Papua New Guinea: Anthropology on Trial (1983)

00:55:48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBEgyWScdmA

概要

TLDRThe video explores the evolving relationship between anthropologists and the communities they study, particularly in Papua New Guinea. It reflects on historical practices where outsiders, such as Margaret Mead, studied non-Western societies, often through a colonial lens. The video shows how Papua New Guinea is now seeing a rise in its own people studying their cultures and expressing their narratives, challenging past misconceptions and advocating for a more accurate representation. The themes include the importance of indigenous voices in anthropology, the changes brought by education and literacy, and the call for anthropology to serve the societies being studied rather than merely documenting them for external academic circles. By visiting various villages, the video captures diverse reactions from local people to their portrayal in anthropological studies, spotlighting the movement towards self-representation and understanding in their cultural context.

収穫

  • 📚 Anthropology and colonialism often intertwined in the past.
  • 🌏 Papua New Guineans now pursue their own anthropological studies.
  • 📖 Indigenous narratives are crucial for accurate cultural representation.
  • 👥 Engagement between anthropologists and subjects is evolving.
  • 🗣️ Local voices call for self-representation in studies.
  • 🏫 Education empowers new generations to critically view anthropology.
  • 🔎 Margaret Mead's work faces contemporary critique in Manus Island.
  • 📜 Clan histories are vital for cultural preservation in Papua New Guinea.
  • 🔄 Outsiders' perspectives should integrate with insiders' in anthropology.
  • 🌿 Papua New Guinean anthropologists studying abroad enrich global understanding.

タイムライン

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    In the 1980s, there was a strong sentiment against foreign anthropologists studying Papua New Guinea. Local academics felt capable of studying their own society and viewed anthropology as a tool of colonialism. The issue lies in outsiders writing about Papua New Guinean societies without using native knowledge, resulting in resentment.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Papua New Guinea has a diverse cultural landscape with over 750 languages. It gained independence in 1975. Historically, anthropologists focused on studying remote societies as subjects. Nova visits show the current shift with locals reflecting on these studies and expressing dissatisfaction.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The visit to Manus Island highlights villagers' mixed feelings about Margaret Mead's work. Locals felt that her portrayal, while accurate in parts, included misrepresentations. This reflects the broader impact of foreign perspectives shaping external views of indigenous cultures.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    In Pere Village, a generational shift occurred. Modernization brought paper money and roads, yet traditional roles like fishing persist. Locals like Francis Tano recalled Mead's visits without understanding her intentions. Mead's presence was fondly remembered despite uncertainties about her work's implications.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Margaret Mead's works are reviewed critically by current generations in Papua New Guinea. While her descriptive work was appreciated for public visibility, it also faced critique for inaccuracies and cultural insensitivity leading to long-standing local biases about her studies.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    In Bunai, Mead’s characterizations caused long-term rifts. The Inland people felt misrepresented compared to the coastal communities. An attempt to unify against colonial rule inadvertently highlighted these divisions, exacerbated by Mead’s focus on specific villages.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    The narrative in Manus Island villages, like the rest of the island, shifted from oral histories to more documented ones, as seen in Bunai’s council discussions. Villagers express the need for rights and accurate representation as more educated locals assess past anthropological work.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    Encounters with younger anthropologists like John Barker reflect a shift towards more engaged and mutually beneficial fieldwork methods. As anthropology evolves, issues like community consultation and equitable partnerships with local people become central to contemporary practice.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:45:00

    Challenges faced by anthropologists include balancing academic objectivity and respecting local narratives. Barker’s work in mapping clan histories shows the difficulty of navigating multiple versions of history within communities, which were traditionally subjective and oral.

  • 00:45:00 - 00:50:00

    Veteran anthropologist Andrew Strathearn’s long-term residence in Papua New Guinea illustrates a deep personal and professional connection to local communities, contrary to traditional short-term anthropological engagements. This personal integration is seen as a more sustainable approach to fieldwork.

  • 00:50:00 - 00:55:48

    The future of anthropology in Papua New Guinea seems to be one of collaboration, where both local and foreign anthropologists work together. This is exemplified by Papua New Guineans like Wari Iyamo studying abroad. The growing recognition of insider and outsider perspectives enriches the understanding of complex societies.

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ビデオQ&A

  • What is the main focus of the video?

    The video focuses on the perspectives of Papua New Guineans regarding anthropology and its effects on their society.

  • Who was Margaret Mead?

    Margaret Mead was a renowned anthropologist known for her work in Papua New Guinea and Samoa.

  • What criticism do Papua New Guineans have about past anthropological studies?

    They criticize that anthropological studies often didn't fully represent their societies accurately and sometimes perpetuated colonial biases.

  • What changes are happening in Papua New Guinea concerning anthropology?

    People in Papua New Guinea, including new generations, are beginning to study and express their own anthropological narratives.

  • Why is there emphasis on local voices in anthropology now?

    Local voices are emphasized to provide a more accurate and nuanced understanding of societies from an insider perspective.

  • How did anthropologists originally view non-Western societies?

    Non-Western societies were often seen through a colonial and evolutionary scale, being compared to Western societies as still developing.

  • What is one key takeaway from Margaret Mead’s interactions with Papua New Guineans?

    Margaret Mead's work brought global attention to Papua New Guinea, but it also contained criticisms for not always accurately representing the local social dynamics.

  • What role do language and education play in the evolving perspective on anthropology in Papua New Guinea?

    Education and the ability to read English have empowered the new generations in Papua New Guinea to critically analyze past anthropological work.

  • What is an ongoing challenge in the anthropology field according to the video?

    A significant challenge is balancing the outsider's academic perspective with the insights and narratives of those being studied.

  • How did John Barker, a contemporary anthropologist, interact with the Papua New Guinean community?

    John Barker engaged in documenting clan histories, which was valued by the community as a way to preserve their culture.

