Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Editor's Note
- The Anthropologist and the Native: Essays for Gananath Obeyesekere
- SECTION I THE INDIAN TRADITION AND ITS REPRESENTATION
- SECTION II CASTE, KINSHIP, LAND AND COMMUNITY
- SECTION III RENUNCIATION AND POWER
- SECTION IV BUDDHISM TRANSFORMED
- SECTION V THE ENIGMA OF THE TEXT
- SECTION VI THE ANTHROPOLOGIST AND THE NATIVE
- Plain Tales from the Field: Reflections on Fieldwork in Three Cultures
- The (Re)Turn of the Native: Ethnography, Anthropology, and Nativism
- The Romance of the Field?
- Human Rights and ‘Practical Rationality’ among Sri Lankan Tamils and Americans
- List of Contributors
The (Re)Turn of the Native: Ethnography, Anthropology, and Nativism
from SECTION VI - THE ANTHROPOLOGIST AND THE NATIVE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Editor's Note
- The Anthropologist and the Native: Essays for Gananath Obeyesekere
- SECTION I THE INDIAN TRADITION AND ITS REPRESENTATION
- SECTION II CASTE, KINSHIP, LAND AND COMMUNITY
- SECTION III RENUNCIATION AND POWER
- SECTION IV BUDDHISM TRANSFORMED
- SECTION V THE ENIGMA OF THE TEXT
- SECTION VI THE ANTHROPOLOGIST AND THE NATIVE
- Plain Tales from the Field: Reflections on Fieldwork in Three Cultures
- The (Re)Turn of the Native: Ethnography, Anthropology, and Nativism
- The Romance of the Field?
- Human Rights and ‘Practical Rationality’ among Sri Lankan Tamils and Americans
- List of Contributors
Summary
The anthropologist rarely thinks of himself as a native of some place, even when he knows that he is a native of some place.
(Arjun Appadurai)What does it mean to be a native anthropologist? Is there such a thing as native anthropology? If so, how does it differ from non native anthropology? As anthropology is traditionally a discipline that studies the ‘Other’ and it sets as a goal for itself, “to grasp the native's point of view?”, the question of nativism is important. Yet, it has not been given the attention it deserves. This essay tackles the issue of nativism and ask questions about its meanings and its implications for anthropological knowledge. The essay argues that anthropology as a discipline, that is as a field regulated by specific epistemology and certain rules for its writings give its adherers a specific identity that makes them part and parcel of the same temple. Yet, the essay also shows that anthropology requires a double belonging. A discussion of the well known debate between Gananath Obyesekere and Marshal Sahlins shows that the question of nativism is not about being from there, as it is about being from here and from there, not necessarily ethnically, but culturally, and especially epistemologically.
Since the publication of Writing Culture in 1986, anthropologists have better recognized that their craft is first and foremost about writing and that writing is not merely a means by which one comprehends the real, but instead, is a way to give it meaning (Clifford, Marcus 1986).
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- The Anthropologist and the NativeEssays for Gananath Obeyesekere, pp. 423 - 444Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2011
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