http://antropologi.info/bb/ announcements, call for papers, job offerings en Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:55:23 +0000 http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/professorship-in-the-anthropology-of-asia-copenhagen#post-51 Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:24:20 +0000 admin 51@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>The <a href="http://antropologi.ku.dk/english">Department of Anthropology</a>, University of Copenhagen, invites applications for the position as Full or Fixed-term (5 years) Professor in the Anthropology of Asia.</p> <p>We seek a candidate with strong teaching and research experience in Asia and Asian matters, who will contribute with both classical and innovative anthropological perspectives to the development of new courses and research programs within the multi-disciplinary <a href="http://asiandynamics.ku.dk/english">“Asian Dynamics Initiative” (ADI)</a>, and play an active role in fostering visionary and effective research collaboration with relevant partners throughout the world. The areas that the ADI is particularly interested in developing are:</p> <p>- Knowledge in transit;<br /> - Security at global and local levels;<br /> - Borders, territorialisation and regionalization;<br /> - Belonging, citizenship and identities;<br /> - Local responses to global challenges;<br /> - The economics of the Asian challenge; and<br /> - Political institutions and culture. </p> <p><strong>The deadline for applications including material is 06 April, 2010 at 12.00.</strong></p> <p>Read the whole job announcement here: <a href="http://www.antropologi.info/bb/docs/2010/asia-copenhagen.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.antropologi.info/bb/docs/2010/asia-copenhagen.pdf</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/7th-masn-conference-ethics-and-human-rights-in-anthropological-perspective#post-50 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:52:55 +0000 Benni 50@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p><strong>The 7th MASN Conference 'Ethics and Human Rights in Anthropological Perspective' </strong></p> <p>From: March 24th – 28th 2010<br /> In: Krzyżowa,Poland</p> <p>For news about this conference and the call-for-papers please visit the Polish MASN section's website: <a href="http://www.masn-poland.cba.pl">http://www.masn-poland.cba.pl/</a> and the official MASN-website <a href="http://www.movinganthropology.ning.com">movinganthropology.ning.com<br /> </a>.</p> <p>Conference days will be divided in morning (papers presentation) and afternoon (roundtable discussions, workshops) sessions as well as fringe events (excursions, exhibitions, performances, films and other) in the evening. Each of the full conference days will be devoted to one of the subtopics.</p> <p>Subtopics<br /> 1.Anthropology of Development<br /> 2.Fieldwork Dilemmas<br /> 3.Human Rights – Relativity and Universalism of Categories</p> <p>Anthropology of Development:<br /> Development, a term which evolved from western idea of progress is nowadays widely used to describe the improvement of human living conditions. What we would like to discuss is, how the idea of development influences various cultures, and how it is influenced by them, and finally, what is the price we pay for development. We are interested in comparative studies of the idea of development as well as in fieldwork experiences of young researches.</p> <p>Fieldwork Dilemmas:<br /> For this subtopic we invite papers, workshops and roundtables concerning the dilemmas ahtropologists face while researching cultures which axiological systems are totally different from their own and strategies they develop to cope with the disonance. Young anthropologists presenting their papers on their own ethical dilemmas during the fieldwork would be much favoured.</p> <p>Human Rights – Relativity and Universalism of Categories:<br /> Are Human Rights an universal set of principles valid for every human being, despite their creed, colour and culture, as they are meant to? Or are they just another form of western colonialism? Shall the antropologist protect these values or rather accept cultural norms which contradict them, no matter how oppressive they are? Is relativity of qualities all that we are left with in the multitude of cultures or can we speak about uniersality of some of them? On the third day we will try to propose answers to some of those questions.</p> <p>Structure of the Conference:</p> <p>The morning sessions will allow the presentation of 3 papers. Each selected presenter will be given 20 minutes for his/her presentation, which is planned to be followed by a discussion of up to 30 minutes. There will also be room for short breaks between presentations.</p> <p>The afternoon sessions are open for Roundtable discussions (approx. 2 hours long) headed by one or two selected moderators, who may provide further space for picking up on discussions from the morning sessions. Additionally there will be workshops (2-4 hours long) organized by selected participants.</p> <p>Furthermore additional events will give space for exhibitions, performances, the development of radio programs, film and theatre projects, or other ideas.</p> <p>Expected conference fee (paid on arrival):</p> <p>35 Euro for presenters (paper, round table, workshop, fringe event)<br /> 90 Euro for other participants/listeners</p> <p><strong> Call For Papers: </strong></p> <p>We would like to ask interested presenters and convenors to send abstracts of their papers and presentations (between 300 and 400 words) until January 31th 2010 to <a href="mailto:masn.poland@gmail.com">masn.poland@gmail.com</a> on the <a href="http://www.masn-poland.cba.pl/en/krzyzowa-_2010/download.html">application form available for download</a>.</p> <p>An international committee of MASN members will decide on the selection of papers.<br /> Papers should be submitted in one of the subtopics of the conference:</p> <p> 1. Anthropology of Development<br /> 2. Fieldwork Dilemmas<br /> 3. Human Rights – Relativity and Universalism of Categories</p> <p>In the application form you need to indicate whether you intend to present a paper, moderate a roundtable disscussion, organize a workshop, fringe event or combined.</p> <p>You can apply as a listener as well. Please send filled in application form (available for <a href="http://www.masn-poland.cba.pl/en/krzyzowa-_2010/download.html">download</a>) to <a href="mailto:masn.poland@gmail.com">masn.poland@gmail.com</a>.</p> <p>Application deadline for listeners is 1st of March 2010. </p> <p>We count on your creative contributions! </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/call-for-papers-anthropology-20-ethnography-beyond-anthropology#post-49 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:09:16 +0000 admin 49@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p><center><strong>Anthropology 2.0?</p> <p>Ethnography Beyond Anthropology</p> <p>Deadline for submissions: April 1, 2010</p> <p>Altérités, edited by: Phillip Rousseau and Kiven Strohm</strong></center></p> <p>This issue of <a href="http://www.alterites.ca">Altérités</a> aims to address recent efforts to reconfigure the ethnographic in anthropology and across its manifold uses and questionings within other academic fields and among contemporary social and cultural practices. While recent years have been particularly fertile with respect to the revaluation of the place, role and form of the ethnographic, these reflections have tended to focus on developments solely within anthropology. Our goal is to address the problem of the ethnographic beyond this disciplinary framework. Three lines of thought are particularly apt for laying the groundwork for the reinsertion of the ethnographic within a broader context:</p> <p>1. To address the changes that have affected ethnographic work in recent years and how these reconfigurations are part of the anthropological field (i.e., the rise of the importance of collaboration, as well as other more specific conceptualizations such as the para-ethnographic and the "collaboratory", etc.).</p> <p>2. To illustrate and consider the various borrowings and uses by other disciplines and social practices of the ethnographic. While art practice and business marketing seem particularly amenable to such methodological borrowing, political science and even the military equally draw on the ethnographic as a means to an end. It is necessary, therefore, to explore the role and place of the "ethnographic" in non-anthropological contexts.</p> <p>3. To confront recent epistemological reformulations that seem unique to anthropology with reflections from other disciplines and fields. The relationship between researcher and informant is at the heart of any attempt to reconfigure the ethnographic (including the problem of representation of one by the other), hence the importance given to such concepts as collaboration, participation, intervention, intersubjectivity, communication, etc.. If these concepts are at the heart of attempts to overhaul contemporary ethnography within anthropology, they also seem to be a focus that can be found outside of it. In art and advertising, for example, relational art or "collaborative marketing" are also attempts at a convergence between two poles traditionally perceived as being separate and distinct (artist/spectator, transmitter/receiver, etc.). However, the attempt to minimize such distances recalls recent anthropological efforts to bridge the gap between researcher and informant. Are these non-anthropological reconfigurations comparable to recent developments in anthropology and, if so, how? Do such efforts have something to contribute to anthropology or is there need for caution?</p> <p>While the first line of thought seeks to reinvigorate an epistemological debate within anthropology, the final two are intended as an open invitation to non-anthropologists to place similar reflections from diverse fields side by side. The juxtaposition of these three lines of thought will allow us to establish an account of the ethnographic that we hope will be, if not exhaustive, at least expanded. Ideally, this juxtaposition will lead to a better understanding of current disciplinary predicaments by comparing the epistemological and methodological upheavals unique to anthropology in the light of an overflowing contemporaneity.</p> <p>(Click <a href="http://www.alterites.ca/Vol7No2/pdf/72_apl_anth2_en.pdf">HERE</a> to download a PDF version of the call for papers.)</p> <p>Please send an electronic copy of your text and abstracts to comite (AT) alterites.ca and alterites (AT) umontreal.ca.</p> <p>Presentation rules for submitted texts can be consulted at our website: <a href="http://www.alterites.ca/politique-en.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.alterites.ca/politique-en.html</a>.</p> <p>Altérités Altérités accepts texts in both English and French. </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/call-for-papers-is-there-a-nordic-version-of-multiculturalism-turku#post-48 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:42:37 +0000 admin 48@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p><center><strong>Call for Papers</p> <p>Is There a Nordic Version of Multiculturalism?</p> <p>University of Turku<br /> September 30-October 1, 2010</strong></center></p> <p>During the past several decades, the world’s advanced industrial nations have been confronted by the need to find new strategies for incorporating ethnic minorities into the mainstream of their respective societies. The major factor contributing to this situation, shared by all of these nations, is the dramatic increase in levels of immigration, while in some settings the presence of indigenous peoples and ethnonational minorities has also played a role. It is within this context that multiculturalism emerged as a new mode of incorporation, one that in various ways sought to both valorise difference and at the same time foster societal integration. </p> <p>Multiculturalism has proven to be both controversial and misunderstood. At the moment, some go so far as to claim that it has been to large extent abandoned in settings where it once held sway, either as official governmental policy or, more often, as a generalized approach to integration that viewed diversity not as something to be overcome, but as something to be defended. However, one thing is clear at the moment: there is little evidence that the idea of diversity is being repudiated. What makes matters more complicated is the fact that multiculturalism comes in a number of versions, reflecting the distinctive imprint of different societal cultures and political systems. It is with this in mind that this conference is being convened, for its purpose is to raise the question of whether there is a distinctive Nordic version of multiculturalism, perhaps akin to the Nordic version of the welfare state. </p> <p>The conference will include keynote addresses by the scholars who can frame the topic of multiculturalism broadly. They are Peter Kivisto (Univ. of Turku and Augsburg College), Ewa Morawska (Univ. of Essex), Leena Huss (Univ. of Uppsala), Fakhra Salimi (MiRA, Oslo), Pasi Saukkonen (Cupora, Helsinki) and Garbi Schmidt (National Centre for Social Research, Copenhagen), who will contribute to the discussion by focusing attention on international perspectives or the unique cases of the four Nordic nations. </p> <p>Scholars working on research projects that are relevant to the theme are encouraged to submit paper proposals for presentation and discussion at a series of conference workshops. This is a multidisciplinary conference, and thus we encourage proposals from fields such as history, sociology, social policy, education, and cultural studies. Proposals, which should include a paper title, a brief abstract, and contact information, should be sent to Mari Toivanen at the University of Turku, Department of Sociology, 20014 Turku, Finland by March 1, 2010 (email: marito (AT) utu.fi). Completed manuscripts should be sent to Ms. Toivanen by August 10, 2010. The fee will be 70 €, which includes registration costs, two lunches, a conference dinner, and conference materials. Information on accommodation possibilities will be sent to the participants. </p> <p>Mari Toivanen<br /> Dept. of Sociology<br /> Assistentinkatu 7 (3rd floor)<br /> 20014 University of Turku<br /> Finland<br /> tel. +358-2-333 6651<br /> e-mail: marito_at_utu.fi </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/translating-anthropology-bringing-researchers-and-translators-together#post-47 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:57:03 +0000 admin 47@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p><em>(from an <a href="http://openanthcoop.ning.com/forum/topics/project-announcement">announcement at Open Anthropology Cooperative</a>)</em></p> <p>Translating Anthropology" is a new network that aims to bring together researchers and translators. The network can be accessed at</p> <p><a href="http://translatinganthropology.ning.com/" rel="nofollow">http://translatinganthropology.ning.com/</a></p> <p>It is an attempt to connect researchers in anthropology, ethnology, or folklore with translators in a decentralized and open way. While we would consider this project to be a work-in-progress, it is a first step towards providing both an overview and a resource for academics searching for good, reliable, affordable, and available translators. We are thus extremely thankful for comments and critique on how to make this project meet the needs of its targeted audience.</p> <p>Please feel free to spread this information to your colleagues and interested translators.</p> <p>Best,<br /> Regina Bendix &amp; Stefan Groth </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/the-knights-of-congo#post-46 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:02:31 +0000 lanfia80 46@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p><a href="http://www.africawrites.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.africawrites.com</a><br /> Hello everyone. The new update to AfricaWrites.com v.11, "Knights of Congo", is now online. Knights of Congo is a study and exposition of Luba and Lunda<br /> rituals from the pre-colonial era of the Democratic Republic of<br /> Congo. Other stories include the Umoyo Wamgwena: Guardians of Momanawa Luangwa, The N'gbache of King Me and The Makishi.<br /> HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!!! </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/call-for-papers-next-issue-of-ethnologik#post-45 Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:18:30 +0000 Niklas Nau 45@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p><strong>Call for Papers</strong></p> <p>„<strong>Ethnologik</strong>“ is the anthropological journal of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, released every six months. Our aim is to provide a publishing platform for contemporary anthropological issues as well as to illuminate other disciplines` ideas concerning these topics, with a wide audience being adressed.</p> <p>The upcoming issue in April 2010 will focus on the broad topic of „<strong>garbage</strong>“, e.g. culturally different concepts of garbage, the aftermath of European electronic scrap disposal in „third-world“ countries, political, biological, ecological and economical implications of garbage etc. We hope to receive papers dealing with these issues, yet we also gladly accept papers on different topics, opportunities for interviews and pictures.<br />  </p> <p><em><strong>Submit your papers to <a href="mailto:ethnologik09@gmx.de">ethnologik09@gmx.de</a> until February the 28th 2010</strong></em></p> <p>Please write in English or German and limit yourself to a maximum of 8 pages. Don`t use any particular settings in typing. We will contact you for final editorial instructions after accepting your paper. References should be placed as footnotes, but otherwise following the style guide of Current Anthropology. </p> <p>For more Information, Questions, Ideas or Suggestions please contact us.<br /> <a href="mailto:ethnologik09@gmx.de">ethnologik09@gmx.de</a><br /> Phone 00498975201852<br /> Facebook: Ethnologik </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/ethnocinea-call-for-films-vienna#post-44 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:59:47 +0000 admin 44@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p><strong>Ethnocineca 18.-21.5.2010 in Vienna. Deadline: 15.1. 2010</strong></p> <p>Dear Friends,</p> <p>the ETHNOCINECA is a film exhibition in the city of Vienna with a focus on anthropological themes and topics. </p> <p>We therefore wanted to invite you to send us your contributions or to forward the call for films to interested film makers, students and scientists.</p> <p>You can find more information in the entry form, which you can download under the following link:</p> <p><a href="http://www.ethnocineca.at/downloads/CallForFilms/CallforFilms_Ethnocineca2010_English.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.ethnocineca.at/downloads/CallForFilms/CallforFilms_Ethnocineca2010_English.pdf</a></p> <p>If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us.</p> <p>Best regards</p> <p>Nadja Haumberger</p> <p>-----------------------------</p> <p>Liebe Freunde,</p> <p>die ETHNOCINECA ist ein in Wien einzigartiges Filmfest zur Auseinandersetzung mit kultur- und sozialanthropologischen Themen im audiovisuellen Kontext.</p> <p>Für die heurige Veranstaltung sind wir noch auf der Suche nach wertvollen Beiträgen und wollten Sie hiermit einladen den Call for Films an Interessierte weiterzureichen.</p> <p>Weitere Informationen finden Sie im  Einreichformular, welches unter folgendem Link zum Download bereit steht:</p> <p><a href="http://www.ethnocineca.at/downloads/CallForFilms/CallforFilms_Ethnocineca2010_Deutsch.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.ethnocineca.at/downloads/CallForFilms/CallforFilms_Ethnocineca2010_Deutsch.pdf</a></p> <p>Falls Sie noch weitere Fragen zu unserem Projekt haben, scheuen Sie sich nicht diese an uns zu stellen.</p> <p>Mit freundlichen Grüßen</p> <p>Nadja Haumberger</p> <p>------------------------------</p> <p>Chers amis,</p> <p>L’évènement ETHNOCINECA est une présentation de films à thèmes et sujets ethnologiques à Vienne (Autriche).</p> <p>Nous voulons vous inviter à nous envoyer vos contributions où à faire circuler cet « appel aux films » à tous réalisateurs ou étudiants intéressés.</p> <p>Vous trouverez plus d’informations sous l’adresse suivante :</p> <p><a href="http://www.ethnocineca.at/downloads/CallForFilms/CallforFilms_Ethnocineca2010_Francais.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.ethnocineca.at/downloads/CallForFilms/CallforFilms_Ethnocineca2010_Francais.pdf</a></p> <p>Si vous désirez avoir des informations supplémentaires, n’hésitez pas à me contacter.</p> <p>Cordialement,</p> <p>Nadja Haumberger</p> <p>-----------------------------</p> <p>Queridos amigos,</p> <p>La Ethnocineca es una exposición de películas en la ciudad de Viena, con especial atención en temas antropológicos.</p> <p>Por lo tanto, quería invitar a que nos envíe sus contribuciones o que transmita la petición a los interesados, directores de películas, estudiantes y científicos.</p> <p>Usted puede encontrar más información en el siguiente enlace:<br /> <a href="http://www.ethnocineca.at/downloads/CallForFilms/CallforFilms_Ethnocineca2010_Espanol.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.ethnocineca.at/downloads/CallForFilms/CallforFilms_Ethnocineca2010_Espanol.pdf</a></p> <p>Si usted tiene alguna duda no vacilen en ponerse en contacto conmigo.</p> <p>saludos cordials</p> <p>Nadja Haumberger</p> <p>--</p> <p>ETHNOCINECA MASN (Moving Anthropology Social Network - Austria) Kultur- und Sozialanthropologische Kompetenzzentrum und Vernetzungsbüro Schottengasse 3a/1/59 1010 Wien</p> <p>office (@) ethnocineca.at<br /> <a href="http://www.ethnocineca.at" rel="nofollow">http://www.ethnocineca.at</a><br /> <a href="http://www.myspace.com/ethnocineca" rel="nofollow">http://www.myspace.com/ethnocineca</a><br /> <a href="http://www.masn-austria.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.masn-austria.org</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/conference-identity-and-the-other-british-isles-24-25-june-2010#post-43 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:19:42 +0000 daniel.travers 43@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p><strong><br /> Identity and 'the Other British Isles'<br /> 24 - 25 June 2010</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www2.hud.ac.uk/asb/identity_and_other_british_isles.php">http://www2.hud.ac.uk/asb/identity_and_other_british_isles.php</a></p> <p>As issues of nationalism, identity, and what it means to be ‘British’ continue to affect the cultural and political landscape of Britain itself, its impact on the islands that share (or have shared) a cultural heritage with the United Kingdom has become new ground for academics.</p> <p>The Academy for the Study of Britishness at the University of Huddersfield welcomes proposals for 20-minute papers from academics, postgraduate students, independent scholars, and other professionals to present at its ‘Identity and the other British Isles’ conference on 24-25 June 2010.