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  • 00:00:00
    I think in the 80s we must stop
  • 00:00:03
    anthropologists coming into the country
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    secondly we have our own academics we
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    have our own Papua New guineans who now
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    can become anthropologists themselves my
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    personal opinion is that anthropological
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    studies in the past has been
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    part and parcel of the colonial forces
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    you know sometimes they tell us you go
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    to the library and you look at this book
  • 00:00:25
    and you read this and
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    sometimes we ask the lecturers can we do
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    it from our own background knowledge and
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    they say oh no you have to read the
  • 00:00:33
    books in the library and that's why we
  • 00:00:35
    get very upset or why should I read a
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    book that is written by you know
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    somebody from outside when I can tell it
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    from my own knowledge
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    my own Society
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    traditionally anthropologists studied
  • 00:00:49
    non-western societies and the colonized
  • 00:00:51
    parts of the globe where people could
  • 00:00:53
    not speak English nor read the books
  • 00:00:55
    written about them
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    but recently the people who were the
  • 00:00:59
    subjects of these studies and their
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    children have begun to step out of the
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    books and speak for themselves
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    foreign
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    [Music]
  • 00:01:19
    Nova visited four communities in Papua
  • 00:01:22
    New Guinea to find out what the people
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    themselves had to say to learn about
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    anthropology from their point of view
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    all together in this country there are
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    about three million people who speak 750
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    different languages
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    the country gained independence in 1975
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    ending nearly a century of colonial rule
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    by the Germans the British and the
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    Australians
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    located to the north of Australia and
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    just south of the Equator half of the
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    main island belongs to Indonesia and
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    have to Papua New Guinea there are also
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    three other large islands and hundreds
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    of smaller ones
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    anthropology like other social sciences
  • 00:02:04
    is the study of people
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    what makes it unique is that field
  • 00:02:09
    workers actually live with the people in
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    order to record their experiences in
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    their own environments
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    the first place is Nova visited were the
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    Villages of Pere and bunai on Manus
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    Island about 400 miles from the mainland
  • 00:02:25
    of Papua New Guinea
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    it was here that Margaret Mead wrote two
  • 00:02:30
    of her most famous books growing up in
  • 00:02:32
    New Guinea and new lives for old Dr Mead
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    who died in 1978 was one of the most
  • 00:02:38
    famous anthropologists of all times
  • 00:02:41
    recently however her study of another
  • 00:02:43
    South Pacific island Samoa was denounced
  • 00:02:47
    by one of her peers Anthropologist Derek
  • 00:02:50
    Freeman in Papua New Guinea criticisms
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    are also emerging about her work not
  • 00:02:55
    from anthropologists but from people who
  • 00:02:58
    grew up in the Villages she described
  • 00:03:00
    like naharuni a member of Papua New
  • 00:03:02
    Guinea's Parliament first of all I
  • 00:03:05
    didn't know what anthropology is because
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    when she came to the Village no one knew
  • 00:03:10
    anything about anthropology so until
  • 00:03:13
    years later when I was at University
  • 00:03:15
    studying and that's where we for the
  • 00:03:17
    first time we read about growing up in
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    New Guinea the books that she's written
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    after she has spent the time in in Perry
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    and after reading all of that then I
  • 00:03:28
    then look back to the time when she
  • 00:03:31
    painted Perry and
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    bunai and some of the things that she
  • 00:03:36
    wrote in the book I could understand why
  • 00:03:39
    they were either half truth or
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    unrealistic
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    Margaret need first visited Manus in
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    1928 when she and the field of
  • 00:03:49
    anthropology itself were young
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    she returned five times her last visit
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    being in 1975.
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    her books made the people of Perry and
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    bunai known throughout the world
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    she always stayed in Perry Village a
  • 00:04:04
    village of fishermen which he brought
  • 00:04:06
    alive for the public in her book growing
  • 00:04:08
    up in New Guinea
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    here are some of the descriptions and
  • 00:04:12
    footage that she and her colleagues
  • 00:04:13
    filmed on one of their visits
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    to the manners native the world is a
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    great platter curving upwards on all
  • 00:04:21
    sides
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    from this flat Lagoon village where the
  • 00:04:25
    pile houses stand like long-legged Birds
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    Placid and unsturred by the changing
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    tides
