1983 (and that is available for listening online). In it, he criticizes the example of the cube used as a paradigm, at least since Edmund Husserl's day, to conceptualize what a perspective is. It is impossible to see all six faces of a cube at the same time; thus, to “intuit” the cube as a cube, we must add to our own perception of a profile of the cube more possible points of view on it. The problem with this example and description is that it takes for granted that the subject already knows what she needs to see (a cube).Inspired, however, by the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, Deleuze holds that each perception is an invitation to other perceptions: “To perceive is to become capable of perceiving more and more things that were initially not perceived” (percevoir, c'est devenir apte à percevoir de plus en plus de choses qui d'abord n’étaient pas perçues). Deleuze contrasts the “spatial” or “frozen” notion of perspective to the “temporal perspective” that he seeks to emphasize: “It's time that acts as perspective” (C'est le temps qui agit comme perspective). The question, therefore, at the heart of Deleuze's perspectivism is how a perspective changes over time. Chamois goes through the early texts of Deleuze to show how the idea of the temporal perspective emerged from the concept of the structure Autrui. The “structure-Other” is best exemplified by someone else's emotive face—the frightened face of my friend, for instance. If I perceive that face while, say, I am laughing, another possible world would slip into my own: a frightening world penetrates my humorous one, and perhaps I should turn my head to see what danger may be en route. As in the case of the cube, my own limited perception is supplemented by others’ limited perceptions. The object of perception in this case, however, is not presupposed to be stable (the world is changing), and what I am about to see is not known in advance.But what, precisely, in the face of the other must I notice to become aware of the world she perceives? Deleuze does not explore that question in any detail, but Chamois reviews recent anthropological and psychological research that supplies some elements of a response. To confront the writings of Deleuze with relevant scientific data is fruitful. I must admit, though, that I was a bit embarrassed by the framing of the discussion: Chamois presents Deleuze's concepts as hypotheses demanding verification that they are “corroborated by the facts.” For Deleuze, concepts are inseparable from percepts and affects; as opposed to a hypothesis, a concept is true not because it correlates to a set of relevant facts but because it helps us to perceive other aspects of the world (percept) and induces us to act better (affect). Thus, the minute and rewarding analysis of Chamois should be complemented with an assessment of what we learn to focus on and of how we change our actions thanks to the perspectivism of Deleuze—in contrast to other forms of perspectivism (or indeed to other cosmologies).

Withdrawal: Booher, Adam & Kathryn Oths. The last bonesetter: An encounter with Don Felipe. DVD/PAL, 27 mins, colour. Watertown, Mass: DER, 2018. $295.00 (institutional use). Reviewed by Howard Reid

AbstractThe above article from Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, published online on 5 December 2022, in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been withdrawn by agreement between the journal Editors in Chief, Hannah Knox, Adam Reed, Chika Watanabe, and Thomas Yarrow, and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The withdrawal has been agreed due to a technical error at the publisher that caused the article to be mistakenly published online although its author has not signed the journal's publishing license.

Brotherhood at times of war

Brotherhood at times of war

Fashion, Thresholds, and Borders

Fashion, Thresholds, and Borders

Taking turns: lesbian couples’ decision of (first) birth mother in Sweden

ABSTRACT This article presents an analysis of how lesbian couples in Sweden negotiate birth motherhood in a context where equality is thought to be achieved by being and doing the same [Gullestad, M. (2002). Invisible fences: Egalitarianism, nationalism and racism. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 8(1), 45–63. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.00098]. We do so by studying narratives of how 20 couples arrived at the decision of who will be the (first) birth mother, a decision unique to a small group of parents with theoretical implications for motherhood norms, kinship and within-couple decision-making extending beyond the couples themselves. Most couples interviewed planned to have two children and take turns carrying, a plan that to some extent solves the challenge of equality and sameness. Genetic links were downplayed and instead, the embodied and often desired experience of pregnancy was foregrounded. In deciding who would be the (first) birth mother, the couples’ reasoning centred on age and desire, both presented as harmless and ‘natural’ determinants that defused a potentially disruptive decision.

Commentary: Nationalism and Transnationalism in Anthropological Research

Commentary: Nationalism and Transnationalism in Anthropological Research

Action and seduction

Action and seduction

Beyond order, beyond the human

Beyond order, beyond the human

The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI)‐‐Wiley Digital Archives

The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a scholarly association dedicated to the study of anthropology. It has an extensive collection of archival and manuscript materials on this topic. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has partnered with RAI to create this Wiley Digital Archive collection of their content. Wiley has digitized everything at RAI that they possibly could, save those items that are unavailable for reasons of privacy, copyright, or sensitivity. RAI internal papers and correspondence in the database generally go back to 1967, though some materials are older than that. It offers tens of thousands of manuscripts and photographs, and over one hundred maps.This database provides a number of searching and browsing options that can be used to locate its various documents and images. Although both options can be used effectively and are generally understandable, each has its idiosyncrasies that might confuse or frustrate users. The type, quality, and age of documents and images in this database vary considerably. These include, but are not limited to, notes, papers, and handwritten letters. Some of these can be difficult to read. However, this is not an uncommon problem with primary documents, like those found in this database.Pricing for this database can vary substantially, and depends on FTE and institution type. For certain institutions, with an FTE of 3,000 or less, pricing is relatively economical, while for those with higher FTEs it grows increasingly expensive, and may ultimately prove unaffordable for some.While the quality and quantity of this database’s content is relatively high, it will generally not be useful to students looking for introductory materials on anthropology and related disciplines. Instead, it will be far more valuable to those doing more in-depth research in these areas, including those hoping to augment research already done using other resources. The licensing agreement for this database is in most ways a standard one, but it’s vague on the question of fees, so purchasers should clarify this issue with the vendor before proceeding.