</p> <p>The conference will bring together research from a range of disciplines in order to explore issues of Britishness within island culture and society. Papers are welcomed on the identities, cultures, history, heritage, and society of any island/islands which share a cultural heritage with Britain. This includes islands within the ‘British archipelago’ and around the world. The focus of the conference is on smaller islands, and those whose relationships with Britain and Britishness have been often neglected in academic study. Topics may include, but are not limited to:</p> <p>• The culture and identity of The Isle of Man, The Channel Islands, Orkney and the Shetlands, The Scilly Isles, Anglesey, The Hebrides, Malta, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Singapore, The Falklands, The British West Indies and other ‘British’ islands.</p> <p>• Britishness and the island(s) in wartime</p> <p>• Relationships between the island(s) and Westminster/the Monarchy</p> <p>• Britishness within the commemoration and celebration of identity</p> <p>• Britishness in island government and administration.</p> <p>• The impact of Britishness (or Englishness) on the local language and culture</p> <p>• Tourism</p> <p>• Devolution, nationalism and post-imperialism within the island(s).</p> <p>Proposals for 20-minute papers should be no more than 200 words and should include a one-page CV. The deadline for submission is January 25th 2010.</p> <p>Send abstracts and CVs to &lt;Conference.presentations07@hud.ac.uk&gt;.</p> <p>For further information or an informal discussion contact Daniel Travers &lt;d.travers@hud.ac.uk&gt; or Jodie Matthews &lt;j.matthews@hud.ac.uk&gt;. </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/researchgate-offers-new-publishing-tools-to-scientists#post-42 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:16:07 +0000 admin 42@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p><em>Press release</em></p> <p><strong>Members' profiles now allow for blogging and sharing - Microarticles summarize publications in 306 characters - General ResearchBLOG to publish selection of entries to broader audience</strong></p> <p>Boston/Berlin, November 16, 2009 - ResearchGATE (<a href="http://www.researchgate.net" rel="nofollow">http://www.researchgate.net</a>) is offering many tools for exchanging ideas, papers, schedules and more. The latest application, to be introduced this week, makes it even easier for the 180,000 members to share news, thoughts and research results: Every profile within ResearchGATE now contains a personal blogging function.</p> <p>Users are offered the choice between publishing just within their network or to a greater audience through their public profile. They can also submit entries to ResearchBLOG (<a href="http://blog.researchgate.net)" rel="nofollow">http://blog.researchgate.net)</a>, the new public channel of the ResearchGATE scientific community. The highest quality posts from individual members are aggregated here to provide a reputable source for science news, commentary, research, and innovation from all fields of enquiry.</p> <p>While individual blog entries don't require a specific format, ResearchGATE has introduced a new template for publishing research results called microarticles. These articles, written by ResearchGATE members, provide a summary of a published, peer-reviewed article, highlighting key concepts and findings in just 306 characters. Every member is invited to produce such an article on a paper written by himself or by friends and colleagues. Similar to blog entries, microarticles are published via the member's profile and can be submitted to ResearchBLOG.</p> <p>"With our new short article system, we want to increase the speed in which research results are spread within the scientific community", said ResearchGATE's co-founder Ijad Madisch. To facilitate access to the source of the information contained, every microarticle refers to a publication found either in ResearchGATE´s database, linked via an external URL or manually entered by the author. Via their newsfeed, members of the academic networking platform choose to stay informed on blog entries and microarticles posted by their peers. They can also decide to constantly follow their favorite authors and blogs.</p> <p>Claudia Saalbach, Public Relations ResearchGATE GmbH</p> <p>E-Mail: claudia.saalbach (@) researchgate.net</p> <p>Internet: <a href="http://www.researchgate.net" rel="nofollow">http://www.researchgate.net</a></p> <p><a href="http://blog.researchgate.net" rel="nofollow">http://blog.researchgate.net</a></p> <p>----</p> <p>PS: See blog post at antropologi.info <a href="http://www.antropologi.info/blog/anthropology/2009/selv-archiving-repositories-is-researchgate-the-solution">Selv-archiving repositories: Is ResearchGate the solution?</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/conference-medical-anthropology-and-biomedicine-in-cooperation#post-39 Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:01:53 +0000 jana 39@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana is organizing an international interdisciplinary conference "Medical anthropology and biomedicine in collaboration?", 19.-20. November 2009 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Medical anthropologists, health care professionals and policy makers are invited to join the debates or even present the paper on the intersections/dialog/collaboration between anthropology and biomedicine.<br /> For more info please contact Jana Šimenc on <a href="mailto:jana.simenc@ff.uni-lj.si">jana.simenc@ff.uni-lj.si</a>. </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/dimensions-of-social-exclusion-ethnographic-explorations-new-book#post-38 Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:37:58 +0000 kasieswar 38@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>Dimensions of Social Exclusion: Ethnographic Explorations<br /> Editor: K.M. Ziyauddin and Eswarappa Kasi<br /> Isbn13: 978-1-4438-1342-6<br /> Isbn: 1-4438-1342-7<br /> <a href="http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Dimensions-of-Social-Exclusion--Ethnographic-Explorations1-4438-1342-7.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Dimensions-of-Social-Exclusion--Ethnographic-Explorations1-4438-1342-7.htm</a><br /> Dimensions of Social Exclusion focuses largely on social exclusion in the context of communities and social groups who have or have not been considered in discussing the benefits of mainstream inclusive society or development. Contemporary understanding of social exclusion has revived great interest among academics, researchers and policy makers in understanding problems from the perspectives of social exclusion. The decision to adopt the perspective of social exclusion has not been universal; rather the nature of this is very heterogeneous. In addition, the concept of social exclusion is not static; in reality, it is a process. The process is seen in the marginalization and discrimination of people in their everyday lives and interactions.</p> <p>The term ‘exclusion’ has become a part of the vocabulary in Europe and other developing societies like ‘poverty’ or ‘unemployment’; it is one of those words which seem to have both an everyday meaning and an underlying sense. It emphasizes the social aspects of concerns such as housing, health, employment, education, participation in social activities and festivities, social interaction and social intercourse. It excludes certain communities and groups from interaction and access to social resources through social arrangements, normative value systems and customs. Exclusion based on caste is one example and patriarchy is another, which is a form of systemic or constitutive exclusion. Having social, cultural, political and economic ramifications, it is also a complex and multi-dimensional concept. These dimensions are interwoven and are addressed in the different papers of the volume.</p> <p>This book revolves around the societal interventions and institutions that exclude, discriminate, isolate and deprive some groups on the basis of group identities such as caste or ethnicity. It covers a wide spectrum of societies and communities living in various cultural environments. The multidisciplinary nature of the book will render it helpful to students and researchers of sociology, anthropology, historical and political studies, demography, social work and gender studies in particular and the humanities in general.</p> <p>K. M. Ziyauddin is Assistant Professor-cum-Assistant Director at the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), Hyderabad, India. Previously, he had been a faculty member in both the Department of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia and the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hamdard University, New Delhi. He has published on health and illness, scavengers and Dalits, issues of Muslims and child labour. He has worked on several national and international research projects on HIV/AIDS, child labour and education, workers in the unorganized and construction sectors, displacement and development, rural development and other issues. He is a life member of several bodies/societies including the Indian Sociological Society, International Journal of Research and Social Sciences, IASSH, SAMAR Foundation and the Society for Applied Economic Research. He has received several scholarships during his studies, which also included an ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship in 2006.</p> <p>Eswarappa Kasi is a Guest Faculty Member in the Department of Anthropology, University of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. He is a life member of a number of professional bodies. His research interests include anthropology of livelihoods and natural resource management, tribal and marginal communities and their development. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals. His books include a monograph entitled Anthropology and Development in a Globalised India: An Ethnography of Sericulture from the South (Cambridge Scholars Publishing (CSP), forthcoming) and an edited volume, Ethnographic Discourse of the Other: Conceptual and Methodological Issues with Panchanan Mohanty and Ramesh C. Malik (CSP, 2008). He was guest-editor of a special issue of Man in India on 'Issues and Perspectives in Anthropology Today' with R. Siva Prasad. He is also co-editor of Theory and Practice of Ethnography: Readings from the Periphery (Rawat Publications, Jaipur, in press) with Ramesh C. Malik and editor of Rethinking Development Discourse in the 21st Century India (Serials Publications, New Delhi, 2009).</p> <p>Price Uk Gbp: 39.99<br /> Price Us Usd: 59.99</p> <p>Sample pdf (including Table of Contents) </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/food-habits-among-the-educated-youth-of-tharu-and-buksa-tribes-2#post-37 Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:10:30 +0000 subhash 37@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>FOOD HABITS AMONG THE EDUCATED YOUTH OF THARU AND BUKSA TRIBES </p> <p>Subhash Chandra Verma<br /> Department of Sociology<br /> Government Post Graduate College<br /> Rudrapur (U. S. Nagar) 263153 Uttrakhand<br /> INDIA<br /> Email- <a href="mailto:verma.subhas@gmail.com">verma.subhas@gmail.com</a><br /> ________________________________________________________________________</p> <p>ABSTRACT</p> <p>In this paper we studied about food habits of the educated Tharu and Buksa youth. 76 Tharu and 40 Buksa (total 116) youth are taken for study. At present some Tharu and Buksas youth are ignoring their traditional food and accepting some fast foods rapidly. The Tharu and Buksa people are non-vegetarians traditionally so maximum youth are non-vegetarian also. Maximum Tharu –Buksa youth use non-vegetarian food after a week. They also like milk and milk-products92.24 % youth are used non-vegetarian food; only 7.76 % youth are vegetarian. Female youth are more (15 %) than males (3.95 %) in vegetarian category. 96.05 % males and 85 % females are using non-vegetarian food normally. The Tharu and Buksas youth those are studying in cities are mostly like to eat fast foods in market. Chinese fast food Chowmin, Indian Dosa, Chat-Pakoda and other packed food are popular in Tharu and Buksas. maximum (64.66 %) youth eat fast food one time in week, 18.10 % two or three times in week and 17.24 % use it some times. Percentage of females (57.5 %) is more than male (52.63 %) in weekly and some times (7,89 %), (17.5 %) use of fast food. </p> <p>Key-words: Tharu, Buksa, Food, Non-vegetarian, Traditional, fast-food </p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>The Tharu and Buksa are tribal and indigenous communities of the Himalayan Tarai region. Tharus and Buksas are famous for their eco-friendly culture. Four renowned researchers Risley, Knowles, W. Crooke and Nesfield are declared that the Tharu and Tharu and Buksas are mix blood tribe. (Srivastav, 1958) According to H.R. Nevill the Tharu and Tharu and Buksas s are an aboriginal race who claims royal descent. (Srivastav, 1958) The theory of Rajput origin of the Tharu and Tharu and Buksas s could not be explained on basis of serology because the Rajputs do not have Mongoloid and Dravidian physical features normally. (Majumadar, 1941) At least we can say that the Tharu and Tharu and Buksas s are Mongoloid people, or predominantly so, who have successfully assimilated non-Mongoloid physical features as well. </p> <p>Historically, they were the only ones that were able to reside in the malarial jungles. Recent medical evidence supports the common belief that the Tharu and Buksas people, having lived in the swampy Terai region for centuries, have developed an innate resistance to malaria that is likely based on an unidentified genetic factor. (Kumar, 1968)<br /> The Tharu-Buksa area has very good and more agricultural land and other natural resources for industry. Many farmers, industrialist and others are existed in this area. This is why the Tharu-Buksas are regularly in touch of other cultures and also accepting their specialties. (Acharya , 2001 ) There are many Religious missionaries are also working in the Tharu-Buksa area for converting them in their religions. Mainly the Christian and Hindu missionaries are doing conversion of the Tharu-Buksas in their faith.<br /> The Tharu and Buksas are physically strong and fit generally because they eat healthy natural foods and they also have many traditional treatment systems. ( Odegaard, 1997 ) These people eat mostly fish, pork, chicken with more garlic, onions, ginger, Lemon etc. Fish and Rice are Populer as foods among Tharu and Buksas communities but they also used Roti, Vegetables, Milk products and more others. The Chakhna-Bhat and Machhi-Bhat are main and special dishes of The Tharu and Buksa communities. (Govila, 1959)<br /> At present Hunting is banded in the forest so they cannot use more meat of forest animals and birds in their food, but they use more fishes in their food. At present some Tharu and Buksas youth are ignoring their traditional food and accepting some fast foods rapidly.<br /> In this paper we studied about food habits of the educated Tharu and Buksa youth. This study is covered only educated youth of these both communities so this study has some limitations.<br /> Methodology<br /> Scientific research method has been used in this study and findings are presented in descriptive research design. Interview and closed ended questionnaire have been used as research tool for primary data collection. There are 116 Tharu and Buksa students are registered in Government Post Graduate College Rudrapur District Udham Singh Nagar of Uttrakhand. These all Thrau-Buksa students are taken as research universe. Details of these students are presented in able No. 1 and also presented by graph. 76 Tharu and 40 Buksa (total 116) youth are taken for study. Related literature also used in this study as secondary data sources.<br /> Table-1</p> <p>Classification of interviewed Tribal Youth</p> <p>Sl.<br /> No.<br /> Name of Tribal community<br /> Male</p> <p>Female</p> <p>Total<br /> No. % No. % No. %<br /> 1<br /> Tharu 52<br /> 68.42 24 60 76 65.52<br /> 2<br /> Buksa 24 31.58 16 40 40 34.48<br /> Total 76 100 40 100 116 100</p> <p>Graph -1</p> <p>Status of interviewed youth by community </p> <p>Description and analysis of the data<br /> Thinking and choice about traditional and fast-food:- Table-2 shows that maximum Tharu-Buksa youth are in favor of fast-food, 56.90 % youth think that fast-food is best though 43 % youth are in favor of traditional food. They think that it is good for their health. There is an interesting fact has been found in this table that 50 % female are in favor of traditional food and same figure is in favor of fast food. At least it seems that new and educated generation of the Tharu and Buksa communities is ignoring their own traditional food trends and accepting new food trends. </p> <p>Table-2<br /> Traditional and Fast-food by first choice</p> <p>Sl.<br /> No.</p> <p>Thinking of youth about food<br /> Male</p> <p>Female</p> <p>Total<br /> No. % No. % No. %<br /> 1<br /> Traditional food is best 30 39.47 20 50 50 43.10<br /> 2<br /> Fast-food is best 46 60.53 20 50 66 56.90<br /> Total 76 100 40 100 116 100</p> <p>Graph – 2<br /> Status of traditional and fast-food choice</p> <p>Vegetarian and non-Vegetarian food habit:- The Tharu and Buksa people are non-vegetarians traditionally so maximum youth are non-vegetarian also. Table-3 is showing that 92.24 % youth are used non-vegetarian food; only 7.76 % youth are vegetarian. Female youth are more (15 %) than males (3.95 %) in vegetarian category. 96.05 % males and 85 % females are using non-vegetarian food normally. Due to some problems, Religious factors and effects of other cultures some youth are ignoring non-vegetarian food at present. </p> <p>Maximum Tharu–Buksa youth use non-vegetarian food after a week. Table-4 show that 54.31 % youth eat non-vegetarian food one time in week, 34.38 % two or three times and 11.21 % some times. 52.63 % males and 57.5 % females use one non-vegetarian food one time in week, 39.48 % males and 25 % females two or three times in week, 15.79 % males and 17.5 % females some times use non-vegetarian food. </p> <p>Table-3<br /> Classification of youth by food habits</p> <p>Sl.<br /> No.</p> <p>Category<br /> Male</p> <p>Female</p> <p>Total<br /> No. % No. % No. %<br /> 1<br /> Non-Vegetarian 73 96.05 34 85 107 92.24<br /> 2<br /> Vegetarian 03 3.95 6 15 9 7.76<br /> Total 76 100 40 100 116 100</p> <p>Graph-3</p> <p>Non-vegetarian and vegetarian youth</p> <p>Table-4</p> <p>Schedule of eating non-Vegetarian food</p> <p>Sl.<br /> No.</p> <p>Schedule<br /> Male</p> <p>Female</p> <p>Total<br /> No. % No. % No. %<br /> 1<br /> Daily ----- ----- ---- ----- ----- -----<br /> 2<br /> 2 or 3 times in a week 30 39.48 10 25 40 34.38<br /> 3 One time in week 40 52.63 23 57.5 63 54.31<br /> 4 Some times 6 7.89 7 17.5 13 11.21<br /> Total 76 100 40 100 116 100</p> <p>Habit of Fast-food: - As it has been stated above that mostly educated Tharu-Buksa youth are in favor of fast food culture at present. But due to economic problem they can not afford fast food everyday. Table-5 is showing that maximum (64.66 %) youth eat fast food one time in week, 18.10 % two or three times in week and 17.24 % use it some times. Percentage of females (57.5 %) is more than male (52.63 %) in weekly and some times (7, 89 %), (17.5 %) use of fast food.<br /> The Tharu and Buksas youth those are studying in cities are mostly like to eat fast foods in market. Chinese fast food Chowmin, Indian Dosa, Chat-Pakoda and other packed food are popular in Tharu and Buksas. Due to their economic problems they do not eat fast food daily but maximum youth like it and want to eat everyday. They think that use of fast food is symbol of educated and advanced people; this is why they are ignoring their traditional food culture. </p> <p>Table-5</p> <p>Schedule of eating Fast-Food</p> <p>Sl.<br /> No.</p> <p>Schedule<br /> Male</p> <p>Female</p> <p>Total<br /> No. % No. % No. %<br /> 1<br /> Daily<br /> 2<br /> 2 or 3 times in a week 14 18.42 7 17.5 21 18.10<br /> 3 One time in week 50 65.79 25 62.5 75 64.66<br /> 4 Some times 12 15.79 8 20 20 17.24<br /> Total 76 100 40 100 116 100</p> <p>Use of Milk and milk-Products:- Milk and its products are popular in the Tharu and Buksa communities. This is why the youth of these communities are also like milk and milk-products. Table-6 reveals that 18.97 % youth are used milk and its products daily. 34.48 % two or three times in week and 11.21 % some times use milk and milk-products. 18.42 % males and 20% females daily, 34.31 % male and 35 % females two or three times in week, 13.16% males and 7.5 % females some times use milk and its products. Percentage of females is more than males in this category so we can say that women are more aware than male in use of milk and its product. </p> <p>Table-6<br /> Schedule of using Milk or Milk-products</p> <p>Sl.<br /> No.</p> <p>Schedule<br /> Male</p> <p>Female</p> <p>Total<br /> No. % No. % No. %<br /> 1<br /> Daily 14 18.42 8 20 22 18.97<br /> 2<br /> 2 or 3 times in a week 26 34.21 14 35 40 34.48<br /> 3 One time in week 26 34.21 15 37.5 41 35.34<br /> 4 Some times 10 13.16 3 7.5 13 11.21<br /> Total 76 100 40 100 116 100</p> <p>Conclusion </p> <p>On the basis of description and analysis as conclusion we can say that educated youth of the Tharu and Buksa communities have both traditional and new food habits. Some youth are ignoring their own traditional food trends but some youth are still respecting their culture and traditional food trends. Effects of other cultures and education are main reasons of changing food habits. Maximum Tharu-Buksa youth are non-vegetarian and they also like milk and milk-products. There is no major difference between male and female about food habits. Maximum youth like fast-food culture but they can not afford it daily so they are used normal and traditional food in daily life but weekly and some times they enjoy with fast-food. </p> <p>Acknowledgement</p> <p>We are very thankful of all the Tharu and Buksa students of my college for their important assistance and support. We are especially thankful of Raj Kapoor Rana, Amit Singh Rana, Km.Geeta Devi and Km. Janki Buksa for help in conducting interview for this study. We are also thankful of Dr. Jiyoti Tiwari, Head, department of Home Science HNB Garhwal University Sri Nagar Garhwal for her important suggestions and guidance.</p> <p>References<br /> 1. Acharya Ganesh Raj, 2001 Changing Tharu society: A hope for new generationhttp://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2001/jun/jun06/local.htm<br /> 2. Kumar, N. 1968, 'A genetic survey among the Rana Tharus of Nainital District in Uttar Pradesh', Journal of the Indian Anthropological Society- 3(1-2), pp 39<br /> 3. Majumadar, D.N., 1941, ‘The tharus and Their Blodd Group’-Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. VIII No.1 p33<br /> 4. Odegaard, Sigrun Eide, 1997, From Castes to Ethnic Group? Modernization and Forms of social Identification among the Tharus of the Nepalese Tarai, Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Cand. Polit. Degree, Institute and Museum of Anthropology, University of Oslo<br /> 5. Srivastav, S.K., 1958, The Tharus: A Study In Culture Dynamics, Agra University Press Agra<br /> 6. Govila, J. P. 1959 'The Tharu of Terai and Bhabar', Indian Folklore, 2, 1959, </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/the-eco-friendly-tharu-tribe-a-study-in-socio-cultural-dynamics#post-34 Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:04:24 +0000 subhash 34@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>FOOD HABITS AMONG THE EDUCATED YOUTH OF THARU AND BUKSA TRIBES </p> <p>Subhash Chandra Verma<br /> Department of Sociology<br /> Government Post Graduate College<br /> Rudrapur (U. S. Nagar) 263153 Uttrakhand<br /> INDIA<br /> Email- <a href="mailto:verma.subhas@gmail.com">verma.subhas@gmail.com</a><br /> ________________________________________________________________________</p> <p>ABSTRACT</p> <p>In this paper we studied about food habits of the educated Tharu and Buksa youth. 