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Re: Field Schools in Mexico
Robert Johnson (johnsorl@COLORADO.EDU)
Wed, 22 Feb 1995 18:01:06 -0700
On Wed, 22 Feb 1995, John Brooks wrote:
"And for whats going on in Mexico right now has nothing to do
with studying cultures from the past."
Those cultures you "study" are not from the past. They are living
peoples who have been consigned to ahistoricism in the mind of
American archaeology, enabling it to operate amid their physical
and cultural genocide.
There is no honor in destroying and warehousing the cultural heritage
of indigenous peoples.
Are you comfortable in doing projective ethnology and archaeological
excavation on peoples who are being culturally displaced, ravaged
by injustice, and murdered? How do you maintain your aloof
"objectivities"? If these people included your family would you
then be able to maintain your objective distance?
If this type of moral confrontation is too hard on you or for others
on this list, think how hard the peoples of Chiapas have it amid
the revolt they must mount just to insure physical survival.
My patience grows thin with the sewing circle Pollyannas who have
no capacity for critical thinking or rationalize their self-serving
preoccupations with appropriating the cultural heritages of
indigenous peoples whose destruction they are able to ignore.
> On Wed, 22 Feb 1995, Robert Johnson wrote:
>
> > How do you justify doing anthropological field schooling in Mexico
> > with its growing human rights abuses? Does Chiapas mean anything
> > to you?
> >
> > On Tue, 21 Feb 1995, B.P. Trono wrote:
> >
> > > Greetings
> > >
> > > I am hoping to participate in a field school in Mexico this summer. I am
> > > a third year cultural anthro student with a keen interest in all aspects of
> > > Mexican culture. Ideally I would like to become familiar with some aspect
> > > of Mexican culture through a course in ethnography as well as continue
> > > formal Spanish language training.
> > >
> > > If you are aware of a field school that fits this description please
> > > forward any relevant information to Bruce Trono, u9140773@muss.cis.
> > > mcmaster.ca.
> > >
> > > Thank you.
> > > Bruce
> > >
> >
>
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