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Anthropological Literature (anthropological + literature)
Selected AbstractsThe Will to Modernize: A Genealogy of Biomedical Research Ethics in Singapore,INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2010David Reubi This article is a contribution to the sociological and anthropological literature on the recent globalization of Western biomedical research ethics and bioethics. Focusing on Singapore, the article identifies and traces the genealogy of the concepts, expertise, and techniques that made it possible to introduce and develop a bioethical assemblage in the Southeast Asian city-state at the turn of the twenty-first century. It argues that what made such a development possible was a particular style of reasoning, the "will to modernize," which has characterized the thinking and acting of the Singaporean leadership ever since the country's independence. After describing the elements that make up the will to modernize, most notably the concept of modernization-as-economic-development and the notion of infrastructure, the article shows how these elements have allowed for Singapore's efforts to transform the island into a global hub for the life sciences from the mid-1980s onward. The article also shows how the development of a bioethical assemblage in the Republic was made possible by the fact that, for the governing elite, such an assemblage was conceived as a "(soft) infrastructure" that was necessary to transform Singapore into a global hub for biomedical research. [source] From Foraging To Farming: Explaining The Neolithic RevolutionJOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 4 2005Jacob L. Weisdorf Abstract., This article reviews the main theories about the prehistoric shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture. The transition, also known as the Neolithic Revolution, was ultimately necessary to the rise of modern civilization by creating the foundation for the later process of industrialization and sustained economic growth. The article provides a brief historical survey of the leading hypotheses concerning the rise of agriculture proposed in the archaeological and anthropological literature. It then turns to a more detailed review of the theories put forth in the economic literature. [source] Remembering Exhibitions on Race in the 20th-century United StatesAMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 4 2009SAMUEL REDMAN ABSTRACT This museum review places the American Anthropological Association's recent exhibition entitled "Race: Are We So Different?" into historical context by comparing it to other major exhibitions on race in the 20th century. I argue that although exhibitions on race in the 19th-century United States are frequently examined in the historical and anthropological literature, later exhibitions from the 20th century are frequently forgotten. In particular, I compare the AAA's recent exhibition to displays originally crafted for the 1915 and 1933 World's Fairs. [source] Broken ribs: Paleopathological analysis of costal fractures in the human identified skeletal collection from the Museu Bocage, Lisbon, Portugal (late 19th to middle 20th centuries)AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Vítor Matos Abstract Although rarely reported in the anthropological literature, rib fractures are commonly found during the analysis of human skeletal remains of past and modern populations. This lack of published data precludes comparison between studies and restricts an accurate understanding either of the mechanisms involved in thoracic injuries or their impact on past societies. The present study aimed: 1) to report rib fracture prevalence in 197 individuals, 109 males, and 88 females, with ages at death ranging from 13 to 88 years old, from the Human Identified Skeletal Collection, Museu Bocage, Portugal (late 19th-middle 20th centuries); 2) to test the hypothesis that a higher prevalence of rib stress fractures existed in the 133 individuals who died from respiratory diseases, in a period before antibiotics. The macroscopic analysis revealed 23.9% (n = 47) of individuals with broken ribs. 2.6% (n = 124) out of 4,726 ribs observed were affected. Males presented more rib fractures, and a significantly higher prevalence was noted for older individuals. Fractures were more frequently unilateral (n = 34), left sided (n = 19) and mainly located on the shaft of ribs from the middle thoracic wall. Nineteen individuals presented adjacent fractured ribs. Individuals who died from pulmonary diseases were not preferentially affected. However, a higher mean rate of fractures was found in those who died from pneumonia, a scenario still common nowadays. Since rib involvement in chest wall injury and its related outcomes are important issues both for paleopathology and forensic anthropology, further investigations are warranted. Am J Phys Anthropol 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Intensity, repetitiveness, and directionality of habitual adolescent mobility patterns influence the tibial diaphysis morphology of athletesAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Colin N. Shaw Abstract Mobility patterns affect the loads placed on the lower limbs during locomotion and may influence variation in lower limb diaphyseal robusticity and shape. This relationship commonly forms the basis for inferring mobility patterns from hominin fossil and skeletal remains. This study assesses the correspondence between athletic histories, varying by loading intensity, repetition and directionality, measured using a recall questionnaire, and peripheral quantitative computed tomography-derived measurements of tibial diaphysis rigidity and shape. Participants included male university varsity cross-country runners (n = 15), field hockey players (n = 15), and controls (n = 20) [mean age: 22.1 (SD +/, 2.6) years]. Measurements of tibial rigidity (including J, %CA, Imax, Imin, and average cortical thickness) of both runners and field hockey players were greater than controls (P , 0.05). Differences in tibial shape (Imax/Imin, P , 0.05) between runners and hockey players reflect pronounced maximum plane (Imax) rigidity in runners, and more symmetrical hypertrophy (Imax, Imin) among hockey players. This corresponds with the generally unidirectional locomotor patterns of runners, and the multidirectional patterns of hockey players. These results support the relationship between mobility and tibial diaphysis morphology as it is generally interpreted in the anthropological literature, with greater levels of mobility associated with increased diaphyseal robusticity and shape variation. Although exercise intensity may be the primary influence on these properties, the repetitiveness of the activity also deserves consideration. In conclusion, bone morphological patterns can reflect habitual behaviors, with adaptation to locomotor activities likely contributing to variation in tibial rigidity and shape properties in archaeological and fossil samples. Am J Phys Anthropol 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Building a house society: the reorganization of Maori communities around meeting housesTHE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 2 2010Jeffrey Sissons In this article I seek to re-conceptualize New Zealand Maori society as a house society and describe the way in which meeting houses participated in the transformation of this society during the period 1880-1950. After noting some central confusions in the anthropological literature on Maori descent groups, I consider the value of Lévi-Strauss's notion of the ,house' for understanding Maori social organization. Then, drawing upon the results of my fieldwork in one Maori community and published surveys of meeting house construction more generally, I describe a process through which Maori society became progressively more house-based. I conclude by noting that the centrality of the house as an ideological form in Maori society assumes an association between hosting and social worth, an association that may well be fundamental to house societies in general. Résumé L'auteur cherche ici à reconceptualiser la société maorie de Nouvelle-Zélande comme une sociétéà maisons et à décrire la manière dont les maisons de réunion ont participéà la transformation de cette société dans la période comprise entre 1880 et 1950. Après avoir relevé quelques confusions importantes sur les groupes de descendance maoris dans la littérature anthropologique, il examine la valeur de la notion de « maison » selon Lévi-Strauss pour la compréhension de l'organisation sociale des Maoris. Il décrit ensuite, à partir des résultats d'un travail de terrain dans une communauté maorie et d'études publiées sur la construction de maisons de réunion en général, un processus au fil duquel la société maorie s'est progressivement attachée davantage à ces maisons. Pour finir, il note que le rôle central de la maison comme forme idéologique dans la société maorie suppose une association entre hébergement et valeur sociale, association qui est peut-être fondamentale dans les sociétés à maisons en général. [source] CHRONICALLY UNSTABLE BODIES: REFLECTIONS ON AMAZONIAN CORPORALITIESTHE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 3 2005Aparecida Vilaça Based on ethnographic material relating to the Wari' (Rondônia, Brazil), this article questions some of the presuppositions concerning native conceptions of the body present in contemporary anthropological literature by exploring a central dimension of Amazonian corporality , one that has been little explored in ethnographic works on the region , its unstable and transformational character. This dimension only becomes evident when our analysis presumes an expanded notion of humanity , first called to our attention by authors such as Lévy-Bruhl and Leenhardt , that includes not only those beings we think of as humans, but also other subjectivities such as animals and spirits. Central to the problem's development is a discussion of the relations between body and soul, humanity and corporality. [source] "Between Mamas": The Anthropology of a Dispute, or,The Perils of Having Sons in the FieldANTHROPOLOGY & HUMANISM, Issue 1 2002Bilinda StraightArticle first published online: 28 JUN 200 This article both narrates and analyzes a conflict that my son and I were the center of in 1994 while I was conducting fieldwork with Samburu pastoralists in Northern Kenya. I draw upon a classic anthropological literature on conflict, most notably Gulliver's notion of "prehistory" to enframe a discussion of the participants' motivations, including my own. In discussing the moot held to settle the conflict and its dramatic consequences, I address the issues of inside/outside status and the role of our interlocutors in constructing our ethnographic personae in a mutually transforming process. [source] The Living and the Lost: War and Possession in VietnamANTHROPOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS, Issue 2 2007Mai Lan Gustafsson The war in Vietnam claimed the lives of five million of its citizens, many of whom died in ways thought to have turned them into malevolent spirits who prey on the living. These angry ghosts are held responsible for a host of physical ailments and other misfortunes suffered by survivors of the war and their descendants. Known in the anthropological literature as possession illness, the cross-cultural treatment for such maladies is typically provided by practitioners like mediums and exorcists, who cure victims by interacting with noncorporeal entities. In Vietnam, such spirit healers were banned after the communist takeover of the North in 1945. This has posed a problem for the large numbers of Vietnamese who suffer from ghost-induced sickness. This paper focuses on three victims of angry ghosts, presenting the common origin, context, and resolution of their suffering. In doing so, it provides an overview of Vietnamese beliefs about death and the after-life, the ideal relationship between the living and the dead, and the connection between state politics and spirit practice. [source] | ||||||||||