Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

I. Scope
is more than a matter of political
“This
for when the prehistory
correctness,
is used and offends, then it must be
trope
as a device that disenfranchises
recognized
cultures and regions, writing
whole
out of history. Simultaneously,
them
recognize that not all contexts are
we
and that the use of the prehistory
similar
in Europe, for example, may have
trope
and less negative implications
different
The problem arose, and continues, in
…
instances when Western-trained
those
look to the Indigenous
archaeologists
of colonial-era Ireland,
populations
North America, or Australia
Africa,
useful analogues for Palaeolithic or
as
Europeans. Our stance here
Neolithic
one of political action that seeks to
is
our language about how we
change
histories that have been
re-represent
truncated, and distorted through
affected,
use of tropes like prehistory.
active
histories are not repaired or
Truncated
by the use of alternative
recuperated
(protohistoric, ethnohistoric,
tropes
entanglements—all are mere
contact,
while also acting as politically
substitutes
speech) … Complete avoidance of
correct
term is not sufficient because active
the
is required.” (Schmidt,
renunciation
9
Mrozowski 2014)
Making connections
missionary was killed in an attempt to contact the
voluntarily isolated tribe on North Sentinel Island in the
Language and voluntarily isolated tribes
Indian Ocean. Some of the media coverage invoked the
This debate spills over into the question of how we
old, damaging tropes of lost tribes, Stone Age people
describe the few remaining tribes around the world
and prehistoric humans. Chapter 5 discusses the topic
living in voluntary isolation. For example, in 2018 a
of uncontacted tribes.
Figure 9.1
Bonda women on their way to a market in the eastern Indian state of Odisha
250