convergencia bastide

10/07/2015 Thepastisaforeigncountry?Acculturationtheoryandtheanthropologyofglobalization

http://etnografica.revues.org/952?lang=fr 1/21

EtnogrficaRevistadoCentroemRededeInvestigaoemAntropologia

vol.15(2)|2011:VariaHistriasdaantropologia

Thepastisaforeigncountry?Acculturationtheoryandtheanthropologyofglobalization1Thepastisaforeigncountry?Ateoriadaaculturaoeaantropologiadaglobalizao

JOOLEALp.313336

Rsums

EnglishPortugusContemporary anthropologyhasdevelopeda consistent interest in the studyofmodesofcirculationofpeople,objectsandideasassociatedwithcurrentculturalglobalization.Thisinterest is usually presented as a new development in anthropological theory and itspossible predecessors, such as diffusionism and acculturation theory, dismissed asirrelevant. Focusing on the works of Melville Herskovits and Roger Bastide, this articlearguesforalessbiasedimagedofacculturationtheoryandstressesthewaysinwhichsomeofitsachievementscaninspirecurrentapproachestoculturalglobalization.

A antropologia contempornea tem vindo a desenvolver um interesse consistente peloestudodosmodosdecirculaodepessoas,objectoseideiasassociadosglobalizao.Esseinteresse usualmente apresentado como um novo desenvolvimento na teoriaantropolgica e os seus possveis antecedentes, como o difusionismo e a teoria daaculturao, so vistos como irrelevantes. Debruandose sobre o trabalho de MelvilleHerskovitsedeRogerBastide,esteartigodefendeanecessidadedeumaimagemmenosdistorcida da teoria da aculturao e sublinha omodo como alguns dos seus contributospodeminspirarasdiscussescontemporneassobreglobalizaocultural.



Entresdindex

Keywords: globalization,acculturationtheory,historyofanthropology,diffusionism,MelvilleHerskovits,RogerBastidePalavraschave: globalizao,aculturao,histriadaantropologia,difusionismo,MelvilleHerskovits,RogerBastide

Texteintgral

Thecontemporaryanthropologicalsceneischaracterizedbyastronginterestinculturalprocesseslinkedtoglobalization.Thisinterestisexpressedintherecentdevelopment of the anthropology of globalization as an important subdisciplinary field. But it is also reflected in a renewed interest in processes ofcreolization, hybridization and syncretism, which are an important part ofglobalization.Inbothcases,albeitindifferentterms,thestudyofflowsofpeopleand cultural forms has become a highly visible feature of contemporaryanthropology.

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Reflectingthependulousnatureofanthropologicalknowledge(Barrett1984),these apparently new globalist leanings of anthropology are not withoutprecedent. Some of these precedents are rather recent, as in the case ofanthropologicalexplorationsof theencountersbetweentheWestandtheRestdevelopedbyauthorssuchasEricWolf(1997[1982])andSidneyMintz(1986).Others are more remote. Diffusionism, which was a major anthropologicalparadigminGermany,theUSandGreatBritainfromthe1890stothe1920s,isacase inpoint.Acculturation theory is anotherone.Developed in the 1930sand40s by North American anthropologists influenced by Boass diffusionism,acculturation theory, although never widely circulated in mainstreamanthropology, was nevertheless central in studies of contact among severalNativeAmerican groups and in the emergence of AfricanAmerican studies. Itsinfluence inanthropological studiesoutsideof theUS, especially inBrazil,wasalsoofgreatimportance.

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Despite their importance, both diffusionism and acculturation theory haveoften been relegated to the margins of the history of anthropology. HenrikaKuklick (1991), in her book on the history of British social anthropology, forinstance,hardlymentionstheinfluenceofdiffusionisminW.H.R.Riverss latework. And even the diffusionist affiliation of Boas, as Brad Evans (2006) hasconvincingly argued, has been downplayed in the history of North Americananthropology. Given this disciplinary amnesia, the possible contributions ofdiffusionism and acculturation theory to the anthropological understanding ofglobal flows of people and culture have been often ignored or, in some cases,dismissedasirrelevanttotheglobalistagenda.

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Someauthorshaverecentlyproposedamoresensitiveapproachtothesetopics.Inthecaseofdiffusionism,UlfHannerz(1997),ArndSchneider(2003)andHansHahn(2008),forexample,havestressedthesharedconcernsofdiffusionistsandglobalists.Similarly,MelvilleHerskovits, fora longtimeamissingfigure intheannals of history of anthropology and one of the central protagonists ofacculturation theory, hasbeen rediscoveredbyNorthAmerican anthropologistsand historians of anthropology, such as Walter Jackson (1986), JerryGershenhorn (2004) or Kevin Yelvington (2006b). Given Herskovitss decisiveinfluence in the emergence and consolidation of AfricanAmerican studies (anintellectual field with considerable autonomy within mainstream modernistanthropology),theassessmentofhisworkhasbeeninmostcaseslimitedinscopeanditspossiblecontributionstotheglobalistagendahavebeenoverlooked.

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Anoutlineofacculturationtheory

In thispaper Iwant to furtherprobe into these missing linksbetweenpastanthropological approaches to diffusion and cultural contact and currentanthropological engagementswith globalization. Iwill basically concentrate ontwoauthorswhoplayedan important role in thedevelopmentof acculturationtheory:MelvilleHerskovitsandRogerBastide.Herskovitscanbeseenasthemostimportantauthorinthethematizationofacculturationtheory,whichheviewedasamodernistupdateofearlydiffusionism.Bastideswork,asisdemonstratedby Fernanda Peixoto (2000), is characterized by a wider range of theoreticalinfluencesfromGilbertoFreyrestheoriesofmestiagem (Freyre1957 [1933]) toFrench sociology and psychoanalytical theory. Nevertheless his writings onAfricanAmericanreligionsandtheBlackAmericaswerestronglyinfluencedbyacculturation theory. As to the globalists, I will refer not only to authors whoexplicitly address issues of cultural globalization, but also to authors who,notwithstanding the lackofexplicit references toglobalization,dealwith issuesrelated to cultural history and to the contemporary movement of people andcultures.

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The first section of the paper is dedicated to a reassessment of acculturationtheory. After a general presentation of itsmain aspects, I will critically reviewsome widespread criticisms of Herskovitss and Bastides work and assess theways in which their theoretical insights can prove useful to our contemporaryengagements with globalization. As I will argue in more detail, the fact thatacculturation theory may provide some interesting clues for currentanthropological challenges does not mean that new analytical tools are notrequired if a more complex understanding of the current predicaments ofglobalization is to be achieved. The second part of the paper proposes someexamplesofwhatcouldbesomeoftheconcernsofananthropologydedicatedtothestudyofcontemporaryflowsofpeopleandculture.

