Introduction an Intellectual Autobiography
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24 Labor As Seen by Social Anthropology José Sergio Leite
24 Labor As Seen By Social Anthropology José Sergio Leite Lopes 1 1. Introduction: the economic sphere and labor in social anthropology Anthropologists have traditionally studied labor in their monographs about indigenous groups, ethnic minorities, the peasantry, fishers and artisans. In these studies of labor, as in the economic sphere in general, it appears as enmeshed in the totality of the social life of these “traditional”, “pre-capitalist” groups. Generally such anthropological studies focus on the centrality of gift giving and reciprocity, which negate or obscure economic interests for the benefit of the logic of honor or of symbolic capital. They regard the gift as a total social fact where the market principal is subordinated to that of reciprocity and redistribution. Labor in these studies is not the central theme of interest, but appears in a form subordinated to other aspects with which it is interrelated. Between the 1950s and 1970s, anthropologists engaged with the question of the critical application or appropriation of concepts from diverse currents of so-called economic theory. Such concepts were constructed to explain the capitalist economy, but anthropologists embraced these economic principles in general to understand all societies. A debate arose between “substantivists”, who praised the historicity of concepts and the necessity of new instruments for the economic analysis of non-capitalist societies and the “formalists” who gave a wider reach to existing economic theories to apply to their ethnographies. The substantivists were located in some American universities and drew heavily on the work of and disciples of the Hungarian economic historian Karl Polanyi; later they would have an important repercussion in the whole anthropological field. -
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EASA Biennial Conference Experiencing Diversity and Mutuality Ljubljana, Slovenia 26-30 August 2008 Ships passing in the night? Interdisciplinarity, East-West relations and commoditization of knowledge in anthropology of post-socialism Kacper Pobłocki Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology Central European University, Budapest, Hungary Abstract: Debates on 'native anthropology', 'anthropology with an accent' and so forth have usually focused on colonialism as the main culprit of asymmetric relations between anthropological knowledges. By bringing the recent dispute between Western and 'native' anthropologist of post-socialism into the 'world anthropologies' debate, I seek to highlight those aspects of current epistemic inequalities that are not post-colonial in nature, but result from global commoditization of knowledge. I ponder why Western anthropologists who started visiting Eastern Europe from the 1970s, concluded that 'native' academic knowledge is inferior to their own output. This was not due to a prejudice brought from afar, I argue, but rather was a result of their field experiences. I discuss how three types of native 'captive minds' (communist, nationalist, and neo-liberal) emerged, and how encountering (or learning about) them made Western anthropologist uninterested in (and distrustful of) local epistemic production. I focus on the putative nationalist 'captive mind', and argue that the straw man of East European 'positivist' science (as opposed to the superior 'theory-oriented' Western anthropology) emerged due to recent changes in the political economy of the academia. I show how the 'theoretical turn' was experienced differently in Western and Polish academia, and how these changes, explained by the different regimes of value, show that there has been an increase only in 'ritual' exchange between parochial and metropolitan anthropology rather than meaningful communication. -
Beyond Nature and Culture
Book Reviews Perspectives from Gene Anderson’s Bookshelf Beyond Nature and Culture Philippe Descola. Translated by Janet Lloyd. 2013. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Xxii +463 pp. $35.00 (paperback), $65.00 (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-22621-236-4 (paperback), 978-0-22614-445-0 (hardcover). Reviewed by Eugene N. Anderson Reviewer address: Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA. Email: [email protected] Received: April 8, 2015 Volume: 6(1):208-211 Published: December 19, 2015 © 2015 Society of Ethnobiology Recently, anthropologists have been concerned with is the latest stage in our field’s history of paying the “ontological turn,” a recent term for an old serious attention to what “the natives” say, as tendency in the field. Anthropologists have always opposed to writing it off as mere myth or error. looked at local worldviews, cosmologies, philoso- Indigenous and traditional people are at least as good phies, and knowledge systems. Recently, a deeper and at thinking as anyone else, and ignoring their philoso- more philosophical concern for such things has led to phy is as foolish as ignoring their now-famed wider use of the term ontology, which is the field of knowledge of plants and animals. Some of the philosophy concerned with what is, what is not, and conclusions reached in traditional societies may seem what might be. Closely related fields include episte- strange, but some philosophers in the European mology—the study of what we can and can’t know, tradition have rather different ideas too, after all. It is and how we know it—and phenomenology, the study the underlying perceptions and basic principles that of what we think we know: what “phenomena” we matter, and they are what Descola studies. -
