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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | Power and representation inside anthropology |
| Author: | Vawda, Shahid |
| Year: | 1998 |
| Periodical: | African Anthropology (ISSN 1024-0969) |
| Volume: | 5 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Period: | March |
| Pages: | 7-32 |
| Language: | English |
| Notes: | biblio. refs. |
| Geographic terms: | Africa South Africa |
| Subjects: | anthropology Anthropology and Archaeology Anthropology, Folklore, Culture Anthropologists Colonial influence |
| Abstract: | Despite the debate about what anthropology represents, and its often predicted end, the discipline survives and in Africa is even enjoying a revival, although its relevance and value in view of its relationship with colonialism, imperialism and neocolonialism continue to be questioned. The author focuses on the representation of anthropology within anthropology, and the institutional organization of the discipline in Africa, in order to gain insight into the discipline's future in Africa, with particular reference to the rapprochement between South African anthropologists and colleagues elsewhere on the continent. The adoption of a political economy approach in the 1980s and early 1990s resolved a political question about the discipline's role in South Africa, where there were two opposing camps, one liberal-radical and the other, 'volkekunde', serving as an ideological prop to the apartheid State. The author discusses how the polarization of intellectual and social life in South Africa influenced the practice of anthropology, based on his experiences at a 'bush college', and assesses some of the issues concerning the contemporary emphasis on culture values and practices. He shows that, in order to reconstruct anthropology for Africa, the debates need to extend beyond arguments about the relationship of anthropology to colonialism and whether anthropology has a relevance today. To dissent from the status quo, within and beyond, is vital to the practice and future of anthropology. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |
