Review: [untitled] Author(s): Philip K.

Bock Reviewed work(s): The Don Juan Papers: Further Castaneda Controversies by Richard de Mille Source: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 83, No. 3 (Sep., 1981), pp. 712-714 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Anthropological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/676825 Accessed: 20/12/2008 20:49
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vidual and the social merge while preserving their own integrity,doing so throughrelations in whichthe individual is identifiedas a divided self and throughwhichthe socialsystemi8 constructed, when relationsare related to each other."Thismeans,I think:through reciprocity and incest taboos, individualsare linked together in societies. A profounddiscoveryindeed, especially 31 yearsafterthe publication of
Les structures dlementaires de la parentd.

One last comment:Wilsonhas a knackfor not acknowledging the paternityof his ideas, even whenhe borrows them fromthe verypeople he criticizes.This i8 especiallytrue of his treatmentof kinshipand of incest taboos,and of his critiquesof L(vi-Strauss and RobinFox. Fox, for example, develops closely parallel arents to Wilson'sin his 1975 piece on "Primate kin and humankinship," in his edited collection, Biosocull AnthropologN, including the notion of transitivityof human kinship. However, Fox presentsthe case much more lucidly,and doesnot strayfroman understanding of evolutionary theoryas Wilsondoes. Yet, Fox appearsin Wilson's index underthe entry: "Fox,R., ideasof, aboutkinshipdisputed,5S, 62, 65." Intellectualingratitudemay be the ultimatehomagel

The Don Juan Papers: Further Castaneda Controversies.Richard de Mille, ed. Santa Barbara, California:Ross-Erikson Publishers, 1980. 518 pp. S8.95 (paper). PhilipK. Bock University of New Mexico Americananthropolowists are not noted for their scholarship.With a few exceptions,we preferfieldwork to libraryresearch (or even to writingup the resultsof our field experiences). Mostof us are ill at ease with foreignlanguage and we soon becomeimpatientwith the scholarly apparatus of bibliographies,footnotes, statistical safeguards, and textual criticism. These attitudes have some positive consequences(see R. F. Murphy's The Duzlectics of SocuzlLtsfe,1971:35); however, theyalsoexpose w to dangers suchas undetected plagiansmand hoazcing. By 1976, Richardde Mille had done what dozensof anthropological readers and reviewers

had failedto do: he had seenthroughanddocumented the inconsistencies, fictions, and plagiarisms of Carlos Castaneda (see Castaneda's Journey, reviewed in AA 79(4):921).At the same time, this presumptuous psychologist called our profemion to account for its sloppine", gullability,and selfprotectivereflexes. Although {JCLAsuffered most directlyfromhis revelations, professors in manygraduatedepartments may have become anxious about dubious dissertationsor enthwiastis endorsements awardedto questionable candidates. As de Mille comments, "Castaneda rose to fame by breakingrules of scholarship" (Castaneda's Journey, 1978:110). And no one at UCLAever saw his field notesl When Ralph BeaLsinsisted on seeing them, Castaneda "became evasive and finallydropped from sight"(p. 61); when he re-emerged,he found a new committeechairman. His final doctoralcommitteeapparently never askedto see the notes. Yet, as de Millestates,"Thecontradictions betweenTeachings and Ixtlan were sufficientgroundsfor disqualifying the divertation as a scientzsfic report"(p. 6S, emphasis added). Readersof Castaneda's Journey should be awareof all this, but it seemsthatfewof mycolleagueshave read de Mille.All-too-human anthropologists tend to turn awayfrom information that challengessacredprinciples,though some uncntically embrace alternativeideologies, eagerlyabandoningthe valuabletraditions of our professionto indulge in psychedelics, politics, or popularization. Meanwhile, de Millehas been doing his homework. One of the amazing thingsaboutthe bookunderreview iB howmuch anthropology its author/editor has learnedin a few years,and howmuchhis stalking of CarlosTricksterhas taught him about the way scienceis organized (see pp. 104-145; 198-216). The DonJuanPapersis a richcompilation of 44 articlesdealing with the controversies surroundingCarlosCastaneda(nXArana). Most of the articles areby de Mille,but therearealso contributionsby several anthropolopts, pro and con (e.g., M. Douglas,R. L. Carneiro, S. Wilk, A. Bharati, P. Riesman,and B. Myerhoff), plus a dozenother qualifiedcommentators, from ethnomycologist GordonWassonto librananSanfordBerman(how do you catalog a hoax?). Language professorJuan BruceNovoa diacuses Castaneda's unfortunateimpact on Chicanoliterature (pp. 271-274), and sociologist-naturalist Hans Sebald questions