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    it's a world whose currency is shells
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    and dogs teeth which makes its
  • 00:04:37
    investments in marriages instead of
  • 00:04:39
    Corporations
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    and conducts its overseas trade in
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    Outrigger canoes
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    this is Perry Village today it's still a
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    fishing Village but there have been many
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    changes
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    Financial transactions now take place
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    with paper money overseas travel is more
  • 00:05:01
    likely to occur in an airplane than on
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    an Outrigger Canoe
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    children go to towns and cities and
  • 00:05:08
    other parts of Papua New Guinea to study
  • 00:05:11
    and work but they send money to their
  • 00:05:13
    relatives and they return often to their
  • 00:05:15
    home
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    The Village's livelihood still comes
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    from fishing and different Clans are
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    still defined by the kinds of fish they
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    catch
  • 00:05:28
    often called the monos people which
  • 00:05:31
    means the people who live off the sea
  • 00:05:34
    the man whose own very little land they
  • 00:05:37
    are almost entirely dependent on fishing
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    and they trade with other people on the
  • 00:05:42
    island who are gardeners and Hunters
  • 00:05:45
    there is now a dirt road called the
  • 00:05:48
    highway which connects this area with
  • 00:05:50
    the capital of the province the town of
  • 00:05:52
    lorongao Francis Tano is from Perry
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    Village he lives in Lauren GAO where he
  • 00:05:59
    is the speaker of the provincial
  • 00:06:00
    assembly
  • 00:06:01
    he remembers Margaret Mead from his
  • 00:06:03
    childhood although he didn't really
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    understand why she was there
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    my father told me that
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    she's studying something about
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    anthropologies but I can't tell you
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    about that one because I'm also don't
  • 00:06:17
    know what he's studying about
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    so you just wait when you grown up
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    bigger do you be a man you will study
  • 00:06:27
    some of the things about what Margaret
  • 00:06:29
    made did in our village
  • 00:06:31
    meets older friends who could not read
  • 00:06:33
    were never really sure what an
  • 00:06:36
    anthropologist was but they remember her
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    with great fondness as a part of their
  • 00:06:40
    lives
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    for us
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    came to Perry all Perry the people the
  • 00:06:54
    women and men some of them were young
  • 00:06:58
    and they didn't know what people she
  • 00:07:01
    came for what she was supposed to do
  • 00:07:03
    I said Anthropologist however when they
  • 00:07:07
    go fishing or when they go to beat Sago
  • 00:07:10
    she went with them when are women or men
  • 00:07:12
    or anybody in the village is sick she
  • 00:07:15
    goes there and help them with medicine
  • 00:07:17
    John killipack JK as Margaret Mead
  • 00:07:20
    called him became her Confidant and her
  • 00:07:23
    closest friend he visited her in the
  • 00:07:25
    United States and he has always had a
  • 00:07:27
    great confidence in the importance of
  • 00:07:29
    her work at a time of change
  • 00:07:35
    writing books
  • 00:07:38
    you can lose
  • 00:07:40
    you're not going to stop now back with
  • 00:07:43
    me right Jimmy story now
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    he no longer got a place
  • 00:07:50
    that's all
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    [Music]
  • 00:07:56
    Margaret Mead made a film about Perry
  • 00:07:59
    which all were able to see and judge for
  • 00:08:01
    themselves we brought the film and a
  • 00:08:04
    generator to Perry so that people would
  • 00:08:06
    have a chance to see it again and tell
  • 00:08:07
    us what they thought
  • 00:08:09
    they were they said very pleased with
  • 00:08:10
    the film but they also had objections
  • 00:08:13
    September 20th 1967 to among the father
  • 00:08:18
    and a new CI mother in Lawrence stop
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    uh I'm designed
  • 00:08:27
    Tesla stop Mr Bean because long
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    uh
  • 00:08:34
    good blood is
  • 00:08:45
    foreign
  • 00:08:48
    I just want to make a general comment
  • 00:08:52
    not on a specific part of the film but
  • 00:08:56
    it's just a general comment and it
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    relates to uh I think for future filming
  • 00:09:04
    people or actually their leaders should
  • 00:09:08
    be should be consulted on what you wish
  • 00:09:11
    to film because there are some things
  • 00:09:14
    that are against
  • 00:09:15
    our customary practices and I think we
  • 00:09:19
    should be consulted prior to filming it
  • 00:09:22
    is after all their lives that are being
  • 00:09:24
    documented Margaret Mead realize that in
  • 00:09:27
    her last book concerning Manus island
  • 00:09:29
    called letters from the field she wrote
  • 00:09:31
    only during World War II did we begin to
  • 00:09:35
    learn that anyone anywhere in the world
  • 00:09:37
    might be listening and from that time on
  • 00:09:39
    the Anthropologist had to assume a new
  • 00:09:42
    responsibility to write about every
  • 00:09:44
    people in the world in ways that they
  • 00:09:47
    and their descendants would find
  • 00:09:49
    bearable and intelligible
  • 00:09:52
    however it is in this very book that she
  • 00:09:55
    made a series of remarks which some
  • 00:09:57
    found insulting
  • 00:09:59
    they concern people from Perry's
  • 00:10:01
    neighboring Village bunai
  • 00:10:03
    nahuruni is from that Village
  • 00:10:06
    and she claimed that those of us from
  • 00:10:08
    the Inland of Manos are the most
  • 00:10:10
    unintelligent people
  • 00:10:13
    um usually unattractive and we don't
  • 00:10:15
    think abstract about things where else
  • 00:10:18
    the Manus people The Saltwater people
  • 00:10:20
    are very technical minded they more or
  • 00:10:24
    less more intelligent than the Inland
  • 00:10:27
    people before independence a group of
  • 00:10:30
    Inland people moved to the Coastal
  • 00:10:32
    Village of bunai as part of a
  • 00:10:34
    nationalist movement to unite the
  • 00:10:36
    different groups who lived on manners so
  • 00:10:38
    as to be better able to challenge the
  • 00:10:40
    Australian colonialists this was the
  • 00:10:43
    first time that the Inland people who
  • 00:10:45
    are gardeners and hunters and the
  • 00:10:47
    saltwater people who are fishermen
  • 00:10:49
    decided to live together in one Village
  • 00:10:52
