{"id":35324,"date":"2011-05-19T08:11:54","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T12:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=35324"},"modified":"2011-08-05T12:08:26","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T16:08:26","slug":"from-ethnographer-to-intermediary-the-evolution-of-an-anthropologist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2011\/05\/from-ethnographer-to-intermediary-the-evolution-of-an-anthropologist\/","title":{"rendered":"From Ethnographer to Intermediary: The Evolution of an Anthropologist"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>This<\/a>
This 1984 photograph was taken on the road to Docker River, not far from Ayers Rock in the Northern Territory, during a rabbit hunting expedition. From left, Judy Granites Nampijinpa, Fran\u00e7oise Dussart, Larissa Napangardi, and Kuman Jayi Napanangka. Photos provided by Fran\u00e7oise Dussart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fran\u00e7oise Dussart\u2019s relationship with the indigenous Warlpiri people of Australia has changed dramatically with the passage of time. An ethnographer with decades of experience studying this nomadic people, she is now welcomed as a friend and is relied upon for her expertise in helping to bridge the differences between two dynamic and changing cultures.<\/p>\n

Dussart, now a professor of anthropology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was raised in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa, formerly known as French Guinea,\u00a0 and earned a master\u2019s degree in anthropology at the Sorbonne in Paris. She was particularly interested in studying the relationship that nomadic people have with the land, and in 1982 she began a doctoral program in anthropology at Australian National University in Canberra.<\/p>\n

Upon arriving in Australia, she literally sat at the feet of tribal elders and listened to stories of how their lives were being affected by the advances of 20th century Western civilization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Warlpiris\u2019 egalitarian ethos has survived despite everything,\u201d says Dussart, \u201cso you have this constant tension. On the one hand, there\u2019s their relationship to the land and their desire to focus on their family, including their extended family. On the other, there are the forces of Christianity that emphasize individualism, and an emerging market economy which is in complete contrast to their history as hunter\/gatherers.\u201d<\/p>\n

First-Hand Experience<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"<p>Franscoise<\/a>
Fran\u00e7oise Dussart with elder Kumanjaui Nelson Juparrurla in the town of Yuendumu in Australia's Northern Territory. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dussart says, \u201cI went to Australia and within three weeks I found myself completely by accident in the field. I was supposed to go to a class to get acquainted with Aboriginal languages, but it was cancelled at the last minute. It was suggested that I pay someone in one of the villages to teach me, which I did. And I didn\u2019t leave for two years!\u201d<\/p>\n

As an eager young researcher, Dussart was curious about all aspects of Warlpiri history and culture. \u201cI was young and I was really interested in the religion, the cosmology, the body painting \u2026 and so I was taken under the wings of the senior people. I just went with the flow. I was extremely lucky because the elders who talked with me had wonderful senses of humor and they were really interested in having conversations with a non-Australian. In a way, I think they were using my interest in their culture to tell their side of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Warlpiri are an interesting topic, because Western intervention came fairly late to the tribe, and it was not until the late 19th century that their nomadic way of life as hunter-gatherers in Australia\u2019s central desert was seriously impacted. When Dussart first made contact with them, there were elders who had been alive during the time the Australian government decided to restrict them to a permanent homeland, and who could explain in detail how divergent world views had created clashes between cultures.<\/p>\n

Thirty years later, Dussart is still intimately involved with Warlpiri society, but now she finds herself acting as unofficial historian and sometimes spokesperson for this indigenous people. It is she who has catalogued the changes \u2013 some positive, some negative \u2013 that have affected the Warlpiri as they perform a delicate balancing act, trying to assimilate certain inevitable changes brought upon them by encroaching civilization, while still maintaining their own sense of cultural identity.<\/p>\n

Dealing with a \u2018White Man\u2019s Disease\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"<p>Rosie<\/a>
Rosie Fleming Nangala and Fran\u00e7oise Dussart, shown here in the town of Alice Springs, have been friends for over 25 years. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a paper titled \u201cIt is hard to be sick now: Diabetes and the Reconstruction of Indigenous Sociality\u201d (Anthropologica<\/em><\/span><\/a>, Spring 2010), Dussart details the challenges facing the Warlpiri as they deal with the ravages of diabetes, a \u201cwhite man\u2019s disease\u201d that has become endemic among the Aboriginal population.<\/p>\n

Whereas the health care establishment expects that the afflicted will remain in close proximity to their homes and their doctors, and will limit their travel so they can receive appropriate medical care, Dussart says, \u201cThis kind of restriction is anathema to contemporary Warlpiri people, erstwhile hunters and gatherers whose identity is still very much rooted in nomadism.\u201d<\/p>\n

She writes, \u201cField research suggests that many Aboriginal peoples, knowledgeable about the main etiological aspects of the disease, knowingly sidestep biomedical treatment protocols [such as] strict weight management, modification of dietary habit, and exercise \u2026 to accommodate their own notions of neocolonial social identity. Indeed, rather than mis<\/em>interpreting etiologies and treatments, Warlpiri people tend to re<\/em>interpret the language surrounding diabetes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of her decades-long association with the Warlpiri, Dussart has earned a place of respect and trust among them. She has spent countless hours in hospitals and clinics in an effort to bridge the gap between medical staff and patients. \u201cI\u2019ve written manuals on how to be a patient and how to be a doctor, bilingual in English and Warlpiri,\u201d she says, \u201cand all the doctors and nurses want to talk to me, and the patients think it\u2019s great; but as soon as I leave, there\u2019s no more pressure [on either group] to reach a mutually satisfactory treatment plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Future<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Warlpiri, like other fourth world peoples such as the Maori of New Zealand, the Adivasi of India, and many of North America\u2019s Native American tribes, are a people caught between cultures, living an existence where the old ways and the new sometimes intersect but more often co-exist in a sort of uneasy truce.<\/p>\n

Dussart is not without hope that cultural bridges can eventually be built that will allow different visions and world views to exist in synergy. However, she says, \u201cThose who possess the economic and political clout to bring about the sort of changes that would effectively bridge the two cultures need to feel invested enough to want this to happen. People in power need to talk with<\/em> the Warlpiri, not at them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fran\u00e7oise Dussart has studied the Warlpiri for 30 years. Now she often serves as their advocate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[56],"class_list":["post-35324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global-affairs","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 15:59:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35324"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43380,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35324\/revisions\/43380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35324"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=35324"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=35324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}