The Activist Trajectory and Collaborative Context: Indigenous Peoples in Virginia and the Formation of an Anthropological Tradition

• Published in: Collaborative anthropologies 2015-04, Vol.7 (2), p.115-141
• Main Author: Cook, Samuel R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activism; Activists; Anthropology; Collaboration; Native North Americans; Race relations
• ISSN: 1943-2550; 2152-4009; 2152-4009
• DOI: 10.1353/cla.2015.0001

In this essay the author endeavors to scrutinize the "novelty" of a distinctly activist-oriented anthropology through an examination of the historical activities of anthropologists working with indigenous peoples in Virginia. The case study begins and is primarily concerned with the early activities of Bureau of American Ethnology anthropologists such as James Mooney, who launched his professional career in post-bellum Virginia. Mooney and subsequent ethnologists working in the region found their research being cultivated in a climate of skewed race relations and concomitant political economic arrangements, thereby inviting a tradition of advocacy among anthropologists working to advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the state. This context, the author argues, was significant in provoking shifts from evolutionary models of ethnological inquiry to more complex understandings of community existence among indigenous groups. The author has attempted to make the case that historical context can have a profound bearing on shaping, if not predetermining, collaborative experiences, but by no means do he intends to make the case for absolute historical determinism.