Issue of Hope in Anthropology

This essay explores the issue of hope in anthropology and its relevance in understanding the past and shaping the future. It discusses three books related to speculative anthropology and provides a comparative analysis of their similarities and differences.

Running head: ISSUE OF HOPE IN ANTHROPOLOGY
ISSUE OF HOPE IN ANTHROPOLOGY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Background
Anthropology as a discipline is oriented towards the studying of the past and
understanding the process of evolution of human beings from the past to the present. The
discipline of anthropology is oriented towards the comprehension of the historical trajectory of
the events that have taken place and has aided the development of the human race over a
particular period of time. In order to understand about the conditions that had provoked the
developmental changes in a society, it is important that the past is studied as the answers to the
changes that have taken place in the present is a result of what had happened in the past
(Greene).
Anthropology as a discipline is quite important about getting an insight about the social
conditions in which the human beings persisted in the past and what were the conditions that had
led to the changes in the society. The understanding of the past is important not just for the
purpose of knowledge, but also for the purpose of understanding the causes that had in the past
led to the precipitation of a particular situation. Based upon this the future consequences and the
similar problems in the contemporary times can also be rectified. Thus anthropology provides an
understanding of the past so that when similar problems arise in the future and in the
contemporary times then the solution the method of reaching at the solutions can be resorted to
as the model of emulation has already been provided by means of analyzing the past and its
nuances. This is the essence of anthropology and the purpose that it seeks to serve (Greene).
Speculative Anthropology on the other hand is a sub field in the discipline of
anthropology which is dedicated to the core purpose of anthropology although with a specific
approach. Speculative Anthropology is aimed at building a connection in the past with the

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present, which thus does not make speculative anthropology as any different from the core
discipline of anthropology as it seeks to reinstate the same principles cherished by the core
discipline of anthropology with the similar aim of showing how the answer to the present
situations lie in the past. Thus the past must be invoked time and again in order to understand
how the solutions to the situations persisting in the present can be resolved effectively
(Whitington).
Statement of Purpose
In this particular essay the focus of the discussion shall be on the linking three books, The
Method of Hope: Anthropology, Philosophy and Fijian Knowledge, by Hirokazu Miyazaki; Into
the Extreme: US Environmental Systems and Politics beyond Earth by Valerie Olson and Robo
Sapiens Japanicus by Jennifer Robertson to the discipline of speculative anthropology. The thesis
statement shall thus be to examine how the chosen books are related to the discipline of
speculative anthropology and also to provide a comparative analysis of the booms in order to
state their respective similarities and differences. The followings sections shall be providing a
synoptic view of the three chose texts and their respective strengths and weaknesses shall be
discussed as a part of the comparative analysis.
Discussion
The Method of Hope: Anthropology, Philosophy and Fijian Knowledge, by Hirokazu
Miyazaki
The author of this particular book deals with the issue of the Fijian indigenous people,
their historical background and the tragedies which they had faced as a result of modernization

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and colonization. Miyazaki had in the book opined with justification that the popular saying that
“hope springs eternal in the human breast” can at the best be exemplified by means of putting a
deep insight into the lives of the indigenous people of Suvavou. The indegenous inhabitants of
the place were banished and then that the capital city of Suva was established at the cost of
depriving the original inhabitants in the year 1882 (Fraenkel).
This particular anthropological account deals at length with the struggles faced by the
Suvavou people in the process of articulating their interests and concerns and getting them
fulfilled by the ruling civilian government to ensure that the wrongs that had been committed
against them gets rectified so that they could seek justice and be treated fairly in the nation of
Fiji. Rarely, had such kind of instances been witnessed wherein the oppressed indigenous people
themselves have achieved success in ensuring that they get justice for themselves by means of
mobilizing themselves against the government on their own (Miyazaki). This is the reason why
the issue of hope is quite important and significant in this particular context, which had been
expressed in the form of the desire and determination of the indigenous people themselves for
inheriting those assets which they considered to be justifiably something that they ought to own
and have as their possession. The projection of the theoretical premise of hope is thus central to
the Fijian indigenous people’s struggle against the civilian government in order to restore all
those which belonged to them, the land, their rights and their right to dignity (Steel).
The Suvavou people had been quite persistent and persevering in the pursuit of
establishing the truth and the methods which they had employed in discovering them had been
quite exemplary. The hope of discovering the truth had thus played a key role in ensuring that the
supplanting of all the specificities of the diverse Fijian identities without differentiating between
them and the distinct identity of the immigrants is not transformed into the only and the absolute

