Frederick Damon餾 Study on Anthropology

FREDERICK Damon　BIAN Simei　JIN Jing

Abstract： Dr. Bian Simei conducted an interview with Professor Frederick Damon of the University of Virginia in 2012. Their discussions focused on Professor Damons anthropological fieldwork experiences on the islands that make up the Kula Ring， and his new fieldwork spot—Fujian， China. Professor Damon started to do his ethnographic research on an island in the South Pacific based on the presumption that people understood the island as a body， and later he shifted to the study of trees. This is because he came to know that trees were very important for the Muyuw people. In July 1996， Professor Damon started to combine his research of trees with the research of boats. This was because he came to understand that the most important trees for the most import boats came from the relationship between peoples gardens and forests. The trees were personified by the local people， and the Muyuw people had their own way to distinguish the trees as female or male. The Muyuw people also have their own classificatory system， and there are always analogies between sets of things that are related. In order to acquire more knowledge about trees， Professor Damon also interacted with scientists during his process of doing research， including geochemists. Although one of the things Professor Damon was involved with during the 1980s postmodernism and the critique of western science ， what he wanted to try to do with his research was to engage himself with natural scientists in order to expand his field as much as possible. Sometimes， when Professor Damon shared his knowledge on forest systems learned from the natives， it would amaze the scientists that “savages” could have that kind of knowledge. From his experience， Professor Damon found that cooperative work with natural scientists was very helpful for his research， and this kind of mutual-learning is necessary. Professor Damon also was critical that some of the anthropologists or scientists were not good at understanding things in relationship to each other. This was because they just buried themselves in their desks， and never looked up.

Professor Damon thinks that Levi-Strausss saying “the meaning begins with differences” is the elementary principle of structuralism， and very important. For example， the Muyuw peoples distinction between bitter and sweet is also one of the ways they understand the differences between trees. Concerning Professor Damons research on boats， he thinks that The Savage Mind was very important， because in the book， a distinction is made between “bricoleurs” and engineers， and it very clear that making boats on this island is similar with the actions of the “bricoleur” rather than the engineer. In order to acquire more knowledge about boats， and also being encouraged by his scientist friends， Professor Damon went back to the island to do his research for many times， in 1998， 1999， 2002， 2005， 2006， 2007 and 2009. While he was conducting his research， Professor Damon noticed that people organized time in terms of trees—first they plant a tree， then， that tree gets linked with the familys genealogy.

Moreover， Professor Damon was learning more and more about the history of the Pacific - and that this history begins in Fujian province. Professor Damon eventually realized that although he thought there were analogies between what he knew in the Pacific and what goes on in Yunnan， there are no connections. The real connections were in Fujian province. So， he decided to do his research in Fujian province. The reason why Professor Damon thought about Fujian province is because the South Pacific begins there. Fujian sits on the dividing line between what began the South Pacific on the one hand and China on the other. In history， people repeatedly were sent out from that coastline， so its relationship to the outside world is part of its structural conditions. Professor Damon sought two things that would really stretch him intellectually—one was a whole new set of theoretical issues， and the other was to be able to switch from the Pacific Islands to China.

Professor Damon believes that every culture has a tendency to close in on itself. He further said that China is very different from Japan， different from India. However， they all have been interacting with each other for at least 6，000 years， maybe 10， 000 years. So， part of the human condition is that people form relatively coherent cultural systems， but that they also interact with other ones. The Savage Mind is about systems of transformations. It is easy to read this book， but not easy to understand what it is saying. Therefore， we could not say that it is static and it is temporal.

Moreover， Professor Damon also thinks that there is no necessary contradiction between historical understanding and anthropological understanding.

Key Words： fieldwork； Muyuw； Fujian； Frederick Damon； anthropology