UU150 Study Guide - Final Guide: Talal Asad, Ethnocentrism
Why is it important for us to know the definition of
colonialism and what is its connection to the history of
anthropology? By now you’ll have read (if not, read
Question 2.1 in your text: How did ethnographic
fieldwork develop during the formative years of
anthropology?) about the beginnings of the discipline of
Anthropology. It is important to acknowledge the role
that anthropologists played in colonialism as well as the
challenges they levied against it. Anthropologists
were part of the colonial scene, argues Annette Weiner,
arriving in the field for the explicit purpose to understand
cultural realities in colonized nations (as cited in Schultz,
Lavenda, and Dods 2012, 64). At this time, the gathering
of data and knowledge about other cultures – first
collected by foreign governments, missionaries,
explorers, and exploiters – was used as a means to
dominate and impose the values of the colonizers on the
colonized. The focus of research at this time was on
social structural similarities and differences. Interwoven
into narratives of colonization was the perception of the
moral imperative to civilize other nations according to
European values and ideas (remember the term
ethnocentrism from week 1 here) for the good of all
humanity. This narrative was used to explain away the
inhuman treatment and pillaging of resources by colonial
powers (we will read more about this in the next chapter
when we discuss the meaning of progress and human
development).
Anthropologists like Talal Asad have discussed the
connection between anthropology and colonialism. Most
recently he argued that anthropological findings gathered
during, and on behalf of, colonial projects were too
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