76 Tharu and 40 Buksa (total 116) youth are taken for study. At present some Tharu and Buksas youth are ignoring their traditional food and accepting some fast foods rapidly. The Tharu and Buksa people are non-vegetarians traditionally so maximum youth are non-vegetarian also. Maximum Tharu –Buksa youth use non-vegetarian food after a week. They also like milk and milk-products92.24 % youth are used non-vegetarian food; only 7.76 % youth are vegetarian. Female youth are more (15 %) than males (3.95 %) in vegetarian category. 96.05 % males and 85 % females are using non-vegetarian food normally. The Tharu and Buksas youth those are studying in cities are mostly like to eat fast foods in market. Chinese fast food Chowmin, Indian Dosa, Chat-Pakoda and other packed food are popular in Tharu and Buksas. maximum (64.66 %) youth eat fast food one time in week, 18.10 % two or three times in week and 17.24 % use it some times. Percentage of females (57.5 %) is more than male (52.63 %) in weekly and some times (7,89 %), (17.5 %) use of fast food. </p> <p>Key-words: Tharu, Buksa, Food, Non-vegetarian, Traditional, fast-food </p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>The Tharu and Buksa are tribal and indigenous communities of the Himalayan Tarai region. Tharus and Buksas are famous for their eco-friendly culture. Four renowned researchers Risley, Knowles, W. Crooke and Nesfield are declared that the Tharu and Tharu and Buksas are mix blood tribe. (Srivastav, 1958) According to H.R. Nevill the Tharu and Tharu and Buksas s are an aboriginal race who claims royal descent. (Srivastav, 1958) The theory of Rajput origin of the Tharu and Tharu and Buksas s could not be explained on basis of serology because the Rajputs do not have Mongoloid and Dravidian physical features normally. (Majumadar, 1941) At least we can say that the Tharu and Tharu and Buksas s are Mongoloid people, or predominantly so, who have successfully assimilated non-Mongoloid physical features as well. </p> <p>Historically, they were the only ones that were able to reside in the malarial jungles. Recent medical evidence supports the common belief that the Tharu and Buksas people, having lived in the swampy Terai region for centuries, have developed an innate resistance to malaria that is likely based on an unidentified genetic factor. (Kumar, 1968)<br /> The Tharu-Buksa area has very good and more agricultural land and other natural resources for industry. Many farmers, industrialist and others are existed in this area. This is why the Tharu-Buksas are regularly in touch of other cultures and also accepting their specialties. (Acharya , 2001 ) There are many Religious missionaries are also working in the Tharu-Buksa area for converting them in their religions. Mainly the Christian and Hindu missionaries are doing conversion of the Tharu-Buksas in their faith.<br /> The Tharu and Buksas are physically strong and fit generally because they eat healthy natural foods and they also have many traditional treatment systems. ( Odegaard, 1997 ) These people eat mostly fish, pork, chicken with more garlic, onions, ginger, Lemon etc. Fish and Rice are Populer as foods among Tharu and Buksas communities but they also used Roti, Vegetables, Milk products and more others. The Chakhna-Bhat and Machhi-Bhat are main and special dishes of The Tharu and Buksa communities. (Govila, 1959)<br /> At present Hunting is banded in the forest so they cannot use more meat of forest animals and birds in their food, but they use more fishes in their food. At present some Tharu and Buksas youth are ignoring their traditional food and accepting some fast foods rapidly.<br /> In this paper we studied about food habits of the educated Tharu and Buksa youth. This study is covered only educated youth of these both communities so this study has some limitations.<br /> Methodology<br /> Scientific research method has been used in this study and findings are presented in descriptive research design. Interview and closed ended questionnaire have been used as research tool for primary data collection. There are 116 Tharu and Buksa students are registered in Government Post Graduate College Rudrapur District Udham Singh Nagar of Uttrakhand. These all Thrau-Buksa students are taken as research universe. Details of these students are presented in able No. 1 and also presented by graph. 76 Tharu and 40 Buksa (total 116) youth are taken for study. Related literature also used in this study as secondary data sources.<br /> Table-1</p> <p>Classification of interviewed Tribal Youth</p> <p>Sl.<br /> No.<br /> Name of Tribal community<br /> Male</p> <p>Female</p> <p>Total<br /> No. % No. % No. %<br /> 1<br /> Tharu 52<br /> 68.42 24 60 76 65.52<br /> 2<br /> Buksa 24 31.58 16 40 40 34.48<br /> Total 76 100 40 100 116 100</p> <p>Graph -1</p> <p>Status of interviewed youth by community </p> <p>Description and analysis of the data<br /> Thinking and choice about traditional and fast-food:- Table-2 shows that maximum Tharu-Buksa youth are in favor of fast-food, 56.90 % youth think that fast-food is best though 43 % youth are in favor of traditional food. They think that it is good for their health. There is an interesting fact has been found in this table that 50 % female are in favor of traditional food and same figure is in favor of fast food. At least it seems that new and educated generation of the Tharu and Buksa communities is ignoring their own traditional food trends and accepting new food trends. </p> <p>Table-2<br /> Traditional and Fast-food by first choice</p> <p>Sl.<br /> No.</p> <p>Thinking of youth about food<br /> Male</p> <p>Female</p> <p>Total<br /> No. % No. % No. %<br /> 1<br /> Traditional food is best 30 39.47 20 50 50 43.10<br /> 2<br /> Fast-food is best 46 60.53 20 50 66 56.90<br /> Total 76 100 40 100 116 100</p> <p>Graph – 2<br /> Status of traditional and fast-food choice</p> <p>Vegetarian and non-Vegetarian food habit:- The Tharu and Buksa people are non-vegetarians traditionally so maximum youth are non-vegetarian also. Table-3 is showing that 92.24 % youth are used non-vegetarian food; only 7.76 % youth are vegetarian. Female youth are more (15 %) than males (3.95 %) in vegetarian category. 96.05 % males and 85 % females are using non-vegetarian food normally. Due to some problems, Religious factors and effects of other cultures some youth are ignoring non-vegetarian food at present. </p> <p>Maximum Tharu–Buksa youth use non-vegetarian food after a week. Table-4 show that 54.31 % youth eat non-vegetarian food one time in week, 34.38 % two or three times and 11.21 % some times. 52.63 % males and 57.5 % females use one non-vegetarian food one time in week, 39.48 % males and 25 % females two or three times in week, 15.79 % males and 17.5 % females some times use non-vegetarian food. </p> <p>Table-3<br /> Classification of youth by food habits</p> <p>Sl.<br /> No.</p> <p>Category<br /> Male</p> <p>Female</p> <p>Total<br /> No. % No. % No. %<br /> 1<br /> Non-Vegetarian 73 96.05 34 85 107 92.24<br /> 2<br /> Vegetarian 03 3.95 6 15 9 7.76<br /> Total 76 100 40 100 116 100</p> <p>Graph-3</p> <p>Non-vegetarian and vegetarian youth</p> <p>Table-4</p> <p>Schedule of eating non-Vegetarian food</p> <p>Sl.<br /> No.</p> <p>Schedule<br /> Male</p> <p>Female</p> <p>Total<br /> No. % No. % No. %<br /> 1<br /> Daily ----- ----- ---- ----- ----- -----<br /> 2<br /> 2 or 3 times in a week 30 39.48 10 25 40 34.38<br /> 3 One time in week 40 52.63 23 57.5 63 54.31<br /> 4 Some times 6 7.89 7 17.5 13 11.21<br /> Total 76 100 40 100 116 100</p> <p>Habit of Fast-food: - As it has been stated above that mostly educated Tharu-Buksa youth are in favor of fast food culture at present. But due to economic problem they can not afford fast food everyday. Table-5 is showing that maximum (64.66 %) youth eat fast food one time in week, 18.10 % two or three times in week and 17.24 % use it some times. Percentage of females (57.5 %) is more than male (52.63 %) in weekly and some times (7, 89 %), (17.5 %) use of fast food.<br /> The Tharu and Buksas youth those are studying in cities are mostly like to eat fast foods in market. Chinese fast food Chowmin, Indian Dosa, Chat-Pakoda and other packed food are popular in Tharu and Buksas. Due to their economic problems they do not eat fast food daily but maximum youth like it and want to eat everyday. They think that use of fast food is symbol of educated and advanced people; this is why they are ignoring their traditional food culture. </p> <p>Table-5</p> <p>Schedule of eating Fast-Food</p> <p>Sl.<br /> No.</p> <p>Schedule<br /> Male</p> <p>Female</p> <p>Total<br /> No. % No. % No. %<br /> 1<br /> Daily<br /> 2<br /> 2 or 3 times in a week 14 18.42 7 17.5 21 18.10<br /> 3 One time in week 50 65.79 25 62.5 75 64.66<br /> 4 Some times 12 15.79 8 20 20 17.24<br /> Total 76 100 40 100 116 100</p> <p>Use of Milk and milk-Products:- Milk and its products are popular in the Tharu and Buksa communities. This is why the youth of these communities are also like milk and milk-products. Table-6 reveals that 18.97 % youth are used milk and its products daily. 34.48 % two or three times in week and 11.21 % some times use milk and milk-products. 18.42 % males and 20% females daily, 34.31 % male and 35 % females two or three times in week, 13.16% males and 7.5 % females some times use milk and its products. Percentage of females is more than males in this category so we can say that women are more aware than male in use of milk and its product. </p> <p>Table-6<br /> Schedule of using Milk or Milk-products</p> <p>Sl.<br /> No.</p> <p>Schedule<br /> Male</p> <p>Female</p> <p>Total<br /> No. % No. % No. %<br /> 1<br /> Daily 14 18.42 8 20 22 18.97<br /> 2<br /> 2 or 3 times in a week 26 34.21 14 35 40 34.48<br /> 3 One time in week 26 34.21 15 37.5 41 35.34<br /> 4 Some times 10 13.16 3 7.5 13 11.21<br /> Total 76 100 40 100 116 100</p> <p>Conclusion </p> <p>On the basis of description and analysis as conclusion we can say that educated youth of the Tharu and Buksa communities have both traditional and new food habits. Some youth are ignoring their own traditional food trends but some youth are still respecting their culture and traditional food trends. Effects of other cultures and education are main reasons of changing food habits. Maximum Tharu-Buksa youth are non-vegetarian and they also like milk and milk-products. There is no major difference between male and female about food habits. Maximum youth like fast-food culture but they can not afford it daily so they are used normal and traditional food in daily life but weekly and some times they enjoy with fast-food. </p> <p>Acknowledgement</p> <p>We are very thankful of all the Tharu and Buksa students of my college for their important assistance and support. We are especially thankful of Raj Kapoor Rana, Amit Singh Rana, Km.Geeta Devi and Km. Janki Buksa for help in conducting interview for this study. We are also thankful of Dr. Jiyoti Tiwari, Head, department of Home Science HNB Garhwal University Sri Nagar Garhwal for her important suggestions and guidance.</p> <p>References<br /> 1. Acharya Ganesh Raj, 2001 Changing Tharu society: A hope for new generationhttp://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2001/jun/jun06/local.htm<br /> 2. Kumar, N. 1968, 'A genetic survey among the Rana Tharus of Nainital District in Uttar Pradesh', Journal of the Indian Anthropological Society- 3(1-2), pp 39<br /> 3. Majumadar, D.N., 1941, ‘The tharus and Their Blodd Group’-Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. VIII No.1 p33<br /> 4. Odegaard, Sigrun Eide, 1997, From Castes to Ethnic Group? Modernization and Forms of social Identification among the Tharus of the Nepalese Tarai, Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Cand. Polit. Degree, Institute and Museum of Anthropology, University of Oslo<br /> 5. Srivastav, S.K., 1958, The Tharus: A Study In Culture Dynamics, Agra University Press Agra<br /> 6. Govila, J. P. 1959 'The Tharu of Terai and Bhabar', Indian Folklore, 2, 1959, </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/anthropology-and-development-new-book#post-33 Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:49:49 +0000 kasieswar 33@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>Anthropology and Development in a Globalized India: An Ethnography of Sericulture from the South<br /> Author: Eswarappa Kasi<br /> Date Of Publication: Nov 2009<br /> Isbn13: 978-1-4438-1345-7<br /> Isbn: 1-4438-1345-1<br /> <a href="http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Anthropology-and-Development-in-a-Globalized-India--An-Ethnography-of-Sericulture-from-the-South1-4438-1345-1.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Anthropology-and-Development-in-a-Globalized-India--An-Ethnography-of-Sericulture-from-the-South1-4438-1345-1.htm</a><br /> The book tries to portray sericulture, as a crop enterprise, and which is emerged as one of the foremost view in the theoretical and methodological understanding in the disciplines of Sociology and Social Anthropology in India. Thus, anthropological analysis of sericulture and its emergence in the development literature gives us an idea of the activity leads to further theoretical and critical studies. Anthropological understanding of the sericulture and its development, thus, is explained thoroughly as studied by the scholars of the different disciplines in across the states of India. Sericulture is best suited to a country like India where manpower and land resources are in surplus. It generates direct and indirect employment in various ways. More and more farmers in India have taken up sericulture activity and which was once confined to only five States, has spread to almost all the States of India. Sericulture also creates gainful employment to women and aged people at homes with minimum risk. Thus, the analysis clearly establishes the importance of sericulture over other crops in the generation of fresh employment opportunities in rural areas. Further, as a predominant sector of rural development, stability is the vital need of sericulture enterprise.<br /> In the book, an attempt is made to understand the anthropological/sociological view of development. The book is interdisciplinary in nature and will be useful to scholars and students of Anthropology, Sociology, Economics, Social Work, Rural Development, Gender Studies and Development Studies.<br /> Dr. Eswarappa Kasi was ICSSR Doctoral Fellow (2003-2005) and currently Guest Faculty in the Department of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad, India. He is a Life Member of a number of professional bodies. His interests include Anthropology of Livelihoods and Natural Resource Management, Tribal and Marginal Communities and their Development. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals. His forthcoming edited book titled ‘Dimensions of Social Exclusion: Ethnographic Explorations’ jointly with KM Ziyauddin, CSP, UK. He is a guest- editor of a Special Issue of Man in India on 'Issues and Perspectives in Anthropology Today' jointly with R. Siva Prasad. He is also co-editor of Theory and Practice of Ethnography: Reading from the Periphery jointly with Ramesh C. Malik (Rawat Publications, Jaipur, 2009). He is also the editor of Rethinking Development Discourse in the 21st Century India (Serials Publications, New Delhi, 2009).<br /> Price Uk Gbp: 34.99<br /> Price Us Usd: 52.99 </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/the-changing-tharu-culture#post-32 Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:56:47 +0000 subhash 32@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>THE CHANGING THARU CULTURE:<br /> A Study of Indan Tribe in Socio-Cultural Dynamics</p> <p> Subhash Chandra Verma<br /> Department of Sociology<br /> Government Post Graduate College, Rudrapur, India</p> <p>Abstract: The Tharu culture is very “eco-friendly”; all cultural activities of this tribe are deeply related with nature. Their residence, food, clothing, art, religion, economy and many other aspects of life are based on nature and maintaining an ecological balance. The Tharu people worship mainly their tribal Goddess, The Earth, called ‘Bhumsen’ in their folk language. There is a well-organized family system in this community. Women have a high status and considerable social and economic rights in the family system. Although this community has a paternal family organization, women have high position and sufficient rights - a remarkable fact. Tharu youth are fond of change; hence they are struggling for advancement. There are many other communities existing in the Tharu area due to industrialization and commerce, so a process of cultural exchange is taking place. Tharu youth are attracted to the new and modern lifestyle. They are ignoring their traditional tribal culture, and the identity of the old Tharu culture is endangered. They have to get an advanced education, in communication, technology etc. But care for the old culture is necessity too if they are to keep their identity.</p> <p>Keywords: Tharu, Tribe, Youth, Culture, Change, Awareness</p> <p>1. Introduction</p> <p>The Tharu tribe is one of the most populous tribes of India and Nepal. The Tharu are an indigenous people living in the Terai plains on the border of Nepal and India. The population of Nepal is 28,287,147 (July 2006 est.), of which the Tharu people make up 6.6%. A smaller number of Tharus live in India, mostly in Champaran District of Bihar and in Udham Singh Nagar District of Uttrakhand, Kheeri, Pilibhit, Gonda, Balrampur, Gorakhpur, Bahirayach of Uttar Pradesh. The population of these people is 83,544 in Uttar Pradesh and 85,665 in Uttrakhand State, making a total of about 169,209 in India. The Tharu are recognized as a scheduled tribe by the Government of India. The Constitution of India gives many special social, educational and economic rights to these scheduled tribes and castes because they are the primary victims of the backwardness. The Tharus are struggling for their rights and cultural protection.<br /> India is a famous country for Multi-culturism and the Tharu tribe of this country is a good example of Multi-culturism. There are many ethnic sub groups existed in the Tharu tribe for example- Rana, Badbayak, Buksa, Jugia, Khunka, Dangora, Katheriya, Dahait, Sansa, Battha,Varatia, Mahato etc. Each sub-group has its own cultural specialties but after it all groups collectively known as a great ethnic group the Tharu tribe.<br /> At present the Tharu tribe is suffering from cultural infections because there are many other people from various societies are existed in the Tharu area and some others also coming regularly, for example- Punjabis, Jaat, Paharis, Bangalis etc. The Tharu area has very good and more agricultural land and other natural resources for industry so many formaers, industrialist and others are existed in this area. This is why the Tharus are regularly in touch of other cultures and also accepting their specialties. There are many Religious missionaries are also working in the Tharu area for converting them in their religions. Mainly the Christian and Hindu missionaries are doing conversion of the Tharus in their faith. The Hindu missionaries are saying that the Tharus were Rajput Hindus in past so they should live as real Rajputs at present and Christian missionaries are saying that the Hindu society is avoiding the Tharus since a long time and they were treating very badly and poorly as low status group so they should not believe in the Hinduism. They will get more development and high status in the Christian religion. This is why the Christian missionaries are providing more facilities for education, health care and employment. At present some Tharus are accepting the Christian religion rapidly. These are many reasons for developing multi-cultureism in the Tharus. </p> <p>2. Methodology<br /> This study is based on a primary survey using Direct/Participant Observation and Interview methods to arrive at the conclusions. Available secondary resources, however, have also been used. At present, the author is conducting a research project on Tharu tribe about awareness in youth, with financial help of University Grants Commission of India. That is why he has used Primary Survey data for this project. This article is part of the underwriting report of this project. The primary information was collected from the Nakulia, Sisona, Tharu Tisour and Baghori villages of Tahsil Siatrganj District, Udham Singh Nagar State, Uttrakhand, India. This work is presented in Exploratory and Analytic research design with help of statistical methods. Some statements in this study are based on secondary data, but the major results are from primary data. </p> <p>3. History<br /> The Tharus Claim that historically they are not Tribal community because they are migrated Rajputs (upper cast Hindus) which has been converted in a tribal community in the period of living in forest. The Tharus also claim that they have a amazing historical past in Indian society. They related themselves to Thar area of Rajasthan state of India. Many historians, Anthropologist and Sociologist have different views about history of the Tharu tribe. Some Tharus do cliam that they are related with Lord Budha’s clan and some also claims that they are related with Lord Krishna’s clan. There is running a debate since a long period but clear result is awaited till now about true and real history of the Tharus. </p> <p>The Tharu are the largest and oldest ethnic group of the Terai region, living in villages near dense malaria-infested jungles in regions that were isolated for millennia, allowing them to develop a unique culture. They work usually as farmers or peddlers. Although physically the Tharu are similar to other peoples in the area, they speak their own language that originated in Sanskrit and is now recognized officially. Recent medical evidence supports the common belief that the Tharu people, having lived in the swampy Terai region for centuries, have developed an innate resistance to malaria that is likely based on an unidentified genetic factor. According to the Nepali author, Subodh Kumar Singh, a series of invasions by the Rajput kings, eroded the influence of the indigenous Tharus. In 1854 Jung Bahadur, the first Rana prime minister of Nepal, developed the Mulki Ain, a codification of Nepal's indigenous legal system which divided society into a system of castes. The Tharus were placed at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Their land was taken away, disrupting their community and displacing the people. In the 1950s, World Health Organization helped the Nepalese government eradicate malaria in the Terai region. This resulted in the immigration of people from other areas to claim the fertile land, making the Tharus slaves to the new landowners and developing the kamaiya system of bonding generations of Tharus families to labour. </p> <p>4. Social and Cultural Systems and Life Style<br /> The economy of Tharu community is based on agriculture and forest (Pradhan, 1937 p. 59). Historically, they were the only ones that were able to reside in the malarial jungles on the Indo-Nepal border. But as mosquito control became available, many others have migrated into this tribe’s areas. They have deep affiliation with forest and river. The population of Tharu tribe is near to one lac in India and in Nepal this figure is 1533879, it is 6.75% of total population of Nepal (Nepal online). This tribal community has many specialties about their culture and socio-economic systems. There are many clans, called Kuri in the local language,) which are called, as follows: Badwayak, Battha, Rawat, Birtiya, Mahto, Dahait, Rajia, Bunka, Sansa, Jugia, Buxa, Dhangra, and Rana. All of these Tharu clans are ranked from lower to higher status (Turner, 1931 p. 599). The Tharus are considered “Hindus,” but they are purely a tribal community from the anthropological point of view. The Tharu people worship mainly their tribal Goddess called as Bhuiyan or Bhumsen with other Hindu God and Goddess. The government of India has accepted this community as a Scheduled Tribe.