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Acculturation theory can be viewed as a later stage in the process ofdevelopment of diffusionism, which played a decisive role in the formation ofNorthAmericananthropologyfromthe1890sonwards,whenBoassideasbegantoreplacethemixtureofsocialevolutionismandscientificracialthoughtuntilthen prevalent in the US. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, however, thedominanceofdiffusionisminNorthAmericananthropologywasbeginningtobechallengedbysomeofBoassdiscipleswhoweremoreinterestedinthesynchronicworkingsofculture than in itshistoricistcontours.RuthBenedictsPatternsofCulture(1934)playedadecisiveroleinthatmove.Rebellingagainsttheviewofcultureasanarbitrarycombinationofshredsandpatches(Lowie1920)andthediffusionist emphasis on the circulation of isolated cultural elements, Benedictstressedthewayinwhichintegration,insteadofdisparateaccretion,wasamajorforceintheworkingsofculture.

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Cultural integration was in principle not incompatible with a historicalapproach to culture (see Rosenblatt 2004). However, the implicit belief thatcultural integration was something pertaining to the longue dure, combinedwiththeimpactoftheMalinowskianmovefromdiachronytosinchronyresultedinthegradualsubalternizationofdiffusionisminNorthAmericananthropology.This subalternization did not mean that the historical concerns of BoasiananthropologywhatDanielRosenblatthastermeditshistoricalparticularism(2004)suddenlydisappearedfromNorthAmericananthropology.Alongwiththeinitialexplorationsofthenewconfigurationalist(Rosenblatt2004)viewofculture,somemajorworksofdiffusionismcontinuedtobepublishedinthe1930s

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and40s.Atthesametime,somecentralaspectsofdiffusionismwerealsobeingactively refashioned, in order to meet some of its perceived fragilities and toaddressnewchallenges.

Acculturation theory was the major outcome of these critical revisions.InvolvingsuchdiverseauthorsasRobertRedfield,RalphLinton,PaulRadinandMelville Herskovits, acculturation theory which also influenced MeadsmonographonTheChangingCultureofanIndianTribe(1932)wasresponsiblefor twomajor changes in the classical diffusionist approach to culture contact.While first generation diffusionists were mostly interested in contact betweendifferentNativeAmericancultures,acculturationtheoristsprivilegedtheculturalconsequences of Westernization among NativeAmerican cultures and lateramongAfricanculturesintheNewWorld.Thesecontactscouldbeobservedonthespot(Herskovits1948:525),thatis,theywerenotconjecturallydeduced,asinthecaseofinteractionsbetweennonWesterncultures.Acculturationtheoristswere thus able to circumvent one of the chief accusations against classicaldiffusionism. Their view of diffusion was a processual one, more interested inhistoryinthemakingthaninhistoryasanarrativeofthingspast.Movingfromdiffusiontoacculturationalsomeantanaccruedattentiontocontext,ortoputitotherwise,fromtheexternalitiesoftheculturalcirculationofisolatedtraitstotheinternal processes of reaction to foreign cultural influences. Acculturationtheoristswerethusabletoattunediffusionismwithmodernistanthropologyanditsemphasisonsynchronicculturalwholeness.StanleyBarretthasproposedtheconcept of salvage theory to describe how a theory under attack is forced toreviseitsoriginalorientationinordertoaccommodategrowingcriticism(1984:8485). Acculturation theory can be viewed in similar terms as amodernistupdate of early diffusionism theory, developed in response to its perceivedinadequacies.

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Herskovits played a decisive role in the process of theoretical upgrading ofclassicaldiffusionism.Hisempiricalresearch,withitsemphasisonthestudyofawiderangeofAfricanAmericancultures,wascentralintheshiftfromthestudyofdiffusion among primitive tribes to the research of contacts betweenWesternand nonWestern cultures. Having successively focused on several AfricanAmericancultures ranging fromSurinam,Trinidad,Haiti,Brazil to the Negroculture of theUS south, his research also led him to a scientificpilgrimage toAfricaaimedatreconstructingtheinitialculturalbaselinefromwhichAfricanAmerican cultures had evolved (Herskovits 1998 [1941]: 15). Simultaneously,Herskovits was the most active and persistent theorizer of acculturation as amodernist replacement for diffusion. Together withRobert Redfield and RalphLinton, he was one of the authors of the famous 1936 Memorandum onacculturation (Redfield, Herskovits and Linton 1936). Two years later hepublishedhisownbookonthesubject(Herskovits1938)and,besidesnumerouspapersonthetheoreticalaspectsofacculturativeprocesseswritteninthe1940sand 50s,hewasalso theauthorofManandHisWorks (1948), a voluminousintroductiontoculturalanthropology,whichstandsashismostwellarguedviewofprocessesofculturaldynamics.Amongtheseprocesses,acculturation,definedas diffusion on the spot (1948: 525) or cultural transmission in process(1948:523),stoodasthemostimportant.Movingfromhisearlyassimilationistviews (Gershenhorn 2004: 65 Yelvington 2006b: 4350), Herskovits viewedacculturation as a comprehensive theoretical tool for the interpretation ofprocesses of cultural contactswhose diverse outcomes retention, syncretism,reinterpretation,counteracculturationwereextensivelyargued.2

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Bastides relationship with acculturation theory developed later and wasmostlyaresultofhisinterestinAfroBrazilianreligions,whichbeganinthemid1940s and led to the publication of twomajor works,OCandombl da Bahia

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Acculturationtheoryanditsdiscontents

(1958)andLesReligionsAfricainesauBrsil(1960).Whilehis1958bookonthecandombl,centredontheideaoftheAfricanauthenticityoftheritual,wasratherimmune to ideas of cultural blending, his 1960 comprehensive book on AfroBrazilian religions was strongly marked by concerns with acculturation. Thesources of these concerns were diverse. The importance of Bastides familiaritywith Gilberto Freyres view of mestiagem as a defining feature of BraziliancultureandwithNinaRodriguessworksonsyncretismasoneofthemainaspectsofAfricanreligionsinBrazil,havebeenstressed(Peixoto2000).ButLesReligionsAfricaines au Brsil was also influenced by Herskovitss work on AfricanAmerican cultures. The dialogue between the two anthropologists was ratherambivalent.OntheonehandBastidewaseagertostressthedifferencesbetweenhim and Herskovits: his version of acculturation theory, influenced by Frenchsociology, introduced sociological aspects that were allegedly missing fromHerskovitss analysis. On the other hand and despite his vocal criticisms ofHerskovits, some central arguments developed by Bastide regarding forexample thedifferentdegreesofacculturationofAfroBrazilian religionswereclearly influencedbyHerskovits.Fromthispointofview,Bastidesworkcanberegarded as a late, albeit reluctant, offspring of theHerskovitsian engagementwithacculturationtheory.

Following Hannerzs (1997), Schneiders (2003) Evanss (2006) and Hahns(2008)recentreassessmentsofdiffusionism,onecouldstartbypointingouttheshared concerns of acculturation theory and the anthropology of culturalglobalization.

