Respected Amazonian Scholar Visits Rhodes

June 6, 2005

By Richard Flockemann

This term, Rhodes has been fortunate to have the respected Amazonian studies scholar, Associate Professor William H. Fisher, of the College of William and Mary, in the USA, as a distinguished visiting lecturer.

Professor Fisher is a Professor of Anthropology at the College of William and Mary, and is an internationally respected scholar in the field of Amazonian studies. He has written the highly acclaimed book Rainforest Exchanges, and also has had numerous articles published in leading anthropological journals. His specialisations include, amongst others, topics such as the Indigenous Amazon, Political Economy and History of the Amazon, Tropical Forest Development and Political Ecology. Professor Fisher has extensive field work experience in Brazil, and has also taught at the University of Brasilia, Brazil. Professor Fisher has been at Rhodes since 18 April this year, and left on 5 June.

During his time with Rhodes' Anthropology Department, Professor Fisher has been "enjoying the flow of department life," and has appreciated the interaction he has had with his colleagues here in the Anthropology Department, as well as the post-graduate and undergraduate students he has been in contact with. He has lectured a three-week module for the Anthropology 2 course, entitled "Power and Wealth," in which he has argued that anthropology gives us a new way to look at relationships and also to understand differences of wealth and poverty in terms of social relations, rather than simply as quantities. Professor Fisher has also enjoyed getting involved in Anthropology departmental seminars, where post-graduate students present papers based on their own research for the scrutiny of the department. On 25 May, he also gave a public lecture entitled "Uncharted and Fully Modern: Anthropological Reflections on Rural Brazil in the World."

As an Anthropologist, Professor Fisher feels he has "barely scratched the surface" of South African culture. Professor Fisher feels that South African culture has been heavily influenced by other cultures, and while there are "many points of reference" between South Africans and Americans, he feels the American influence here has not been as strong as one might suspect. There is a huge gap, he thinks, between the assumptions South Africans seem to have about life in the US, and the real thing.

In many ways, Professor Fisher has found South African students more akin to those he has taught in Brazil, than the American students he has taught. The major similarity, he says, is that - like in Brazil - there is a sense of idealism present in Rhodes students. Students here seem to "feel they can change the world" which is not something he encounters often in America.

Professor Fisher has enjoyed and appreciated his time at Rhodes, and thanks the University for its hospitality and the warm welcome he was given.