Sandra Calkins and Tyler Zoanni. 2023. “On bundling: the aesthetics of exchange and growth in central Uganda”. Africa 93: 371-392.
Abstract: In central Uganda, even a casual observer would notice the widespread presentation of often identical commercial services and goods – fruit vendors, street food or motorcycle taxis, for instance – in a small shared area. This article brings the dynamics of this phenomenon into view under the heuristic rubric of ‘bundling’, reflecting both on diverse examples from present-day Kampala and on some of the phenomenon’s historical and linguistic scaffolding. We take this phenomenon seriously as an alternative form of socio-economic exchange and growth, one that is distinct from liberal and neoliberal imaginaries of an unlimited flow of goods, people, things and services. Bundling, we argue, reflects an aesthetics in which both material value and social relationships are imagined to arise through thickenings of persons and things, assembled and ordered in spatial proximity and symmetry. The article suggests that bundling offers conceptual resources to imagine growth otherwise, as a process unfolding in ways that complicate and clog conventional economic imaginaries.
Résumé: Dans la région centrale de l’Ouganda, personne ne peut manquer d’observer la présentation généralisée de biens et de services commerciaux souvent identiques (marchands de fruits, cuisine de rue ou moto-taxi par exemple) dans un espace partagé restreint. Cet article met en lumière la dynamique de ce phénomène sous la rubrique heuristique de « bundling » (groupage), en portant la réflexion à la fois sur divers exemples de Kampala aujourd’hui et sur une partie de l’échafaudage historique et linguistique de ce phénomène. Les auteurs considèrent ce phénomène comme une autre forme d’échange et de croissance socioéconomique, distincte des imaginaires libéraux et néolibéraux d’un flux illimité de biens, de personnes, de choses et de services. Ils soutiennent que le « bundling » reflète une esthétique dans laquelle la valeur matérielle et les rapports sociaux sont imaginés émaner d’épaississements de personnes et de biens, assemblés et ordonnés dans une proximité et une symétrie spatiales. L’article suggère que le « bundling » offre des ressources conceptuelles pour imaginer la croissance autrement, comme un processus qui se déroule d’une manière qui complique et engorge les imaginaires économiques conventionnels.
Resumo: No centro do Uganda, mesmo um observador casual notaria a apresentação generalizada de serviços e bens comerciais frequentemente idênticos – vendedores de fruta, comida de rua ou moto-táxis, por exemplo – numa pequena área partilhada. O presente artigo apresenta a dinâmica deste fenómeno sob a rubrica heurística de ‘agrupamento’, reflectindo sobre diversos exemplos da actual Kampala e sobre alguns dos andaimes históricos e linguísticos do fenómeno. Levamos este fenómeno a sério como uma forma alternativa de intercâmbio e crescimento socioeconómico, distinta dos imaginários liberais e neoliberais de um fluxo ilimitado de bens, pessoas, coisas e serviços. Argumentamos que o agrupamento reflecte uma estética em que tanto o valor material como as relações sociais são imaginados como surgindo através de adensamentos de pessoas e coisas, montados e ordenados em proximidade e simetria espacial. O artigo sugere que o agrupamento oferece recursos conceptuais para imaginar o crescimento de outra forma, como um processo que se desenrola de maneiras que complicam e obstruem os imaginários económicos convencionais.
Brandon Joseph Macapagal Reilly. 2023. “E. ARSENIO MANUEL IN THE MARCOS ERA: LATE 1960s-1986”. Aghamtao 31:44-64.
Abstract: This essay narrates the life of anthropologist E. Arsenio Manuel (1909-2003) in the period from the 1960s to 1986, ‘the Marcos Era’. It examines the burst of activity in the years surrounding Manuel’s completion of his Ph.D. in anthropology, when he produced many of his best known books, essays, and even popular works. Less well known is that he also produced a fictional work, a mythologized epic of the nation, at the behest of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. The essay considers the political stakes of Manuel undertaking this work. Finally, it looks into notable minor works he penned thereafter. This is the fifth essay in a series of six that narrates the life of anthropologist E. Arsenio Manuel (1909- 2003).
Rosario Carmona. 2023. “Participación de los pueblos indígenas en la política climática. Una revisión etnográfica de la experiencia chilena (Participation of Indigenous Peoples in Climate Policy. An Ethnographic Assessment of the Chilean Experience)”. AIBR, Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana 18(1): 17-39.
Resumen: Los pueblos indígenas cobran relevancia en los debates globales sobre cambio climático; sin embargo, su involucramiento en la gobernanza climática nacional continúa siendo marginal. Este artículo analiza la consideración de la participación de los pueblos indígenas en la gobernanza climática chilena a través de una etnografía del Estado realizada entre los años 2017 y 2020. Se llevó a cabo una revisión documental de la política climática nacional entre 1995 y 2020, observación participante y 41 entrevistas semiestructuradas. Los hallazgos dan cuenta de que, si bien hay avances recientes, la participación de los pueblos indígenas no cumple con los estándares de la participación intercultural. Tampoco existen mecanismos que permitan la colaboración y posicionen a los pueblos indígenas como agentes ante el cambio climático. El caso chileno ilustra el tipo de reconocimiento que se le entrega a los pueblos indígenas en la política climática internacional y, por lo tanto, su análisis permite identificar las barreras que dificultan la efectiva colaboración. Mientras estas barreras no sean abordadas, no solo se arriesga incrementar la vulnerabilidad de los pueblos indígenas, sino que también se pierde la oportunidad de promover los procesos de transformación institucional que son necesarios para responder al cambio climático. Son necesarios más avances a nivel nacional para fortalecer la participación de los pueblos indígenas en la CMNUCC.
Abstract: Indigenous Peoples gain prominence in global climate change debates. Nevertheless, their involvement in national climate governance remains marginal. This article analyses the consideration of Indigenous Peoples’ participation in the Chilean climate governance through an ethnography of the state conducted between 2017 and 2020. A documentary review of national climate policy between 1995 and 2020, participant observation and 41 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The findings show that, although recent progress, Indigenous Peoples’ participation does not meet the standards of intercultural participation. Nor are there mechanisms in place to enable collaboration and to position Indigenous Peoples as agents in the face of climate change. The Chilean case illustrates the type of recognition given to Indigenous Peoples in international climate policy, and therefore its analysis allows for the identification of barriers to effective collaboration. As long as these barriers remain unaddressed, an increase in Indigenous Peoples’ vulnerability is at risk. We also lose the opportunity to promote the institutional transformation processes necessary to respond to climate change. More efforts are needed at the national level to enhance Indigenous Peoples’ participation in the UNFCCC.
María Eugenia Olavarría. 2023. “Cuerpos en disputa Discurso y ficción entre mujeres que gestan para otros en México (Bodies in Dispute Discourse and fiction among Mexican surrogates)”. Alteridades 33(66): 47-57.
Resumen: Se exploran etnográfica e interpretativamente los significados del cuerpo que se activan en los procesos de gestación subrogada. Se muestran los discursos que se despliegan a favor o en contra de esta práctica en México y cómo estos discursos se confrontan con los usos cotidianos que las personas gestantes movilizan. Más allá de las sinécdoques corporales –panza, vientre– y de los tropos tecnológicos –horno, incubadora– o animalísticos (cigüeña), este artículo propone una perspectiva comparativa y reflexiva que empata a las personas que gestan para otros (en su mayoría mujeres cis) con otros métiers du corps.
Abstract: In this article, I explore ethnographically and interpretively the meanings of the body that are activated in surrogacy processes. I present the discourses that are displayed in favor of or against this practice in Mexico and show how these discourses are confronted with the customary uses that Surrogates mobilize. Beyond bodily synecdoche –belly, uterus– and technological tropes –oven, incubator– or animalistic –stork bird–, this article proposes a comparative and reflective perspective that matches surrogacy (developed mostly by cis women) with other métiers du corps.
Jon Rasmus Nyquist. 2023. “The Regime: Fire and Human-Landscape Involvement”. Anthropological Forum 33(2): 98-117.
Abstract: In the southwest of Western Australia, the state Parks and Wildlife Service carry out prescribed burns with the goal of reducing ‘fuel loads’ and creating landscape patterns that they hope will slow down the spread of bushfires. These practices can contribute to establishing ‘a fire regime’, a tenuous state, which must be continually upheld, in which the forest tends to burn in certain ways. The regime is a model for human-environment involvement that highlights attempts to be favourably involved with landscapes that are sometimes dangerous and often unpredictable. This shows one example of a complicated pattern of involvement in today’s world. Often thought of as a time of distance and forceful disconnection, the Anthropocene also contains numerous examples of complicated attempts to maintain close ties with landscapes. This article develops ‘involvements’ as a lens for understanding cases like these, where people deliberately attempt to shape landscapes but do not have complete control over or insight into the paths from intention to effect. Involvements can shed light on how people live in the uncertain space between intention, action and effect; how they stretch themselves out across time, how they open themselves to being affected and how they create for themselves certain forms of knowledge and understanding. For fire managers, practices of burning, planning, patrolling and making themselves familiar with the forest all contribute to creating an interface with the fiery and dangerous landscape.
Chloé Buire. 2023. “Disrupting self-censorship, inventing public space through interactive performances in Luanda, Angola”. Anthropology Southern Africa 46(3): 188-212.
Abstract: This article analyses a series of cultural events organised in Luanda, Angola, in 2021–2022 by an artistic collective called the Vosi Yetu Project. These open-mike sessions promoting freedom of expression are analysed as carnivalesque moments redistributing the norms of who can be visible and what can be said (and heard) in public. By doing so, they implicitly challenge the hegemonic workings of the ruling party and open political breaches through which new scenes seem possible. Based on three-year fieldwork in Luanda and mobilising immersive film-recording, the article explores the meaning of these interactive performances both at the individual level and in terms of collective momentum towards systemic change. How are we individually touched to the point of becoming a part of something bigger? It also questions the conditions of possibility of ethnographic encounters in a city marked by high levels of surveillance. What does it mean to hold a camera in the middle of people voicing their discontent? How far can the bodily experience of a foreign white woman help unravel the subjectivities of young Angolan men? The article does not respond unequivocally to all these questions but uses them to reflexively engage the multisensory emergence of public space.
Resumo: Este artigo analisa uma série de eventos culturais organizados em Luanda, Angola, em 2021 e 2022, por um coletivo de artistas chamado Vosi Yetu Project. Estas sessões de microfone aberto promovendo liberdade de expressão são analisadas como momentos festivos que reorganizam as normas sobre quem pode ser visível e o que pode ser dito (e ouvido) em público. Ao fazê-lo, desafiam implicitamente os procedimentos hegemônicos do partido no poder e abrem brechas políticas através das quais novos cenários parecem possíveis. Com base em um trabalho de campo de três anos em Luanda e mobilizando a gravação imersiva de materiais audiovisuais, o artigo explora o significado destas performances interativas tanto em nível individual quanto em termos de uma força coletiva rumo a uma mudança sistêmica. Como somos tocados individualmente a ponto de nos tornarmos parte de algo maior? Questiona também as condições de possibilidade de encontros etnográficos em uma cidade marcada por elevados níveis de vigilância. O que significa segurar uma câmera no meio de pessoas que expressam seu descontentamento? Até que ponto a experiência corporal de uma mulher branca estrangeira pode ajudar a desvendar as subjetividades de jovens homens angolanos? O artigo não responde de forma inequívoca a todas estas questões, mas as utiliza para adentrar reflexivamente a manifestação multissensorial do espaço público.
Matías Halpin. 2023. “El desarrollo turístico en el Delta de Tigre, Argentina. Mitos y realidades (Tourism-Centered Development in Tigre´S Delta (Argentina). Myths and Reality)”. Antropología Americana 8(16): 63-86.
Resumen: El Delta de Tigre se encuentra en el tramo inferior del Río Paraná, junto al Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires; desde los años noventa, ha vivido un proceso de turistificación. Inspeccionamos dicho proceso en relación con las transformaciones globales en la industria turística y la implementación de políticas neoliberales en el país. Repasamos las estrategias de construcción de atractividad utilizadas y las modalidades turísticas actualmente desplegadas, así como sus impactos sobre la población local. Examinamos la experiencia de una red de artesanos que montó un parador y se encontró con importantes dificultades para integrarse en los circuitos dominantes. A partir de lo expuesto, sostenemos que el desarrollo turístico, lejos de erradicar la pobreza, ha generado gentrificación.
Abstract: Tigre’s Delta is located at the end of Paraná River, close to Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area. Since the 1990s it has undergone a process of touristification. Here we examine this process in relation to global transformations in the tourism industry and to the implementation of neoliberal policies in the country. We study the strategies for attractiveness construction and different tourism modalities currently deployed, and their impacts on local population. We review the experience of an of artisans’ network that launched a store on the islands but encountered significant difficulties to integrate into the dominant circuits. Based on the above, we argue that tourism development, far from eradicating poverty, has produced gentrification.
Gerard Horta and Daniel Malet Calvo. 2022. “Sistemas de propiedad y organización del trabajo de las furgonetas hiace en Cabo Verde (Ownership systems and work organization of hiace vans in Cape Verde)”. Antropología Experimental 23(10): 129-143.
Resumen: En el marco del universo del transporte colectivo interurbano en Cabo Verde, el uso de la furgoneta hiace aparece como un fenómeno central, desde mediados de los años ’80 del siglo XX, a causa de la ausencia de transporte público y de la falta de acceso de la inmensa mayoría de población al vehículo privado. El siguiente artículo aborda panorámicamente los modelos de propiedad del vehículo (conductores propietarios frente a conductores asalariados), su caracterización (de las dinámicas de explotación transnacional a la configuración de amplios sectores de propietarios procedentes del funcionariado caboverdiano), la organización del trabajo en función del modelo de propiedad, las condiciones de explotación laboral de los conductores asalariados, y el papel de los diversos agentes implicados en el devenir cotidiano del hiace (conductores, ayudantes, limpiadores, etc.).
Abstract: Within the universe of interurban collective transport in Cape Verde, the use of the hiace van appears as a central phenomenon since the mid-80s of the 20th century, due to the absence of public transport and the lack of access of most of the population to private vehicles. The following article provides an overview of vehicle ownership models (owner-drivers vs. working-drivers), their characterization (from the dynamics of transnational exploitation to the configuration of large sectors of the owners coming from the Cape Verdean civil service), the organization of work according to the ownership model, the labor conditions of working-drivers, and the role of the various agents involved in the day-to-day running of the hiace (drivers, assistants, cleaners, etc.).
Luis Pezo Orellana. 2023. “Orígenes de la antropología rural en Chile: una introducción a sus fuentes y precursores (siglo XIX - década de 1930) (Origins of Rural Anthropology in Chile: an Introduction to Its Sources and Precursors (19th Century - 1930s))”. Antropologías del Sur 10(20): 19-54.
Resumen: Con el propósito de contribuir al estudio de la conformación del campo de la antropología rural en Chile, se plantea una introducción a las obras y autores/as que nos parecen fuentes y precursores de la antropología rural, cuyas publicaciones se sitúan temporalmente entre el siglo XIX y la década de 1930. Al respecto, se desarrollan tres temáticas: 1) los viajeros que describieron el Chile rural en el siglo XIX, 2) los pioneros de la antropología y del folklore que trabajaron en contextos y temas rurales y 3) el experimento etnográfico de Tancredo Pinochet Le Brun en la hacienda del presidente de la república. Estas fuentes y precursores constituyen referentes importantes para la construcción de una antropología rural que se proyecte al futuro con pleno conocimiento de sus orígenes y bases históricas.
Abstract: With the purpose to contributing to the study of the formation of rural anthropology’s field in Chile, it proposed an introduction to works and authors that seem to us to be sources and precursors of rural anthropology, whose publications are temporally located between the 19th century and the 1930s. In this regard, three themes are developed: 1) the travelers who described rural Chile in the 19th century, 2) the pioneers of anthropology and folklore who worked in rural contexts and themes and 3) the ethnographic experiment of Tancredo Pinochet Le Brun on the estate of the republic president. These sources and precursors constitute important references for the construction of a rural anthropology that projects into the future with full knowledge of its origins and historical bases.
Silvia Cirillo. 2023. “Conceptualizing care practices in women’s lives. A domestic work case study in Ethiopia and Tanzania”. Anuac 12(1): 3-28.
Abstract: Drawing from the lived experiences of female domestic workers in Ethiopia and Tanzania, this article illustrates different ways in which domestic work can be practiced and defined in both countries. It analyses women’s narratives in the present and past tense to explore different situations before and after they come into contact with an NGO that advocates for domestic workers’ rights. Since their childhood, the women interviewed have worked in various kin and non-kin households, and performed different types of domestic work (formal and informal, paid and unpaid, live-in and live-out). The asymmetrical and hierarchical relationships between employees and employers are ambiguous and often confused with kinship or distant kinship. These ambiguities come to the fore precisely when projects fostered by labour activists aim at the formalization of hired care work, that is, skilled employment made up of clearly defined tasks, regulated by written contracts, rights and responsibilities. In contexts where labor protections are poorly enforced, proposals to formalize domestic work can provide an essential reference point for the collective mobilization of women workers. At the same time, proposed solutions favoring the formalization of hired work might clash with local realities and not necessarily be perceived as appropriate by domestic workers.
Carla Costa Teixeira and Raissa Romano Cunha. “Por que ler (esses) “clássicos”? (Why read (these) classics?)” Anuário Antropológico 48(3): 10-36.
Resumo: Este artigo objetiva discutir a formação obrigatória ofertada nos Programas de Pós-graduação de Antropologia (PPGA) via o mapeamento documental dos “clássicos” indicados nas disciplinas obrigatórias teóricas do mestrado. O escopo da pesquisa reuniu o levantamento de dois mil e oitenta e dois títulos indicados em Clássicos I e II na UnB ao longo dos anos de 1972-2019, e novecentos títulos que compõem as ementas de disciplinas correlatas em vinte PPGA no Brasil. Ao analisar esse conjunto de dados visamos contribuir para o debate em torno da formação dos/as antropólogos/as brasileiros/as por meio de uma atenção especial aos documentos, nos quais a noção de clássico assume materialidade ao longo das décadas a partir de obras e autores. Em que pesem as crescentes disputas – em nosso país e alhures – em torno de quais autores e obras devem ou não constar na formação obrigatória, o processo de mapeamento documental evidenciou regularidades institucionalizadas nas inclusões e exclusões de autores e obras nos diversos PPGA em nosso país. Desta perspectiva, buscamos, por um lado, avançar na compreensão do contexto em que tal debate tem se dado mais recentemente; por outro, refletir sobre o uso das metáforas de “linhagens”, “ancestrais” e “pais fundadores” para pensar laços intelectuais e teóricos considerados centrais ao campo disciplinar e à formação antropológica dos neófitos. Por fim, esboçamos algumas possibilidades interpretativas considerando a relevância da experiência de ensino da antropologia.
Abstract: This article aims to discuss the education offered in Postgraduate Anthropology Programs (PPGA) via the documentary mapping of the “classics” indicated in the theoretical mandatory subjects of the master's degree. The scope of the research brought together the survey of two thousand and eighty-two titles indicated in Classics I and II at UnB over the years 1972-2019, and nine hundred titles that make up the syllabi of related subjects in twenty PPGA in Brazil. By analyzing this set of data, we aim to contribute to the debate surrounding the education of Brazilian anthropologists through special attention to documents, in which the notion of classic assumes materiality over the decades based on works and authors. Despite the growing disputes – in our country and elsewhere – around which authors and works should or should not be included in mandatory subjects, the document mapping process highlighted institutionalized regularities in the inclusions and exclusions of authors and works in the various PPGA in our country. From this perspective, we seek, on the one hand, to advance the understanding of the context in which this debate has taken place more recently; on the other, reflect on the use of the metaphors of “lineages”, “ancestors” and “founding fathers” to think about intellectual and theoretical ties considered central to the disciplinary field and the anthropological training of neophytes. Finally, we outline some interpretative possibilities considering the relevance of the anthropology teaching experience.
Maria Sapignoli. 2023. “Bureaucratizing the indigenous: The San peoples, Botswana, and the international community (Burocratizzare l’indigeno: il caso del Popolo San, Botswana, e la comunità internazionale)”. Archivio antropologico mediterraneo 25(2).
Abstract: This article examines the relationship between the San people and the post-colonial Botswana state as manifest in bureaucratic practices. These practices illustrate the dynamic between the state’s control and care toward its most discriminated groups and indigenous resistance, incorporation, and cooptation. It considers how Botswana, through the introduction of development policies and laws to regulate hunting, has encapsulated the San into state institutions and practices; it also illustrates, though the example of San activism, how indigenous peoples try to appropriate state institutions and international development models to formalize their resistance through non-governmental organizations. Bureaucratic processes have, on one hand, been experienced by the San as part of the problem of state-sponsored assimilation and control, while, on the other hand, they have been also utilized as part of the solution for seeking basic rights and recognition.
Astratto: Questo articolo esamina la relazione tra il popolo San e lo stato del Botswana, e come questa si manifesta nelle pratiche burocratiche. Queste pratiche illustrano la dinamica tra il controllo e l’attenzione dello stato nei confronti dei suoi gruppi più discriminati e tra la resistenza e la cooptazione indigena. Esso considera come il Botswana, con l’introduzione di politiche di sviluppo e leggi per regolare la caccia, abbia incorporato i San nelle istituzioni e pratiche statali; inoltre, illustra attraverso l’esempio dell’attivismo San, come i popoli indigeni cerchino di appropriarsi delle istituzioni statali e dei modelli di sviluppo internazionale per formalizzare la loro resistenza e le lore richieste. I rappresentanti San hanno vissuto i processi burocratici, da un lato, come parte del problema dell’assimilazione e del controllo sponsorizzati dallo Stato, mentre, d’altro, sono stati anche utilizzati come parte della soluzione nel ricercare diritti fondamentali e riconoscimento.
Federico Oriolani Garcia. 2023. “’Acá todos se creen terratenientes’: uso de la violencia y criterios morales en la resolución de conflictos por la posesión de la tierra y la casa en barrios populares de Mar del Plata, Argentina (‘Everyone here thinks they are landowners”’: use of violence and moral criteria in the resolution of conflicts over the possession of land and houses in popular neighborhoods of Mar del Plata, Argentina)”. Cuadernos de Antropología Social 58: 91-105.
Resumen: En el artículo indagamos sobre estrategias para defender casas y terrenos que despliegan habitantes de barrios populares localizados en áreas de expansión de Mar del Plata, provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. A partir de un trabajo de campo etnográfico realizado entre 2017 y 2020, observamos distintos conflictos en los que la inestabilidad en la tenencia de la vivienda tiene consecuencias en la sociabilidad barrial y en la vida cotidiana. Centralmente, analizamos enfrentamientos y peleas interpersonales que se constituyen como parte del repertorio de acciones para la conservación y permanencia en el lugar habitado. Estas prácticas muestran que se configuran políticas de acceso al hábitat reguladas localmente mediante criterios no sólo monetarios sino también violentos y morales. Asimismo, las distintas situaciones reconstruidas permiten establecer una clasificación de las actuaciones de los/as residentes a partir del modo en que oscila la relación entre los usos de la violencia y la categoría nativa de “respeto”.
Abstract: This article examines the strategies employed by residents to defend their homes and land in low-income neighborhoods situated in the expanding areas of Mar del Plata, Argentina. Through ethnographic research, we observe various conflicts among inhabitants, illustrating how interpersonal confrontations and disputes serve as resources to protect their living spaces. While the state is absent in ensuring access to habitat, state intervention often occurs typically through criminalizing those involved in violent actions. Notably, public policies designed to prevent such situations are lacking, and state agents usually mediate only after the events have occurred. These actions, undertaken by both residents and state agents, underscore that locally regulated habitat access policies are shaped not only by monetary criteria but also by violence, morality, and politics.
