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Anthropology and Disasters
Author(s): Frances D'Souza
Source: RAIN, No. 30 (Feb., 1979), pp. 1-3
Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3032499
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ROYALANTHROPOLOGICALU
INSTITUTENEWS
o
RAII
ISSN 0307-6776
February 1979 Number 30
Every two months
blished by RAI, 56 0. Anne St London WlM 9LA
j_
ROPOLOGY AND
FrancesD'Souzais Directorof the
DisasterInstitute,Senior
International
Lecturerin PhysicalAnthropology,
Departmentof SocialStudies,Oxford
Polytechnicandpart-timelecturer,
Departmentof Anthropology,London
Schoolof EconomicsandPolitical
Science.Thisarticleis basedon a talk
givento theRAIon 1.1October.
DISA
or scientists - call them what you will -
haveworkeddirectlywith reliefagencies
in whatcouldbe describedas a formof
participantobservation.
fit in?There
Howdo anthropologists
aretwo answers.Disastersarequiteas
muchspecialsocialeventsas they are
specialphysicalevents.Andit is increascountriesthat
inglyin underdeveloped
havedisastrous
naturalcatastrophes
It is nowbarelyeightmonthssincethree humaneffects.Specialsocialeventson
in disaster
oughtto
whatis often their'patch'
researchgroupsspecialising
to formthe InterAny adequate
interestanthropologists.
studiesamalgamated
evaluationof victims'needsandthe
nationalDisasterInstitute.TheI.D.I.
effect of aidmustincludea
longer-term
existsto improve,throughresearch,the
of the socialand
sensitiveappreciation
effectivenessof disasterreliefandto
to the disaster.
promotea rationalandcoherentapproach culturalbackground
to the problemswhichface reliefand
Thisarticlelooksbrieflyat one kindof
disaster,famine,andits socialantecedevelopmentadministrators.
Theworkof membersof the I.D.I.
dents.
Mostsocietieslivingin disaster-prone
duringthe lastten yearshasrevolved
areashavetraditionalmethodsfor coping
aroundthe attemptto reducethe tensuchas drought,crop
with catastrophes
sionbetweenthe 'academic'criticsand
It is
failures,floodsandearthquakes.
the 'doers',andgainpositiveresultsfor
disastervictims.To achievethis,academics only whenthesecopingmechanisms
becomeso overburdened
by the scaleof
the catastropheitself,or alternatively,
by
the suddenandvastinfluxof foreign
aid for whichthereareno localprecedents,that a doublecrisisoccurs.Two
questionsarethenposed.Whatavailable
methodsarethereto (i) judgethe 'breaking-point'of traditionalcoping mechanisms,and(ii) assessrapidlywhatwould
be effectiveaidin a givendisaster?
Thereare,of course,no easyanswers,
andit is incumbenton I.D.I.and
like it to be awareof their
organisations
responsibilities
andtheirlimitations.
However,a decadeof fieldworkhas,
timeandagain,emphasisedthatno
amountof sophisticatedtechnologyis
effectiveunlessit is culturallyacceptable
andcapableof beingincorporated
into an
existingsystem- a pointwhichhas
alsoemergedso clearlyin familyplanningschemesin thirdworldcountries.
It wouldseemthata studysuchas an
epidemiological
surveyof nutritional
statusin children,whenfood shortage
44
Cananthropologistshelp to prevent these scenes? (Ethiopia, Wolloprovince, 1975)
becomesacute, is reasonable,feasible
andproductive.Particularneeds in a
givensection of a population can be
identifiedand treated.A comparative
study of disasters,on the other hand,
includinghistoricaland anthropological
data,aimsto discoverwhether generalities
or evenhypothesescan be advanced.The
effects of a given catastropheare assessed
retrospectively;one asks, for example,
questionssuch as what conditions are
necessaryand sufficient for a famine
to occur.This method appearsto be
basedon the most tenuous of intuitive
approaches.In fact this latter approachis
probablythe more fruitful in that it
attempts,by treatingdisastersas social
phenomena,to isolate the causesrather
than concentrateon the symptoms.
