Anthropology and Colonialism Author(s): Diane Lewis Reviewed work(s): Source: Current Anthropology, Vol. 14, No. 5 (Dec., 1973), pp. 581-602 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2741037 . Accessed: 01/08/2012 20:25 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Current Anthropology. http://www.jstor.org CURRENTANTHROPOLOGY Vol. 14, No. 5, December1973 ) 1973 by The Wenner-GrenFoundation for AnthropologicalResearch Anthropologyand Colonialism byDiane Lewis INTRODUCTION Association(1969) and the publicationof articles whichexplore the social and moral responsibilities ANTHROPOLOGY iS in a stateof crisis.This is demon- ofthe anthropologist (e.g., Diamond 1966; Berreman strated,in the field and in the classroom,by the 1968,1970; Gough 1968;Jorgensen 1971) are recent markedestrangement between anthropologists and attemptsto definethe problem. thenonwhite people theyhave traditionallystudied.' It is significantthat thiscritical self-examination The prospectivefieldworker, for example, may find among anthropologistshas appeared concomitantly that he is banned by the governmentor rejected withthe growingself-awareness of nonwhitepeople. by the intellectualsof the countryhe seeksto enter; The two are not unrelated,and both should be or he may be forcedto pose as an economistor broughtto bearon an attemptto analyzethe current sociologistin order to gain acceptance.Frequently crisis.This paper attemptsto pull togetherinsights he encountersresentment from the group he has gainedfrom the fermentof criticismemerging from chosento study.A willingnessto toleratethe anthro- both sources.Since it examinesanthropology from pologisthas been replacedby outrightdistrust and the viewpointof Third Worldpeople, the emphasis suspicion.Finally, when the fieldworker returns home is necessarilyon those negativelyviewed aspects of to writeand lectureabout "his" people, he is increas- thediscipline which will provide a betterunderstand- inglyconfronted by representatives of thegroup who ing of the currentbehavior and attitudesof many challengethe validityof his findings. nonwhitepeople towardanthropologists. This is not Disillusionmentwith the disciplinefrom outside to deny the positivecontributions of anthropology is paralleledby growingcriticism from within. Most nor to implyeither that anthropologycan be ex- ofthis criticism, appearing increasingly in theUnited plainedonly in theseterms or thatthe situationand Statessince the second half of the 1960s,has focused consciousmotives of all anthropologistsparallel those on the failureof anthropologiststo come to terms describedhere. Similarly,since anthropology,until withand acceptresponsibility for the politicalimpli- recentdecades, has had a unique developmentand cationsof theirwork. The establishmentof a Com- impacton thenon-Western world, it has been singled mitteeon Ethicsby the AmericanAnthropological out from the other social sciences for discussion. Nevertheless,it should be kept in mind that many of thecriticisms stated here apply as wellto theother social sciences.Thus, thispaper focuseson anthro- pology,rather than the social sciencesin general, DIANE LEWIS is Professorof Anthropologyat San Francisco and it purposelyhighlights those factors in thedevel- State College and VisitingProfessor of Anthropologyfor opmentof thediscipline which now alienate anthro- 1972-73 at the Universityof Californiaat Santa Cruz. Born pologistsfrom their subject matter and whichin the in 1931, she was educatedat the Universityof Californiaat Los Angeles(B.A., 1952;M.A., 1954)and at CornellUniversity past unquestionablyaffected their work. (Ph.D., 1962). She has taughtat the Universityof California The paper considersthe traditionalrelationship at Santa Barbara(1961) and at the Universityof California at Riverside(1961-62). She has done fieldworkin Malaysia betweenanthropology and itsnonwhite subject mat- and Indonesiaand in a blackcommunity in theSan Francisco ter.It exploressome of the historicalconditions and Bay area and recentlyspent a sabbaticalleave in traveland assumptionsupon whichthis relationship was based studyin East Africa.Her researchinterests are sociocultural change,urban anthropology, comparative family and kinship and examinestheir effect on theoryand methodin systems,sex roledifferentiation, effect of biason researchand anthropology.Finally, it suggestsan alternativeto teaching,and Afro-Americancultures. Her article"Inas: A the