<br /> The Tharu themselves did not keep written records and what is known of their early history is derived from passing references in religious texts and etymological evidence. It seems probable that that have not just one origin, and that they arrived in the area from different places at different times. There may be truth in all these theories. The Panchayat system (Local Social Council) is very strong in this tribe; the head of panchayat is called Padhan in the Tharu language.<br /> The Tharus love their folk arts. Tharu songs, Tharu dance (Naach), Tharu tattoos, Tharu wall paintings, Tharu handicrafts, and Tharu magic are all very interesting and distinctive. A remarkable fact is that they make handicrafts only for personal use, not for marketing purposes. They like contrasting colours in dress and wall paintings for decoration of their houses (J.P.Govila, 1959, p. 248),<br /> The Tharus’ main food is fish and rice, but they also used roti, vegetables, mutton, chicken, milk products and others. But since hunting is banned in forest, they cannot obtain much wild meat. Also, because of poverty, they cannot afford expensive mutton and chicken, so they use more and more fish in their diet.<br /> Tharus are very hospitable and they show much respect to their guests. They like to serve a large variety of foods and the best dishes for their guests. Tharus are very friendly by nature and every Tharu individual has a best friend. A man’s best male friend is called his meet or dilba, and the woman’s best female friend is called her sangan. Tharus treat their best friend as a real brother or sister.<br /> Some Tharu live in longhouses, which may hold up to 150 people. The longhouses are built of mud with lattice walls.<br /> They grow barley, wheat, maize, and rice, as well as raise animals such as chickens, ducks, pigs, and goats. In the big rivers, they use large nets to catch fish. Because the Tharu lived in isolation in malarial swamps until the recent use of DDT, they developed a distinctive style of decorating the walls, rice containers and other objects in their environment. The Tharu women transform the outer walls and verandahs of their homes into colorful paintings dedicated to Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of prosperity and fertility. </p> <p>5. The Tharu Village: The Tharus live in small villages which are generally scattered and located at a considerable distance from others. These people are always in search of a good site for founding their villages. A good site in their judgment must be land on a high level with proximity to river or some water supply, yet safe from water-logging and inundation during the rainy season. (Srivastava 1958:19). They build their houses with enough distance from each other for a better lifestyle. The village does not have bachelors’ dormitories or community houses, menstruation huts, guest houses or special granaries for common use and distribution. The House of the Padhan (Village Chief) is a very important place in the village. Even a casual visitor to a Tharu village is impressed by the neat arrangement of the houses, their cleanness in contrast with the congestion of other villages in India. A Tharu village, therefore, represents a closely knit society unites of which have developed a bond of fellowship and corporate life through mutual obligations and co-partnership. </p> <p>6. Tharu Houses: The Tharus are famous for their clean houses. Generally, Tharus build their houses of mud, wood and grass. They are always cool in summer and hot in winter—this is a specialty of Tharu dwellings. Each house with its field and a vegetable garden is a detached residence with a narrow or a broad alley separating it from the adjacent houses. The house must face the east to bring its residents prosperity. The size of the house depends on the size of the family. The Than (place of worship) is an essential in every house. On the side of the main house the well-to-do Tharus build a bangla (rest house). Both the exterior and interior of the Tharu houses present a neat and clean appearance. They are swept twice or three times a day and the ashes and house-refuse are thrown near the cattle shed or in fields.</p> <p>7. Religion: Tharus follow the Hindu religion because they claim that they are related by blood to the Rajputs of Rajasthan. This is very interesting claim, because they do not have any element of Rajasthni Rajputs in their race or culture (N. Kumar, 1968 p. 39). In fact, Tharus are related to the Mongoloid race, and Rajputs are of a very different race. Dr. D.N. Majumadar contested the supposed Rajput origin of the Tharus on the basis of blood group tests and he has found that Tharus are Mongoloid, so they cannot be related to the Rajputs (Majumadar, 1941, p. 33). The Tharu are adherents of Hinduism, but they also hold certain Islamic, animist, and Buddhist beliefs. Small numbers have converted to Buddhism in the recent years. Such syncretic practices have led the Tharu to practice folk Hinduism. With the advent of religious freedom, others have converted to Christianity, and there are a variety of congregations active in the various districts where Tharus are found. Traditional Tharus worship various gods in the form of animals, such as dogs, crow, ox and cows. Such gods are seen in Hinduism also. Every village has its own deity, commonly known as Bhuinyar. Tharu in East Nepal call their deity Gor-raja. Most Tharu households own a statue of a traditional god. Family members often offer sacrifices of the blood of animals to appease the god. Animals such as pigeons and chickens are used for sacrificial purposes, and milk and silk cloth are also used as offerings. Many Tharu also use the blood of one of the male members in the family for sacrificial rituals. Such rituals are ceremonies in which superficial cuts are made in the forehead, arms, throat, legs, and/or chest.<br /> The gods are believed to have the ability to heal diseases and sickness. According to traditional legend, gods are given a bhakal, a promise of something, on condition that the sickness is cured, in any the event of misfortunes, plagues and nightmares. A relative's death is an event of great significance among Tharu, and the rituals conducted vary in accordance with regions. Tharu may approach shamans as doctors, known as guruba. Such shamans use Buddhist medicines to cure illness. Shamans will also try to appease gods through incantations, beating drums and offering sacrifices. The Tharu believe sickness comes when the gods are displeased, and the demons are at work.<br /> Buddhist converts among the Tharu are found in Saptari, Siraha and Udaypur. Currently it is believed that there are more than one dozen Buddhist monks and novices among the Tharu people. Such practice was possibly based on the fact that they were inspired by the discovery that the Lord Buddha was a member of the Tharu tribe. </p> <p>The Current Problems and Changes among the Tharu Society</p> <p>The Indian Tharu youth are very important wing of their community. They are playing very creative role in their community. But they are not connected with mainstream of development. Some youth are trying to get higher education and advanced technology but in little number. They have neither advance ness nor keep awareness about their traditional culture. They must have to get advance education, communication, technology and new life style but care of traditional culture is must too for keep their own identity. Youth of other tribes of this area (Bhotia and Jaunsari etc) are aggressive more than Tharu Youth. Many Bhotia and Jaunsari youths are working as administrative officers, professors, Doctors, Engineers, and Advocates etc. They are very advanced and also careful about their traditional culture. However, Tharu youth are very poor in this matter. Generally Tharu youth do not like to go in advanced cities for education. Nepalese Tharu youth are more aware and advanced than Indian Tharu youth because there are many youth organizations and groups are active in Nepalese Tharu community for development and extension of education, technology, health care etc. </p> <p>The Tharu community has its amazing culture with many specialties but it is bad luck of this community that its own new generations especially highly educated youth are not so aware for care it. Some Tharus are trying to keep their own socio-cultural values but they are not success in their target till now. Large number of Tharu youth wants change in their life, so they are ignoring their own cultural values. It is true that Tharu youth want change but it has not this meaning that they are very aggressive or advanced. They are only following other communities for a new life style. We can say in other words that the process of Sanskirtization is still running in this community. Tharu youth are playing very creative role in their community but they are not connected with main stream of development even some youth are trying to get higher education and advanced technology but in few number. Maximum Tharu youth are trying to accept other culture only for leaving their old own culture. There are many Religious missionaries are working for conversion of Tharus in this area, that is why some Tharus have converted in other religions. The Tharu youth are ignoring their own culture and losing traditional values. Neither have they got advance ness nor do they aware about their traditional culture. Tharu Rana Parishad (Council of Tharu Community) is a main organization of this community which is active in this socio-cultural movement in this area. This organization is trying to keep traditional culture of Tharus. But this organization is not so success in its main goals.</p> <p>The Tharu community is one of them Indian tribes which have not more and enough awareness about education. There are many educational institutes and organizations are working in Tharu area but percentage of educated people is very low in Tharu community. Most Tharu students want a job early that is why they are not interesting in post graduate level education. Graduation level is enough for a general job so they want only eligibility for a general job. Only those students are studying in post graduation level which want any special job or did not get a job still. Some students are taking education in post graduate level for doctorate degree but number of these students is few. There are only 2 students (1 male &amp; 1 female) want to do research for Ph.D. level. There is only one Tharu man (Prem Singh Rana) has Ph.D. Degree in this area. At present he is Lecturer in college.</p> <p>We have been said that also that Tharu Community is suffering form social changes and their youth are playing active role in this process. Youths are refusing many old social rules and customs. In this era new Tharu generation do not like and support early age marriage, leadership&amp; dictatorship of old aged people, Joint family System, Traditional typical Costumes, marriage with elder women. Tribal religious activities&amp; Things etc. traditional Social values have lost their importance and new trends are still running. There is an interesting and amazing system of mutual friendship called as Mitai popular in Tharus community. In this system friends treat together as real brothers or sisters and they every help and support together without any formality. Male friend called as Dilwar or Meet and female Called as Sangan. This system shows the human social values and feeling of the Tharus but at present this system is losing its importance like many other old systems. Kinship system is also changing and materialistic culture is affecting badly on blood and marriage relationships. New generation is using new words on place of old words of relations for example- now Dauwa (Father) is called as Papa or dady and Aiya (mother) is called as Mammy. Many specialties of other communities have been accepted by Tharus at present so we can say that the process of cultural infection is killing the traditional Tharu social system. </p> <p> In past there were many other communities was capturing Tharu’s Forest and agricultural land but cool minded Tharus never conflicted with them. Many other communities like Muslims, Sikhs, Paharis etc. are Continuously capturing Tharu properties and also hurting their feelings since a long past. The Tharus say that outsiders are cheaters, they are cheating our community. But now situation has been changed because the Tharu youth do not like interfere of others in their own properties. Some educated and politically empowered youth know their rights very well so they are now struggling for freehold of their own agricultural land and other properties. Situation of social conflict is still running because other communities are counter attacking on the Tharus. Blast of population and disorganization of joint families are increasing need of more agricultural land and other natural resources so the Tharu youth are conducting social movements. At present Tharu community is suffering from problem of poverty, illiteracy, social and cultural pollution but its youth are struggling for development.</p> <p>1- Educational Awareness</p> <p>The Tharu community is one of them Indian tribes which have not more and enough awareness about education. There are many educational institutes and organizations are working in Tharu area but percentage of educated people is very low in Tharu community. Tharu tribe is also living in nearest country Nepal and there are more and enough awareness about education in this community. There are many social workers of their own community are working hard for education, for example- In 1984 that young man, whose name is Dilli Chaudhary, founded Backward Society Education (BASE) to stand up for the rights of Nepal's marginalized Tharu ethnic group (Roger, 2007). Table-1 shows thats there are 81.90 % Tharu students are enrolled in graduate level and percentage of female in these students is 41.05, it means they are not more backward than male. Only 18.10 per cent students are studying at post graduate level and there are 42.86 % girls are also in these students. Table-1 also showing that number of students at graduate 1st year level are more than upper levels, it means performance of these students is not good in examination because there are 37.07% students enrolled in 1st year but only 24.14 % students in second year and 20.69 % in third year are studying. Females are performing well than Males in this matter. Population of Tharu tribe in district Udham Singh Nagar is 81230 (Statistical Magazine 2008:14) and there are only 138 students are studying in Government Post Graduate College of the District head quarter. It means only 0.16per cent youth of total population are taking higher education, in matter of women this figure is only 0.03 %. Total populations of all communities in this district 1253614 (Statistical Magazine 2008:16) and 6125 student are enrolled in that college. It means 0.48 percent youth of total population are studying in this college and percentage of Tharu students is only 0.16 so the data shows that awareness about higher education in the Tharu youth is 1/3 comparatively other youth. </p> <p>Comparative Graph about Number of Tharu students in various standards</p> <p> (Source of facts- Table No.1) </p> <p>Table-2 shows that 28.45 % students are interesting in Graduate level degree only but a large number of students (69.83 %) want to take post graduate degree. There are only 29.31 % girls and 41.52 % boys are interesting in post graduate level education. Most Tharu students want a job early that is why they are not interesting in post graduate level education. Graduation level is enough for a general job so they want only eligibility for a general job. Only those students are studying in post graduation level which want any special job or did not get a job still. Some students are taking education in post graduate level for doctorate degree but number of these students is few. There are only 2 students (1 male &amp; 1 female) want to do research for Ph.D. level. There is only one Tharu man (Prem Singh Rana) has Ph.D. Degree in this area. At present he is Lecturer in college. Facts are showing that few numbers of Tharu students are interesting in research for Ph.D. level. This situation is not good for their bright future. There are many researchers from other communities are doing research on Tharu tribe but its own students do not like to do study about their own community.</p> <p>2- Status of Awareness about Employment</p> <p>At present it is a bad luck of Indian society that every person is getting education only for a job. That is why the social and cultural values are losing their importance. It is big factor and region for social valueless social change. This fact is 100 percent true about Tharu community also. At present every Tharu student studying for job only, a large group of Tharu students do not care their own culture and social values. Employment factor is affecting their social and cultural values because they do not like and want their traditional occupation, they only want any new job any how and on any cost. Table-3 is showing that only 9.48 per cent youth like or want to do their own business and maximum youth (90.42%) want government or private service job. Table-3 is showing a notable fact that awareness about administrative and higher class service job is not enough. There are only 4.31 % youth are trying for higher class service job. Army and police force job is very popular in this community but youth are not trying to get officer class job in force, they are trying only for ordinary job like constable and solider. A big part of student (35.34 %) wants any service job any how. School teacher job is also popular in Tharu youth because the opportunity of this job is easily able in local area. Table -4 shows that maximum 54.31 % youth want to do service job in local area that is why the school teaching job is popular in Tharu youth. Police and army force job is popular in those youth which are physically strong and fit. Social status of police &amp; army men is deemed high and powerful in Tharu community so most youth like to do this job. Agriculture is main and traditional occupation of the tharu tribe but new generation especially higher educated youth do not like agriculture and its related occupations. Government has stabled more industries in Tharu area so the opportunity of job is able easily. Industrialization is playing big role in socio-cultural change in Tharu community because Tharus are coming in touch of other communities. </p> <p>3- Status of Awareness about Modern Technology and Communication </p> <p>Tharu youth are very backward in mater of advanced Education, Technology and Communication. They do not like to go in big cities for advanced education and mostly youth are careless about big goal of life. This era is era of modern technology and advanced communication but the Tharu youth are not using these things for making their own carrier. They are using some technological things like Mobile phone, FM Radio, Television &amp; DVD Player but only for entertainment, not for their business or making good carrier. Table-5 shows that there are 100% youth view Television but this is fact that most youth view only movies and other entertainment programmes. They do not like to view News and educational programmes. Table -5 also shows that the most important communication system Internet is not popular in Tharu youth. Only 1.72 % youth are using internet and have their Email addresses. There are 50 % youth are using Radio and FM Radio but maximum youth hear songs and other entertainment full programmes. Maximum youth (93.10%) are reading News Papers and Magazines but the situation is same here like television or FM radio. Maximum youth like to read only entertainment full news and articles mostly about Movie Actors and Actress. There is little number of youth those like to read editorial and other knowledge full articles. This is status of awareness in highly educated Tharu youth, in the matter of other Tharu youth situation will be more poor and thinkable. Many communication companies are providing Mobile Phones on very low pries so many youth (18.10 %) are using mobile phones. Students those living in hostel are mostly using mobile phones for talking to their parents and girl / boy friends also. In short we can say that Tharu youth need to use more and more technologies and communication systems but for making good carrier and real goal of life.</p> <p>4- Status of Awareness about Their Own Culture</p> <p>The Tharu community has its amazing culture with many specialties but it is bad luck of this community that its own new generations especially highly educated youth are not so aware for care it. Some Tharus are trying to keep their own socio-cultural values but they are not success in their target till now. Large number of Tharu youth wants change in their life, so they are ignoring their own cultural values. It is true that Tharu youth want change but it has not this meaning that they are very aggressive or advanced. They are only following other communities for a new life style. We can say in other words that the process of Sanskirtization is still running in this community. Tharu youth are playing very creative role in their community but they are not connected with main stream of development even some youth are trying to get higher education and advanced technology but in few number. Maximum Tharu youth are trying to accept other culture only for leaving their old own culture. There are many Religious missionaries are working for conversion of Tharus in this area, that is why some Tharus have converted in other religions. The Tharu youth are ignoring their own culture and losing traditional values. Neither have they got advance ness nor do they aware about their traditional culture.Table-6 shows that 1.72 % youth do not like their own religion and they want to convert in any other religion. There are 17.24 % youth like to wear their traditional costumes and other related things, 30.17 % youth have good feelings for their own culture but they are not playing any role for care it. Maximum 69.83 % youth do not care their own culture and they want change in their life style, only 9.48 % youth are active in movement for keeping their own socio-cultural values. Tharu Rana Parishad (Council of Tharu Community) is a main organization of this community which is active in this socio-cultural movement in this area. This organization is trying to keep traditional culture of Tharus. But this organization is not so success in its main goals.