This paper criticizes the use of the Mexico-United States border in cultural anthropology as an image for conveying theoretical abstractions. Instead, the paper outlines a focused model of political ecology on the border. It delineates territorialized state processes, deterritorialized capital processes, and sets of social relationships and cultural practices characteristic of this region.Keywords: U.S.-Mexico border; anthropological theory; postmodernism; difference; public policy; states; capitalism; bureaucracies; brokers; households; immigration.
An infrastructural gap (IG) emerged after the outbreak of the crisis in 2008 and it refers to the difficulty of the state and the private sector in sustaining the level of infrastructural networks in the Western world. Yet, infrastructures comprise the realm where the state or the market materialize a great proportion of the social contract. Citizens therefore often experience IG as a challenge of the entire political paradigm. Nevertheless, as research in the country that is at the center of the current euro-crisis�Greece�records, we have novel and innovative forms of civil activity focused on the IG. Such activity, applying principles of self-organization and peer-to-peer relationships, along with practices of social solidarity and ideals of commons, attempts to address IG in innovative ways. However, such practices call for theoretical and empirical innovations as well, in order to overcome the social sciences� traditional understandings of infrastructures. This paper�based on the inaugural professorial lecture I gave in acceptance of the Chair in Social Anthropology at the Vrije University Amsterdam�seeks to initiate a framework for understanding this shift in the paradigm of infrastructures� governance and function, along with the newly emerging infrastructural turn in socio-cultural anthropology.
World War I marks a well-known turning point in anthropology, and this volume is the first to examine the variety of forms it took in Europe. Distinct national traditions emerged and institutes were founded, partly due to collaborations with the military. Researchers in the cultural sciences used war zones to gain access to »informants«: prisoner-of-war and refugee camps, occupied territories, even the front lines. Anthropologists tailored their inquiries to aid the war effort, contributed to interpretations of the war as a »struggle« between »races«, and assessed the »warlike« nature of the Balkan region, whose crises were key to the outbreak of the Great War.
In Cold War Anthropology, David H. Price offers a provocative account of the profound influence that the American security state has had on the field of anthropology since the Second World War. Using a wealth of information unearthed in CIA, FBI, and military records, he maps out the intricate connections between academia and the intelligence community and the strategic use of anthropological research to further the goals of the American military complex. The rise of area studies programs, funded both openly and covertly by government agencies, encouraged anthropologists to produce work that had intellectual value within the field while also shaping global counterinsurgency and development programs that furthered America's Cold War objectives. Ultimately, the moral issues raised by these activities prompted the American Anthropological Association to establish its first ethics code. Price concludes by comparing Cold War-era anthropology to the anthropological expertise deployed by the military in the post-9/11 era.
The Bushman' is a perennial but changing image. The transformation of that image is important. It symbolizes the perception of Bushman or San society, of the ideas and values of ethnographers who have worked with Bushman peoples, and those of other anthropologists who use this work. Anthropology and the Bushman covers early travelers and settlers, classic nineteenth and twentieth-century ethnographers, North American and Japanese ecological traditions, the approaches of African ethnographers, and recent work on advocacy and social development. It reveals the impact of Bushman studies on anthropology and on the public. The book highlights how Bushman or San ethnography has contributed to anthropological controversy, for example in the debates on the degree of incorporation of San society within the wider political economy, and on the validity of the case for 'indigenous rights' as a special kind of human rights. Examining the changing image of the Bushman, Barnard provides a new contribution to an established anthropology debate.'The Bushman' is a perennial but changing image. It symbolizes the perception of Bushman or San society, of the ideas and values of ethnographers who have worked with Bushman peoples, and those of other anthropologists who use this work. This book reveals the impact of Bushman studies on anthropology and on the public.Alan Barnard is Professor of the Anthropology of Southern Africa at the University of Edinburgh.
In this thesis, I argue that the anthropological study of Kichwa-speaking peoples in the Ecuadorian Amazon is characterized by two categories of analysis: one with a focus on structuralist topics of interest and the other with a decidedly political economy overtone. Through a selective literature review of each theoretical shift, I offer a critical analysis of both of these trends, examining their origins, strengths, productions, and erasures, as well as their relative successes in reflecting Kichwa self-interpretations. I also describe how these trends build off of each other, forming, in part, out of reactions to the other's shortcomings while still falling short of either the political or religio-cultural aspects of Kichwa life. In sum, structuralism lacks emphasis on power and politics, while political anthropology tends to undermine the importance of ethnography and unique indigenous cosmologies.Because of these limitations, I propose that the best way to bridge the gap between the structural and the political is through political ontological literature, which brings to light indigenous cosmology and radical difference while also highlighting how indigenous uniqueness is played out in the political arena. Although not without its own failings, political ontology attempts to bring together the benefits of both of these theoretical shifts without falling into their traditional traps. Political ontological analyses have been applied to indigenous peoples elsewhere in Latin America, but it has yet to be applied to lowland Kichwa. Furthermore, such an analysis is vital in order to understand anthropologists' intellectual approaches to difference, including indigeneity as difference.
