Cultural Anthropology

Mathematical Representation of Cultural Constructs

by Dwight Read

Published in A Companion to Cognitive Anthropology, First Edition. Edited By David B. Kronenfeld, Giovanni Bennardo, Victor C. de Munck, and Michael D. Fischer. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2011 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Mathematical representations need to delineate the “principles that may be presumed to be at work at their source”... more Mathematical representations need to delineate the “principles that may be presumed to be at work at their source” (Lounsbury 1964:351) in the form of “ generative models which reproduce … the logic” (Bourdieu 1990[1980]:92) that accounts for “how the cultural constructs are generated” (Schneider 1968:7), and thereby enables us to “uncover the conceptual structures that inform our subjects’ acts” (Geertz 1973:27). Mathematical representations of cultural constructs can provide the analytical means to achieve these goals for the analysis of cultural phenomena precisely because of what constitutes mathematical reasoning.

Mathematics in Structural Theory

by Dwight Read

Rethinking Human Nature and the Place of (Wo)Man in the world: Anthropology between Philosophy and Science. A Manifesto

by Giacomo Pezzano

We are knowing more and more about (Wo)Man, but the determination of her/his nature is still problematic: asking «What... more We are knowing more and more about (Wo)Man, but the determination of her/his nature is still problematic: asking «What is (Wo)Man?» is paradoxically possible only in the space left open by (wo)man’s erasure. Whatever human nature is, (wo)man wants to know her/himself, because if (s)he does not know who (s)he is, (s)he can not know where to go: moving from hominitas to humanitas requires a definition of (wo)man’s nature, of her/his «place» in the world, in view of describing ex-istence as a modulation of the «World Openness» and an attempt to find a way of articulate the possibilities, as intrinsically «medial» and «modal» since it is founded on «referral» and «relationship with the outside»

2011, Autochthony as Capital in a Global Age, in Theory, Culture & Society , vol. 28 no. 1 34-54

by Mathieu Hilgers

For a little over a decade we have been witnessing a profusion of discourses on autochthony — that is, an original... more For a little over a decade we have been witnessing a profusion of discourses on autochthony — that is, an original belonging to a group or territory — in many parts of the world. A global approach to this question first requires a look at the principle of autochthony and its genealogy. Starting from African examples, places of prolific expression of the phenomenon, this article shows how autochthony plays the role of capital that can be invested, valued and profited from. The structure of this capital carries within itself the seeds of conflict. The article analyses how the stabilization of its value requires the execution of specific strategies. Among these strategies, I will focus in greater depth on voting. The relationship between capital, autochthony and elections will thus bring us back to debates that animate political science: in new municipalities, autochthony as capital is at the heart of candidate selection, suffrage, political participation and citizenship.

Violence sits in places? Cultural practice, neoliberal rationalism, and virulent imaginative geographies

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2011. Violence sits in places? Cultural practice, neoliberal rationalism, and virulent imaginative geographies. Political Geography. 30 (2), 90-98.

Through imaginative geographies that erase the interconnectedness of the places where violence occurs, the notion that... more Through imaginative geographies that erase the interconnectedness of the places where violence occurs, the notion that violence is 'irrational' marks particular cultures as ‘other’. Neoliberalism exploits such imaginative geographies in constructing itself as the sole providence of nonviolence and the lone bearer of reason. Proceeding as a ‘civilizing’ project, neoliberalism positions the market as salvationary to putatively ‘irrational’ and ‘violent’ peoples. This theology of neoliberalism produces a discourse that binds violence in place. But while violence sits in places in terms of the way in which we perceive its manifestation as a localized and embodied experience, this very idea is challenged when place is reconsidered as a relational assemblage. What this re-theorization does is open up the supposed fixity, separation, and immutability of place to instead recognize it as always co-constituted by, mediated through, and integrated within the wider experiences of space. Such a radical rethinking of place fundamentally transforms the way we understand violence. No longer confined to its material expression as an isolated and localized event, violence can more appropriately be understood as an unfolding process, derived from the broader geographical phenomena and temporal patterns of the social world.

Ponne oui furfant. Le radici preromane della corsa dei Ceri a Gubbio

by Simone Sisani

in «Bollettino della Deputazione di Storia Patria per l’Umbria» 103.1 (2006), pp. 61-77

The Material-Cultural Turn: event and effect.

by Dan Hicks

Cite this paper as: Hicks, Dan 2010. The Material-Cultural Turn: Event and Effect. In Dan Hicks and Mary C. Beaudry (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Material Culture Studies. Oxford: OUP, pp. 25- 98.

The full references are provided in the bibliography for the published volume.

Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description, by Tim Ingold (book review)

by Phillip Vannini

Forthcoming, yet-to-be-copy-edited review of Ingold's recent work, to be published in the journal Transfers

My book review of Tim Ingold's Being Alive, Ways of Walking, and Redrawing Anthropology My book review of Tim Ingold's Being Alive, Ways of Walking, and Redrawing Anthropology

"Out-of-Place in the Sad Tropics: Reading Lévi-Strauss with Jakobson"

by William J. Urban

class paper written October 26, 2010

The Prominence of Individualism: Cultural Analysis of the United States From 1950 to Present Day

by David Kimball

Senior Project

This research paper explores the dominance of individualism in the United States beginning in the 50s continuing... more This research paper explores the dominance of individualism in the United States beginning in the 50s continuing throughout our current postmodern age. Culture is investigated to discover how individualism has been reflected in art, books, and media in society.

Emasculation among the Hijras

by Oleg Nekrassovski

draft only

Auto-ethnography of my food habits

by Oleg Nekrassovski

draft only

The Mysterious Arrow Poison of the Yanomamo

by Oleg Nekrassovski

draft only

A Conference Announcement. Atlantiar: Human Traces on the Atlantic Façade of Europe

by Roslyn Frank

In the .pdf you will find the announcement in English for an international conference to be held May 18, 2012, in... more In the .pdf you will find the announcement in English for an international conference to be held May 18, 2012, in Irun, Euskal Herria (Basque Country) sponsored by Jauzarrea (see below). The conference is entitled Atlantiar: Human Traces on the Atlantic Façade of Europe. The first conference in the series of four that are programmed examines territories around the Bay of Biscay with a focus on the Palaeolithic. The document contains a description of the conference and registration materials.

What follows is a description of Jauzarrea in Spanish outlinging the projects has supported in the past and the areas of research currently is promoting. The material below also includes an interview with the director of Jauzarrea, Xabi Otero, a well-known Basque historian, writer and photographer.


Un grupo de trabajo consolidado
La Editorial Txoria Errekan, con sede en Jauzarrea (Arraiotz), ha realizado desde 1984 más de 200 publicaciones en el ámbito del patrimonio cultural del País Vasco. Xabi Otero es su responsable y como consecuencia de esa tarea, ha concebido una doble idea: la creación de una institución estable, JAUZARREA –como fondo para el estudio y difusión de la Cultura Vasca– y el desarrollo del proyecto temporal, ATLANTIAR, como una herramienta para reunir el conocimiento más actualizado sobre la historia de los vascos.

Antecedentes.
Xabi explica la génesis del proyecto: “Desde 1972 he desarrollado mi labor en el ámbito profesional, estableciendo una sólida amistad con muchas de las personas con las que he trabajado. Gracias a la cantidad y diversidad de temas que he tenido que tratar, he atesorado un conocimiento sobre muchas materias que tiene dos vertientes realmente interesantes.

Por una parte, el proceso de aprendizaje me ha proporcionado una visión general muy completa para establecer conexiones e interacciones y plantear así un proyecto de divulgación de gran envergadura como es ATLANTIAR.

Por otra, el tejido de relaciones que he establecido, permite aglutinar a esas personas que constituyen, con su sabiduría, un aval científico para el proyecto –por el conocimiento que han acumulado sobre diversas facetas del ser humano, y porque la información que poseen es de primera mano, generada por sus propias investigaciones–, en torno a la editorial TXORIA ERREKAN.

Con esos elementos he implicado en el proyecto a un grupo cualificado de personas de mi entorno, artistas, investigadores, generadores de nuevas materias, gestores en diversos ámbitos, profesionales. Personas creativas que abarcamos el abanico de oficios que se da en nuestra sociedad; personas con ilusión y con una particular manera de encarar nuestro futuro juntos, desarrollando en la medida de lo posible la innovación cultural.

La calidad y el entusiasmo de este grupo humano lo convierten en el motor de una institución estable, JAUZARREA, constituida como fondo para el estudio y difusión de la cultura vasca desde Euskal Herria.

El conjunto de expertos que participan en el programa de congresos ATLANTIAR –integrado en su mayor parte por investigadores de otros países–, constituye un sólido núcleo científico de alto valor, con un bagaje profesional tras de sí rotundo”.

JAUZARREA desarrolla un modelo de gestión que permite:

• Difundir la cultura en la sociedad de manera dinámica y efectiva.

• Impulsar el conocimiento para mejorar la percepción de la cultura, especialmente cuestiones con implicación en las relaciones sociales.

•  Crear conexiones interculturales –la relación entre culturas, común a varias culturas– y multiculturales –convivencia de diversas culturas–.

•  Combinar actividades en los ámbitos del patrimonio material e inmaterial, potenciando estudio, investigación y difusión de la cultura de los vascos y su interrelación con la de otros pueblos indígenas.

•  Consolidar y ampliar la base social con personas que constituyen el soporte en red que impulsa el proyecto.

JAUZARREA gestiona difusión de nuestra cultura, con presencia en proyectos de instituciones colaboradoras, aunando disciplinas necesarias para regenerar la información, con una dinámica activa de investigación y una divulgación fluida en la sociedad.

Una herramienta: el programa de congresos ATLANTIAR.
ATLANTIAR es un programa con cuatro congresos sobre la historia de los vascos, que se desarrollarán en 2012 y 2013, abordando cada uno de ellos el análisis multidisciplinar de un período histórico:

•  PALEOLITÍCO, desde hace 45.000 años hasta el final del Magdaleniense.

•  SOCIEDADES PRODUCTORAS, desde el Neolítico hasta el final de la Edad del Hierro.

•  NUEVA ERA, desde los vascones prerromanos hasta la invasión del Reino de Navarra en 1512, por las tropas de las coronas de Castilla y Aragón.

• ERA MODERNA, desde 1512 hasta el presente.

Con este programa, los más de 100 expertos internacionales vinculados al proyecto, nos acercan a los resultados de sus investigaciones, con una línea de trabajo en la que confluyen todas aquellas evidencias de vanguardia, que tienen que ver con nuestra cultura y modos de vida. Se trabaja en una dirección compartida, liderada por JAUZARREA. Creando un corpus de conocimiento accesible, cuyo resultado será un proyecto editorial de amplio espectro, que reúna a estos autores de más de 40 instituciones científicas participantes. Desarrollando una campaña de marketing cultural en permanente evolución, dando a conocer nuestro bagaje creativo.

ATLANTIAR es un modelo integrador y riguroso de estudio que trabaja la clarificación de conceptos, renovando la información con nuevas lecturas, con la ayuda de los avances en ciencia y tecnología. Arma un corpus de conocimiento para ser canalizado e instalado a través de las instituciones participantes, para cohabitar –con sus señas de identidad, las de la cultura vasca–, con el resto de cátedras o grados que sean impartidos, dando a conocer nuestra historia y cómo ésta se articula y se entremezcla con la del resto del mundo. Creando y potenciando un modelo de referencia, del mismo modo que se utilizan conceptos específicos que definen e identifican a otras culturas.

Se desarrollan este y otros proyectos –estableciendo sinergias con grupos de trabajo–, que emitan una imagen de nuestra sociedad y cultura como referente de identidad y de prestigio. Creando una fuente para consulta de la cronología histórica sobre la civilización de los grupos de primeros pobladores europeos y su devenir hasta el día de hoy, como el conjunto de la población vasca.

Ejemplo práctico de un objetivo concreto: OREINA URKIAN KANATA.

A la par que cumplimos con el programa de congresos, se desarrolla en este caso un proyecto tan importante como el matriz, ATLANTIAR, ya que lo complementa, y constituye un adelanto de lo que será la puesta en práctica de JAUZARREA, como centro operativo de investigación y difusión.

En 2010, JAUZARREA presentó el proyecto OREINA URKIAN KANATA a la UPV/EHU, para efectuar una búsqueda de linajes genéticos vascos en los Pobladores de las Primeras Naciones. El Congreso Internacional Tras la estela de los balleneros vascos: Patrimonio Cultural y Genético de Vascos y Nativos Americanos del Atlántico Norte, celebrado el 21 y 22 de setiembre de 2011, en el Paraninfo de la UPV/EHU de Bilbao (BIZKAIA ARETOA), supuso el comienzo del proyecto, con objeto de poner al día la información existente sobre estas relaciones.

La búsqueda de los linajes de ADN –que la población vasca pudo haber aportado desde la baja edad media hasta el siglo XX–, se justifica por el intenso comercio establecido con los nativos desde el inicio de los viajes al litoral Atlántico Americano, llevado a cabo por nuestros pescadores de bacalao, cazadores de ballenas y tratantes de pieles. Destacando la buena relación de amistad existente; ya que los vascos – como pueblo– jamás arrebatamos territorio alguno, ni nos impusimos a ningún otro, produciéndose sin embargo una cooperación de manera ininterrumpida, con transferencia de conocimiento y tecnología entre ambas naciones. Continuando el contacto establecido desde hace años por JAUZARREA con las Primeras Naciones, retomamos el flujo de relaciones en más de treinta comunidades de Mi’kmaq, Malisset, Mohawk, Abenaki, Cree, Huron, Innu, Attikamekw, Algonkin y Ojibwa; con sus líderes y Consejos de Bandas. En un extenso territorio que abarca desde Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Québec, Ontario, New England, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentuky y región de los Grandes Lagos.

Realizando un estudio que comprende disciplinas como historia, folklore, arqueología, antropología, etnología, lingüística, biología o geología y la interpretación multidisciplinar de sus resultados; para determinar como ha tenido lugar esa relación y desde cuando se ha dado.

Conseguiremos un notable flujo de información, beneficioso, para poderlo aplicar con inmediatez en las comunidades objeto del estudio. De igual modo servirá para establecer una relación intercultural más sólida a ambas orillas del Atlántico.

Illegal evictions? Overwriting possession and orality with law’s violence in Cambodia

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. Forthcoming. Illegal evictions? Overwriting possession and orality with law’s violence in Cambodia. Journal of Agrarian Change.

The unfolding of a juridico-cadastral system in present-day Cambodia is at odds with local understandings of... more The unfolding of a juridico-cadastral system in present-day Cambodia is at odds with local understandings of landholding, which are entrenched in notions of community consensus and existing occupation. The discrepancy between such orally recognized antecedents and the written word of law have been at the heart of the recent wave of dispossessions that have swept across the country. Contra the standard critique that corruption has set the tone, this paper argues that evictions in Cambodia are often literally underwritten by the articles of law. Whereas ‘possession’ is a well-understood and accepted concept in Cambodia, a cultural basis rooted in what James C. Scott refers to as ‘orality’, coupled with a long history of subsistence agriculture, semi-nomadic lifestyles, barter economies, and–until recently–widespread land availability have all ensured that notions of ‘property’ are vague among the country’s majority rural poor. In drawing a firm distinction between possessions and property, where the former is premised upon actual use and the latter is embedded in exploitation, this article examines how proprietorship is inextricably bound to the violence of law.

Cultural Anthropology-Word Bank

by Jethro Aranas

A word bank primarily made for our subject. It is a glossary of words that you'll come across Cultural Anthropology

Manufacturing Identities: Masking in Postwar Highland Guatemala

by Rhonda Taube

At their patron saints’ annual fiestas, the Maya and the Ladinos of western highland Guatemala perform dances in... more At their patron saints’ annual fiestas, the Maya and the Ladinos of western highland Guatemala perform dances in costumes that take their inspiration from film, television, music, and the Internet. The two groups adapt the costume dance to their own interests, and the tension between them is evident in the different types of costumes they rent and purchase. Ladino costumes distinguish their wearers as modern consumers, while K’iche’ costumes stress communitas, adding to the borrowed images to connect with indigenous forms of subsistence and lifestyle and to allow comment on proper forms of behavior and on social ills. The costume makers act as cultural intermediaries, producing both the context and the meaning of the dances and enabling performers and spectators alike to construct different identities through them.

