Miklukho-Maklai

[Subhash.Jaireth at agso.gov.au]

Hi everyone,

As a student in Moscow, I stayed in a hostel on Mikhlukho-Makalai street.
However, this is not what I want to say.

Because I am located in Australia not far from the so-called Asia-Pacific I
have become quite sensitive to the 'Western'
explorers/anthropologists/scientists who came to these lands to 'study' the
indigenous peoples and to frame them within the enlightement discourse of
evolutionary history placing them well down the ladder of progress and
civilisation'. Many anthroplogists including Mikhlukho-Makalai were directly
and indirectly involved in the grand project of colonisation and
dispossession of indigenous people. Any mention of Mikhluko-Maklai should
not overlook this. However it needs to be stressed that some anthropologists
were more 'humane' than others and helped in different ways the cause of
self-determiantion by indigenous peoples.

        The short bio of Mikhluko-Maklai quoted from Miklukho-Maklaj,
sobranie socinenij, izdatel'stvo akademii nauk SSSR,
Moskva leningrad 1950 by Georges operates within the same paradigm of
colonial epistemeology tied closely with the project of colonisation. In
this regard the use of the word 'cannibals' is remarkable and offending.


Subhash
Resent-Reply-To: Subhash.Jaireth at agso.gov.au