If, for example, one wishes to examine
nutritionalstatus of childrenby whatevercriteriaare currentlyacceptableand
practical,e.g. weight-for-height,for
everyclinicalcase of malnutritionthere
will be many more for whom weightfor heightprovesan inadequatetechnique
for measuringsub-clinicalcases of malnutritionand consequentlyidentifying
childrenat risk. How can such riskbe
quantified?If we have areaA with 10%
of clinicalmalnutritionand 10%at risk,
and areaB with 5%of clinical casesbut
25%at risk - which should receivethe
higherpriorityfor food aid?
Furthermore,should we attempt to
assessthe nutritionalstatus of children
at all?We know this age groupis at
greatestphysiologicalrisk from starvation, but is it necessarilyat greatest
due to the 'diseaseof chaos'.
social risk?The social ethic, as in many
The campswere situated at towns on
societies, may well be to distributefood
the two main highwaysof Wollo Propreferentiallyto children,therefore
vince. Roadsidetowns in Ethiopiagenerplacingadultsin a more nutritionally
ally have establishedways of dealingwith
precariouscondition (this was certainly
a constant influx of people from rural
the case duringthe Greekfamine of
areas,and traditionallythey are absorbed
1945-6). Finally we might ask whether
in a developingcountry where malnutri- by becomingservants,labourersor
tion is endemic, morbidity and mortality prostitutes.However,the concentration
of refugeesin 1973 swampedthese
are sufficient indices of the severityof a
famine, or whether(as some of us have
mechanismsand thus markedthe beginargued)what distinguishesa famine from ning of the real crisisresultingfrom the
chronicdeprivation- normalin underdrought.Whatis crucialis the sequence
development - is not only death, but,
of events which led up to this migration.
equally, social disruption.Both approaches In 1972, the Ethiopiangovernment
actuallybeg the question: what are the
possessed(and suppressed)enough inbest indicatorsof risk and of needs?
formationfrom crop surveysto know that
A retrospectivestudy of events in
severefood shortageswere inevitablein
Ethiopiabetween 1972 and 1975 which
1973. But even had they seriously wished
resultedin a severefamine ('Lessonsfor
to act and forestallthe tragedy,the
Epidemiologyfrom the Ethiopian
essentialinformation - on market
Famines'by J. P. W. Rivers,J. F. J.
prices,panic-sellingof land and houses,
Holt, J. A. Seamanand M. R. Bowdenin
the break-upof familiesand villages,
Ann. Soc. beige. Med. trop. 1976, 56,
throughearly migrationto find harvest
4-5, 345-357) illustratesthe point that
work on commercialplantations- only
some of the chief indicatorsof impending became known retrospectively.Our
famine are social. The best estimates
studiesindicate that this breakdown
availableshow that famine crisisin north- precedesstarvation,but we need to know
east Ethiopiaincreasedmortalityby only more about the sequence of decisionsby
farmingor pastoralfamilieswhich defines
15%.Whatcharacterisedthe famine
above all was the concentratedshock and a social catastropheafter a physicalone.
In 1974, membersof the then London
social disruptionin a localised area.The
TechnicalGroupundertooka surveyin
campsin which refugeesfrom the
countrysidecrowded,became the focus of pastoralareasof south-eastEthiopia
belated publicity and relief aid. But owing which had some successin predicting
not solely on
famineby concentratintg
to hopelessly inadequateprovisionsof
food, shelter,medicationand sanitation, nutritionalmeasurementsbut on unusual
it is likely that of some 100,000 deaths
pastoralmigration,marketing,observed
which occurred,a largenumberwere
livestock numbersand local opinion.
Language, Thought and Culture: Advances in the Study of Cognition
The
of
Cultural Definition
Political Response:
Lineal
Destiny
the
Among
Luo
DavidParkin
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, England
October 1978, xxii + 348 pp., ?14.80
0.12.545650.6
Cultural change is not just a straightforward response to external pressures: the culture itself, as a powerful and autonomous system of ideas, plays a large part in shaping people's internal adaptation to new circumstances. Recent far-reaching changes - educational expansion, increasing wage dependency, population growth and urban unemployment have all had their impact on the populations of Africa, but underlying cultural differences have persisted throughout.