2012-AAA-Annual-Report.Pdf
Borders & Crossings New Ways to Generate Conversations & Experiences 2012 ANNUAL REPORT EXECUTIVE BOARD AND COMMITTEES 2012 AAA Linguistic Seat Section Assembly Committee on the Executive Board Niko Besnier EB Seat #1 Future of Print (2011–14) Gabriela Vargas– and Electronic President Publishing University of Cetina Leith Mullings (2010–12) Deborah Nichols (2011–13) Amsterdam Universidad The Graduate Center Committee on Minority Seat Autonoma de Yucatan of the City University Gender Equity in Ana L Aparicio Anthropology of New York Section Assembly (2010–13) Jennifer R Weis EB Seat #2 Northwestern President–Elect/Vice Ida Susser University Committee for President (2010–13) Monica Heller Human Rights Practicing/ Hunter College, (2011–13) Ilana Feldman Professional Seat City University of Jessica Winegar University of Toronto, Alisse Waterston New York Ontario Institute for (2010–13) Committee on Labor Studies in Education John Jay College of Treasurer–Ex Officio Relations Criminal Justice, Edward Liebow Michael Chibnik Secretary City University of (2008–12) Debra L Martin New York Battelle Committee on (2009–12) Minority Issues in University of Nevada, Student Seat Anthropology Las Vegas Jason E Miller AAA Committees Simon Craddock Lee (2009–12) and Chairs Section Assembly University of South Committee on Convenor Annual Meeting Practicing, Applied Florida Program Chair Vilma Santiago– and Public Interest Carolyn Rouse Anthropology Irizarry Undesignated #1 (2011–13) Keri Brondo Hugh Gusterson Anthropological Cornell University (2009–12) -
Anthropology in Israel: Professionals in Stormy Days
History of Anthropology Newsletter Volume 31 Issue 2 December 2004 Article 4 1-1-2004 Anthropology in Israel: Professionals in Stormy Days Orit Abuhav Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/han Part of the Anthropology Commons, and the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons Recommended Citation Abuhav, Orit (2004) "Anthropology in Israel: Professionals in Stormy Days," History of Anthropology Newsletter: Vol. 31 : Iss. 2 , Article 4. Available at: https://repository.upenn.edu/han/vol31/iss2/4 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/han/vol31/iss2/4 For more information, please contact [email protected]. West, W. Richard et al. 2000. The Changing Presentation of the American Indian: Museums and Native Cultures. Washington, DC: National Museum of the American Indian-Seatde, WA: University ofWashington Press. ANTHROPOLOGY IN ISRAEL: PROFESSIONALS IN STORMY DAYS OritAbuhav Beit Berl College, Israel This overview seeks to draw the history of anthropology in Israel in broad stokes and with a contextual perspective from the mid-1920s to the beginning of the 21st century.1 Studies of the characteristics of national anthropologies have assumed that the state-a social/political/bureaucratic/ cultural/national body-is a legitimate unit of analysis. National anthropologies deal with the sociopolitical and historical context of producing anthropological knowledge. The linkage between processes of nation building and anthropology in 50-year-old Israel makes the literature on anthropologies in the new independent states and the developed world relevant to the Israeli case (Ben Ari and Van- Bremen, forthcoming; Alatas, 2001). Some works that deal with the complex center- periphery relations in anthropology, such as Gerholm and Hannerz (1982) and Gupta and Ferguson (1997), shed light on the discipline in Israel. -
Annotations 1963-2005
The Anthropological Caribbeana: Annotations 1963-2005 Lambros Comitas CIFAS Author Title Description Annotation Subject Headings 1977. Les Protestants de la Guadeloupe et la Les Protestants de la Guadeloupe et Author deals with origin of Protestants in Guadeloupe, their social situation, problem of property, and communauté réformée de Capesterre sous Abénon, Lucien la communauté réformée de maintenance of the religion into 18th century. Rather than a history of Protestantism in Guadeloupe, this is an GUADELOUPE. L'Ancien Régime. Bulletin de la Société Capesterre sous L'Ancien Régime. essay on its importance in the religiou d'Histoire de la Guadeloupe 32 (2):25-62. 1993. Caught in the Shift: The Impact of Industrialization on Female-Headed Caught in the Shift: The Impact of Households in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. Industrialization on Female-Headed Changes in the social position of women (specifically as reflected in marriage rates and percentages of Abraham, Eva In Where Did All the Men Go? Female- CURAÇAO. Households in Curaçao, Netherlands children born to unmarried mothers) are linked to major changes in the economy of Curaçao. Headed/Female-Supported Households in Antilles Cross-Cultural Perspective. Joan P. Mencher and Anne Okongwu 1976. The West Indian Tea Meeting: An With specific reference to "tea meetings" on Nevis and St. Vincent, author provides a thorough review of the The West Indian Tea Meeting: An Essay in Civilization. In Old Roots in New NEVIS. ST. VINCENT. Abrahams, Roger history and the development of this institution in the British Caribbean. Introduced by Methodist missionaries Essay in Civilization. Lands. Ann M. Pescatello, ed. Pp. 173-208. -
