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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Producing Goods, Shaping People: The Materiality Of Crafting, Julia A. Hendon
Producing Goods, Shaping People: The Materiality Of Crafting, Julia A. Hendon
Anthropology Faculty Publications
The study of craft production has a long and venerable history in archaeological research on ancient societies. In this chapter, I consider the crafting of useful and desired things from a materiality perspective by looking at the interactions between the craftpersons, the materials with which they work, and the ways that their end products are valued in society. I use two examples: working with fibers by the Maya of Mesoamerica and with metals by the Moche of Andean South America. These are two very different kinds of materials whose characteristics affect how one interacts with them. Crafting was a part …
Where Spirit And Bulldozer Roam: Environment And Anxiety In Highland Borneo, Matthew H. Amster
Where Spirit And Bulldozer Roam: Environment And Anxiety In Highland Borneo, Matthew H. Amster
Anthropology Faculty Publications
This paper explores changing perceptions of the natural environment among the Kelabit, an indigenous people of the Borneo interior. It considers both traditional and post-Christian conversion understandings about forest spaces. The former animistic ritual practices of the Kelabit centered on a spiritual dialogue with the natural world and this dialogue was often marked by active efforts to avoid or mitigate danger through ritual practice. One key example presented here is the former ceremony of 'calling the eagle' (nawar keniu), a ritual employed in times of crisis that exemplifies the dialogical and entwined relationship Kelabit had to the natural world. Such …
The "Many Mouths" Of Community Gossip And Social Interaction Among The Kelabit Of Borneo, Matthew H. Amster
The "Many Mouths" Of Community Gossip And Social Interaction Among The Kelabit Of Borneo, Matthew H. Amster
Anthropology Faculty Publications
This paper considers the role of gossip and social interaction among the Kelabit of Sarawak, Malaysia Focusing on gossip in everyday life, the paper explores the tension between desires for individual privacy, concerns for group cohesion and, more broadly, desires to adopt a more modern style of living and social interaction. These tensions are vividly manifested in discourses about the problematic nature of gossip in the Kelabit community. Critical to this is a discussion of Kelabit styles of interpersonal interaction and conflict management, including the role of meditation. Offering a range of examples illustrating the social contexts of Kelabit gossip, …