Indigenous resurgence, anthropological theory, and the cunning of history

Terence Turner

Abstract: Why has the recent period of global centralization of capital, from the 1970s to the present, also been a period of resurgence of indigenous movements and of forms of global civil society that have supported indigenous ? This ar- ticle argues that tackling this question can only be done by using concepts that emphasize what Hegel called the ‘cunning’ of history: the fact that the same his- torical process can on the one hand bring devastation to indigenous habitats and on the other hand create opportunities for political leverage by indigenous soci- eties to gain recognition of the legitimacy of their different social, cultural, and economic systems within their ambient nation-states. Politically engaged anthro- pological theory, it seems, needs concepts that emphasize these contradictions— which in a nutshell means more Marx and less Foucault. Keywords: activism, cunning of history, ‘globalization’, historical context, indige- nous resurgence

Particularly in the field of indigenous studies, an- “Envisioning history: Anthropological theory thropological theory has become a vital politi- and the rights of indigenous people” at the Ca- cal issue.1 I want to make two points here. First, nadian Association for Social and Cultural An- that in order to appreciate and support particu- thropology conference in Montreal in May 2006. lar indigenous people’s struggles, it is crucial to The session was devoted to examining the ways understand these particular struggles as part of anthropological theories have affected struggles a global phenomenon. And second, that anthro- for ’ rights. The authors of pological theory can only make sense of this the session’s papers mostly belonged to a group global indigenous resurgence through concepts led by Professor Michael Asch of the University that stress the contradictions and lacunae of shifts of Victoria and all of them have been working in the global and state system in the last quarter with Canadian hunting and foraging societies. of the twentieth century, which indigenous peo- Michael Asch’s group has made itself a major ple have courageously managed to exploit. force for the defense of the rights of Canadian My reflections here on this issue were trig- First Nations and many of its members have been gered by my role as commentator in the session involved as expert witnesses in Canadian court

Focaal—European Journal of Anthropology 49 (2007): 118–123 doi:10.3167/foc.2007.490110 Indigenous resurgence, anthropological theory, and the cunning of history | 119 proceedings dealing with indigenous land rights the continued economic viability, cultural con- and cultural rights issues. In their court testi- tinuity, demographic growth, and political resur- mony, they have often had to contend with oppo- gence of indigenous peoples or First Nations nents of First Nations’ land and cultural rights, around the world. While the presenters only dis- who base their cases on anthropological theories, cussed hunting and foraging peoples, these be- mostly of evolutionistic or cultural materialist ing the groups among whom they conducted types. The authors were concerned, as activists, their own field research, its is important to bear to bring out the political issues that arise from in mind that hunters and foragers account for the political resurgence of indigenous people, but only a small proportion of indigenous peoples— also, as anthropologists, with its significance for who share most of the same problems and is- anthropology and vice versa, that is, the part sues—worldwide. Also the theoretical concepts played by anthropological theory, sometimes by employed by the presenters to “envision” the supporting it or more often by indirectly seek- history of anthropological theory and indigenous ing to delay it by legitimizing attempts by the rights struggles, need themselves to be under- Canadian and US governments to strip indige- stood, just as the facts and cases they describe, nous peoples of their lands and resources, while in the wider global and historical contexts that formulating reductionist theories that misrep- produced them. Theoretical concepts such as resent their and modes of livelihood, ‘colonialism’ and ‘post-colonialism’, ‘nation’, and denying their agency as social actors. For ‘globalization’ and ‘governmentality’ either Asch and his students, including the organizer originated or have significantly changed in mean- of the session Marc Pinkoski, theoretical critique ing during the same historical period as the re- has become a vital practical and political issue, surgence of indigenous peoples (roughly from rather than merely an academic exercise (for an 1970 to the present), and responded to many of earlier exposé of their argument see Pinkoski and the same historical factors (see also Turner 1999a, Asch 2004). 