THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

BSA 1-15, GROUP 2:

 FORTUNO, Aira Andrea D.  TIGAS, Jolo Jaimer F.

 JAMANDRE, Marielle M.  YUMUL, John Ryan
 MAMPUSTI, Vienna Louise

LOST WORLDS: “Environmental Disaster, Culture Loss, and the Law”

By Stuart Kirsch

Analysis of the Topic:

1. DESCRIPTION OF ARTICLE
This journal article entitled “Lost Worlds: Environmental Disaster, Culture Loss, and
the Law” is a paper written, organized, and structured by Stuart Kirsch, a professor of
anthropology at the University of Michigan. He wrote the article during his residency at the
University of Cambridge with a funding provided by the United Kingdom Economic and
Social Research Council in conjunction with the Property, Transactions, and Creativity
project organized by Marilyn Strathern and Eric Hirsch. The article consisted of 12-pages
discussion tackling the claims and contexts of hearings at the Nuclear Claims Tribunal in the
Marshall Islands, which was established to adjudicate claims regarding damage and loss to
people and property resulting from United States nuclear testing during the 1940s and
1950s. The concepts about culture, cultural property rights, culture appropriation were also
discussed by Stuart Kirsch, expanding point of views and perspective, into this journal
article. The journal article was divided into two parts: the first part was Stuart Kirsch’s 12-
pages discussion about loss. He discussed the nature of loss, nuclear wasteland, the context
of claims for loss, legal determination of loss, property as a way of knowing, the value of
subsistence production place, etc. The second part was the collection of comments and
replies of other anthropologists as to Stuart Kirsch’s discussions, showing further
discussions and multiple perspectives to bring out the larger picture of the matter.

2. OBJECTIVES OF ARTICLE
The journal article entitled “Lost Worlds: Environmental Disaster, Culture Loss, and
Laws” aims to bring the issue of natural disasters and the relation of this with regards to the
culture of a community. Stuart Kirsch successfully put forth the concepts and ideas of a
culture with the consideration of culture as something that was embedded in our hearts
and in our minds while simultaneously taking into account that it can also be damaged or
lost. Stuart Kirsch focused mainly on disciplinary protocols as a solution in seeking justice for
culture loss. He also made it clear that culture changes through time. It naturally happens as
time passes by and change is inevitable. Stuart Kirsch also aims to put forward legal matters
implying and insinuating culture loss cannot be compensated nor should it be neglected.
Rather, it is imperative and essential that we recognize the presence that has been often
made invisible and to recognize the mistakes that needed to be acknowledged. He also
imposed a problem for contemporary definitions of culture as a process that continually
undergoes change rather than something which can be damaged or lost.

3. METHODOLOGY
Stuart Kirsch used a descriptive analysis and discussions to put forward the idea and
the concepts he wanted to send and make people realize the connection and relationship of
land or any other cultural property rights to the community’s identity and culture at large.
He used different examples to showcase different scenarios and situations in which these
scenarios and situations can happen, making it easier for the target readers to understand
and conceptualize the message he was trying to send and convey to the world.

4. ARGUMENTS
The main argument in Stuart Kirsch’s “Lost Worlds: Environmental Disaster, Cultural
Loss, and Laws” is the importance and relationship of cultural property rights to the culture
of the community at large. One of the claims discussed in the journal article is that culture
cannot be damaged or lost since it was embedded in our hearts and in our minds.
Counterclaim to this is that culture can be affected by external factors resulting to loss since
these external factors had been an integral part of community’s identity from generations
to generations to come. Supporting details and ideas about the first claim were said that
culture is a set of ideas, beliefs, norms, etc., that can be passed from one generation to
another generation. Hence, the idea of change to one’s culture is possible but it can never
ever be lost or damaged. It can gradually change as time passes by, but the possibility of it
being lost or damaged can never happen. Supporting details and claims about the latter
claim were said that cultural property rights had been an integral part of a community.
Meaning, external factors like natural disasters can lead to a change of culture. Even worse
than that, lost and damaged.

5. PERSONS APPROVAL/APPRAISAL
After careful discussions and thorough analysis, we noticed that the claims about
“Culture Loss” were debated and contested all throughout the journal article. Despite this,
majority of our group still agreed that cultural properties like land, etc. are connected to
one’s cultural identity and that cultural loss and damage is possible. We believe that culture
is a process and is a set of ideas of many things that naturally changes, and it is, indeed,
something that can be damaged and lost, as well. We also agreed that acknowledging the
possibility of culture loss is the first step in legitimate response to claims of culture loss and
it makes it possible of somehow preventing past mistakes from the possibility of it
happening again.