Through review of selected anthropological ethical codes an attempt is made to outline the fundamental ethical principles of anthropological research and their applicability to current practices of applied anthropology. The Statement on Problems of Anthropological Research and Ethics was adopted by the American Anthropological Association in response to the need to take distance from military research after the Camelot scandal. Anthropology reacted stronger than other disciplines due to its methodology implying a relation of trust with the community. The Codice etico of AISEA defines the anthropologist's obligations with different type of actors. In applied anthropology more attention should be paid to the relation with the financers of the research, due to possible conflict of interest between the latter and the concerned community. During consultancies anthropologists are today often forced into conditions that do not allow them to fulfil the obligations as stated in most deontological codes. Yet, giving up would cut the anthropologist out of the ongoing processes that have often a potential critical impact on the communities. The Codes of Ethics of ISE has allowed overcoming serious controversies by referring to procedural rights according to international law. It is suggested that reference to procedural and collective rights, appropriate international standards and best practices can provide an appropriate device to evaluate case by case the opportunity to engage, considering the overall field of relations rather that strictly focusing on the anthologist's obligations which each actor independently.
The report is the outcome of a research carried out in 2018 on minorities protection. The ethnographic study took place in four schools located in the areas where the Cimbrian and Mocheno linguistic communities traditionally reside. The report offers a picture both of virtuous practices that strengthen protection and of obstacles that slow down its full realization in a school that is, at the same time, a pedagogical program, a space for socialization and a place where many things happen. In line with applied anthropology, it provides institutional decisions with the support to bridge the gap between a regulatory level that requires "to do in support of minorities" and the operational level where schools factually meet minority pupils.
Questo articolo fornisce un contributo all'antropologia applicata esaminando lo sviluppo dell'"indigenismo" in America Latina a partire dagli anni '40. Nella prima parte dell'articolo vengono riassunti i risultati fondamentali del dibattito interamericano sull'"indigenismo": i significati del termine "indio", sia dal punto di vista teorico che da quello pratico (ad es. i censimenti); le due posizioni contrastanti, politica ed intellettuale, sull'"indigenismo" in relazione all'antropologia ed alle scienze sociali in generale; le varie conseguenze del movimento "indigenista" (nazionale e internazionale) e le loro caratteristiche politiche, economiche, legislative ed organizzative; ed infine gli scopi e le regole interne dell'azione indigenista organizzata.La seconda parte dell'articolo delinea l'esperienza indigenista brasiliana dal 1910 (creazione dello SPI - Serviço de Proteção aos Indios) al 1968 (soppressione dello SPI e sulla sostituzione con il FUNAI - Fundação Nacional do Indio).L'ultima parte dell'articolo introduce un'analisi comparativa delle molte varianti nazionali dell'"indigenismo" e mette in evidenza le variabili che condizionano e seguono queste politiche nazionali.This paper provides a contribution to applied anthropology by surveying the development of the "indigenous question" in Latin America in the last half of the century. The following basic issues in the inter-american debate on the "indigenous question" are summarized in the first part of the paper: the meanings of the term "indio", both in its theoretical and practical concerns (e.g. censuses); the contrasting political and intellectual positions on the "indigenous question", as related to anthropology and social sciences in general; the various outcomes of the "indigenous question" movement (national versus inter- national) and their political, economic, legislative and organizational characters; and, lastly, the goals and internal rules of the indigenous organized action.The second part of the paper outlines the Brazilian indigenous expe- rience from 1910 (establishment of SPI - Serviço de Proteção aos In- dios) to 1968 (suppression of SPI and take-over by FUNAI - Funda- ção Nacional do Indio).The last part of the paper introduces a comparative analysis of the many national variants of the "indigenous question" and emphasizes the variables conditioning and following those national policies.
The globalization process of the last twenty years has changed the world through international flows of people, policies and practices. International cooperation to development is a part of that process and brought International Organizations (IOs) and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) from the West to the rest of the world. In my thesis I analyze the Italian NGOs that worked in Bosnia Herzegovina (BH) to understand which development projects they realized and how they faced the ethnic issue that characterized BH. I consider the relation shaped between Italian NGOs and Bosnian civil society as an object of ethnic interests. In BH, once part of former Yugoslavia, the transition from the communist regime to a democratic country has not been completed. BH's social conditions are characterized by strong ethnic divisions. The legacy of the early 1990s crisis was a phenomenon of ethnic identities created before the war and that still endure today. The Dayton Peace Agreement signed in 1995 granted the peace and reinforced the inter-ethnic hate between the newly recognized three principal ethnicities: Serbs, Croats and Bosniak. Through the new constitution, the institutions were characterized by division at every level, from the top to the bottom of society. Besides it was the first constitution ever written and signed outside the own country; that was the root of the state of exception that characterized BH. Thus ethnic identities culture survived through the international political involvement. At the same time ethnic groups that dominated the political debate clashed with the international organization's democratic purpose to build a multicultural and democratic state. Ethnic and also religious differences were the instruments for a national statement that might cause the transition and development projects failure. Fifteen years later social fragmentation was still present and it established an atmosphere of daily cultural violence. Civil society suffered this condition and attended to recreate the ethnic fragmentation in every day life. Some cities became physically divided and other cities don't tolerated the minority presence. In rural areas, the division was more explicit, from village to village, without integration. In my speech, the anthropology for development – the derivative study from applied anthropology – constitutes the point of view that I used to understand how ethnic identities still influenced the development process in BH. I done ethnographic research about the Italian cooperation for development projects that were working there in 2007. The target of research were the Italian NGOs that created a relation with Bosnian civil society; they were almost twenty divided in four main field of competences: institutional building, education, agriculture and democratization. I assumed that NGOs work needed a deep study because the bottom of society is the place where people could really change their representation and behavior. Italian NGOs operated in BH with the aim of creating sustainable development. They found cultural barricade that both institutions and civil society erected when development projects have been applied. Ethnic and religious differences were stressed to maintain boundaries and fragmented power. Thus NGOs tried to negotiate development projects by social integration. I found that NGOs worked among ethnic groups by pursuing a new integration. They often gained success among people; civil society was ready to accept development projects and overcome differences. On the other hand NGOs have been limited by political level that sustained the ethnic talk and by their representation of Bosnian issue. Thus development policies have been impeded by ethnic issue and by cooperation practices established on a top down perspective. Paradoxically, since international community has approved the political ethnic division within DPA, then the willing of development followed by funding NGOs cooperation projects was not completely successful.
La ricerca in oggetto ha analizzato le relazioni tra migrazione e salute mentale nel Distretto di Pianura Est dell'AUSL di Bologna. Attraverso un dispositivo d'indagine multi-disciplinare basato sui quadri teorici dell'Antropologia Medica Critica, della Salute Pubblica e della Psichiatria, la ricerca si è inserita nell'ampio contesto di sperimentazione di un innovativo modello di assistenza per pazienti migranti, denominato Centro di Consultazione Socio- Culturale. L'architettura dello studio si rifà a un modello di Ricerca-Azione Partecipata e Multi-Situata fondato su un approccio analitico e auto-riflessivo, il quale ha consentito di problematizzare, oltre alle azioni e alle traiettorie dei vari soggetti che operano nel campo della ricerca, anche le categorie oggetto della ricerca stessa. L'analisi, profondamente radicata nel dato empirico, è stata condotta a partire dall'esperienza degli attori sociali coinvolti. Le esperienze, le informazioni e le rappresentazioni reciproche sono state co-costruite in forma partecipativa attraverso l'uso combinato di metodologie quali-quantitative proprie sia delle discipline sanitarie sia di quelle sociali. Come materiali della ricerca sono stati utilizzati: dati primari e secondari