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Bothareinterestedinphenomenaofmovementandflowofpeopleandculturalforms.Thespecificcontexts inwhichthesephenomenahavebeenexploredalsoshare some similarities. Acculturation theorists had a particular interest inreligion and ritual, as it is evident both in their explorations of AfroBraziliancandombl and Haitian voudou, and in studies of ghost and prophet dancesamongseveralNativeAmericangroups.Inbothcases,thefocuswasonculturalencounters and fractures, oftenmarkedby violence, between theWest and theRest. Globalists, it may be argued, have widened up the thematic andgeographicalrangeoftheirobservations.Butreligionandritualcontinuetoplayanimportantroleontheglobalistagenda,asshownbytheincreasingnumberofrevisitsofAfricanAmerican religionsor thegrowingbodyof literatureonneoPentecostalism and charismatic Catholicism on the American continent andelsewhere. They have also extended their attention towards a wide range ofculturalflows.However,theyretainastronginterestintheglobalflowsconnectedtotheWestandtheRest.

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Working with similar phenomena in similar, though extended, contexts,acculturation theorists andglobalistshavealsodeveloped resembling concepts.While Herskovits viewed cultural contact in terms of acculturation, globalistshave been talking about hybridization, hybrids and hybridity, expressions thatonecanalsofindinsometextsbyacculturationtheorists.Nevertheless,accordingto the still dominant narrative, these similarities coexist with significantdifferences between both approaches. Indeed, notwithstanding some moresympathetic authors, including those mentioned above, most anthropologistshave adopted a more adversarial approach towards acculturation theory,dominated by differentiating criticisms: we can possibly study the same

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Rereadingacculturationtheory(1)

phenomenaastheyoncedid,butwestudytheminaverydifferentway.Thus,whileacculturationtheoristshaveoveremphasizedoriginsandpurisms,

we are supposed to be more attentive to the actual processes of criticalappropriation and creative transformation of culture. An important part of thecontemporary analysis of AfroBrazilian religions, for instance, has developedamidst several (and severe) critiques of Bastides Africanist paradigm. Bystressing, for instance in O Candombl da Bahia (2005 [1958]), the Africanoriginsoftheritual,BastideitissaiddevelopedadiscourseobsessedbyAfricawhichignoredtheworkingsofbricolagewithintheAfroBrazilianreligiousrealm.Herskovitshasbeencriticizedonthesamegrounds.ThecaseofTheMythoftheNegroPast (1998 [1941]) is well known. Its emphasis on Africanisms amongNorthAmericanNegroesisanevidenceofHerskovitssindifferencetowardstheimportance of theNewWorld context in prompting the dynamic emergence ofBlack cultures in the US (Apter 2004 Palmi 2006).3 Herskovitss scales ofintensity of New World Africanisms in which AfricanAmerican cultures areclassified in a scale ranging from very African to trace ofAfrican custom orabsent(1966[1945]:53)isafurtherevidenceofhisindifferencetowardscontextand inventiveness (Apter 2004). As a result, Herskovits (and the same couldapply toBastide)hasbeenaccusedof passivenotionsof acculturation (Apter2004: 160).Actually this isnot theonly charge thatHerskovitssacculturationhastoface.RosalindShawandCharlesStewarthavestresseditsassimilationistbias, which allegedly impeded Herskovitz to foresee the possibility of antisyncretism(1994:6).Inadifferentvein,itisalsosaid,wearenowmoreattentiveto instances of agency that mark the critical difference between diffusionistsacculturation and postmodern hybridity (Schneider 2003: 220 Matory 2006:157164).Wehave also reintroduced issues of power that acculturation theoryhasignored(Apter2004).4

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Itisnotmyobjectivetodenytheactualdifferencesbetweenourcontemporaryconcernsandacculturationtheorists.InacertainsenseasIwillarguelateronwecanandmustbemoreradicaltowardstheirlimitations.HoweverIthinkoneshouldbeginbyemphasizingthewayinwhichouractualinterestinflows,limitsand hybrids to quote Ulf Hannerz (1997) can benefit frommore complexmodesofdialoguewithauthorslikeHerskovitsandBastide.

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This dialogue requires, first of all, amore historically grounded approach ofacculturation theory than the one produced by its critics, based on asensitivereading of the texts and able to produce a more nuanced approach of itspredicaments.

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Thus,theAfricanistleaningsofHerskovitsmustbeunderstoodinthecontextofthepersistentalliancebetweenanthropologyandculturalcritique intheUS.Asdemonstrated by several authors (e.g. Jackson 1986 Gershenhorn 2004),HerskovitssAfricanist leaningsderived fromhispolitical commitment towardsthe cause of Negro advancement in the US. Influenced by the HarlemrenaissanceandW.E.B.DuBois,HerskovitsviewedtherecoveryoftheAfricanpast among US AfricanAmericans as a major step towards Negro politicalempowerment.ForHerskovits, thedenial of theAfricanpast of theUS Negrohadturnedhim[into]theonlyelementinthepeoplingoftheUnitedStatesthathasnooperativepastexceptinbondage(1998[1941]:31).RecoveringtheAfricanpast would be an important contribution to Black cultural pride and to thecombatagainstracialdiscrimination:apeoplethatdeniesitspastcannotescapebeing a prey to doubt of its value today andof its potentialities for the future

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TherecognitionbythemajorityofthepopulationofcertainvaluesinNegrosongandNegrodancehasalreadyheightenedNegroselfprideandhasaffectedwhiteattitudestowardtheNegro.FortheNegrotobesimilarlyproudofhisentirepastasmanifestedinhispresentcustomsshouldcarryfurtherthesetendencies(1998[1941]:299).

(1998[1941]:32).Ashehasputit intheconcludingchapterofTheMythoftheNegroPastinamoreoptimistictone:

Thusitwasbecauseofhiscommitmenttotheantiracistagendaofthe1930sand1940sthatHerskovitstooksuchastronginterest inAfricanretentionsandorigins.HisAfricanismparadigmwasnot asmuch the result of the theoreticallimitations of acculturation theory as a consequence of a progressive politicalchoiceregardingtheUSNegroproblem.

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That is why his political interest in African roots did not entail a completeempiricaldenialofculturalchange.InthecaseofTheMythoftheNegroPast,forexample, it canbeargued thatHerskovitswasawareof theextent towhichUSNegroculturehadbeenaffectedbyprocessesoftransformation.Afterall,mostoftheevidenceheproposedfromprogressivemonogamytoshoutingchurchesandNegrospiritualswasaproofofthat.HavingpreviouslydonefieldworkinSurinam,Trinidad,HaitiandDahomey,HerskovitscouldnotbutbeawareoftheextenttowhichAfricanheritagehadbeentransformedintheUS.Thatiswhy,inTheMythof theNegroPast, heput somuch emphasis on reinterpretation andadvocated the principle of multiple causation, thus admitting the role ofslavery and the present economic and social scene (1998 [1941]: 189) in thecontinuation of African heritage. The subtext ofTheMyth of theNegro Past isthat,notwithstandingthetransformationsthathadoccurredintheNewWorld,USNegroculturewasstillrecognisablyAfrican.Thefirstpointbeingevident,heconcentratedonthelatter.