</p> <p>5- Status of Awareness about Health</p> <p>There are many social, cultural and economic groups existing in Indian society simultaneously .Their standard of living and awareness varies according to their socio-economic status. There are two major parts of population in India 1- Rural Communities (70%) and 2-Urban communities (30%). Rural communities have lack of Economic, Educational progress. Indian society has four major social classes 1- General Casts, 2- Scheduled Cast, 3-Other Backward Cast, and 4-Schedualed Tribes. Every class has various social, economic and educational statuses; these are reasons of various status of awareness. Rural and Backward communities have not more awareness about Education and Health. Every class has different figure of health awareness. The Tharu community is a part of Indian Scheduled Tribes but this community is more aware about health care than other backward and scheduled casts. The Tharus are physically strong and fit generally because they eat healthy natural foods and they also have many traditional treatment systems. The Tharus eat mostly fish, pork, chicken, Milk products, garlic, onions, ginger, Lemon and fruits. They also like physical exercise and games so they keep their salve fit and fast. Tharus are the largest group of people in the Terai area. Historically, they were the only ones that were able to reside in the malarial jungles. Recent medical evidence supports the common belief that the Tharu people, having lived in the swampy Terai region for centuries, have developed an innate resistance to malaria that is likely based on an unidentified genetic factor.<br /> At present the approach of health care is changing according to develoment especially in new genration of this community. Table -7 shows that maximum (54.31%) Tharu youth like to take modern medical treatments and 45.69 % youth like to take traditional medical treatment. 45.69 % youth like to do physical exercise daily and 9.48 % youth are playing role in various type of helath activities. Youth those active in helth care programmes are volientary working in National Service Scheam (NSS) this is a national scheam of India for students for social work and development. All Tharu students know about HIV/AIDS because there is many litrature and alerting advertisments about HIV/AIDS are ablavle in India. Notable fact is this that more youth do not like their own culture but mostly they like to take their tradiational medical treatments.At present other people are also coming back on Traditional, natural and hurbal medical treatments systems just like Yoga, naturopathy, Ayurveda etc. So this is good signal for Tharu youth because they also like these medical traetment systems. At least we can say that future of health care in Tharu community is very bright.</p> <p>6- Status of Awareness Environment and Pollution </p> <p> Historically The Tharu culture is very Eco-Friendly, all cultural thing and activities of this tribe are deeply related with nature. Their residence, food, cloths, art, religion, economy and many other part of life are based on nature and keep ecological balance. Tharu people worship mainly their tribal Goddess (The Earth) called as ‘Bhumsen’ in their folk language. Old generation of Tharu community is more aware about nature and environment than new generation. According to S. K. Srivastava (a famous Indian Anthropologist) in the year 1930 the Social Reform Movment which is popularly known as Jati Sudhar (reforms in cast) among the Tharus was initiated by a handful of educated Tharus. (Srivastava 1958:105) Main some Rules of this movement are as following (which are showing the care ness of old Tharu generation)-<br /> • Women in their menstrual period never to enter into the kitchen or cook meals.<br /> • Women must clean their hearths and put on clean cloths before cooking meals.<br /> • All rubbish of the house and refuse of the cattle must be thrown in a ditch outside the village or in fields and not on the path.<br /> • No liquor and meat to be served at any ceremony.<br /> Traditional Tharu houses making system, Agriculture system, cooking system are based on a natural law that is why the environmental valance never disordered in past. But at present there are many other communities existing in Tharu area by Industrialization and Business, so the process of cultural exchange is running in Tharu area. Tharu youth are attracting to new and charming life style. They are ignoring their traditional tribal culture that is why the identity of old Tharu culture is under dangerous. They must have to get advance education, communication, technology etc. But care of old culture is must too for keep their identity. Main problem of Tharus youth is that they want new life style but they do not know about new and current environmental issues. Table-8 is showing this fact that there are only 6.03 % youth know about green house effects and 9.48 % know about Environmental Laws &amp; all types of pollution. Thinkable and shock full fact is this that 90.51 % youth do not know about environmental issues and they also do not care about it. They like using all type of modern thing (which make pollution) without care of environment. This is situation of highly educated youth than we can easily imaging the status of other general Tharu youth. </p> <p>7- Status of Political Awareness</p> <p>Generally the Tharus have not interest in international and national level politics but at local and regional level some Tharus are playing big role in politics. There are many Tharu populated villages existed in this Tarai region so at the village level Tharus have strongly held on leadership. Trend of leadership is traditionally still in Tharu community. In past the Panchayat (local Tharu council) was very powerful and strong at the village level and the head of Panchayat was called as ‘Padhan’. Members of the Panchayat were called as Panch. The Panchayat was also the Village Court and the time of hearing any matter the Padhan was called as Sarpanch (chief of Court). At present this traditional Tharu Panchayat is not so powerful because own new generation do not like its old rules. New Panchayati Raj (local body governance) system of Indian Government has been replaced old panchyats. The Tharu youth are playing a big role in this new panchayati raj system because they have right of Vote. That is why the old type of leadership has lost its value and youth leadership is growing up rapidly. The ‘Khatima’ seat of Legislative assembly of Uttrakhand is reserved for Tribal community so a Tharu ‘Gopal Singh Rana’ has been elected as representative of this area. Some other Tharus Bhuvan Singh Rana, Bheem Singh Rana, Smt. Sushma Rana, have been elected Chairmanship of Block Development Committee. Many other Tharu people have been elected for post of ‘Pradhan’ (head of Village). Some Tharus are active workers of political parties especially the youth are playing big role. Table-9 is showing this fact that 13.79 % youth are directly involve in local and regional politics and 76.39 % have interest in politics but not involved directly. Only 22.42 % youth are not interested in any type of politics. Reservation policy of Indian government is much favorable for political awareness in Tharu youth because many constitutional and political posts are reserved for Tribal communities. </p> <p>8- Social Changes and Youth Awareness </p> <p>We have been said that also that Tharu Community is suffering form social changes and their youth are playing active role in this process. Youths are refusing many old social rules and customs. In this era new Tharu generation do not like and support early age marriage, leadership&amp; dictatorship of old aged people, Joint family System, Traditional typical Costumes, marriage with elder women, (Acharya,2001) Tribal religious activities&amp; Things etc. traditional Social values have lost their importance and new trends are still running. There is an interesting and amazing system of mutual friendship called as Mitai popular in Tharus community. In this system friends treat together as real brothers or sisters and they every help and support together without any formality. Male friend called as Dilwar or Meet and female Called as Sangan. This system shows the human social values and feeling of the Tharus but at present this system is losing its importance like many other old systems. Kinship system is also changing and materialistic culture is affecting badly on blood and marriage relationships. New generation is using new words on place of old words of relations for example- now Dauwa (Father) is called as Papa or dady and Aiya (mother) is called as Mammy. Many specialties of other communities have been accepted by Tharus at present so we can say that the process of cultural infection is killing the traditional Tharu social system. Data is clearly showing in table-10 that maximum youth (67.24 %) are coming from nuclear families and only 32.76 % youths are living in joint families. In past joint family system was very popular is Tharu community but at present situation is just opposite. </p> <p> In past there were many other communities was capturing Tharu’s Forest and agricultural land but cool minded Tharus never conflicted with them. Many other communities like Muslims, Sikhs, Paharis etc. are Continuously capturing Tharu properties and also hurting their feelings since a long past. The Tharus say that pahari are cheaters, they are cheating our community. (Sigrun, 1979) But now situation has been changed because the Tharu youth do not like interfere of others in their own properties. Some educated and politically empowered youth know their rights very well so they are now struggling for freehold of their own agricultural land and other properties. Situation of social conflict is still running because other communities are counter attacking on the Tharus. Blast of population and disorganization of joint families are increasing need of more agricultural land and other natural resources so the Tharu youth are conducting social movements. At present Tharu community is suffering from problem of poverty, illiteracy, social and cultural pollution but its youth are struggling for development.</p> <p>Conclusion<br /> The culture of Tharu tribe is really ‘Eco-friendly’ and represents a good social system. The Tharus respect and care the natural resources like the forest, rivers etc. The concept of female-empowerment is not needed in this community because the Tharu women have already a high status and sufficient rights in their society. The old generation of Tharu tribe is more aware of the environment than is the new generation. In conclusion, at present the Tharu tribe is suffering from the effects of “social and cultural dynamics.” </p> <p>Acknowledgements<br /> I am especially thankful to the Tharu people, Srikrishna and Hari Singh, of the Nakulia and Baghori villages who helped me a great deal on my visit their villages and arranged everything possible for observation. I am also thankful to the University Grants Commission of India for providing financial aid for my Research Project about Tribal Youth.</p> <p>References<br /> Govila, J. P. 'The Tharu of Terai and Bhabar', Indian Folklore, 2, 1959,<br /> Kumar, N. 1968, 'A Genetic Survey among the Rana Tharus of Nainital District in Uttar Pradesh', Journal of the Indian Anthropological Society, 3, (1-2)<br /> Majumadar, D.N., 1941, ‘The Tharus and their Blood Group,’ Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. VIII, No.1<br /> Nepal now online, <a href="http://www.hariyaliclub.org/museum.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.hariyaliclub.org/museum.php</a><br /> Pradhan, H. Dev, 'Social economy in the Terai (the Tharus)', Journal of the United Provinces Historical Society -10, 1937<br /> Srivastav, S.K., 1958, The Tharus: A Study in Culture Dynamics, Agra University Press, Agra<br /> Turner, A.C., 1931, Census Report of United Provinces of India, Vol. XVIII </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/the-eco-friendly-tharu-tribe-a-study-in-socio-cultural-dynamics#post-31 Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:51:10 +0000 subhash 31@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>THE ECO-FRIENDLY THARU TRIBE: A STUDY IN SOCIO-CULTURAL DYNAMICS</p> <p> Subhash Chandra verma<br /> Department of Sociology<br /> Government Post Graduate College<br /> Rudrapur -263153 Uttrakhand ,India<br /> (Affiliated to Kumaun University Nainital INDIA)<br /> Tel. -+91 5944 243474, Mob. – +91 9411195542<br /> Email- <a href="mailto:verma.s@indiatimes.com">verma.s@indiatimes.com</a> </p> <p>Abstract</p> <p> The Tharu culture is very Eco-Friendly, all cultural thing and activities of this tribe are deeply related with nature. Their residence, food, cloths, art, religion, economy and many other part of life are based on nature and keep ecological balance. Tharu people worship mainly their tribal Goddess (The Earth) called as ‘Bhumsen’ in their folk language. There is a well family system in this community. Women have high reputation, enough social and economic rights in their family system. This community has paternal family system but women have high position and more rights, this is a mark able fact. Tharu youth like changing so they are struggling for advance ness. There are many other communities existing in Tharu area by Industrialization and Business, so the process of cultural exchange is running in Tharu area. Tharu youth are attracting to new and charming life style. They are ignoring their traditional tribal culture that is why the identity of old Tharu culture is under dangerous. They must have to get advance education, communication, technology etc. But care of old culture is must too for keep their identity.</p> <p>1- Introduction</p> <p> The Tharu tribe is a most popular tribe of India and Nepal.The Tharu people are indigenous people living in the Terai plains on the border of Nepal and India. The population of Nepal is 28,287,147 (July 2006 est.), of which the Tharu people make up 6.6% A smaller number of Tharus live in India, mostly in Champaran District of Bihar and in Udham Singh Nagar District of Uttrakhand, Kheeri, Pilibhit, Gonda, Balrampur, Gorakhpur, Bahirayach district of Uttar Pradesh. Population of Tharu tribe is 83544 in Uttar Pradesh and 85665 in Uttrakhand state Total Tharu Population is near about 169209 in India. The Tharu are recognized as scheduled tribes by the Government of India. Constitution of India gives many special social, educational and economic rights to these scheduled tribes and casts because they are the primary victims of the backwardness. The Tharus are struggling for their rights and cultural protection. </p> <p>2-Methodology</p> <p>This study is based on a primary survey using Direct/Participant Observation and Interview methods to arrive at the conclusions. The available secondary resources, however, have also been used. At present author is conducting a research project on Tharu tribe about awareness in youth with financial help of University Grants Commission of India. That is why he has used Primary Survey data of this project. This article is part of underwriting report of this project. The primary information was collected from Nakulia, Sisona, Tharu Tisour and Baghori villages of Tahsil Siatrganj District Udham Singh Nagar State Uttrakhand, India. This work is presented in Exploratory and Analytic research design with help of statistical methods. . Some statements in this study are based on secondary data but maximum results are coming from primary data. </p> <p>3-History</p> <p>The Tharu is largest and oldest ethnic group of the Terai region, living in villages near dense malaria-infested jungles in regions that were isolated over the millennia, allowing them to develop a unique culture. They work usually as farmers or peddlers. Although physically the Tharu are similar to other peoples in the area, they speak their own language that originated in Sanskrit and is now recognised officially. Recent medical evidence supports the common belief that the Tharu people, having lived in the swampy Terai region for centuries, have developed an innate resistance to malaria that is likely based on an unidentified genetic factor. According to Nepali author Subodh Kumar Singh, a series of invasions by the Rajput kings, eroded the influence of the indigenious Tharus. In 1854 Jung Bahadur, the first Rana prime minister of Nepal, developed the Mulki Ain, a codification of Nepal's indigenous legal system which divided society into a system of castes. The Tharus were placed at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Their land was taken away, disrupting their community and displacing the people. In the 1950s, World Health Organisation helped the Nepalese government eradicate malaria in the Terai region. This resulted in immigration of people from other areas to claim the fertile land, making the Tharus slaves of the new landowners and developing the kamaiya system of bonding generations of Tharus families to labour. </p> <p>4- Social and Cultural Systems and Life Style</p> <p>The economy of Tharu community is based on Agriculture and forest (Pradhan, 1937 p59). Historically, they were the only ones that were able to reside in the malarial jungles on the Indo-Nepal border. But as mosquito control became available, many others have migrated into this tribe’s areas. They have deep affiliation with forest and river. The population of Tharu tribe is near to one lac in India and in Nepal this figure is 1533879, it is 6.75% of total population of Nepal (Nepal online). This tribal community has many specialties about their culture and socio-economic systems. There are many clans in Tharu tribe those called Kuri in their local language, name s of main clans (Kuri) are as followed Badwayak, Battha, Rawat, birtiya, Mahto, Dahait, Rajia, Bunka, Sansa, Jugia, Buxa, Dhangra, and Rana. All of these Tharu clans are divided in lower and high status (Truner, 1931 p599). The Tharus followed Hindu religion, but after all they purely a tribal community by anthropological point of view. Tharu people worship mainly their tribal Goddess called as Bhuiyan or Bhumsen with other Hindu God &amp; Goddess. Government of India has been accepted this community as a Scheduled Tribe. The fact is that the Tharu themselves did not keep written records and what is known of their early history is derived from passing references in religious texts and etymological evidence. It seems probable that there is not just one origin of the Tharu and that the people arrived in the area from different places at different places at different times. As such there may be truth in all the theories. The Panchayat system (Local Social Council) is very strong in this tribe; head of panchayat is called Padhan in local Tharu language. The Tharus love their folk arts. Tharu Songs, Tharu dance Naach, Tharu tattoos, Tharu wall paintings, Tharu handicrafts, and Tharu magic is very interesting and special. Mark able fact is this that they make handicrafts only for personal use doesn’t for marketing purpose. They like contrast colures in dress and wall paintings for decoration of house (Govila, J.P.1959 p248) Main food of Tharus is Fish and Rice but they also used Roti,Vegetables,Mutton,Chicken,Milk products and more others But since hunting is banded in forest they can not use more non-vegetable food because of poverty they can not afford expensive Mutton and chicken, but they use more and more fishes in their food. Tharus are very host able and they respect their guests very much. They like to serve best and more food dishes for guests. Tharus have very friendly nature, every Tharu people have a best friend in their life, male best friend of male called as Meet or Dilbar and female best friend of female called as Sangan. Tharus treat their best friend as real brother and sister. </p> <p>Some Tharu live in longhouses, which may hold up to 150 people. The longhouses are built of mud with lattice walls. They grow barley, wheat, maize, and rice, as well as raise animals such as chickens, ducks, pigs, and goats. In the big rivers, they use large nets to fish. Because the Tharu lived in isolation in malarial swamps until the recent use of DDT, they developed a style of decorating the walls, rice containers and other objects in their environment. The Tharu women transform outer walls and verandahs of their homes into colorful paintings dedicated to Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of prosperity and fertility. </p> <p>Tharu Village: - The Tharus have small populated villages and generally scattered and are often located at a miner distance. The Tharus are always in search of a good site for founding their villages. A good site in their judgment must be the land on a high level with proximity to river or some water supply yes safe from water-logging and inundation during the rainy season. (Srivastava 1958:19). The Tharus build their houses with enough distance to each other for better life style. The village dose not has bachelor’s dormitories or community houses, menstruation huts, guest houses and special granaries for common use and distribution. The House of Padhan (Chief of Village) is very important place of village. Even a casual to a Tharu Village is impressed by the neat arrangement of the houses, their cleanness in contrast with the congestion of other villages in India. A Tharu village, therefore, represents a closely knit society unites of which have developed a bond of fellowship and corporate life through mutual obligations and co-partnership. </p> <p>Tharu Houses:- The Tharus are famous for their clean houses. Generally Tharus build their house by Mud, Wood and Grass. The Tharus houses are always cool in summer and hot in winter, it is a specialty of Tharu houses. Each house with its field and a vegetable garden is a detached residence with a narrow or a broad alley separating it forms the adjacent houses. The house must face the east to bring them prosperity, which the other directions of the house do not promise. The Size of the house is depends on size of family. The Than (place of worship) is must in every house. On the side of the main house the well-to-do Tharus build a Bangla (the Rest House). Both the exterior and interior of the Tharu houses present a neat and clean appearance. They are swept twice or thrice a day and the ashes and house-refuse are thrown near the cattle-sed or in fields.