Ethnographic analogy from the Pacific: just as analogical as any other analogy

Ravn, Mads

doi:10.1080/00438243.2011.624781

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…However, the validity of ethnographic analogy has been heavily debated (Ascher 1961; Binford 1967, 1978; Fewster 2006; Gould 1980; Gould and Watson 1982; Hodder 1982, 1986; Lane 1994/1995; Orme 1973, 1974; Oswalt 1974; Politis 2015; Ravn 2011; Shelley 1999; Stiles 1977; Trigger 1989; Wobst 1978; Wylie 1985; Yellen 1977). For example, Wobst (1978) states that relying on ethnographic analogy limits us to interpreting the past based on behaviors accessible only via (current) ethnographic data—described as the “tyranny” of ethnography.…”

Section: Analogy Ethnoarchaeology and The Mca Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material Correlates Analysis (MCA)

Gantley

Whitehouse

Bogaard

2018

Adv. archaeol. pract.

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Theories developed and validated using ethnographic and historical resources are often difficult to examine using sparse or fragmentary archaeological material. However, a number of statistical techniques make it possible to integrate data from ethnographic, historical, and archaeological resources into a single analytical framework. This article introduces Material Correlates Analysis (MCA)—a new method of filling gaps in the archaeological data using a strategic combination of data collection, multidimensional scaling, principal component analysis, and generalized liner modeling. Generalized liner modeling is a particularly useful tool in formal inferential statistics for comparing a priori classified groups of historical and/or ethnographic (known) cases with archaeological (unknown) ones on the basis of relevant variables. MCA allows us to overcome the inherent material culture limitations regarding data on key variables by using available historical or ethnographic evidence to make statistically testable inferences regarding archaeological data. Using the Modes of Religiosity theory as an example, we demonstrate how major gaps in the evidentiary record can be overcome using the techniques we outline. Specifically, we use the MCA approach to ascertain whether the agricultural transition in southwest Asia was associated with a shift from an imagistic to an increasingly doctrinal mode of religiosity.

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Section: Analogy Ethnoarchaeology and The Mca Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material Correlates Analysis (MCA)

Gantley

Whitehouse

Bogaard

2018

Adv. archaeol. pract.

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“…In the second of our three points, and the one on which we wish to dwell in critical perspective, it is abundantly clear that the comparative approach has great potential. In his paper, Ravn properly charts the evolution of his own, influential ideas on analogy in Pacific and Scandinavian archaeology (Ravn 1993(Ravn , 2011. He also brings out the critique raised by Matthew Spriggs, a worldleading Pacific comparativist who early on (2008a) warned that European prehistorians' abundant take-up of Oceanic ethnographies ironically tended to ignore the somewhat contradictory narratives resulting from the actual archaeology of these same regions.…”

Section: Potentials: Internal Complexitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polynesians of the Atlantic? Precedents, potentials, and pitfalls in Oceanic analogies of the Vikings

Price

Ljungkvist

2018

Danish Journal of Archaeology

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Comparisons between Viking-Age Scandinavia and the cultures of Oceania have long antecedents, stretching back at least to the late nineteenth century, with a significant milestone in the first-ever synthesis of Polynesian archaeology-Peter Buck's Vikings of the Sunrise published in 1938. This brief contribution offers some critical commentary on a recent example, Mads Ravn's paper in the 2018 volume of this journal, setting it in disciplinary context and also against Hawaiian work on this topic that has been undertaken by the authors since 2013. We consider the very real potential in this kind of comparative research, with some discussion of possible ways forward, and a note on pitfalls that must be avoided. Long sequences of continuous historical data, with a focus on internal social processes in addition to external influences, are at the centre of our approach. Above all, we stress the need for an emphasis on emic perspectives, not only in relation to native Hawaiians and other Pasifika, but alsoas far as possiblein the study of the Scandinavian Iron Age.

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“…Ethnographic analogies certainly in principle have the goods to provide answers-that is, evidential support for hypotheses. Recent discussions of ethnographic analogy range from extreme caution or outright rejection (Hiscock 2007, Rednarek 2012, McCall 2007, Barrocall 2011, to more nuanced discussions (Gonzalez-Urquijo et al 2015, Ravn 2011, Whittaker & Tushingham 2014. My aim is to establish a view on the nuanced end: there is no outright rejection or acceptance of ethnographic analogy to be made, rather, for each case the devil is in the details.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnographic analogy, the comparative method, and archaeological special pleading

Currie

2016

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A

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Ethnographic analogy, the use of comparative data from anthropology to inform reconstructions of past human societies, has a troubled history. Archaeologists often express concern about, or outright reject, the practice--and sometimes do so in problematically general terms. This is odd, as (or so I argue) the use of comparative data in archaeology is the same pattern of reasoning as the 'comparative method' in biology, which is a well-developed and robust set of inferences which play a central role in discovering the biological past. In pointing out this continuity, I argue that there is no 'special pleading' on the part of archaeologists in this regard: biologists must overcome analogous epistemic difficulties in their use of comparative data. I then go on to emphasize the local, empirically tractable ways in which particular ethnographic analogies may be licensed.

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Ethnographic analogy from the Pacific: just as analogical as any other analogy

Cited by 19 publications

References 24 publications

Material Correlates Analysis (MCA)

Material Correlates Analysis (MCA)

Polynesians of the Atlantic? Precedents, potentials, and pitfalls in Oceanic analogies of the Vikings

Ethnographic analogy, the comparative method, and archaeological special pleading

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