Adam Kuper (PhD, Cambridge) is a visiting professor at both the London School of Economics and Political Science and at Boston University, and he is a Fellow of the British Academy. Among his books are The Chosen Primate: Human Nature and Cultural Diversity (Harvard University Press, 1994), ‘Culture’: The Anthropologists’ Account (Harvard University Press, 1999), The Reinvention of Primitive Society (Routledge, 2005), Incest and Influence: The Private Life of Bourgeois England (Harvard University Press, 2009), and Anthropology and Anthropologists: The British School in the Twentieth Century (4th edition, Routledge, 2016).
Note
1. On the sorts of issues that recur where activists do engage, see, for instance, Dombrowski (2002), or an interesting ethnographic report by Robins (2001) himself, and also several illuminating case studies in the present volume.
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———. 2003. “Comment on ‘The Return of the Native’.” Current Anthropology 44(3): 398–99.
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Acknowledgments
This book is the outcome of our joint efforts to explore how indigeneity has been reinvented, adopted, and reinterpreted in various local contexts, in light of recent initiatives taken by global civil society and international institutions. Although we share a common interest in South Asia, we seek to move beyond this regional focus and take a deeper look into the manifestations of indigeneity on a more global scale. In order to bring together scholars working on indigeneity in different parts of the world, we organized an informal workshop entitled “Futures of Indigeneity: Spatiality, Identity and Politics” at Ruhr-University Bochum in autumn 2013. This event turned out to be an extraordinary space for thought-provoking and productive exchanges, not only across world regions but also across disciplines. For us, the opportunity to continue this joint effort in the form of a book project became the option that would also enable us to extend this space of constructive engagement towards the wider community, particularly those who are interested in the various issues surrounding indigeneity as an academically and politically challenging concept, and as a project in (trans-)local identity politics. We sincerely hope that as many readers as possible share our interest.
During the past five years, we have received constant support, suggestions, and assistance in various forms from individuals and institutions. Without their commitment, this book would never have reached this point. First of all, we are grateful to our colleagues who have contributed their pieces and thereby turned this project into the book you are now reading. Their high level of commitment, anecdotic patience, and responses to all sorts of editorial queries have been invaluable. We sincerely mean it when we say that this book is the result of a truly collective effort.
This book would not have seen the light of day if not for the commitment, support, and encouragement extended to us by a number of individuals. In particular, we are indebted to Jürgen Straub, Ellen Bal, and Cora Bender for their significant contributions, and also to William Sax and Willem van Schendel for their suggestions. With their relentless support, they have made this project academically enlightening. We also thank Berlin-based filmmaker Shaheen Dill-Riaz for showing his award-winning documentary Sand and Water at the workshop and for sharing his perspectives and invaluable insights with us. Last but not least, we are grateful to Adam Kuper, who wrote the preface to this volume.
We are particularly thankful to the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation for its generous support, which allowed Nasir to work in Bochum as a Fellow under the Georg-Forster-Programme. Having the chance to collaborate so closely for more than a year has been decisive in turning our project into something lasting. We also wish to express our thanks to the Hans Kilian and Lotte Köhler Center (KKC) for Cultural Psychology and Historical Anthropology and the Center for Mediterranean Studies for their generous support. The Faculty of Social Science at Ruhr-University Bochum provided us with logistical support.
We are thankful to Bernadette Möhlen, Corinna Land, Katrin Renschler, and Arne Oster, who have provided valuable support in organizing our meetings and preparing the manuscript. We also thank Charlotte Thornton and Tom Triglone for proofreading previous versions of the chapters and the final draft of the volume. This project has also greatly benefitted from the comments and suggestions made by two anonymous reviewers. We would also like to thank Sasha Puchalski, Amanda Horn and Burke Gerstenschlager for their support throughout the process.
Eva Gerharz
Nasir Uddin
Pradeep Chakkarath
Introduction
EXPLORING INDIGENEITY
Introductory Remarks on a Contested Concept
Nasir Uddin, Eva Gerharz, and Pradeep Chakkarath
While popular images tend to depict indigenous people as having lived a “simple” and unspoiled lifestyle before they became threatened by the “evils” of modernity and (neo)colonial exploitation, there is evidence for the argument that, in many parts of the world, indigenous people were neither “locally locked”