topic 1 readings + case studies Flashcards
tcherkezoff; what, when where
first contacts in polynesia; studied hawaiian traditions and cook in 2004
hawaiian traditions
- chief on an island; warns of arrival of europeans (there are different interpretations in different islands of europeans)
- lono= never before encountered people
maori traditions
newcomers are tupua or atua
tupua= visible beings of supernatural origin regarded with a mix of terror or awe and are given offerings
atua= god or being of supernatural origin
Eldon Best: forigeiners [europeans] are atua
“europeans are tupua but not OUR tupua’; distinction between gods, spirits and ancestors (tupua vs. tupuna)
maori and cook; linguistic confusion
maori + cook: cook says he is an astronomer ‘looking at stars”
maori: think this means he is a celestial being
thomas hylannd-eriksen
‘comparison and context’ 2010
culture carries ambiguity; humans equally cultural but with different systems
claude levi strauss and aim of anthropology?
‘anthropology has humanity as its objects of research, but studies divere manifestations’
- anthropology aims to understands connections in existence within, and between soecities
- context is important
geertzian concept
culture is an integrated whole
e. g. economics; drives globalization
e. g. cultural concepts; drive political explotation
cultural relavitism
societies/cultures are qualitavely different with own, unique inner lenses
- ethical principle and methological conept that excluses favouritivism and prferrism
- rejects ethnocentrisim and western centered models/concepts
william arens.. wrote?
‘the man eating myth’ 1979
aim of arens book
debunk mythologies of cannibalism as an accepted, ritual practice;
- show its a racist concept
- arens already bias of cannivalism (hence is bias); believes its seen as a unviersal anti-social and immoral behavoiur; only ever actually seen as a surivival act
another word for cannibalism is
anthropophagy
examples of ‘alleged’ notions of cannibalism
- herodotus
- tanzania and uganda
- jerome gibbons
- hans staden
- polynesia ta’unaga
herodotus belief + arens critique
said scynthians were ‘only people that eat human flesh’
arens:
herodotus as first recorder of other cultures enjoyed telling people of the unkwon and faraway people as barbaric; to create ‘dramatic narrative’
tanzania/uganda case + arens critique
tanzania (1968) called europeans blod suckers, who ate blood in ‘pills’
(uganda 1970); africans believed europeans ‘ate babies’ according to Middle ton
arens: stories of ‘blood suckers’ in africa as a result of british wwii blood drives (seen as colonial and political symbol of europeans consuming african vitality)
shows racist double standard onto africans:
- africans ignorant for thinkinng europeans cannivals
- europeans also think africans ignorant for being themselves uncivillized and cannivalistic
jerome gibbons case + arens critique
- gibbons; ‘scots of pre-christian england delight in the tase of human flesh’… ‘but i say this only with undersatnding i have no witness’
- cultural post-image of non-western societies
- influenced by 19th century evolutionary social theory which was attached to ‘others’; historic image of ‘primitive man’
hans staden case + arens critique
hans staden; said he was captured by Tupinamba Indians Islands in South America (1550s)
- said he saw them eat flesh as ritual process
arens critique:
a. detailed story but stadens wasn’t captured long enough
b. portrayed women as main cannibalist; sexist understood of female inferiority as savage
c. he claims Tupinambas were intellectually inferior, depsite himself not speaking the language, claims to have had detailed conversation with them and claims they have their own language [contradictions]
polynesian ta’unaga case + arens critique
19th century; ta’unga visited polynesia as a christian evangelist missionary
a. writes accounts of cannivalism as daily event
b. says savages fight for human meat
c. demonizes women as main cannibalistic enthusiasts
arens critique/analysis:
- tu’unga wants to portray self as a saviour sent to save and civillize islands with western superiority
- plays on readers emotions to instill feer; ‘londoners are like food to them’
- has linguistic fallacies; claims to report and interview islanders but himself was also ntoa ble to prevent a cannibalist child trial due to misscominuication?
types of cannibalism
endocannibalism exocannibalism actocannibalism gastronomic cannivalism ritual/magic cannivalism surivival cannibalism
cannibalism portrayal
- cannivalism used to be portrayed as more perverse
- special vocabularty used to mystify it
- all people are pimritive
- always restricted to far away countries (dimension of time and space play a role)
western portrayal of cannibalism
- romans accused chrustians of using blood in ‘secret rites’
- christians accused jews of ‘diestry restrictions’
BOTH; been historically debunked as xenophobic and antisemetic stories (prjeuced and racism)
arens: in contrast; ‘others’ not to civillized standards are ignored and savage
western portrayal of cannibalism
- romans accused chrustians of using blood in ‘secret rites’
- christians accused jews of ‘diestry restrictions’
BOTH; been historically debunked as xenophobic and antisemetic stories (prjeuced and racism)
arens: in contrast; ‘others’ not to civillized standards are ignored and savage
who wrote homo monstrous and when
anne marie de waal malefijit in 1968
origins of homo monstrous term
linnesas coined it as a monstrous race; the nonhuman relatives
based on:
- individual travel accounts of derformed individuals as mosnters
- scientific classification of mosnters to justify such racist ideology
herodotus and homo monstrous
greke historian who portrayed other groups in 5 b.c.