</p> <p>Religion:- Tharus follow Hindu religion because they claim that they are migrated with Rajputs of Rajasthan by blood. This is very interesting fact because they have not any specialty of Rajasthni Rajputs in their Race and Culture but they claim blood relation with them (Kumar,N 1968 p39). Tharus are related with Mongoloid race and Rajputs have different race. Dr. D.N. Majumadar contested the supposed Rajput origin of the Tharus on the basis of blood group tests and the have found that Tharus have Mongoloid race, so they not related with Rajputs (Majumadar 1941:33). The Tharu are adherents of Hinduism, but also held Islamic, Animist and Buddhist beliefs. Small numbers have converted to Buddhism in the recent years. Such syncretic practices have led Tharu to practice folk Hinduism. With the advent of religious freedom, others have converted to Christianity and there are a variety of congregations active in the various districts where Tharus are found.Traditional Tharu worship various gods in the form of animals such as dogs, crow, ox and cows. Such gods are seen in Hinduism. Every village has their own deity, commonly known as Bhuinyar. Tharu in East Nepal call their deity Gor-raja. Most Tharu households own a statue of a traditional god. Family members often offer animal's blood sacrifices to appease the god. Animals such as pigeons and chickens are used for sacrificial purposes. Milk and silk cloth are also used. Many Tharu would also use the blood of one of the male members in the family for such rituals. Such rituals are conducted through ceremonies, and superficial cuts are made forehead, arms, throat, legs, and/or chest. The gods are believed to have the ability to heal diseases and sickness. According to traditional legend, gods are given a bhakal, a promise of something, on condition that the sickness is cured, in any events of misfortunes, plagues and horror dreams. A relative's death is an event of great significance among Tharu, and rituals conducted varies in accordance to regions. Tharu would approach shamans as doctors, known as Guruba. Such shamans use Buddhist medicines to cure illness. Shamans will also try to appease gods through incantations, beating drums and offering sacrifices. The Tharu believe sickness comes when the gods are displeased, and the demons are at work. Buddhist converts among the Tharu are found in Saptari, Siraha and Udaypur. Currently it is believed that there are more than one dozen of Buddhist monks and novices among the Tharus. Such practice was possibly based on the fact that they were inspired by the discovery of Lord Buddha as a member of the Tharu tribe. </p> <p>5- Status of Awareness Environment and Pollution </p> <p> Historically The Tharu culture is very Eco-Friendly, all cultural thing and activities of this tribe are deeply related with nature. Their residence, food, cloths, art, religion, economy and many other part of life are based on nature and keep ecological balance. Tharu people worship mainly their tribal Goddess (The Earth) called as ‘Bhumsen’ in their folk language. The old generation of Tharu community is more aware about nature and environment than new generation. According to S. K. Srivastava (a famous Indian Anthropologist) in the year 1930 the Social Reform Movment which is popularly known as Jati Sudhar (reforms in cast) among the Tharus was initiated by a handful of educated Tharus. (Srivastava 1958:105) Main some Rules of this movement are as following (which are showing the care ness of old Tharu generation)-</p> <p>1-Women in their menstrual period never to enter into the kitchen or cook meals.</p> <p>2-Women must clean their hearths and put on clean cloths before cooking meals.</p> <p>3-All rubbish of the house and refuse of the cattle must be thrown in a ditch outside the village or in fields and not on the path.</p> <p>4-No liquor and meat to be served at any ceremony.</p> <p> Traditional Tharu houses making system, Agriculture system, cooking system are based on a natural law that is why the environmental valance never disordered in past. But at present there are many other communities existing in Tharu area by Industrialization and Business, so the process of cultural exchange is running in Tharu area. Tharu youth are attracting to new and charming life style. They are ignoring their traditional tribal culture that is why the identity of old Tharu culture is under dangerous. They must have to get advance education, communication, technology etc. But care of old culture is must too for keep their identity. Main problem of Tharus youth is that they want new life style but they do not know about new and current environmental issues. Table-8 is showing this fact that there are only 6.03 % youth know about green house effects and 9.48 % know about Environmental Laws &amp; all types of pollution. Thinkable and shock full fact is this that 90.51 % youth do not know about environmental issues and they also do not care about it. They like using all type of modern thing (which make pollution) without care of environment. This is situation of highly educated youth than we can easily imaging the status of other general Tharu youth. </p> <p> Table-1</p> <p>Status of Awareness Environment and Pollution in Thru People</p> <p>SL.<br /> No.<br /> Detail</p> <p> Number of People<br /> Total </p> <p>%<br /> Male Female<br /> 1 Know about Environmental laws 08 03 11 9.48<br /> 2 Know about Green House affect 04 03 07 6.03<br /> 3 Know about all types of Pollution 08 03 11 9.48</p> <p>4 Those like Modern Things &amp; Don’t care About Environment 60 45 105 90.51<br /> (Source- primary Servey)</p> <p>Conclusion<br /> The culture of Tharu tribe is really Eco-friendly and represents a good social life system. The Tharus respect and care the natural resources like forest, rivers etc. The concept of women empowerment is not needed in this community because the Tharu women have already high status and enough rights in their own society. The old generation of Tharu tribe is more aware about environment than new generation. After all at present the Tharu tribe is suffering from Social and Cultural dynamics. </p> <p>Acknowledgement<br /> _______________________________________________________________<br /> I am especially thankful Tharu people Srikrishna and Hari singh of Nakulia and Baghori village those help me a lot in visit of Tharu villages and arranged all possible things for observation. I am also thankful of University Grants Commission of India for providing grants for my Research Project about Tribal Youth.<br /> _______________________________________________________________</p> <p>Rferences<br /> Govila, J. P. 'The Tharu of Terai and Bhabar', Indian Folklore.-2, 1959,<br /> Kumar, N. 1968, 'A genetic survey among the Rana Tharus of Nainital District in Uttar Pradesh', Journal of the Indian Anthropological Society- 3(1-2)<br /> Majumadar, D.N., 1941, ‘The tharus and Their Blodd Group’-Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. VIII No.1</p> <p>Nepal now online, <a href="http://www.hariyaliclub.org/museum.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.hariyaliclub.org/museum.php</a><br /> Pradhan, H. Dev, 'Social economy in the Terai (the Tharus)', Journal of the United Provinces Historical Society -10, 1937<br /> Srivastav, S.K., 1958, The Tharus: A Study In Culture Dynamics, Agra University Press Agra</p> <p>Turner, A.C., 1931, Census Report of United Provinces of India, Vol. XVIII </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/call-for-papers-for-next-issue-of-alterites-on-women#post-30 Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:58:07 +0000 admin 30@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>The next issue of the Open Access anthropology journal Alterities on Women will include a variety of texts: ethnographic experiences, theoretical contributions, and genealogical perspectives. Some questions to be addressed are, but not exclusive to:</p> <p>• Is there a renewal of feminist theoretical perspectives in anthropology and the social sciences? What forms of feminist analysis has such renewal taken?</p> <p>• In the different spaces and communities where anthropologists work, how has the relationship between politics and women studies been materializing? Apart from the obvious gender inequalities, how do issues addressed by research on women manifest and take form in different social, political and cultural contexts?</p> <p>• What is the state of feminist practices and actions? How does research on women translate into the complexity and diversity of issues pertinent to women’s movements?</p> <p><strong>Deadline for submissions: October 31, 2009. Altérités accepts texts in both English and French.</strong></p> <p>Presentation rules for submitted texts can be consulted at our website: <a href="http://www.alterites.ca/politique-en.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.alterites.ca/politique-en.html</a> </p> <p><strong>Background:</strong></p> <p>First and Second wave feminism in the West, as theoretical and political movements, were articulated at the intersection of the individual and the collective through addressing issues such as, violence against women, reproductive and sexual health, social and economic inequalities, gender discrimination and oppression, amongst other politically relevant matters. Even with the absence of a unified theoretical voice, scholars in various fields, including anthropology, have frequently crossed paths, supporting feminists’ struggles, demands and debates by shedding light on lived inequalities, investigating the dynamics of women’s movements, establishing connections among schools of feminism around the world, as well as engaging critically with theoretical frameworks such as Marxism, post-structuralism, and more recently, subaltern studies, and queer theory.</p> <p>In the last decade, feminist action has gone through a noticeable decline, at least in Western societies. The possible reasons for such decline are multiple and complex and can be attributed to perceptions of gained equalities for women, the rise of anti-feminist rhetoric, the internal fragmentation of feminist positions, and the postcolonial critique of the universalizing and hegemonic tendencies in Western-based feminist thought, among others. However, with the diversity and multiplicity of historical, cultural and political contexts, women as subjects, increasingly face today a wide array of complex issues, such as the recuperation of women’s rights discourse towards military, nationalist, and ethnic ends, women’s roles in liberal initiatives of development, migration, and post-war reconstructions, the sexualization of public space… etc. Such issues have implicated women in new forms of physical, economic and symbolic violence, as well as, provided emerging spaces for the expression of agency. Within this framing of issues regarding women, anthropology and scholarship are confronted with similar obstacles and questions facing feminist movements. One might therefore ask if a theoretical and political feminist renewal in these fields is still possible, probable or desirable?</p> <p>Read the whole call for papers here: <a href="http://www.alterites.ca/appel.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.alterites.ca/appel.html</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/call-for-films-dialektus-fesztival-in-budapest#post-29 Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:20:18 +0000 admin 29@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>Dialektus Festival<br /> European Documentary and Anthropological Film Festival<br /> Budapest, 2010, March 3-9.<br /> <a href="http://www.dialektusfesztival.hu" rel="nofollow">http://www.dialektusfesztival.hu</a></p> <p>Enter your documentary into the competition or into the student film competition of the festival!</p> <p><strong>Submissions deadline: 2009, September 25.<br /> Payer submissions deadline: 2009, October 9.</strong></p> <p>From now on we’re awaiting entries for Europe’s most creative and keen documentary film competition!<br /> If you are a filmmaker and you have a documentary film made in 2007 or later, we hope to receive your entry before 25 September, 2009!</p> <p>Are you a notorious latecomer? Do not give up! It is possible to send us your application until the 9th of October 2009 on the understanding that you must pay a default fee.</p> <p>Like in previous years, we reserve a separate category for student films. Watch out: competition is pretty tough in the “Student Work” section! </p> <p>Direct access to the application form:<br /> <a href="http://www.dialektusfestival.hu/doc/dialektus_entry_form_2010.doc" rel="nofollow">http://www.dialektusfestival.hu/doc/dialektus_entry_form_2010.doc</a></p> <p>Attracting ever more attention both in Hungary and throughout Europe, Dialektus Festival pays special attention to creating opportunities for filmmakers and other trade representatives to meet each other and their audience on professional forums, targeted, thematical events besides creating an informal, inspiring, buoyant festival-atmosphere. All because we need documentaries and documentary needs us too: to discover its priceless values, to point out to the possibilities it carries, to celebrate it, to talk about it – to treat it as well as it deserves. This is our way of encouraging dialogue between European filmmakers of different countries and different cultural backgrounds, to boost the popularity and strenghten the distribution of the documentary film.</p> <p>Palantir Film Visual Anthropological Foundation<br /> H-1461 Budapest, Pf.: 64., Hungary<br /> Tel: +36-1-403-03-52, +36-70-409-77-45<br /> info (AT) dialektusfesztival.hu<br /> <a href="http://www.dialektusfesztival.hu" rel="nofollow">http://www.dialektusfesztival.hu</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/call-for-films-lidf-london-international-documentary-festival-2010#post-28 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 09:38:11 +0000 lidf 28@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>The <a href="http://www.lidf.co.uk/">LIDF</a> in association with the <strong>London Review of Books</strong> is calling for submissions. The call is open and international. All subject matter is considered. Films must be produced after January 1st 2008. First time and established filmmakers all welcome.</p> <p>The Festival is committed to providing the highest quality platform for international documentaries and their directors. It does this by working with globally recognised partners and venues, such as the <strong>British Museum</strong>, the <strong>Barbican Centre</strong>, and the <strong>Curzon Cinemas</strong>. It also provides a year-round programme of screenings and other events.</p> <p>The LIDF is scheduled to run for 10 days between 29 April to 8 May 2010.</p> <p>Since 2007 the LIDF has worked to ensure that London is host to exciting, diverse, challenging and inspiring films from every corner of the globe. Not only does the Festival showcase around 90 films each year, it is also dedicated to what it calls ‘conversations in film’. That is, panel discussions, masterclasses, screen talks and live events. The films are always both pretext and context for discussion. The concept at the heart of the LIDF is very simple: To start and continue conversations that go beyond the films themselves – and beyond lights up!</p> <p><strong>Deadline for Submissions: 1st December 2009</strong><br /> Late entries accepted until 30th December 2009 with additional penalty fee (see regulations).</p> <p>A short list of films will be selected by the LIDF for entry to the Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival, November 2010.</p> <p>Online submission form is at <a href="http://www.lidf.co.uk/lidf2010">http://www.lidf.co.uk/lidf2010</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/international-anthropology-cartoon-contest#post-27 Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:10:52 +0000 admin 27@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>The Royal Anthropological Institute's Education Department has launched an international anthropology cartoon contest. The aims of the contest are to promote public engagement and exchange of ideas in anthropology and to include outstanding work by the general public in the RAI’s upcoming website: Discover Anthropology, to be launched in September. The cartoon contest is part of a series of new initiatives generated by the Education Outreach Programme. We hope that these activities will provide opportunities for people with a passion for anthropology to share their work and take an active involvement in the discipline.</p> <p><strong>What we are looking for:</strong></p> <p>We are looking for cartoons that explore anthropological topics and ideas in a comical, original and engaging way. The aim is to get participants to 'think outside the box' and be creative in how they explore the subject. Participants will be judged based on the originality of their work and the integration of anthropological concepts, rather than solely on artistic merit. Entries from outside of Britain are welcome, but the cartoons must be in English.</p> <p><strong>Who can participate?</strong></p> <p>The competition is open to high school and sixth form students, undergraduate and postgraduate anthropology students, and anyone who is interested in and passionate about anthropology.</p> <p><strong>Deadline for submissions: 20th September 2009</strong></p> <p>More information: <a href="http://www.therai.org.uk/education" rel="nofollow">http://www.therai.org.uk/education</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/call-for-papers-anthropology-matters-journal-anthropology-of-development#post-26 Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:21:04 +0000 admin 26@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>Call for Papers: Anthropology Matters Journal, Autumn 2010 issue<br /> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> Anthropology Through Development: Putting Development Practice into Theory<br /> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <p>This special issue frames the canonical question for development anthropologists in reverse. Instead of asking how anthropological theory might be put into practice in development, it asks how engagements with development policy and practice might transform anthropology. What kinds of theoretical insights have emerged from the anthropology of development? What does the overlapping language of anthropology and development mean for ethnographic methodology? How do relationships between anthropologists and development professionals affect the research process? What can anthropologists learn from development work?</p> <p>The issue welcomes articles from early career anthropologists on these or related questions. </p> <p>Please send a brief abstract to Amy Pollard and Alice Street at anthropology.matters (AT) googlemail.com</p> <p>Deadline 31st August 2009</p> <p><a href="http://www.anthropologymatters.com/journal/" rel="nofollow">http://www.anthropologymatters.com/journal/</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/anthropology-of-europe-what-is-it-and-how-should-it-be-practiced-poznan#post-25 Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:38:44 +0000 admin 25@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p><em>15.-16. 10.2009 Poznan, Poland</em></p> <p>Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at Adam Mickiewicz University is proudly celebrating its 90th anniversary of its establishment. As a part of this commemorations we announce a conference at which we would like to address several issues falling with the domain of what is broadly understood as the anthropology of Europe.</p> <p>We would like to ask you to contribute to at least one of the thematic sections listed below. Please sent abstracts by the end of <strong>15 July 2009</strong></p> <p><strong>Thematic 
sections:
</strong> </p> <p>1. ‘Anthropology of Europe’ in general and comparative perspective: contemporary research challenges </p> <p>Multiplicity of research approaches in the unity of the discipline: ‘local’, ‘regional’ and ‘national’ anthropologies in Europe and how they can be integrated in world anthropologies? </p> <p>2. Similarities and differences in doing anthropology ‘at home’ and ‘abroad’ </p> <p>What and how problems are raised? What are techniques of research used, theoretical paradigms applied and text genres used? Are conclusions drawn from various ethnographies compatible? What was/is your reading of local/foreign scholarship? To what extent you have used it and cited it in your<br /> own publications? </p> <p>3. Hierarchies of knowledge </p> <p>What are the relations between local and external anthropological/ethnological traditions in practicing anthropology in Europe? What are the local implications of global interdependencies in the domain of anthropological knowledge? What kind of correlations can be seen between European<br /> ethnology/anthropology of Europe and ‘universal’ anthropology? </p> <p>More information: <a href="http://etnologia.amu.edu.pl/anthropology_of_europe/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://etnologia.amu.edu.pl/anthropology_of_europe/index.html</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/call-for-films-festival-of-visual-anthropology-aspekty-torun-poland#post-24 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:23:54 +0000 admin 24@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>Call for Films<br /> <strong>The Deadline for Submission is 1st of August 2009</strong></p> <p>3th edition of Festival of Visual Anthropology ASPEKTY takes place in Torun, Poland between 27-29 of November 2009. Documentaries are invited from any field of ethnographic, anthropological, analytical approach to cultures and societies.</p> <p>For conditions and entry forms please check ASPEKTY website <a href="http://aspektyfestival.pl/en/submit.html" rel="nofollow">http://aspektyfestival.pl/en/submit.html</a></p> <p>"ASPEKTY" is a yearly anthropological film festival, which aims at exploring different areas of culture. The principle of the festival is to discover and present various relations, phenomena, interactions and mechanisms, which take place within a culture or between cultures. The main goal of Aspekty Film Festival is to propagate the ideas of intercultural dialogue.</p> <p>The organizers of the festival want to draw attention to the subject of cultural dissimilarities, present the audience with the diversity of human experience and the multiplicity of ways of expressing oneself within a society and the world.</p> <p>more information: <a href="http://www.aspektyfestival.pl" rel="nofollow">http://www.aspektyfestival.pl</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/gender-andin-indigenous-ways-of-living-and-knowing-tropms%c3%b8-norway#post-23 Mon, 18 May 2009 11:10:15 +0000 admin 23@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p><strong>Invitation to a Conference and PhD course in Tromsø, Norway, 30 September - 2 October 2009<br /> Gender and/in Indigenous Ways of Living and Knowing</strong></p> <p>The overall objective of the conference is to bridge current gaps of understanding in the field of gender and indigeneity.<br /> Speakers come from a variety of academic fields across the social sciences and humanities, as well as from civil society.<br /> In recognition of how academic work itself is part of the overall colonial dynamic, the conference will also address the topic of indigenous versus academic ways of knowing. </p> <p>The conference language is English.</p> <p>Registration and costs</p> <p><strong>Deadlines:</strong><br /> Registration: 1 September 2009<br /> Applications for the PhD course: 15 August 2009<br /> Submission of PhD-papers: 18 September 2009</p> <p><strong>Prices:</strong><br /> Conference fee: NOK 400 (students NOK 200)<br /> Conference fee + lunches: NOK 850 (students NOK 600)<br /> Conference dinner: NOK 350 </p> <p>More information: <a href="http://www2.uit.no/www/ansatte/organisasjon/prosjekterogsentre/artikkel?p_document_id=120235&#38;p_dimension_id=29315" rel="nofollow">http://www2.uit.no/www/ansatte/organisasjon/prosjekterogsentre/artikkel?p_document_id=120235&#38;p_dimension_id=29315</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/contested-identities-contested-cultures-and-contested-rights-troms%c3%b8-norway#post-22 Fri, 15 May 2009 18:46:28 +0000 admin 22@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p><strong>Change and challenges in the Northern European periphery</strong></p> <p><em>Final Call for Papers</em></p> <p>Multidisciplinary conference and PhD course on past and present challenges and changing condition of living (in) the north.