Suchergebnisse

The paper presents an outline of the relationship between anthropology and
demography, sometimes depicted as "long, tortured, often ambivalent, and
sometimes passionate." Although early anthropologists (primarily British
social anthropologists) routinely made use of demographic data, especially in
their studies of kinship, the two disciplines gradually drifted away from
each other. The re-approachment took place from 1960s, and the last fifteen
years saw more intensive cooperation and more insights about possible mutual
benefits that could be achieved through combining of methodologies and
revision of some theoretical assumptions, primarily through anthropological
demography. As summarized by Laura Bernardi and Inge Hutter, "Anthropological
demography is a specialty within demography that uses anthropological theory
and methods to provide a better understanding of demographic phenomena in
current and past populations. Its genesis and ongoing growth lies at the
intersection of demography and socio-cultural anthropology and with their
efforts to understand population processes: mainly fertility, migration, and
mortality. Both disciplines share a common research subject, namely human
populations, and they focus on mutually complementary aspects" (2007: 541).
In the first part of the paper, the author presents some general
considerations, like the one that "demography is one of the best understood
and predictable parts of human behavior, even if demographers still find
themselves unable to predict accurately when parameters will change in
interesting ways, such as the ?the baby boom? or the shift to later
childbeanng in the 1970s and 1980s North America" (Howell, 1986: 219). Nancy
Howell also noted the importance of demographic anthropology, because, in her
words "if we knew, reliably, the birth and death probability schedules of
particular populations, we would know a great deal about their size, age
composition, growth rate. And with just a little more information we would
know a great deal more such as household and family composition, economic
organization, social problems, and something of the political structure. It
we knew the schedules for populations in general and could correlate the
schedules with the causes, genetic or environmental, that produce them, we
would know a great deal about the possible range of human social structure"
(Howell, 1986: 219). In the second part of the paper, the author discusses
several examples of interplay between anthropology and demography. One of
them is Patrick Heady?s study of the shift in ritual patterns, which combines
elements of some "classical" anthropological topics (Mauss?s theory of gift
exchange and L?vi-Strauss?s concept of kinship) with his own field research
in the Carnian Alps. "By marrying and raising children, parents participate
in a system of gift-exchange in which the gifts in question are human lives,
and the parties to the exchange are the kinship groups recognized in the
society concerned. Fertility reflects the attitudes of prospective parents to
their place in the existing system of reproductive exchange, and the
relationships of cooperation and authority which it implies - as well as
their confidence in the system?s continuing viability. It is shown that this
view is compatible with earlier ideas about self-regulating population
systems - and that changing economic circumstances are an important source of
discrepancy between existing exchange systems and the attitudes and
expectations of prospective parents" (Heady, 2007: 465). The paper concludes
with the discussion of the directions in which relationship between these two
disciplines can proceed. Some of the epistemological issues are mentioned, as
well as a need to apply different theoretical perspectives to better
understand demographic behavior (especially in Europe) and to better
understand certain cultural components that shape this behavior. In order to
achieve this, most of the scholars whose works are discussed in this paper
emphasize "the need for a holistic approach to data collection and the added
value of triangulating quantitative and qualitative analyses" (Bernardi,
Hutter, 2007: 541).

The paper deals with possible solutions of problems affecting particularly vulnerable parts of the population - the elderly, poor, and refugees, among others. In order to fully realize the potential for providing services for the unprivileged, it is necessary to establish full cooperation between civil sector and non-governmental organizations, and government agencies. The paper covers some issues that explain lack of cooperation between these sectors and offers some recommendations for the immediate future.

Este artigo oferece uma desconstrução da idéia de 'crise' da antropologia, ligando-a com um modo de pensar em moda na virada do milênio, mas que recebeu pouco apoio na prática. Argumenta-se que esta noção de crise só pode ser aplicada a alguns segmentos da antropologia anglo-americana, não à disciplina como um todo. O artigo também inclui uma apresentação de alguns dos mais importantes debates e questões terminológicas presentes nos séculos 19 e 20, com ênfase especial no funcionalismo. Um dos argumentos é que algumas das críticas recentemente popularizadas da disciplina devem ser contextualizadas; sua relação com o colonialismo, por exemplo, dado que o papel do antropólogo neste empreendimento foi na verdade muito limitado. O artigo apresenta cinco grupos de temas cruciais para os quais a antropologia contemporânea se volta e sobre os quais algumas das pesquisas mais interessantes estão sendo feitas. Eles são: questões de identidade; pesquisas sobre o corpo; consumo e cultura material; estudos sobre espaço e hibridismo; mídia e cultura popular. Finalmente, advoga-se que a antropologia social e cultural desenvolveu-se muito desde 1911, alcançando um ponto em que pode servir como uma ferramenta poderosa para o entendimento de todas as complexidades do mundo contemporâneo.