arrismapia as cyclops and libyas as dog headed
examples of homo monstrous
Ktesias (persian physicians) portrayed indians as wondrous trives with 1 large foots or headless
alexander the great; added to this during invastion
discovery of new world by colombus; ‘indiasn of hispanisa’ as dog headed
pope
pope paul II had to officialy declare american indians as fully human and with souls
modern homo monstorus? malefijits conclusions
yeti in himalayza
- homo monstrous results of human imagination of far off lands conceptualizing people in reality by mythical means
modern homo monstorus? malefijits conclusions
yeti in himalayza
- homo monstrous results of human imagination of far off lands conceptualizing people in reality by mythical means
taussing; what and when and where
micheal taussing’ shaminism and colonialism of the wild man’
1986
jnew world imagery; evil views and savage; conquereres attributed magical powers to primitive
‘wildness’; spirit of unknown and symbolic function of darkness; extremes of destruction and healing of lower claseses; harmony and beauty and honour and fear of western man as of the east
manuel gomez
white colonists in PUTAMAJO india;
claimed to see the devil and indian shaman work together; this strengthed myths about the savage and justified salvaiton of colonizers
malinowski
higher races credit lower races with demonical powers
e..g colonial power in SW pacific in wwi; racism and cult of primitive of magic
eb tyler
‘white man in africa dreases powers of the obi-wan’ (1971)
0 class structure of magic and socital evolution, educatiaion created with aim of destroyng belief in magic
- hindu pravidians in south africa for example, have fear of lower slave cast in belief they possess demonic powers
fernando ortiz
common for whites to go to ‘black witches’ or ‘los negros brujos’ in cuba (slaves)
- faith placed in black magic sorcery and healers; attraction and fear of lower classes however also exist due to the ‘non solid culture of the rich’
alred mertway
haiti; masters mistreated slaves also due to fear of voodoo
henry mertray
colombian slaves practied sorcery and were inferior in colonial cartagena;
during the inquistiion; female witches were often assosiated with african slaves who were though to worship the devil; ‘black withces of cartagena sentenced do death’
clocks and steam engines; aim?
levi strauss discuesses differences between primitive and modern society
points of clocks and steam engines in primitive and higher societies
- society is founded on one social body exploiting another
2 types of machines; mechanical and thermodynamic
primitive societies are cold societies because they are in equillibrium and democratic; little distorder and static means it has no history
modern soceities in contrast are hot and in dissiqiulibrium which drives progress through the existenc eof social hierarchies (slavery and serfdom); history defined as change and progress through disorder; therefor ehistory is an attribute of higher societies
case system as example
case system in india has divisions which encourages the developments of society but issues are settled uniamounsly within the divisions, therefore not modern society
south sea islands example
ritual combat is used to mitigate conflict; state of UNAMINTY against divisions/social hierachies; means that differences in opinion are removed, no minorities exists= hence equality and equillibrium
rousseau + unaminity
unaminity is the uniamouns decision to respect the majority decision
= its a pre condition of the existence of a society
levi-strauss take: modenr societies are developmed from this; function on basis of differece; demoncry impossible in modern societies
modern societies (levi strauss)
history and disiqullibrm; modern society is constatnly esstablishing differentials to progress (from colonialism to slavery to capitalism, etc)
culture is disordered in the primitvive and ordered in their society, whereas society is disordered in the modern and culture is ordered in the modern
levi-strauss definition of culture
culture as relationship of members in a civilizzation to external world, and socoety as relationship of men to each other
explain cook and lono (more or less)
MAUI 1778:
1. mahiki festival (23 days) and lono and captain cook; historical image of mythical process
a. cook sails with hms resolution; gives maui gift of fertility (even drinks ritual drink)
b. comes a second time- ku and lono battle in ritual battle and lono dies= cook is killed by priest historically
kahoalil; rite of human sacrifice
- cook voyage correlated with hawaiam lunar calender
- hawaiins interpreted it as such e.g. ‘when will lono come again?’
- effecet was british impersialism took place in hawaii;
american kahuna priests bring new order;
european style seen as noble adn godly;
hawaiisns fashion conscience and want european style/belongings
