A perspective through trees: anthropology, development and documentation
Resource type
Book chapter
Creator (person)
Bolton, Lissant
Date published
2024
Abstract
This chapter addresses a highly significant aspect of the interaction between development and anthropology, that is, the way in which anthropological research framed as documentation can be a response to the changes in knowledge and practice – culture change – brought about by development. If development as a term for introduced or imposed change has a mid-20th century origin, the anthropological impetus to document what is changing because of colonial and other intrusions has a longer history. Drawing on experience of a variety of documentation projects and programmes, I discuss the complexities of documentation by considering the extensive knowledge people in Vanuatu have about trees, and how difficult that knowledge is to access. The more we understand about what documentation involves – both about what there is to document and about the influence of the documenter’s own assumptions – the more important it is to bring anthropological understanding, analysis, to bear on the process of documentation.
Book title
Anthropological Perspectives on Global Challenges
Editor
Gilberthorpe, Emma
Publisher
Taylor and Francis
Place of publication
London
Official URL