    need had written about the movement and
  • 00:10:55
    about the village of bunai with great
  • 00:10:57
    interest however she also made the
  • 00:10:59
    statement which the Inland people found
  • 00:11:01
    so insulting
  • 00:11:03
    what many of them think is that she
  • 00:11:05
    simply didn't learn enough about them to
  • 00:11:07
    understand them as she had mainly lived
  • 00:11:09
    with a saltwater people of Peru Village
  • 00:11:11
    she was more used to their ways
  • 00:11:14
    celiao yowat lives in bunai he went to
  • 00:11:17
    school and he decided to return to live
  • 00:11:19
    in the village and he has read Margaret
  • 00:11:22
    Mead's comments
  • 00:11:47
    this may seem like a very small matter a
  • 00:11:51
    smattering of insults about very few
  • 00:11:53
    people but it's all the outside world no
  • 00:11:56
    of them and it's sealed in time the
  • 00:11:59
    unfortunate thing about documentation is
  • 00:12:02
    that it becomes a permanent record and
  • 00:12:05
    we held against it sometimes I'm
  • 00:12:07
    offended I visiting some foreign
  • 00:12:10
    countries and someone will give to me
  • 00:12:13
    pick up a quotation from one of
  • 00:12:15
    Margaret's meat and because I'm from
  • 00:12:17
    Manos I'm supposed to be saying yes
  • 00:12:19
    that's true or that's that way we're
  • 00:12:21
    still living there today
  • 00:12:23
    [Music]
  • 00:12:25
    comes to bunai when she can to visit her
  • 00:12:28
    family so every time when I'm just tired
  • 00:12:32
    of red race of town just come off and
  • 00:12:35
    keep away from telephones and
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    people pestering you just come and relax
  • 00:12:40
    go to swim and stay with the relatives
  • 00:12:43
    it's almost ready now
  • 00:12:47
    I was getting together with some of her
  • 00:12:50
    aunts she asks them what they think
  • 00:12:52
    about Margaret Mead's books
  • 00:13:04
    they remember when Margaret Mead visited
  • 00:13:06
    the village and they heard about the
  • 00:13:08
    books she wrote
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    they think her books have a lot to do
  • 00:13:12
    with the biases between the two Villages
  • 00:13:14
    translates
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    we have our own biases prejudice against
  • 00:13:20
    the saltwater people and that's what the
  • 00:13:23
    obviously Margaret Mead wrote what the
  • 00:13:27
    better people told her and they said
  • 00:13:28
    well probably if she had come and stay
  • 00:13:30
    with us uh we would have told her what
  • 00:13:34
    we believed of the Perry people and she
  • 00:13:36
    may have written a totally completely
  • 00:13:38
    different book altogether in our way how
  • 00:13:41
    it would have written it in our favor
  • 00:13:43
    how we were intelligent we make big
  • 00:13:46
    curtains we had lots of pigs trees and
  • 00:13:50
    it would have um presented Perry as a
  • 00:13:54
    very lendless people Drifters uh lazy
  • 00:13:58
    they can't make Gardens and they live
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    entirely off the land people because all
  • 00:14:04
    they had was fish and they exchanged the
  • 00:14:07
    fish for the kind of products garden
  • 00:14:10
    products that we have Margaret Mead is
  • 00:14:12
    certainly not the only Anthropologist to
  • 00:14:15
    see things through the eyes of her
  • 00:14:16
    selected in form
  • 00:14:18
    it's a very human problem all
  • 00:14:20
    anthropologists face in an academic
  • 00:14:23
    discipline which claims a certain
  • 00:14:24
    objectivity however it's not the only
  • 00:14:27
    problem faced by anthropologists and
  • 00:14:30
    their subjects now that the children of
  • 00:14:33
    these Villages have learned to read
  • 00:14:34
    English they've been able to read what
  • 00:14:37
    Margaret Mead wrote
  • 00:14:38
    at a council meeting in bunai people
  • 00:14:41
    told us something of what they thought
  • 00:14:42
    about being in her books well uh
  • 00:14:48
    foreign
  • 00:15:23
    nothing
  • 00:15:25
    let me kiss him when I'm something true
  • 00:15:27
    story
  • 00:15:30
    go out
  • 00:15:32
    a long time
  • 00:15:39
    something big ciao or camera now all the
  • 00:15:43
    same too now you must start thinking of
  • 00:15:45
    villages the annoying thing is it was
  • 00:15:48
    until later that most of us learn about
  • 00:15:52
    the book she's written and
  • 00:15:54
    learn to believe that it was us who gave
  • 00:15:57
    her that Fame and it was our way of life
  • 00:16:00
    at the way she lived with us and studied
  • 00:16:01
    us that gave her that uh Fame throughout
  • 00:16:04
    the world it so happened that the West
  • 00:16:06
    had the technology
  • 00:16:09
    uh the West had the written documents
  • 00:16:12
    or writing so they went out to study the
  • 00:16:16
    so-called primitive primitive cultures
  • 00:16:19
    and to write about them so in a way it
  • 00:16:23
    has not brought about human
  • 00:16:24
    understanding but it has made one human
  • 00:16:28
    being or groups of human being a subject
  • 00:16:31
    of study by another
  • 00:16:33
    so that process has dehumanized rather
  • 00:16:36
    than humanized relationships
  • 00:16:39
    I think that time you know
  • 00:16:41
    anthropologists
  • 00:16:44
    were looking at
  • 00:16:46
    Papua New Guinea societies
  • 00:16:48
    they were doing comparative work
  • 00:16:52
    they were comparing them with their own
  • 00:16:56
    societies Western societies
  • 00:16:59
    so
  • 00:17:01
    they kind of put them in evolutionary
  • 00:17:04
    scale and
  • 00:17:06
    a thought that we were still developing
  • 00:17:10
    so we were at the bottom of the ladder
  • 00:17:13
    anthropology was born during an era of
  • 00:17:16
    colonialism and suffered from the
  • 00:17:18
    prejudices at that time
  • 00:17:20
    anthropology today is coming of age a
  • 00:17:24
    new generation of students would like to
  • 00:17:26
    see changes in the way the world is
  • 00:17:28
    viewed
  • 00:17:30
    Nova went to a small village called
  • 00:17:32
    uyaku on the Northern shore of Papua New
  • 00:17:35
    Guinea's main island to meet a young
  • 00:17:38
    Anthropologist and find out how he and
  • 00:17:40
    the people he is studying a feeling
  • 00:17:43
    about the experience
  • 00:17:45
    John Barker is a graduate student from
  • 00:17:49
    the University of British Columbia he
  • 00:17:51
    has been here a year and a half and is
  • 00:17:53
    well aware of the kinds of issues that
  • 00:17:56
    have been raised by the subjects of
  • 00:17:58
    previous studies
  • 00:18:01
    during the 60s a number of Fairly young
  • 00:18:03
    anthropologists became aware and
  • 00:18:06
    concerned of the connection between
  • 00:18:08
    anthropology and colonialism and
  • 00:18:11
    multinational corporations and other
  • 00:18:14
    forms of modernization and a great
  • 00:18:17
    debate started between a more
  • 00:18:19
    conservative hostile anthropology and
  • 00:18:22
    and the young ones coming up saying that
  • 00:18:23
    anthropologists should be now involved
  • 00:18:25
    and actually taking action to to help
  • 00:18:28
    people or to fight some of these things
  • 00:18:30
    that weren't so good
  • 00:18:31
    I think my experience was probably
  • 00:18:33
    typical other anthropologists my age who
  • 00:18:35
    were sort of born and bred on that stuff
  • 00:18:37
    and we've tried to incorporate it into
  • 00:18:40
    the kind of work we do and I think it's
  • 00:18:42
    changed the the shape of both
  • 00:18:44
    anthropological research and
  • 00:18:45
    anthropological writing
  • 00:18:48
    the me