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truth. Thus it can be said that the effort of the Suvavou people in ensuring that the distinctiveness
of their identity is preserved and is recognized. The hope of laying a claim to a distinctiveness of
their identity had borne fruitful results for the community of the Fijian indigenous people. They
had been successful in deconstructing the idea that the Fijian national identity was an organic
whole. The struggle of the Suvavou people was thus reflective of the fact as demonstrated by
Miyazaki that the identity of the human beings, individually or as a collectivity is central to their
existence and that any effort to deprive one of it was likely to cause the untoward circumstances
to take place which was likely to challenge the status quo of a particular government and put
question to its legitimacy until and unless the demand to satisfy the need and to assert the
identity is fulfilled (Stein).
Miyazaki had shown that the Fijian people had accepted the Christian religion and the
amalgamation of the indigenous cultural practices with the Christian, western traditions show
that they were hopeful of the future being a bright one and that their present too was being hoped
to be a prosperous one. Miyazaki had also shown that the exchange relationship between the
various cultural backgrounds had led to the formation of a composite culture formation in Fiji
and that the contemporary Fijian culture was but a product of the past and the present
harmoniously getting amalgamated together to each other. Throughout the book, Miyazaki had
very skilfully made an effort to show that the connection between the past, the present and the
future, and also that the Suvavou people were hopeful of a bright future which had accounted for
the novelty of the book. Miyazaki thus provides a different angle in viewing anthropology by not
limiting it to just the study of the past but by means of presenting it as a way of looking to te
future (Miyazaki 2006).

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Into the Extreme: US Environmental Systems and Politics beyond Earth by Valerie Olson
In this particular book ‘Into the Extreme: US Environmental Systems and Politics beyond
Earth’ authored by Valerie Olson the discussion focuses on the issue of the United States of
America trying to gain a foothold on the outer space in order to have greater control on the entire
world in terms of technological expertise and also in terms of gaining the best logistical facilities
for the purpose of keeping a close watch on the military, technological and other logistical
developments of other nations and on the basis of it undertake adequate measures to prepare and
equip herself for balancing out the other nations of the world and especially its enemies in terms
of gaining influence in all ways. The core essence of the Hollywood film ‘star wars’ is very
much immanent in the message of the book as it tends to portray how the United States of
America had indulged in rivalry with the other super power during the cold war period, the
Soviet Union in terms of having dominance in the outer space. The issue discussed in the book
however is not just oriented towards presenting the destructive propensities of having domination
over the outer space but also of generating a positive effect by getting access to better knowledge
of the climatic changes and thereby enabling the averting of untoward consequences at the
earliest possible (Geppert). The political undertone to this development is also very much there
as in the period of cold war there was a political void which had been created. The USSR was a
super power but the capacity of the political bloc was not that much as compared to the USA.
While the political, economic power of the US Bloc was increasing by leaps and bounds, that of
USSR was rather faltering and hence USA needed to gather much influence and also the strength
to ensure that it could generate a hegemonic effect on the world and use it as a tool to gain a
powerful position in the world. USA had apprehended the political situations that in order to gain
a position of power in the world, she herself had to demonstrate to the world that she was

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powerful and only the could she be able to justify that she was worthy of being called a leader of
the world (Gorman and O’LEARY). The cold war politics had turned to unipolarity from a
position of multipolarity and the gathering of enough resources to lay a claim to the only
powerful position in the world it was necessary that the United States of America proved it to the
world that she had the power and the capability to rule over the world.
The author of this particular book had dealt with the issue of the contribution of the
technological innovations for carrying out expeditions at the outer space for the enhancement
and prediction of the earthly conditions, especially with regard to the safeguarding of the natural
environment (Wade). The core message of this particular book is oriented towards the discussion
of the issue that the United States of America had been using the controlling power and influence
for the purpose of indulging in full fledged rivalry with the USSR in outer space expeditions for
the sake of having a great degree of hegemony in the affairs of the world. That was an alternate
form of warfare as it involved the deployment of the scientific and the technological innovations
for the purpose of having political control over the world affairs. It also exemplifies the nature of
fighting that used to take place in the cold war era, which was not armed conflict, but a warfare
of flexing each other’s influence between USA and USSR without indulging in armed conflict
(Robertson). The greater the improvements the United States of America achieved in the field of
technological innovations for enhancing the space technology, the greater the bargaining power
of the nation had increased and that had enables USA to gain the status of being a superpower in
the multipolr world. The hope of having a futuristic vision in strengthening the political control
in the world was something which was envisaged by the United States of America as the full
fledged armed warfare was not the only way in which domination on the world affairs would
have been possible (Olson). Hence the logistical support building and the gathering of more