Durante las fiestas anuales de sus santos patrones, los mayas y ladinos de los altos occidentales de Guatemala llevan a cabo danzas con vestuarios basados en el cine, la televisión, el ámbito musical y el Internet. Ambos grupos adaptan la vestimenta de acuerdo a sus intereses y la tensión entre ellos se hace evidente en el tipo de ropas que rentan y compran. Los vestuarios ladinos identifican a sus portadores como consumidores modernos, mientras que los K’iche’ enfatizan un sentido de comunidad, añadiendo imágenes prestadas que se conectan con formas de subsistencia y vida indígena a la vez que comentan sobre formas sancionadas de comportamiento y males sociales. Los fabricantes de vestuario fungen como intermediarios culturales, produciendo tanto el contexto como el significado de las danzas y permitiendo que tanto participantes como espectadores construyan diversas identidades a través de éste.

Reading Watcher's Watching: Introductory Notes on Ethnographic Cinema (2008, guest lecture)

by Ronald Helfrich, Jnr.

Work notes on the Tavola Eugubine, Script Q (IIB), Script Q1-Q273, update 4.25.12

by Mel Copeland

The Tavola Eugubine is a series of bronze tablets found near the city of Gubbio. There are seven tablets, some of which are written on both sides. The tablets are said to be written in the Umbrian language and in Latin. The texts of the group tend to follow a common theme, that of an oration. This text is a half-page entry apparently on the back of a bronze plate (similar to that seen in the Tavola Cortonensis).

It is most interesting, since the closing remarks of the text appear to state that their ancestor Atijerius came from Ionia or Penes (Peonia?). The Ionian connection would corroborate Herodotus who recorded that the Etruscan tradition said their ancestor, Tyrsenus, son of the Lydian king Atys, came from Lydia. The archeological context of the tables (this document refers to itself as a 'table') is of interest, whether the seven bronze tablets were found in situ as one collection. If so they may apply as a record kept by a particular knight of the Etruscans who, in this case, Table IIB claims that he 'created' the town or castle which he addresses. Both KASTRV (castrum-i) and VPETV (L. oppidum-i) are used in the text.

This is an update of our work on the Tavola Eugubine, (IIB) - http://www.maravot.com/Translation_EugubineQ.html. Changes produced on this page will be added to our Etruscan GlossaryA.pdf. All of the words in the glossary follow a grammar similar to Latin. One can easily discover that the several hundred texts on Etruscan Phrases all share a common language and grammar. This controverts the prevailing theory that the Etruscan language is not an Indo-European language. It also warrants further examination of the prevailing conclusion that the Tavola Eugubine is written in the Umbrian language.

Etruscan GlossaryA.xls/pdf. is an index to about 2,300 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,500 words = the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek. The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging; since we have no multilingual Rosetta stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar are provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek.)

We look forward to the time when a peer review of these Work Notes will warrant corrections to the prevailing record, showing that the Etruscan language was similar to Latin and decry the theory that the "Etruscan language is unlike any other and not an Indo-European language." The theory of a non-Indo-European Etruscan language is absolutely false.

There is a far richer record to be written of an Indo-European branch, dead as of ~400 B.C., that can shed light on the movements of the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age Italic peoples, perhaps out of southeastern Europe to Anatolia and then to Italy by sea. Herodotus, who recorded the Etruscan tradition, that they came from Lydia as a result of a long drought after the Trojan War, may be right. We mention this because there is more to be gained in sorting out the grammar at Etruscan Phrases - and possible confirmation of Herodotus - than can ever be hoped for in the bogus theory that "the Etruscan language is unlike any other language known to man." Wikipedia et al. should be corrected.

Foods and Gods

by Juliana Ossa