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  5. Ethnographic Archives and Histories of Anthropology

Ethnographic Archives and Histories of Anthropology

Objectives

The aim is to provide a basis for reflection and working tools on the contemporary uses of ethnographic archives of the history of anthropology. It is intended that students: a) acquire advanced knowledge regarding the anthropological and historical conceptualizations of the archive - and in particular ethnographic archives; b) know representative research trends in this area, through case studies; c) establish relations, at the scientific and ethical levels, between the academic framework of ethnographic archives and the reappropriation of vernacular contents by the communities, individuals or institutions involved; d) critically reflect on the transformations of archives, their meanings and uses; e) develop familiarity with the backstage of the production of anthropological knowledge, in particular with the organization and safeguarding of primary data; f) perspective articulations between research projects and the instruments of the curricular unit.

General characterization

Code

02111257

Credits

10.0

Responsible teacher

Frederico Delgado Chaves Rosa

Hours

Weekly - 3

Total - 280

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

N/A

Bibliography

Almeida, S.V. & R.A. Cachado, Os Arquivos dos Antropólogos, Lisboa, Palavrão.


Cunha, Olívia. 2004. “Tempo Imperfeito: Uma Etnografia do Arquivo”, Mana, 10 (2): 287-322.


Bashkow, Ira. 2019. “Fieldwork Predecessors and Indigenous Communities in Native North America”, In R. Darnell & F. W. Gleach (org.), Disruptive Voices and the Singularity of Histories (Histories of Anthropology Annual, Vol. 13). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, pp. 211- 229.


Basu, Paul & Ferdinand De Jong. 2016. “Utopian Archives, Decolonial Affordances. Introduction to special issue”, Social Anthropology, 24: 15–19.


Enwezor, Okwui. 2008. Archive Fever: Uses of Document in Contemporary Art, Gottingen, Steidl, New York, International Center of Photography, pp. 11-51.


Caplan, Pat. 2010. “Something for Posterity or Hostage to Fortune? Archiving Anthropological Field Material”. Anthropology Today 26(4): 13-17.


Handler, Richard (org.) Excluded Ancestors, Inventible Traditions: Essays toward a More Inclusive History of Anthropology, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.


Pels, Peter & Oscar Salemink. 1994. “Introduction: Five Theses on Ethnography as Colonial Practice.” History and Anthropology 8(1–4): 1–34.


Ribeiro, Gustavo & Arturo Escobar (org.), World Anthropologies: Disciplinary Transformations within Systems of Power. Oxford: Berg.


Rosa, Frederico Delgado. 2019. “Exhuming the Ancestors: A Reassessment of Fabian’s Critique of Allochronism”, Critique of Anthropology 9 (4): 458-477.


Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. 2012 [1999]. Decolonizing Methodologies. Research and Indigenous Peoples. London, New York: Zed Books, pp. 1-19.

Teaching method

The curricular unit is guided by a theoretical-practical methodology, motivating interaction with students and the debate around the tensions between the academic and social conceptualizations and uses of ethnographic archives. The focus on case studies related to the programmatic contents seeks to raise the students' awareness of the potentialities of research around archives. The curricular unit contemplates, in a complementary way, a seminar component, organized in the form of conferences by invited participants, within the scope of fieldwork in the archive, in relation with concrete cases.

Evaluation method

a) CRITICAL ESSAY: 60% of the final mark. The essay is individual and consists of a critical analysis of 10 texts from the curricular unit's bibliography (including those associated with the seminars) in conjunction with themes covered in the curricular unit.
b) SEMINAR: 40% of the final mark. Each seminar consists of a PowerPoint presentation of one of the texts marked with an asterisk  and the dynamisation of the reading and final debate around the text.

Subject matter

1. Conceptualizations of the archive


2. Pluralization of the historiography of anthropology


3. Transformations of the salvage ethnography archives


3.1 Postcolonial critique and decolonization of the archive


3.2 Indigenous epistemologies and methodologies


3.3 Contemporary revisits and reconstructive dialogues


4. Fieldwork in the archive


5. Ethnographic files vs. archives of anthropologists


6. Archiving ethnography: organization and safeguard of primary data


7. The second life of ethnographic records: ethical challenges


8. Open science and digital archives