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Social and Cultural Anthropology

Selected Works

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Articles 31 - 60 of 216

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Postindustrial Societies, Brian Hoey Dec 2014

Postindustrial Societies, Brian Hoey

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

The term postindustrial society presupposes categorizing society based on an economic means of classification. Its use rests on assessing the relative status of manufacturing industry as an economic sector. Significant adjustment in sectoral location and nature of employment precipitated by late-twentieth-century deindustrialization in the developed world led many social theorists and critics to predict broad changes throughout domains of everyday life. Some began to speak not only of sectoral transformation but also of an emergent ‘ postindustrial society. ’ Following earlier agrarian and industrial ‘ revolutions, ’ postindustrialism suggested yet another revolution that would again transform how societies were organized.


Reading Du Bois On East Africa: Epistemological Implications Of Apartheid Constructions Of Knowledge, Jesse Benjamin Dec 2014

Reading Du Bois On East Africa: Epistemological Implications Of Apartheid Constructions Of Knowledge, Jesse Benjamin

Jesse Benjamin

No abstract provided.


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 …


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 …


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 …


Queer Precarity And The Myth Of Gay Affluence, Margot Weiss, Amber Hollibaugh Dec 2014

Queer Precarity And The Myth Of Gay Affluence, Margot Weiss, Amber Hollibaugh

Margot Weiss

This essay begins to explore and articulate the concept of queer precarity. Queer precarity emphasizes the particular vulnerabilities of LGBT, queer, and GNC (gender non-conforming) people to the current economic transformations. Contrary to the myth of gay affluence, research from at least the mid-1990s shows that queer and gender non-conforming people are more vulnerable to poverty than their straight and cisgendered male or female counterparts. Yet this myth is sustained by the mainstream LGBT movement and too often shared by the progressive and activist labor movement. It is a particularly destructive myth for labor organizers because LGBT/Q people make up …


Bdsm (Bondage, Discipline, Domination, Submission, Sadomasochism), Margot Weiss Dec 2014

Bdsm (Bondage, Discipline, Domination, Submission, Sadomasochism), Margot Weiss

Margot Weiss

BDSM is the consensual exchange of power for pleasure. BDSM is an acronym made up of three term-sets: bondage and discipline (B&D), domination and submission (D/s), and sadomasochism (SM, S/M, or S&M). Although practices similar to those in contemporary BDSM communities have existed in most places and times, BDSM communities are a phenomenon of industrialized capitalist societies.


Queer Economic Justice: Desire, Critique, And The Practice Of Knowledge, Margot Weiss Dec 2014

Queer Economic Justice: Desire, Critique, And The Practice Of Knowledge, Margot Weiss

Margot Weiss

This essay explores the political dreams we invest in radical sexualities and why we might want to find liberation, specifically economic justice, in radical sexualities. In a time of ongoing neoliberalization of knowledge, where what might appear to be radical sexual difference is all too easily absorbed into multicultural tolerance, I argue that the desire for sex to be liberatory indexes a more social desire for transformation. Taking up the recent turn away from critique in both queer studies and anthropology, I argue that we need critique now more than ever—an immanent critique that implicates both objects and subjects in …


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 …


Theorising The ‘Fifth Migration’ In The United States: Understanding Lifestyle Migration From An Integrated Approach, Brian Hoey Jun 2014

Theorising The ‘Fifth Migration’ In The United States: Understanding Lifestyle Migration From An Integrated Approach, Brian Hoey

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

This chapter is an empirically-informed discussion of relevant social theory for examining the phenomenon of lifestyle migration in the United States in both rural and urban settings. Specifically, the chapter explores key explanatory models born of research into so-called non-economic migration occurring since the early twentieth century—models that may be characterized as primarily either production or consumption oriented in their emphasis—as a context for outlining an integrated approach. The author then highlights changes in how some Americans appear to calculate personal and collective quality of life as engendered by an emerging economic order—based on principles of flexibility and contingency—whose affects …


Indigeneity And Modernity: From Conceptual Category To Strategic Juridical Identity In The Context Of Conflict, Jesse Benjamin, Brandon Lundy Apr 2014

Indigeneity And Modernity: From Conceptual Category To Strategic Juridical Identity In The Context Of Conflict, Jesse Benjamin, Brandon Lundy

Jesse Benjamin

No abstract provided.


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 …


Lean In Or Lean Back: Reproducing Sustainable Livelihoods In The Transnational Indigenous Art Market, Blaire Gagnon Feb 2014

Lean In Or Lean Back: Reproducing Sustainable Livelihoods In The Transnational Indigenous Art Market, Blaire Gagnon

Blaire Gagnon

No abstract provided.


The Color Of Christ In Haiti, Elizabeth Mcalister Dec 2013

The Color Of Christ In Haiti, Elizabeth Mcalister

Elizabeth McAlister

Haiti is an officially Roman Catholic country, and the popular religion
of Vodou incorporates many Catholic elements. Why, then, is Jesus
Christ relatively deemphasized in both traditions, while Mary and
the countless saints and spirits have a greater presence in the religious
lives of most Haitians? This article delves into the Roman Catholic
and Kongolese Catholic history of Haiti to explore why Jesus Christ
is a relatively remote figure and why he is represented as white in a
Black-majority country.


Police-Building And The Responsibility To Protect: Civil Society, Gender And Human Rights Culture In Oceania, Charles Hawksley, Nichole Georgeou Dec 2013

Police-Building And The Responsibility To Protect: Civil Society, Gender And Human Rights Culture In Oceania, Charles Hawksley, Nichole Georgeou

Nichole Georgeou

Forthcoming: This book examines how the United Nations and states provide assistance for the police services of developing states to help them meet their human rights obligations to their citizens, under the responsibility to protect (R2P) provisions. It examines police-capacity building ("police-building") by international donors in Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea (PNG). All three states have been described as "fragile states" and "states of concern", and all have witnessed significant social tensions and violence in the past decades. The authors argue that globally police-building forms part of an attempt to make states "safe" so that they can adhere …


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.


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 …


Everyday Violence, Quotidian Griefs: Kidnapping In The Pankisi Gorge, Rebecca Gould Dec 2013

Everyday Violence, Quotidian Griefs: Kidnapping In The Pankisi Gorge, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

No abstract provided.


A Different Crossroads: Meeting The Devil In Cultural Studies, Marcus Breen Sep 2013

A Different Crossroads: Meeting The Devil In Cultural Studies, Marcus Breen

Marcus Breen

The Crossroads Conference in Paris, July 2012 offered an international perspective on cultural studies. After the event, seeing mention of cultural studies in the context of Nazi Germany opened up questions about the history of cultural studies, its ambitions and position in the contemporary, neo-liberal academy. Drawing on various conjunctures in personal and social life, the article reflects on the challenges for cultural studies when set against knowledge of European history.


Relation Between Sacrifice And Mercy In Forms Of Worship And Pacification (Contents & Extended Abstract) Jun 2013

Relation Between Sacrifice And Mercy In Forms Of Worship And Pacification (Contents & Extended Abstract)

Matija Kovačević

Contents and extended abstract of a thesis defended in 2013 at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Ethnology & Cultural Anthropology. Translated from Croatian.


Odnos Žrtve I Milosti U Oblicima Obožavanja I Postizanja Mira, Matija Kovačević Jun 2013

Odnos Žrtve I Milosti U Oblicima Obožavanja I Postizanja Mira, Matija Kovačević

Matija Kovačević

Žrtva je jedan od najrasprostranjenijih pojmova diljem svjetskih kultura. Prisutan je u sekularnom i religijskom rječniku, svakodnevnim i izvanrednim prilikama, privatnoj i javnoj sferi. U skladu s time, neki oblik žrtvenog rituala našao se u praktički svim svjetskim kulturama i tradicijama. Iako umanjeni i promijenjenih oblika, ni danas nisu nestali iz čovječanstva, a u prošlosti su sačinjavali uobičajeni dio svakodnevnog života. Svrha žrtvenih rituala bila je raznovrsna, ali jedan od najčešćih motiva kojim su bili prožeti jest pomirenje s božanstvom, zajedno s izbjegavanjem kazne i osiguranjem života i sigurnosti pojedincu i/ili svijetu. S druge strane, koncept milosti i milosrđa nije …


Narratives Of War In Islamic Societies, Whose Side Is God On?, Ahmed Souaiaia Jun 2013

Narratives Of War In Islamic Societies, Whose Side Is God On?, Ahmed Souaiaia

Ahmed E SOUAIAIA

The so-called Arab Spring ushered in a new era of conflict that is transforming Islamic societies in unprecedented ways. In the past two years, peaceful protests ousted some of the most ruthless dictators of the Arab world. Then, violent rebellions destroyed communities in Libya and Syria, stifled the non-violent movement, and amplified sectarian tensions by interjecting God into some of the most gruesome conflicts. By looking at the Syrian crisis as a case study, in this article I explore the function of narratives in managing war and the nature and evolution of Islamism in Islamic societies.


A Turkish Spring Even If Different From The Arab Spring, Ahmed Souaiaia Jun 2013

A Turkish Spring Even If Different From The Arab Spring, Ahmed Souaiaia

Ahmed E SOUAIAIA

The wide-spreading protest movement in Turkey is bringing up the irresistible analogy: Taksim Square is for Turkey what Tahrir Square is for Egypt. Considering that Tahrir Square events were the extension of the protest movement that started it all from Tunisia, it follows that the turmoil in Turkey is similar to the so-called Arab Spring. But most observers and media analysts are dismissing Taksim Square movement arguing that Turkey’s uprising is not similar to the Arab Spring because Erdoğan and his party are democratically elected and that Erdoğan has governed over a period of unprecedented economic prosperity.


Humanitarian Adhocracy, Transnational New Apostolic Missions, And Evangelical Anti-Dependency In A Haitian Refugee Camp, Elizabeth Mcalister Apr 2013

Humanitarian Adhocracy, Transnational New Apostolic Missions, And Evangelical Anti-Dependency In A Haitian Refugee Camp, Elizabeth Mcalister

Elizabeth McAlister

This article addresses religious responses to disaster by examining how one network of conservative evangelical Christians reacted to the Haiti earthquake and the humanitarian relief that followed. The charismatic Christian New Apostolic Reformation (or Spiritual Mapping movement) is a transnational network that created the conditions for post-earthquake, internally displaced Haitians to arrive at two positions that might seem contradictory. On one hand, Pentecostal Haitian refugees used the movement’s conservative, right-wing theology to develop a punitive theodicy of the quake as God’s punishment of a sinful nation. On the other hand, rather than resign themselves to victimhood and passivity, their strict …


November Uri Community Diversity Project 2010, Joseph A. Santiago Mr, Riley Davis Ms, Richard V. Travisano Mr Apr 2013

November Uri Community Diversity Project 2010, Joseph A. Santiago Mr, Riley Davis Ms, Richard V. Travisano Mr

Richard Travisano

November is National Novel Writing Month. For the first time at the University of Rhode Island November was a month for the URI community to share their stories, poems, art, and photos with the world. The Writing to Model Diversity project intends to connect individuals across cultural boundaries and borders by sharing the stories and experiences that challenge our everyday experiences and the dreams of the future. Built on the efforts of the World Voice series, URI presents a book that shares the stories and culture of the students, faculty, staff, and community members who embrace the idea of becoming …


Journalism In A Pr World, Michael I. Niman Ph.D. Apr 2013

Journalism In A Pr World, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Mike Niman discusses the future of journalism in a PR-dominated communication environment. In particular, he examines the migration of talent from journalism to the PR industry, the collapse of mainstream journalism and the role of an emergent alternative media as American journalism goes through metamorphosis from what it was to what it could become. Journalism is a social good that should equip people to understand and resist spin. Niman argues that mainstream American journalism, rather than rising to this challenge, has transparently succumbed to serving as an arm of the corporate PR industry, thus laying the groundwork for its own …


Journalism In A Pr World, Michael I. Niman Ph.D. Apr 2013

Journalism In A Pr World, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Mike Niman discusses the future of journalism in a PR-dominated communication environment. In particular, he examines the migration of talent from journalism to the PR industry, the collapse of mainstream journalism and the role of an emergent alternative media as American journalism goes through metamorphosis from what it was to what it could become. Journalism is a social good that should equip people to understand and resist spin. Niman argues that mainstream American journalism, rather than rising to this challenge, has transparently succumbed to serving as an arm of the corporate PR industry, thus laying the groundwork for its own …


Territorializing Indigeneity And Powwow Markets, Blaire Gagnon Feb 2013

Territorializing Indigeneity And Powwow Markets, Blaire Gagnon

Blaire Gagnon

North American powwows are presented by organizers and presumed by society at large to be Native events. Research has rarely considered the processes by which powwows become places or the role of territorialization in that process. This article examines the socio-spatial practices powwow organizing committees employ to construct powwows and their arts and crafts markets as places from undifferentiated space and the responses to these practices. I suggest that powwow committees construct powwow space as a form of sovereign political space from which they can manage relations with multiple constituencies and in which contemporary conceptions of Nativeness are negotiated.


Indigenismo From Below? Carlos Castaneda, New Age Anthropology And Identity Politics, Ageeth Sluis Jan 2013

Indigenismo From Below? Carlos Castaneda, New Age Anthropology And Identity Politics, Ageeth Sluis

Ageeth Sluis

This paper explores the intersections between Carlos Castaneda’s work on shamanism, indigenismo, and larger changes within the field of anthropology from the 1960s to 1980s. Castaneda introduced a large readership to Mexico at a time when the Americas saw pronounced socio-political and cultural changes. Despite criticism by fellow anthropologists, Castaneda's bestselling books became instrumental in constructing new indigenous identities, a magical Mexico, and new directions in anthropology. This paper seeks to understand Castaneda within a larger historical context of the historical trajectories of indigenismo and changes in gender and race identity politics both in Mexico and the U.S. due to …


Engendering S2013tatus And Value In The Powwow Art Market, Blaire Gagnon Dec 2012

Engendering S2013tatus And Value In The Powwow Art Market, Blaire Gagnon

Blaire Gagnon

This article examines the relationship between people and objects in the powwow arts and crafts market. Over the past century, the field of Indian art developed a system of valuation that employs the "negative relationship" to create a hierarchy of people, objects, and markets. Central to this system are regimes of value associated with art and commodity. I argue that the presence of the mass-produced makes it possible for artisan-vendors to employ the negative relationship to define, value, and make sustainable the artistic in the powwow market context. Ultimately, this marks artisan-vendors and mass-produced vendors as position-takers with the Indian …