Science, Technology and Society Revisited: What is Happening to Anthropology and Ethnography?
Marietta Baba
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY REVISITED:
What’s Happening to Anthropology and Ethnography
Marietta L. Baba
19th Century Anthropology
Anthropology was a 19th century project focused on human and cultural evolution
Anthropological texts and ethnographic practices were distinct
Anthropologists drew upon the ethnographic writings of other professionals
Ethnographic Tradition in Anthropology:Bronislaw Malinowski Long term observation and
participation in the field Detailed recording and
description of micro-processes of everyday life
Interpretation of the point of view of people being observed
Production of a monograph offering a holistic account of their practices
The Rise of Academic Anthropology:1920-1960 Ethnography became part of
anthropology as positivist social science grew in academia
Anthropology arose as a unified intellectual endeavor that combined empiricism and theory
Scientific legitimacy of anthropology validated British claims of economic development in its African colonies
American Anthropology
“Four fields” united by question: What is the nature of humanity?
The “most scientific of the humanities and most humanistic of the sciences”
Materialist vs. mentalist theories diverge (1960s)
Interpretive Theory of Culture:1960-1990
Metaphor of culture as text – Clifford Geertz
Culture could be “read” for meaning by the observer
The observed also interprets the culture
The anthropologist works from interpretations of the observers
Led to critical reflections on ethnographic practices
Postmodernism
A set of critical and rhetorical practices that tend to destabilize epistemological certainty
Called into question some of anthropology’s most fundamental conceptual architectures
Loosened the bonds entwining anthropology and ethnography
Colonial Critique
Anthropology does not acknowledge the history of global inequality that has produced the subject of ethnography
Anthropology distances itself from history by “essentializing” selected traits of observer and observed
Crisis of Representation
Ethnography embeds a dyadic relationship with a less powerful person who is a co-producer of knowledge but receives no recognition or voice
Ethnography also embeds an unacknowledged relationship with a reader
On what grounds does the anthropologist assume authority for representing the Other?
Crisis of Representation
The most public form of such criticism was Derek Freeman’s re-study of Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa
Freeman charged Mead with misrepresenting Samoan society based on her youth, lack of access to key members, and romanticizing naiveté
Devastating criticism for anthropologists at the time
Ontological Status of Culture
An “essentialized” unchanging and integral set of traits ascribed to the subject became suspect
Anthropologists were caught in a dilemma of “salvaging” such traits in societies that their own countries might be trying to “develop”
Anthropologists could no longer represent “cultures” as pristine isolates with integrated features in an equilibrium state
Anthropology as Cultural Critique
Anthropology had lost its raison d'être
Public no longer fascinated with exotic cultures and weren’t sure they mattered
A new vision for anthropology:
Cultural critique -- social criticism of the contemporary with a cross-cultural twist
Anthropology as Cultural Critique
Two potential pathways to cultural critique:
1) de-familiarization by epistemological critique
2) de-familiarization by cross-cultural juxtaposition
Unfortunately, no one had as yet accomplished either of these feats
Enter Foucault
Foucault introduced to American anthropology by Paul Rabinow
Foucault’s method of analysis and language have been widely adopted
Responds to Marcus and Fischer
The Foucault Phenomenon
Foucault’s brand of “problematization”
Second order observation
Analytics elevated over theory
Flexible and contingent methods
Foucault’s Language and Vision
Biopower Power/knowledge Governmentality A post-theoretical
vision of social science
Boutique-like exposition and critique of singularities
Anthropology and Ethnography:Quo Vadis? Ethnographically-
informed design Techno-ethnography
in corporate branding Data analytics or
(“Big Data”) Ethnography Anthropology
Diaspora and the Institutional Anthropologies Laura Nader:
“Study Up” Diaspora and the
“Institutional Anthropologies”
Anthropology at Xerox PARC
Work Practice and Technology Group
Ethnographic Practice and Participatory Design Participatory design
practices at PARC gained through collaboration with Scandinavians
Collaboration with civil engineers on site developed prototypes through cooperative design-in-use
Ethnographically Informed Design
Ethnography is a resource for the design industry
Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference – EPIC
Critical reflection is an aspect of this practice
Ethnography-Branded Firms
Rise of branding and the ethnography-branded firm
Brand distinctions based upon techno- ethnography
Fast technology keeps brand fresh
Cut out the “middle man” observer
•Techno-ethnography Re-naming
ethnography in terms of technology
Connect self-aware consumers directly to client without “bias of outside observer”
Consumers monitor, organize and assess their own thoughts
Why Eliminate the Observer?
Firms reify a vision of social relations based on technology, progress and innovation
Commodification of ethnography
“Problematization” of technology as an object of inquiry
National Science Foundation:SBE 2020 Initiative Call for papers on
future of social sciences
252 “white papers” Topic extraction http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/sbe_2020_ Predicting data
intensive research
Data Analytics or “Big Data”
Increasing volume and detail of digital information
Health care, retail, manufacturing, personal location, public sector EU
Aggregate, analyze, interpret (includes access, sensitivity)
Electronic Health Records
Analyzing large data sets to identify patterns and trends could reduce costs
To what extent are cultural assumptions encoded in these data?
Potential role for anthropology
Literature on EMR/EHR
Ethnographers are well represented in the emerging literature
There is a scarcity of anthropologists
Foucault’s concept of power/knowledge should be taken seriously
DISCUSSION
Science, Technology and Society Revisited:What’s Happening to Anthropology and Ethnography?