Resumo: No artigo indagamos sobre as estratégias que as pessoas usam para defender suas casas e terras em bairros populares localizados em áreas em expansão da cidade de Mar del Plata, província de Buenos Ares, Argentina. A partir de um trabalho etnográfico, observamos diferentes conflitos entre moradores para mostrar que confrontos e lutas interpessoais se constituem como recursos para preservar o lugar habitado. Embora o Estado não garanta o acesso ao habitat, geralmente intervém para criminalizar aqueles que praticam atos violentos. Nesse sentido, não são apresentadas políticas públicas que previnam essas situações, mas agentes estatais costumam mediar quando os eventos já ocorreram. Essas ações realizadas pelos moradores e agentes do Estado mostram que as políticas de acesso ao habitat reguladas localmente se configuram por critérios não apenas monetários, mas também de violência, morais e políticos.
Tom Fogel and Dani Schrire. 2023. “Negotiating Tradition Archives in a Community Setting. Sounds of Silence and the Question of Credibility”. Ethnologia Europaea 53(1): 1-23.
Abstract: Following the digitization of archival records of ethnographic work conducted among Yemeni Jews in the early 1970s, we presented these findings to the same community at the same location, fif ty years later. In this renegotiation, our interlocutors radically undermined the credibility of our archival material. We analyze the audience’s reactions and the way they reflect different ethnographic dynamics, contextualizing their critical position in the tensions between archival knowledge and lived repertoire in general, and specifically in relation to traumatic experiences of Yemenis in Israel. Finally, we discuss how the suspicion toward the archive is embedded in larger current discourses on “truth” and “facts” and how in this context, it can be beneficial to scrutinize tradition archives in a community setting.
Agustina Altman. 2023. “’Los hermanos sean unidos…’. Procesos de fisión y fusión al interior del Evangelio Moqoit (‘Let the Brothers Be United...’. Processes of Fission and Fusion within the Moqoit Evangelio)”. Etnografías Contemporáneas 9(16): 36-62.
Resumen: El objetivo de este trabajo es comprender algunas de las dinámicas sociales del evangelio moqoit, para ello se analiza el culto como unidad social, con particular atención a la construcción de alianzas fluctuantes con otros cultos. También se discute la acción misionera menonita, no sólo en relación a los aborígenes misionados, sino también desde la óptica de su impacto en la propia iglesia matriz, para la cual la misión desempeña el rol de una verdadera utopía cristiana. En este complejo panorama, se analizan las tensiones entre fisión y fusión al interior del evangelio moqoit y cómo la acción misionera menonita va a intentar privilegiar los mecanismos tendientes a fomentar la unión, mediante el desarrollo de una serie de dispositivos de regulación.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to understand some of the social dynamics of the Moqoit evangelio. To this end, this church is analyzed as a social unit, paying particular attention to the construction of fluctuating alliances with other churches. Mennonite missionary action is also discussed –not only in relation to the indigenous people missionized– but also from the point of view of its impact on the Mother church itself, for which the mission plays the role of a true Christian utopia. In this complex panorama, I analyze the tensions between fission and fusion within the Moqoit evangelio and how the Mennonite missionary action attempts to privilege the mechanisms tending to foster unity, through the development of a series of regulation devices.
Natalia Buier. 2023. “The anthropology of infrastructure. The boom and the bubble?” Focaal—Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology 95: 46–60.
Abstract: This article engages with the constitution of the anthropology of infrastructure as an autonomous subdiscipline. Rather than laboring in the service of demarcating a new field of study, anthropologists, I argue, should strive for a critical deconstruction of the contemporary infrastructural moment. In the first part of the article, I engage with the arguments in favor of infrastructure as an analytical lens by focusing on their treatment of relationality and materiality. I pinpoint the limitations of these approaches and argue that their epistemological and theoretical assumptions blunt the critical potential of anthropological studies of infrastructure. The second part of the article looks at theoretical alliances that favor connecting the anthropological study of infrastructure with a critical analysis of the production of nature and the built environment.
Daming Zhou and Qin Hu. 2023. “The Role of Anthropology in Global Social Governance: Collaboration With the World Bank in China”. International Journal of Business Anthropology 12(1).
Abstract: Anthropology now plays a crucial role in the Global Social Governance. This article traces the development of cooperation between anthropology and international organizations from the perspective of anthropology's participation in the operation of international organizations' projects. It presents the status and role of anthropology in global governance, and briefly describes the operation mode of anthropology in international organizations and the practice status in China by taking the cooperation with the World Bank as an example.
George F. Steiner. 2023. “Information management and cultural evolution in Aboriginal Australia (In light of the cultural heterochrony hypothesis)”. International Journal of Modern Anthropology 2(18): 896-922.
Abstract: Following a recent re-evaluation of evidence from an archaeological site in SE Australia, the possibility of a 120 thousand years (ka) old human presence in the Fifth Continent has been suggested. However, the commonly accepted date for the peopling of Australia remains within the range of 50 - 65 ka. Even if the newly proposed date were halved, an uninterrupted 60 ka continuity in the same territory would raise a few questions regarding the transmission mechanisms that have enabled the retention of the massive amount of knowledge acquired during such an extended period, especially when considering the lack of demographic strength, which is believed to be a prerequisite for effective social learning. I argue that the emergence, developmental rate, and extent of Australian culture reflect an ‘additive’ evolutionary strategy centred on a ritually regulated feedback loop between the volume of information flow and the level of social elaboration. The model forwarded in this paper is at odds with current theoretical approaches to cultural evolution in which Aboriginal traditions are often portrayed as living examples of Pleistocene cross-cultural universals.
橋爪 太作 (Daisaku Hashizume). 2023. “起源の闇と不穏な未来のあいだ——現代ソロモン諸島マライタ島西ファタレカにおける 社会変容の深層 (Between the Obscure Origin and Unsettled Future An In-Depth Analysis of Social Changes in West-Fataleka, Solomon Islands)”. 文化人類学 (Japanese Journal of Cultural Anthropology) 86(4): 635-653.
抄録： 1990年代以降のメラネシア人類学では、そこに存在するとされる西欧近代社会とは異なる社会性を描き出す、「新メラネシア民族誌」と呼ばれる議論が勃興してきた。これらの新たな議論は現地の実践を個人／社会といった実体ではなく、それらを横断する関係に着目して論じてきた。
これに対し本論の論点はそもそも「関係」とはいかなるものであるのかというメタ的な問いにある。こうした関係概念そのものへの反省は、近年の人類学の理論的展開の中で「ポスト関係論」として論じられてきたが、本論ではこの問題を現地の人々の土地と系譜をめぐる再帰的な知識実践に見出す。具体的には、現地の人々にとってのアイデンティティの基盤であるクランが、実は当人たちがその起源となる社会関係を認識できないというパラドックスとともに立ち現れていることに注目する。そして、森林伐採事業に伴うクラン同士の争いを通じてこのパラドックスがどのようにして人々の意識に上り、既存の社会関係の認識を改変しているのかについて考察する。
Abstract: Since the 1990s, Melanesian anthropology has seen the so-called “new Melanesian ethnography” debates emerge. These depict a sociality different from that of modern societies. The new debates focus on lateral relationships among local practices, rather than on individual/social dichotomies.
In contrast, this paper asks the meta-question of what “relations” can be. Such critiques on our concept have been discussed as “post-relationalism” in recent theoretical movements in social/cultural anthropology. There is something analogous to this problem in the recursive knowledge practices of local people in Malaita Island about their land and genealogy. The clan, which is the foundation of people’s identity, has a paradox where clansmen cannot recognize the social relations that support them. This paper also discusses how this paradox has come to people’s consciousness through clan conflicts associated with commercial logging projects, and how it is altering their perception of existing social relations.
陳珮瑜 (Peiyu Chen). 2023. “陶器「始」用的脈絡與詮釋：以秘魯Virú河谷的Huaca Negra遺址為例 (Contextualizing the Emergence of Pottery Use and Its Interpretation: A Case Study from Huaca Negra, Virú Valley, Peru)”. 考古人類學刊 (Journal of Archaeology and Anthropology) 98: 45-88.
摘要： 「人們為何開始製作與使用陶器」是考古學的重要課題之一，而秘魯北海岸Virú河谷的Huaca Negra遺址具備先陶時代到初始時期的連續佔居堆積地層，見證了初代陶器的出現，成為極佳的個案研究。本文嘗試就經濟視角與社會文化意涵兩個層面來理解陶器始用的驅力與詮釋。在方法上，屬性分析揭露了初代陶器主要的實用功能以及紋飾的時空分布差異。另一方面，岩象分析著墨陶器原料來源，並提供初代陶器的製作技術的資訊。兩種分析方法都顯示陶工並未追求成品的一致性或標準化，而是共享製作的基本概念，從中建立共同的製陶與使用經驗甚至社群意識。當前的工作顯示在經濟實用功能與社會意涵兩個層次之外，也應由社群觀點理解始用陶器的動機，這樣的切入點除了為安地斯區域內的比較研究提供新資料，也為整體陶器肇始的探究提供新的脈絡。
Abstract: "Why did people begin to use pottery vessels" is one of the most compelling questions to archaeologists. Located in the Virú Valley on the north coast of Peru, Huaca Negra presents an excellent case study as the site witnessed the transition from the Late Preceramic Period to the Initial Period occupation. From economic/utilitarian and sociocultural perspectives, the interpretation and driving force for the emergence of pottery use can be addressed. Two analytical methods are applied. Attribute analysis illustrates a clear utilitarian function of this assemblage and the spatiotemporal distribution of different types of decoration. Petrographic analysis traces the provenance of raw materials and depicts the technological aspects of the studied materials. The results of analyses indicate that potters in Huaca Negra did not pursue consistent or standardized ceramic products. Nonetheless, they did possess a shared idea and shared experience of pottery making and use, which contributed to the establishment of a sense of community. Current work suggests that, in addition to the economic/utilitarian and sociocultural aspects, the emergence of pottery use can also be interpreted from a community perspective. This new theoretical framework lays the foundation for future comparative studies in the Andes and for addressing the emergence of pottery use from a broader scope.
Gregory Delaplace. 2022. “A Concern for the Invisible: Dwelling with Sensitive Horses and Vanishing Graves in Mongolia”. Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics 17(1): 133-155.
Abstract: Dwelling well, for the Dörvöd herders with whom I have interacted over the years, involves getting a few things right about the invisible. On the one hand, they need to navigate spaces that are teeming with ‘things’ that not everybody can see plainly, and which are best left undisturbed. On the other hand, behaving properly towards spiritual ‘land masters’ that constitute the places through which herders circulate involves them conforming to a certain regime of marking, i.e. a geography that implicitly values discretion and disappearance. Considering two apparatuses with which the invisible is either taken care of or produced – saddled horses and gravesites –, this paper explores a concern, and a talent, that people in Mongolia exhibit for things that exist by virtue of (dis)appearing.
Wesam Hassan. 2023. “Introduction – Uncertainty and Survivance: What Remains After The Crisis?” Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford 14: 31-46.
Jasodhara Borthakur. 2023. “’Voices in the Shadows’: Indigenous Narratives from Karbi Anglong, Assam on Land, Autonomy and Development”. Journal of the Indian Anthropological Society 58(3): 257-282.
Abstract: Over the years, tribal identity and vicissitudes of tribal development in India have been widely contested among academicians and in the Indian legislature. However, institutional narratives on these issues are laden with prejudice and remain incongruous to indigenous aspirations for recognition, development, and autonomy resulting in continued marginalisation suffered by indigenous or Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities well into the post-colonial era. Experience of marginalisation has influenced emerging identity discourses from within the communities as manifested in claims to indigeneity, 'distinct' cultural identity, and demands for political autonomy over distinct physical territory. These complexities and their dynamics remain largely incomprehensible in the imagination of modern Indian nation-state as well as to Western literature. The narratives documented in this study aim to supplement literature on indigenous Karbi livelihoods collected through a humanistic empirical inquiry involving qualitative approaches to data collection as opposed to logical positivist, determinist or quantitative approaches.
Catalina Antognini. 2023. “PUERTO PIRÁMIDES, LA CONSTRUCCIÓN DE UN TIEMPO Y UN ESPACIO SOCIAL A TRAVÉS DE DISPOSITIVOS ARTÍSTICO-CULTURALES EN EL MARCO ESCOLAR”. Kula. Antropología y Ciencias Sociales 27.
Resumen: En este trabajo analizaremos el tiempo y el espacio social a partir de dispositivos artísticos-culturales producto de dos proyectos escolares de la única escuela con la que cuenta el pueblo de Puerto Pirámides, provincia de Chubut. Uno de la escuela primaria y otro de la escuela secundaria. En el primero, a raíz del rescate de una ballena estancada en la costa del pueblo en el año 2002, los chicos desarrollan un cuento que luego ilustran y editan audiovisualmente. El segundo involucra también una acción comunitaria: ponerles nombre a las calles del pueblo. De la mano de dos documentales, uno casero y otro profesional, conoceremos todo este proceso.
En este trabajo pretendemos mostrar de qué manera la escuela incorpora conocimientos locales en torno a la construcción del tiempo y el espacio en Puerto Pirámides, población enmarcada en un territorio que vive del ecoturismo que genera su ecosistema, pero supo tener una historia de extractivismo y explotación ambiental a principios del siglo XX. En este sentido nuestro objetivo es analizar el tiempo y espacio social a partir de dispositivos artísticos cultuales que emergen de proyectos escolares en la escuela primaria N°87 y la escuela secundaria N°7710.
Este análisis representa una mirada preliminar de una investigación en desarrollo que espera ser completada con un análisis más amplio en futuras instancias.
Abstract: In this work, we will analyze social time and space through artistic-cultural devices derived from two school projects in the only school in the town of Puerto Pirámides, Chubut province. One project comes from the primary school, and the other from the secondary school. In the first project, inspired by the rescue of a stranded whale on the town’s coast in 2002, the children develop a story which they later illustrate and produce into an audiovisual format. The second project also involves a community action: naming the streets of the town. Through two documentaries, one homemade and another professional, we will explore this entire process.
The purpose of this work is to demonstrate how the school incorporates local knowledge in relation to the construction of time and space in Puerto Pirámides, a population located in a territory that relies on the ecotourism generated by its ecosystem, but which had a history of extractivism and environmental exploitation in the early 20th century. In this sense, our objective is to analyze social time and space through artistic-cultural devices that emerge from the school projects at Primary School No. 87 and Secondary School No. 7710.
This analysis represents a preliminary look into an ongoing research project that aims to be completed with a broader analysis in future stages.
Małgorzata Rajtar. 2023. “ANTYCYPUJĄC PRZYSZŁOŚĆ – DIAGNOZA A DOŚWIADCZENIE W CHOROBACH RZADKICH W POLSCE (Anticipating the future: diagnosis and experiences of rare diseases in Poland)”. Lud. Polskie Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze 107: 10-41.
Streszczenie: Rozwój biotechnologii i badania przesiewowe noworodków umożliwiają wcześniejsze wykrycie i zdiagnozowanie choroby zanim pojawią się jej pierwsze objawy. Pozwalają tym samym na wprowadzenie leczenia niektórych chorób rzadkich na bardzo wczesnym etapie życia. Niemniej, w przypadku chorób rzadkich nawet prawidłowo i wcześnie postawiona diagnoza wyznacza niejednoznaczny horyzont czasowy i naraża na niepewną przyszłość.
