Continuity and Change in Islamic Ethnopharmacological Practice: New Methods for Cognitive Dialectometry Kevin D

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Continuity and Change in Islamic Ethnopharmacological Practice: New Methods for Cognitive Dialectometry Kevin D Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2005 Continuity and Change in Islamic Ethnopharmacological Practice: New Methods for Cognitive Dialectometry Kevin D. Pittle Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN ISLAMIC ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL PRACTICE: NEW METHODS FOR COGNITIVE DIALECTOMETRY By KEVIN D. PITTLE A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2005 Copyright © 2005 Kevin D. Pittle All Rights reserved The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Kevin D. Pittle Defended on October 21, 2005. _____________________________ Judy K. Josserand Professor Directing Dissertation _____________________________ Peter P. Garretson Outside Committee Member _____________________________ Glen H. Doran Committee Member _____________________________ Bruce T. Grindal Committee Member Approved: ____________________________________________ Dean R. Falk, Chair, Department of Anthropology The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep gratitude to the many people who have helped me to complete this dissertation. First, I would like to thank my dissertation supervisor, J. Kathryn Josserand for her commitment to excellence and her unwavering support throughout the course of my studies. In addition, I would also like to thank her husband, Nicholas A. Hopkins, a mentor to whom I owe much of the inspiration behind this research. I am also grateful to my doctoral committee, Dr. Glen Doran, Dr. Bruce Grindal, and Dr. Peter Garretson, who have all contributed significantly to my formation as a scholar. I would like to thank the Garden Club of America, whose generous funding trough the Anne S. Chatham Fellowship in Medicinal Botany made this research possible. In addition, I would like to thank the Florida State University for awarding me a Dissertation Research Grant to complete this project. I am grateful to Dr. James Miller, Mr. Riadh Saadaoui, and the staff at Le Centre d'études maghrébines à Tunis for their assistance during the field component of this project. I would also especially like to thank Khaled for his friendship and hard work, as well as Jamal, Tawfik, Sabr, and the other herbalists who shared their knowledge of healing plants with me. I would like to acknowledge my debt to Bonnie Brown, who edited an early draft of this manuscript, and to David Russell who helped with the figures. Any deficiencies that remain are my own responsibility and do not reflect your excellent work, but rather, my own recalcitrance. Finally, I wish to thank my beloved family. Without the help and inspiration of my parents, Marshall and Eileen Pittle, and my grandmother, Esther Danto, I would not have embarked on this journey. My in-laws, Marge and Bill Glauch also provided a great deal of support and encouragement, for which I am thankful. I owe my deepest gratitude to my wife, Natasha, and to our dear children, Emeth, Mekerah, and Jonathan, who endured much, encouraged much, and without whom I would not have been able to complete this work. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… vi List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… vii Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… xi INTRODUCTION: SECOND GENERATION COGNITIVE ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE PROBLEM OF HISTORY ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Toward a Solution for the Problem of History ……………………………………………………………… 3 Necessary Assumptions …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 General Research Hypotheses …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6 Significance of the Study ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6 Delimitations ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 8 Preliminary Definitions and Key Terms ……………………………………………………………………………… 10 1. BACKGROUND: ISLAMIC MEDICINE IN CONTEXT ……………………………………………………………………………… 14 The “System” of Islamic Medicine …………………………………………………………………………………………… 14 Philosophical Bases of the System ………………………………………………………………………… 17 Prevention and Treatment in the System …………………………………………………………… 19 Underreporting of an Important Aspect of the System: Herbs ……… 20 The Sources of Middle Eastern Medicine …………………………………………………………………………… 21 Ancient Near Eastern Medicine …………………………………………………………………………………… 21 Greek Humoral Medicine ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 25 Prophetic Medicine and Popular Movements ……………………………………………………… 28 Problems with Identifying the “Sources” of Islamic Medicine …… 29 Relevant Historical Interactions of Middle Eastern Societies ………………… 30 The Pharmaceutical Trade ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 32 Traveling Physicians, Traveling Texts ……………………………………………………………… 34 Trade and Pilgrimage Routes ………………………………………………………………………………………… 36 Socio-Political Factors …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 43 Linguistic Factors ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 44 Shifting Intellectual Centers …………………………………………………………………………………… 51 The Significance of Historical Interactions for the Development of Islamic Medicine ……………………………………………………………… 52 2. LITERATURE REVIEW: THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL SOURCES FOR COGNITIVE DIALECTOMETRY AND DIACHRONIC PHENETICS ………………………………………… 54 Cognitive Categories: G1 and G2 Perspectives and Instruments ………………… 54 First-Generation Cognitive Studies ……………………………………………………………………… 55 Second-Generation Cognitive Studies …………………………………………………………………… 67 Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Change ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 