L AND THEORETICA GENERAL makesabout nearlyeverystatementCastaneda the climate, topography, and fauna of the Sonorandesert(pp. 34-38). 's Journey,thisbookis not enLikeCastaneda tirelynegative.De Mille and many other con(thoughwith differingevalrecognize tributors to literature, contributions uations)Castaneda's Mostof the and the counter-culture. mysticism, authors utilize de Mille'sdistinctionbetween the livingthoughelusivewriter,and Castaneda, createdby that writer, the character "Carlos," or indexedby subscripts avatars withhis various or Carlos-apprentice). epithets(e.g., Carlos2 De Mille also distinguishesbetween two of truth"that he labels valtdtty "components and authentictty.A valid report is one that with whatwe thinkwe know,"whereas "agrees an authentic report actually arises"fromthe (p. it describes" persons,placesand procedures 44). Of course,aworkcan be both valid and and authentic(de Millecites Opler, Myerhoff, the franklyfictionalReturnto Laughter),or it can be neither (a prime case being von betweenthe combut the correlation Daniken); ponents is far from perfect. ContestingMary work as Douglas'sdescriptionof Castaneda's the (pp. 25-32), de Milleclassifies "authentic" Don Juan books as valid (in relation to our general knowledge of drug experience and mysticalpractice)but definitelynot authentic; The that ColinTurnbull's de Millealsosuggests Peopleis authenticbut invalidsince Mountazn of ordinary it shows "the misinterpretation (p. 54). The cateevents correctlyperceived" gorizationof the Don Juan books as valid/inauthenticseemsfair to me, for it classesthem that claim with otherworksof the imagination Travels,or "The Ancient factuality(Gulkver's and that play on the ambiguityof Mariner") as part of their (valid)messageto the "reality" reader. Like certain unpopular witnesses of the 1950s, de Mille comes forwardprepared to aboutthe role If youarecurious "namenames." of people like H. Garfinkel,R. Edgerton,C. Meighan, W. Goldschmidt,P. Newman, T. or W. Brightin the creationof the don Graves Juan myth, it i8 all here-at least, all that de andcorfrominterviews Millecouldreconstruct partiwith the often recalcitrant respondence aboutCastaneda's cipants.Thereis information childhoodin Peru, his student days in California, and his unusualmarriageto Margaret of his history Runyan,as wellas the publication Journeyto Ixtlanis the sameas the works.(Yes, dissertation,"Sorcery:A Descriptionof the

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World,"though the dissertationabstractimplies that they are distinctworks.)De Mille's of the don Juan booksto the Piltcomparison down hoax ("Uclanthropus Piltdunides pp. 112-118)is a bit forced,but Castanedae," reporter, only a bit. Likea carefulinvestigative all his sourcesand reads de Milledouble-checks between the lines, producinga imaginatively Men." plausibleaccountof "Allthe Sorcerer's I found the 500-pluspagesof The Don Juan Papers fascinatingand delightfulreading. De Mille suggestsseveral useful distinctionsand coins some nifty neologisms("ethnomethodalare my favorites). and "anthromancer" legory" He playfully creates fictional dialogues and andhe willoftendrawthe readerinto scenarios, a fantasywithoutwarning.(See the wonderful sketchof donJuanat a P.T.A. meetingexplainthat Johnnycan't ing, throughan interpreter, p. "not-reading," read becawe he is practicing 264.) In these passagesde Milleshowshis own approvalof and facilitywith the use of jokes, games,fictions,andsleightof handto trickpeostill, he inple into new modesof perception; sists, scientific reportsmut be tied at some reality. I also agreewith his point to ordinary limitedas a is severely judgmentthat Castaneda makerof modernmyth: "The don Juan books deserveto surviveas an ingeniow and instructive hoax, but they will never be literatureor sacredtexts"(p. 168). Muchof The Don Juan Papers is devotedto of the work,tracingthe origins detective literary of Juanistteachings, ideas(and even wordings) how people like Wasson, and demonstrating Myerhoff,and Harnermistookimitationand of their own findfor confirmation plagiarism ings. As de Millewrites, partisanshave not yet faced up Castaneda's habit of quotingin to don Juan'ssurprising Spanish from English-languagetexts, by David-Neel,SuzanneLanger,EdAlexandra ward Sapir, Ludwig Wittgenstein,Gordon Wasson, Lama Govinda, Gilbert Ryle, or D. T. Suzuki.I haveno doubttheirfaithwill all find an explanation.True belief survives tests.(p. 21) biogThe book also includesan unauthorized raphy, "Portrait of the Allegorist" (pp. 355-358). This aectiontells as much aboutthe as we are realityof CarlosCastaneda ordinary likelyto learnfor a long time, unlessCastaneda acceptsde Mille'schallengeto "comeclean." In a concludingsection entitled "Alleglossary"(pp. 390-436), de Mille cites probable