</p> <p>Tromsø University Campus, 23 - 25 September 2009. </p> <p>CEPIN Research School (Citizenship, Encounters and Place Enactment in the North), Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tromsø, Norway.</p> <p>REGISTRATION</p> <p>15 May 2009: deadline for registration</p> <p>5 August 2009: deadline for submission of paper to be presented in the conference</p> <p>Further information; please see the conference home pages at: <a href="http://www2.uit.no/www/ansatte/organisasjon/studier/artikkel?p_document_id=97833&#38;p_dimension_id=42168" rel="nofollow">http://www2.uit.no/www/ansatte/organisasjon/studier/artikkel?p_document_id=97833&#38;p_dimension_id=42168</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/anthropology-twitter#post-21 Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:31:39 +0000 Angels_TiV 21@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>Daily updates, follow up of events and other anthropology related matters through Twitter</p> <p><a href="http://twitter.com/Anthropologies" rel="nofollow">http://twitter.com/Anthropologies</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/research-fellow-opportunities-at-the-institute-of-contemporary-european-studies#post-20 Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:22:57 +0000 Angels_TiV 20@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>The Institute of Contemporary European Studies (iCES) at Regent's College has announced several research fellowships. In her role as a senior research assistant, Dr Àngels Trias i Valls has suggested these could be made available to Anthropologists and to members of C-SAP. The following fellowships are available:</p> <p>- Visiting Research Fellows<br /> - Visiting Graduate Research Fellows</p> <p>Applications are invited for Non-Paid Visiting Research Fellowships and Visiting Graduate Research Fellowships in the Institute of Contemporary European Studies at the European Business School London. Each fellow will be provided with access to the School and College facilities including the Tate library and a shared office space in iCES. Applicants do not need to reside in London in order to be awarded a fellowship. Fellows are not expected to contribute to teaching programmes or administration within Regent’s College. We would expect them to use the fellowship for research, grant applications, publishing, organising small conferences or any research-related strategy of their own. </p> <p>Successful candidates will be invited to present one research paper on Contemporary European issues (5,000 to 7,000 words) and one practice paper (1,000) to be published in iCESAR publications. We welcome applicants from any disciplinary background in the Social Sciences where their research interests are within Contemporary European studies broadly defined. Current fellows and research staff are interested in areas such as broadcasting, ethnography, migration, transnationalisms in Europe, gender, education, policy, banking, energy management. We welcome all candidates within European Studies in these or other areas.</p> <p>Expressions of interest, accompanied by a cv, a brief description of research plans, and details of two referees to be sent to iCES senior research assistant (below). In the case of Visiting Graduate Research Fellowships, a letter confirming their academic status from the applicant's graduate school or primary supervisor is required. We consider the applications on an on-going basis and there are no deadlines, these can be applied for at any time. We welcome applications from postgraduate students, staff at all stages of their professional development and academics working in non-academic sectors.<br /> Prospective fellows are encouraged, in the first instance to contact Dr Àngels Trias i Valls at <a href="mailto:triasiva@regents.ac.uk">triasiva@regents.ac.uk</a></p> <p>See also<br /> <a href="http://www.c-sap.bham.ac.uk/hottopic/shownews.htm?id=166" rel="nofollow">http://www.c-sap.bham.ac.uk/hottopic/shownews.htm?id=166</a></p> <p>Further updates will be released at:<br /> <a href="http://twitter.com/Anthropologies" rel="nofollow">http://twitter.com/Anthropologies</a><br /> and<br /> <a href="http://twitter.com/iCES_EBSLondon" rel="nofollow">http://twitter.com/iCES_EBSLondon</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/2-visiting-fellowships-freiburg-germany#post-19 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:32:12 +0000 admin 19@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>The PhD research group (Graduiertenkolleg) <strong>„FRIENDS, PATRONS, CLIENTS. The practice and semantics of friendship and patronage in comparative historical and anthropological perspective”</strong> at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft offers two visiting fellowships: </p> <p>1 for the period 1st November 2009 to 28th February. 2010, </p> <p>1 for the period 1st May to 31st July 2010. </p> <p>The fellows will receive 3,500 Euro (gross) per month. He or she should be able to take part in academic discussions in German (that is applicants should at least have a good passive knowledge of the German language next to a good knowledge of English). The fellow must be present in Freiburg during the period in question and should provide the Ph. D. students with advice and guidance on their work. He or she should have recent experience with a research project related to the subject of the research group (Friendship and Patronage) or should currently be working on such a project. </p> <p>The following disciplines participate in the research group: history (from ancient to contemporary history, including Chinese and Eastern European history), philosophy, sociology, political science, and anthropology (Ethnologie). Fellows should hold a Ph.D. in one of the above mentioned subjects. </p> <p>Applications should include a CV, a list of publications, a summary (ca. 10 pages) of the research project which the applicant is presently involved in, copies of all relevant academic certificates (MA, Ph. D. etc.) and two letters of recommendation which should be sent directly to the chair of the research group. The deadline for applications is <strong>30th April 2009</strong>. Applications should be addressed to the chair of the research group: </p> <p>Prof. Dr. Ronald G. Asch<br /> Historisches Seminar<br /> Universität Freiburg<br /> Werthmannplatz KG IV<br /> 79085 Freiburg i.Br.<br /> Germany </p> <p>You will obtain further information at <a href="http://www.grk-freundschaft.uni-freiburg.de" rel="nofollow">http://www.grk-freundschaft.uni-freiburg.de</a> or by sending an email to Prof. Dr. Ronald G. Asch (ronald.g.asch (@) geschichte.uni-freiburg.de) or Mr. Michael Strauss (michael.strauss (@) geschichte.uni-freiburg.de), the coordinator of the project. </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/8-phd-research-scholarships-freiburg-germany#post-18 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:28:52 +0000 admin 18@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>The PhD research group (DFG-Graduiertenkolleg) <strong>“FRIENDS, PATRONS, CLIENTS. The practice and semantics of friendship and patronage in comparative historical and anthropological perspective” </strong> of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft offers eight research grants for PhD students, to run from <strong>1st June 2009</strong> initially for two years. The grants can be extended for one further year if sufficient progress has been made in the research. PhD students will receive EUR 1000,-- per month and EUR 100,-- for expenses. </p> <p>The PhD research group comprises the following disciplines: </p> <p>Ancient History, History (Medieval, Early Modern and Modern including the History of Eastern Europe and Imperial China), philosophy, sociology, political science and social and cultural anthropology. Candidates from related disciplines such as historical anthropology, gender studies and modern literature are also encouraged to apply. </p> <p>Candidates are expected to have a degree on Masters level, and should have achieved marks above average. Applications should include a CV, academic certificates, a proposal of the PhD thesis, and two references to be sent directly to the chair of the group: </p> <p>Prof. Dr. Ronald G. Asch<br /> Historisches Seminar<br /> Universität Freiburg<br /> Werthmannplatz KG IV<br /> 79085 Freiburg i. Br.<br /> Germany </p> <p>Applications close <strong>13th April 2009</strong>. Further information is available at <a href="http://www.grk-freundschaft.uni-freiburg.de" rel="nofollow">http://www.grk-freundschaft.uni-freiburg.de</a> or e-mail to michael.strauss (@) geschichte.uni-freiburg.de (coordinator) or ronald.g.asch (@) geschichte.uni-freiburg.de (speaker). </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/call-for-films-%e2%80%93-ethnocineca-2009-in-vienna#post-17 Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:11:47 +0000 admin 17@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>Dear Friends,</p> <p>the ETHNOCINECA is a film exhibition in the city of Vienna with a focus on anthropological themes and topics. The Ethnographic and Documentary Filmfest Vienna will be held in the KosmosTheater from 20 - 23 May 2009 </p> <p>We therefore wanted to invite you to send us your contributions or to forward the call for films to interested film makers, students and scientists.</p> <p>You can find more information in the entry form, which you can download under the following link:<br /> <a href="http://www.ethnocineca.at/downloads/CallForFilms/CallforFilms_Ethnocineca2009_English.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.ethnocineca.at/downloads/CallForFilms/CallforFilms_Ethnocineca2009_English.pdf</a></p> <p>If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us.</p> <p>ETHNOCINECA<br /> MASN (Moving Anthropology Social Network - Austria)<br /> Kultur- und Sozialanthropologische Kompetenzzentrum und Vernetzungsbüro<br /> Schottengasse 3a/1/59<br /> 1010 Wien</p> <p>office (AT) ethnocineca.at<br /> <a href="http://www.ethnocineca.at" rel="nofollow">http://www.ethnocineca.at</a><br /> <a href="http://www.myspace.com/ethnocineca" rel="nofollow">http://www.myspace.com/ethnocineca</a><br /> <a href="http://www.masn-austria.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.masn-austria.org</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/engaging-anthropology-in-development-and-social-change-practices-discourses-an#post-16 Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:21:16 +0000 admin 16@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>The APAD (the Euro-African Association for the Anthropology of Social Change and Development) conference will be held from 20-23 January 2010 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.</p> <p>Central questions that conference participants could address are: What are the prospects for engaging anthropology in major challenges of poverty, inequality, corruption, social fragmentation, violence and ethnic tensions? How and when should anthropologists be actively involved in development efforts, and political jumbles? What are the responsibilities of anthropology in studying social change? How can anthropology engage in public debate and development policy?</p> <p>The conference will be organised around the following axes:</p> <p>- Anthropology and the ethics of engagement: Development, politics and cultural exchange</p> <p>- Setting the agenda in engaged research: Anthropology on public services, media, democratisation, decentralisation, and gender</p> <p>- Grassroots participation and personal engagement: Anthropologists straddling between the public and the private</p> <p>- Narratives of development: Integrating anthropology and history</p> <p>- Anthropological methods in development: Ethnography, participation and the promotion of social change</p> <p>- Anthropological data and development agencies: Combining research and development work</p> <p>- Public anthropology: Engaging anthropology in public debate, policy and politics</p> <p>More information <a href="http://sociolingo.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/cfp-apad-conference-ouagadougou-2010/" rel="nofollow">http://sociolingo.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/cfp-apad-conference-ouagadougou-2010/</a> </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/patterns-in-voluntary-associations#post-15 Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:31:22 +0000 mbeleck 15@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>People of all cultures, all conditions, and all dispositions form associations. Commenting the forming of associations among Americans about two hundred years ago de Tocqueville affirmed that Americans make associations to found seminaries, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner he averred, they found hospitals and schools (1966).<br /> If it is proposed to inculcate some truth, or foster some feeling by the encouragement of a great example de Tocqueville continued, associations form a society. Voluntary associations are any kind of formal organisation in which membership is voluntary.</p> <p>General Considerations<br /> He was quasi-permanently host to a number of persons, sometimes of entire households who had just moved into the city. Among them were kinsmen in the widest sense of the term: but sometimes they were just people who hailed from the same country as himself or spoke a language which was related to his mother tongue and of which he had some knowledge. Those who had relatives in the city before they came moved away to live with them when they found them. Otherwise, as it was the case for those who had come with specific plans of relocation, this first home was just a station on the way for a short period. There were also occasional visitors of individuals who had known him before he relocated in the city: they paid him a visit out of courtesy, for instance, or to seek for assistance on some particular issue. Among these “guests” are girls and boys, young men and women, and sometimes the not-so-young. The ones would have been sent to the city to join some city resident relatives, perhaps for the purpose of school and such other needs; the others, on their own probably have gone to the city to try their trade, or in some function such as functionaries in various institutions who have to relocate. Some others still might have been attracted to the city by its rumoured glamour.<br /> This was the situation of a typical city resident of some stature; a man of some success in business; a civil servant in the intermediate or upper range of monthly income; some upper generation settler. In any of the cases our statement refers to a non-autochthon in the city.<br /> It may arise that a number of persons who hail from the same country think of periodical assembly. In repeated encounters with one another the question would be considered. If there were no existing association which is sufficiently concerned with issues which matter most for them as a group, more individuals would be acquainted with this fact. An association in the formal sense would arise when at a more or less formal first meeting, specifics on its nature, objectives and mechanism of functioning are considered and decided. </p> <p>Perspective on the Concept of Ethnicity<br /> Anthropologists have demonstrated a readiness to critically re-examine popular but misleading concepts such as the “tribe,” for concepts are not only crucial structure and dynamic elements of theoretical systems but also tools for fact gathering. If they are not sufficiently discriminating, data miss-gathering is inevitable.<br /> The term “tribe” has been mostly used to designate a grouping of people who share the same customs, generally speak the same language and inhabit a specific territory. Also, the term “ethnic group” – a less specifiable entity less suggestive of territoriality but with an addition in relation to the attitude of the individuals, an awareness of participation in the same collective identity – would be an equally appropriate term. An ethnic group is a self-perceived group of people who hold a common set of traditions not shared by others with whom they are in contact. Such traditions typically include “folk” religious beliefs and practices, language, a sense of historical continuity, and common ancestry or place of origin. The group’s actual history often trails off into legend or mythology, which includes some concept of an unbroken biological continuity, sometimes regarded as giving special characteristics to the group. Endogamy is usual although various patterns of initiating outsiders into the ethnic group are developed in such a way that they do not disrupt the sense of genealogical continuity. Some of the elements which characterize ethnic membership may seem to characterize lineage group or caste membership. A lineage group or caste perceived itself as an interdependent unit of a society. Members of an ethnic group cling to a sense of having been an independent people, in origin at least, whatever the special role they may have collectively come to play in a pluralist society.<br /> In the study of ethnicity the social anthropologist looks at relationships between groups which see themselves, and are considered by others to be culturally distinctive. He is interested in the ways in which sentiments and ideas associated with ethnicity are expressed in everyday life.<br /> In this paper we propose a consideration of associations in which the primary condition for membership is derivation [devotion to] a territorial community, or some local subdivision of it, which is felt to be distinctive in customs. The specific question we examine relates pattern in voluntary associations to the organisational structure of the various ethnic entities from which their members arise. We would be more specific than has usually been the case whether the social scientist is asking what associations of all kinds the members of a particular ethnic group establish or belong to; whether he are asking how many associations they form or what proportion of them belong to them and how manifest or latent a manner; or whether he is interested in all voluntary associations or only in ethnic associations, giving clear definitions of what we mean by these designations.<br /> We would call our paper “a review on ethnicity on the question of voluntary associations in sub-Saharan cities.”</p> <p>Social Structure and Social Change<br /> In the sixteenth century the question of cultural discontinuity in the view of social philosophers of the time could be summarised in a simple alternative: with specific regard to indigenous Americans it was that either they were humans and should be integrated whether they were willing to be integrated or not in the Christian civilisation, or they were not humans and should be treated as beasts. It was not until the eighteen century that the historical and sociological considerations of the question became of some interest. Also, it should be noted that whichever solution was proposed, there is a quasi- total agreement among authors on one premiss: the pertinence of comparability between these so-called primitive peoples, and western civilisation. That the former are situated, as Condorcet thought, at the point of the beginning of a continuos and rising evolution, or as Diderot fancied to suggest, that they constitute a summit from which mankind has constantly been falling, or yet, according to the more trendy and nuanced thinking of Roussesau’s, there should be a distinction between the state of nature – a purely hypothetical event – and a situation of humanity of currency in primitive societies representing some sort of equilibrium between man and nature; none of these conceptions debunk the position that cultural continuities thrive as obvious testimonies and vestiges of a linear development.<br /> In the 52nd lesson of Cours de Philosophie Positive, Comte criticised the perils of a unitary theory of social and cultural development. Development he said, should be studied as a specifically western property. Insights which arise from such study would then be used to appraise from the outside, transformation that has taken place in different societies. In agreement with positivism [Comte] Marxism sees in development an intrinsic property of western civilisation. Primitive peoples would continue to be primitive for thousands of years were it not of commerce with the outside world which for some have led to dissolution.<br /> The general view of social anthropologists on African institutions before the arrival of Arab merchants and European explorers, and before colonialism is that they were static, changing neither in structure nor in function. It seems however reasonable to assume that before the introduction of alien and especially European ways, some African institutions, for example technology, changed albeit very slowly over long periods of time. The majority of social anthropologists would agree that the major changes taking place in African institutions today can be traced directly or indirectly to factors originating from Islamic intrusion, Christianity, and colonial rule. These factors, acting separately and in various combinations have transformed African societies and continue to do so. Changes usually mentioned without discrimination include:<br /> (1) The individual is now free from parental and family and lineage control. In this regard it is further mentioned that as a result, there is greater freedom of action on the part of the individual.<br /> (2) The African’s economic well-being no longer depends solely on the cooperation of his family, kinsmen, and neighbours. This point is invariably made in support of the previous one.<br /> (3) Many taboos have been lifted.<br /> (4) The African, as a result of the foregoing reasons has become a man of two<br /> worlds trying to reconcile his traditional values with those coming in the<br /> wake of social change.<br /> In the field of social change, what has been happening in Africa over the past several decades is that alien political, economic, and cultural factors have introduced a new organizing principle which tried first to complement and finally replace that of kinship. Kinship continues to provide the basis of claims to property, but it is now possible to turn to an authority outside the lineage or clan and the village to defend these claims. Today there are a number of modern political and economic roles which on their own, with or without the help of kin groups, can assist the ambitious African to build up his fortunes. In large urban areas and employment centres, the kin groups have become largely unnecessary for his economic well-being. There are of course differences in the degrees to which these changes have reached. Generally speaking, the rural areas have remained relatively stable except in areas where governmental policy has resulted in extensive disruption of the territorial organization. It is in the large areas and employment centres that the greatest changes have been taking place. On the whole, however, wage employment often separates the worker physically from his own group if he has to live in the city at some distance from home. Then, too, there are the new institutions arising everywhere to take over the functions and activities which used to be performed by the lineage and extended family. There are schools to undertake the teaching of new technical skills indispensable in the modern world, hospitals to take responsibility for the sick that used to be the business of the family head seeking the assistance of the diviner, and day nurseries to look after the young ones before they go to school.