So What? Now What? The Anthropology of Consciousness Responds to a World in Crisis So What? Now What? The Anthropology of Consciousness Responds to a World in Crisis Edited by Matthew C. Bronson and Tina R. Fields So What? Now What? The Anthropology of Consciousness Responds to a World in Crisis, Edited by Matthew C. Bronson and Tina R. Fields This book first published 2009 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2009 by Matthew C. Bronson and Tina R. Fields and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-0977-2, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-0977-1 We dedicate this volume to our noble ancestors in the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness who have given us the gift of their wisdom and moved on to a higher calling. We walk in the light of Joseph Long, anthropologist and professor, a founder of the Society; Kay Rawlings, coal baroness, filmmaker, and founding member of KQED Public Television; Priscilla Lee, gifted educator and anthropologist; Galina Lindquist, whose research on shamanism in the former Soviet Union crossed so many lines; and Dan Moonhawk Alford, who walked the lonely intersection of consciousness studies, Native American language, physics, and linguistics, and came back to tell us about it. We honor all of you for your sacrifice and commitment, and we thank you for making our work possible. We dedicate this book also to the new generation of scholars and advocates who will likely face even greater crises in the years to come. May you never waver in your steps toward a more humane, just, sacred, and sustainable world. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations.....................................................................................ix Foreword Of What Good is Knowledge if it is Not Employed? John Baker, SAC President........................................................................xi Acknowledgments....................................................................................xiii Introduction Matthew C. Bronson and Tina R. Fields.....................................................1 Part I: Building and Connecting Communities Chapter One Finding a Path Through Silver Rain: Steps Toward an Anthropology of Conscience Karen Ann Watson-Gegeo.........................................................................30 Chapter Two Incorporating an Anthropological Consciousness as a Model for Development Practice Margaret Willson.......................................................................................54 Chapter Three The Old is Now: Creating a Shift Toward Wholeness through Dialogue Phillip H. Duran and Glenn Aparicio Parry...............................................75 Chapter Four Constructing Knowledge One Grant at a Time Jeffery L. MacDonald..............................................................................106 Part II: Healing and Medicine Chapter Five Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide Stanley Krippner and Stefan J. Kasian....................................................136 viii Table of Contents Chapter Six The Color of Sickness: A Postcolonial and Postmodern Anthropology Engages Disparities in Health-Care Outcomes Avram Rubin...........................................................................................164 Chapter Seven Shamanism: Ancient and Future Survival Michael Winkelman................................................................................204 Part III: Language and Learning Chapter Eight The Grammar of Transformation: What ESL Graduate Students Can Teach the Anthropology of Consciousness Matthew C. Bronson................................................................................232 Chapter Nine Tracking the Mother-Tongue: Tamazight from the Middle Atlas to the Amazigh Diaspora Mira Z. Amiras........................................................................................254 Chapter Ten Manifesting Worldviews in Language Dan Moonhawk Alford............................................................................288 Part IV: Re-Animating the World Chapter Eleven The Reality of Spirits: A Tabooed or Permitted Field of Study? Edith L. B. Turner...................................................................................308 Chapter Twelve Kumu Pohaku (Stones as Teachers): Awakening to the Spiritual Dimension of Ecosystems Tina R. Fields..........................................................................................317 Contributors.............................................................................................360 Index........................................................................................................367 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1-1. Mala'ita: David’s village is located northwest of Auki..............40 Fig. 1-2. A mother and her 3-year-old daughter carry heavy loads of firewood back from the forest, caught in surprise by Watson-Gegeo just as they entered the village, in 1981..............48 Fig. 3-1. Participants in a talking circle, where conversation leads to a deep flow of meaning rather than a ping-pong exchange..........78 Fig. 3-2. Some dominant values among Western and Indigenous cultures in relationship to the natural world.....................................98 Fig. 9-1. Azouza, Fes..............................................................................256 Fig. 9-2. Azouza and the Author............................................................257 Fig. 9-3. Ibn Khaldûn’s Model of Oscillating Elites..............................261 Fig. 9-4. “Amazigh Summer” Demonstration, Aïn Leuh, Morocco.......270 Fig. 12-1. Mauna Kea observatories in the background; heiau (temple) in the foreground............................................................................347 Cover image: This collage by Tina R. Fields centers on a portrait of Nelson ‘Atu of Dada‘esalu village, West Kwara‘ae district, Mala‘ita island, Solomon Islands. It was taken by Karen Ann Watson-Gegeo in 1984, and restored by Daniel Ryman. ‘Atu, who died in 1994, was ara‘i (head) of the Ragito Kuarafi sub-clan. Born into a senior kin line, he studied traditional cultural knowledge from early childhood. Watson- Gegeo’s research with, and for, the Kwara‘ae people is described in the first chapter of this book. The earth as halo signifies a recognition of the immanent as sacred, and the sort of expanded conscience and consciousness this book hopes to foster.