Advocates or Critics?

Jim Rotholz (63190881@WSUVM1.CSC.WSU.EDU)
Thu, 11 May 1995 16:55:33 PDT

I think that in order to answer Bret Diamond's question as to why list
participants sometimes respond negatively to posts which "glorify" indigenous
cultures, one must also consider the issue of why anthropologists are so
quick to condemn western culture, focusing only on its negative characteristics
The two issues are undoubtedly related. Perhaps anthropologists are beginning
to tire of the tendency toward "West-bashing." It is unfortunate that
paradigms have been so constructed that emphasizing positive aspects of
indigenous cultures has, by way of contrast, been a forum for condemning all
that is non-indigenous. The dichotomy is a false one. I personally react to
positing indigenous as "Other." If indigenous is other and indigneous is
glorified, what does that say for all that is not indigenous?