Comments on: Anthropology in Nigeria – Extended Version

By: Mark Doyle

Mark Doyle — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:06:56 +0000

I am a BBC journalist researching a radio series with the perhaps provocative title “Why is Africa Poor?”. I wonder if some of the possible answers could come from a Nigerian anthropologist? My questions are in the area of: Is there a link between family, “tribe” and the way politics operates in a country like Nigeria? What is Big Man Politics? Does that have anything to do with the way “society” is arranged?. These questions will sound naieve to anthropologists and academics, perhaps – but I am seeking answers, not putting them forward. I am just a reporter. Does anyone know of any Nigerian anthropologists who might be prepared to help me? I hope to be in Abuja in mid July….

By: Moebius

Moebius — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:25:26 +0000

This post has been selected for Scientia Pro Publica. Please advertise the carnival on your blog and we hope to see more excellent posts from you in the future. Congratulations!

http://network.nature.com/people/primatediaries/blog/2009/05/18/scientia-pro-publica-4-in-memory-of-stephen-jay-gould

By: loomnie

loomnie — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:58:14 +0000

You are right in the sense that Africans who do ethnography often do it as part of history, partly because historians who do not want to rely solely on colonial records have to do some ethnography. I would not want to make the distinction between anthropology and history based on the study of the other or the self. The bad reputation anthropology has is mainly because of its links to colonisation.

Thanks for the references, I will check them out.

By: MTBradley

MTBradley — Wed, 13 May 2009 01:15:08 +0000

I am under the impression (and please correct me if I’m wrong) that Africans interested in an academic career doing African ethnography and ethnology tend to end up as social historians. Does that have something to do with an attitude that “anthropologists study others, historians study themselves”? I ask because while American Indian perspectives on anthropology are mixed (but certainly not as universally negative as sometimes portrayed) I think it safe to say that American Indians interested in the study of American Indian history as part of their career almost always turn to the discipline of anthropology rather than to the discipline of history. I don’t think there’s much identity politics involved, just an acknowledgment that anthropology offers more options for what they want to do. I’ve included a couple of references below in case you might be interested.

I’ve enjoyed your posts, I hope there are a few more to come!

Trigger, Bruce G. 1980. Archaeology and the image of the American Indian. __American Antiquity__ 45(4): 662–76.

Whiteley, Peter M. 1999. Alfonso Ortiz (1939–1997). __American Anthropologist__, n.s. 101(2): 392–95.

Yellowhorn, Eldon 2006. The awakening of internalist archaeology in the aboriginal world. In __The archaeology of Bruce Trigger__, ed. Ronald F. Williamson and Michael S. Bisson, 194–209. Montreal; Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.