The “tribal spirit” in modern Britain: evolution, nationality, and race in the anthropology of Sir Arthur Keith

ABSTRACTThis article re-examines the anthropological scholarship of Sir Arthur Keith (1866–1955), who served as the president of the Royal Anthropological Institute (1914–1917), the Royal Anatomical Society (1918), and the British Association of the Advancement of Science (1927), who wrote prolifically on anatomy, evolution, and the idea of race. While most commonly associated with the Piltdown man hoax, Keith's contributions to the discipline were far greater and more complex. This essay specifically considers how Keith sought to problematize the concept of the nation, considering the nation-state as an evolutionary unit. The first half of this essay examines Keith's theories on the mechanism of evolution (hormonal instincts) and how this informed his ideas of races and nations as evolutionary units. The second half of the essay considers how Keith deployed his ideas about evolutionary instincts, with the goal of advising Britons about how an evolutionary perspective would help understand, if not resolve, modern political challenges, both international and domestic, that faced the British Empire around the time of the First World War.

З історії академічних проектів 1920-х років: співпраця Катерини Грушевської з Королівським антропологічним інститутом Великобританії та Ірландії

З історії академічних проектів 1920-х років: співпраця Катерини Грушевської з Королівським антропологічним інститутом Великобританії та Ірландії

A noisy signal: To what extent are Hadza hunting reputations predictive of actual hunting skills?

This work was supported by Robinson College Cambridge, the Leakey Foundation, the Smuts Memorial Fund, the Ruggles-Gates Fund of the Royal Anthropological Institute, the Cambridge Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Cambridge Centre for African Studies, the Anthony Wilkin Fund and the Ridgeway-Venn Fund.

The Coal Beds of Generations X, Y, and Z: Syncing, Learning, and Propagating in the Age of the Posthuman

ABSTRACTIn this article I broaden the discussion of posthuman pedagogy by arguing that when humans and Artificial Intelligences (AIs) engage, they are not separate entities but are instead “in-phenomena” (K. Barad, “Posthumanist Performativity: Toward an Understanding of How Matter Comes to Matter,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 28[3] [2003]: 801–31). I contend that the division between humans and AI is artificial, and dispute the ontological separability of the two entities while they are in-phenomena. Instead, using anthropologist Tim Ingold’s notion of “correspondence-thinking,” I argue that humans and technology “sync up” and enter into “correspondence” (T. Ingold, “On Human Correspondence,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 23[1] [2017a]: 9–27). By doing so, I contend that the human body enters a different ontological category, which I describe using the neologism “humAIn.” I take inspiration from philosopher and physicist Karen Barad, and using her approach to causality and agency, contend that the ontological gap between human and AI is collapsed during “intra-actions.” Thus, the blood-filled veins of the human body and the blinking light of the metallic body coordinate and operate in unison—they are in sync. To explore the transient state humans enter while syncing with AIs, I outline ethnographic research carried out with the “chatterbot” hosted in my smartphone. While syncing with the device, I consider collaborative learning, a modality that attends to the role of education in wider society, and think through the repercussions of syncing for human–AI civic life. I argue that humAIn entities generate a valuable quasi-synthetic resource—proto-data—and these are the new coal beds of generations X, Y, and Z.

The Coal Beds of Generations X, Y, and Z: Syncing, Learning, and Propagating in the Age of the Posthuman

ABSTRACT In this article I broaden the discussion of posthuman pedagogy by arguing that when humans and Artificial Intelligences (AIs) engage, they are not separate entities but are instead “in-phenomena” (K. Barad, “Posthumanist Performativity: Toward an Understanding of How Matter Comes to Matter,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 28[3] [2003]: 801–31). I contend that the division between humans and AI is artificial, and dispute the ontological separability of the two entities while they are in-phenomena. Instead, using anthropologist Tim Ingold’s notion of “correspondence-thinking,” I argue that humans and technology “sync up” and enter into “correspondence” (T. Ingold, “On Human Correspondence,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 23[1] [2017a]: 9–27). By doing so, I contend that the human body enters a different ontological category, which I describe using the neologism “humAIn.” I take inspiration from philosopher and physicist Karen Barad, and using her approach to causality and agency, contend that the ontological gap between human and AI is collapsed during “intra-actions.” Thus, the blood-filled veins of the human body and the blinking light of the metallic body coordinate and operate in unison—they are in sync. To explore the transient state humans enter while syncing with AIs, I outline ethnographic research carried out with the “chatterbot” hosted in my smartphone. While syncing with the device, I consider collaborative learning, a modality that attends to the role of education in wider society, and think through the repercussions of syncing for human–AI civic life. I argue that humAIn entities generate a valuable quasi-synthetic resource—proto-data—and these are the new coal beds of generations X, Y, and Z.