The paper explores the imagery and constructions of alterity in the contemporary world. The image of the other is at the same time the image of ourselves, mostly through the metaphor of the ?stranger.? This ?stranger? represents the unknown, so he/she occasionally provokes fear and resentment, if only for appearing physically different in the ?mainstream? culture. This paper traces the genesis and development of certain modernist ideals (including the need to postulate the existence of others as strange and potentially threatening). The apparent lack of comprehension for (cultural, ethnic, racial) others is just a symptom of the much deeper disorder - in the quest for rationality, the meaning of simple human communication seems to be forgotten. Just like in a hall of mirrors, the images that people encounter are basically the images of them?selves - only they have been distorted through nationalist or racist rhetoric. Using the examples from theory (anthropology, feminism, cultural studies) as well as from specific cultures (Brazil, South Africa, former Yugoslavia, France), and following on the works of scholars like Kristeva, Linke and Balibar, the author demonstrates the logic behind the need to exclude others, as well as the fact that all of these attempts will eventually back?fire. For we cannot exclude others if we do not at the same time exclude ourselves.

Review of Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference, edited by Jane Cowan, published in 2000.

Noções relacionadas ao "self" e à subjectividade inspiram diferentes respostas e diferentes estratégias teóricas para sua compreensão. Em seu livro relativamente recente (Minima Ethnographica, 1999), Michael Jackson postula toda uma nova teoria baseada no aspecto existential e fenomenológico das relações – não apenas entre indivíduos, mas também entre nações, pessoas e vários grupos. O artigo apresenta um sumário e uma análise desta teoria, comparando-a a alguns trabalhos recentes sobre individualidade "transcendente" (Nigel Rapport, Transcendent Individual, 1997), assim como a algumas perspectivas não-tão-recentes, mas ainda extremamente viáveis (Mauss, Lévi-Strauss). O artigo aponta para alguns problemas com a "volta intersubjetiva," especialmente em que ela requer que se aceite previamente todo o conjunto de premissas filósoficas nas quais ela se baseia. Mas o que acontece quando não se aceita estas premissas? Sugiro que a noção de "subjetividade" poderia ser na verdade mais útil – especialmente se limitada ao real contexto cultural em que é usada. Também sugiro que o que precisamos mais do que nunca na antropologia contemporânea é voltar nossa atenção às pessoas que estudamos e aos modos em que elas mesmas formulam e organizam o mundo em que todos vivemos. Abstract The notions related to the the "self" and subjectivity inspire different responses and different strategies. In his relatively recent book (Minima Ethnographica, 1999) Michael Jackson postulates a whole new theory based on the existential/phenomenological framework of relationships – not only between individuals, but also between nations, peoples and various groups. The article presents a summary and an analysis of this theory, comparing it to some recent works about "transcending" individuality (Nigel Rapport, Transcendent Individual, 1997), as well as to some not-so-recent, but still extremely viable approaches (Mauss, Lévi-Strauss). The article points to some problems with the "intersubjective turn," especially inasmuch it requires that one accepts (in advance) the whole set of philosophical premises on which it is based. But what happens when one does not accept these premises? I suggest that the notion of "subjectivity" could be actually a more useful one – especially if limited to the actual cultural context where it is used. I also suggest that what we need more than ever in contemporary anthropology is turning our attention to the people we study and the ways in which they themselves formulate and organize the world we all live in.

Anthropology began in South Africa with the work of nineteenth century missionaries like Alexandre Junod (Hammond-Tooke 1997; Thornton 1998) and as such it fits nicely into the cliche´ of a 'colonial' science. However, even at its humble beginnings in the former British colony, anthropology was much more than that (Thornton 1983; Cocks 2001); it served as an important field where different points of opinion collided or converged, but also as an important laboratory for different political experiments – some of which had lasting and devastating effects on South African societies.

The relationship between anthropologists' ethnographic investigations and the lived social worlds in which these originate is a fundamental issue for anthropology. Where some claim that only native voices may offer authentic accounts of culture and hence that ethnographers are only ever interpreters of it, others point out that anthropologists are, themselves, implanted within specific cultural contexts which generate particular kinds of theoretical discussions. The contributors to this volume reject the premise that ethnographer and informant occupy different and incommensurable "cultural worlds." Instead they investigate the relationship between culture, context, and anthropologists' models and accounts in new ways. In doing so, they offer fresh insights into this key area of anthropological research