The Anthropology of Power: Ethnographic Studies from Asia, Oceania and the New World by

Raymond D. Fogelson; Richard N. Adams

Review by: Grant D. Jones
American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Summer, 1984), pp. 239-241
Published by: University of Nebraska Press
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 BOOK REVIEWS 239

Fogelson, Raymond D. and Richard N. Adams, eds. The Anthropology

of Power: Ethnographic Studies from Asia, Oceania and the New
World.New York: Academic Press, 1977. xiv + 429 pp. Illustrations,
bibliography, index. $40.00 (cloth).
What is power? Unencumberedby any definitionof this "proteanconcept,"
participants in a 1974 conference sponsored by the American Association for
the Advancement of Science contributed ethnographic perspectives on power
from Asia, Oceania, native North America, and Latin America. This volume
provides the varied results of this inquiry, in which each chapter stands as
an isolated contribution; only in post-conferenceretrospect do the two volume
synthesizers, Elizabeth Colson and Richard N. Adams, attempt to impose
order upon the whole. The twelve chaptersthat deal with native North American
examples are the subjects of this review, but these chapters, on the whole,
may not form the strongest set in the volume.
Despite the absence of prior orientation, most authors recognize that
anthropologists hold a dualistic concept of power. On the one hand power is
central to conceptualizations of the cosmos writ large: power is an ineffable
or spiritual quality that pervades the way humans think about the universe.
On the other hand, power is a feature of human relationships: it is a concrete
manifestationof the variable controls that pervadeall societies. Not surprisingly,
some authors choose to emphasize one or the other of these perspectives;
some, however, recognize that the essence of power concepts can be grasped
only in the historical application of ideologies of power.
Lowell John Bean attempts to reconstruct pre-European concepts and
applications of power among native Californiahunters and gatherers.Working
from a few twentieth century sources, he develops a formalized model that
distinguished "existential postulates" about universal power and "normative
postulates" that determined how potentially unlimited spiritual power was
channeled through the vision quest and shamanism. Opposed to such acquired
sources of power, he contrasts the inheritance of political power and wealth
by chiefly "classes of people with inherent power" (p. 126). Conceptually
stimulating, Bean's chapter would be more valuable were its conclusions
more fully documented.
Pamela T.Amoss's analysis of how supernatural power enables the Coast
Salish to maintain personal privacy under conditions of crowding is an elegant
application of ideas derived from Simmel, Goffman, and Geertz. The indi-
vidualized and personal nature of power, she argues, makes it possible for
individuals to keep secrets from those who constantly surround them. This
is a high-style functionalism, permeated by insights into the power of the
symbols of ritual dance and trance to celebrate individual autonomy while
contributing to community solidarity.
The theme of personal autonomy is also explored by Mary B. Black's
more ethnoscientific, classificatory description of Ojibwa beliefs about power.
useful as a very brief synthesis of Ojibwa concepts of how individuals con-
ceptualize the relative powers of others (both human and non-human), her
chapter makes little attempt to explore the implications of the idealized
model for the real world of everyday experience.
Three chapters deal specifically with lexical categories that encompass
supposed mana-like notions of universalized power. Raymond J. De Mallie,

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240 AMERICAN INDIAN QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1984