presentapproach as a means of establishinga Studyof Local History"appeared in theJournal of the Malaysian Branchof the Royal Asiatic Society 33. viablesocial science. The presentpaper, submitted in finalform 17 iv 72, was sent for commentto 50 scholars,of whom the following responded:Xavier Alb6, Gerald Berthoud, David Brokensha, EdwardM. Bruner,Richard Frucht, Helmuth Fuchs, Gutorm Gjessin*,Jitka Junkova, Gilbert Kushner, Khalil Nakhleh, Xto *. Okojie,Maxwell Owusu, Roman Raczynski, Hubert Reyn- 'This estrangementhas also been dramaticallyportrayed for olds,Takao Sofue,Milan Stuchlik, Arthur J. Vidich, and Renate the past three years at the annual AmericanAnthropological von Gizycki.Their commentsare printedafter the textand Associationmeetings, in the varioussymposia and panelson the are followedby a replyfrom the author. topic organized by nonwhiteanthropologists. Vol. 14 * No. 5 December1973 581 THE ROLE OF ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE Sinceanthropology emerged along with the expan- WEST sionof Europeand thecolonization of thenon-West- ern world,anthropologists found themselves partici- relation- A long-rangegoal of anthropologywas thediscovery pantsin thecolonial system which organized of generallaws and propositionsabout the nature shipsbetween Westerners and non-Westerners.It is, of mankind.The circumstancesof itsfounding, that perhaps,more than a coincidencethat a method- is, Westernexpansion and thediscovery of the non- ologicalstance, that of the outsider,and a method- ologicalapproach, "objectivity," developed which in Westernworld, meant that these laws and proposi- been influencedby, and in of the retrospectseem to have tions were based on a close study newly turn to have supported,the colonial system.This discovered"primitives." However, an immediateand practicalpurpose of anthropologywas to fillin the pointof view,based on theanalysis of anthropology's role in the West,deserves elaboration, for it throws gaps of Westernman's knowledgeabout himself (Diamond 1964:432; Worsley1964:11; fora parallel considerablelight on the currentdistrust of anthro- people. pointof view,see Jones1970:256). pologistsamong non-Western Given the significanceof anthropologyas a tool in Westernman's search for self-understanding,it THE COLONIAL CONTEXT OF FIELDWORK wasan importantmethodological assumption that the studyof the"primitive" or non-Westernworld could The historicalsetting of anthropology has been vividly takeplace onlyfrom the vantagepoint of the West- described(Levi-Strauss 1966:126) as erner or outsider. Anthropology,as Levi-Strauss (1966:126) puts it,"is the scienceof cultureas seen ... theoutcome of a historicalprocess which has made fromthe outside." Diamond (1964:433, my emphasis) thelarger part of mankindsubservient tothe other, and describesthe anthropological process as one whereby duringwhich millions of innocent human beings have had "zwesnap the portrait. it is onlya representative theirresources plundered and their institutions and beliefs of our civilizationwho can, in adequate detail,docu- destroyed,whilst they themselves were ruthlessly killed, mentthe difference,and helpcreate an idea of the throwninto bondage, and contaminatedby diseases they primitivewhich would not ordinarilybe constructed wereunable to resist. by primitivesthemselves." Thus, if the nativeswere to studythemselves, they were said to produce his- This "era ofviolence" produced a socialsystem which tory or philology,not anthropology(Levi-Strauss had a pervasiveeffect on the relationshipbetween 1966:126).The questionsasked, the problems posed, the anthropologistand the people he studied. and theconstruct of the"primitive" formulated tend- Whetherhe played the role of detached observer ed to reflectinterests external to the groupsstudied. (theoreticalanthropologist) or thatof liaisonbetween This was, in a mannerto be explained below, as thedominant European and subjectnonwhite groups trueof appliedas of "pure"anthropology. (appliedanthropologist), the roleswere significantly Sincethe anthropologist worked amid the profound affectedby his membershipin thedominant group. economicand politicalchanges which accompanied The anthropologist,like the other Europeans in the confrontationbetween the Westand the restof a colony,occupied a positionof economic,political, the world, he was often called upon to provide and psychologicalsuperiority vis-a-vis the subject informationand advice to