74 Biological Models …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 75 Linguistic Models …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 84 Cultural Models ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 104 iv Implications of Prior Theory and Method for the Present Research …… 123 3. METHODS: MEASURING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COGNITIVE DIALECTS …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 124 Design Parameters of the Research Project ………………………………………………………………… 124 Derivation of Specific Hypotheses and Associated Variables …………………… 131 Sources and Sampling Procedures …………………………………………………………………………………………… 133 Data Collection and Analysis: Techniques and Measures ………………………………… 136 Limitations of the Study ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 143 4. RESULTS: A NUMERICAL TAXONOMY OF ISLAMIC MEDICAL SYSTEMS AND THEIR ANTECEDENTS ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 145 Description of the Sample …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 145 Group I, Modern Sources Only …………………………………………………………………………………… 145 Group II, Pre-Modern and Modern Core Sources ………………………………………… 148 Results …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 152 The Cognitive Structures of Islamic Medical Systems and Their Antecedents ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 152 Relationships and Influences among Sources ……………………………………………… 161 The Efficacy of Various Instruments and Measures ……………………………… 185 CONCLUSIONS: THE EFFICACY OF A PHENETIC APPROACH TO COGNITION …………………………… 188 Overview of the Study ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 188 Toward the Measurement of Cognitive Dialects of Islamic Ethnomedical Practice ……………………………………………………………………………………… 188 Procedures for Measuring Cognitive Dialects …………………………………………… 190 Research Hypotheses Considered ……………………………………………………………………………… 193 Results and Conclusions ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 193 Major Findings ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 194 Conclusions and Interpretation ……………………………………………………………………………… 194 Implications ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 199 Theory ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 199 Methodology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 200 Recommendations for Future Research ………………………………………………………………………………… 200 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 199 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 221 v LIST OF TABLES 1. Similarity Rankings of Sources in Group I, in Arbitrary Units …………………… 172 2. K-Means Clustering Results for Sources in Group I (A) ……………………………………… 175 3. Similarity Rankings of Sources in Group II, in Arbitrary Units ………………… 178 4. K-Means Clustering Results for Sources in Group II (UA/G) ………………………………… 182 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 The Middle East and Central Asia: Political Boundaries, 1990 ……………………… 31 1.2 The home of myrrh and frankincense …………………………………………………………………………………………… 33 1.3 Ibn Battuta’s Return itinerary from China to North Africa, 1346-1349 … 38 1.4 External Trade Routes of India ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 39 1.5 Trade Routes Connect the Middle East and Asia ……………………………………………………………… 40 1.6 Some Principal Lines of Trade in Africa and the Middle East ………………………… 41 1.7 African Pilgrimage Routes to Mecca, ca. 1300-1900 …………………………………………………… 42 1.8 Muslim schools of law and Sufi brotherhoods: c. 1500 …………………………………………… 45 1.9 The Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, C.E. 600 …………………………………… 46 1.10 The Spread of Islam ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 47 1.11 Major Middle Eastern and Central Asian Languages ………………………………………………… 49 2.1 Levels of Contrast
Recommended publications
  • Linguistics for the Use of African History and the Comparative Study of Bantu Pottery Vocabulary
    LINGUISTICS FOR THE USE OF AFRICAN HISTORY AND THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF BANTU POTTERY VOCABULARY Koen Bostoen Université Libre de Bruxelles1 Royal Museum for Central Africa Tervuren 1. Introduction Ever since African historical linguistics emerged in the 19th century, it has served a double purpose. It has not only been practiced with the aim of studying language evolution, its methods have also been put to use for the reconstruction of human history. The promotion of linguistics to one of the key disciplines of African historiography is an inevitable consequence of the lack of ancient written records in sub-Saharan Africa. Scholars of the African past generally fall back on two kinds of linguistic research: linguistic classifi- cation and linguistic reconstruction. The aim of this paper is to present a con- cise application of both disciplines to the field of Bantu linguistics and to offer two interesting comparative case studies in the field of Bantu pottery vocabulary. The diachronic analysis of this lexical domain constitutes a promising field for interdisciplinary historical research. At the same time, the examples presented here urge history scholars to be cautious in the applica- tion of words-and-things studies for the use of historical reconstruction. The neglect of diachronic semantic evolutions and the impact of ancient lexical copies may lead to oversimplified and hence false historical conclusions. 2. Bantu languages and the synchronic nature of historical linguistics Exact estimations being complicated by the lack of good descriptive ma- terial, the Bantu languages are believed to number at present between 400 and 600. They are spoken in almost half of all sub-Saharan countries: Camer- 1 My acknowledgement goes to Yvonne Bastin, Claire Grégoire, Jacqueline Renard, Ellen Vandendorpe and Annemie Van Geldre who assisted me in the preparation of this paper.
