Roseberry, William 1950-2000

## Quotes

“The incompatibility here [between some anthropologies] rests with basic attitudes toward cultural others, which in turn rests on fundamentally different understandings of history. The one sees the Other as different and \*separate,\* a product of its own history and carrying its own hitoricity...The second sees the Other as different but \*connected,\* a product of a particular history that is itself intertwined with a larger set of economic, political, social, and cultural processes to such an extent that analytical separation of "our" history and "their" history is impossible. In this view, there are no cultures-outside-of-history to be reconstructed, no culture without history, no culture or society "with its own structure and history" to which world-historical forces arrive.” (Roseberry, 1989)

“Interpretation cannot be separated from what people say, what they do, what is done to them, because culture cannot be so separated. As long as anthropologists are seduced by the intrinsic charms of a textual analysis that takes such separation as a point of honor, they will continue to do something other than what the task at hand calls for” (Roseberry, 1982).

## Biography and History

William "Bill" Roseberry was born in Little Rock on April 25th, 1950, in the state of Arkansas. He lived there until he pursued his undergraduate degree at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Afterwards he earned his Anthropology Ph. D. in 1977 at the University of Connecticut. After graduating he worked for a short time at the university of Iowa, before proceeding to New York where he would work until his death. There he trained both historians and anthropologists how to study in Latin America. In 1999 he was awarded the position of Senior Latin American Historian. Unfortunately shortly after obtaining his position he discovered he had cancer, without being able to take much advantage of his new position he passed away on august 12th, 2000 in New York, after losing the battle with cancer (Gudmundson, 2001).

Roseberry lived and participated in the Golden Age of Anthropology and followed the Karl Marx Political Economy doctrine. His style of anthropology was very similar to Eric Wolf's, who died only months before Bill's passing. In a short span of time the discipline anthropology lost two leading anthropologists, whom both used the same style and method of conducting research.

One of Roseberry's most influential contributions to Marxism was publishing a special issue in *American Ethologist in 1978* devoted to Political Economy. This special publication legitimized Political Economy as a theoretical subfield (McGee & Warms, 2013).

## Work

Roseberry spent two years doing fieldwork in Venezuela for his dissertation Social Class and Social Process in the Venezuelan Andes (1977) after which he was briefly hired at the University of Iowa (Gudmundson, 2001) before becoming a professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology in the Graduate Faculty at the New School for Social Research in New York.

* The rise of yuppie coffees and the reimagination of class in the United States
* Balinese cockfights and the seduction of anthropology
* Rent, differentiation, and the development of capitalism among peasants
* Political Economy

Book

* Coffee, society, and power in Latin America

## Analysis

Roseberry’s early work focused on elaborating concepts that Karl Marx presented, particularly to present his contradictions with other authors. One author was George Dalton who examined the question of how peasants are exploited. Roseberry elaborates that there are different types of exploitation that precapitalist and capitalist peasants can experience. "The difference being the efficiency of the bourgeoisie to extract the surplus value of the peasants produce" (Roseberry, 1976). This explanation is important to Roseberry because it creates the notion that the exploitation that peasants experience in the capitalist society is worse than those in a feudal society.

Late in Roseberry's academic career, he focused on the development of history and its connection to Anthropology particularly in Latin America (Gudmundson, 2001). His most cited solo work, *The Rise of Yuppie Coffee and the Reimagination of Class in the United States* is an examination of the increased variety of coffee and its representation of commodity fetishism (Roseberry, 1996). He used a style of anthropology similar to Eric Wolf, both of which leaned heavily on the teachings and methods of Karl Marx, particularly his "Political Economy Doctrine".

Roseberry's focus on political economy became popular in the 1980's due to the rough economic times the capitalist United States and Britain faced under Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher respectively. As a result anthropologists began seeking alternatives to the capitalist structure which resulted in a renewed interest in Karl Marx and Antonio Gramsci writings.

## Critique

Roseberry's writings were considered a great elaboration of political economy ideas applied to modern examples. Utilizing Latin America coffee growing operation to describe the capitalist problem of commodity fetishism (Roseberry, 1996). Also his ability to provide insight on Marxist ideas, particularly rent in feudal societies as less exploitative than the capitalist mode of production (Roseberry, 1974). Essentially his writings were widely viewed as a boon to the political economy as a subset of anthropology.

Unfortunately as a devout follower of Karl Marx and the political economy, Roseberry work suffers from the general critiques that political economy faces. In particular his main focus is how the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat in precapitalist and capitalist societies. As a result his research is limited to examining material culture. He does not consider why the proletariat remain exploited to the bourgeoisie then have the option to revert to a hunter gatherer society.

## Influences

There are three primarily influencers on Bill. These can be broken down into 3 groups or people.

First, he is a devout follower of Karl Marx political economy branch of anthropology. He views the Karl Marx’s ideas as a grand-narrative that can be applied to specific situations and that power being attributed to specific locations accounts for the changes over time (Roseberry, 1997).

Second, he is influenced by Maurice Godlier’s belief that traditional anthropological problems can be solved with Marxist concepts as long as the stigma associated with Marxism has been removed (Roseberry, 1976).

Third, He is influenced by Gerald Berthoud’s suggestion that the main problem for anthropologists who study marginal areas and their connection to capitalist centers is “to conceptualize various form of articulation of an internationally dominant capitalist mode of production with non-capitalist modes of production” (Roseberry, 1976)

Roseberry and Eric Wolf's application of the political economy to Latin America inspired future anthropoligists including Carla Freeman who applied the oppression of the peasant to feminist theory, Paul Farmer who examines suffering under the political economy, and Yan Hairong who focuses on applying both political economy and structuralism to China before and after the communist revolution.

## Sources

Gudmundson, L. (2001). William Roseberry (1950-2000): A Remembrance. *Hispanic American Historical Review*, 81(2), 343-345. Duke University Press.

McGee, R. J., & Warms R. L. (Eds.). (2013). *Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology an Encyclopedia*. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Roseberry, William. (1976). Rent, Differentiation, and the Development of Capitalism among Peasants. *American Anthropologist*, 78(1), 45-58.

Roseberry, William. (1982). Balinese Cockfights and the Seduction of Anthropology. *Social Research*, 49 (4), 1013-1028.

Roseberry, William. (1989). *Anthropologies and Histories: Essays in Culture, History, and Political Economy*. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Roseberry, William. (1996). The Rise of Yuppie Coffees and the Reimagination of Class in the United States. *American Anthropologist*, 98(4), 762-775.

Roseberry, William. (1997). Marx and Anthropology. *Annual Review of Anthropology*, 26, 25-46.