492. The Unnaming of Kroeber Hall - Revisiting the Past and Renaming the Present feat. Andrew Garrett

Dec 18, 2024

Andrew Garrett, a linguistics professor at UC Berkeley and author of "The Unnaming of Kroeber Hall," dives into the complexities of renaming campus buildings tied to controversial figures like Alfred Kroeber. He discusses Kroeber's contributions to linguistics and anthropology and his fraught relationships with Indigenous communities. Topics include the evolution of linguistic legacies, the ethics of cultural documentation, and the movement towards greater Indigenous representation in academia. Garrett's insights shed light on how universities can address historical injustices.

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INSIGHT

Kroeber's Anti-Eugenics Stance

Alfred Kroeber held anti-racist and anti-eugenicist views, uncommon for his time.
He actively opposed eugenics, a prominent ideology in early 20th-century America.

INSIGHT

California's Genocidal History

California's genocide against Native Americans occurred in two distinct waves: the Spanish mission period and the Gold Rush era.
This decimated the diverse Indigenous population.

ANECDOTE

California's Linguistic Diversity

California's linguistic diversity, similar to New Guinea, saw unrelated language groups within short distances.
This contrasted with larger language groups in other regions.

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How does the present reckon with the historical legacies of notable figures of the past? How do you contextualize the actions of people from other generations today? How do we deal with the information learned through methods that are unacceptable today?

Andrew Garrett is a professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of The Unnaming of Kroeber Hall: Language, Memory, and Indigenous California.

Greg and Andrew discuss the renaming of Berkeley buildings originally named after problematic historical figures, with a focus on Alfred Kroeber. The discussion explores Kroeber's contributions to linguistics and anthropology, his controversial involvement with Indigenous peoples and remains, and his work with the Yurok language. Andrew provides an insightful examination of the broader implications of these issues for contemporary relations between universities and Indigenous communities.

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

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Is Alfred Kroeber's legacy in language and storytelling overlooked?

48:26: One of the reasons why I think Kroeber's real legacy have not been seen so clearly in anthropology because I think his most important legacy going forward is about language and about storytelling, narrative, and oral history. And those are things that are less part of the anthropology world today and more part of the linguistics world. But he's usually identified as an anthropologist. So linguists tend to be a bit unaware of what he did. And anthropologists look only at the culture side of what he did and find it less interesting. So, this kind of separation has, I think, been part of the difficulty.

Understanding inequality today requires tracing its roots to the past

41:21: I think the law has evolved in California. I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding of the way the law has evolved is that geographical and national ownership is sufficient. So, you no longer have to show that certain ancestral remains are somehow intangibly associated with you culturally, simply that they are found in the area that is your tribal area. That makes it more analogous to the Etruscan situation.

How Alfred Kroeber helped revive indigenous cultures

25:49: I think one of the important uses that have been made of [Alfred Kroeber]'s material is not for world culture but for those cultures where there's a massive archive of material from their grandparents or great-grandparents that they can use in cultural and language revival projects today. It's like the thing that [Alfred Kroeber] didn't see as possible—the survival of Indigenous cultures—that he, in fact, helped to make possible.