prodotti dalle istituzioni e dalle organizzazioni del territorio stesso; informazioni provenienti dall'osservazione partecipante; colloqui con informatori-chiave; interviste semi-strutturate con decisori politici, amministratori, organizzazioni del territorio, operatori dei servizi, cittadini e pazienti. La ricerca ha dimostrato la validità delle prospettive teoriche utilizzate e delle strategie di lavoro proposte. Il modello di lavoro multi-disciplinare e multi-metodologico si è rivelato produttivo nell'indagare congiuntamente le prospettive degli attori coinvolti insieme alle loro traiettorie, alle reciproche interconnessioni e alle relazioni tra processi locali e globali. L'analisi auto-riflessiva ha consentito di analizzare le attività del Centro di Consultazione evidenziandone vantaggi e limiti. Infine, la collaborazione tra Salute Pubblica e Antropologia Medica Critica ha dimostrato una grande potenzialità e produttività sia sul versante della ricerca scientifica sia su quello dell'assistenza sanitaria. ; This research has analysed the relationship between migration and mental health in the Distretto di Pianura Est of Bologna AUSL. Through a multi-disciplinary investigation tool based on the theoretical frameworks of Critical Medical Anthropology, Public Health and Psychiatry, the research was included in the broad context of testing an innovative model of care for migrant patients, called Socio-Cultural Advisory Centre. The study design relates to a model of Participatory and Multi-Situated Action Research, analytical and self-reflective, which made it possible to problematize, in addition to the actions and trajectories of the various actors of the research, also the categories addressed by the research. The analysis, deeply rooted in empirical data, was conducted starting from the real experience of the social actors involved. Experiences, mutual information and representations have been co-constructed in a participatory way through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies well known both to social and health disciplines. The following research material was used: primary and secondary data gathered from institutions and organizations in the field; information from participant observation, interviews with key informants, semi-structured interviews with policymakers, administrators, local organizations, service personnel, citizens and patients. The research has demonstrated the validity of the theoretical perspectives that were applied and the strategies proposed. The working model of multi-disciplinary and multi-methodological approach has proved effective in investigating the perspectives of those involved as well as their own trajectories, the mutual interconnections and relationships between local and global processes. The self-reflective analysis has allowed the exploration of the activities of the Advisory Centre, highlighting advantages and limitations. Finally, the collaboration between Public Health and Medical Anthropology Critique has shown a great potential and productivity both in the field of scientific research and of health care. ; A pesquisa tem analisado as relações entre o fenômeno da migração e a saúde mental no Distrito Sanitário de Pianura-Est da AUSL de Bolonha. Através de um dispositivo de indagação multi-disciplinar e multi-metodológico baseado na perspectiva da Antropologia Médica Crítica, da Saúde Pública e da Psiquiatria, a pesquisa tem se inserido na experimentação de um modelo de atendimento aos pacientes migrantes, chamado Centro de Consultação Sócio-Cultural. O esquema do estudo se inspira ao modelo da Pesquisa-Ação-Participativa e Multi-situada, baseada em um abordagem analítica e auto-reflexiva, que tem permitido problematizar, além das ações e trajetórias dos diferentes atores que operam no campo da pesquisa, também as categorias-objeto de investigação. A análise, fortemente baseada nos dados empíricos, tem sido desenvolvida a partir da experiência dos atores envolvidos. As experiências, as informações e as mútuas representações dos diferentes atores foram co-construídas de forma participava por meio de uma combinação de metodologia qualitativas e quantitativas pertencente às ciências sociais e de saúde. Como materiais de pesquisa foram utilizados: dados primários e secundários produzidos por instituições e organizações do próprio território; informações obtidas a partir da observação participante, entrevistas com informantes-chaves; entrevistas semi-estruturadas com gestores, administradores, o organizações locais, operadores dos serviços, cidadãos e os doentes. A pesquisa têm demonstrado a validade do quadro teórico e das estratégias utilizadas nos trabalho. A abordagem multi-disciplinar e multi-metodologia tem se demonstrado produtiva na investigação das perspectivas de todos os atores envolvidos, em conjunto com as suas trajetórias, as mútuas interconexões e as relações entre os processos locais e globais. A análise auto-reflexiva permitiu analisar as atividades do Centro de Consultação, destacando vantagem e limitações. Finalmente, a colaboração entre Saúde Pública e Antropologia Médica Crítica tem mostrado um grande potencial em termos de produtividade, tanto no campo da pesquisa científica tanto quanto no dos serviços de saúde.
