ISSN 2562-9948
Readings and ideas from the “post-colonial” literature with an openness to prospects for transforming anthropological theory and practice.
On the Passing of Norman Girvan and the Continuation of the New World This past Wednesday (April 9, 2014), Norman Girvan passed away after suffering paralyzing injuries on a hiking trip in Dominica. He was in Cuba receiving treatment. Norman Girvan, trained as an economist, was by most appreciative accounts a leader in the Caribbean […]
Read More…The New Imperialism is the title of an annual seminar which I offer at Concordia University to advanced undergraduates. It is an unusual course, and given the content of past student evaluations, one that is extremely popular with participants who unanimously rated it as excellent on all levels. Part of the reason might be that there […]
Read More…IRAQ 1492 Reflecting on the (in)capacity of scholars, and even some indigenous leaders, to learn from the history they researched or the history they survived, I circulated a poem back in 2003 that juxtaposed the invasion of Iraq with Columbus’ invasion of the indigenous Caribbean. It was on a scholars’ listserv, from where it has […]
Read More…This interlude in the series is to finally introduce the work of Dr. Vassos Argyrou (Reader in Social Anthropology at the University of Hull), specifically his book, Anthropology and the Will to Meaning: A Postcolonial Critique (London: Pluto Press, 2002) which I have referred to in the past on several occasions (a condensed version of […]
Read More…Phrases such as “decolonizing anthropology”* and “anthropology and the colonial encounter” have become salient in anthropology especially since they are the titles of two of the better known, most widely quoted books on the subject. What subject? That is what is lacking clarity, because presumably the phrases above are meant to mean something, and if […]
Read More…The following article was published in Anthropology News (the newsletter of the American Anthropological Association) in its September 2005 issue, page 7. It has been submitted for reproduction on this blog by the author. The author is thanked for making this work openly accessible and for contributing to this project’s strong concern for the continued […]
Read More…Before proceeding with the first guest article on this blog by Dr. M. Jamil Hanifi, an introduction is in order. Dr. Hanifi is currently an independent scholar whose long standing research interests focus on the anthropology and history of Afghanistan. He is himself an Afghan, born in Sorkhab, Logar Province. He obtained his Ph.D in […]
Read More…Why would these people appear to be so joyful? Is it that brief illusion that some power has been regained, that they can finally begin to feel more at home, at home? Is it the relief that comes from believing that the worst has passed, since the worst have withdrawn to bases out of sight? […]
Read More…A production of “West India,” a musical spoken poem of my late friend and collaborator, Dr. Roi Kwabena, from his Y42K album. This video plays on the weight of Eurocentric constructions of Caribbean history and identity, a zone where hegemonic European and American fantasies were played out. In response, Kwabena calls for a reclamation of […]
Read More…The feature here is the late Dr. Roi Kwabena’s musical spoken poem, Sour Chutney, from his hypnotic Y42K album, an unrecognized treasure in my view, where every one of his musical spoken word pieces is hauntingly beautiful. This is a remake of an earlier version I posted here some months ago, having produced the first […]
Read More…Thanks to another anthro blog for a link to the new (2004) translation of Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (published in 1961 as Les damnés de la terre). The first chapter of the 1963 translation was posted here on this blog. In the new translation by Richard Philcox, we also find a foreword […]
Read More…Full text of “Concerning Violence” (click on “more” below; it can also be downloaded from here) From: THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH By FRANTZ FANON Preface by JEAN-PAUL SARTRE Translated by CONSTANCE FARRINGTON GROVE WEIDENFELD NEW YORK 1963
Read More…It may be necessary for me to file a legal change of name, to Dr. Max Rat, which oddly enough has a pleasant ring to it, and nice symmetry. Before I misrepresent anyone, especially rats and haters of rats, let me say that this is a name I have given myself as a result of […]
Read More…Continuing from the first post on July 23rd of what was intended to be a series, the reader can look forward to more regular roundups of news and media commentary that feature or engage concepts of contemporary colonization and historical colonialism, as well as past and present decolonization efforts. As much as we would all […]
Read More…I have been working and thinking about this particular project, featured below, for a while now. It is my newest “open source music video” featuring a Trinidadian calypso by King Austin (Austin Lewis), from 1980. I owe King Austin an enormous debt. I first heard this song in the pub of the University of the […]
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ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY 