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Social and Cultural Anthropology

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Selected Works

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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

I’M Afraid Of That Water: A Collaborative Ethnography Of A West Virginia Water Crisis, Luke E. Lassiter, Brian A. Hoey, Elizabeth Campbell Mar 2020

I’M Afraid Of That Water: A Collaborative Ethnography Of A West Virginia Water Crisis, Luke E. Lassiter, Brian A. Hoey, Elizabeth Campbell

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

On January 9, 2014, residents across Charleston, West Virginia, awoke to an unusual licorice smell in the air and a similar taste in the public drinking water. That evening residents were informed the tap water in tens of thousands of homes, hundreds of businesses, and dozens of schools and hospitals—the water made available to as many as 300,000 citizens in a nine-county region—had been contaminated with a chemical used for cleaning crushed coal. This book tells a particular set of stories about that chemical spill and its aftermath, an unfolding water crisis that would lead to months, even years, of …

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The Endurance Of Tell Qarqur: Settlement Resilience In Northwestern Syria During The Late Bronze And Iron Ages (Ca. 1200 – 700 Bc), Eric Robert Jensen Mar 2019

The Endurance Of Tell Qarqur: Settlement Resilience In Northwestern Syria During The Late Bronze And Iron Ages (Ca. 1200 – 700 Bc), Eric Robert Jensen

Eric Roberts, MD

This dissertation analyzes the material culture, paleobotanical, and faunal remains excavated at the site of Tell Qarqur, Syria, recovered from occupational levels dating from the end of the Late Bronze Age to the Iron II period (from approximately 1200 to 700 BC). Based on archaeological evidence and ancient textual sources, many ancient Near Eastern kingdoms and polities endured social and political turmoil during the late 13th and early 12th centuries BC. Most likely caused by an unknown hostile group or groups, the destruction of monumental scale architecture and the disruption to the people of Qarqur’s agricultural and animal husbandry practices …

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The Endurance Of Tell Qarqur: Settlement Resilience In Northwestern Syria During The Late Bronze And Iron Ages (Ca. 1200 – 700 Bc), Eric Robert Jensen Mar 2019

The Endurance Of Tell Qarqur: Settlement Resilience In Northwestern Syria During The Late Bronze And Iron Ages (Ca. 1200 – 700 Bc), Eric Robert Jensen

Aurora Heart Failure / Transplant Faculty

This dissertation analyzes the material culture, paleobotanical, and faunal remains excavated at the site of Tell Qarqur, Syria, recovered from occupational levels dating from the end of the Late Bronze Age to the Iron II period (from approximately 1200 to 700 BC). Based on archaeological evidence and ancient textual sources, many ancient Near Eastern kingdoms and polities endured social and political turmoil during the late 13th and early 12th centuries BC. Most likely caused by an unknown hostile group or groups, the destruction of monumental scale architecture and the disruption to the people of Qarqur’s agricultural and animal husbandry practices …

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On The Evanescent And Reminiscent, Brad Weiss Mar 2019

On The Evanescent And Reminiscent, Brad Weiss

Brad Weiss

In classic accounts, taste is dismissed as a “proximal sense,” too brutish to admit of refinement; and yet the term “taste” is also a synecdoche of aesthetic judgment itself. These contrasts inform this paper, which illustrates their expression in ethnographic particulars drawn from my research on pasture-raised pork in North Carolina. My intention is not to demonstrate what taste really is, but to ask how the multidimensionality of taste is realized in practice. This inquiry might further illuminate the connection between human perception and systems of value.

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Rappaport, Roy (1926-97), Brian A. Hoey Jul 2018

Rappaport, Roy (1926-97), Brian A. Hoey

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

A brief personal and intellectual biography of the late anthropologist, Roy Rappaport.

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William Robertson Smith, Lectures On The Religion Of The Semites: Second And Third Series, Edited By John Day, Steven W. Holloway Jun 2018

William Robertson Smith, Lectures On The Religion Of The Semites: Second And Third Series, Edited By John Day, Steven W. Holloway

Steven W Holloway

No abstract provided.

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The Olympics In East Asia: Nationalism, Regionalism, And Globalism On The Center Stage Of World Sports, William W. Kelly, Susan Brownell May 2018

The Olympics In East Asia: Nationalism, Regionalism, And Globalism On The Center Stage Of World Sports, William W. Kelly, Susan Brownell

Susan Brownell

Yale CEAS Occasional Publication Series - Volume 3

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The Cowboy Code, Eric D. Teman J.D., Ph.D., Johnny Saldaña Jan 2018

The Cowboy Code, Eric D. Teman J.D., Ph.D., Johnny Saldaña

Eric D Teman, J.D., Ph.D.

Issues of bullying, suicide, self-expression, self-acceptance, self-harm, among others, within the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, ally, and others (GLBTQQA+) culture are explored. We show the suffering, the silenced voices, and the pain endured by GLBTQQA+ college students in rural Wyoming. We act as storyretellers by creatively and strategically editing interview transcripts to transform the narratives into a screenplay. The issues within are viewed through a social justice framework rooted in queer theory.

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Ish: How To Write Poemish (Research) Poetry, Maria K. Lahman Ph.D., Veronica M. Richard Ph.D., Eric D. Teman J.D., Ph.D. Dec 2017

Ish: How To Write Poemish (Research) Poetry, Maria K. Lahman Ph.D., Veronica M. Richard Ph.D., Eric D. Teman J.D., Ph.D.

Eric D Teman, J.D., Ph.D.

Discussion has occurred around what constitutes quality research poetry, with some direction on how a researcher, who is a novice poet, might go about writing good enough research poetry. In an effort to increase the existing conversation, the authors review research poetry literature and ideas from art poets on how to read, write, and revise poetry. The authors interrupt the prose text throughout with poetic interludes and quotes from poets. The conversation is framed by the conception of ish and poemish which is drawn directly from Reynolds’s powerful book ish. Poemish representations may be said to be research representations characterized …

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Scholastics, Pabulum, Clans, Transformation: A Journey Into Otherness, David Lausch, Eric D. Teman J.D., Ph.D., Cody Perry Dec 2016

Scholastics, Pabulum, Clans, Transformation: A Journey Into Otherness, David Lausch, Eric D. Teman J.D., Ph.D., Cody Perry

Eric D Teman, J.D., Ph.D.

International students' identities are complex and so are their needs. Semistructured interviews with 13 of the lead researcher's former students from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, who are multi-national, multi-lingual and pursuing degrees in law, business, economics, medicine, education, art and media, in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia elucidated this reality. Their experiences demonstrated scholastic and pabulum frustrations that were offset in part by constant communication with their clans in person and through various technologies. Though the current model of higher education often seeks to identify and categorize international students as a group, this study shows that international students …

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Stifled [Queer] Voices, Eric D. Teman J.D., Ph.D. Jun 2016

Stifled [Queer] Voices, Eric D. Teman J.D., Ph.D.

Eric D Teman, J.D., Ph.D.

Issues of bullying, suicide, self-expression, self-acceptance, self-harm, among others, within the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, ally, and others (GLBTQQA+) culture are explored through ethnodrama. I show the suffering, the silenced voices, and the pain endured by GLBTQQA+ college students in rural Wyoming. I act as a story-reteller, where I creatively and strategically edit the interview transcripts to maintain the narrative. The result is an ethnodrama.

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Laramie 2.0: Journey Of A Queer Professor, Eric D. Teman J.D., Ph.D. Mar 2016

Laramie 2.0: Journey Of A Queer Professor, Eric D. Teman J.D., Ph.D.

Eric D Teman, J.D., Ph.D.

Through autoethnographic poetry, I take the reader on a journey through my experience of moving to Laramie, Wyoming, to become faculty at the University of Wyoming. As a gay male who is still haunted by the 1998 brutal murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, I engage in storytelling: relaying my personal experiences of living in modern-day Laramie, showing the reader my fears, obstacles, and revelations through prose.

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The Digital Dionysus: Nietzsche & The Network-Centric Condition Dec 2015

The Digital Dionysus: Nietzsche & The Network-Centric Condition

Dan Mellamphy

No abstract provided.

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Discipline And Desire: Feminist Politics, Queer Studies, And New Queer Anthropology, Margot Weiss Dec 2015

Discipline And Desire: Feminist Politics, Queer Studies, And New Queer Anthropology, Margot Weiss

Margot Weiss

This chapter situates contemporary queer anthropology within histories of the contested relationships between gender and sexuality, and feminist and queer studies. I begin with the delineation of gender as the domain of feminist studies, and sexuality as the domain of queer studies, staging a series of analogical readings of feminist and queer studies and their proper objects and political investments. I focus on two questions: the problematic of institutionalization (and the closure or fixity institutionalization represents) and the problematic of good enough objects—objects that might satisfy the political desires we have invested in them. Examining the political aspirations we invest …

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Always After: Desiring Queerness, Desiring Anthropology, Margot Weiss Dec 2015

Always After: Desiring Queerness, Desiring Anthropology, Margot Weiss

Margot Weiss

Queer, from its start, was meant to point beyond or beside identity—specifically gay and lesbian—and instead signify transgression of, resistance to, or exclusion from normativity, especially but not exclusively heteronormativity. But for all this, queer has never quite moved beyond identity. And queer has not quite been the site of resistance we had hoped, as the story of queer studies’ academic institutionalization might portend. Still, I am not writing a eulogy for queer. Instead, in this Retrospectives essay, I resist finding—if only to lose—a new proper object of queer anthropology and suggest, rather, that it is the frustration of …

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Incumbent Landscapes, Disruptive Uses: Perspectives On Marijuana-Related Land Use Control, Donald J. Kochan Dec 2015

Incumbent Landscapes, Disruptive Uses: Perspectives On Marijuana-Related Land Use Control, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

The story behind the move toward marijuana’s legality is a story of disruptive forces to the incumbent legal and physical landscape. It affects incumbent markets, incumbent places, the incumbent regulatory structure, and the legal system in general which must mediate the battles involving the push for relaxation of illegality and adaptation to accepting new marijuana-related land uses, against efforts toward entrenchment, resilience, and resistance to that disruption.

This Article is entirely agnostic on the issue of whether we should or should not decriminalize, legalize, or otherwise increase legal tolerance for marijuana or any other drugs. Nonetheless, we must grapple with …

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Psychology's Use Of Animals: Current Practices And Attitudes, Kenneth J. Shapiro Dec 2015

Psychology's Use Of Animals: Current Practices And Attitudes, Kenneth J. Shapiro

Kenneth J. Shapiro, PhD

In this chapter, I present a psychology primer for the uninitiated, with special emphasis on psychology's uses of animals. After sketching the scope of the field generally, I review available data on present numbers and species of animals used in psychological research, level of suffering induced and current trends. I also provide several concrete examples of psychological research involving animals. Finally, the chapter concludes with a presentation of attitudes of psychologists toward animals and these practices.

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Hands On My Hips: Politics Of A Subversive Fish, Eric D. Teman J.D., Ph.D. Nov 2015

Hands On My Hips: Politics Of A Subversive Fish, Eric D. Teman J.D., Ph.D.

Eric D Teman, J.D., Ph.D.

These interpretive autoethnographic tales are about my life experiences, growing up in rural Ohio as a queer male. I relive several of the innumerable unfortunate encounters with bullies who have haunted me over the years, partly as a therapeutic means to cope with the lasting effects of those torturous years and partly to potentially reach and touch the lives of others similarly affected. I use performative texts as a powerful means of portraying and articulating my message and persuasively voicing the emotion experienced. I also reflect on the queer predicament and how it has shaped my life.