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ThatHerskovits was aware of the risks he was taking is evident in his laterwork. His scales of intensity of Africanism in the NewWorld (1966 [1945]),whereAfricanisms in theUS are set against a comparative background, can beseenasanadmissionoftheexcessesoftheAfricanistenthusiasmofTheMythofNegroPast. Similarly, in someof thepapershewrote in the 1950s,HerskovitswaseagertoadmithisinitialAfricanistexcesses:thereactiontothewidespreadopinion that Africa had no functioning part in NewWorld Negro culture []forced a too emphatic stress on these Africanist carryovers. Inevitably, thisobscured the appraisal of other historical factors that were equally operative(1966 [1950]: 36).Andhe goes on to emphatically add that in theNewWorldpurity of retention is the exception, not the rule (1966 [1950]: 36) andreinterpretationthedominantpattern.

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AmoresustainedshiftfromthestudyofAfricanoriginstotheappraisalofNewWorld context would have to wait, as Sidney Mintz and Richard Price (2003[1992])haveargued,forasecondgenerationofAfricanAmericanscholars.Itcanbeargued,however,thatHerskovitshaspavedthewayforsuchareassessmentofthedialecticsofretentionsandreinterpretationsinAfricanAmericancultures.

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Historical context can thus give us a more nuanced and sensitiveunderstandingofHerskovitsspredicamentsthantheusualpresentistapproach,mostly based on mechanisms of academic distinction which tend tooveremphasizethepossibledifferencesbetweennowandthen.

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I am not saying that all contemporary judgements of Herskovits and otheracculturationtheoristsaremisleading.Forinstanceagencyinthepostmodernsense of the word is actually absent from Herskovitss concerns withacculturation,eventhoughHerskovitswasnotcompletelyunawareoftheroleofthe individual in culture. Thus, as Walter Jackson has pointed out, in Rebel

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Destiny (Herskovits and Herskovits 1934) the Herksovitses discussed innarrative form the personalities of several Saramaccans (Jackson 1986: 111).Similarly,inhiscritiqueofthedefinitionofacculturationproposedbyTheSocialScienceResearchCouncil(1938,1948)Herskovitsalsostressedthefactthatthecontactofcultureswasnotonlycontactbetweengroupsorfractionsofgroups,butalsocontactmediatedbysingleindividuals.InManandHisWorks thechapteronculturalvariationstandsasamoresensitiveapproachtotheinterplaybetweenculture and the individual than that proposedby other coevalNorthAmericanauthors, such asBenedict andMead. These examples notwithstanding, agencywasactuallynot aprominentpartofHerskovits theoretical agenda, asMatoryhasconvincinglyargued(2006:157164).Neithercoulditbe.Thetheoreticalandempirical invisibility of agency was actually a defining feature of almost allanthropological schools of modernist anthropology. Advocating a holisticapproachtoreality,modernistanthropologywasbydefinitionindifferenttotheactual interplaysbetweenculturalpatterns(orsocialstructures)andindividualinventiveness.AcculturationtheoryatleastinitsHerskovitsianfashionwasnoexception.AsSallyPricehasputit:forHerskovitshistoryoftentooktheformof continenttocontinent processes, involving peoples more than people, anddiscernible largely through culturetoculture comparisons (2006: 89 myemphasis).

Astopower,thequestionseemstobemorecomplex.IssuesofpowerwerenotcompletelyabsentfromHerskovitssconcerns.Ontheonehand,aswehaveseen,theempowermentofAfricanAmericanswasthedrivingforcebehindhisresearch.Evenifhehadntwrittenaboutpower,powerwouldparadoxicallybetherationaleforhiswork.Ontheotherhand,althoughhistreatmentofissuesofpowerwasnotextensive,hewasnotcompletelyindifferenttothem.Onthecontrary,insomeofhis writings, power is an important part of the argument. In TheMyth of theNegroPast,forinstance,counteringprevailingthesesontheacquiescenceoftheNegrotoslavery(1998[1941]:86),Herskovitsdedicatedawholechaptertoslaverebellions in theNewWorldand toother formsofpassive resistance suchasslowing down work, misuse of implements (1998 [1941]: 99) thatforeshadowJamesScottsacclaimedbookonTheWeaponofthePoor.Asimilaremphasis in the constant active discontent of black slaves through openrevolt,sabotage,thepracticeofthevoduncultandmarronagerevolt(Jackson1986: 113) can also be found inLife in aHaitianVillage (Herskovits 1937).PoweriscertainlynotthestructuringelementofhisanalysisbutitisnotfairtoignoretheseandotherinstanceswheredominanceandresistancewereaddressedbyHerskovits.5

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Someof these arguments are also trueofBastide.HisAfricanist leanings aremostevidentinOCandombldaBahia(2005[1958]),wheretheyresultfromaweirdcombinationoftheindigenouspointofviewofritualspecialistsinterestedinemphasizingtheAfricanpurityofNagritualswithBastidesownfascinationwith Marcel Griaules interpretation of the complexities of African thought(Peixoto2000:109110,123124).TheroleofGriauleinBastidesthoughtmustbestressed:asitisusuallyadmitted,theDogonsagainitiatedbyGriaulewasinitstimeoneofthemostseriouschallengestoprevailingnotionsofAfricaninferiority.InitsownwayBastidesAfricanismwasthusoverdetermined,asinHerskovits,byissuesofempowerment.ItmustalsobeaddedthattheroleofAfricanismhasbeen overemphasized by several readings of Bastides work. Thus, if instead offocusing onO Candombl da Bahia one focus on Les Religions Africaines auBrsil (1960), it is fair to note that this second book conveys a much morecomplex interpretation of AfroBrazilian religions, in which cultural andsociologicalcontextplaysakeyroleinthestudyoftheacculturativeprocessesofreligions of African origin in Brazil. Similarly, inLes Amriques Noires (1967)

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Lacivilisationafricaine(etlareligionenestparteintgrante)estdevenueauBrsil[]unesousculturedegroupe.Ellevadoncsetrouverengagdanslaluttedeclasses,dansledramatiqueeffortdelesclavepourchapperunesituationdesubordinationlafoisconomiqueetsociale(1960:107,myemphasis).

Rereadingacculturationtheory(2)

someparticularNewWorldsyncretismswereviewedasathirdcultureunstablylocatedbetweenAfricanrootsandWesternculturalimpositions.

One also cannot say that Bastide was indifferent to issues of power. On thecontrary, Bastide viewed Africanisms in the New World as an expression ofAfricanresistancetoWesternphysicalandsymbolicviolence:

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ThefactthatLesReligionsAfricainesauBrsildedicates twochapters to thediscussionofissuesofdominanceandresistanceTheprotestsoftheslavesandreligion(ch.III)andThereligiouselementinracialstruggles(ch.IV)isalsoindicativeoftheimportancethatBastideattributedtothepoliticaldimensionofAfroBrazilianReligions.

