Colonial ethnography: West New Guinea (1950-1962)

During the 1960s and '70s the relation between colonialism and anthro pology was, for a time, a much discussed topic. An early contribution was Macquet's (1964) article, Objectivity in Anthropology. Macquet claimed that there were two theoretical anthropological perspectives which had served colonialism in Africa. Evolutionism had justified colonial conquest and expansion, and functionalism had been useful during the next stage of colonial consolidation and administration. Macquet's analysis presup poses a direct link between the Objective' socio-economic conditions of a group and its mental productions. However, the individuals concerned need not be aware of this connection. Nor does Macquet's analysis imply that anthropological writing did, in fact, help maintain the colonial system to a significant degree. 'What matters is that anthropology was oriented as though it wanted to preserve the existing situation' (1964:49). Mac quet's argument is difficult to evaluate, because it is characterized by extremely broad generalizations at a very high level of abstraction. Still, the basic message which Macquet wants to convey is quite simple. Major theoretical perspectives in anthropology prevail because they serve colo nial interests. A more sophisticated perspective, leaving room for contradictions and ambiguities, was offered by Asad (1973). Nevertheless, it is also clear for