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* and international contacts directory. *
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Dear all (in response to Nicky and following postings),
Becky, I had already written this before your reply to the list, so am
posting it as my personal reply. I think to arrive at a sensible policy
or whatever, this requires some open debate.
Although I am a member of the AM Steering Group, I wish to begin by
clarifying that I am expressing here my personal views and they do not
represent an agreed AM Steering Group position of any sorts. However, I
would like to remind everyone, that a similar debate about the nature of
the postings had occurred recently on this list with regards to lesser
matters of postings requesting references and such like. It was then
agreed that such postings ought to share their findings, provide for
deeper discussion or observations precisely because this list also ought
to generate debate, but that people should refrain from abusing this
list for not doing their own 'home work'. However, this latest posting
and the responses to it raise a number of pertinent and slightly
different issues, and this is not simply a question of 'policy' on the
usage of the list, but is a political question for anthropology.
Personally, I agree with Nicky that the Arab world is not the primary
culprit for the atrocities being committed in Palestine and Lebanon
(even if there are conflicting interests in the region that no doubt are
quite frustrating for the victims of war in the region, they are to a
considerable extent also a colonial heritage; although the mass
demonstration in Baghdad the other week against the invasion of Lebanon
I thought was very inspiring considering the devastating conditions of
war, occupation, and sectarian violence there). For any serious debate
regarding these contemporary issues - and I would not belittle this
humanitarian devastation as 'anecdotes' - the question of power needs to
be addressed, and anthropologists have a great deal to offer in this
regard amongst many other pertinent aspects that make the components of
our discipline. Israel's current aggressions towards its neighbours and
invasion of neighbouring national territories are only possible thanks
to the considerable support it receives from the US. Is the
Anglo-American 'war on terror' a global war? The White House seems to
think so.
Given these wider contexts of war and militarization, heavy propaganda
in the mainstream media, should anthropologists remain silent? How can
anthropologists defend the discipline's humanitarian values in these
times? Some anthropologists may wish to separate their profession from
more political engagements, but is that realistic? History has a habit
of catching up with the unawares. Moreover, as a discipline concerned
with human societies, anthropology is a profoundly political discipline
and I believe it to be good practice to be open about ones political and
ideological framework. In order to defend the discipline's humanitarian
values, anthropologists must speak out more against the killings of
thousands of civilian lives, the violent destruction of entire countries
and regional devastation in the name of 'democracy', and the attempts to
impose puppet regimes that work for imperialist expansionist interests.
Surely those wishing to defend the discipline's humanitarian values
agree on that much. Our own discipline provides us with ample examples
of what colonialism looks like and we must name things for what they are
and can debate about content and its implications. Anthropology has
evolved since its more dubious past of engagements with hegemonic
agendas during earlier colonial times to defend principles of
accountability and transparency, and in solidarity with 'the wretched of
the earth', as stressed by Peter Nas, Secretary-General of IUAES
(International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences) in AT
(21[4]). They are, I believe, worthy principles to uphold. This is now
all under threat from growing militarization of our societies, including
the 'democratic' North. That the discipline of anthropology and
anthropologists are not immune from these wider trends and processes is
underlined by recent developments in the discipline. US scholarship
programs funded by and linked to the CIA (such as PRISP created by Felix
Moos, an anthropologist; see amongst others the comments in Anthropology
Today issues since 2005 or the ASA website blog on ethics for further
discussion and info on this subject), and the consequences of spying
masked as scholarly activities, if allowed to expand, they will have far
reaching implications for the future of anthropological research, and
for the social sciences more generally (not restricted to US
institutions). And I do not have to point out here that this also
involves key professionals in the discipline involving the discipline
and social sciences as a whole into powerful hegemonic politics in
practice without it having been approved by our professional membership
organisations prior to these developments. This is nothing new, this
happens all the time; the university is after all an institution of
capitalism to serve the hegemon, but because it deals with ideas, it
also contains its own contradictions and produces a space where
hegemonic intent can be countered and is battled out. Anthropology has
on occasion been quite vociferous in this regard in the past. But to now
disallow a postgraduate platform for being 'used' to debate and voicing
political views, is, in my view, digging a grave for anthropology. I
strongly feel that only through profound and honest debate of these
issues will we be able to protect the integrity of our discipline and
that includes this list. In any case, open engagements with the
contemporary world would also go some way to developing a much needed
'public anthropology', that is one, that contributes critically to
contemporary debates.
To conclude, present-day war efforts and global crisis clearly affect
our profession in a number of ways that must not be ignored and I thus
consider any scholarly platform appropriate to address these issues. As
AM is not funded by the Security Agencies, it would simply be unfeasible
for AM to police this list in any serious way and I think it would also
be undesirable; on what grounds, who decides, etc? Any scrutiny of the
postings can be done most effectively collectively, that is amongst all
members on this list by responding as required. Instead of beginning to
ban, what is which seems to be called for, certain postings or authors
(unless it is a clear case of discriminatory abuse or personal threats
and such like) I believe it is better practice to 'hear' the arguments
through honest and open debate. Even if I disagree with parts or all of
a posting, I welcome it if it generates deeper engagement on this list
with the contemporary world and an issue that affects us all; the future
and integrity of anthropology and the social sciences generally. Will
anthropology be able to live up to the task, critically engage with the
world and stand the test of time as a serious and challenging
discipline? I hope so and I look forward to your responses.
The question of attachments would not have come up if it was about job
or conference announcements. I think we can call on everyone to be
sensible users of emails; if you do not think that an attachment is
safe, then don't open it, it's as simple as that. This is a hazard of a
computerised world and there is little that AM can do to prevent virus
transmission. The onus is on everyone to ensure that their anti-virus
software is updated, and they decide which attachments to open and which
not.
With best wishes,
Heike
--------------------------------------------------------------
Heike Schaumberg (PhD Candidate)
Social Anthropology (School of Social Sciences)
The University of Manchester
Roscoe Building,
Brunswick Street,
M13 9PL
-----Original Message-----
From: The Anthropology-Matters forum mailing list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of nicky
Sent: 20 August 2006 18:26
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Is this what Anthropology Matters is for?
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* http://www.anthropologymatters.com *
* A postgraduate project comprising online journal, *
* online discussions, teaching and research resources *
* and international contacts directory. *
******************************************************
Am I the only person who queries the use of this forum by Sawsan Karimi
for the mailing of the items attached re 'the UN' and the 'Sad but true'
?
When I signed up I thought this was a forum for news and research
matters.
It is not that I do not necessarily agree with the sentiments these
messages contain, just that there is a lot of such unsolicited titbits
going around in email and I often question who puts these things out in
the first place and what their motives are. For example in whose
interests is it to argue that the Arab world really primarily to blame
for the atrocities being carried out in Israel and Palestine?? This is
an issue that is debatable and I really wonder if others feel this is
the appropriate forum for such anecdotes? Any responses appreciated.
Yours Nicky Spawls MA Medical Anthropology
-----Original Message-----
From: The Anthropology-Matters forum mailing list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of sawsan karimi
Sent: 20 August 2006 15:28
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fwd: FW: UN campaign
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* online discussions, teaching and research resources *
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Note: forwarded message attached.
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