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In a 2004 issue of American Anthropologist some anthropologists havechallengedthedeconstructionisteffortsdirectedtowardstheconceptofculturethat have pervadedNorth American academia in late 20th century (e. g. Bunzl2004Bashcow2004Rosenblatt2004).Theydonotcontestthatnewissueshavebeenaddedtotheclassicalagendaofculture.ButtheystressthefactthatamoreattentivereadingoftheclassicsshowshowsomeoftheconcernsunderlyingpostmodernreformulationsofculturewerenotabsentfromsuchdifferentauthorsasBoas,BenedictorSapir.Inthesamevein,MichelRolphTrouillothasremarkedthatcontemporaryanthropologyhasadoptedabiasedviewof itspast.Valuingnewnessoveraccumulation,mostanthropologistsleantowardsanoverlyloudrejectionofpreviousthinkerseventhoughtheirclaimsthatthewheel[has]justbeen invented [] are not always supported once the package is open (2003:119). Against such positions, Trouillot advocates a strategy based on both theexplicit embracingof adisciplinary legacyasanecessarycondition forpresentpractice and on the identification of specific changes that help redefine thepractice (2003: 119). The approach I am advocating is similar. We shouldreframethetermsofourdialoguewithacculturationtheory.Beforestressingtoohastilyourdivergences,weshouldreturntotheoriginaltextsandprobeintohowtheclassicalauthorshavedealtwiththeissueswearenowaddressing.

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Besides the reframing of current criticisms, our reappraisal of acculturationtheory should also stress the ways in which some of the questions we tend toaddress as new and exclusively linked to contemporary globalization, havealreadybeenaddressedbyacculturationtheorists.

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Some of these questions aremethodological. Consider for instance the recentcallsformultisitedfieldwork.Thisissomethingusuallypresentedasanovelwayof doing fieldwork. GeorgeMarcus has defined it as a still emergent mode ofethnography(1998[1995]:80) thatmovesout fromthesinglesitesand localsituations of conventional ethnographic research designs to examine thecirculation of cultural meanings, objects, and identities in diffuse timespace(1998[1995]:80).Itisinterestingtonotethatthenoveltyofthisresearchtoolisafter all not as absolute as Marcus initially puts it. Later on in his paper heprovidessomeexamplesofmonographsthathaveanticipatedthisstillemergentmodeofethnographywhichincludequiteironicallyMalinowskisArgonautsoftheWesternPacific.

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What I would like to stress, following Gupta and Ferguson (1987) acutecomments on alternative models of fieldwork, is the relationship betweenacculturation theory and several forms of what is now called multisitedfieldwork.Thesealternativemodelsofethnographystemfromextensivesurvey,which,asGeorgeStocking(1983,1995)hasshown,hasbeenaneglectedstepinthe history of the invention of classical Malinowskian fieldwork. Being thedominantmodeof ethnographical researchamongearlydiffusionists, extensivesurveypresentedaproblem:althoughthenumberofobservationswasenoughtoestablishprobableroutesofcirculationofculturalforms,eachobservationprovedtoothintospecifymodesofacculturation.Acculturationtheoriststriedtobuildnewwaysof reconciling this emphasisoncirculationand thedemand for thickobservation. The whole research history of Herskovits, who did fieldwork inSurinam, Trinidad, Haiti, Dahomey and Brazil, always looking at the sameproblems, canbeseenasanexampleofanoldandmoredemandingversionofmultisited fieldwork. Departing from the one observer/one place/one time(Trouillot 2003)modernist strategy of fieldwork,HerskovitssAtlantic journeyswere pioneer experimentswithmultiple places and times.His tight theoreticalsupervision of several Brazilian researchers such as Octavio Eduardo, RenRibeiro and Ruy Coelho might also be seen as a tentative approach to themultiplicationofobservers.

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Besides dealing with methodological issues similar to the ones we are nowaddressing, acculturation theory has also developed concepts and theoreticalobservations that can be useful to our current interest on issues of culturalglobalization.Iwillgivethreeexamples.

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The first concerns Herskovitss views of acculturation. As mentioned above,Herskovitss approach to acculturation is more complex than it is usuallyadmitted by his critics. From an earlier assimilationist view of acculturation,Herskovitsmovedtoafarmoreelaboratedviewoftheformsandoutcomesoftheprocesses of contact between cultures, in which concepts like convergence,retention, syncretism, reinterpretation and counteracculturation played aprominent role. The concept of convergence which has its roots in earlydiffusionismstandsinHerskovitssworkasameansofadmittingathirdwaybetween independent inventionanddiffusion.AlthoughHerskovits likemostdiffusionistsdidstressdiffusionasthemajormechanismofhumanhistory,hedidnot ruleout the idea that in somecases similaritiesbetweencultural itemsmightderivefromindependentinvention.

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As tosyncretismandreinterpretation, theystand inHerskovitssworkas thetwomost important conceptual tools for probing into the processes of culturalinnovation resulting from contacts of cultures.Marking all aspects of culturalchange, theyapply to theprocessbywhicholdmeaningsareascribed tonewelements orbywhichnewvalues change the cultural significanceof old forms(1948:553).Borrowing(orimposition),retention,change,andamalgamationarekeyelementsofbothprocesses,which,accordingtoHerskovits,areoftentwowayprocesses.Thus,inTheMythoftheNegroPast,HerskovitsarguedthatsyncreticformsofNegroBaptistChristianityhadbeencentral towhiteNorthAmericanreligiousrevivalism.Ashehasputit,IntheNewWorld,exposureofthewhitestoNegropracticesaswellasofNegroestoEuropeanformsofworshipcouldnotbuthavehadaninfluenceonbothgroups,howeverpronestudentsmaybetoascribeasingledirectiontotheprocessfromwhitestoNegroes(1948:231,myemphasis).As to counteracculturation, Herskovits viewed it as a variant based on therefusalofexternalinfluencesofacculturation.Occurringwhenculturecontactinvolveddominanceofonepeopleoveranother,counteracculturationtookthebasic form of contra acculturative movements [] wherein a people come tostress the values in aboriginal ways of life, and to move aggressively, either

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Lacculturationapparat[]soussonvraijourquiestdtreuneluttepourlestatutsocial[]Lacivilisationdesblancsatdsire,commmetechniquedemobilitsociale,commeseulesolutionlaisse,aprslchecdelinsurrection,poursortirdunesituationinsupportableelleatvouluedlibrment,systmatiquement(Bastide1960:94).