Translating ritual into film – Notes on Paul Henley’s ‘spirit, possession, power, and the absent presence of Islam: re-viewing Les Maîtres Fous’

In his 2006 article for the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, ‘Spirit Possession, power, and the absent presence of Islam: re-viewing Les Maîtres Fous’ (Henley, 2006, pp 731-62), Paul Henley gives an in-depth analysis and re-examination of the seminal classic “Les Maîtres Fous” by the late French film director Jean Rouch. One of the most striking elements in the text is the rift Henley detects between what he calls ‘Rouch The Author’ and ‘Rouch The Film-Maker’. The article goes to great lengths in its analysis of possible new viewing angles for the anthropological material at hand, being the hauka – cult in Accra, West-Africa – as observed in the film. Henley has a clear view on all possible alternative interpretations and re-viewings of the film from an anthropological point of view, but seems to struggle when it comes to juxtaposing these with the reality of the film. He chooses to make a sharp division between the two sides of Jean Rouch (‘Author/Anthropologist’ and ‘Film-Maker’) without ever delving into the historiography of anthropological films at the time, nor the influence Rouch was under from directors such as Luc De Heusch and Alain Resnais. He also neglects to place Rouch’s work within the broader context of filmhistoric developments of the 1950’s. Henley’s paper does not attempt to address these questions and there is the clear choice of interpreting the work only from an anthropological point of view. This paper will address these gaps, offering a few possible explanations which address Rouch’s work as a director, a side that should complete the anthropological data in Henley’s paper. This text will provide a basic layout for understanding the cinematographic choices Rouch made, placing them in a larger framework and making a case for the interpretation of the film on its own terms and not only as an (seemingly) objective account of an anthropological study. Key words: Jean Rouch, Paul Henley, Luc de Heusch, anthropological film, self-reflexivity

About the Contributors

About the Contributors

A second look at invisibility: Al-Ghayb, Islam, ethnography

The Arab concept al-ghayb refers to the hidden, the unseen, the invisible. The term encompasses a range of important phenomena in Islam and in the everyday experiences of Muslims. The dominion of the unseen (alam al-ghayb) includes those parts of reality that cannot be seen simply because they are covered by other visible objects. It also refers to those phenomena that by their nature cannot be perceived (e.g. the face or throne of God, paradise, hell, the past, or the future), as well as those objects that are blocked from view by one’s perspective (Drieskens 2006; Mittermaier 2011; Suhr 2013). Al-ghayb is important to the notion of barzakh, the intermediary realm between life and death; to the issue of veiling; to visions of deceased saints or dreams about the Prophet Muhammad as well as to the uncontrollable powers of jinn, angels, magic, the evil eye, and omens (Pandolfo 1997; Rothenberg 2004; Khan (Cultural Anthropology, 21(6), 234-264, 2006); El-Zein 2009; Rytter (The Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute, 16(1), 46-63, 2010); Edgar 2011; Taneja (HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 3(3), 139–65, 2013); Bubandt 2014a; Suhr (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society, 21(1), 96–112, 2015). The unseen, in other words, is in Islam infused with power and potential, but the lure of the territories of the unseen is also disturbing, troublesome, even dangerous. The seven contributions in this special issue trace invisibility as both wondrous potential and vexed problem in the lives of people in the modern Muslim world. They seek to enrich the study of Islam by discussing what it means to live with al-ghayb, and how this concept is reshaped through people’s experiences of the invisible in their lives. The contributions demonstrate how al-ghayb constitutes an entrenched, but also highly contested, part of Islamic experience. For the domain of al-ghayb evokes a series of paradoxical tensions. While al-ghayb is a marker of the unseen domains of reality, for the adept it signifies a supremely visible reality. Al-ghayb is also an all-determining locus of power; yet, due to its inaccessibility, it is often also a great source of indeterminacy in the lives of Muslims. While full of danger, al-ghayb is also a potential source of healing, protection, and resurrection. And lastly, while it is an all-determining omnipresence, al-ghayb nevertheless remains essentially unknowable, a consummate “Elsewhere” (Pandolfo 1997; Mittermaier (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 18(2), 247–265, 2012); Bubandt 2014b; Suhr (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society, 21(1), 96–112, 2015); Rytter (Ethnography, 17(2), 229-249, 2016). The special issue explores these paradoxes in order to make a broader contribution to the study of invisibility in social studies. It argues that a focus on the ambiguities of al-ghayb within Islam offers an analytical point of departure for a wider exploration of the sensual, existential, spiritual and political interfaces and contradictions of visibility and invisibility within other religious and secular traditions as well. To this end, the contributions trace the contradictory poetics and politics of the invisible, suggesting that the realm of al-ghayb constitutes an alternative methodological and analytical entry point into an investigation of the contemporary politics of the gaze. The study of al-ghayb, we propose, entails an important critique of conventional notions of modernity as the “empire of the gaze”.