If the extract from James Clifford’s book is read within a broader context, it can be taken as an example of the tendency to assume that we (an individual, a culture, a people, a nation, a world) are constantly progressing, through the invention, critique and re-evaluation of beliefs, customs and behaviours that have existed before now, or that continue to exist right now. This is to say, we believe we are always moving towards a better way of living together. In isolated cases of socio-political conflict or dispute resolution, a ‘positive’ outcome may confirm this assumption. Scientific or technological advances also add to the feeling that existence is improving all the time. Naturally, there is always an opposing view to any kind of potentially positive news; a whole system of critique, encompassing almost every way of being in the world, provides a whole range of opinions on any topic event, issue or whatever. In ‘The Predicament of Culture’, Clifford references Margaret Mead and her writing seems to hit a solid 10 on the out-dated scale. Then again, Clifford himself now seems relatively uncontroversial, whilst the tone of the article indicates a certain urgency within his claims.
My disappointment is with the inevitability of this constant to-ing and fro-ing between all manner of social organizations, individuals, political lobby groups, governments, businesses, cultural agencies, academics and so on; contest and resolution, then contest and resolution, tension and release. The giant wheel of human existence continues to roll around, appearing to go up the hill, only to fall down the other side. Sisyphus would be impressed with our persistence.
My fear is that a nihilistic philosophy is always lurking in the background, ready to turn everything into a meaningless and random collection of garbage. Any supposed new thought or method would be seen simply as a temporary variation that would eventually be replaced by another temporary variation. Believing in anything would instantly require so much more than faith and the process of contest and resolution would grind to a halt.
References
James Clifford, The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, Massachusetts, 1988, pp215-251.
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3 comments:
I get where you are coming from Sean. We are constantly being delivered new ideas and ways of thinking about the world (and not just in the arena of critical theory) and we are like video cameras constantly readjusting the information taken in and recorded, as light changes, subject and camera moves. Its a constant refreshing of data. The range of readings which we have been given on this course( both in subject and age) reflect this.
I guess that way back (Plato etc), there was this concept of progress as a linear progression - up to divinity, but with contemporary critiques (feminist etc), the notion of progress is more about integration - of cultures, but also human bodies and nature, and technology - I read somewhere that the metaphor of the family tree for humans can now be more accurately portrayed as a bush. Meaning lots of branches, and kind out outward growing rather than up. As an aside to your metaphor of the wheel- Borges (in the book of imaginary beings) writes about the belief that the human soul is a sphere which after death 'enters rolling into heaven', I think this is a lovely sort of exuberant concept.
I have found that a few of the texts in the reader this year relate to the idea that the world is always changing and critique of things is relevant at the time but can become less so in the future and you have explained all this really nicely. And i agree with your comments about the potential for this situation to become overwhelming and that in the face of it, we should not just throw up our hands in despair, because although we cannot always be right, i suppose we have to start somewhere. If leaders in the past had simply decided problems were too big or projects that were not perfect were not worth doing, we would never make any progress, whether positive or negative. I guess all this relates to procrastination, something i wish i wasn't so familiar with!
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