actuallyorinfantasy,towardtherestorationofthoseways(1948:531).The second example concerns Herskovitss views on the underlying

mechanismsofacculturation.OneofthemaingoalsofHerskovitswastoexplainwhysomeaspectsofAfricanculturesintheNewWorldweremoreresilientthanothers. The concept of cultural focus was central to his analysis. According toHerskovits, the cultural focus is that phenomenon which gives a culture itsparticularemphasis(1966[1945]:59):Moreelementsintheareaoffocusofareceivingculture[suchasreligionintheAfricanAmericancase]willberetainedthanthoseappertainingtootheraspectsoftheculture,acceptancebeinggreaterinthosephasesofculturefurtherremovedfromthefocalarea(1966[1945]:59).However,besidesculturalfocus,otherfactorsintervenedintheinterplaybetweenretentionandtransformation,themostimportantbeingtheroleplayedbynonconscious aspects of culture, or, asHerskovitshasput it, less overt aspects ofculture (1998 [1941]: 158). In The Myth of the Negro Past, for instance,Herskovitsstressedtheculturaltenacityofmotorhabitsinawaythatrecallsourcontemporary concerns with habitus and embodiment (1998 [1941]: 145146,219).Inthesamevein,hisapproachtoreligioussyncretismintheNewWorldwasnotsomuchinterestedinsinglingoutequivalencesbetweenisolatedelementsasin stressing the continuity of world views. Thus, cultural factors such as thealleged pliability of West Coast African religious systems, the organizationalautonomy of African communities of believers, and the role played in AfricanreligionsbypossessionwereviewedbyHerskovits as responsible for theoverallAfricantoneofNegroBaptistChristianityintheUS,evenintheabsenceofanymaterialtracesofAfricanritual.Theemphasiswasthusputontheimportantroleplayedinacculturationbythoseaspectsofculturethatarecarriedbelowthelevelof consciousness: the cultural imponderables evident in linguistic patternsandmusicalstyles[],typesofmotorhabits,systemsofvalue,codesofetiquette(1966 [1945]: 59). In situations involving change, cultural imponderables aremore resistant than are those elements of which persons are more conscious(1966[1945]:60).

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The third example concerns Bastides thematization of the social contexts ofacculturation processes. Bastides emphasis on a sociologie en profondeur(1960: 22) was the most important difference between his own approach ofacculturation andHerskovitss views on the topic. FollowingGeorgesGurvitchemphasis on the social framing of religion, Bastides focus upon the socialdynamics of AfroBrazilian religions and cultures foreshadowed more recentapproachestothetopic,suchastheonesproposedbySidneyMintzandRichardPrice (2003 [1992] see also Matory 2006: 161). For instance, Bastide viewedcertainsocialconditionsliketheplantationsystemortheconcentrationoffreeslavesinurbanareasascentraltothesurvivalofAfricanreligions,albeit inasyncreticform,inBrazil(1960:6566).HealsoregardedacculturationasakindoftechniqueforthesocialadvancementofBrazilianBlackpopulation:

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Despitehisemphasisonthesocialcontextsofsyncretism,Bastidesviewsoftherelationshipbetweenthesocialandtheculturalwasfarfromdeterminist.Ontheone hand, he defended that in order to understand the development of AfroBrazilianreligionsoneoughttoadmitthereciprocalautonomyofthesocialandcultural.Thiswasthereasonwhyrelatedreligiousformscouldhavedevelopedinsocial contexts so different as Africa and Brazil: les civilisations hewrote

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peuventpasserdunestructure[social] lautre(1960:215).Atthesametime,BastidewasawareofhowAfroBrazilianreligionswereessentialtotheproductionofnewsocialforms:lesreligionsafrobrsiliennesnepeuventtrecomprisesquesionlesexamine[]sous[une]doubleperspective:dunct[]ellesrefltentlastructuredelasocitglobaledelautre[]ellessontellesmmescratricesdeformessociales(1960:223,myemphasis).

Theconceptsandanalyticalobservationsthatwehavebeenaddressingmightprovide interesting starting points for contemporary research on culturalglobalization. Let me start with some aspects of Herskovitss thematization ofacculturation. Stressing reinterpretation as a general property of acculturativeprocessesHerskovitssconcernsare,ingeneralterms,similartothosesharedbycontemporary reflections on the dialectics of global influences and localappropriations. Current discussions on the concepts of globalization andlocalization (Friedman 1990), appropriation (Schneider 2003Hahn 2008), reterritorialization (Inda and Rosaldo 2002) or friction (Tsing 2005), whileintroducing new variables, such as transnationalism or the market, share thesameconcerntowardsreinterpretationalreadypresentinacculturationtheory.Ina similar way, the current interest in processes of desyncretization and antisyncretism, despite Shaw and Stewart (1994) claims to the contrary, can beviewed as a revival of the strong interest in counteracculturation showed byseveralNorthAmericandiffusionistsintheirstudiesofNativeAmericansunandghost dances (Herskovits 1938). The case of AfroBrazilian religions in Sergipe(Brazil)studiedbyBeatrizDantas(1988)isalsoacaseinpoint.AlthoughDantasis trying to distance herself from Bastides diffusionist emphasis on Africanpurity, she nevertheless recognizes the strength of what, in Herskovitss (andBastides)terms,couldbecalledthecounteracculturativepurifyingdiscoursesofAfricanroots inAfroBrazilianrituals.As toconvergence,asChristophBruman(1998) has suggested, it could provide a corrective to our contemporarydependenceon themetaphors of circulation as the exclusivewayof addressingculturalcreativityandchange.Itmightbethatsomeprocessesthatwethinkaslinkedtothecontactsofculturesintheconditionsoflateglobalizationturnouttobe, at a closer look, convergent developments producing apparently similarresults.Finally,globalistsobservationsonthewaysinwhichtheperipherytalksback to the centre in the contemporary globalized world can be viewed asreminiscentofHerskovitssviewsonacculturationasatwowayprocess.

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Herskovitssemphasisonthepersistentcounteracculturativeroleofnonovertaspectsofculturehasbeenamorecontroversialissue.SidneyMintzandRichardPricehavecriticizedHerskovitssanalysesofAfricanAmericancultures fortheirexcessiveemphasisonAfricanoriginsasopposedtotheimportanceofNewWorldcontext. But they are nevertheless close toHerskovits when they admit that acommonAfrican cultural heritage in theNewWorld could be sought in sharedsystems of values and in unconscious grammar principles regarding socialrelationshipsor thephenomenologyof theworld(MintzandPrice2003[1992]:27).6 The Herskovitsian approach can also have a stimulating role incontemporaryresearchonculturalglobalization.Afterall,whenanthropologistsstress the importance of powerful mechanisms of selective appropriation andreinterpretation in regulating the circulation and local reception of Westerncultural goods in nonWestern cultures, what seems to be at stake is the roleplayed by Herskovitsian cultural imponderables in the dynamics of culturecontacts,asJonathanFriedman(1990)hasarguedfortheCongolesesapeurs.7Inasimilarvein,whenGlazerandMoynihan(1963)wrote,intheearly1960s,abouttheimprobablesurvivalofItalianorJewishethnicityinmeltingpotNewYork,they were stressing the resilience of systems of value among otherwisequintessentialAmericancitizens.