W niniejszym artykule analizuję wyniki badań etnograficznych prowadzonych wśród osób z wrodzonymi wadami metabolizmu, ich rodzicami i lekarzami w Polsce. Proponuję spojrzenie na technologię, jaką są badania przesiewowe przez pryzmat koncepcji „antycypacji” w jej wymiarze makrospołecznym i doświadczeniowym (Adams i in. 2009; Jae 2018; Stephan i Flaherty 2019). Wychodząc od tej koncepcji, w artykule przyglądam się zarówno perspektywie lekarzy, jak i doświadczeniom rodzin dzieci w wrodzonymi wadami metabolizmu, dla których „moment diagnostyczny” (Jutel 2016) naraża na przesiąkniętą antycypacją przyszłość. Argumentuję, że badania przesiewowe noworodków otwierają na niepewną terapeutycznie przyszłość, która wymyka się wiedzy i doświadczeniu eksperckiemu. Przyszłość ta wiąże się nieodłącznie ze zmianami patologicznymi w ciele, takimi jak retinopatia, która przynależy do obrazu choroby w jednej z wrodzonych wad metabolizmu. Przewlekłe skutki uboczne choroby sprawiają, że niektórzy rodzice aktywnie poszukują możliwości oddziaływania na niepewną przyszłość dzieci.
Abstract: Developments in biotechnology and newborn screening allow for earlier detection and quicker diagnosis of diseases, even before symptoms are first displayed. This allows doctors to begin treatment of rare diseases in the early stages of life. Nevertheless, even with early diagnosis, the future for these patients is uncertain. In this article, I analyze the results of ethnographic research that was conducted among people with inborn errors of metabolism, their parents, and doctors in Poland. I examine newborn screening technology using the category of “anticipation” in its macro-social and experiential meanings (Adams et al. 2009; Jae 2018; Stephan and Flaherty 2019). Drawing from this concept, I attend to both the perspectives of doctors and what parents of children with inborn errors of metabolism experience. For these parents, the “diagnostic moment” (Jutel 2016) reveals a future that is characterized by anticipation. I argue that newborn screening engenders a therapeutically uncertain future for the patient, whose condition escapes both medical knowledge and expertise. In one of the inborn errors of metabolism discussed in this article, this future entails pathological bodily changes, such as retinopathy. Facing the chronic symptoms that this disease will have on their children, some parents actively seek ways to approach their child’s unknown future.
Alejandra Letona. 2023. “Entre espirales de pensamiento de tiempos efervescentes: la antropología de las antropologías del sur desde la mirada de Esteban Krotz”. Plural. Antropologías desde América Latina y del Caribe 6(11): 12-27.
Resumen: Alejandra Letona nos ofrece una serie de datos sobre la trayectoria biográfica y académica de Krotz que son muy relevantes para entender sus intereses y particulares contribuciones. Letona evidencia las influencias e improntas que han marcado las preocupaciones e intereses de Krotz. Además, Letona examina los aportes de Krotz relacionados con la conceptualización de antropologías del Sur y su propuesta metodológica de una antropología de las antropologías. Todo esto en el marco de una apuesta política una antropología contextualizada y propia del Sur, que respondiera a las realidades y problemáticas específicas de la región.
Natalia Boffa. 2023. “REDD+ en Argentina: captura de carbono y Pueblos indígenas en el chaco salteño (2015-2022)”. PUBLICAR-En Antropología y Ciencias Sociales 35: 122-141.
Resumen: Los movimientos sociales que alertan sobre la crisis climática progresivamente han logrado encender algunas alarmas en distintos ámbitos de las políticas públicas y la producción económica global; sin embargo, nos preguntamos si realmente son las voces de los pueblos movilizados las que están dando forma a las estrategias de mitigación de los efectos del cambio climático. Asimismo, nos interesa reflexionar acerca de la consulta y participación de los pueblos en su implementación. En América Latina, una de estas estrategias consiste en la preservación de las zonas boscosas, que son valoradas como “capturadoras” del carbono emitido por otras zonas del planeta. En este marco, en Argentina, desde 2015, se implementó el Proyecto Bosques Nativos y Comunidad (PBNyC), que fue la etapa de ensayo para aplicar luego las políticas globales de REDD+ (Reducción de Emisiones Derivadas de la Deforestación y la Degradación de los Bosques) promovidas por la FAO (Food and Agriculture Organitation, ONU) en los países “en vías de desarrollo”. Estos proyectos han llegado a algunos territorios seleccionados del país a través de instituciones del Estado y ONG's, que dieron participación a las comunidades locales. En el presente trabajo nos proponemos analizar su avance en el Chaco-salteño y la forma, no siempre armoniosa, en que han logrado vincularse con las luchas indígenas locales. La investigación intenta pensar estos procesos en sentido crítico, en donde la idea de “desarrollo” resultaría restrictiva para ciertos modos de vida. El estudio se desarrolló en base a trabajos etnográficos de varios años en la región y al análisis de documentos oficiales, de forma dialógica y reflexiva.
Abstract: The social movements that are warning about the climate crisis have gradually managed to set off some alarm bells in different spheres of civil society and in certain public policy proposals. In relation to this last aspect, I have asked myself what forms of participation mobilised peoples are achieving in public policies to mitigate the effects of climate change and what tensions arise with respect to the limitations of the development model itself. In 2022, in Argentina, as part of these policies, the REDD+ programme (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, conservation and sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks) was approved, which is part of the climate change mitigation policies promoted by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization, UN) in “developing” countries. Its direct antecedent was the Native Forests and Community Project (PBNyC), developed between 2015 and 2021. In this paper, I set out to analyse its construction from the global, national and regional political spheres, focusing on its implementation in the northern area of the Bermejo River (Departments of San Martín and Rivadavia, Salta). During the research, an attempt was made to reflect on how the adjectives “development” such as sustainable, green or ecological conceal the persistence of the reproduction of a vertical model, designed for its own perpetuity and not so much for, or even in tension with, the demands of the peoples affected by these projects in each territory. The study was developed on the basis of several years of ethnographic work in the region and the analysis of official documents, in a dialogical and reflexive manner.
Resumo: Os movimentos sociais que alertam sobre a crise climática conseguiram, pouco a pouco, fazer soar alguns alarmes em diferentes esferas da sociedade civil e em certas propostas de políticas públicas. Em relação a esse último aspecto, perguntei-me que formas de participação os povos mobilizados estão alcançando nas políticas públicas para mitigar os efeitos das mudanças climáticas e que tensões surgem em relação às limitações do próprio modelo de desenvolvimento. Em 2022, na Argentina, como parte dessas políticas, foi aprovado o programa REDD+ (Redução de Emissões por Desmatamento e Degradação Florestal, conservação e manejo sustentável das florestas e aumento dos estoques de carbono florestal), que faz parte das políticas de mitigação das mudanças climáticas promovidas pela FAO (Organização das Nações Unidas para Alimentação e Agricultura) nos países “em desenvolvimento”. Seu antecedente direto foi o Projeto Florestas Nativas e Comunidade (PBNyC), desenvolvido entre 2015 e 2021. Neste artigo, pretendo analisar sua construção a partir das esferas políticas global, nacional e regional, concentrando-me em sua implementação na área norte do Rio Bermejo (Departamentos de San Martín e Rivadavia, Salta). Durante a pesquisa, procurou se refletir sobre como os adjetivos “desenvolvimento”, como sustentável, verde ou ecológico, ocultam a persistência da reprodução de um modelo vertical, projetado para sua própria perpetuidade e não tanto para, ou mesmo em tensão com as demandas dos povos afetados por esses projetos em cada território. O estudo foi desenvolvido com base em vários anos de trabalho etnográfico na região e na análise de documentos oficiais, de forma dialógica e reflexiva.
Martín Ariel Acuña Lugo and Silvana Laura Espinosa. 2023. “LOS TEHUELCHES EN LA SEGUNDA MITAD DEL SIGLO XIX (1859-1884): UN ACERCAMIENTO INTEGRADOR A LA COMPRENSIÓN DE LA OCUPACIÓN DE UN ESPACIO FRONTERIZO”. Relaciones 48(2): 300-320.
Resumen: El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar una caracterización de los grupos tehuelches durante el período de contacto que siguió a la ocupación declamada por el estado argentino de la Patagonia Austral. Se busca establecer un panorama del momento previo a la introducción de la ganadería ovina en la región (1859-1884). Se toman en cuenta aportes de la historia y de la arqueología, tanto en antecedentes como sobre los alcances de cada disciplina. Se da cuenta de una ocupación flexible del espacio por parte de los cazadores ecuestres, registrándose dos áreas principales de ocupación (estrecho de Magallanes y río Shehuen o Chalía), conformadas por diferentes campamentos, paradores y sendas, conectados en el interior de cada una y en escala regional. Finalmente, se pone en contexto el espacio fronterizo y el lugar que ocuparon los grupos tehuelches en el juego internacional en las últimas décadas del siglo XIX.