  • 00:18:49
    or the first one he what's what's what
  • 00:18:52
    would be the name of this first ship
  • 00:18:54
    it's a new age for the people of uyaku
  • 00:18:57
    too children here now go to a school
  • 00:19:00
    which is part of the National Education
  • 00:19:02
    System they study English world history
  • 00:19:05
    and math
  • 00:19:12
    I have Raymond would you come up here
  • 00:19:15
    and then pick up in the past the
  • 00:19:18
    children would have spent most of their
  • 00:19:19
    time learning from the parents how to
  • 00:19:21
    build canoes how to make Gardens and how
  • 00:19:24
    to hunt in the jungle
  • 00:19:26
    and from their grandparents they would
  • 00:19:28
    have learned the history and folk tales
  • 00:19:30
    of their people
  • 00:19:32
    now it is John Barker who is one of the
  • 00:19:36
    most Avid students of these Tales
  • 00:19:38
    foreign
  • 00:19:45
    [Music]
  • 00:20:09
    foreign
  • 00:20:39
    yeah yeah
  • 00:20:41
    manageries
  • 00:20:53
    so
  • 00:20:59
    um
  • 00:21:10
    foreign
  • 00:21:38
    [Music]
  • 00:21:40
    thank you
  • 00:21:47
    so they made a new canal
  • 00:21:50
    and then both of them sold out but I can
  • 00:21:53
    start pedaling
  • 00:21:57
    what was the word for paddling
  • 00:22:00
    so she repeated that several times so
  • 00:22:02
    they paddling paddling paddling yeah
  • 00:22:04
    okay the folk tale that John has just
  • 00:22:07
    recorded and is now getting some help
  • 00:22:09
    translating it's part of a larger
  • 00:22:11
    project which is to take down the clan
  • 00:22:13
    histories of this Village
  • 00:22:16
    it's a project which has the support of
  • 00:22:19
    the villagers who are afraid of losing
  • 00:22:21
    some of their history now that the
  • 00:22:23
    children go to school the parents spend
  • 00:22:26
    less time with them and they don't learn
  • 00:22:28
    as much about their own past
  • 00:22:31
    the recording of these Unwritten Clan
  • 00:22:33
    histories has also created one of John's
  • 00:22:36
    major problems
  • 00:22:38
    we are used to having one version of
  • 00:22:40
    history but here there are 12 different
  • 00:22:43
    Clans each with its own history
  • 00:22:46
    taking down the clan histories has not
  • 00:22:48
    always been easy
  • 00:22:51
    you go to one one group and they'll tell
  • 00:22:53
    you one story and you go to another
  • 00:22:54
    group and they tell you another story
  • 00:22:56
    according to the morality of the place
  • 00:22:58
    the ethics of the place each Clan is
  • 00:23:00
    only supposed to tell its own story but
  • 00:23:02
    their story belongs to them they're they
  • 00:23:05
    have certain customs and ornaments and
  • 00:23:06
    so on that belong only to them they're
  • 00:23:08
    not supposed to talk about any other
  • 00:23:10
    group but the fact of the matter is that
  • 00:23:12
    they almost can't help talking about
  • 00:23:13
    other groups because they all migrated
  • 00:23:14
    into the area together
  • 00:23:16
    so as I've taken down the histories I've
  • 00:23:19
    continually tripped up against
  • 00:23:20
    contradictions and holes and the
  • 00:23:24
    information and so on and I found that
  • 00:23:25
    I've had to ask people questions about
  • 00:23:28
    not so much about other Clan's histories
  • 00:23:30
    but when another client asks says
  • 00:23:31
    something about their Clan
  • 00:23:33
    then I pass on the question to them and
  • 00:23:35
    in some occasions people have gotten
  • 00:23:37
    quite upset to find out this is not full
  • 00:23:40
    agreement in the village
  • 00:23:42
    in the village situation there's never
  • 00:23:44
    just one truth that's a myth that's been
  • 00:23:47
    partly taught by anthropologists and
  • 00:23:49
    used in the popular press and so it's
  • 00:23:51
    part of a popular belief
  • 00:23:54
    Village Council is where important
  • 00:23:57
    matters are discussed and decided the
  • 00:24:00
    people of uyaku held a council meeting
  • 00:24:02
    while we were there so that we could
  • 00:24:03
    hear their opinions about having an
  • 00:24:05
    anthropologist and a film crew in their
  • 00:24:07
    Village
  • 00:24:09
    the taking down of the clan histories
  • 00:24:11
    has been a focus for examining both John
  • 00:24:14
    and themselves
  • 00:24:21
    foreign
  • 00:24:25
    foreign
  • 00:24:59
    and goodbye foreign
  • 00:25:25
    foreign
  • 00:25:36
    foreign
  • 00:26:11
    they are not a marijuana
  • 00:26:14
    Library
  • 00:26:20
    film
  • 00:26:23
    um
  • 00:26:26
    [Music]
  • 00:26:43
    development
  • 00:26:51
    or
  • 00:26:52
    iPhone
  • 00:26:55
    yeah civilization
  • 00:27:09
    foreign
  • 00:27:14
    or among
  • 00:27:17
    um
  • 00:27:26
    if he studies alive here and he gets all
  • 00:27:29
    the things written down in the book and
  • 00:27:31
    he puts it up in the book I know I know
  • 00:27:34
    some of the young men who would come up
  • 00:27:36
    later on in the Years who would go
  • 00:27:38
    through high schools universities
  • 00:27:39
    colleges go read the book read the books
  • 00:27:42
    but about it but the people all the
  • 00:27:45
    people in the village would gain that
  • 00:27:47
    nothing
  • 00:27:49
    it's a fair criticism of anthropology to
  • 00:27:52
    to say that they take things away and
  • 00:27:54
    they take information away and make a
  • 00:27:55
    career out of it and they don't give
  • 00:27:56
    anything back it was especially it was
  • 00:27:58
    more fair in the past when they actually
  • 00:28:00
    did send nothing back but it's still
  • 00:28:02
    true it's an it's an uneven relationship
  • 00:28:05
    um
  • 00:28:05
    I think for most of us coming here the
  • 00:28:07
    money that we come on is not our own
  • 00:28:09
    it's a university Grant her a government
  • 00:28:11
    grant but all the same in Village terms
  • 00:28:13
    is an awful lot of money we're awfully
  • 00:28:14
    Rich by Village standards and that's
  • 00:28:16
    something that that comes between us
  • 00:28:19
    um I'm not sure how it's going to be
  • 00:28:21
    overcome I I suppose the most important
  • 00:28:23
    thing is to get much more National
  • 00:28:25
    work being done by by local people by
  • 00:28:29
    people trained at the University and so
  • 00:28:31
    on
  • 00:28:36
    people in oyaku do appreciate two things
  • 00:28:39
    that John has done since his arrival
  • 00:28:42
    the writing down of the clan histories
  • 00:28:44
    and the establishment of a library which
  • 00:28:46
    has more than 450 books
  • 00:28:49
    the clan histories will be photocopied
  • 00:28:51
    and placed in the library
  • 00:28:54
    but it's very difficult to be both
  • 00:28:56
    Anthropologist and friend to use people
  • 00:28:59
    as subjects and hope to be trusted by
  • 00:29:02
    them as people
  • 00:29:03
    in the past before people here
  • 00:29:05
    understood what anthropology was about
  • 00:29:07
    such questions did not arise now they
  • 00:29:11
    color all their relationships with the
  • 00:29:13
    anthropologist
  • 00:29:15
    John originally came to uyaku with his
  • 00:29:17
    wife Anne but she had to return to
  • 00:29:19
    Canada to do our own work
  • 00:29:21
    since then Don's been perhaps a bit more
  • 00:29:24
    lonely aware of his place Between Two
  • 00:29:27
    Worlds
  • 00:29:28
    at the end of the day we found him
  • 00:29:30
    listening to some Canadian folk music on
  • 00:29:32
    his tape machine and preparing supper
  • 00:29:34
    for some of his Newfound oyaku friends
  • 00:29:37
    I think we started feeling at home
  • 00:29:41
    it would be almost for me it was
  • 00:29:43