2002, 2003, 2004). These factors, I would argue, I was invited to act as commentator on the appear in some cases to be changing again, with session because although my anthropological re- historical and theoretical consequences that are search has been with indigenous societies in the of great significance. Brazilian and Venezuelan Amazon (see Turner In the following section I attempt to summa- 1993, 1996, 2000; Turner and Fajans-Turner rize my ideas about the global political-economic 2006), as an activist I have faced similar issues forces that have enabled indigenous peoples all concerning the relation between anthropologi- over the world to launch effective struggles for cal theory and professional responsibilities and their rights and territories, and to indicate some the struggle to defend the territorial and cul- of the implications of these dynamics and move- tural rights of the peoples with whom I have ments for anthropological, and more broadly worked (see Turner 1999b). I have also been con- social theory. cerned with more general issues of globalization’s impact on indigenous movements and rights, both in my own writings and as a member of The historical context of the indigenous the Committee for of the Amer- resurgence ican Anthropological Association. My role as commentator at the Montreal session was thus Following the collapse in the early 1970s of the to try to put the activist interventions and crit- Bretton Woods arrangements,—designed at the ical theoretical reflections of my Canadian col- end of World War II to enable states to control leagues into a broader comparative perspective. transnational corporate and finance capital and The Canadian cases presented local manifes- support currency convertibility, the accelerated tations of a global phenomenon of great histor- global centralization of capital, especially finance ical, anthropological, and human significance: capital—has forced states to defend the stability of 120 | Terence Turner their currencies by curtailing inflationary spend- ethnic minorities into internally united and po- ing on domestic social programs. This meant litically uniform societies. retreating from the ‘class compromise’ of the These transformations of the social, political- welfare state—the social-democratic attempt by economic, and ideological character of states the Western democracies to promote relative class brought fundamental changes in the cosmolog- equality of all citizens that gained political as- ical space-time of Western —changes cendancy during and following World War II. It that have affected the situation and prospects is important to recognize that this commitment of the indigenous peoples located within those to social and political homogenization was ac- states. The Modern conception of social time companied by the persistence of assimilationist as a unilinear diachronic progress culminating policies toward racial, cultural, and indigenous in the development of internally homogeneous minorities (with some moderate exceptions such nation-states rather rapidly gave way to a non- as John Collier’s tenure as Director of the Bureau directional, decentered notion of synchronic of Indian Affairs in the Roosevelt administration pluralism, where states serve as frames guaran- in the US). The retreat from welfare-state poli- teeing the coexistence of socially and culturally cies in the early 1970s also led to the abandon- different sub-groups; in other words, to post- ment, for practical purposes, of the nationalist modern . The key role of the ideological and cultural project of assimilating state in this new cosmological configuration is economically and culturally marginal minori- not to impose and maintain internal uniformity ties, above all indigenous groups into the ‘na- among its members as bearers of a common na- tion’, conceived as the ethnically and culturally tional identity, but to maintain the external uni- homogeneous population of the state. The same formity of their economic activities as workers, political-economic developments caused the re- consumers, managers, and capitalists—that is, versal of the class dynamics of the post–World as good members of the uniform global econ- War II period, characterized by the progressive omy. In this way, the commitment to jural and expansion of the middle class, by promoting the administrative equality remains the touchstone differentiation from the rest of the middle class of the political-economic functions and ideo- of a new upper class of super-wealthy with close logical legitimacy of states, but the application financial ties to the global economy. The politi- of this principle has become severed from any cal and ideological effects of this shift in class considerations of assimilation to a national eth- dynamics were reinforced by the diminution of nic identity, or for that matter from any beyond states’ control over their monetary and social the minimal considerations of provision of so- policies—the result of the achievement of eman- cial welfare or economic support. cipation of state control by transnational capi- There