Abstract: The objective of this work is to present a characterization of the tehuelche groups during the contact period that followed the occupation declared by the Argentine state of Southern Patagonia. It seeks to establish an overview of the moment prior to the introduction of sheep farming in the region (1859-1884). Contributions from history and archeology are considered, both in background and in the scope of each discipline. A flexible occupation of space by equestrian hunters is reported, registering two main areas of occupation (strait of Magellan and Shehuen or Chalía river). These areas were made up of different camps, inns and trails, connected to the interior of each area and on a regional scale. Finally, the border space and the place occupied by the tehuelche groups in the international game in the last decades of the 19th century are put into context.
Maria Eva Routier. 2023. “Apuntes sobre Antropología y Marxismo. supuestos y nociones en torno al desarrollo histórico en algunas producciones de Marx y Engels”. Revista de la Escuela de Antropología 32.
Resumen: En el presente trabajo nos proponemos indagar en los supuestos y concepciones sobre el desarrollo histórico que sustentan algunas de las producciones de Marx y Engels; resaltando el lugar que ocupan en estos trabajos, sus observaciones y análisis sobre distintos procesos y dimensiones que configuran las sociedades del llamado “Tercer mundo”. Para ello nos valdremos de la lectura contextual y el examen pormenorizado de distintos autores marxistas, empeñados en reconstruir las transformaciones, virajes y contradicciones del esquema categorial propio del contexto nacional y periférico en la obra marxiana. Buscamos apuntar algunas coordenadas sobre los vaivenes del etnocentrismo y modernismo de Marx y Engels, y las implicancias que ello ha tenido en el nivel antropológico que asumen sus producciones, en especial respecto de la concepción de desarrollo social multilineal.
Abstract: In this paper we propose to investigate the assumptions and conceptions on historical development that underpin some of the productions of Marx and Engels; highlighting the place occupied in these works by their observations and analysis of different processes and dimensions that shape the societies of the so-called "Third World". To this endwe will make use of the contextual reading and the detailed examination of different Marxist authors, determined to reconstruct the transformations, turns and contradictions of the conceptual scheme proper to the national and peripheral context in marxian works. We seek to point out some coordinates on the ups and downs of Marx and Engels' ethnocentrism and modernism, and the implications that this has had on the anthropological level assumed by their productions, especially with respect to the conception of multilinear social development.
Resumo: Neste artigo propomos investigar os pressupostos e concepções de desenvolvimento histórico que sustentam algumas das produções de Marx e Engels, destacando o lugar ocupado nestas obras pelas suas observações e análises dos diferentes processos e dimensões que moldam as sociedades do chamado "Terceiro Mundo". Para o efeito, faremos uso da leitura contextual e do exame detalhado de diferentes autores marxistas, numa tentativa de reconstruir as transformações, voltas e contradições do esquema categórico próprio do contexto nacional e periférico na obra de Marx. Procuramos apontar algumas coordenadas sobre os altos e baixos do etnocentrismo e modernismo de Marx e Engels, e as implicações que isto teve a nível antropológico assumido pelas suas produções, especialmente no que diz respeito à concepção de desenvolvimento social multi-linear.
Macarena Del Pilar Manzanelli. 2023. “’Somos todos una gran familia’: comunidades político-emocionales y denuncias públicas por el territorio. Análisis de casos de pueblos diaguitas en el Noroeste argentino (‘We are all one big family’: political-emotional communities and public denunciations for the territory. Analysis of cases of Diaguita peoples in the Argentine Northwest)”. RUNA, archivo para las ciencias del hombre 44(2): 137-155.
Resumen: El trabajo indaga en el entramado de lo público y lo íntimo-privado al analizar roles y vínculos familiares-comunitarios de dos pueblos diaguitas (noroeste argentino) y sus acciones públicas de denuncia en instancias judiciales en el marco de un asesinato (2018-2019), falta de sentencia firme del Poder Judicial (2019) e intento de desalojo (2020-2021). Producto de una investigación etnográfica con análisis de publicaciones en redes sociales, se identifica que lo público es una arena ambigua con solapamientos entre lazos íntimo-familiares y comunitarios. Cada pueblo, mediante la conformación de comunidades político-emocionales, resignificó la muerte de uno de sus miembros como la muerte política de un/a familiar/autoridad comunitaria, y a un intento de desalojo como el accionar sistemático inserto en entramados históricos de subalternización indígena. Dichas comunidades político-emocionales están territorializadas espacial-temporalmente por memorias de resistencia, cuya potencialidad política fue mostrar y cuestionar a otra familia: el poder político-judicial-terrateniente que incumple sus derechos.
Abstract: The work investigates the framework of the public and the intimate-private by analyzing roles and family-community ties of two Diaguita towns (northwestern Argentina) and their public actions to denounce in judicial instances in the framework of a murder (2018-2019); lack of final judgment by the Judiciary (2019); and an eviction attempt (2020-2021). Product of an ethnographic investigation with analysis of publications in social networks, it is identified that the public is an ambiguous arena with overlaps between intimate-family and community ties. Each town, through the formation of political-affective communities, resignified a mere death as the political death of a family member/community authority; and to an eviction as a systematic action inserted in historical frameworks of indigenous subalternization. These communities are spatially-temporally territorialized by a memory of resistance. Its political potential was to show and question the other family: the political-judicial-landlord power that violates and violates their rights.
Resumo: O trabalho investiga o marco do público e do íntimo-privado a partir da análise dos papéis e vínculos família-comunidade de dois povoados de Diaguita (noroeste da Argentina) e suas ações públicas de denúncia em instâncias judiciais no marco de um homicídio (2018-2019). ; falta de julgamento final pelo Judiciário (2019); e uma tentativa de despejo (2020-2021). Produto de uma investigação etnográfica com análise de publicações em redes sociais, identifica-se que o público é uma arena ambígua com sobreposições entre vínculos íntimo-familiares e comunitários. Cada município, por meio da formação de comunidades político-afetivas, ressignificou a mera morte como morte política de um familiar/autoridade comunitária; e a um despejo como ação sistemática inserida em quadros históricos de subalternização indígena. Essas comunidades são territorializadas espaço-temporalmente por uma memória de resistência. Seu potencial político era mostrar e questionar a outra família: o poder político-judicial-latifundiário que viola e viola seus direitos.
Esteban Salmón. 2023. “Inside Mexico City’s Surveillance State”. Sapiens.
Abstract: This essay explores the complex, often flawed, dynamics of Mexico City's expansive video surveillance system and its impact on criminal investigations. The city’s surveillance network, the largest in the Americas, monitors thousands of cameras and panic buttons citywide, aiming to curb crime. However, this article reveals that the system's reliance on video evidence introduces serious challenges, including technological glitches, cognitive biases, and legal ambiguities. For instance, the misidentification of an Uber driver as a car thief demonstrates how technical errors can lead to wrongful arrests. This essay also underscores how the surveillance system disproportionately targets public crimes, neglecting private and complex crimes. Furthermore, the technology sometimes exposes police misconduct, as video evidence occasionally contradicts officers' accounts, leading to the release of suspects. While surveillance expansion is popular among residents concerned about safety, this research highlights the ethical and practical dilemmas it raises, suggesting that the surveillance state's rapid growth may not effectively address Mexico City's broader crime issues.
Ward Keeler. 2023. “Comparative Queer Southeast Asian Studies”. Southeast Asian Studies 12(3): 529-554.
