Read on Twitter
thoughts: no Indigenous folks included in the convo, focus shifted to personal story about editor rather than communal discussion about how we hold (white and BIPOC) elite Anthros accountable. Finally: People tweet because they are not IN the spaces powerful Ivy/R1 anthros curate https://twitter.com/AmAnthroJournal/status/1277672599531773958
Itâs really illuminating, I guess, to see how Twitter is portrayed here. A lot of important movements in Anthro are discussed on Twitter. Folks in elite spaces can bracket in + out of Twitter as they choose but reciprocal move (non-elite in/out of Ivies, top unis) not possible
Itâs not just âsome peopleâ on Twitter who were concerned. Itâs peers, colleagues, students, the public. The move to flatten this as an amorphous group, to suggest that they they do not also deserve consideration and care is sort of...weird.
People are not going to email one of the most powerful people in anthropology if they do not feel they are part of that circle, that they are a peer. Itâs telling who can call up the editor and who cannot. And students, especially, cannot do that. We teach them not to.
As a tenured prof, I emailed many members of both AAAs and CASCA with concerns that the community raised about CASCAAAA2019, and I was met with so much gaslighting. We donât email because it is rarely met with compassion or care. I hope maybe this incident will help shift that.
Final thought: has anyone reached out to community whose ancestors/kin are portrayed in that image? We have ties to communities around the world through apprehension of Indigenous life. The journal could reach out, if appropriate, and make concrete reparations to those impacted.
Everyone involved is a respected scholar. There is no doubt of that. But please can we start to really pay attention to power differentials within anthro, and how those play out in moments like this? Extend care to all WOC scholars, always, but donât erase class/power/position.
Maybe key thing is: we are working with peopleâs ancestors, always, in anthro. Through their bones held in museums, through their stories held in ethnographies, notes, video clips. Maybe we can take from this complicated encounter is just: how do I care for someoneâs ancestors?
I really believe nobody meant any harm and the willingness to engage is important. But I do think maybe one aspect of this encounter is about having a deep, searching convo about how we care for one anotherâs ancestors (and future ancestors) across colliding genocides.