Year 53 BC, Julius Caesar had some problems in his campaign in Gaul. The great campaigns and conquest operations were finished and in that moment there were only peace operations. Roman politicians and people of Rome were opposed to war spending. Therefore, Julius Caesar wrote his Book VII of the Gallic Wars. He described the military operations at 53 BC with detailed ethnographic aspects of the conquered people. Julius Caesar used ethnography for its own benefit. Recently the use of anthropologists in Iraq and Afghanistan by the army of the United States has been very controversial. This paper analyzes this fact and its meaning. ; Julio César, en el año 53 a. C. tuvo algunos problemas en su campaña en las Galias. Las operaciones de conquista habían dado paso a las de pacificación. La oposición política en Roma era clara. Por ello, Julio Cesar en el Libro VII de la Guerra de las Galias, cuando describe las operaciones militares de ese año, trata con detalle los aspectos etnográficos de los galos. Julio César utilizó la descripción etnográfica en su propio provecho. Recientemente la utilización de antropólogos en Irak y Afganistán por el ejército de los Estados Unidos ha sido muy polémica. Aquí analizamos ese hecho y su significado.
The central issue of the thesis is the innovative development of the Bick infant observation method into detailed, long term, cross-cultural video recording. Videos have been made which record individual infant development in UK, Western India, Nepal and Finland. Other observational videos demonstrate how the application of recent developmental theory can improve the care of infants in children's institutions. These are being used for teaching in over fourty countries but it is suggested that more detailed filmed records from these counties, and others, are needed. It is argued that video is invaluable for teaching and conference presentation as it substitutes seeing an actual situation for merely listening to or reading an individual verbal record. Further reasons for using the medium of video are fully discussed. There is a review of previous cross-cultural child development research recognising that it has been lacking in the area of infancy and that regrettably, it is not always included in the teaching of developmental theory. A major issue researched is the effects on children of turbulent environments: an environmental catastrophe (The Chernobyl disaster), the threat of nuclear war, an actual war (in Former Yugoslavia), the breakdown of a political system (in Russia), Day Nurseries and an Orphanage. The importance of human touch - a much neglected developmental issue in the West - is examined and visually recorded in a cross-cultural context as are beliefs about the nature of children. The papers, books and videos are all informed by attachment theory, psychoanalysis, systems theory and anthropology.
1 22 ; SWORD ; [EN] This article considers the establishment of the category of ICH within the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) and examines the key principles of the international Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage that institutes this heritage category at the global level. Drawing on anthropological analyses of theoretical conundrums and practical hitches associated with the implementation of the UNESCO Convention at both the institutional and the community levels, the article critically assesses the concept of ICH and reflexively considers the different modes of anthropological engagement with this field. BARNETT, Michael; FINNEMORE, Martha (1999), The politics, power, and pathologies of international organizations, International Organization, Vol. 53, n° 4, p. 699-732. Robert Baron. (2010). Sins of Objectification? Agency, Mediation, and Community Cultural Self-Determination in Public Folklore and Cultural Tourism Programming. The Journal of American Folklore, 123(487), 63. doi:10.5406/jamerfolk.123.487.0063 BLAKE, Janet (2000), On defining the cultural heritage, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 49, n° 1, p. 61-85. BROWN, Michael F. (2005), Heritage trouble. Recent work on the protection of intangible cultural property, International Journal of Cultural Property, n° 12, p. 40-61. GAMBONI, Dario (2001), World heritage: shield or target?, Conservation. The Getty Conservation Institute Newsletter, Vol. 16, n° 2, p. 5-11. HALE, Charles R. (2006), Activist research v. cultural critique. Indigenous land rights and the contradictions of politically engaged anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 21, n° 1, p. 96-120. KIRSHENBLATT-GIMBLETT, Barbara (2000), Folklorists in public. Reflections on cultural brokerage in the United States and Germany, Journal of Folklore Research, Vol. 37, n° 1, p. 1-21. KURIN, Richard (2007), Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage. Key factors in implementing the 2003 Convention, International ...
