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- Convenor:
-
Andrew Ainslie
(University of Reading)
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- Stream:
- History of Anthropology and Geography
- Sessions:
- Monday 14 September, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Eric Wolf's influential 'Europe and the People Without History' continues to resonate widely today. The panel analyses diverse contemporary contexts of local-global connectivity and parallel processes of exclusion, while exploring the flows and ideas that shape the complex, current conjuncture.
Long Abstract:
Europe and the People Without History is a scholarly classic. The panel contributions will take up key issues and points of investigation central to the insights and ideas in the book to understand present day relationships and connections between local arenas, processes of exclusion, global modes and forms of production, and economic and political organisation. We welcome contributions that take as a point of departure research questions in the spirit of the book, such as; How do contemporary dynamics of global modes and forms of production impact and shape local processes of social exclusion? Who are the present day People without History and what role do they play in global forms of accumulation and production? In rural contexts, how do global modes of production, and organisational forms of excluded groups, challenge and change each other? And what can present day processes of exclusion as driven by global economic and political processes, tell us about relationships between anthropology and geography?
We welcome original contributions with explicit focus on dynamics between rural and global political and economic development and processes of exclusion, power relations between political-economic classes and different social groups in rural contexts, and the formalization and informalization of global connections and processes of exclusion.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Monday 14 September, 2020, -Andrew Ainslie (University of Reading)
Paper short abstract:
For over a century, the conventional wisdom applied in places like South Africa's Eastern Cape is that cattle production is inefficient and wasteful of resources. But what are the alternatives, and do they promise to integrate the rural poor or further economically and socially marginalise them?
Paper long abstract:
Livestock production in many communal areas of former British colonies in Africa remains contested long after the colonial masters have departed. South Africa, despite its particularly blighted history, is not exceptional in this respect. The link between livestock (particularly cattle), peasant livelihoods and culture, and their connection to land is a dilemma that authorities have grappled with for over a century (cf. Ferguson 1990 for Lesotho; Hutchinson 1996 among the Nuer). Their inefficient production methods and wasteful use of grazing resources and water are two key accusations consistently aimed at rural African livestock keepers. Prolonged efforts to improve the quality of cattle, introduce new forms of land management, and secure greater access for urban beef markets have generally come to nothing. Yet the market protagonists remain fixed on the prize of fully market-oriented beef production in the rural hinterland. What if they were to succeed in this quest? I will draw on data that I have collected over the past 20 years to argue that this is likely to result in (further) adverse incorporation for the rural majority, deliver another blow to vital forms of cultural expression, and increase the cost to the state which would have to support greater numbers of rural people made poorer and more dependent in the process.
Elizabeth Hull (SOAS University of London)
Paper short abstract:
I draw on ethnographic data from rural KwaZulu-Natal to consider the contemporary conditions of South Africa's small-scale farmers in relation to interconnected dynamics of inclusion and exclusion.
Paper long abstract:
A key argument developed by Eric Wolf in his landmark book 'Europe and the People Without History' is that cultural practices typically regarded as 'traditional' are in fact the product of an articulation between local and global processes. In South Africa, narratives of African 'tradition' were long used to justify exclusionary practices. While dismantling the agrarian basis of livelihoods and drawing people into the industrial workforce, successive colonial and apartheid governments deployed 'tradition' as a justification for withholding from Africans certain privileges afforded to whites. Simultaneous processes of exclusion and incorporation resulted. In certain respects, this two-way process has intensified in the post-apartheid period. In this paper I draw on ethnographic data from rural KwaZulu-Natal to consider the contemporary conditions of South Africa's small-scale farmers in the light of these larger historical and structural transformations. I draw on the work of Jane Guyer and James Ferguson to consider how, in Wolf's terms, local dynamics might analytically be 'disassembled' and 'reassembled' in relation to a wider totality of interconnected processes.
Maria Cruz-Torres (Arizona State University)
Paper short abstract:
Wolf's famous dictum of "people without history" arises from his concern of how siloed social sciences contribute to the creation of voiceless populations. Testimonies voicing their histories are indelible and in opposition to this circumstance.
Paper long abstract:
Wolf's famous dictum of "people without history" arises from his concern of how siloed social sciences contribute to the creation of voiceless populations. This presentation discusses an effort to counter this tendency and make available in a holistic manner, through the medium of testimonies, the way in which market women in Sinaloa, Mexico struggled to create their own public voices. These often express their contentions with political authorities, and against the public devaluing of their economic activities. The testimonies voice their often-contentious realities and lived experiences, and these provide the opportunity to hear their voices for the first time as history makers and history tellers. Life histories collected during previous research serve as the basis for women's oral testimonies detailing their challenges and struggles to pursue their livelihoods amidst environmental degradation, violence, and economic change. Their voices contribute to a creation of their historical presence and will lead to a more congruent interpretation of the manner in which women's roles as workers, mothers, and wives are intertwined; how they negotiate these on a daily basis; and the environmental justice dimensions of natural resource allocation. Their testimonies bridge the gap between academic discourse and community understandings of the role and responsibility of the anthropologist towards providing an opportunity to develop their histories that are indelible and not construed within an academic silo.