We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Foundations and Anthropology In The United States

by Michael Barker from Dissident Voice

By using the field of anthropology in the US as an example, this fairly lengthy article provides a detailed history of the way that the capitalist ruling class exerts a powerful influence over academia through the use of "philanthropy".

This is another illustration of how the capitalist system, as a system, functions from the top--a self-serving ruling class--down to all the subsystems in order to make this class fabulously rich and powerful regardless of the effects on the rest of society.
...despite the cynical manner by which philanthropic elites have dominated the field of anthropology, the fruits of its study are essential to any radical movement which is intent on eradicating capitalism. The point made in this article is a general one, because in anthropology, as in many other fields of scholarship, class conscious elites have used the power of capital to manage and harness the power of knowledge. What is clear is that knowledge producing networks must be reclaimed by the majority to serve the needs of all humans.