    probably almost a year before I really
  • 00:29:46
    felt comfortable and had enough friends
  • 00:29:48
    to feel that I could feel comfortable
  • 00:29:50
    language is a problem and in a real
  • 00:29:52
    barrier
  • 00:29:53
    the work is a problem a real barrier
  • 00:29:55
    because you're you're studying the
  • 00:29:58
    people and so it's hard to establish
  • 00:30:00
    intimate relations you know always
  • 00:30:02
    knowing that whatever they tell you you
  • 00:30:04
    might be going into the notebook and
  • 00:30:06
    having to decide this is some things
  • 00:30:08
    that are just too personal you don't
  • 00:30:10
    want to you don't want to put in
  • 00:30:12
    [Music]
  • 00:30:14
    [Applause]
  • 00:30:15
    foreign
  • 00:30:18
    [Music]
  • 00:30:25
    [Music]
  • 00:30:34
    but John has made some real friends
  • 00:30:37
    most evenings are spent with some of
  • 00:30:39
    them not working
  • 00:30:40
    just settling in he said Grace
  • 00:30:45
    foreign
  • 00:31:14
    but it's taken a year and a half and
  • 00:31:17
    he's here for only a few more months
  • 00:31:20
    most anthropologists spend no more than
  • 00:31:22
    two or three years with the people about
  • 00:31:24
    whom they write
  • 00:31:26
    however near the town of Mount Hagen in
  • 00:31:28
    the highlands of Papua New Guinea lives
  • 00:31:30
    an anthropologist who stayed on for 20
  • 00:31:33
    years
  • 00:31:36
    this is a far cry from the Ivory Towers
  • 00:31:39
    of British Academy
  • 00:31:41
    yet for Cambridge graduate Andrew
  • 00:31:43
    strathearn it's become home
  • 00:31:47
    director of The Institute of Papua New
  • 00:31:49
    Guinea studies in Port Moresby he spends
  • 00:31:52
    much of his time here in the mountains
  • 00:31:55
    with the quelca people whom he met 20
  • 00:31:58
    years ago
  • 00:32:01
    and especially with Anka a prominent and
  • 00:32:05
    respected leader who has had a great
  • 00:32:07
    influence on him
  • 00:32:12
    this is Uncle who is a leader of the
  • 00:32:16
    kalgo people
  • 00:32:18
    with whom I've lived for a number of
  • 00:32:20
    years during the time of I've worked in
  • 00:32:22
    mankhagen he is an outstanding leader
  • 00:32:25
    and over the years he's become like a
  • 00:32:28
    father to me as a field worker in the
  • 00:32:30
    area
  • 00:32:31
    I came up I came with my wife Marilyn at
  • 00:32:35
    the time we both came up as graduate
  • 00:32:37
    students we'd never traveled further
  • 00:32:40
    than Europe and so we came here to
  • 00:32:42
    Hamburg
  • 00:32:43
    and we found a lot of people waiting
  • 00:32:46
    there or all of them greeted us with
  • 00:32:48
    interest
  • 00:32:49
    but it didn't say very much after a
  • 00:32:52
    while they melted away and through this
  • 00:32:54
    crowd they remerged Anka
  • 00:32:57
    who took me over to his ceremonial
  • 00:33:01
    ground which is just beyond here
  • 00:33:04
    sat down with his little son number and
  • 00:33:08
    immediately started to tell me something
  • 00:33:10
    about the traditional religion of the
  • 00:33:11
    place ghosts ancestors and things of
  • 00:33:13
    that kind to which I listened with
  • 00:33:15
    obvious interest with what few words of
  • 00:33:17
    pidgin English understood at the time
  • 00:33:20
    and so in a sense from very early on
  • 00:33:22
    longer had made a claim and shown his
  • 00:33:26
    interest in the type of thing that we
  • 00:33:28
    might want to do but this was all quite
  • 00:33:30
    spontaneous on his part it wasn't until
  • 00:33:32
    much later that I learned the that most
  • 00:33:36
    of the people when we first came thought
  • 00:33:38
    that we weren't humans at all not human
  • 00:33:40
    with some kind of spirit beings and
  • 00:33:43
    uncle was the only one who was brave
  • 00:33:44
    enough to take the risk of approaching
  • 00:33:46
    this sort of spirit
  • 00:33:48
    Andrew and Anka and some of uncle's
  • 00:33:51
    family and friends gathered together at
  • 00:33:53
    the site of their first meeting and
  • 00:33:55
    reminisced about those days when they
  • 00:33:57
    weren't at all sure what Andrew really
  • 00:34:00
    was rumbaco married to Anka remembers
  • 00:34:03
    very clearly
  • 00:34:14
    but
  • 00:34:17
    um
  • 00:34:24
    [Laughter]
  • 00:34:39
    um
  • 00:34:56
    foreign
  • 00:35:08
    [Music]
  • 00:35:21
    [Music]
  • 00:35:29
    today
  • 00:35:35
    [Music]
  • 00:35:40
    each
  • 00:35:42
    field work experience is very personal
  • 00:35:44
    and what you do with it afterwards in
  • 00:35:45
    your life I think is fairly personal
  • 00:35:48
    at the end of more than a Year's stay we
  • 00:35:51
    were due to leave
  • 00:35:53
    and we had kept some sort of long
  • 00:35:56
    trousers and skirts and things in a
  • 00:35:59
    particular bag and so we started putting
  • 00:36:01
    them on inside the house we were
  • 00:36:03
    presented with some pork which we ate
  • 00:36:05
    and we changed into these different
  • 00:36:08
    sorts of clothes and as we were doing so
  • 00:36:11
    I had Anka saying outside of the house
  • 00:36:13
    oh what they're doing in there is
  • 00:36:15
    they're changing back into white people
  • 00:36:19
    because they're going back to the place
  • 00:36:20
    of the white men and they were only here
  • 00:36:23
    with us as black people for a certain
  • 00:36:25
    period of time now they're changing back
  • 00:36:27
    into white people and they're going to
  • 00:36:28
    go
  • 00:36:30
    I heard this
  • 00:36:32
    and uh the thought of it went with me
  • 00:36:35
    when we did go back
  • 00:36:37
    two years later Andrew returned to stay
  • 00:36:40
    and each time you make a decision you
  • 00:36:43
    don't think is necessarily irrevocable
  • 00:36:45
    but then the pattern tends to emerged
  • 00:36:47
    over a period of years
  • 00:36:48
    I think there's a a reason why the
  • 00:36:52
    pattern did emerge and a reason why it
  • 00:36:53
    should emerge and that is that all the
  • 00:36:57
    things that people said towards the time
  • 00:36:59
    when we were first going to go was what
  • 00:37:02
    was the point of your coming here and
  • 00:37:04
    joining our kinship groups if after all
  • 00:37:07
    you were just going to leave us and go
  • 00:37:09
    back to your own place you're playing
  • 00:37:11
    some sort of game aren't you it's not
  • 00:37:13
    real
  • 00:37:15
    so if you take your subject seriously if
  • 00:37:19
    anthropology is supposed to be a serious
  • 00:37:21
    subject you must also take seriously
  • 00:37:23
    remarks of this kind
  • 00:37:25
    you can't separate off your life in that
  • 00:37:28
    ways and say it's Justified because I'm
  • 00:37:31
    an academic and of course I have to take
  • 00:37:32
    these results back to my own country and
  • 00:37:34
    I have to teach uh University
  • 00:37:36
    undergraduates because that's the name
  • 00:37:38
    of the business of course it is the name
  • 00:37:40
    of the business and one is supposed to
  • 00:37:42
    do that but the other side is not just a
  • 00:37:45
    game it is
  • 00:37:47
    the reality that you've come to fight
  • 00:37:49
    and unless you can acknowledge that and
  • 00:37:51
    accommodate yourself to it then in a
  • 00:37:53
    sense it was only a game that you were
  • 00:37:55
    playing and therefore anthropology as a
  • 00:37:57
    whole becomes only a game that you're
  • 00:37:59
    playing and not something serious
  • 00:38:01
    yeah Andrew has written many books and
  • 00:38:04
    articles about these years finally Anka
  • 00:38:08
    wrote his own book
  • 00:38:09
    [Music]
  • 00:38:13
    s yeah
  • 00:38:16
    [Applause]
  • 00:38:29
    that match