It would be misleading, therefore, to think of ethnicity as a mere 'false consciousness', without any bearing on the
destiny of a people. The Luo of Kenya, who are the main subject of this investigation into the nature of cultural change
and its semantic aspects, are no exception to the rule. In spite of a general shift to wage-earning, they continue to
organise many political and domestic activities within a segmentary lineage model adapted to the new way of life and
supported by the use of key verbal concepts by those in authority.
ACADEMIC PRESS
London New York San Francisco
(,AIj.I)
A Subsidiary of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers
24-28 Oval Road, London NW1, England
111 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003, USA
Australian Office: P0 Box 300, North Ryde, NSW 2113, Australia
The evidenceavailablewould suggest
that starvationis a sudden and late event
whichhas antecedents,not impossible
to define. If starvationitself continues to
be definedin anthropometricratherthan
social terms,aid will, with rareexceptions,
continueto arriveafter the crisishas
passed.The essentialquestion becomes,
how do local food shortageor other
crisesaffect individuals?
Some tentative conclusionsmay be
drawnfrom the example of the Ethiopian disasterstudies:
(1) That famine is not synonymous
with death by starvation.It is clearthat
agencies'inability to accept the distinction between endemic malnutritionand
epidemicstarvationcausedthem to
respondlate and inadequately.
(2) That it was possible, on the basis
of what has been called by an anthropologist a 'short and nasty' survey,to
predictevents by using anthropological
as well as epidemiologicalmethods.
(3) That one, possibly, key indicator
of famine is large-scaleand sudden
movement of peoples, especiallyof
pastoraliststo urbanareas.
(4) That the prevailingsystem of
mutual debt and obligationspiralled
viciously down and its collapsewas
actuallyenhancedby the influx of aid,
in that the logistics of the relief programmeitself precludedresumptionof
pastoralism,in some areas,by concentratingthem in camps.
*
more nearly correlatedwith subjective
allow agenciesto provideaid to identified
motivation, and scientific ability can
localities before people become refugees
match the emotional response.
in relief camps.
Muchof the work of the I.D.I. concen- FrancesD 'Souza
trates on establishingways in which
The office of the International Disaster Institute
is at 85 Marylebone High Street, London WlM
such indicativeinformationcan be
3DE.
systematicallycollected in time to
understandthe
of the
psychology
guards.
These arenot new problemsof ethnoCOMMENT graphy.
The sympatheticstudy of stigUNDERWORLD
ANTHROPOLOGY
The last ten or twenty yearshave seen a
reactionagainstthe use of social science
to assist those who run established
institutions. Researchershave sometimes
erredin the opposite direction,identifying with those who are either 'oppressed'
by these institutions or who reject them.
The trend is clear, for instance,in the
ethnographyof prisonlife. Terence
and PaulineMorris'sclassicstudy Pentonville, publishedin 19631, is explicitly
modelled on the social anthropologist's
technique of setting up a 'hut on the
villagestreet' (p. 8), and distinguishes
the isolation of life in Pentonvillefrom
that on a Pacificisland.The researchers
clearlysufferedconsiderablesuspicion
from the prison staff - the farewell
party which they gave for the staff was
sparselyattended - but their book does
try to be fair and impartialas between
staff and inmates.
Stanley Cohen and LaurieTaylor's
PsychologicalSurvivalof 19722, about
the maximumsecuritywing at Durham
prison to which they had access as
teachersof social science, is almost
totally inmate-oriented.The authors
explicitly say that for the purposesof
their researchthey took the men's side,
and with commendablefranknessadmit
as a limitation of their study that they
were unable to do any justic to the prison
officers' view as well.