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sourcesforJuanistconceptssuch as the "ally," the "gaitof power" the worldas a "description," in many (peyote).The parallels and "Mescalito" close, while others of the entriesare extremely are leu certainbut still of interestto futureinto learn that It was disappointing vestigators. ("thecrackbemetaphors someof my favorate tween the world?"'and incidents (e.g., don Genaro'sbalancingat the waterfall)were apparently plagiarized.True believersmay, of as confirmatheseparallelisms course,interpret me that most tions, but de Millehas convinced or wasdonein a library fielxlwork of Castaneda's with colleagues. in conversations peoplehavealready that several I understand askedto respondto this review,so I shalltry to make my own positionperfectlyclear. At this or time I do not knoweitherCarlosCastaneda de Mille,and I am not awareof having Richard ax to grind. I do not feel that I any particular by Castaneda.I genuinelyenjoyed was "stung" the filrstthree don Juan bookswhen they apA Separate Reality which, as peared(especially but to mycondition); say, appealed the Quakers the many close parallelswith Zen Buddhism as did of theirauthenticity, mademe suspicious the extraordinaryhappenings in Tales of books,I wrote Power. Beforereadingde Mille's the followingin my Continuities Psychologin

as an aberrationin the otherwise controversy evolutionof ethnology,let us try to untroubled learn all we can fromit, for otherhoaxesloom on the horizon(e.g., the worksof the alleged poet B. Wongar;see pp. aboriginal Australian de Millehasdone all anthro374-575).Richard pologistsa service-one that we should have but couldn't,givinga for ourselves, performed new meaningto the term "anthropocentrism" (or, as de blille mightprefer,anthropallegory). too may have done a He showsthat Castaneda in service, but only if we do not "stonewall" reactionto Sonoragate: of fraudsand Byfacingup to the implications hoaxes, and of their acceptancein quarters wherepeopleshouldknowbetter, and of atthem once exposed,we can temptsto dismiss learn much about the way science i8 conducted, about the nature of sophisticated difficultyof beliefs,and aboutthe surprising achievingconsensusthrough civil dialogue intelligent,professional amongwell-disposed, peoplewho are at the sametime passionately committedto particulartheoriesof how the world is put together, or to particularpropositionsabouehow to be a moral scientist doingproperscience[p. 118].

ical Anthropology:

a fascinating booksconstitute The Castaneda theirground whatever culturalphenomenon If, as I swpect, Castaneda ing in "reality." A Guide to Power Zen The Way of the Shaman: a Japanese transported has imaginatively Michael Harner. New York: Healing. and master to the Sonoran desert, presenting Harper& Row, 1980. xviii + 167 pp. $9-95 parablesas real events and koans (Zen rid- (cloth). of an old Indian,the dles)as the wisesayings cumulativeeffect is still quite appealingas RobertMurphy . [1980:220-221] literature ColumbiaUniversity thoughtodayI I still stand by this assessment, am more skeptical about Castaneda'sElrst- Manyyearsago, in an Indianvillagelocated person reports of drug experiences. If "la deep in the Amazonianhinterlands,one of small dilemmasbefell my wife: she Catalina,"the "worthyopponent"of Carlos- fieldwork's pain of a chroniclower-back sorcerer, is really named after the hotel in had a recurrence whereTim Learyand Co. stayedin that left her in agony and unable to move. Zihuatanejo to When this happenedat home, she would visit furtherrevelations 196S,there are doubtless come(p. 310). Howlong de Millewill continue the orthopedist,who would prescribepainremains killers, corsets, heat treatments, and other of anthropology as the Jack Anderson rest on a hard, flat nostrumsand recommend to be seen. Those who feel that they were "had" by surface.In a weekor 80, she wouldbe able to may be more forgiv- moveaboutstifflyand withina monththe conor by "Carlos" Castaneda In ourvillage,however, ing, defensive,or unhappy-perhaps each of ditionwoulddisappear. these at differenttimes. (Cognitivedissonance it wouldhavetakenweeksof travelto find comtheorycan explain,but not predict,thesereac- petent medical help, our only anodyne was tions.) Yet before we shrugoff the Castaneda aspirin,and we sleptin hammocks.