Frameworks of Analysis
PART I Frameworks of Analysis INTRODUCTION Tony Bennett then examine the forms of cultural analysis that have been associated It is clear from our discussion in the general with the development of psychological and introduction that it is impossible to tie the sociological thought. Peter Burke’s discussion term ‘culture’ to a single concept or to a of cultural history provides a bridge into simple history of usage. It is better understood the next group of chapters focused mainly as referencing a network of loosely related on text-based disciplines. James English’s concepts that has been shaped by the relations account of the role that the analysis of form between the different histories and fields of has played in the development of literary usage with which the term has came to be studies is followed here by Tia DeNora’s entangled. A significant factor here has been consideration of music as both text and the different meanings deriving from the ways performance. Mieke Bal then examines the in which the concept has been used and relations between art history and the more interpreted in the social science disciplines recent development of visual culture studies. one the one hand and in the humanities The next two chapters – Tom Gunning’s on the other. These different disciplinary discussion of film studies and Toby Miller’s articulations of the concept are the focus account of broadcasting – are concerned with of the contributions composing this first the forms of cultural analysis that have been part of the book, which also assesses how developed in relation to the two main media the ‘cultural turn’ has affected developments systems of the twentieth century. -
Bilby Small Axe.Pdf
Book Discussion: Richard Price, Travels with Tooy: History, Memory, and the African American Imagination; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008; 452 pages; ISBN 978-0-2266-8058-3 (paper). African American Memory at the Crossroads: Grounding the Miraculous with Tooy Kenneth Bilby Travels with Tooy may be both the most readable and the most complex and demanding of Richard Price’s works on the Saramaka people of Suriname.1 Gone are the relatively transpar- ent and somewhat mechanical textual devices—the dialogical juxtapositions of clearly demar- cated alternating passages in differing fonts—that presented readers with a certain narrative consistency and progression (even while carrying challenges of their own) in First-Time and Alabi’s World.2 In their place is a kind of multitextured narrative patchwork, a loosely stitched crazy quilt of time-coded stories and “teachings” that jump across eras and locations, both imagined and literal. The stories and lessons, presented less as chapters than as excursions within and across interlinked timescapes, lead through an ever-thickening evocation of the African American temporal-spiritual worlds inhabited by Price’s partner in this enterprise, a very knowledgeable Saramaka Maroon óbiaman (healer and spiritual practitioner) known as Tooy. Only toward the very end of the book does Price attend to the matter of what his and Tooy’s extended dialogue might tell us about some of the much-debated larger questions that continue to preoccupy students of African American societies and cultures. It is on these 1 Richard Price, Travels with Tooy: History, Memory, and the African American Imagination (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007); hereafter cited in text. -
Redalyc.Diaspora Sounds from Caribbean Central America
Caribbean Studies ISSN: 0008-6533 [email protected] Instituto de Estudios del Caribe Puerto Rico Stone, Michael Diaspora Sounds from Caribbean Central America Caribbean Studies, vol. 36, núm. 2, julio-diciembre, 2008, pp. 221-235 Instituto de Estudios del Caribe San Juan, Puerto Rico Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=39215107020 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative WATCHING THE CARIBBEAN...PART II 221 Diaspora Sounds from Caribbean Central America Michael Stone Program in Latin American Studies Princeton University [email protected] Garifuna Drum Method. Produced by Emery Joe Yost and Matthew Dougherty. English and Garifuna with subtitles. Distributed by End of the Line Productions/ Lubaantune Records, 2008. DVD. Approximately 100 minutes, color. The Garifuna: An Enduring Spirit. Produced by Robert Flanagan and Suzan Al-Doghachi. English and Garifuna with subtitles. Lasso Pro- ductions, 2003. Distributed by Lasso Productions. DVD. 35 minutes, color. The Garifuna Journey. Produced by Andrea Leland and Kathy Berger. English and Garifuna with subtitles. New Day Films, 1998. Distributed by New Day Films. DVD and study guide. 47 minutes, color. Play, Jankunú, Play: The Garifuna Wanáragua Ritual of Belize. Produced by Oliver Greene. English and Garifuna with subtitles. Distributed by Documentary Educational Resources, 2007. DVD. 45 minutes, color. Trois Rois/ Three Kings of Belize. Produced by Katia Paradis. English, Spanish, Garifuna, and K’ekchi Maya with subtitles (French-language version also available). -