Abstract: Outsiders have long remarked on a relative tolerance of nonnormative gender and sexuality in lowland Southeast Asian societies. Appreciating the way hierarchical assumptions inflect all social relations in the region helps make sense both of Southeast Asia’s long-standing gender binarism and of the ability of people of nonnormative gender and sexuality to find, at least at times, specialized roles for themselves. Those roles are based on enjoying not equal rights with their fellow citizens but rather distinctive obligations and privileges. Outside observers must be willing to suspend their egalitarian commitments long enough to recognize the significance of hierarchical assumptions for queer as well as other Southeast Asians if they are to understand common patterns in the behavior of, and responses to, the nonnormatively gendered in the region. Reports from several Southeast Asian societies are adduced to support this claim, complementing the author’s own research in Burma and Indonesia.
Ville Laakkonen. 2023. “Ágnostoi: Greece and the forensic bordering of Fortress Europe”. Suomen Antropologi: Journal of Finnish Anthropological Society 47(2): 7-28.
Abstract: This article explores migrant disappearances and border deaths at the Greek borderlands through the notion of forensic bordering. Based on fieldwork in the Evros region, Athens and its surroundings, and on the island of Lesvos, I argue that disappearance and non-identification in the event of death are effectively border violence by other means. Three forms of symbolic and political post-mortem border violence are then explicated: the act of disappearance, the act of non-identification, and the act of denying proper mourning. Crucially, this article unpacks the underlining logic that, if migrants from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East are not supposed to cross the border in the first place, their existence and, ultimately, their equal humanity can be similarly denied in death. If the forensic sciences are generally perceived positively as means to provide answers, closure, accountability, and truth, forensic bordering seeks to do the exact opposite, rejecting accountability and employing silence as a deterrence.
鄭瑋寧(Weining Cheng). 2023. “感性之存有、情感的「此性」與世界構作：以新自由主義秩序下的魯凱人為例 (The Being of the Sensible, Haecceity of Affects, and Worlding among the Rukai of Taiwan)”. 臺灣人類學刊(Taiwan Journal of Anthropology) 21(1): 29-76.
摘要： 本文關注魯凱聚落中，不同世代居民對週遭環境或世界中超乎常理的現象產生了分歧的解釋，透過對生活空間中靈之意象的感知、魯凱人對靈的觀念摻雜漢人對魂的觀念來表達非主體的情感，以及在道教喪葬儀式中出現部分附身的突發事件等場景，指出他們對於人與世界的分歧認識，蘊含其思維方式出現了存有論的混雜。除了社會、經濟、歷史力量的作用，本文探究人類學是否可能從更根本的層次，分析並掌握當代地方社會的居民對於人與世界的認識樣態所呈現的存有論混雜？首先，筆者援引 Descola對存有論體制的討論，釐清與說明魯凱人在思考上的分歧混雜了不同邏輯，但當事人卻不認為有所矛盾。其次，從人們對空間的感受與認識，以及魂與靈做為表達情感的意象為出發點，筆者延續Deleuze與Guattari的論點，將發生（occurrences）區分為主體與（即使是混雜的）文化形式所在的實際性平面，以及情感的力與「此性」（haecceity）所在的虛擬性平面。藉此分析這兩個平面如何透過連接、分離或統合方式而運作，筆者指出蘊含不同時間性的兩個平面彼此組裝而運作，創造複數的多重性，組裝新實在，並且蘊生世界構作。
Abstract: This article is concerned with the divergent explications, offered by the Rukai of different generations, of the paranormal phenomena in their daily lives. Drawing on the ethnography of their sense of the spiritual, their hybrid and conflated view of Rukai and Taiwanese notions of spirits and souls, and the unexpected occurrence of semi-possession during a Daoist funeral, I show how these ontological mixtures come into existence with respect to Rukai people’s diverse ways of knowledge-making in their encounters with people, spiritual beings, and the world. Apart from the working of the related socio-economic forces, I aim to explore the following question: How might an anthropologist effectively analyze and then capture how these ontological mixtures are taking place and working in Rukai villagers’ different ways of encountering people and the world? Rather than following in the footsteps of the studies which explain supernatural phenomena in line with the rational perspective prevalent in naturalist philosophy, I suggest taking the milieu as an assemblage of different terrains and planes to sort out what is going on in the inbetweenness of the milieu.
Firstly, in terms of the clash between the divergent views on spirits, Rukai villagers with different educational backgrounds offer two contrasting interpretations, one of a world filled with spirits, and the other transparent to a scientific and rational account. To the former, the regional space they live in is experienced as an affective space where spirits and the souls of the dead wander along, interacting with and affecting the living in various ways. To the latter, the space they live in appears sort of ambivalent, in that most of the time it seems as physical and rational as any other place, yet the analogical logic such as five elements and their efficacy upon the landscape is regularly applied with no apparent contradiction. In face of this, I employ Descola’s thesis on ontological regimes to clarify the characteristics involved in the hybridity of local ways of thinking, and to explain why the working principle in the analogist regime allows no contradiction to be felt or sensed on the part of the rationalist. Based upon this, I follow Deleuze and Guattari in distinguishing the plane of subjects endowed with cultural forms from that of the haecceity with affects so that it is possible to map a cartography of this affective space out of the assemblage of these two planes.
Secondly, with the occurrence of an unexpected death along with unconventional mortuary arrangements in a non-Christian family, the image of spirits and souls becomes the object for mourning on the part of the family and relatives, in spite of religious belief and epistemic stances. The dream image of the spirits or souls for some living people demonstrates the affective relationality with the dead, while for others the dream image reveals the inevitability of mortality beyond the dreamer’s will-power shown in the dream image.
Thirdly, and even more significantly, during the Daoist mortuary rites the intrusive episode of semi-possession of the bereaved by a Rukai ancestral spirit, on the one hand greatly disturbs the assumed temporality, or Chronos, with the goal to heal and raise the dead to the pure land promised in the logic of ritual performance; on the other hand, such an episode introduces a different temporality, or Aeon, which resists the unending passing of the present Chronos, and in which the haecceity of affects, temporarily actualized in the stylized acts of walking and sobbing by the possessed, instantly and violently interrupts the rites in order to make affects and their appearance in the emotions seen and felt among the participants.
By way of ramifying the levels of the performances in the rite into the plane of subjects and that of haecceity, I discuss how these two planes are related either by disjunction or conjunction, and thereby come to make multiplicities in a milieu brimming with differential temporalities. Furthermore, these performances bring forth the assemblage of a new reality, making them conducive to worlding in a contingent, non-totalizing manner.
Wilson Trajano Filho. 2023. ”Le Poids de la tradition et la fragilité des valeurs modernes: analyse d'un roman de Germano Almeida (The weight of tradition and the fragility of modern values: analysis of a novel by Germano Almeida)”. Vibrant: Virtual Brazilian Anthropology 20.
Résumé: Cet ouvrage prend un texte littéraire de l'écrivain cap-verdien Germano Almeida comme les anthropologues prennent les faits de la culture. J'examine la complexe intrigue développée dans le roman Os Dois Irmãos, centrée sur un cas de fratricide survenu sur l'île de Santiago, pour comprendre comment la tradition est localement vécue. En analysant les actions tragiques des personnages principaux de ce roman, je cherche à révéler certaines des tensions puissantes qui imprègnent les pratiques des paysans cap-verdiens ainsi que les valeurs primordiales qu’ils éprouvent comme une sorte de destin œdipien.
Abstract: This work takes a literary text from Cape Verdean writer Germano Almeida as anthropologists analyze cultural facts. I examine the complex plot developed in the novel Os Dois Irmãos, centered around a case of fratricide occurred on the island of Santiago, seeking to understand how the idea of tradition is locally experienced. Analyzing the tragic actions of the main characters of this novel, I seek to unveil some of the powerful tensions that permeate the practices of the Cape Verdean peasants as well as the primordial values that they experience as a kind of Oedipal fate.
Resumo: Esse trabalho toma um romance do escritor caboverdiano Germano Almeida como os antropólogos analisam os fatos culturais. Examino a trama do romance Os Dois Irmãos, centrada num caso de fratricídio ocorrido na ilha de Santiago, buscando compreender como a ideia de tradição é localmente vivida. Ao analisar as ações trágicas dos principais personagens do romance, eu procuro desvelar algumas das poderosas tensões que permeiam as práticas dos camponeses caboverdianos e os valores primordiais que eles vivenciam como uma espécie de destino edipiano.