Week 9: Alternatives to egalitarianism

ANTH 3623: Reconciling justice with anthropology (Semester 1, 2026)
April 27, 2026

Main reading: Haruyama (2024)

Other reading: Ferguson (2013); Graeber (2007)

Notes

It is a foundational assumption in contemporary anthropology that there are no societies which are isolated or static. All societies are products of a history which involves other societies, and the world we live in today is shaped by the legacies of these entanglements, particularly domination of one society by another. These legacies are material and conceptual but the effects are not uniform or absolute. And it is also a foundational assumption in anthropology that historical events have no objective reality; they shape the present only insofar as people in the present remember them and tell a story about them.

This creates a quandary for the anthropologist who, on the one hand, wants to redress the legacies of domination by learning from their interlocutors and sees value in their perspective, but who, on the other hand, encounters people who—among other examples—think colonialism was beneficial, idealize dominant cultures, or adopt pseudoscientific beliefs about human difference, like biological or Biblical accounts of racial difference, which justify oppression.

At a deeper level, anthropologists confront other dilemmas in their quest to challenge power. Anthropology is, for some, a phronesis of liberation but there are many people who desire dependence. For them postcolonial liberation is a kind of neglect.

Also, these alternative politics can sound dissonant to a secular liberal because they are often rooted in contemporary Christianity as it has developed after its introduction in a colonial context. Missionary proselytization is “the colonization of consciousness” (Comaroff and Comaroff 1989) so how could Christian theology ever provide a language of justice for poor societies in a neocolonial world order now?

“And you knew who you were then…”

What makes you nostalgic?
Where else do you see people expressing nostalgia?
“Family values”—Nostalgia for the 1950s: Two-parent families, women as homemakers, male breadwinners, middle-class affluence
The Good War—Left nostalgia for social solidarity
Nostalgia is a mode of pathologizing the present. Is it also a critique?

Nostalgia for colonialism in PNG

Many people in PNG often expressed to me the view that Australian colonial control of PNG was better than the present. This consisted of several elements:

Under Australian rule, everything worked better. There were more services. Prices were lower. You could sell coconut for money.
Children learned more English from English-speaking teachers, and learned more from Australian teachers
Under colonialism, people were not allowed to migrate from their villages to towns, which they can do now, and towns are filled with Highlanders that cause problems
Independence came too quickly; people of PNG were unprepared
Independence should not have been given because the leaders of PNG were not able to lead or rule fairly, and politicians are corrupt.
Independence should not have been given because Papuans have more in common with Australians than they do New Guineans or Highlanders

Haruyama’s three “escapes”: tactics, culture, and false consciousness

Let’s assume that expressions of colonial nostalgia are not intended to manipulate the hearer.

Should culture not be part of one’s interpretation?
Should history?

Nostalgia as prophetic critique: Does this apply also to nostalgia for a colonial past?

Independent churches in Africa often claim that, if not Jesus was Black, then the Bible happened here
Cargo myths often use racial codes

Anthropology’s nostalgia

Anthropology in the past has had its own nostalgia.

There’s nothing to be done about it: civilization is no longer a fragile flower, to be carefully preserved and reared with great difficulty here and there in sheltered corners of a territory rich in natural resources: too rich, almost, for was an element of menace in their very vitality; yet they allowed fresh life and variety into our cultivations. All that is over: humanity has taken to monoculture, once and for all, and is preparing to produce civilization in bulk, as if it were sugar-beet. The same dish will be served to us every day. (Levi-Strauss [1955] 1973, 38)

Polynesian islands have been smothered in concrete and turned into aircraft carriers.

The whole of Asia is beginning to look like a dingy suburb.

The first thing we see as we travel round the world is [the West’s] own filth, thrown into the face of mankind. (Levi-Strauss [1955] 1973, 38)

Does anthropology still have nostalgias? What are the implications of these nostalgias as means to frame relationships now?

In-class feedback activity and assignment

In class, you will work in a small group of students.

Every group will have one spokesperson and at least one note-taker.

When working in small groups, everyone should put away their digital devices.
Each of you will take a turn presenting your topic to the group.

The other members of your group will ask you questions about the topic. They can ask
- How you became interested in the topic
- What, if any, personal relationship you have to the topic
The best questions will be based on their own reactions to learning about the topic. By hearing from other people, each member of the group will hopefully gain an insight into what needs to be explained about the topic and what they may be taking for granted about it.
The note-taker(s) for the group will share the notes with the rest of the group.
At the end of class, we will discuss reflections on giving and receiving feedback on topics.

References

Comaroff, Jean, and John L. Comaroff. 1989. “The Colonization of Consciousness in South Africa.” Economy and Society 18 (3): 267–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085148900000013.

Ferguson, James. 2013. “Declarations of Dependence: Labour, Personhood, and Welfare in Southern Africa.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 19 (2): 223–42. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12023.

Graeber, David. 2007. “Oppression.” In Possibilities: essays on hierarchy, rebellion and desire, 255–98. Edinburgh: AK Press.

Haruyama, Justin. 2024. “Anti-Blackness and Moral Repair: The Curse of Ham, Biblical Kinship, and the Limits of Liberalism.” Cultural Anthropology 39 (1): 118–45. https://doi.org/10.14506/ca39.1.06.

Lévi-Strauss, Claude. [1955] 1973. Tristes Tropiques. Translated by John Weightman and Doreen Weightman. Penguin.

References

Ferguson, James. 2013. “Declarations of Dependence: Labour, Personhood, and Welfare in Southern Africa.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 19 (2): 223–42. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12023.

Graeber, David. 2007. “Oppression.” In Possibilities: essays on hierarchy, rebellion and desire, 255–98. Edinburgh: AK Press.

Haruyama, Justin. 2024. “Anti-Blackness and Moral Repair: The Curse of Ham, Biblical Kinship, and the Limits of Liberalism.” Cultural Anthropology 39 (1): 118–45. https://doi.org/10.14506/ca39.1.06.