Jr. and Robert H. Lavenda explore variants of the Plains Siouan concept of
wakan, emphasizing similiarities in the cosmology of the unknowable and
in its personal manifestations among Teton Dakota, Omaha, and Winnebago.
The sources are again thin, but the comparative treatment of shamans as
transmitters and acquirers of power is useful. Hope Isaacs attempts to relate
the ethnohistorically derived Iroquois personal power concept of orenda to
her ethnoscientific field data (based on four informants) on Tonawanda Seneca
classification of spiritual manifestations of power. By methodological sleight
of hand she relates a reconstructed cosmology of power to contemporary
problems of low participation by the Tonawanda Seneca in Western health
care systems; the result is intriguing but not altogether convincing. Finally,
Raymond Fogelson explores the concept of ulanigvgv in a characterization of
Cherokee power concepts as implicit, pragmatic methods of coping with the
dangers of human authority. Fogelson's treatment of Cherokee distrust of
leadership of prophetic and militant movements and his structuralist inter-
pretation of the Red-White dichotomy as a young men-old men age grade
opposition mediated by women in the political sphere provides welcome
analytical depth.
Four chapters, in contrast, approach the issue of political powerlessness
in native American history and contemporary affairs. Triloki Nath Pandey
summarizes the effects of Spanish colonialism and the Indian Reorganization
Act of 1934 on the theocratic bases of Zuni political organization. Her ex-
amination of traditions of personal power submergence and of the recent
history of factionalism created by the meddling actions of outside interest
groups reflects recent comparative interest in the dilemmas confronting other
traditional societies. In a more policy-oriented vein, Stephen Conn explores
informal courts or forums among Navajos, Alaskan Eskimos and Indians, and
Brazilian favelas. He contributes sensitive observations of the problems of
creating legitimate local-level dispute-handling mechanisms-with a succinct
message on the failure of modern legal systems. Albert L. Wahrhaftig and
Jane Lukens-Wahrhaftig's excellent chapter on continuing confidence in native
power among the Oklahoma Cherokee, despite the historical "reality" of the
failure of that power, is for this reviewer a high point of the volume. The
comparative implications of their approach could provide a stimulating basis
for a more problem-oriented collection. As official historian for the North
American Indian Ecumenical Movement, Sam Stanley provides further light
on continuing articulations of Indian power in the face of pragmatic pow-
erlessness. This is rich material with deep implications for comparative study
of oppressed populations throughout the world.
The volume closes with a thoughtful chapter by Robert E Spencer on
shamanistic power in northwestern North America; a welcome demystification
by Robert B. Lane of the Melanesian mana concept in light of the guardian
spirit complex in northwestern North America; and the syntheses by Colson
and Adams. Colson's reflections tellingly suggest that authors emphasis on
ethnoscientific as opposed to exchange theory or political analyses of power
may reflect variations in the depth of knowledge of a society's actual operation.
Adams approaches the chapters from an already formulated evolutionary
theory of political power. His contribution demonstrates an integrated, global
view, but he has to struggle to fit the individualized chapters to a model
constructed from a problem-oriented approach to power.
Readers will find in this volume only a superficial collective sense of the
meaning of power. Some chapters, however, contain the seeds of an integrative,

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 BOOK REVIEWS 241

grounded perspective; these certainly deserve the reader's time and contem-
plation.
Hamilton College Grant D. Jones

Jones, Grant D. and Robert R. Kautz, eds. The Transition to Statehood

in the New World. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
Press, 1981. ix + 254 pp. Bibliography, index.

This collection of essays grows out of a conference on "The transition to

statehood in the New World: towards a synthesis." Seven essays address:
sociopolitical factors, environmental factors, and ideological (religious) factors.
The book is in the series "New Directions In Archaeology" and aims to stimulate
archaeologists to expand their horizons to encompass new interests and new
points of view, and to develop means for testing resulting hypotheses via
archaeology.
The editors provide an introductory essay placing the various ideas and
claims of the contributors in a context of scholarly traditions, wrestling with
problems relating to definition of the "state," and attempting to synthesize
the often diverging positions and claims of the contributors. No overview
and analysis will satisfy everyone. However, this introduction provides a
reasonable summation of ideas about the state and an adequate guide to
issues elaborated by other contributors.
The individual essays differ in orientation and interests. Carneiro provides
an extensive and methodical survey of chiefdoms and concludes "that we
still know very little about chiefdoms." Jonathan Haas deals with class conflict
and the rise of the state. He illustrates nicely how archaeological data can
be used to generate hypotheses regarding non-material culture.
Mark Cohen provides an ecological interpretation of state generation
which is well organized and lucid.
R. S. MacNeish presents a highly formalized hierarchy of stages leading
to the state based on Central Mexican research. It is accompanied by a mag-
nificently complex diagrammatic "model" of cultural evolution from unspe-
cialized collecting camps to the pristine national state.
M. D. Coe offers a concise explanation of religion as a key component in
the dynamics of Mesoamerican states. R. W. Keating uses Peruvian materials
in a similarly well reasoned argument. The final essay, by D. A. Friedel, to
which I had turned first because of the provocative title, "Civilization as a
state of mind: .. ." was frustrating. He compares and contrasts lowland and
highland Maya society with religion as a key dynamic and a key to difference.
The writing is less concise and, without the editors' guidance, I am not certain
that I would have persisted in my efforts to follow through to the end.
The essays are interesting and for the most part, easy to read and un-
derstand. This book should stimulate not only archaeologists but others with
an interest in cultural evolution and the origins and dynamics of early states.
The editors and the contributors make it quite clear that one of their
goals is to stimulate archaeological approaches to the solution of questions

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