  • 00:38:31
    right um
  • 00:39:08
    foreign
  • 00:39:27
    who translates for us what uncle has
  • 00:39:30
    just been saying about why it was so
  • 00:39:33
    important to have a film crew come to
  • 00:39:35
    talk directly to Anka about anthropology
  • 00:39:39
    you wanted to see so now you can see
  • 00:39:42
    here I am I am the man who was the
  • 00:39:44
    professor at mbug who taught Andrew
  • 00:39:46
    everything he knows he was nothing
  • 00:39:49
    he came here a boy didn't even have a
  • 00:39:52
    beard he knew nothing I taught him
  • 00:39:54
    everything he took all that away and
  • 00:39:56
    that's how he wrote his books so he's a
  • 00:39:58
    professor in England but I am the
  • 00:39:59
    professor here at bug
  • 00:40:01
    GA traveled to the University of Papua
  • 00:40:03
    New Guinea in Port Moresby where he
  • 00:40:05
    dictated his autobiography for Andrew to
  • 00:40:08
    translate then he wrote a song to get
  • 00:40:10
    Andrew started
  • 00:40:22
    [Music]
  • 00:40:28
    [Music]
  • 00:40:32
    foreign
  • 00:40:43
    [Music]
  • 00:40:47
    [Applause]
  • 00:40:52
    [Music]
  • 00:41:01
    himself
  • 00:41:04
    who had felt it was time to tell his own
  • 00:41:07
    story to the world he knew that I had
  • 00:41:10
    written about the things he told me
  • 00:41:12
    about and I had learned and that I'd in
  • 00:41:15
    fact done two books about this
  • 00:41:18
    but he felt there should be a book which
  • 00:41:20
    expressed his total view of the society
  • 00:41:24
    or a good deal of it at any rate in just
  • 00:41:26
    the same way as I had been trying to
  • 00:41:28
    present a general picture he told me
  • 00:41:30
    that quite clearly and made it quite
  • 00:41:32
    clear that this book was to be his book
  • 00:41:34
    and that my task in it was to translate
  • 00:41:36
    what he said and put it down and not
  • 00:41:38
    leave anything out
  • 00:41:40
    anger and Andrew both agree the real
  • 00:41:43
    teachers about any society are the
  • 00:41:45
    so-called informants not anthropologists
  • 00:41:48
    but the people who tell anthropologists
  • 00:41:51
    about their world
  • 00:41:53
    now usually anthropologists take
  • 00:41:56
    information away and write it up the
  • 00:41:58
    information is passed on to everyone
  • 00:41:59
    else secondhand just like this class in
  • 00:42:02
    melanesian anthropology at the
  • 00:42:04
    University of Papua New Guinea is a
  • 00:42:07
    classic example here's a Belgian
  • 00:42:09
    teaching melanesians about their own
  • 00:42:12
    culture the Christian of residence
  • 00:42:14
    usually we can say that in most
  • 00:42:17
    patrilineal societies a woman moves to a
  • 00:42:21
    husband's place so we would talk about
  • 00:42:23
    very local
  • 00:42:26
    uh residents
  • 00:42:28
    more to be said than about the case of
  • 00:42:34
    paying bright price
  • 00:42:38
    is that nowadays in particular we see
  • 00:42:42
    that the items of wealth that circulate
  • 00:42:46
    in the exchanges
  • 00:42:48
    melanesians are the people of this part
  • 00:42:51
    of the Pacific Ocean they are learning
  • 00:42:54
    about their society from non-melanesians
  • 00:42:57
    and they read about their people in
  • 00:42:59
    books written by non-melanesians not
  • 00:43:02
    surprisingly some of the students find
  • 00:43:04
    this bizarre you know I took up
  • 00:43:07
    melanesian society as one of the causes
  • 00:43:11
    and I found that sitting in and
  • 00:43:13
    listening to
  • 00:43:15
    somebody from outside was a little bit
  • 00:43:18
    awkward
  • 00:43:19
    and that's why talking to other friends
  • 00:43:22
    around the place we sort of say oh come
  • 00:43:25
    on I don't want to be reading you know
  • 00:43:27
    when they tell us to get books and do
  • 00:43:29
    assignments and one time I actually came
  • 00:43:31
    back to a lecturer and I said can I
  • 00:43:34
    write about my own people you know from
  • 00:43:36
    what I know and the person said no
  • 00:43:39
    you've got to write from something that
  • 00:43:40
    is published and that was a crazy idea
  • 00:43:43
    you know repeating reading about my own
  • 00:43:45
    people from a book and giving quotations
  • 00:43:48
    from what somebody has said we are part
  • 00:43:51
    of the society and he'd be interesting
  • 00:43:53
    and we should be the ones who will be
  • 00:43:54
    talking and contributing more ideas than
  • 00:43:56
    that are Outsider students would be
  • 00:43:58
    another interesting thing to talk about
  • 00:44:00
    their own societies instead of you know
  • 00:44:01
    the lecturers themselves dominating the
  • 00:44:03
    whole thing and then has entering
  • 00:44:04
    questions and asking questions
  • 00:44:05
    pretending that we from an outside world
  • 00:44:08
    are looking into the melanesian society
  • 00:44:12
    I think there's nothing you can do you
  • 00:44:15
    know yes there should be somebody from
  • 00:44:17
    here who should uh
  • 00:44:19
    you know teach the
  • 00:44:21
    uh the subject I think that universities
  • 00:44:23
    uh uh say in Papua New Guinea and
  • 00:44:26
    universities elsewhere must uh have
  • 00:44:29
    dialogue if an anthropology is going to
  • 00:44:32
    come Anthropologist is going to come and
  • 00:44:33
    study in Papua New Guinea then we should
  • 00:44:36
    have a popular Union academic exchange
  • 00:44:39
    system between that institution and an
  • 00:44:42
    institution in Papua New Guinea so that
  • 00:44:44
    we can also study some elements of
  • 00:44:47
    social behavior in say United States of
  • 00:44:49
    America
  • 00:44:51
    that's just what's Happening Here worry
  • 00:44:54
    ayama has come to Berkeley California to
  • 00:44:56
    study Americans
  • 00:44:58
    he's a graduate student in anthropology
  • 00:45:01
    at the University of California
  • 00:45:03
    in 1928 Margaret Mead was one of the
  • 00:45:06
    first anthropologists to study Papua New
  • 00:45:09
    guineans in 1983 wari iyamo and one
  • 00:45:14
    other graduate student are the first
  • 00:45:16
    Papua New guinean Anthropologist to
  • 00:45:18
    study Americans
  • 00:45:22
    I was expecting you half an hour ago
  • 00:45:29
    Lori's thesis advisor is Dr Laura Nader
  • 00:45:36
    um now tell me about your Oakland
  • 00:45:39
    projections what you think you wanted to
  • 00:45:41
    Bear yeah the research is about 26
  • 00:45:46
    tenants who were living in a transient
  • 00:45:49
    hotel in one part of Auckland East
  • 00:45:52
    Oakland
  • 00:45:53
    uh they weren't evicted in a proper
  • 00:45:57
    manner they were just uh routed out of
  • 00:46:00
    the their their homes supposedly by the
  • 00:46:04
    police like any Anthropologist worry has
  • 00:46:08
    informants in this case one of the
  • 00:46:11
    former tenants from the hotel in East
  • 00:46:13
    Oakland tell me about the problems you
  • 00:46:16
    went through when you were evicted
  • 00:46:20
    we discovered that the police had
  • 00:46:23
    surrounded the hotel
  • 00:46:25
    and that we were locked out
  • 00:46:28
    and I had a dearly beloved pet cat in
  • 00:46:33
    the apartment and I wanted to get her
  • 00:46:37
    out anyway and they wouldn't even let me
  • 00:46:40
    do that they had turned loose a pair of
  • 00:46:43
    half-trained guard dogs and all the
  • 00:46:47
    doors had been kicked in you said you
  • 00:46:50
    were the only person in your family
  • 00:46:53
    you have cousin brothers or Aunts Uncles
  • 00:46:57
    yeah you can ride I have no sisters or
  • 00:47:01
    brothers and
  • 00:47:03
    I uh all of my living
  • 00:47:09
    uh
  • 00:47:10
    cousins and uh
  • 00:47:13
    aunts and uncles are