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Gender Lessons On The Fields Of Contemporary Japan: The Female Athlete In Coaching Discourses, Elise M. Edwards Sep 2015

Gender Lessons On The Fields Of Contemporary Japan: The Female Athlete In Coaching Discourses, Elise M. Edwards

Elise M. Edwards

Dr. Edwards' contribution to : Kelly, William W., and Atsuo Sugimoto. 2007. This Sporting Life : Sports and Body Culture in Modern Japan. Yale CEAS occasional publications, v. 1; Yale CEAS occasional publications, v. 1. New Haven, Conn.: Council on East Asian Studies, Yale University.

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Dancing The Numinous: Sacred And Spiritual Techniques Of Contemporary American Belly Dancers, Jeana Jorgensen Jul 2015

Dancing The Numinous: Sacred And Spiritual Techniques Of Contemporary American Belly Dancers, Jeana Jorgensen

Jeana Jorgensen

In this paper, I explore how contemporary American practitioners of belly dance (as Middle Eastern dance and its many varieties are often called in the English-speaking world) conceptualize not only the spiritual dimensions of their dance, but also how the very notion of performance affects sacred and spiritual dance practices. Drawing on interviews with this community, I describe the techniques of sacred and spiritual belly dancers, how these dancers theorize performance, and how the conflicts inherent to patriarchal mind-body dualism are resolved in these practices. My purpose here is twofold: to document an emergent dance tradition and to analyze its …

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Dark Avunculate: Shame, Animality, And Queer Development In Oscar Wilde’S “The Star-Child”, Rasmus R. Simonsen May 2015

Dark Avunculate: Shame, Animality, And Queer Development In Oscar Wilde’S “The Star-Child”, Rasmus R. Simonsen

Rasmus R Simonsen, PhD

This article will outline the inequalities of the relationship between the Star-Child and his temporary master, known only as the Magician, in order to argue that Wilde’s fairy tale should be read as the formalization of a queer interval that traumatizes the Victorian norm of maturation. This is not to suggest that “Wilde’s Victorian readers [would] seem to have found [any]thing untoward about the fairy tales” (Duffy 328); nothing, at least, that hinted at the “homoromantic dimensions” which were to become so devastatingly central to his libel trial of 1895 (338). John-Charles Duffy has nevertheless shown that a complex interweaving …

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23 Aprile: In Cataluña Si Festeggia Sant Jordi, Luis González Vaqué Apr 2015

23 Aprile: In Cataluña Si Festeggia Sant Jordi, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

Ogni anno, il 23 aprile, nei paesi della Catalogna si festeggia Sant Jordi (Sant Jorge) in modo originale e romantico. La tradizione vuole che l’uomo regali alla sua amata un libro accompagnato da una rosa rossa e le donne invece donano un libro al loro amato.

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Carl Cohen’S ‘Kind’ Arguments For Animal Rights And Against Human Rights, Nathan Nobis Mar 2015

Carl Cohen’S ‘Kind’ Arguments For Animal Rights And Against Human Rights, Nathan Nobis

Nathan M. Nobis, PhD

Carl Cohen’s arguments against animal rights are shown to be unsound. His strategy entails that animals have rights, that humans do not, the negations of those conclusions, and other false and inconsistent implications. His main premise seems to imply that one can fail all tests and assignments in a class and yet easily pass if one’s peers are passing and that one can become a convicted criminal merely by setting foot in a prison. However, since his moral principles imply that nearly all exploitive uses of animals are wrong anyway, foes of animal rights are advised to seek philosophical consolations …

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Othering, An Analysis, Lajos L. Brons Dec 2014

Othering, An Analysis, Lajos L. Brons

Lajos Brons

Othering is the construction and identification of the self or in-group and the other or out-group in mutual, unequal opposition by attributing relative inferiority and/or radical alienness to the other/out-group. The notion of othering spread from feminist theory and post-colonial studies to other areas of the humanities and social sciences, but is originally rooted in Hegel’s dialectic of identification and distantiation in the encounter of the self with some other in his “Master-Slave dialectic”. In this paper, after reviewing the philosophical and psychological background of othering, I distinguish two kinds of othering, “crude” and “sophisticated”, that differ in the logical …

