An Anthropology of North America for the World (original) (raw)
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Comparative American Studies, 2004
This article advocates an 'inter-Americas studies' perspective that bridges the institutionalized fields of American, Canadian, and Latin American studies, which have traditionally provided separate means for studying the hemisphere. Since they encompass comparative orientations, Canadian and Latin American studies in particular have the potential to move existing work on the hemisphere beyond the currently dominant post-national assumptions of American studies. Our discussion of Canadian and Latin American studies emphasizes the different usage and degree of importance ascribed to critical terms like ethnicity, postcoloniality, post-nationality, and globalization. We argue that inter-Americas studies scholars will need to pay special attention to historically divergent forms of nation-state formation and intellectual analyses of nationalism in the Americas to arrive at more nuanced theories of continuing US domination in the hemisphere under conditions of globalization.
General introduction to the Routledge Handbook to the history and society of the Americas
The Routledge Handbook to the History and Society of the Americas, 2019
The Routledge Handbook to the History and Society of the Americas charts the field of inter-American studies, focusing on the transnational or hemispheric imensions of social, cultural, and political dynamics in history that shaped the different societies and communities in the Americas. In doing so, the Handbook is inspired by recent debates in cultural and postcolonial studies in the humanities and social sciences that have challenged traditional conceptualizations that have had the tendency to essentialize and universalize Western/ European concepts that are grounded on particular local experiences. Furthermore, these approaches have illuminated the important contributions of other epistemic communities, especially indigenous and Afro-American, as well as nonacademic actors, especially from social movements and the field of cultural production, for the emergence and constant redefining of key concepts in the Americas. In this sense, it is not the aim of this Handbook to provide a unilateral and homogenous narration of history and society in the Americas from a single perspective. In contrast, this Routledge Handbook deals with selected key concepts that are widely used in academic and cultural–political discussions in the Americas. These concepts are explored from different geopolitical, disciplinary, and epistemological perspectives. In highlighting the contested character of key concepts that are usually defined in strict disciplinary terms or in regard to specific – often unconsidered – geopolitical standpoints, the Handbook provides the basis for a better and deeper understanding of inter-American entanglements.
Cox's America, Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Cox's assertion that American race relations were rooted in capitalist class antagonisms and their colonial and imperialist pretensions went against many of the dominant theories about race relations in the United States at the time he began publishing, as well as those that became dominant leading into the early 1960s independence moments in the larger British West Indian territories. Originally published in 1948, Cox's Caste, Class, and Race is perhaps most appropriately positioned within what we might see as a deconstructionist impetus, best instantiated by C.L.R. James and Eric Williams; an impetus that would like the Americas within a common analytic frame. In positioning Cox alongside his better-known Caribbeanist colleagues, this paper nevertheless parses the American context in which his theoretical apparatus was being developedthe development in sociology of the "race relations" paradigm and the anthropological emphasis on racism and segregationin order to gain a more profound appreciation for the specificities of context in relation to transnational analyses of racial marginalization.
Marxism, Indigenism, and the Anthropology of Native North America: Divergence and a Possible Future
Dialectical Anthropology, 2017
The purpose of this article is to discuss the relationship between Marxist theory and the anthropology of Native North America. This includes a brief history of the origins, development, and application of Marxist theory in the anthropology and ethnohistory of Native North America, as well as a discussion of the theoretical and ideological tensions between Marxism, postmodernism, and indigenism in this regional context. That builds to a discussion of Rata's (2000) concept of neotribal capitalism as an application of and innovation on Marxist theory to settler-colonial situations, and its superiority over postmodern/indigenist-derived theory and analysis in actually understanding and explaining the processes (re)shaping Native North America. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for Marxist theory and analysis for properly understanding contemporary situations within Native North American societies.