A more recent book still, published
in 1974, ChicanoPrisoners:the Key to
San Quentinby R. TheodoreDavidson3,
is a remarkableanalysisof the dominance of this well-knownNorth Californian prisonby the Mexicanmafia. Davidson, workingas a graduatestudent from
Berkeley,proceededalmost entirely
throughsympatheticcontact with informants from whom he has extracteddetailed
informationabout the leadershipstructure of this powerfulnetwork operating
between prisonsand between prison and
the streets;about their manipulationof
the prison economy of drugs,tobacco
andcash; about membershipinitiation,
obligationsand privileges;about the corruptionof guards,and much else. Though
much of this is objectivefact, he makes
little attempt to cross-checkhis data or
supplyalternativeviewpoints.He clearly
admiresthe Chicanos'characteristic,
dualitiesof machismoand self-renunciaLion,but it is hard to believe that he was
rot from time to time their dupe as well
is the carrierof a powerful ethnic myth.
lrhe role of heroin in the crimesfor
San
inmates
Quentin
are conMhich
rictedis
not
emphasised,
though
I under-
Billions of dollars,tens of thousands
of peoples and a vast technology have,
as yet, been unableto prevent,let alone
relieve,famines.
It would seem an essentialexercise
to try to arriveat a more general
understandingof the underlyingcauses
- the indicatorsof risk. From this informationeventuallyone could then
advancetowardsimprovementsin disaster
preparedness.
If we can identify the crucialvariables
inherentin disasters,then we have the
beginningof a genuinescience in that
predictionscan be made. It is important
to continue collecting data about communities undersuddenstress and the social
ruleswhich dictate the distributionof
food and other commodities,and the
likely changeswhich may occur under
the impact of such crises.
A greatdeal more needs to be known
about the social response,amongboth
victims and donors, to disaster;scientists
who may, as yet, have only an impersonal
understandingof disasters,do at least
begin to know how to ask questions.
This has importantimplicationsfor
developmentpolicies generally,as well
as for disasters.
Morespecifically,since disasters
usually occur in third world countries,
it is necessaryfor that informationto be
gatheredin associationwith anthropologists. Only when the detailed social
context of what actuallyhappensto
communities,familiesand individuals
in disastersis known, will one also know
how to providecost-effectiverelief.
Finally a gradualbuilding-upof this
;tandfrom anothersource that it is
kind of detailed informationwill create
Xissociatedwith about 70%of these crimes.
V4ordoes Davidsonmakeany attempt
to
a basis on which objectiveaction can be
matisedminoritiesis a humanising
enterprise.But it can become as romantic and sentimentalas can the anthropology of primitivepeoples. Chicano
Prisonersis a tour de force of prison
ethnography;but unlike Cohen and
Taylor,Davidsondoes not seem to be
awarehow one-sidedhis account is.
As a curiosity of deviantanthropology,
however,it is put in the shadeby William
Sims Bainbridge'sSatan'sPower: a
DeviantPsychotherapyCult, recently
publishedby the Universityof California
Press(?l0.50). The dust-jacket'smixture of a satanicgoat with typographic
good taste made me assumeat first that
this was anotherof those cheerfuloccult
pot-boilerswhich appearin the lists of
such otherwiseseriouspublishersas
Routledge& KeganPaul or Thames&
Hudson.But no, it is a strictly analytical
ethnographyand psychohistoryof a
hierarchicalsecret society which started
in 1963 in London, from Californian
ancestry,and then migratedto Mexico,
back to Europeand then to North
Americawhere at its peak it numbered
some 200 or 250 membersof all ranks.
It disintegratedin the mid-1970's.
Dr Bainbridge,it must be said, has a
good line in dead-panhumour,as when he
treats Rosicrucianismand Psychoanalysis
as two analogousmovements,or compares
structuraloppositions in the privatecosmology of the cult's founder 'Edward
de Forest' with those in the theories of
L6vi-Strauss(but perhapshe is serious
here). Bainbridgecontributessome
useful insightsinto how normalmiddleclassyoung people get involvedwith
weird sects, by a processhe calls 'social
implosion'in which internalsocial ties
are strengthenedand externalties are
weakened;and he stresseshow attractive
it can be to enrol in an organisationas a
therapistratherthan as a patient.
But one cannot readSatan'sPower
as pure ethnography.With a show of
VACANCY
Universityof London
READERSHIPIN ANTHROPOLOGY
AT THE LONDONSCHOOLOF
ECONOMICS
AND POLITICAL
SCIENCE
The Senate invites applicationsfor the
above Readership. Applications (10
copies) should be submitted to the
Academic Register(RA), Universityof
London, Malet Street, London WC1E
7HU, from whom further particulars
should first be obtained. Closingdate
28 February1979.