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Violence And Pastoral Care In Putumayo, Colombia, Winifred L. Tate Dec 2014

Violence And Pastoral Care In Putumayo, Colombia, Winifred L. Tate

Winifred L. Tate

The southern Colombian state of Putumayo, a region of frontier colonization along the
Ecuadoran border, has been the scene of entrenched violence and illegal drug production for
more than three decades. During domination by the country’s largest and oldest guerrilla group,
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), peasant farmers in the area came to
supply more than fifty per cent of the coca used in the world cocaine trade. Beginning in the late
1990s, violence spiked as right-wing paramilitary groups steadily gained control of small towns.
At the same time, the United States orchestrated a major military counter narcotics …

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The Aspirational State: State Effects In Putumayo, Winifred L. Tate Dec 2014

The Aspirational State: State Effects In Putumayo, Winifred L. Tate

Winifred L. Tate

At the turn of the millennium, conditions in the Putumayo region of Colombia challenged
virtually every aspect of the standard narrative of the relations between state, society, territory,
citizenship, and rights. The normative ideal of modern state-society relations assumes territorial
control via a state apparatus capable of guaranteeing citizens’ rights and the rule of law when
threatened by illegal activities, armed actors undermining the state’s monopoly of force, or
interference from other nation-states. In Putumayo, however, it was not the national state
apparatus that attempted to safeguard the rights of citizens but rather a criminalized population of
smallholding cocaleros (coca …

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Myths About The State Of Nature And The Reality Of Stateless Societies, Karl Widerquist, Grant Mccall Dec 2014

Myths About The State Of Nature And The Reality Of Stateless Societies, Karl Widerquist, Grant Mccall

Karl Widerquist

This article is a spin-off of my book project (with Grant McCall), "Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy." This article makes the following points. Most justifications of government using social contact theory (contractarianism) require a claim we call, “the Hobbesian hypothesis,” which we define as the claim that all people are better off under state authority than they would be outside of it. The Hobbesian hypothesis is an empirical claim about all stateless societies. Many small-scale societies are stateless. Anthropological evidence from the smallest-scale human societies provides sufficient reason to doubt the truth of the hypothesis, if not to reject …

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Decolonizing Nationalism: Reading Nkrumah And Nyerere’S Pan-African Epistemology, Jesse Benjamin Apr 2014

Decolonizing Nationalism: Reading Nkrumah And Nyerere’S Pan-African Epistemology, Jesse Benjamin

Jesse Benjamin

Using the perspective of intellectual history, this essay explores the lives and philosophies of Julius K. Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah, heads of state in Tanzania and Ghana, respectively, as well as philosophers, activists, and Pan-African leaders throughout their lifetimes. The central focus is on their concepts and practices of nationalism, and their attempts to transcend the confines of colonial, Western epistemologies in formulating new African social practices. Their concepts of African socialism, pan-Africanism, and neo-colonialism are examined closely. Their lived experiences with injustice in Africa and the Black Atlantic shaped their perspectives. Their unfinished work bequeathed to us tools for …

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Building A Collection Of Contemporary Urban Material Culture, Robert Rotenberg, Alaka Wali Dec 2013

Building A Collection Of Contemporary Urban Material Culture, Robert Rotenberg, Alaka Wali

Robert Rotenberg

No abstract provided.

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Material Agency In The Urban Material Culture Initiative, Robert Rotenberg Dec 2013

Material Agency In The Urban Material Culture Initiative, Robert Rotenberg

Robert Rotenberg

This contribution to the discussion of collecting contemporary objects reviews the implications of taking seriously how and what objects communicate, especially how we can identify the ways messages are coded in the forms of familiar objects. Of special interest are the conceptual tools that are available to differentiate these messages when objects are arranged in assemblages, including emergent implicit messages, the messages implicit in sets of objects. I advocate an approach to collecting in museums based on the tactics people use to create these assemblages at home. What theorizing about material agency offers to our collection program is a focus …

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