Lecture 9: Ethnography and the Problem of Representation

1. SC2218: Anthropology and the Human Condition Lecture 9: Anthropology, Ethnography and the Problem of Representation Eric C. Thompson Semester 1, 2008/2009

15. Woman the Hunter?

16. Did Women ever Evolve?

17. Ever?

23. Ethno… (a group of people) graphy… (writing about or of) Revisited and Revised…

24. “ These peoples (foragers) , despite their cultural and geographic diversity, have a core of features in common , and this core of features represents the basic human adaptation stripped of the accretions and complications brought about by agriculture, urbanization, advanced technology, and national and class conflict – all of the “advances” of the last few thousand years .” (Lee 2003: 3) Echoes of 19 th Century Social Evolution in Lee’s Dobe Ju/’hoansi

25. “ I no longer believe that studies of contemporary hunter-gatherers are primarily a tool for understanding the evolution of human behavior . Understanding hunter-gatherer ecology, however important, is not enough. One has to both build on it and transcend it by looking at adaptation in a much broader sense, including the internal dynamics of foragers and their articulation with wider political economies .” (Lee 2003: 195) Lee Revised (in response to criticisms)