BarkellWH -> RE: Dyt båt dynamolygte (Mar. 9 2013 18:20:19)
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quote:
No doubt, the neo-liberal system has a lot going for it. I am just not comfortable with the negative aspects that go hand-in-hand with it. That is: ... the homogenization and eradication of unique culture. I get exactly what your driving at, Miguel, and you will be surprised to learn that I share your discomfort at some of the aspects that go along with what I would call a modern economy. I do not say "capitalist, free market" economy, because I think the so-called "negative" aspects are found in any economy in the modern world, capitalist, socialist, or communist. It does not matter whether the state owns and controls the means of production or private enterprise; to log out a pristine tropical rainforest to sell hardwood to Japan depletes the forest in either case. Regarding the homogenization and eradication of unique culture, I have an interesting perspective on that issue, as my wife Marta (who is from Brazil) has a PhD in Medical Anthropology and has taught university courses on Health and Culture for many years. I have debated this very issue with her and her anthropology colleagues on many occasions. They, like you, bemoan the fact that indigenous cultures are shedding many of their traditional ways as they enter the modern world. Again, I emphasize the "modern" world, not capitalist, free market economies. It is not capitalism that changes indigenous peoples; it is modernity. My take is that you, my wife Marta, and others of a similar persuasion have an overly romantic view of indigenous cultures, and I would go so far as to say (and I have gone so far as to say) that such an attitude wants to preserve indigenous cultures in amber for your own personal pleasure. Your romantic attitudes toward indigenous cultures resists the idea that they might want television, automobiles, clean water, modern health care, entry into the modern economy, and other things that we take for granted. But to have those things changes their culture as they delve deeper into what is available in modern societies. I'll end this with an experience I had while assigned to the American Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. Part of my portfolio involved maintaining contact with an American copper and gold mining company that had a huge operation in what was then known as Irian Jaya (now known as West Papua) on the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea. the personnel structure was such that Americans held the top management and operational positions, Javanese held the middle management and operational positions, and, as you might imagine, local tribesmen held the lowest positions. these indigenous tribesmen were, and still are, among the most primitive in the world. In 1996, the local tribal employees (Dani and Amungme tribes) rioted, shooting bows and arrows, throwing spears and rocks, and generally causing widespread damage, although no Americans were injured. Right away, Australian NGOs, who had never liked the company, crowed about the riots, stating that they demonstrated how much the local tribesmen resented the company disrupting their culture and the environment. I immediately flew out to Irian Jaya to the mining company's HQ to assess the damage and talk to people to ascertain what caused the riots and what might be done to prevent such an occurrence in the future. I talked to many people, including several "Head Men," leaders of the tribal employees involved in the riots. To a man, they indicated that the cause of the riots was the company never promoted indigenous tribal employees to higher level positions, and the company had no training program in place to train them for higher level positions. After meetings between company management and indigenous "Head Men," the company implemented a training program and began the process of advancing some of the locals up the ladder. The moral of this tale is the Australian NGOs had it completely wrong. They wanted to preserve the indigenous culture in amber for their own edification. They were imposing their own vision of how they wanted the Dani and Amungme to be without regard to what the tribes actually wanted, which was to have the possibility of advancement. That's not to say that indigenous cultures should completely shed their traditional culture, but it is to say that modernity changes culture, and most indigenous people want at least a part of modernity.
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