What is the savage slot Trouillot?

Anthropology is concerned with studying human beings, both in the past and present. The study of the (non-Western) “Other”, defined by Trouillot as the Savage Slot, commenced before Anthropology became a discipline. Thus, Anthropology did not fashion the concept of the “Savage” or “Other” (Trouillot 2003:28).

What is the savage slot in anthropology?

The key point here was that anthropology “inherited a field of significance that preceded its formalization” (9). The “Savage Slot” was not created by anthropology. Rather, the “savage or the primitive was the alter ego the West constructed for itself” (18).

What is anthropology the study of?

Anthropology is the study of people, past and present, with a focus on understanding the human condition both culturally and biologically. The study of anthropology is often divided into three subdisciplines: archaeology, biological anthropology, and cultural anthropology.

What is the main goal of anthropology?

The goal of anthropology is to pursue a holistic understanding of what it means to be human by understanding the relationship between human biology, language, and culture.

How did the Savage slot come to be?

The “Savage Slot” was not created by anthropology. Rather, the “savage or the primitive was the alter ego the West constructed for itself” (Trouillot 2003:18). Moreover, the Savage was always a “Janus-faced projection,” linked with ideas of order and utopia. The ‘Savage Slot’ was not created by anthropology.

Who was Michel Rolph Trouillot and what did he do?

Michel-Rolph Trouillot died on July 5. I am still in shock. A transformative presence in multiple fields—anthropology (his main area), history, political economy, philosophy, and even literature—he redefined the meaning of scholarship.

Who is the author of Anthropology and the Savage slot?

“Anthropology and the Savage Slot” by Michel-Rolph Trouillot brilliantly framed the emergence of academic anthropology within a wider field of inquiry spurred during the rise of Western ideas. The essay originally appeared in the 1991 volume Recapturing Anthropology: Working in the Present.

Where did Jean Trouillot live most of his life?

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1949, Trouillot witnessed during the first eighteen years of his life not only the aftermath of the American occupation but also the ongoing denigration of the peasantry by both domestic elites and foreign observers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBfLGvQ8yRY