is, however, an ironic sense in which tal in the 1970s and 1980s. ethnic, racial, or cultural difference remains stra- This was a significant diminution of the po- tegically relevant in the new system of synchron- litical powers of states, and thus the ability of ic pluralism. Fully assimilated members of the their internal systems of electoral politics to ex- dominant society of a state can claim no special ercise meaningful influence over these aspects treatment from their governments based on the of economic and social life. States remained im- latter’s commitment to the equal treatment of portant, indeed indispensable, as the executors differences, because they lack difference in any of the economic and administrative policies re- relevant sense. By emphasizing the very differ- quired by global capital and financial markets, ences that previously stigmatized them as not but they lost their autonomous character as the sufficiently evolué, obviously unassimilated in- highest-level economic and political units of the digenous persons or groups may now find them- world system, just as they lost their social and selves able to demand recognition, rights, and ideological character as integral nations, capa- protections from states previously reluctant to ble of assimilating their constituent classes and grant them. This point can be put another way Indigenous resurgence, anthropological theory, and the cunning of history | 121 by saying that egalitarianism remains a basic nous societies to gain recognition within their principle of state ideologies, but it has reversed ambient nation-states of the legitimacy and via- its meaning in a fundamental respect. It is no bility of their different social, cultural and eco- longer an equality of ideally homogeneous iden- nomic systems—ways of using their territories tities (as of citizens assimilated to a uniform na- and other material resources. It is a tribute to the tional norm) but an identity of differences, where resilience, courage, and political perspicacity of contrastive identities become the basis for legit- so many indigenous groups that they have been imizing the equality of claims on the state. able to exploit the opportunities provided by Multiculturalism and the principle that cul- these contradictory developments of the global tural difference confers a right to formal politi- political economy as mediated through their cal and social equality have in this way become ambient nation-states, even as they deal with essential to the legitimation of states in the age the negative effects of the shrinkage of social of globalization. The very economic and politi- services and threats to their territorial and re- cal processes that threaten to undermine the le- source bases from those same states. gitimacy of states in their roles as implementers of the global capitalist system, and oblige them to abandon programs for the promotion of so- More Marx, less Foucault cial and economic equality, also put pressure on them to recognize and defend the equal rights What does all this imply for anthropological of groups whose cultural and social differences theory? I would argue that it implies concepts from the hegemonic national norm until recently like ‘colonialism’ or Foucault’s ‘governmental- served as stigmata of inequality. This ideologi- ity’ are inadequate and even potentially mis- cal principle of the right of difference, I have ar- leading if employed as theoretical frameworks gued, cannot be understood in its own terms for understanding the contemporary situation simply as the outcome of enlightened legal rea- of many indigenous peoples, whether hunter- soning or progressive political theory, or as the foragers, swidden horticulturists, pastoral no- spontaneous product of indigenous peoples and mads, or Central American maize farmers. other distinctive cultural groups by themselves, These rubrics seriously distort current political but as the ideological expression of the effect of and economic reality by assuming that they are the operation of the global capitalist system on essentially the products of deliberate policies by the internal social dynamics and class structure states or else by capitalist corporations, without of individual nation-states. Its grounding in attempting to analyze the political-economic the global economic system is the real basis of system of which those states and corporations the expansion of civil society in the recent age form parts. By exclusively emphasizing the op- of globalization from the internal societies of pressive aspects of the imposition of state power nation-states to what has come to be called on subject populations, they miss the importance ‘global civil society’. of contradictions and lacunae in the contempo- While they have had many unfortunate po- rary global and state system in creating opportu- litical and social effects, such as the despoliation nities for indigenous peoples to assert and defend of environmental resources and indigenous their cultural