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Full-Text Articles in Anthropology

Response To Commentary On “Rethinking Combined Departments: An Argument For History & Anthropology” By Stephen M. Lyon/Durham University, Uk; Yasar Abu Ghosh, Pavel Himl, Tereza Stöckelová, Lucie Storchová/Charles University, Prague; Robert Gibb/University Of Glasgow; Jakob Krause-Jensen/Aarhus University, Denmark; Veerendra P. Lele/Denison University, Ageeth Sluis, Elise Edwards Sep 2015

Response To Commentary On “Rethinking Combined Departments: An Argument For History & Anthropology” By Stephen M. Lyon/Durham University, Uk; Yasar Abu Ghosh, Pavel Himl, Tereza Stöckelová, Lucie Storchová/Charles University, Prague; Robert Gibb/University Of Glasgow; Jakob Krause-Jensen/Aarhus University, Denmark; Veerendra P. Lele/Denison University, Ageeth Sluis, Elise Edwards

Ageeth Sluis

Contains response from the authors, Ageeth Sluis and Elise Edwards.


Rethinking Combined History Departments: An Argument For History And Anthropology, Ageeth Sluis, Elise Edwards Sep 2015

Rethinking Combined History Departments: An Argument For History And Anthropology, Ageeth Sluis, Elise Edwards

Ageeth Sluis

Many opportunities for more integrated teaching that better capture the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary scholars' work and better achieve the aims of liberal arts education still remain untapped, particularly at smaller schools where combined departments are often necessary. The disciplinary boundaries between history and sociocultural anthropology have become increasingly blurred in recent decades, a trend reflected in scholarly work that engages with both fields, as well as dual-degree graduate programmes at top U.S. research universities. For many scholars, this interdisciplinarity makes sense, with the two disciplines offering critical theoretical tools and methods that must be used in combination to tackle …


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 …


Computational Analysis Of The Body In European Fairy Tales, Scott Weingart, Jeana Jorgensen Jul 2015

Computational Analysis Of The Body In European Fairy Tales, Scott Weingart, Jeana Jorgensen

Jeana Jorgensen

This article explores how digital humanities research methods can be used to analyze the representations of gendered bodies in European fairy tales, a flexible and pervasive genre that has influenced Western children's education and acquisition of gender identity for centuries. By blending the theoretical and methodological concerns of folkloristics, gender studies, and large-scale scientific research, this article demonstrates the utility of cross-disciplinary collaboration in asking traditional questions of traditional materials with new methods. To facilitate this research, a hand-coded database listing every reference to a body or body part in the 233 fairy tales was created. Analysis revealed strong indications …


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.


Whether It’S Coins, Fringe, Or Just Stuff That’S Sparkly': Aesthetics And Utility In A Tribal Fusion Belly Dance Troupe’S Costumes, Jeana Jorgensen Jul 2015

Whether It’S Coins, Fringe, Or Just Stuff That’S Sparkly': Aesthetics And Utility In A Tribal Fusion Belly Dance Troupe’S Costumes, Jeana Jorgensen

Jeana Jorgensen

As both a scholar and a belly dancer, I believe that belly dance is recognizable on aesthetic grounds. In addition to the movements that belly dancers typically perform—muscle isolations, undulations, graceful hand motions and turns, and lots of hip work—belly dancers wear costumes that are visually identifiable as belly dance costumes. While this description may seem tautological, there are recognizable standards both in the public sphere and among dancers for what constitutes the belly dance image—or images, as belly dance is a diverse phenomenon that encompasses teaching, learning, performing, watching, socializing, and costuming.


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.