    [Show full text]
  • Contesting Regimes of Variation: Critical Groundwork for Pedagogies of Mobile Experience and Restorative Justice
    Robert W. Train Sonoma State University, California CONTESTING REGIMES OF VARIATION: CRITICAL GROUNDWORK FOR PEDAGOGIES OF MOBILE EXPERIENCE AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE Abstract: This paper examines from a critical transdisciplinary perspective the concept of variation and its fraught binary association with standard language as part of the conceptual toolbox and vocabulary for language educators and researchers. “Variation” is shown to be imbricated a historically-contingent metadiscursive regime in language study as scientific description and education supporting problematic speaker identities (e.g., “non/native”, “heritage”, “foreign”) around an ideology of reduction through which complex sociolinguistic and sociocultural spaces of diversity and variability have been reduced to the “problem” of governing people and spaces legitimated and embodied in idealized teachers and learners of languages invented as the “zero degree of observation” (Castro-Gómez 2005; Mignolo 2011) in ongoing contexts of Western modernity and coloniality. This paper explores how regimes of variation have been constructed in a “sociolinguistics of distribution” (Blommaert 2010) constituted around the delimitation of borders—linguistic, temporal, social and territorial—rather than a “sociolinguistics of mobility” focused on interrogating and problematizing the validity and relevance of those borders in a world characterized by diverse transcultural and translingual experiences of human flow and migration. This paper reframes “variation” as mobile modes-of-experiencing- the-world in order to expand the critical, historical, and ethical vocabularies and knowledge base of language educators and lay the groundwork for pedagogies of experience that impact human lives in the service of restorative social justice. Keywords: metadiscursive regimes w sociolinguistic variation w standard language w sociolinguistics of mobility w pedagogies of experience Train, Robert W.
    [Show full text]
  • Photographic Presence in New Mexico
    Past, Present and Future: Photographic Presence in New Mexico Devorah Romanek A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, University College London (UCL), 2019 I, Devorah Romanek Confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Photograph on frontispiece: Will Wilson (2012). “Zig Jackson, Citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, Professor of Photography, Savannah College of Art and Design.” Label text from the 2013 exhibition Toward a Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange: Will Wilson’s CIPX at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New Mexico: “Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe Indian Market, 2012. Archival pigment print from wet plate collodion scan. Jackson takes a picture of an Indian taking a picture of an Indian as Andrew Smith protects his soul from theft.” Photo credit: © Will Wilson, courtesy of the artist. ii Abstract This thesis investigates the relationship between historical ethnographic photographs of Native Americans, their disposition in archives and collections, and the relationship of those images to their contemporary circulation and use by Native American artists, and others, particularly in New Mexico. Having undertaken original research into mid-19th century photographs in archives internationally, pertaining to Native America in the American Southwest, new histories and a re- framing of the photographs in question has been assembled. This portion of the research was undertaken both as a starting point for further investigation, and as a return to the people of New Mexico, particularly the Indigenous inhabitants of that place.
