Roger Sandall

Roger Sandall (1933 - 11 August 2012) was an essayist and commentator on cultural relativism and is best known as the author of The Culture Cult. He was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, but spent most of his career in Australia. He became a film director at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies in 1965 and subsequently a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Sydney in 1973, a post he held until he retired in 1993.

Sandall was a strong critic of romantic primitivism and the concept of the noble savage; he was an advocate of modern civilization. In Sandall's view, romantic primitivism places far too high a value on cultures that were often characterised by, among other aspects, limited human rights, religious intolerance, disease and poverty. Other negative aspects he discusses include domestic oppression (usually of women and children), violence, clan/tribal warfare, poor care of the environment and considerable restriction on artistic freedom of expression.

Sandall coined the term designer tribalism to describe the attitudes of those western anthropologists (e.g. Margaret Mead) who constructed an idyllic but imaginary past for tribal cultures. Designer tribalism is the end result of a process where primitive ways of life (e.g. human sacrifice and clan warfare) become forgotten and such cultures end up being morally transfigured.

Designer tribalism praises primitive cultures as being deeply in touch with nature and living in harmony with animals and plants. Unfortunately for this point of view, Sandall points out that some cultures were far from friendly to the environment, e.g. the Māori in New Zealand were responsible for massive deforestation and the extinction of several indigenous species of birds (most notably the moa). Similarly, the religion, art and music of tribal cultures are held to be deeply meaningful and profound. The corresponding aspects of western civilization are usually denigrated and despised, as are western science and technology.

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