This paper focuses on Eastern European migrants who, since the beginning of the 1990s, are entering the Republic Cyprus as "artistes". This is a visa permit status as well as an euphemism for short-term work permits in the local sex industry. In addition to exploring the migrational experiences of these women and their living and working conditions in the Republic of Cyprus, the paper reconstructs, empirically and analyt ically, the connection between immigration and the local sex industry. Here, several categories of social actors and institutions in Cyprus are actively involved. The rhetoric of government representatives, entrepreneurs and clients in the sex business on the one hand is contrasted with the discourse of local NGO representatives concerned with immigrants' rights on the other hand. The paper comes to the conclusion that all of these discursive positions ultimately do not do justice to the complex process of decisionmaking that women undergo who migrate into the sex industry. Either, freedom of choice is emphasized – such as by entrepreneurs and the government – or the domination of women – as in the public statements of the NGO. In order to analyze the ambivalent tension between freedom of choice and submission to force by which the women's decision is characterized, the author employs Michel Foucault's concept of governmentality, which describes forms of political regulation that use the individual's freedom of action as an instrument to exercise power.
This thesis examines a singular event commemorating the 1838 emancipation of enslaved Africans in Georgetown, Guyana. When slavery was abolished in the British Empire it had rippling effects throughout the rest of the slave-holding world, as well as within the politics of cultural self-determination and representation for those newly "freed" yet still colonized people. One change that occurred was the re-evaluation and interpretations of Obeah, a wide-ranging complex of knowledge and practices utilized for harnessing empowerment to effect changes in people's social, "spiritual," and bodily well-being. Prior to emancipation colonial authorities considered Obeah as a malignant tactic of rebellion, and even revolution, requiring vigilant action to suppress. Directly post-emancipation colonial policies aimed more at controlling Obeah as a cultural form epitomizing a Euro-American-imagined "Africa," one deemed culturally and intellectually "backwards" and in need of "Christian civilizing." For these combined reasons, and others, Obeah was outlawed and popularly demonized throughout Anglo-Caribbean societies, leaving an ambivalent legacy to follow for those who continue to utilize it, and similar ritual practices, today. A 2014 Libation Ceremony in Georgetown honoring the 1838 emancipation featured a constellation of sensory and performative atmospheres that invoked an aura and memory of "Africa" and African identity, including the use of varying ritual practices associated with Obeah. Analyzing vernacular speech acts and other performance features of audience/participants during this ceremonial night reveals conflicting and often ambiguous understandings of Obeah's connections to cultural politics. Primarily framed through local and contemporary politics of national and religious identity construction, this study also engages cultural politics of transnational global significance, and through historically informed perspective.
The research objective is to study the phenomenon of transferring organizational practices which are conceptualized in one culture to another different culture. The purpose of the study is (1) to understand how cultural values and beliefs are manifested in behavior; (2) to explore how the Western organizational practices are interpreted and assimilated into an organization in an Eastern culture; and (3) to explore strategies for the fit between local cultural orientations and imported organizational practices. A qualitative, interpretive, and reflexive research methodology was developed to conduct this study. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase was designed to develop an indigenous perspective of the Chinese culture and behavior and to investigate the cultural interplays in the context of transferring organizational practices from the Western culture to the Chinese culture. This phase was mainly conducted in a large industrial organization in China, complemented by limited data collected from several other organizations. Three major social groups--the government, the management, and the employees--all of which have a major stake in the case organization were investigated by indepth interviews. This was to identify how each of them constructed their own realities, and how their realities were shared and in conflict with each other in the organizational context. Limited observation and document analysis were used to complement the interview findings. Cases where imported organizational practices were integrated with the Chinese culture were examined. The second phase of the study was conducted in the USA. Cross-cultural informants--those Chinese who had both work experiences in the People's Republic of China (the PRC) and the USA and had a cross-cultural perspective were interviewed. This was designed to facilitate an understanding of the Chinese culture and behavior in the context of other cultures. During the two phases of the study, a meta-research method was applied to observe the influence of the researcher upon the research process. The researcher's influence on the research data was examined. A model for cross-cultural transfer of organizational practices was developed. Implications for the study of organization and culture, the construction of meanings in the context of cross-cultural transfer of organizational practices, organizational change in a cultural context, the case organization, and the development of Chinese organizational and management theories were examined. Suggestions for future research were also made.