    [Show full text]
  • Natural Causes of Language Frames, Biases, and Cultural Transmission
    Natural causes of language Frames, biases, and cultural transmission N. J. Enfield language Conceptual Foundations of science press Language Science 1 Conceptual Foundations of Language Science Series editors Mark Dingemanse, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics N. J. Enfield, University of Sydney Editorial board Balthasar Bickel, University of Zürich, Claire Bowern, Yale University, Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen, University of Helsinki, William Croft, University of New Mexico, Rose-Marie Déchaine, University of British Columbia, William A. Foley, University of Sydney , William F. Hanks, University of California at Berkeley, Paul Kockelman, Yale University, Keren Rice, University of Toronto, Sharon Rose, University of California at San Diego, Frederick J. Newmeyer, University of Washington, Wendy Sandler, University of Haifa, Dan Sperber Central European University No scientific work proceeds without conceptual foundations. In language science, our concepts about language determine our assumptions, direct our attention, and guide our hypotheses and our reasoning. Only with clarity about conceptual foundations can we pose coherent research questions, design critical experiments, and collect crucial data. This series publishes short and accessible books that explore well-defined topics in the conceptual foundations of language science. The series provides a venue for conceptual arguments and explorations that do not require the traditional book- length treatment, yet that demand more space than a typical journal article allows. In this series: 1. N. J. Enfield. Natural causes of language. Natural causes of language Frames, biases, and cultural transmission N. J. Enfield language science press N. J. Enfield. 2014. Natural causes of language: Frames, biases, and cultural transmission (Conceptual Foundations of Language Science 1). Berlin: Language Science Press.
    [Show full text]
  • Intersubjectivity Evolved to Fit the Brain, but Grammar Co
    BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES (2008) 31, 489–558 Printed in the United States of America doi:10.1017/S0140525X08004998 Language as shaped by the brain Morten H. Christiansen Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, and Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501 [email protected] http://www.psych.cornell.edu/people/Faculty/mhc27.html Nick Chater Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom [email protected] http://www.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/people/profiles/chater_nick.htm Abstract: It is widely assumed that human learning and the structure of human languages are intimately related. This relationship is frequently suggested to derive from a language-specific biological endowment, which encodes universal, but communicatively arbitrary, principles of language structure (a Universal Grammar or UG). How might such a UG have evolved? We argue that UG could not have arisen either by biological adaptation or non-adaptationist genetic processes, resulting in a logical problem of language evolution. Specifically, as the processes of language change are much more rapid than processes of genetic change, language constitutes a “moving target” both over time and across different human populations, and, hence, cannot provide a stable environment to which language genes could have adapted. We conclude that a biologically determined UG is not evolutionarily viable. Instead, the original motivation for UG – the mesh between learners and languages – arises because language has been shaped to fit the human brain, rather than vice versa. Following Darwin, we view language itself as a complex and interdependent “organism,” which evolves under selectional pressures from human learning and processing mechanisms.
    [Show full text]
  • Georgian Country and Culture Guide
    Georgian Country and Culture Guide მშვიდობის კორპუსი საქართველოში Peace Corps Georgia 2017 Forward What you have in your hands right now is the collaborate effort of numerous Peace Corps Volunteers and staff, who researched, wrote and edited the entire book. The process began in the fall of 2011, when the Language and Cross-Culture component of Peace Corps Georgia launched a Georgian Country and Culture Guide project and PCVs from different regions volunteered to do research and gather information on their specific areas. After the initial information was gathered, the arduous process of merging the researched information began. Extensive editing followed and this is the end result. The book is accompanied by a CD with Georgian music and dance audio and video files. We hope that this book is both informative and useful for you during your service. Sincerely, The Culture Book Team Initial Researchers/Writers Culture Sara Bushman (Director Programming and Training, PC Staff, 2010-11) History Jack Brands (G11), Samantha Oliver (G10) Adjara Jen Geerlings (G10), Emily New (G10) Guria Michelle Anderl (G11), Goodloe Harman (G11), Conor Hartnett (G11), Kaitlin Schaefer (G10) Imereti Caitlin Lowery (G11) Kakheti Jack Brands (G11), Jana Price (G11), Danielle Roe (G10) Kvemo Kartli Anastasia Skoybedo (G11), Chase Johnson (G11) Samstkhe-Javakheti Sam Harris (G10) Tbilisi Keti Chikovani (Language and Cross-Culture Coordinator, PC Staff) Workplace Culture Kimberly Tramel (G11), Shannon Knudsen (G11), Tami Timmer (G11), Connie Ross (G11) Compilers/Final Editors Jack Brands (G11) Caitlin Lowery (G11) Conor Hartnett (G11) Emily New (G10) Keti Chikovani (Language and Cross-Culture Coordinator, PC Staff) Compilers of Audio and Video Files Keti Chikovani (Language and Cross-Culture Coordinator, PC Staff) Irakli Elizbarashvili (IT Specialist, PC Staff) Revised and updated by Tea Sakvarelidze (Language and Cross-Culture Coordinator) and Kakha Gordadze (Training Manager).
