Culture and Truth: The Remaking of Social Analysis.

by Renato Rosaldo Review by: Thomas Gibson Man, New Series, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Mar., 1990), pp. 172-173 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2804152 . Accessed: 07/01/2012 12:57
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BOOK REVIEWS Mbeere have 'lost' so much oftheir traditional beliefs (p. 190). They also note that compared with other east Africansocieties,medlcinal plantsforma predominantlylay and secular activity,and that there are few professionals and littleritualconnected with traditional healng (p. 176). Riley and Brokensha's thirdconcern unitesthese two otherprimaryconcerns-and this consistsof a plea to governmentsand development agencies to take into account, in the making of development plans, local perceptions and knowledge. They deplore the policy of developmentfromabove, and its corollary-ignoring indigenous knowledge and like such researchers as Robert Chambers and Paul the salienceof ethnoscience,and the Richards,stress of local people in need forthe greaterparticipation decision-makingand action concerning their own development. Although Riley and Brokensha acknowledge that the Mbeere are going through a period ofprofoundsocial change and faceformidable ecological and social problems,they do not see the bleak. futureas entirely The study ends (ratheroddly, I thought) with extracts fromthe diaryof an old colonial, Colonel were very Meinertzhagen, whose lifeand sentiments fromthose of the Mbeere, whose ethnodifferent science is well portrayed in thlsstudy. BRLANMoRRis

replaced by maize-which though giving higher The landscapehasthus yieldsislessdrought-resistant. although there has been some changed drastically, treestree planting-of Meha, Grevillea and fruit mainly by people in the salaried professions.The authorsdiscusstheincreasedproductionofcharcoal, a recentinnovationwhich has acceleratedthe depletion of forestresources.Hunting in Mbeere has all but disappeared. One of the most profoundfactors of social change in Mbeere has been the land reform measures, which have led to the privatisationof processwhlch has had land-a tense,conflict-ridden profoundsocial consequences, not theleastofwhlch are the growingruralinequalities.One surveythey indicatedthatthetop 5 percent.ofhouseholds report now owned 24 per cent. oftheland, averagingmore the studiesof Diana than20 ha. each. This confirms Hunt and JackGlazier thatdevelopmentin Mbeere has largely benefited those at the top end of the socio-economic scale-particularly those with offfarmincomes. Riley and Brokensha'ssecond concernis to outline Mbeere ethnobotany-to outlne theperceptionsof the Mbeere towardsthe plantworld, as well as their folk classifications and the way in which plantsare used in Mbeere culture.The second chapterof volume 1 is devoted to this purpose, and gives an account of the various plant usages: as interesting medicine and for fuel,food,fibre, buildingmaterials, ritualpurposes. Volume 2 gives an annotated descriptionof the uses of Mbeere plants-the plants according to theirvemabeing listedalphabetically cular (Ki-Mbeere) names. thisdiscussion. Two pointsofinterest emergefrom thatMbeere folktaxonomieshave theystress Firstly, bias-although not denyingthe a markedutilitarian dimensionto Mbeere plantclassification intellectual (p. 206). But Riley and Brokenshafocustheirwhole account on thefolkgenerics(manyofwhlchembrace more than one botanical genus). There is thus no discussionat all on life-form categories,on whether functionalcategoriesexist,on the reaintermediate sons why botanicallydistinctspecies are placed by the Mbeere under a single taxon. The meanings of the generictermsare never specified.And although listingthe plant species under the vernacularterm may be seen as indicating'theirorder', it does tend to obscure the factthatmany plantshave synonyms thatindicatetheirvaried functions. It also seems curious thatfungiare not mentioned in the text, although mushroomsare an important item of food in most Africancountries.Could this be due to theAnglo-Americanmycophobiaofwhich Levi-Strausswrote? Secondly,althoughRiley and Brokenshanote the ritualimportanceofplantsin the boys' circumcision rites,and in relationto the sacred groves owned by thatthe Mbeere did not clans, theystress particular reveal the same rich and complex symbolismthat Turnerindicatedamong theNdembu. They put this in symbolicelaborationthatmay down to variations exist between cultures, and to the fact that the

Goldsmiths London College,

ROSALDO, RENATO.

theremaking Cultureand truth: of social analysis.xii, 253 pp. Boston: Beacon Press, 1989. $21.95

has undergone Accordingto thisbook social analysis in the last few decades. As a a major transformation both of what it resultthere has been a redefinition means to be a knowing subjectin the social sciences, and of what constitutesan appropriate object of knowledge. is thatall knowing subRosaldo's basic argument jects are necessarily situated by their own life experiencesin relationto theirobjects ofstudy.Putintopractice,he weaves hisown personal tingtheory experiences of bereavement,courtshipand fatherhood into his text. Rather than viewing such as a hindranceto knowledge, he argues subjectivity ofthe researcher thatthemultiplepersonalidentities can be put to work to elicit a much richerrange of knowledge than the old heroic masculine ideal of Weber's detached observer.Along with a new way of envisioningsubjectivity a new range of objects of in the cross-cultural studyhas emerged,particularly of human emotions and of multiculunderstanding turalism both in societiesand in individuals.In what nations'the object he callsthe 'culturally diversifying culof analysis mustbe neither'authentictraditional tures' nor the process of culturalhomogenisation, complex partial but the developmentofincreasingly and multipleculturalidentities,as individualslearn cultural to move back and forthbetween different contexts.