This essay reviews the following works:The Ch'ol Maya of Chiapas. Edited by Karen Bassie-Sweet, with Robert M. Laughlin, Nicholas A. Hopkins, and Andrés Brizuela Casimir. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 251. $45.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780806147024.Wellness beyond Words: Maya Compositions of Speech and Silence in Medical Care. By T. S. Harvey. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2013. Pp. vii + 256. $55.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780826352736.Maya Market Women: Power and Tradition in San Juan Chamelco, Guatemala. By S. Ashley Kistler. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2014. Pp. ix + 160. $44.68 paperback. ISBN: 9780252079887.Southern Eastern Huastec Narratives: A Trilingual Edition. Translated and edited by Ana Kondic. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2016. Pp. vii + 197. $24.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9780806151809.Indigenous Bodies, Maya Minds: Religion and Modernity in a Transnational K'iche' Community. By C. James MacKenzie. Boulder: University Press of Colorado; Albany: Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, 2016. Pp. ix + 368. $34.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781607325567.Songs That Make the Road Dance: Courtship and Fertility Music of the Tz'utujil Maya. By Linda O'Brien-Rothe. Forewords by Allen J. Christenson and Sandra L. Orellana. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 244. $72.93 paperback. ISBN: 9781477305386.Language and Ethnicity among the K'ichee' Maya. By Sergio Romero. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 123. $50.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781607813972.
China is rapidly transforming into one of the world's most powerful economies, and the state encourages technological innovation to ensure that this trend continues. In particular, the state entices its citizens to receive education abroad and then return home to apply particular experience and expertise to their homeland's continued development. Yet despite these apparent advantages, Chinese technological products are generally not competitive with Western ones in the global market. Why does this paradox exist? This dissertation explores this puzzle, focusing on how technological innovation is being re-defined and produced by the Chinese government as well as by transnational Chinese professionals within the context of the global economy.Through archival research, discourse analysis, and 12 months of participant observation and interviews in Beijing, China, I arrive at the following conclusions. First, innovation development in China is constructed by the state as a political imagination driven by nationalistic entrepreneurialism. I call this mode of innovation development "imagined innovation." Moreover, through governing specific people and constructing nationalistic discourses, the state aims at consolidating capital, expertise, and other resources at the transnational level to reinforce state sovereignty. While this nationalistic strategy is successful in attracting foreign-trained Chinese to return to China in order to develop indigenous innovation, these professionals, labeled as "Haigui," also face various cultural obstacles in their everyday operations, which at times impede original innovation from taking place, due to the utilitarian nature of imagined innovation that favors political agendas and economic profits over cultivating original creativity.Nationalistic entrepreneurialism creates conditions in which Haigui can mainly rely on the efficient imitation and modification of Western technologies to gain competitive advantages in the Chinese market. However, driven by professional entrepreneurialism, Haigui also find themselves uniquely situated to identify innovative markets as well as develop socially creative practices to manage Chinese employees and promote their products. They do so in part through objectifying themselves by drawing on their cross-cultural experience, thus enabling them to flexibly develop technological and entrepreneurial practices. I call this form of subject-making "reflexive subjectivity" to illustrate how Haigui engage in reflexive thinking as they negotiate the difficult terrain of state power, market variations, and cultural differences.Therefore, I use the term "innovative entrepreneurship" to articulate the dynamic and multiple ways in which innovation is understood and produced in China under global influences. It is a constellation of political strategies, cultural practices, and business ethics that aims to build technological innovation in heterogeneous socio-cultural contexts. Ultimately, the rise of China in the global economy poses new questions about how to conceptualize innovation, as well as its relationship to international and Chinese markets. This research offers a new perspective on contemporary Chinese culture and politics with respect to innovation, and its arguments offer theoretical contributions as well as insights for policymakers and prospective Haigui entrepreneurs.
Pointer (Journal of the Singapore Armed Forces), 37 (2), October 2011. ; Policy makers continue to want to believe that with just a bit more effort, and greater cross-cultural understanding, their militaries can somehow shape better than they can smash. Many of those who eschew the use of force also believe that disciplines like anthropology really can deliver bloodless solutions. But, at best, this is wishful thinking. As terrible as it may seem to advocate a more honest consideration of force, in actuality nothing is likelier to stand Western militaries in better stead. Ironically, too, nothing less than the proven willingness to use overwhelming force will protect what finesse requires: respect—if not mutual, then at least grudging respect.
