Victims of Progress

About the Book

Victims of Progress, now in its sixth edition, offers a compelling account of how technology and development affect indigenous peoples throughout the world. Bodley’s expansive look at the struggle between small-scale indigenous societies, and the colonists and corporate developers who have infringed their territories reaches from 1800 into today. He examines major issues of intervention such as social engineering, economic development, self-determination, health and disease, global warming, and ecocide. Small-scale societies, Bodley convincingly demonstrates, have survived by organizing politically to defend their basic human rights.

Providing a provocative context in which to think about civilization and its costs—shedding light on how we are all victims of progress—the sixth edition features expanded discussion of “uprising politics,” Tebtebba (a particularly active indigenous organization), and voluntary isolation. A wholly new chapter devotes full coverage to the costs of global warming to indigenous peoples in the Pacific and the Arctic. Finally, new appendixes guide readers to recent protest petitions as well as online resources and videos.

Table of Contents:

Preface and Acknowledgments
1: Introduction: Indigenous Peoples and Culture Scale
Culture Scale, Culture Process, and Indigenous Peoples
Large-Scale versus Small-Scale
Society and Culture
The Problem of Global-Scale Society and Culture
Social Scale and Social Power
Negative Development: The Global Pattern
Policy Implications
2: Progress and Indigenous Peoples
Progress: The Commercial Explosion
The Culture of Consumption
Resource Appropriation and Acculturation
The Role of Ethnocentrism Civilization’s Unwilling Conscripts Cultural Pride versus Progress The Principle of Stabilization
3: The Uncontrolled Frontier
The Frontier Process
Demographic Impact of the Frontier
4: We Fought with Spears
The Punitive Raid
Wars of Extermination
5: The Extension of Government Control
Aims and Philosophy of Administration
Tribal Peoples and National Unity
The Transfer of Sovereignty
Treaty Making
Bringing Government to the Tribes
The Political Integration Process
Anthropology and Native Administration
6: Land Policies
The People–Land Relationship
Land Policy Variables
7: Cultural Modification Policies
These Are the Things That Obstruct Progress
Social Engineering: How to Do It
8: Economic Globalization
Forced Labor: Harnessing the Heathens
Learning the Dignity of Labor: Taxes and Discipline
Creating Progressive Consumers
Promoting Technological Change
Tourism and Indigenous Peoples
9: The Price of Progress
Progress and the Quality of Life
Diseases of Development
Ecocide
Deprivation and Discrimination
10: The Political Struggle for Indigenous Self-Determination
Who Are Indigenous Peoples?
The Initial Political Movements
Creating Nunavut
Guna Self-Determination: The Comarca Gunayala
The Political Struggle
The Shuar Solution
CONAIE: Uprising Politics Reshaping Ecuador’s Political Landscape
The Dene Nation: Land, Not Money
Land Rights and the Outstation Movement in Australia
Philippine Tribals: No More Retreat
Indigenous Peoples and the Arctic Council
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Tebtebba: An Indigenous Partnership on Climate Change and Forests
11: Petroleum, the Commercial World, and Indigenous Peoples
Petroleum: The Unsustainable Foundation of the Commercial World
The Gwich’in and Oil Development in the Sacred Place Where Life Begins
Petroleum Development and Indigenous Rights in Ecuador
First Nations Opposition to Canadian Tar Sand Development
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) vs. Shell Oil
Assigning Responsibility for Tar Sand Development
12: Global Warming and Indigenous Peoples
The Indigenous Response to Global Warming
Indigenous Peoples as Climate Change Refugees
Arctic Warming and Alaska Natives
Global Warming Perpetuators and Beneficiaries
Assessing the Global Costs of Climate Change & the Carbon Economy
13: Human Rights and the Politics of Ethnocide
The Realists: Humanitarian Imperialists and Scientists
The World Bank: Operational Manual 2005 and False Assurances
The Idealist Preservationists
You Can’t Leave Them Alone: The Realists Prevail
Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Advocates
Voluntary Isolation in the Twenty-First Century
Indigenous Peoples as Small Nations
Conclusion
Appendixes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

About the Author :
John H. Bodley is Regents Professor Emeritus at Washington State University. His numerous publications include The Power of Scale (2003), Anthropology and Contemporary Human Problems (Sixth Edition, 2012), Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System (Fifth Edition, 2011) and The Small Nation Solution (2013).

Review :
In this latest edition Bodley surveys the conditions of indigenous peoples in a wide range of places and times. As in earlier editions, in the first two-thirds of the book, the author reviews the conflicts at contact between Native peoples and colonizing Europeans and Americans. The theme is twofold: constantly changing boundaries were unable to keep the two peoples apart and at peace, but the resilience of indigenous societies in the face of decimating disease, land loss, and deforestation saw them through to a time when their rights and interests could garner somewhat greater international concern. Thus, the most recent chapters follow the course of UN and International Labour Organization conventions, national treaties, and the effects of global climate change and commercial contact to give a fuller picture of the current state of indigenous interests and situations. Brief yet striking examples from a wide variety of groups result in a very useful overview with enough specifics to keep the analysis from becoming too generalized. Useful for anthropology and public policy collections and courses, particularly when supplemented with more-detailed accounts and visual aids. Summing Up: Recommended. General university and high school libraries. Victims of Progress appears in its sixth updated edition to consider, as an ongoing project, how technology is affecting indigenous peoples around the world, and is recommended for college-level collections strong in anthropology as well as global social issues and cultural studies. It considers the histories of struggles between small-scale indigenous communities and colonists and developers, examines intervention techniques, and posits the theory that these small-scale communities have done a good job in contemporary times of organizing as a political force to defend their territories, lifestyles, and interests. This sixth edition holds expanded discussions of both rebellions and deliberate isolationist tactics, and adds further details on the costs and threats posed to such communities by global warming. No global issues collection should be without this solid reference. Essential for its scope, detailed analysis, and documentary rigor, the sixth edition of Victims of Progress is an exceptionally learned and uncompromising critique of the neocolonial expansion of capitalist market economy into indigenous peoples’ homelands. Bodley’s updated classic is both an indictment of Euro-American aggressive world expansion and a eulogy of Native civilizations and their wisdom. A must-read… Through its clear arguments and abundant case materials, the sixth edition of Victims of Progress shows how far humans have come in mitigating the damage of an expanding commercial world—where tribal peoples were merely the first to suffer—and in defending our rights to exist as ourselves. It is a book not only of human tragedies, but also of human strengths. Useful in courses on culture change, modernization, and economic development. Victims of Progress reveals the political and ethnocentric nature of development in the name of 'progress' and contradicts the justification of 'inevitable' ethnocide, genocide, and ecocide found around the world and throughout time. A must-read for anyone interested in models of success based on demonstrated resiliency and dedication of small-scale peoples fighting for autonomy and sovereignty. This unparalleled survey is an in depth analysis of the problems of survival, adaptation, and human rights faced by indigenous peoples the world over. From the imposition of external economic and political forces to colonialism to globalization, the sixth edition of Bodley’s Victims of Progress covers a wide range of topics. This should be required reading for every student and professional in anthropology. A beautifully written account of the tragic plight of indigenous peoples under the impact of technological and economic ‘progress’ of industrial nation-states over many centuries. Bodley’s analysis skillfully combines quantitative data with qualitative assessments to illuminate global issues affecting us all. The book is a must for anyone concerned with issues of genocide, environmental destruction, and human rights. Thoroughly up-dated, this sixth edition will be a valuable asset in undergraduate and graduate courses alike.