BOOK REVIEWS
The book is divided into three parts.He begins by criticising the 'classical norms' of ethnography, whlch treated cultures as integratedwholes like monumental art works hung on the wall of a museum. This approach has been replaced by a more fluidvision of a world made up of open borders.In the second part, he draws on Turner, Bourdieu, Thompson and others to argue for a more openended formof analysiswhich allows for uncertamn in social life.He outcomesand continuousinstabllity also valorises narrativeformsof writingin which multiple visions of social realitymay be presented which cannot be summarisedinto a single holistic vision. In the thirdparthe beginsby analysing three Chicano texts as examplesoffluidly changingcultural values and identities and goes on to develop a critique itwiththose ofWeber's ideal observer by contrasting who view social analysis as a formof criticism aimed at persuadingthe powerfulto change theirways or at organising situsubordinate groupsto changetheir ation. He concludes by developing the concept of 'relationalknowledge', in which the native's interpretationof the anthropologist's projectis given due recognition, and therelativity oftheanthropologist's admitted. knowledge of the nativeis frankly In an epilogue, Rosaldo discussesthe responseto to include non-Westernand non-classical attempts textsin mandatory'Western Culture' courses. This book is in partRosaldo's responseto thiscontroversy at Stanford.Indeed, this may well prove its most valuable contribution,since it is writtenin a style accessibleto theundergraduate and to thelayperson. Along with the advantages of such a style go the drawbacks,includingoccasional oversimplifications of complex theoreticalarguments,and ahistoncal criticisms of those who wrote at the time of high impenalism. Such authors should always be comnotwiththeir more paredwiththeir contemporaries, 'enlightened'descendants. THOMASGIBSON University ofRochester

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Dasgupta concentrateson a local, endogamous sub-caste of Bagdis (a 'low' or 'scheduled' caste in West Bengal), while Sarkarstudiesthe 'folk' or 'village' deitiesoftenvillagecommunities scattered over an even wider area. Both try to keep close to a functional and structural-functional onentation,but they give many useful details beyond their announced frameworks. Thls feature makestheirwork of most immediate value to other anthropologists workingin Bengal. Neithermakesmuch use ofmore recent studies (be these Indian or foreign). They capitalise on long-terminvolvementwith villagers in a region, the one based on the distribution of a smallcaste group,the otheron the similarity of cults and shrinesin a number of multi-caste villages. a lot of materialon folkcultureSarkarpresents between local and Sanskriticlevels distinguishing of great and little traditions)but he (renumrscent discussionoftheselevels.The regional provideslittle focus demonstratesthe distributionof deities and in relationto caste groups.The correspondfestivals ences are a litde too neat,but the material presented complicatesthesimplified theoretical picture.Sarkar calls the worshipat particular shnnes 'regional cults' in and looks at the distribution of deitiesand shrines relation to caste, occupation, ritual specialistsand social networks.'Village deitieswork' as a 'binding social segments'and constitute forcefor...dissimilar 'interactingpatternsof thought' through worship (pp. 4-5). All thisis not new but Sarkaropposes hIs approachto more 'orthodox' ones, stressing indigenous popular, versus systematic religlon. he does not discuss actual worshlp Unfortunately practicesand ideologies to any extent,nor does he referto vanations in the observance of ntuals. The seventeenshrinesof fivedeitiesselected seem to be themostpopularones,but Sarkar does notgo further: why these vlllages,deities and practices?Nor does he attemptto relatethe studyto the restof Bengal, let alone the rest of India. Thls would be understandable if the local systemswere analysed to a greaterextent. But there is little discussion of indigenous accounts, and specificntuals are given a The work does not leave a treatment. SARKAR, R.M. Regionat cultsand rural traditions: an perfunctory functionallevel and the later chapters interacting pattern ofdivinity and humanity in rural rudimentary merelyelaboratethe 'integrating pattern'thesiswith Bengal. xx, 351 pp., plates,tables,bibliogr.New more and more detail. The penultimate chapter Delhi: Inter-Indca Publhcations, 1986. Rs.345 monetaryconDASGUPTA, SATADAL. Caste, kinship and community: merelyadds names, caste affiliation, socialsystem and the like to the previous,more general ofa Bengalcaste. xii, 291 pp., illus., tribution tables, bibliogr. Madras: Universities Press, sociological information. 1986. Rs.125.00 Nevertheless,much importantdetail emerges in the course of the book: Brahman and non-Brahman These monographsare regionalstudiesby two Calin the same festival,milk substitutedfor ritualists cutta-tramned anthropologists: Dr Sarkar teaches in nce-liquor in some ceremonies, the prevalence of West Bengal while ProfessorDasgupta has been and interaction based in Canada forthepasttwo decades. Both works possession dances, animal sacrifices among deities,mediumshipand medicine, and patare based on extensive fieldworkcarried out in a ternsof financingand participation.These features number of Bengali villages in the 1960s and 70s. compared with other places in They provideplentiful ethnographlc description but could be profitably utillse edectic and somewhat erratic theoretical Bengal. Dasgupta sets out his framework purelyin terms frameworks.Sarkar's syntaxis in need of a good copy-editorwhile Dasgupta's book is well written of the functionalintegration of levels, the neatness and well produced. of whlch he more or less ignoresin the presentation