Reflections from the field: Journeying back to anthropology

Abstract (English)

The critique of anthropology is as old as the discipline itself. One of the enduring critiques is the critique of the discourse of Sameness, where a Western man is the standard of what it means to be human, which is the root cause of the “Other”. While anthropology has evolved, its approach remains rooted in the discourse of Sameness. There is a need, therefore, to wrestle with this question to resolve the question of the “Other”. In the six years of back and forth at Esihlengeni (a small village in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa), I wrestled with the question of the Other and my role as a native anthropologist. These field experiences enabled me to have a full grasp of an African worldview, which opened a window to understanding anthropology anew, and thus, journeying back to anthropology. Drawing on field experiences, the paper argues that the discourse of Sameness is not merely an anthropological concept but a product of Western epistemology. So, for anthropology to move beyond the discourse of Sameness, it needs to move away from Western epistemology to an approach that centres difference. The paper shows how African epistemology is centred on celebrating differences such that the “Other” is understood as a site of knowledge. Using African epistemology to centre anthropology can thus change the trajectory of anthropology, where the “Other” ceases to be a problem to be solved but rather a site for possible solutions to modern-day challenges. The paper recommends that for anthropology to overcome the challenge of always being in question, it should take African epistemology seriously, such that it learns from other societies instead of reproducing the “Other” through the discourse of Sameness.