essentialism – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Not Radical Enough: Disengaged Anthropology (1.5)

“The choice to rely … on cultural anthropologists in the rebuilding of a defeated enemy has particular resonance now as the United States struggles to rebuild a stable and viable Iraq. … As the occupation of Iraq appears more complex by the day, where are the new Ruth Benedicts, authoritative voices who will carry weight […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Anti-Indigenous Film Broadcast in Sweden

Ideologies designed to undercut any indigenous claims to their identities and territories have long been a part of Eurocentric imperialist propaganda, with the hope that the home audience will be consume this ideological material. Indigenous peoples know where they stand and are not likely to be “persuaded” by assertions that they do not exist. In […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Indigenism and Essentialism, 2

In a previous post on “Anti-Anti-Essentialism,” I began by outlining some of what I think are the problems with anti-essentialism in anthropology, one of the now dominant conceptual pillars of the discipline. I wish to add a few more personal notes to that here. Again, this is by no means “finished” work, but more like […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Anti-anti-essentialism. 1

I tell people that I am an “anti-anti-essentialist.” I am still working on what that is supposed to mean, so let me do this in bits and pieces, and this is the first entry for this topic. I am not at all convinced that essentialism–the notion, in anthropology, that a culture or ethnicity consists of […]