differences and rights to resources. habitats in the intensified race to extract energy They also ignore the reality of the agency and and raw materials, the transnational centraliza- capacity for effective political action and cul- tion of capital—or what has been called ‘global- tural transformation of indigenous groups that ization’, and the neo-liberal social and eco- have enabled them to act successfully in their nomic policies it has brought in its train—have historical situation. They thus fail to deal with the also, by a process akin to what Hegel (1953) great question of why the recent period of global called the ‘cunning’ of history, helped to create centralization of capital (1970 to the present) has opportunities for political leverage by indige- also been a period of resurgence of indigenous 122 | Terence Turner movements for territorial rights and cultural logical journals. For a previous contribution to autonomy, and why the same period has given the discussion on and anthro- rise to forms of global civil society that have pological theory in Focaal see Steur (2005). supported indigenous rights and (however am- bivalently) environmental stewardship. So I would say that we need more Marx and References less Foucault. Above all, we should avoid theo- retical formulations, like ‘post-coloniality’ or Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. 1953. Introduc- Foucault’s ‘governmentality’ and its immediate tion. Lectures on the philosophy of history. Trans. R. S. Hartman. New York: Bobbs-Merrill. ancestors, such as ‘discourses of power’,or some Pinkoski, Marc, and Michael Asch. 2004. Anthro- forms of world system theory, that in effect un- pology and indigenous rights in Canada and the critically continue the work of capitalist and United States: Implications in Steward’s theoret- imperialist domination of indigenous and ical project. In Hunter-gatherers in history, arche- other non-Western cultures by postulating that ology, and anthropology, ed. Alan Barnard, the former are invariably and totally effective in 187–200. New York: Berg. subverting, controlling, and inauthenticating Steur, Luisa. 2005. “On the correct handling of con- the latter, along with any possibility for open tradictions”: liberal- in indigenous and effective organized resistance by move- studies. Focaal 46: 169–76. ments of national populations. Indigenous peo- Turner, Terence. 1993. The role of indigenous peo- ples, by their courageous and effective struggles ples in the environmental crisis: The case of the in Canada and all over the world, have been Brazilian Kayapo. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 36 (3): 526–45. demonstrating the inadequacy of these forms of ———. 1996. An indigenous Amazonian people’s theoretical colonialism, and creating by their struggle for socially equitable and ecologically actions a reality that challenges the trendy sustainable production: The Kayapo revolt forms of irrealism our discipline has been toy- against extractivism. Journal of Latin American ing with while they have been fighting for their Anthropology 1 (1): 98–121. collective social and cultural lives. ———. 1999a. Indigenous and culturalist move- ments in the contemporary global conjuncture. In Las identidades y las tensiones culturales de Terence Turner (PhD from Harvard, 1965) has modernidad, Francisco F. Del Riego, Marcial G. worked for decades with indigenous peoples of Portasany, Terence Turner, Josep R. Llobera, the Brazilian Amazon, mostly the Kayapo, but Isodoro Moreno, and James W. Fernandez, recently also the Yanomami. He is involved in 53–72. Santiago de Compostela: Federacion advocacy and human rights work and is inter- de Asociaciones de antropologia del Estado ested in indigenous peoples’ political struggles Español. and associated ecological, cultural, and rights ———. 1999b. Activism, activity theory, and the issues. His theoretical interests include social and new cultural politics. In Activity theory and so- cultural theory, Marx, kinship and social orga- cial practice, ed. Seth Chaikin, Marianne Hede- gaard, and Uffe Juul Jensen, 114–35. Aarhus: nization, myth, ritual and narrative, visual an- Aarhus University Press. thropology (particularly indigenous video and ———. 2000. Indigenous rights, environmental TV documentary), the body, and the critique of protection, and the struggle over forest resources anthropological theory. in the Amazon: The case of the Brazilian Kayapo. E-mail: [email protected]. In Earth, air, fire and water: The humanities and the environment, ed. Jill Conway, Kenneth Kenis- ton, and Leo Marx, 145–69. Boston: University Note of Massachusetts Press. ———. 2002. Shifting the frame from nation-state 1. There are currently many discussions around to global market: Class and social consciousness this theme, running through various anthropo- in the advanced capitalist countries. Social Indigenous resurgence, anthropological theory, and the cunning of history | 123

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