HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory

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Ethnographic theory

According to the journal's first foreword or manifesto, "The Return of Ethnographic Theory", written by Giovanni da Col together with David Graeber, ethnographic theory entails "the destruction of any firm sense of place that can only be resolved by the imaginative formulation of novel worldviews". [8] The mission of the journal was motivated by the need to reinstate ethnographic theorization in contemporary anthropology as a potent alternative to paradigms derived from largely European philosophical arguments, which had resulted in a loss of the discipline's distinctive theoretical nerve. [9]

Open access model

The journal was founded with a commitment to open dissemination of anthropology "...HAU is committed to becoming an Open Access alternative to commercial publishing in anthropology by taking advantage of the lower costs of production that internet distribution allows". [10] The open access publishing model, called HAU-NET, relied on income from key supporters to meet publication costs—mainly anthropology departments and libraries, totalling about 40 by 2017. [11] It was reported in 2017 that this had not gone well in several respects with some core funding diminishing. The shift to a large university non-profit publisher and a sustainable hybrid model which could offer both free access after each issue release and gold open access to each issue's key articles was the outcome of the HAU Advisory Board deliberations. [11] In a turnaround, commitment to OA publishing then took second place to the intellectual project: "Even if the current funding could allow open access to the journal and the book series for another one or two years, the difficulties of ensuring long-term sustainability encountered by other open journals and projects ... do not offer much hope at this historical conjuncture." [11]

Use of Māori concept "Hau"

In 2018 a collective of New Zealand and Māori scholars published a statement criticizing the journal's choice of name, since hau is a Māori religious concept. [12] Arguing that this Maori concept has become anthropologist's common parlance and the journal had stated the original inspiration came from Marcel Mauss's usage of the term, the board of trustees responded with a statement apologizing for not running it by the Mahi Tahi collective for a consultation. They also clarified that a Māori scholar, Paul Tapsell, was invited to join the journal's first editorial board and endorsed the project. [13]

#hautalk controversy

In 2018, allegations of workplace abuse were raised by David Graeber and in two anonymous open letters written by former HAU staff members. [14] [15] These accusations were made against the then editor-in-chief Giovanni Da Col. [16] Other accusations included physical and emotional abuse, [16] bullying, harassment [17] and financial misconduct. [18] Known by the hashtag #hautalk [19] the discussion spread to the wider anthropology community, [14] and was described as "anthropology’s #MeToo movement". [17] [15] HAU critics felt that the incident reflected systemic power imbalances within anthropology as an academic discipline. [19] :9 The internal structuring of HAU was also scrutinised as the large amount of power Da Col had [20] was seen as one of the reasons these situations could occur. [21] Da Col resigned as HAU editor-in-chief in 2019 and stayed on as an editor of HAU Books until 2020.

References

  1. "Letter from the new Board of Trustees". Haujournal.org. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  2. "Home". HAU Books. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  3. Golub, Alex (February 3, 2012). "HAU and the opening of ethnographic theory". Savageminds.org. Archived from the original on October 28, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  4. Da Col, Giovanni; Dowdy, Sean M.; Gros, Stéphane (2013). "Father Christmas rejuvenated". HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory. 3 (3): i–iv. doi:10.14318/hau3.3.001.
  5. "HAU Constitution 2013–2018". Haujournal.org. Archived from the original on 27 January 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  6. "Anthropology". Google Scholar. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  7. "Content overview". Scopus. Elsevier. Archived from the original on 2015-04-24. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
  8. Da Col, Giovanni; Graeber, David (2011). "Foreword: The return of ethnographic theory". HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory. 1 (1). doi:10.14318/hau1.1.001.
  9. Da Col, Giovanni (2017). "Two or three things I know about Ethnographic Theory". HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory. 7 (1): 1–8. doi:10.14318/hau7.1.002.
  10. Da Col, Giovanni; Graeber, David (1 September 2011). "Foreword". HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory. 1 (1): vi–xxxv. doi:10.14318/hau1.1.001.
  11. 1 2 3 Da Col, Giovanni (1 December 2017). "Free gifts that must be invented". HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory. 7 (3): i–vii. doi:10.14318/hau7.3.001.
  12. "An Open Letter to the HAU Journal's Board of Trustees". Asaanz.org. Archived from the original on 24 August 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  13. "Answer to the Māori scholars – Mahi Tahi". Haujournal.org. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  14. 1 2 Singal, Jesse (October 5, 2020). "How One Prominent Journal Went Very Wrong". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  15. 1 2 King, Tanya J.; Boarder Giles, David; Meher, Mythily; Gould, Hannah (December 2020). "Anthropology and #MeToo: Reimagining fieldwork". The Australian Journal of Anthropology. 31 (3): 274–287. doi:10.1111/taja.12371. hdl: 11343/276942 .
  16. 1 2 Chakraborty, Proshant (2018). "Ethical dilemmas, anthropological practice, and principles #HauTalk". Allegra Laboratory. Archived from the original on 2023-12-15. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
  17. 1 2 "Moving towards a review of the HAU affair 2011-2017". www.easaonline.org. Archived from the original on 2023-12-15. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
  18. "Guest Post: An Open Letter from the Former HAU Staff 7". footnotes. 2018-06-13. Archived from the original on 2023-12-15. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
  19. 1 2 Collins, Samuel Gerald (2019). "Social Media". In Callan, Hilary (ed.). The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 1–11. doi:10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea2439. ISBN   978-0-470-65722-5.
  20. Green, Sarah (2018). "#HAUTALK: the tyranny of structurelessness and no end in sight". Allegra Laboratory. Archived from the original on 2023-12-15. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
  21. "HAU Apology – David Graeber". davidgraeber.org. Archived from the original on 2023-12-15. Retrieved 2023-12-15.