Anthropology with an Attitude: Critical EssaysThis book collects published and unpublished work over the last dozen years by one of today s most distinguished and provocative anthropologists. Johannes Fabian is widely known outside of his discipline because his work so often overcomes traditional scholarly boundaries to bring fresh insight to central topics in philosophy, history, and cultural studies. The first part of the book addresses questions of current critical concern: Does it still make sense to search for objectivity in ethnography? What do we gain when we invoke "context in our interpretations? How does literacy change the work of the ethnographer, and what are the boundaries between ethnology and history? This part ends with a plea for recuperating negativity in our thinking about culture. The second part extends the work of critique into the past by examining the beginning of modern ethnography in the exploration of Central Africa during the late nineteenth century: the justification of a scientific attitude, the collecting of ethnographic objects, the presentation of knowledge in narration, and the role of recognition--given or denied--in encounters with Africans. A final essay examines how the Congolese have returned the "imperial gaze of Belgium by the work of critical memory in popular history. The ten chapters are framed by two meditations on the relevance of theory and the irrelevance of the millennium. |
Contents
With So Much Critique | 1 |
From Rigor to Vigor II | 11 |
Ethnographic Misunderstanding and the Perils of Context | 33 |
Ethnography and Reading 3 0 | 53 |
Ethnology and History | 70 |
Culture with an Attitude | 87 |
Hindsight | 103 |
Curios and Curiosity | 118 |
Time Narration and the Exploration of Central Africa | 140 |
Knowledge and Recognition | 158 |
Africas Belgium | 179 |
of the Millennium | 199 |
Notes | 207 |
| 231 | |
| 249 | |
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academic African anthro anthropology approach argue Belgian Bernheim called Central Africa chap chapter collecting colonial communication Congo Congolese context critical critical theory critique cultural relativism curios Damara debates Dell Hymes dialectical diary discipline discourse discussion documents epistemological essay ethno ethnographic knowledge ethnographic objectivity ethnology ethnology and history European examples expedition experience exploration expressed Fabian fact formulated Galton genre graphic Hegel hermeneutic ical images instance interpretation involved Kanyemba Katanga kind knowledge production Kolwezi language Leo Frobenius linguistic literacy Lubumbashi means memory methodological misunderstanding Mufwankolo muzungu narration narrative native negation negativity notion objectification observation oral Ovambo Paul Pogge perhaps person political popular culture position positivist postmodern practices problem question quoted reading realize recognition recorded reflections Régine relations reports representation scientific sense Shaba/Katanga Swahili social story Swahili term theoretical theory thought tion translation travelogue Tshibumba understanding Vansina Vocabulary writing written