The so-called "human zoos" represented an incredibly widespread and extremely popular phenomenon in 19th-early 20th century Europe, at the age of the great national, international and universal exhibitions, of which they were a recurrent and a nearly constant element. The "human zoos" were brutish forms of public exhibitions of specimens of "savage" (mostly African) humans purposely imported as exotic animals from overseas by specialised merchants and entrepreneurs and hosted in "indigenous villages" very carefully and minutely reproduced within the exhibition areas. Such public displays - true ethno-anthropological shows in which the exotic actors were supposed to "play" their native daily habits, craftsmanship, arts, dances, songs and religious rites - contributed in an important albeit appalling way to Western Europe self-perception as an advanced, modern and "civilsed" society and culture, to be efficaciously contrasted with primitive or just diverse forms of human ways of living. The expanding, aggressively militarist, imperialist and colonising West could proudly look at itself in the mirror offered by the spectacle of a human alterity exhibited in its most demaning forms; and in that contrast it could find a clear confirmation of the importance of its civilising mission in the world. Several recent books have explored this phenomenon in the social and cultural history of many West-European and American countries: Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, the United States. This book for the first time investigates the great variety of living human public exhibitions in 19th-20th century Italy, between the liberal era and Fascism. It connects these examples of public exhibitions to an ancient tradition of triumphs and freak shows and underlines the close relationships with colonial politics and ideology, with the development of anthropology and the medical sciences as academic disciplines in Italy and with catholic missionary activities in Africa, the Near East and South America. In so doing this book suggests the need to enlarge the very notion of "human zoos", which aptly defines a particularly brutal, even if very common form of living human exhibition, but which cannot be applied to other, themselves very widespread aspects of human shows, such as ethnic theatre, missionary exhibitions and colonial-imperial exhibitions based not so much on the public show of a degraded savagery, but on the apology of the civilising capacity of colonial and imperial institutions. In so doing, this book offers an original insight into Italian public opinion and sensibilities in matters of human varieties, race, civilization, globalization, modernity and the non-European world; and it tries to assess, in comparison with other European cases, the specifities of Italian attitudes toward human ethnic diversities and colonialism. The book is enriched by a very large section of "Illustrations" reproducing original and often previously unpublished images and archive documents; and it is closed by a wide, 50 pages bibliography. ; I cosiddetti "zoo umani" rappresentarono un fenomeno di vastissima diffusione e popolarità nell'Europa delle grandi esposizioni nazionali, internazionali e universali a partire dalla metà dell'800. Forme spesso brutali di pubblica esibizione di esemplari di umanità selvaggia, gli "zoo umani", completi di "villaggi" ricostruiti nel dettaglio e popolati di "indigeni" importati come animali da esposizione, costituirono un ingrediente importante – per quanto raccapricciante – della mentalità e dell'auto-rappresentazione dell'Occidente "progredito", imperialista e colonizzatore. Grazie a questo libro, dopo che numerosi studi hanno indagato il fenomeno in larga parte del mondo occidentale (Germania, Francia, Inghilterra, Stati Uniti, Spagna, Svizzera, Russia, Danimarca) disponiamo ora della prima ricerca sistematica sulle "esposizioni umane" nell'Italia liberale e fascista, viste non solo nella loro funzione politico-ideologica, ma anche in rapporto ai loro antecedenti storici più antichi e nella varietà di declinazioni che, ben oltre la nozione restrittiva di "zoo umani", esse assunsero nel mondo dello spettacolo, in quello delle attività missionarie oltremare e negli ambienti della ricerca medica e antropologica.
The Human Rights topic is increasing its relevance in the field of legal studies and in the agenda of inter/transnational actors. The Sociology of Law is deeply engaged in this dialogue, but some of its contributions seem to share a common lack of concern about the dimensions of cultural legitimacy and politics of imagination. Refusing the "simplistic" vision of «legal transplants», the approach in term of regionalization and the genealogical theories (i.e. the so called generations of human rights), the thesis aims to outline a multidisciplinary frame, trying to merge the anthropological and the socio-legal knowledge to shed light on the «anthropologies of human rights». The use of the plural suggests several orders of realities: firstly, it reflects the high fragmentation which characterizes the epistemological and methodological debate of contemporary anthropology, as a disciplinary field. An "internal" multiplication of points of view which becomes even more striking in its interactions whit the HR subject and its own kind of internal dissemination. Secondly (and consequently), it enlightens that the "pluralisation" of human rights discourse could be better understood as a proliferation of world-visions and axiologies. In this second meaning, the summoned «anthropologies» have to be intended in term of theories on human beings, on social reality and social order, shaped by cultural assumptions, taken-for-granted and (shared) symbolical repertoires. Deeply merged within every manifestation of the «humanitarian transnational narration», these world-versions need to be studied as sources of influence and inspiration for legal claims, texts and declarations that build the corpus of international humanitarian law. Lastly, this plurality which stems from the relationship between the macro-narrative of the International Bill of Human Rights and its situated appropriations points out the potentiality of a cultural analysis of the social life of (human) rights in avoiding the dichotomist models (universalism versus relativism, global versus local and so on) in favor of a representation in term of narrative encounters between different conceptions of human dignity, human beings, normative orders and social realities. To grasp this mutual and multilayered overlapping, the first part of the thesis builds an analytical framework destined to be applied, in the second part, to the specific context of the «African system of human rights». This choice was dictated by the peculiarities which seem to distinguish it from others regional systems: amongst these features, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights deserves a special place, considered its aspects of relevant innovation and creativity as well its signs of criticism and its lack of real efficacy. In the first chapter we start from the general liaison between Law and Culture, looking for a «relational paradigm» which rejects determinist or reductionist presentations of this organic link. Adopting a pluralist point of view (centered on the idea of «normative pluralism» preferred to the classical one in term of «legal pluralism»), we borrow some insights from early anthropological researches on «primitive law» and on the co-existence of plural normative orders in colonial settings. The second chapter deals with the concept of «legal culture», trying to discuss a cardinal notion of sociology of law that often pretend to exhaustively grasp the complexity of law/culture nexus. We explore the richness and the pitfalls of influent theorizations about this topic, sorting out three dimensions which seem to require a deeper engagement: the power, the (construction of the) collective identities and the pluralism. In strict dialogue with the studies on «legal consciousness» and «legal socialization», we move towards a textual description of culture. The third chapter sketches a theory of culture in term of cognitive and normative interface between men and the meaningful world they try to create (and to live in). Borrowing from Clifford Geertz the fundamental ideas about the «social traffic of meanings», the textual dimension of cultures and the law as a way of world-making – or better, of imaging the reality –, we keep developing our model in a more comprehensive perspective which dismisses the "literary" constraints entrenched in the idea of «text». The forth chapter deals with some assumptions of the so-called «narrative paradigm», trying to "dissolve" the persisting rigidities of the textual frame into a larger and (more) universal human ability: the narrative competence. We examine the coalescence between narrative attitude and normative attitude, stressing the similarities and the constitutive power of both of them. Starting from narration as a meta-model for the social construction of reality, we move towards the specificities of «legal narration» as expression of the legal construction of social reality. This narrative standpoint can be synthesized as follow: the human skill to produce, to understand and to manipulate tales (and other sources of narrative production) is the key that ensures the transmission and the socializations of cultural meanings, representations and symbols. Trough the narrativization of culture it becomes easier to conceive the narrativization of legal cultures as shared, contested, polyphonic repertories of legal and social ideas. In the fifth chapter we start applying our theoretical framework to the human rights topic. We begin with a preliminary set of issues regrouped under the label of «spatial problematic». It underlines the paradox of the Universalist project, with its claims of cultural independence and planetary applicability on the one hand, and the need of cultural resonance and local relevance on the other. We explore critical contributions about the «globalization talk», which stress some traps of this overriding way of representing social and socio-legal phenomena in the contemporary world. Aiming to reject monodimensional explanations, we merge the «rhetoric of flaws» with the sensibility for «friction events» generated by and trough the encounters between transnational narratives and specific local (and cultural) settings. The concept of «vernacularization» helps us to conceive these interactions/intersections between global flows and punctual frictions. The sixth chapter introduces the main elements of the African context, starting from a sketched portrait of what we define its «radical normative pluralism». In order to cope with the complex reality of the African human rights system, we outline a historical (and political) description of the events that preceded the creation of the Organization for the African Unity, the institutional body which had the main responsibility in the consolidation of the system itself. We also examine various "legal" precedents (the so-called Lagos Law, the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples and so on) which influenced the elaboration of the African Charter with their moral and political authority. Whit the seventh chapter we finally land the heart of our topic: the narrative analysis of the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights. After a quick identification of the focal features of the document, we approach the meaningful core of the Charter: the organic/holistic relationship between individual human rights and collective dimension of peoples' (human) rights. We split our investigation in two different but related paths: the individual/people pole and the rights/duties pole, assuming they are two dissimilar strategies to arrange this underlying "cohabitation". We also draw to several pronunciations of the African Commission of human and peoples' rights exploring the potential meanings of people and peoples' rights to clarify the official/institutional position on the subject. Anthropological and sociological studies on the ongoing modifications of collective frames of reference (the family, the ethnic group and other strategies of kinship allegiance) in contemporary Africa are employed to complete our inquiry. In the eighth chapter we (temporary) leave the African Charter in favor of other documents and protocols produced by the African system, strictly related to the «culture variable»: the Pan-African Cultural Manifesto, the Cultural Charter for Africa and the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance. After that, we approach three other texts more engaged on the promotion and protection of human rights for specific categories of people: the African Charter on the rights and welfare of the child, the Protocol to the African Charter on human and peoples' rights on the rights of women in Africa and the African Youth Charter. Our aim is to show how cultural assumptions about the subjects concerned shape or influence the normative prescriptions designed to protect them. The ninth chapter, finally, outlines a general evaluation of our analytical model trough the exploration of its weakness and its points of strength. It shows the hermeneutical advantages provided by the «gius-narrative» key, which enabled us to trace and emphasize the links between myths and foundational narratives of social groups and theirs normative constructions. It also stresses the need for a cultural study of social life of human rights, to (try to) grasp the many faces that the struggle for human rights is showing in its continuous spread around the world.
