Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Anthropology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 10 of 10

Full-Text Articles in Anthropology

Political And Theoretical Feminisms In American Folkloristics: Definition Debates, Publication Histories, And The Folklore Feminists Communication, Jeana Jorgensen Jul 2015

Political And Theoretical Feminisms In American Folkloristics: Definition Debates, Publication Histories, And The Folklore Feminists Communication, Jeana Jorgensen

Jeana Jorgensen

What role does feminist theory play in American folkloristics, and which versions of feminism have become mainstreamed in the nearly forty years since folklorists first became attuned to the promises and premises of feminism? By attending to these issues, I hope to at least partially answer the question Alan Dundes asked in his 2004 Invited Presidential Plenary Address to the American Folklore Society: "What precisely is the 'theory' in feminist theory?" (2005, 388). In lamenting the lack of grand theory in folkloristics, Dundes remarks, ''Despite the existence of books and articles with 'feminist theory' in their titles, one looks in …


The Black And The White Bride: Dualism, Gender, And Bodies In European Fairy Tales, Jeana Jorgensen Jul 2015

The Black And The White Bride: Dualism, Gender, And Bodies In European Fairy Tales, Jeana Jorgensen

Jeana Jorgensen

Fairy tales are one of the most important folklore genres in Western culture, spanning literary and oral cultures, folk and elite cultures, and print and mass media forms. As Jack Zipes observes: ‘The cultural evolution of the fairy tale is closely bound historically to all kinds of storytelling and different civilizing processes that have undergirded the formation of nation-states.’143 Studying fairy tales thus opens a window onto European history and cultures, ideologies, and aesthetics.


Sorting Out Donkey Skin (Atu 510b): Toward An Integrative Literal-Symbolic Analysis Of Fairy Tales, Jeana Jorgensen Jul 2015

Sorting Out Donkey Skin (Atu 510b): Toward An Integrative Literal-Symbolic Analysis Of Fairy Tales, Jeana Jorgensen

Jeana Jorgensen

This article debates the merits of fairy tale interpretive frameworks that privilege the psychological and symbolic, versus those that utilize a literal and feminist orientation. Using ATU 510B as a test case, for its intriguing blend of real-world elements and the fantastic, the author suggests that a synthesis of literal and symbolic theories allows for the fullest understanding of the polyvalent meanings of tale, which is particularly problematic due to its depictions of incest. Drawing examples from canonical as well as contemporary versions of ATU 510B, various psychoanalytic and feminist interpretations of the tale type are put to the test, …


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 …


Historical Roots, Contemporary Relevance: Explaining The Persistence Of Polygyny In Sub-Saharan Africa, Sam Grey Dec 2007

Historical Roots, Contemporary Relevance: Explaining The Persistence Of Polygyny In Sub-Saharan Africa, Sam Grey

Sam Grey

Despite the pervasive belief that monogamous marriage and the nuclear family are natural or inevitable features of modernity, many other nuptial and household forms exist. Polygyny – simultaneous marriage to multiple wives – is one such form. Today, widespread polygyny is virtually a sub-Saharan African phenomenon, and it perseveres here in the face of rapid, ostensibly antipathetic, socio-economic change. Predictions that development and modernization would obliterate traditional kinship systems in sub-Saharan Africa remain unrealized because they fail to appreciate that polygyny is not merely a historical relic or cultural idiosyncrasy, but a rational, internally consistent strategy that enables both individuals …


The Presence Of Absence Of Personal Identity: Everyday Conditions Of Practicing Law, Matilda Arvidsson Dec 2006

The Presence Of Absence Of Personal Identity: Everyday Conditions Of Practicing Law, Matilda Arvidsson

Dr Matilda Arvidsson

No abstract provided.


Plurality Of Discourses In Euripides' Ion: Euripides As Thinker And Dramatist (In Greek With English Summary), Katerina Zacharia Feb 2003

Plurality Of Discourses In Euripides' Ion: Euripides As Thinker And Dramatist (In Greek With English Summary), Katerina Zacharia

Katerina Zacharia

No abstract provided.


Book Review Of Lee, K.H., Euripides' Ion., Katerina Zacharia Dec 1998

Book Review Of Lee, K.H., Euripides' Ion., Katerina Zacharia

Katerina Zacharia

No abstract provided.


Book Review Of Meagher, R.M., Euripides’ Bakkhai, Katerina Zacharia Dec 1996

Book Review Of Meagher, R.M., Euripides’ Bakkhai, Katerina Zacharia

Katerina Zacharia

No abstract provided.


Reversed Heroism And Heroic Perversion In Euripides' Medea, Katerina Zacharia Dec 1995

Reversed Heroism And Heroic Perversion In Euripides' Medea, Katerina Zacharia

Katerina Zacharia

No abstract provided.