  • 00:47:17
    quite far separated from me not not just
  • 00:47:20
    in space but in age we're in such a
  • 00:47:23
    situation what would the neighbors you
  • 00:47:25
    know think you know and would they come
  • 00:47:28
    out and help straight away
  • 00:47:32
    I can't imagine that happening if you're
  • 00:47:36
    talking about a neighborhood where there
  • 00:47:38
    are single homes and people have for the
  • 00:47:41
    most part been living there several
  • 00:47:42
    years and you're
  • 00:47:45
    yes you could probably get neighborhood
  • 00:47:48
    help
  • 00:47:49
    I
  • 00:47:50
    but
  • 00:47:52
    if you're talking about the kind of a
  • 00:47:54
    neighborhood I'm talking about in a
  • 00:47:55
    living in a cheap hotel or in a low
  • 00:48:00
    price apartment no because people just
  • 00:48:03
    don't know each other that well
  • 00:48:05
    I see
  • 00:48:07
    Lori's thesis involves interviewing not
  • 00:48:10
    just the former tenants but the lawyers
  • 00:48:13
    representing them as well
  • 00:48:15
    only recently of anthropologists begun
  • 00:48:17
    to study people like lawyers who have
  • 00:48:20
    power in society
  • 00:48:22
    traditionally they studied people who
  • 00:48:24
    didn't have the authority to stop them
  • 00:48:33
    and they've been an anthropologist worry
  • 00:48:35
    pursues his attempts to unravel American
  • 00:48:38
    kinship patterns and finds out that as
  • 00:48:41
    in Papua New Guinea there's more than
  • 00:48:43
    one answer to any question because I
  • 00:48:46
    understand that uh the degree of kinship
  • 00:48:50
    to what degree it's practiced here I
  • 00:48:53
    don't know but there is some you know
  • 00:48:55
    degree of kinship here you know some
  • 00:48:59
    degree worry
  • 00:49:01
    um I mean to a certain degree there is
  • 00:49:03
    kinship no one can deny that there is no
  • 00:49:06
    kinship system here okay worry the uh
  • 00:49:09
    the idea that kinship is is perhaps not
  • 00:49:12
    as strong in in our society
  • 00:49:15
    I think is is an erroneous idea it's
  • 00:49:18
    different
  • 00:49:20
    I.E that is we have a bilateral kinship
  • 00:49:23
    system
  • 00:49:24
    we have certain descent principles
  • 00:49:27
    uh
  • 00:49:28
    people come to me all the time want to
  • 00:49:31
    make Wills
  • 00:49:32
    who do you think they leave it to
  • 00:49:34
    strangers
  • 00:49:36
    they leave it to their children they
  • 00:49:38
    leave it to their grandchildren they
  • 00:49:40
    leave it to their kin
  • 00:49:42
    people come in this office and argue
  • 00:49:45
    over who should get what heirlooms
  • 00:49:50
    I promised a certain ring to a certain
  • 00:49:52
    grandchild
  • 00:49:55
    kinship is very very important
  • 00:49:58
    some of the things I have seen haven't
  • 00:50:01
    been here for almost three years is the
  • 00:50:05
    society seems to be open but uh in the
  • 00:50:09
    real sense it's close
  • 00:50:11
    it seems like
  • 00:50:13
    everything is institutionalized in this
  • 00:50:15
    Society instead of producing for
  • 00:50:19
    themselves
  • 00:50:20
    they've given the power to something
  • 00:50:22
    else to produce for them so what I'm
  • 00:50:24
    saying is that back home we have Gardens
  • 00:50:27
    here you don't have Gardens so that
  • 00:50:30
    means you have given your power to
  • 00:50:31
    certain institutions to produce for you
  • 00:50:33
    another thing which is very obvious
  • 00:50:36
    everyone seems to look here and or wants
  • 00:50:38
    to look here and I think it must have to
  • 00:50:41
    do with the culture itself and so when
  • 00:50:44
    you look around your neighborhood there
  • 00:50:46
    are some things that are not so visible
  • 00:50:48
    so all people are institutionalized
  • 00:50:50
    somewhere else the mentally [ __ ]
  • 00:50:54
    people are put somewhere else
  • 00:50:56
    [Music]
  • 00:50:58
    you know what you're doing is really
  • 00:50:59
    pioneering worry because although
  • 00:51:02
    anthropologists have gone all the way
  • 00:51:04
    around the world studying all kinds of
  • 00:51:06
    societies very few anthropologists from
  • 00:51:08
    other societies have come to study yes
  • 00:51:10
    and the U.S is probably the most
  • 00:51:12
    understudied culture in the world
  • 00:51:14
    and we did have people like the
  • 00:51:16
    tocqueville who came and we're still
  • 00:51:17
    quoting to TOEFL because he made such a
  • 00:51:19
    Frenchman who came to the United States
  • 00:51:21
    to study us and observe our customs and
  • 00:51:23
    see what made Americans tick after all
  • 00:51:26
    we're a very important force in the
  • 00:51:28
    world and some we should be understood
  • 00:51:29
    and tough for it isn't the Insiders
  • 00:51:32
    couldn't have made the same points that
  • 00:51:33
    the tocqueville made but they don't
  • 00:51:36
    because you have to have you have to
  • 00:51:38
    stand slightly outside to be able to see
  • 00:51:41
    the things that he saw that were great
  • 00:51:43
    and that were problematic and so forth
  • 00:51:45
    about our society you come from New
  • 00:51:47
    Guinea and you look at something that
  • 00:51:50
    that in a way is incredulous to somebody
  • 00:51:53
    from your community there are people in
  • 00:51:55
    this society that don't have a house to
  • 00:51:57
    live in that don't have a home how does
  • 00:52:00
    that happen
  • 00:52:01
    and are there functional equivalents to
  • 00:52:03
    it and how does this Society deal with
  • 00:52:04
    the fact that there are homeless people
  • 00:52:06
    but then there's still one point been
  • 00:52:09
    made with a by Americans
  • 00:52:12
    Oh by Papua New guineans you see that
  • 00:52:18
    we still
  • 00:52:20
    are the ones who know more about our own
  • 00:52:22
    cultures
  • 00:52:24
    so an American will claim that yes it's
  • 00:52:27
    true that an outsider can come and see
  • 00:52:30
    my Society objectively
  • 00:52:33
    and say more things about it but still
  • 00:52:35
    I'm in control in master of it because
  • 00:52:39
    I know the nuances of the languages or
  • 00:52:42
    the language I know
  • 00:52:45
    the culture and I know the facts
  • 00:52:48
    I think what we're coming to is a
  • 00:52:50
    realization that there are different
  • 00:52:51
    ways of knowing and different ways of
  • 00:52:53
    understanding and that Outsiders and
  • 00:52:56
    insiders looking at a society trying to
  • 00:52:59
    understand the complexity of human
  • 00:53:01
    culture I mean it's it's nothing so
  • 00:53:03
    simple as what the physicists study I
  • 00:53:06
    mean we're studying the most complex
  • 00:53:07
    thing you could study and we can't
  • 00:53:09
    simplify it because if you simplify
  • 00:53:11
    studying Human Society you lose it so we
  • 00:53:14
    have this complexity and we're doing the
  • 00:53:16
    best we can when you have Outsiders and
  • 00:53:18
    insiders looking at the same culture and
  • 00:53:20
    working together
  • 00:53:21
    but how much does the outsider need to
  • 00:53:24
    become like The Insider yeah
  • 00:53:27
    we chose to go to a university and to
  • 00:53:29
    speak to Western anthropologists in
  • 00:53:31
    their own terms
  • 00:53:34
    uncle's perspective on our world as well
  • 00:53:37
    as his own could be equally important
  • 00:53:49
    foreign
  • 00:54:13
    foreign
  • 00:54:48
    foreign
  • 00:55:21
    us
  • 00:55:23
    ES
タグ
  • Anthropology
  • Margaret Mead
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Indigenous Perspectives
  • Colonialism
  • Cultural Representation
  • Education
  • Local Voices
  • Community Engagement
  • Self-Representation