Ackee and Saltfish Vs. Amalá Con Quimbombó? a Note on Sidney Mintz’ Contribution to the Historical Anthropology of African American Cultures
Journal de la société des américanistes 91-2 | 2005 tome 91, n° 2 Ackee and saltfish vs. amalá con quimbombó? A note on Sidney Mintz’ contribution to the historical anthropology of African American cultures Stephan Palmié Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/jsa/2988 DOI: 10.4000/jsa.2988 ISSN: 1957-7842 Publisher Société des américanistes Printed version Date of publication: 5 December 2005 Number of pages: 89-122 ISSN: 0037-9174 Electronic reference Stephan Palmié, « Ackee and saltfish vs. amalá con quimbombó? A note on Sidney Mintz’ contribution to the historical anthropology of African American cultures », Journal de la société des américanistes [Online], 91-2 | 2005, Online since 10 June 2010, connection on 20 April 2019. URL : http:// journals.openedition.org/jsa/2988 ; DOI : 10.4000/jsa.2988 © Société des Américanistes ACKEE AND SALTFISHVS. AMALÂ CON QUIMBOll1BO? A NOTE ON SIDNEY MJNTZ' CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORICAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURES Stephan PALMIÉ * ln the spirit of Sidney Mintz' contribution Io African American historical anthropo- logy, this essay examines thcories allocating diflèrential explanatory weight to African cultural continuities and New World social conditions in the historical development of African American cultures through the lens of a set of culinary allegories built around two Caribbean dishes. Speci fically, 1 argue that the opposition recently voiced by some Africanist hi sto ri ans against the so-called « rapid early synlhesis » mode! developed by Sidney Minlz and -
2 the Origins and Limits of Coercive Power
22 Power and Its Disguises their objectives on a global scale. Though particular situations always reflect the interaction of the local and the global, local social and cultural histories I' now find expression in action in ways that are part of a common experience of modernity. as I stress in Chapter 7. Only concrete, contextualized analysis 2 THE ORIGINS AND LIMITS OF COERCIVE of particular situations will enable us to understand what is happening and POWER: THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF why it is happening (in Europe and the United States as well as other parts of the world). But little that is happening anywhere can be understood STATELESS SOCIETIES without reference to the historical discontinuities produced by the rise of the modern state and modern forms of power. Although Clastres' s polemic against traditional political anthropology would be an appropriate starting-point for a discussion of 'stateless' societies. the late Stanley Diamond advanced a critique of the state which is broader than Clastres's observations about indigenous South American societies. Diamond's 19 51 PhD dissertation was an ethnohistorical study of state formation in the West African kingdom ofDahomey, but his wider paradigm for a 'dialectical anthropology' reflected his New York Jewish background and experience as a volunteer with the British Army during the Second World War in North Africa. There he met Black African 'volunteers' from South Africa. Pressed into service by the South African government through the good offices of chiefly clients of the regime, these men were sent to die in an unknown land in an unknown cause in place of Whites (Gailey 1992: 4). -
Leungspecialspring2017themiddl
1 History 3029 Transnational History: A New Perspective on the Past Semester I, 2015-16 Instructor: Dr. Birgit Schneider Student: Leung Hui Yin Book Review Sidney Wilfred Mintz. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. New York: Viking, 1985. Pp. xxx + 274. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History written by Sidney Wilfred Mintz is an ambitious publication that encompasses many issues related to sugar production, dis- tribution and consumption. Mintz tries to unfold the role of sugar in global economic systems and to study what this substance meant for individuals. The book does have some limitations; for example, the temporal scope is problematic and Mintz fails to fully utilize his expertise as an an- thropologist. However, the book undeniably makes a significant contribution to academia by ex- panding the scholarship in food studies and history. After a quick search on the internet, I found that many world history companion guides and some university courses recommend Sweetness and Power as a world history book.1 While Sweetness and Power possesses some features of a world history book such as the interdisciplinarity and the examination of different human agents, I do not regard it as a world history book because of Mintz’s western-centric tone. Trained as an anthropologist, Mintz by no means adheres to the practice and ideas of his early colleagues in two senses. Anthropology as an academic discipline is inclined to explain the behaviours and ideas of primitive societies.2 However, Mintz challenges this conventional ap- proach. Individuals from modern societies are of paramount importance for influencing the abo- riginals, and sometimes vice versa.