Ton Otto

Experiments in Holism: Theory and Practice in Contemporary Anthropology

Experiments in Holism: Theory and Practice in Contemporary Anthropology presents a series of essays from leading anthropologists that critically reexamine the relevance of holism as a foundational tenet of anthropology, and its theoretical and methodological potential in todays world. - Represents the first volume to consider the modern role of holism as a central anthropological concern across a wide range of anthropological traditions - Critically examines the past and present predicament of holism and its potential for the renewal of future practice - Features contributions from leading anthropologists which discuss how anthropology should be re-designed in the context of a changing world - Challenges many of contemporary anthropologys central methods, theory, and functions

Introduction. Value as theory: Comparison, cultural critique, and guerilla ethnographic theory

The introduction addresses the question of whether it is useful or indeed possible to develop an anthropological theory of value. By way of a Socratic debate, two rather conflicting points of view emerge. On the one hand, it is argued that anthropology can make a major and quite coherent contribution to the issue of value in social theory. On the other hand, it is argued that anthropology, as an ethnographically driven discipline, produces an anti-theory of value. The two perspectives derive from two different visions for anthropology, which differ radically on how they see the relationship of the discipline to other disciplines and to the history of ideas more generally. Where these views converge, however, is on the aim of exploring the potential of value as theory. In both perspectives, value is seen as a powerful concept that can generate new ethnographic questions and insights and can provide a crucial dimension to cultural critique.

Prologue: Value as theory Value, action, and critique

In the introduction to part one of this special issue we addressed the thorny question of whether an anthropological theory of value is needed or indeed possible at all. By way of a Socratic debate, we argued respectively for one of two opposite positions. Ton Otto suggested that anthropology can make a major and quite coherent contribution to the issue of value in social theory and he was in favor of bringing the papers together from a “history of ideas” perspective, thereby tracing how the authors’ varied perspectives and approaches to questions of value advanced particular—and easily specified—trends in social theory. Rane Willerslev, to the contrary, proposed that anthropology is an ethnographically driven discipline, which can only produce idiosyncratic “antitheories” of value. In Willerslev’s view, anthropologists are and should be, primarily, warriors of the periphery—that is, “guerrilla warriors,” using indigenous conceptual productions as tactics to fight dominant theoretical traditions. The debate reflects an underlying disagreement, which runs through the collection of articles themselves, about the place of anthropology in relation to other disciplines and, in particular, whether anthropology is primarily theory-driven or ethnography-driven, and whether or not these two abstractions (“theory” and “ethnography”) can be reconciled. This debate continues in part two of this special issue, but with new fields of inquiry and objects of analysis. The contributions of part one were largely concerned with aspects of value in exchange theory and with the radical comparison of diverse cultural structures. Part two addresses the relationship between value and action, including actions deemed to occur outside the sphere of reciprocal exchanges. Additionally, part two raises questions about what value means for anthropological practice by considering how anthropologists engage with their field sites and projects via critique and collaboration.

Ethnographic artifacts and value transformations

Transactions of ethnographic artifacts between Indigenous producers, European collectors, museums, and the state create and transform multiple notions of value. In this paper we discuss how an artifact’s value is generated and transformed through various transactions linked to the documentation and property claims made by scientific collectors, such as Eric Mjöberg, Herman Klaatsch, and Ursula McConnel. Such artifacts have now entered a new dynamic given Aboriginal claims for repatriation and other forms of reappropriation. We argue that the entanglement of artifacts in the property claims of the collectors, the producers (or their descendants), the granting bodies, and the public institutions, exposes artifacts to complex processes of value accretion and transformation.

Transformations of cultural heritage in Melanesia: from kastam to kalsa

In this article, I look at the reverberations of the global discourse about heritage at the margins of the global system in the Pacific. To this end, I analyse the development of indigenous concepts of cultural heritage on Baluan Island, in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. I discuss how over the past 50 years two different heritage concepts have developed on the island, which have been used to reflect upon and direct cultural and social change. Further I show how the genesis and transformation of this local discourse about heritage is driven by local concerns and politics, as well as national and international developments.

Ethnographic Film as Exchange

This paper discusses how film impacts on the relationship between researchers/filmmakers and their collaborators in the field. Film can function as a gift that strengthens reciprocal relationships and it is a medium that facilitates dialogue and intercultural exchange. The author argues that film has great potential for eliciting cultural differences and enhancing intercultural communication as people relate to the same visual material from their different perspectives more easily than in the case of written text. Through ‘feedback’ and the ‘parallax effect’ film contributes to a reflective space both for the researchers and their local collaborators. Local collaborators often have different stakes in the film and the filmmakers may find themselves in the role of circumstantial activists with only limited control over the films use and impact once it is produced.

Relations and products: dilemmas of reciprocity in fieldwork

The relationship between fieldworkers (anthropologists, archaeologists, linguists, historians) and people we have variously called research participants, informants, consultants, collaborators, teachers and friends, lies at the foundation of productive ethnographic research. While there is a plethora of publications on fieldwork methods and on the art of ethnographic writing, here we specifically focus on the products of field research, both tangible and intangible. In particular, we explore the nature and consequences of the exchanges that take place between researchers, their host communities and civil society. We argue that our research products play a crucial role not only in the relationships we develop through fieldwork but also take on a life of their own beyond the fields of their original production.

Back to the Village: Return Migrants and the Changing Discourse of Tradition in Manus, Papua New Guinea

This paper discusses an aspect of the Melanesian kastom discourse that is demonstrated very cogently in the work of Robert Tonkinson, namely the striking contrast between national and local concepts of tradition. In Manus local notions of objectified tradition have been called kastom in Tok Pisin for about 35 years. Recently, the word kalsa has become popular as well. In this article I show how the meanings of these two terms have bifurcated and now represent quite different views on cultural heritage, ownership, and change. I argue that return migrants have taken their urban views to the village setting and that the resulting contest of meanings and practices has engendered the new semantic division between two different concepts of tradition. Events during a large cultural festival held in 2006/7 are discussed to show the emergence of the new discourse.

Cargo cults everywhere

Cargo cult: Strange stories of desire from Melanesia and beyond, by Lamont Lindstrom. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1993. xiv, 247pp., references, index, maps and photos. ISBN 0–8248–1563–7 (paperback).

Cultural history between structure and contingency: the Manus example

Carrier, James and Achsah Carrier. Wage, trade, and exchange in Melanesia: a Manus society in the modern state. (Studies in Melanesian Anthropology, vol. 7, edited by G.H. Herdt, FJ. Porter Poole and D. Tuzin.) Berkeley: University of California Press. 1989. xvii, 257pp., tables, references, index. ISBN 0 520 06389 9. Carrier, Achsah and James Carrier. Structure and process in a Melanesian society: Ponams progress in the twentieth century. (Studies in Anthropology and History, vol. 1, edited by N. Thomas.) Chun Harwood Academic Publishers. 1991. xxii, 261pp., appendices, glossary, references, author and subject index. ISBN 3 7186 5149 1.