Reflections on the “Anthropology of Response-ability” through Engagement

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Other Title
  • A Long and Winding Road from Fieldwork to Ethnography, Commitment, and Beyond
  • A Long and Winding Road from Fieldwork to Ethnography, Commitment, and Beyond

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Based on my own experiences of committed anthropological fieldwork among the Ayta of western Luzon and the Ifugao of northern Luzon, both in the Philippines, I propose the idea of an “anthropology of response-ability.” After the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo - the biggest eruption in the 20th century -- in western Luzon in 1991, I engaged in rehabilitation works and projects through a small Japanese NGO (Asia Volunteer Network) that was working for Ayta eruption victims. The Ayta are Asian-type Negritos living in and around the Mt. Pinatubo area with whom I lived for twenty months in the late 1970s for my Ph.D. research. During ten years of committed engagement through NGOs and aid agencies since the eruption, I came to recognize that anthropology and anthropologists could and should contribute much more to urgent issues and problems for mitigation and alleviation. An “anthropology of response-ability” is a type of public anthropology, but the focus of concern is much more on field-site issues tackled through collaboration with local people beyond national borders rather than on issues and problems in our home countries.

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Details 詳細情報について

  • CRID
    1390282680763553408
  • NII Article ID
    130006708691
  • DOI
    10.14890/jrca.18.1_5
  • ISSN
    24240494
    24325112
  • Text Lang
    en
  • Data Source
    • JaLC
    • CiNii Articles
  • Abstract License Flag
    Disallowed

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