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technological expertise was being envisaged by the nation. The form of warfare adopted was in
order to respond to the needs of the time and to indulge in warfare without indulging in armed
conflict as the situations were not at all conducive for indulging in an armed conflict and a third
world war was practically impossible and inconceiveable. It would have meant the destruction of
the world (Johnson-Freese).
Robo Sapiens Japanicus: Humanoid Robots and the Posthuman Family by Jennifer
Robertson
This book was authored by Jennifer Robertson, which was based on and also a part of her
project titled "Safety, Security, Convenience: The Political Economy of Service Robots in
Japan”. In the book the author has explored the idea of the family structure and the nature of
relationships in a post modern age dominated more by machines than human beings. The focus
of the book is to explore the methods of filling the emotional void in life at an age dominated by
a high degree of impersonalization and individuality that the sense of community gets destroyed
(Schodt).
Japan, as per the views of the author is considered to be the first society in the post
industrial age to welcome the prospect of the existence of human beings and robots together.
Over the past few decades, Japanese humanoid robots had been designed for the future purposes
at homes, at hospitals, at offices, and at schools. The news of the technological innovation had
become highly celebrated in the international mass and social media as it was indeed a signal for
change (Schodt). The book Robo Sapiens Japanicus had devoted a critical outlook on the press
releases and PR videos featuring the news of human robots which allegedly had been
misrepresented in actuality. The presentation of the image of robots being quite versatile and
agile machines bearing a semblance to human beings was more appropriate as science fiction

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counterparts, not a reality (Schodt). The ethnographic and sociocultural history of governmental
and academic discourses dealing with the relationship and interaction between the human beings
and robots in Japan is the core message of this particular book which seeks to explore the
methods in which the actual robots, also referred to as humanoids, androids, animaloids in
scientific and technological terms have been “imagineered” in ways for reinforcing the
traditional and conventional sex and gender system in the political and economic status quo. The
bestowing of the “civil rights” to the robots had been interrogated with a critical undertone in
keeping with the principle of human exceptionalism. Similarly, the manner in which the robots
and the robotic exoskeletons reinforce or deviate the conception of the “normal” biological
human body has been juxtaposed with the idea of the deconstruction of the much invoked
Theory of the Uncanny Valley, throughout the book (Schodt).
The contribution of Japan accounts for almost 52 percentage of the total share of the
functional robots in the world and has thus led the post industrial world in the path of
development of humanoid robots, which have been designed and made popular in the market
scenario specifically for enhancing and augmenting the human society (Robertson). The
initiative of Innovation 25 championed by Prime Minister Abe's vision for remodelling the
Japanese society by the turn of 2025, with the aim of reversing the declining rate of birth and
also accommodating the rapidly ageing population of finds a mention in the book (Robertson).
The idea of making robots coexist with the human beings emphasizes on the central role that
which household robots are likely to play for the purpose of stabilizing the core institutions of
the graasroot level socialization, for example the family. Along with that the exploration of the
the cultural logic behind the development of autonomous, intelligent and evolutionary humanoid
robots, the author argues that new biological and the robot technologies were likely to be

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deployed for reifying the old and the “traditional” values, such as the patriarchal extended family
and also for the upholding of the sociopolitical conservative ideas (Šabanović).
Comparitive Analysis
Having provided the details about the core messages of the three chosen books, the
discussion shall now be focusing upon comparing how has the chosen books dealt with the issue
of hope and speculative anthropology. In the book, The Method of Hope: Anthropology,
Philosophy and Fijian Knowledge, by Hirokazu Miyazaki, the matter of hope has been dealt with
by means of providing the notion that struggle against all adversities shall be the key to be
hopeful of a better future. The future is about hope and about struggle, without struggle the hope
shall never fulfill itself. Miyazaki has very skillfully shown that the hope of gaining the lost
glory was the only key to the struggle motivating the Suvavou people to rise up against the
civilian government and making their demands fulfilled effectively. The issue of speculative
anthropology that is immanent in the book is that of the fact that the struggle of the suvaou
people shall be and must be emulated as an example by the oppressed people belonging to other
parts of the world as well. The suvavou people and their struggle has thus provided a model of
emulation for the rest of the world which shall be reaping success for the ones who take resort to
it and continue with their struggle for the sake of gaining their rights as affectively as possible
(Turner).
The issue of hope in the book Into the Extreme: US Environmental Systems and Politics
beyond Earth by Valerie Olson have been that of the hope of a future that shall be devoid of any
armed warfare and rather the focus was supposed to be more on gathering of the power and
influence to demonstrate ones influence in the world affairs. In this narration of the hope is also
immanent the issue of speculative anthropology as the issue of non conventional warfare has

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been projected in the book which is very much futuristic in its orientation and is also a departure
from the traditional mode of warfare and a call for the welcoming of the new age, which shall be
destroying the highly structured systems of the erstwhile age ad that shall be a signal to the new
age and its advent (Watt).
The issue of hope Robo Sapiens Japanicus: Humanoid Robots and the Posthuman Family
by Jennifer Robertson has been that of using machines in order to fill the void in human life
wrought with a high degree of impersonalization and individuality. The goal has been to ensure
that the technological innovations in congruence with the biological elements ensure the
discovery of a profound mechanism by which the old and the traditional value can be reinstated
yet once again and by means of a high degree of precision. The message provided herein is quite
futuristic and also tends to have the essence of speculative anthropology as it signals the advent
of a different era which shall respond to the needs of the time differently and also the advent of
newer methods of leading life (Geraci).
Thus the common factor in the books is that of having a futuristic vision by means of
deconstructing the structures in totality.

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