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Fromacculturationtoglobalization

After a period of radical deconstruction of the classical concept of culturemarked by the conflation of culture and identity, it seems that someanthropologistsarenowmoreattentivetotheinvisible,implicitandbehindthescenesworkings of culture (Eriksen 2000 see alsoBruman 1999). ThismightprovidetheopportunityforamorethoroughreassessmentofHerskovitssviewsontheroleplayedbyculturalimponderablesinprocessesofacculturation.

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Bastides views on the social dimensions of acculturative processes can alsoprovide an interesting starting point for a more comprehensive view ofcontemporary processes of hybridization. These are often interpreted, as AishaKahn(2007)hasstressed,asfreefloatingdevicesassociatedwiththeaestheticsoftheglobalvs. the local.Bastides ideasabout themutual implicationofcultureandsocietyofferan important corrective to this culturalist viewof creolization.Not only hybridity is socially produced, but it also reflects the unequaldistributionofpowerbetweendistinctsocialgroupsand,mostimportantly,someofitsoutcomessuchassyncreticreligiouscultsareessentialintheproductionofnewsocialconfigurations.Thislastpointshouldbestressed.AsBrunoLatour(2005)hasrecentlyargued,religionisnotsomuchaDurkheimianmirrorofsocialcohesion, but a contentious site for the unstable production of society. RogerBastidecouldhavesubscribedtosuchaconstructivistvisionofreligion,whichheactually applied inLesReligionsAfricainesauBrsil to the realm of Brazilianhybridreligions.

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Does thatmean that acculturation theory and globalization are one and thesamething,andthatwearetodaywherewewerefiftyyearsago?Thatisnotmyargument.What I am saying is thatwe should have amore complex dialoguewithacculturation theorists,basedona fair identificationofwhatwecan learnfrom them and what we have to discover by ourselves. Instead of focusing onsometimesimaginarydivergencesweshouldconcentrateondifferencesthatmakeadifference.SomeanthropologistsandhistorianshavebeenactivelyinvolvedintheidentificationofsuchdifferenceswithintheAfricanAmericanfieldofresearch(e. g. Yelvington 2006a). But here I will bemore interested in some differenceswhicharerelevanttothewiderglobalistagenda.

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Oneofthesedifferenceshastodowiththenewphenomenathatcharacterizethecurrent stageofglobalizationwhencompared to itsprevious stages.Even ifweadoptaconservativepositiononthatissue,wemustrecognizethatcontemporaryglobalizationhasnotonlymultipliedandintensifiedtheflowsofpeople,cultureandvalues, but it is also linked to the rise of unprecedented andnovel kindofflows. In this sense, one of the tasks that the anthropology of culturalglobalizationhas to face is the empirical and theoretical upgrading of previousapproachestophenomenaofculturaldynamics.Thisisanongoingprocess.

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Forinstance,weknowalotmorethanwepreviouslydidabouttourism,oneofthese new flows of people that has become so relevant in the current stage ofglobalization. Tourism is of course strongly associatedwith particular forms ofcontactsofculturethatacculturationtheoristsusedtostudyundertheheadingofacculturation and that we now study under such diverse headings ashybridization, creolization, etc. Garca Canclini (1995), has emphasized howtourism is linked to emergent hybrid cultures that fuse the once separatedworlds of ancient folk culture and postmodern popular culture, of thegenuine and the spurious, to quote the title of the famous essaywritten byHandlerandLinnekin(1984).Butcertainincreasinglypopularformsoftourismarealsoconnectedtoformsofculturalcontactbasedonthescenicpreservationor

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reinvention of untouched authenticity. Indeed, ethnological safaris, folkloreperformancesdirected towardsa touristaudience, some formsof rural tourism,arebasedonthepromiseofaculturalcontactwithunspoiledotherness.

Wecansaythatthispromiserestsonanillusion.However,fromthepointofviewofthetourist,asDennisORourkehasdemonstratedinhisCannibalTours,what isat stake isanactual contactwithculturalauthenticity.Addressing thecontemporarydialecticsof tourismandheritage,BarbaraKirshenblattGimblett(1998) has defined heritage in the following terms: Heritage not only givesbuildings, precincts, andwaysof life that are no longer viable a second life asexhibits of themselves. It also produces something new (1998: 150, myemphasis). It thuscanbeviewedasanewmodeofculturalproduction in thepresent that has recourse to the past (1998: 149, my emphasis) based on adiscourse of reclamation and preservation (1998: 150). The foundationalmechanism of this new mode of cultural production, in the case of culturaltourism, is the replication of authenticity and the denial of cultural contact.Having acculturated primitives and peasants, we now ask them, in ourinsatiable and promiscuous [] appetite for wonder (1998: 150), to deculturate. In this sense tourismrestsonapowerfulparadox:whileprovidingacontextforculturalcontactbetweentouristsandprimitives,betweenurbanitesand peasants, between inauthentic and authentic ways of life its modusoperandi,basedonwidespreadmechanismsofreplication,restsuponthedenialofculturalcontact.

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WhatIamsuggestingisthatculturalcontactsassociatedwithtourismpresentus with new challenges that cannot be addressed by conceptualizations aboutcultural contacts that we have received from acculturation theory.We have tothinknotonlyinbroaderterms,butalsoindifferentterms.

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Thesameoccurswhenweconsiderthelargersocialandcultural landscapeinwhichthecurrentstageofglobalizationtakesplace.Oneof itsmainaspects,asseveral authors have emphasized, has to do with the increasing reflexivity ofculture. As a consequence, the contemporary landscape is saturated with movements and politics of identity. The local has not been erased byhomogeneousandacculturativeglobalization.Onthecontrary,globalizationisassociated with the multicultural proliferation of particular identities (e. g.Tomlinson2003Agier2001).Togetherwiththeconstantproductionofhybridsandacculturatedforms,thecurrentstageofculturalglobalizationisthuslinked,to quote again Barbara KirshenblattGimblett, to new modes of culturalproductionthatstressboundariesinsteadofcirculation,purityevenifitisanimaginarypurityinsteadofmixture,immobilityinsteadofmovement.Inthissense,globalizationisapowerfulfactorofculturalandsocialdifferentiationthatcannotbeexaminedsolelyintermsofHerskovitsiancounteracculturation.Theseprocesses of differentiation have been more thoroughly studied in relation tocontemporarymulticulturalconditionsandstruggleslocatedbelow.Buttheyarealsoevidentif,insteadoflookingdown,welookup,if,insteadoffocusingontheethnicitiesoftheracializedothers,weconcentrateonwhathasbeencalledwhiteethnicity. The contemporary proliferation of private condominiums in thecontemporary global and multicultural cities of walls to quote the title ofTeresa Caldeiras book on So Paulo (2000) is a case in point. As ZygmuntBauman (2007) has argued, these cities of walls can be viewed as results ofprocessesofdifferentiationthatrespondtoincreasingmulticulturalizationbytheconstant building of new differences and borders, both in a symbolic and in amaterialsense.

