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On a Hill with No Name
Author(s) -
Champney Brynn
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
anthropology and humanism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1548-1409
pISSN - 1559-9167
DOI - 10.1111/anhu.12212
Subject(s) - subaltern , narrative , power (physics) , sociology , space (punctuation) , gender studies , media studies , history , aesthetics , literature , linguistics , law , art , politics , political science , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics
SUMMARY This narrative, based on fieldwork in Rwanda in 2008, shifts between two women who share the same physical space but lack the ability to communicate verbally: the novice anthropologist and the eldest woman in her host family's household. The Rwandan woman, Claire, speaks in the first person, while a third‐person narrative follows the student anthropologist, who is never named. I intend this choice to speak against the power inequity, select humanizing, and traditional focus on the Western protagonist. The anthropologist wants to hear this woman's voice but only hears her story told by more powerful male voices. Because Claire doesn't actually speak, her “voice” is only imagined, projected, and misrepresented through the words of a woman who is far removed from her. This is profoundly problematic. I have no solution, only a desire to grapple with the troubling questions surrounding speaking for the subaltern, versus not attempting to speak on behalf of anyone at all. This attempt to share Claire's voice falls short in every way, but the attempt is still important. Her story deserves to be heard and read, despite the inadequacies of the author. How can we co‐create more nuanced and transparent ways of doing this?