    [Show full text]
  • Franz Boas's Legacy of “Useful Knowledge”: the APS Archives And
    Franz Boas’s Legacy of “Useful Knowledge”: The APS Archives and the Future of Americanist Anthropology1 REGNA DARNELL Distinguished University Professor of Anthropology University of Western Ontario t is a pleasure and privilege, though also somewhat intimidating, to address the assembled membership of the American Philosophical ISociety. Like the august founders under whose portraits we assemble, Members come to hear their peers share the results of their inquiries across the full range of the sciences and arenas of public affairs to which they have contributed “useful knowledge.” Prior to the profes- sionalization of science in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the boundaries between disciplines were far less significant than they are today. Those who were not experts in particular topics could rest assured that their peers were capable of assessing both the state of knowledge in each other’s fields and the implications for society. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington were all polymaths, covering what we now separate into several kinds of science, humanities, and social science in ways that crosscut one another and illustrate the permeability of disciplinary boundaries. The study of the American Indian is a piece of that multidisciplinary heri- tage that constituted the APS and continues to characterize its public persona. The Founding Members of the Society all had direct and seminal experience with the Indians and with the conflict between their traditional ways of life and the infringing world of settler colonialism. On the one hand, they felt justified in exploiting Native resources, as surveyors, treaty negotiators, and land speculators. On the other hand, the Indians represented the uniqueness of the Americas, of the New World that defined itself apart from the decadence of old Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • Interview with Maurice Bloch
    INTERVIEW WITH MAURICE BLOCH Professor Maurice Bloch visited Finland in Timo Kallinen (TK): You have contributed to March 2014 as the keynote speaker of the different fields of anthropology, but the study of interdisciplinary symposium ‘Ritual Intimacy— ritual seems to have been there ever since the Ritual Publicity’ organized by the Collegium for early stages of your career. How did you become Advanced Studies at the University of Helsinki. originally interested in ritual? As one of the most influential thinkers in contemporary anthropology Professor Bloch Maurice Bloch (MB): My interest in ritual has made significant contributions to various has been a key concern for a very long part research fields such as kinship studies and of my career but this has been because I have economic anthropology, but he is probably been able to link it to other central aspects of best known for his groundbreaking work on human life. My main interest has been with the ritual and religion. In his writings Professor apparent authority of ritual and the nature of Bloch often draws on his ethnography from this apparent authority. I outlined my position Madagascar, where he has carried out fieldwork in one of my earliest papers (Bloch 1974). over a period of several decades. Lately he I want to explore how ritual is linked to ideology, has also become renowned for developing an that is, to systems which seem to justify and approach that seeks to find a common ground maintain social hierarchy and social continuity between sociocultural anthropology and (Bloch 1986). The connection of authority cognitive science.
    [Show full text]
  • Confessional Reflexivity As Introspection and Avowal
    Establishing the ‘Truth’ of the Matter: Confessional Reflexivity as Introspection and Avowal JOSEPH WEBSTER University of Edinburgh The conceptualisation of reflexivity commonly found in social anthropology deploys the term as if it were both a ‘virtuous’ mechanism of self‐reflection and an ethical technique of truth telling, with reflexivity frequently deployed as an moral practice of introspection and avowal. Further, because reflexivity is used as a methodology for constructing the authority of ethnographic accounts, reflexivity in anthropology has come to closely resemble Foucault’s descriptions of confession. By discussing Lynch’s (2000) critical analysis of reflexivity as an ‘academic virtue’, I consider his argument through the lens of my own concept of ‘confessional reflexivity’. While supporting Lynch’s diagnosis of the ‘problem of reflexivity’, I attempt to critique his ethnomethodological cure as essentialist, I conclude that a way forward might be found by blending Foucault’s (1976, 1993) theory of confession with Bourdieu’s (1992) theory of ‘epistemic reflexivity’. The ubiquity of reflexivity and its many forms For as long as thirty years, reflexivity has occupied a ‘place of honour’ at the table of most social science researchers and research institutions. Reflexivity has become enshrined as a foundational, or, perhaps better, essential, concept which is relied upon as a kind of talisman whose power can be invoked to shore up the ‘truthiness’ of the claims those researchers and their institutions are in the business of making. No discipline, it seems, is more guilty of this ‘evoking’ than social anthropology (Lucy 2000, Sangren 2007, Salzaman 2002). Yet, despite the ubiquity of its deployment in anthropology, the term ‘reflexivity’ remains poorly defined.