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The theoretical landscape in which our current attempts to address culturalglobalization are located is also different. We are more attentive as I havepreviously emphasized to issues of agency and power. Simultaneously new

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Afinalremark

formsoftheorizationoftheprocessesofdisjunctionofplaceandculture(GuptaandFerguson1992IndaandRosaldo2002)haveemerged.Transnationalismisacase inpoint.Even ifweview it,asAlejandroPortes (2003)hasargued,notasnew phenomenon but as a new point of view on an old phenomenonwe shallanywayemphasizehowtheadoptionofthisnewpointofviewhasreorganizedthewayinwhichweusedtoaddresscontactsofcultureassociatedwiththemobilityofpeople.RogerRousehasdescribedthetransnationalsasskilledexponentsof[] cultural bifocality (2002: 163), who combine ways of living [that] arefundamentally distinct, involving quite different attitudes and practicesconcerningtheuseoftimeandspace,theconductofsocialrelationships,andtheorchestration of appearances (2002: 163). Sometimes, some of these distinctways of living can be hybridized. But often they are linked to movements ofalternation rather thancreolization:betweenproletarization in the immigrantcontextandindependentoperationathome(2002:163)betweenthepoliticalcultureofthehomelandandthatofthecountryofresidencebetweenthereligiousprocessionathomeandtheethnicparadeinaUScity(Leal2009).Muchofthemultiple attachments that characterize the contemporary world derive fromsuchalternationsbetweenculturalworldsbroughttogetherbutkeptapart.

We can provisionally call replication, differentiation and alternation theprocessesIhaveevoked.Andwecandefinethembothasnewmodesofculturaldynamics, in the sense that acculturation theorists gave to this expression, or,following Barbara KirshenblattGimblett, as newmodes of cultural productionunderthecurrentregimeofglobalization.Butwehavetorecognizethattheywerenot part of the agenda of acculturation theory, mainly focused on retention,acculturation,syncretismandcounteracculturation.

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Inthissense,contemporaryconcernswithculturalglobalizationrequirethatwemoveaheadofacculturationtheory.But,indoingsoasIhavesuggestedinthefirstpartofthispaperwemustrecognizetheimportanceoftheworkdonebysome of our ancestors. To quote again Trouillots ironical observation onanthropologys troubled relation to its past, they were the ones who haveinventedthewheel.

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Conversely,wemustbemorecriticaltowardssomedirectionsthatourcurrentinterestinglobalizationhassometimestaken.AsthephilosopherPeterSloterdijk(2008 [2005]) has argued, globalization is a project of homogenization of timeandspacedrivenbyan ideologyofunrestrictedmovement.Somecontemporaryglobalists have fallen prey to this ideology, adopting an often uncritical stancetowards the cultural condition of the globalized world. For instance, as AishaKahn(2007)hasshown,mostconceptualizationsofcontemporaryhybridizationaredrivenbyateleologicaloptimismthat,paradoxicallyenough,eschewsissuesof agency and power. In a similar vein it has been frequently forgotten that,besides its creative and hybridizing power, unrestrictedmovement of peopleand culture, commodities and capitals, ideology and values has a seriouspotential for cultural destruction. The contemporary celebration of particularethnicidentitiesasinthecaseofBrazilianIndiansisoftenwhatremainsafterthedismantlement ofculture in thepreLilaAbuLughod senseof the concept.Besidesitsliberatingeffects,movementunrestrictedmovementcanalsobeathreat to the local as a site where the spatial and temporal abstractions ofglobalization can be resisted (Comaroff and Comaroff 2001).Movement is alsoselective,orasAppadurai(1990)hasputit,nonisomorphic:capitalcirculatesfaster and better than labour, global financial deregulation goes hand in hand

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Notes

1 Previous versions of this paper were presented at the workshop Globalization asDiffusion: Critical ReAssessments and Contemporary Researches (10th Biennal EASAConference) and at the panel History of Anthropology: Dialogues with ContemporaryAnthropology(4th Congress of the Portuguese Association of Anthropology). I thank theparticipantsofbotheventsfortheircomments.IalsothankFredericoRosa,FilipeVerde,JeanYvesDurand andNliaDias,who readpreliminary versions of thepaper, for theircriticismsandsuggestions.Ialsothanktheanonymousreviewerofthispaperforhis/ hercommentsandMiguelMonizforhiseditorialsuggestions.2SeeVincent(1990:197212)forageneralintroductionofacculturationtheoryintheUSinthe1930s.

3 Thisargument isalsocentral to themuchmoresensitivereassessmentofHerskovitsscontribution to the development of the field of AfricanAmerican studies proposed by

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YELVINGTON, Kevin (ed.), 2006a, AfroAtlantic Dialogues: Anthropology in theDiasporas.SantaFe,NM,andOxford,SchoolofAmericanResearchPressJamesCurley.,2006b,TheinventionofAfricainLatinAmericaandtheCaribbean:politicaldiscourseand anthropological praxis, 19201940, in K. Yelvington (ed.),AfroAtlantic Dialogues:AnthropologyintheDiasporas,SantaFe,NM,andOxford,SchoolofAmericanResearchPressJamesCurley,3582.



SidneyMintzandRichardPrice(2003[1992]).

4Thiswasapointalreadyaddressed,beforetheglobalists,byEricWolf,althoughitmustbementionedthat,asRodseth(2005)haveargued,EricWolfhada lessbiased imageofthehistoricalschoolsofthoughtthatprecededhisworkthansomeglobalistshavenow.5 Similarly, inMan andHisWorks, Herskovits stressed thatMalinowskis approach toprocessesofmodernizationinAfrica,notonlyreducedtheanalysisofculturalcontacttoananalysisoftheimpactofWesternculture,butwasalsoastudyofculturalimposition,whichundervaluatedacculturationasaprocessofresistance(1948:527528).

6 As shownby recent approaches to the topic byApter (2004) andPalmi (2006), thisremainsanopenissueinAfroAmericanstudies.

7 Thesamepointcanbemadeabout thecirculationofDallas amongNativeAustralians(Michaels2002)andofMcDonaldsamongChinesecitydwellers(Yan2005).

Pourcitercetarticle

RfrencepapierJooLeal,Thepastisaforeigncountry?Acculturationtheoryandtheanthropologyofglobalization,Etnogrfica,vol.15(2)|2011,313336.

RfrencelectroniqueJooLeal,Thepastisaforeigncountry?Acculturationtheoryandtheanthropologyofglobalization,Etnogrfica[Enligne],vol.15(2)|2011,misenlignele23octobre2011,consultle10juillet2015.URL:http://etnografica.revues.org/952DOI:10.4000/etnografica.952

Auteur

JooLealCentroemRededeInvestigaoemAntropologia,FaculdadedeCinciasSociaiseHumanasdaUniversidadeNovadeLisboa,Portugal

[email protected]

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