    [Show full text]
  • Truth and Sight: Generalizing Without Universalizing
    Maurice Bloch Truth and sight: generalizing without universalizing Article (Accepted version) (Refereed) Original citation: Bloch, Maurice (2008) Truth and sight: generalizing without universalizing. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 14 (s1). s22-s32. ISSN 1467-9655 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2008.00490.x © 2008 Royal Anthropological Institute This version available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk//27112/ Available in LSE Research Online: April 2010 LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website. This document is the author’s final manuscript accepted version of the journal article, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer review process. Some differences between this version and the published version may remain. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it. Truth and Sight: generalising without universalising Maurice Bloch Abstract: This article examines the link between truth and sight, and the implications of this link for our understandings of the concept of evidence. I propose to give an example of precisely how we might attempt to generalise about a phenomena such as the recurrence of the association between truth and sight without ignoring important anti-universalist points.
    [Show full text]
  • The Society of Linguistic Anthropology
    Anthropology News February 2000 SECTION NEWS Emory U, Georgia Institute of Technology and in anthropology is marginal and he considers his anthropological approaches. Likewise, I have International Society for the Study of Narrative main interests as sociolinguistics. learned greatly from their dedication to studies of Literature will sponsor an International Confer- At the U of Auckland, until very recently, lin- NZ English, Maori and languages of the Pacific. ence on Narrative Apr 6-9,2000. See the Meeting guists belonged to two departments: English and Calendar for further details. Anthropology. Now, all linguists belong to a Us@l Addresses. Susan Gal, SLA Presidenl;.Dept Lmguistics Dept. I still have limited knowledge of of Anth, U of Chicago, 1126 E 59th St, Chicago IL Sociolinguistics and Anthropology in these liiguists, but my understanding is that 60637-1539; [email protected]. New Zealand those who were under the English department Alessandm Wanti, Journal of Linguistic An- are mostly formal (Chomskian) people, whereas thropology Edim; Dept of Anth, UCLA,CA 90095- By Yukako Sunaoshi (V of Auckland, New Zealand) those who were under the Anthropology depart- 1553; [email protected]. As an American-trained sociolinguist, I wasn’t ment are mostly descriptive people. It should be Laura Milk, SLA Progrmn Orgrmizer;.Dept of Soc sure what to expect when I first arrived in New noted, however, that many of these linguists are and Anthm, Lopla U, 6525 North Sheridan Road, Zealand. What I found was people doing very interested in the sociocultural aspects of language Chicago, IL 60626; tel 773/508-3469, fax 508- interesting work in sociolinguistics, but very little use and that the division between formal and 7099, lmil&[email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • Joseph Harold Greenberg
    JOSEPH HAROLD GREENBERG CORRECTED VERSION* Joseph H. Greenberg, one of the most original and influential linguists of the twentieth century, died at his home in Stanford, California, on May 7th, 2001, three weeks before his eighty-sixth birthday. Greenberg was a major pioneer in the development of linguistics as an empirical science. His work was always founded directly on quantitative data from a single language or from a wide range of languages. His chief legacy to contemporary linguistics is in the development of an approach to the study of language—typology and univerals—and to historical linguistics. Yet he also made major contributions to sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, phonetics and phonology, morphology, and especially African language studies. Joe Greenberg was born on May 28th, 1915, in Brooklyn, New York, the second of two children. His father was a Polish Jew and his mother, a German Jew. His father’s family name was originally Zyto, but in one of those turn-of-the- century immigrant stories, he ended up taking the name of his landlord. Joe Greenberg’s early loves were music and languages. As a child he sat fascinated next to his mother while she played the piano, and asked her to teach him. She taught him musical notation and then found him a local teacher. Greenberg ended up studying with a Madame Vangerova, associated with the Curtis Institute of Music. Greenberg even gave a concert at Steinway Hall at the age of 14, and won a city-wide prize for best chamber music ensemble. But after finishing high school, Greenberg chose an academic career instead of a musical one, although he continued to play the piano every evening until near the end of his life.
    [Show full text]