<br /> Because of all these developments, people have become more independent of kinship ties and more and more ready to disregard them when they are annoying. In the pre-European era, the desire to have full control of one’s share of the lineage property conflicted with the ideal that the lineage solidarity should be maintained through the generations. Yet lineage togetherness was necessary for the protection of one’s property. Now since this lineage ideal has been undermined by dependence on economic resources outside the lineage patrimony, it is easier to develop social units independently of the lineage or other kin group. In many cases, especially in the urban communities, lineage organisation has disappeared completely, been redefined beyond recognition, or is on the verge of doing so, and so far as people choose to live near their kin, these may be any kin, not necessarily members of the descent group.<br /> This is what has been observed in many urban areas not built around any core ethnic group. But this may not necessarily be restricted to urban areas. If a closer look were given to the home villages of those migrant urban dwellers, it would be found that the fact of their departure, coupled with the other conditions of social change, has effected changes similar to those observed in the urban and employment centres. The absence of the migrant leaves a vacuum for which adjustments have to be made in order to maintain stability and the continuity of the society. </p> <p>Pattern in Voluntary Associations<br /> In West African City, with specific reference to the formation of associations Banton affirmed that other things being equal, the more the devolution of authority there was in a named traditional social structure, the more easily contractual associations were established (1957: 216). Restating Banton’s hypothesis, Parkin suggested that a tendency to create ethnic associations relates to the absence of specialised authority roles in the traditional system and relatively strong persistence of affective kinship relationships in the city; whereas, when kin relationships are looser knots, less restrictive, and more open to choice, with more reliance on traditionally based but continuing system of full-time chiefs, there is less the tendency to form associations (1969). This would not hold generally though for it omits some crucial factors, such as distance from [between] rural home and place of urban settlement [employment]. It would rather be reasonable to suggest quite simply that other things being equal [such as distance factor], the social structure of an ethnic group in its home area is one of the major determinants of the type of ethnic associations which its members form when they are away from home.<br /> Among the Igbo [of southeastern Nigeria], the presence of age-based groupings and competitive title-taking is a given [primitive characteristic]. It however does not appear that traditional age organisation has had a very direct influence upon the immigrant Igbo associations, though it may strengthen the use of elders as patrons and etiquette between elders and juniors within the association. But competitive title-taking still provides a mechanism whereby Igbo people abroad reintegrate themselves at home by maintaining and often raising their status in this way. In so far as title-taking integrates personal ambition with the conferring of benefits upon one’s home group and thereby the competitive boosting of each articulated level of grouping to which one belongs, title-taking and ethnic associations become mutually reinforcing influences among the Igbo abroad, further manifested in the construction of ostentatious residences back home, the giving of scholarships for higher education of home boys abroad, and improvement of health, education, and welfare services generally. All these social activities minister both to the advancement and status renown of the individuals who pioneer them and to the well-being of the recipients, both aspects furthering the competitive standing of the group in relation to its rival coordinates at each level, from minor lineage to major lineage and clan, from corresponding village to village group or cluster, to town, district, region or province and ultimately the Igbo nation as a whole represented by the local branch of the Igbo nation (1965: Coleman, 333-41). The higher the level of membership grouping at which leadership, boosting, and welfare promotion occur, the higher the prestige and status to be gained in the process.<br /> What are referred to as “clan” unions began to form in the 1930s, and by 1944, more inclusive associations such as the Mbaise Union appeared (Smock,1965). Within the Igbo State Union were regionally defined branches such as the Western Igbo Union [also in Lagos, Ibadan, and in Kaduna] and in each case within the regionally defined branches were several lower segmentary levels of branches based on the rural solidarity of more or less territorially inclusive districts, “ towns,” village clusters, villages and clans or lineages (Okonja, 1968). The precise nature of the rural solidarities reflected in the different levels of the Igbo Union is not reported but from all that has been written on the Igbo, it would appear that the influences of localised agnatic groupings was eminently important.<br /> The associations and their activities have become fundamental to Igbo social life, so fundamental that, while technically they are regarded as voluntary associations in which membership is achieved by personal choice and not by ascription, such membership none the less appears to have become almost universal and, in effect, compulsory.<br /> There has been a dialectical process whereby traditional structures at home were interpreted and transformed to the furtherance of new functions abroad, later feeding back home with the establishment at home of the organisation created abroad, thus by a double transformation regenerating the life of the home communities.<br /> Never before had the Igbo been represented by an organisation claiming to speak for them as a whole until these associations appeared. The first appeared abroad, not at home, in the foreign cities to which the migrants had gone to work, not in the cities of their homelands. It was at a later stage that the associations formed branches to promote welfare and achievement in their home communities. Apart from the traditional structure, the type of administration experienced at the hands of colonial and now national governments has largely determined the pattern of transformation of traditional institutions; the form, length and intensity of Christian missionary activity and school education are other factors of the same type.<br /> The major external factors are: the degree and intensity of involvement in migrant labour; how near or how far from home the place of employment is; the type of occupation, skilled or unskilled, or commercial or professional, and how, if at all, these relate to traditional occupations; further related aspects are the brevity or duration of urban involvement for the type of person in question, thus how many of each ethnic group are present in the place of employment and for how long, with wives or families or not, and the phase of transformation of the home society and the housing, and land and employment policy involved.<br /> The host-migrant polarity although acknowledged as an “ideal-type” rather far removed from the empirical facts as a whole and therefore “necessarily crude” does draw attention to important differences of traditional authority systems; attitude towards women, right of paternity, bride wealth, interethnic marriage, and ideology of brotherhood.<br /> The Yoruba, clearly a “host” people in their cities of southern Nigeria and Dahomey [the modern République Du Bénin], have formed many strong associations of ethnic type in cities which are both very distant from their homes and also in foreign countries such as in Niamey [République Du Niger], and in Freetown [Republic of Sierra Leone], not to speak of the formation of Egbe Omo Oduduwa in London [Great Britain] (Bernes, 1969: 167-169). Bernes sees it as directly derived from institutions of Yoruba society, but there is no clear exposition on this point. In Feetown, Yoruba ethnic organisation has for along time reflected rivalry between orthodox Muslims focused upon the mosque and non-Muslims focused upon the egungun society, which in this context falls into the pattern of secret societies characteristic of that part of West Africa (Banton, 1957).<br /> Where the members are few, people necessarily select the level of identity which enables them to unite for mutual support. It has been plausibly held that lack of such associations in Apartheid South Africa was due to the pervasive racial cleavage between exploiting power-holding Whites and exploited, power-deprived natives. It should however be noted that at Windoek [in South West Africa as part of the Apartheid system of South Africa now Namibia], Africans were actually required by the German colonial administration to live in ethnic quarters and be ethnically represented. The situation was so entrenched that it continued up to the date of independence. Thus it can be said that while the system of Apartheid tended to obliterate ethnic cleavages among natives, it was possible for ethnic divisions imposed on the city by residential and administrative policy of the superior power that hoped to be. In many other instances other institutions, traditional or transitional perform some or the same tasks and meet some or the same needs, so that strictly ethic associations in the form we have been considering are not created.<br /> In the strict sense, localised polysegmentary lineage cannot possibly be transformed from a rural to an urban setting. Rural lineage structure cannot be directly transferred, but its members can transfer their experience of it, and their continuing rights and obligations in it, into a new organisation which reflects distinctive characteristics of old, while encompassing some new objectives, being manipulated by new interests and factions in the urban situation and resting on voluntary rather than on ascribed membership. Other institutions and types of relationships, which are neither strictly localised nor ascriptive, are much more easily transferred without radical translation, as seems to be the case with patron-client ties, cult groups or secret societies. Even where such other directly transferable institutions do not provide a complete alternative, they may provide a partial one to many though not all people, as do all the other forms of association based on specialised roles, often in addition to specific ethnic identity, such as credit groups like the Yoruba esusu, craft organisations and unions of trade and market women, labour unions, or political parties. However, the more specialised the role base, the more likely the members are to be either thoroughly committed to permanent urban life or much higher status than those who form the rank and file of ethnic associations, even though some leaders of the latter may be much of higher status. At the same time, the more specialised the role interest, the more the organisation is the product and preserve of high status and exceptional people. At this point, the distinction between ethnic and non-ethnic associations may seem arbitrary, and certainly it becomes a matter of definition. But, in terms of our definition, the boundary is fairly clear. Mutual benefit societies which assist with burial and sickness may be clearly ethnic because these exigencies are not special but are seen to involve all, especially because of collective kin responsibilities which are recognised. The real test is the importance attached to common ethnicity by the membership. On this basis, the manga’mbo dance group [among the Bamiléké of the Cameroons] – for instance, despite their specialised activity seem ethnic especially in the view of their wider goal of raising Bamiléké ethnic pride and status. The same may be true of cult groups which belong distinctively to a particular culture with an ethnic base.</p> <p>Reflections<br /> The trends we have related involve the transformation of basic ethnic bonds, and some ties of more specific traditional institutions such as segmentary lineage to new activities in new situations, in particular the transformation of ascribed status to a new situation in which its implications become a matter of deliberate choice, hence of voluntary associations.<br /> Where the traditional society already includes voluntary associations capable of direct transfer to new urban situations, the case is different – as with the Yoruba esusu credit groups or the egungun cult, which already offer roles for achievement by choice in the home cities of the Yoruba and can be transferred in much the same form to foreign cities where the Yoruba are migrants.</p> <p>Select Bibliography</p> <p>Banton, M. .P. (1957) West African City. I.A.I. for Oxford University Press, 1957. 216.</p> <p>Bernes, S. (1969) Particularismes Ethniques en Milieu Urbain: L’Example de Niamey. Paris:<br /> Institut D’Ethnologie.</p> <p>Coleman, J. S. (1965) Nigeria: Background to Nationalism. Berkeley and Los Angeles:<br /> University of California Press.<br /> Mair, L.<br /> 1963 New Nations, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.</p> <p>Mayer, J. P. and Max Lerner (eds.) (1966) Democracy in America. New York: Harper and<br /> Row.</p> <p>Okonja, C. C. (1968) “A preliminary Medium Estimate of the 1962 Mid-Year Population of<br /> Nigeria,” in The population of Tropical Africa, (eds.) Cadwell, J. C. and<br /> Okonja, C. C. New York: California University Press. </p> <p>Parkin, D. J. (1969) Neighbors and Nationals in an African City Ward. London: Routledge<br /> and Kegan Paul.</p> <p>Smock, C. Audrey, (1965) Ibo Politics: Background to Nationalism. Berkeley and Los<br /> Angeles: Universi </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/the-homosexual-person#post-14 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 14:21:16 +0000 mbeleck 14@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>General considerations<br /> In a changing world, one thing remains constant. The sexes continue to find each other troublesome and irresistible. Most men live with women, and most women live with men, most of the time, in nearly all known societies.<br /> The sex drive is a predisposition – apparently biological – to seek sexual and sex-related response from one or more others, usually of the opposite sex. It awakens in early teens and remains powerful throughout life.<br /> Some scholars have questioned whether there is an in born sex drive, and have claimed that an impulse to seek sex partners and use our sex organs is a product of social learning. However, because the sex drive is universal, arising in most members of all human societies, it has been assumed that the human sex drive is biological inheritance.<br /> While no inborn drive compels humans to act in any particular way, each drive consists of a set of recurrent tension states which impels people to some kind of activity, to relieve the tension. A drive cannot be ignored and will not “go away.” Some way of relieving tension will be found, will be repeated by some people, and will become part of the culture.<br /> The term “homosexual” is applied both to persons who have a strong preference for sex partners of the same sex and to those who, regardless of sex partners, engage in sex relations with persons of the same sex. A capacity to respond sexually to both sexes is present among humans and among many other species (Ford, 1980; Mitchell, 1981). Nonhuman primates often engage in heterosexual behaviour. Animals of many species will occasionally mount another member of the same sex. Such mating rarely includes penetration or orgasm, although some sexual arousal of the partner is not uncommon. Such animal homosexuality is often – but not always – associated with immaturity, absence of heterosexual partners, overcrowding, or some other unusual circumstance. Animal homosexuality is clearly “natural” in that it appears with some frequency among a number of species. Yet there is no animal species in which homosexuality is the predominant or customary form of adult sex behaviour, and we have no reports of individual animals that are exclusively homosexual.</p> <p>Homosexuality as a social phenomenon<br /> Homosexuality appears, at least occasionally, in all or nearly all human societies. Yet the idea of the “homosexual person” – someone clearly marked off in terms of his or her sexual tastes from the majority of the population – is only a relatively recent one. Before the eighteenth century, the notion seems barely to have existed. The act of sodomy was denounced by church authorities and by the law; in England and several other countries it was punishable by death. However, sodomy was not defined specifically as a homosexual offence. It applied to relations between men and women, men and animals, as well as men among themselves. The term “homosexuality” was coined in the 1860s, and from then onwards, homosexual persons were increasingly regarded as being a separate type of people having a specifiable sexual aberration (Weeks, 1986) The use of the term “Lesbian” dates from a slightly later time.<br /> There are many non-Western cultures in which homosexual relations are tolerated or even encouraged, although normally only among certain groups within the population. Among the Batak of northern Sumatra for example, male homosexual relationships are allowed before marriage. At puberty, a boy left his parents’ house and slept in a dwelling with a dozen to fifteen males of his age or older. Sexual partnerships are formed between couples in the group and the younger boys were initiated into homosexual practices. This situation continued until the young men got married. Once they got married, most men, but not all, abandoned homosexual activities (Money and Erhart, 1972). Among the people of the East Bay, a village in Melanesia in the Pacific, homosexuality is similarly tolerated although again only in males. Prior to marriage, while living in the men’s house, young men engaged in mutual masturbation and anal intercourse. Homosexual relationships also exist, however, between older men and younger boys, often involving boys who were too young to be living in the men’s house. Each type of homosexual relationship was acceptable and was discussed openly. Married men were bisexual, having relations with a younger boy while maintaining an active sexual life with their spouses. Homosexuality without an interest in heterosexual relationships seems to be unknown in this culture.</p> <p>Variety in homosexuality<br /> Kenneth Plummer has distinguished four types of homosexual persons within modern Western society. Casual homosexuality is a passing homosexual encounter which does not substantially structure the overall sexual life of the individual. Schoolboy crushes and mutual masturbation are examples. As a situated activity, homosexuality refers to circumstances in which homosexual activities are regularly carried on, but where these do not become an individuals overriding preference. In many carceral settings, such as prisons or military camps, homosexual behaviour of this kind is common. It is regarded as a substitute for heterosexual behaviour rather than as preferable to it. Personalized homosexuality refers to cases of individuals who have “come out” and have created associations with others of similar sexual tastes which are a key part of the lives. Such people usually belong to “gay” subcultures, in which homosexual activities are integrated into a district life style.<br /> Homosexuality is either absent rare, or secret in about one-third of societies studied by Ford and Beach. In about two-thirds, some form of homosexual behaviour is considered acceptable and normal for at least some categories of people or some stage of life. With homosexual as with heterosexual behaviour, it is approximately correct to say that “everything is right somewhere and nothing is right everywhere.”<br /> Unlike animals, there are some humans who are exclusively or predominantly homosexual. Some persons have sexual relations, at least occasionally, with partners of the same sex because of availability and convenience rather than preference. Such relations are more or less common in prisons [carceral institutions], isolated military posts, remote construction camps, and other places where heterosexual partners are not easily available. Some men who really prefer female sex partners may drop into “tea rooms” [certain public men’s rooms known for homosexual encounters] where a quick orgasm is available without the cost, time, or obligations involved in finding a female partner. Whether such persons should be labeled “Homosexual” is debatable, and we would here restrict the use of term to those who are homosexual in preference.<br /> Homosexual activity varies among individuals. Let us say, homosexuality-heterosexuality is not a pair of district categories. In other words, while some individuals are exclusively heterosexual feelings and behaviour.<br /> Just as the degree of homosexual activity varies among individuals, so do degrees of involvement in the homosexual subculture. Some share openly and deeply in the subculture, having most of their social relationships with other homosexuals. Some are “closet homosexuals,” concealing their homosexual activity and often sharing a household with a spouse and offspring. Others show intermediate levels of involvement in the “gay community.”<br /> Homosexual individuals are very much like heterosexual individuals in everything except sexual preference. A number of studies have found no other personality traits that distinguish homosexual persons from heterosexual persons.</p> <p>The probable cause<br /> The mental illness theory sees homosexual persons as victims of sex-role confusion. According to much psychiatric opinion, the male homosexual person is mostly a product of a dominating but seductive mother and a cold, remote father. But the most comprehensive research study of homosexual persons found no significant differences in family backgrounds, parental types or relationship with parents (Bell et al., 1981). The research team, failing to find any explanations in the social experience of homosexual persons concluded with a strong suspicion that homosexuality may be biological or organic in origin. This suspicioun is re-enforced in many homosexual autobiographies in which people tell how they discovered a sex preference during childhood or adolescence which they resisted but were unable to change and eventually come to accept. Several studies have found significant differences between the hormone levels of homosexual and heterosexual persons. But if homosexuality were simply biological, we would expect it to be equally common at all times and places, and this is untrue.<br /> The social-learning theory holds that one learns homosexual behaviour through the same reward-punishment system that shapes most social learning. According to this theory, if most childhood and adolescent interaction with the opposite sex is pleasant and rewarding, one becomes a heterosexual, if these experiences are uncomfortable and anxiety-laden and if attempts at heterosexual intercourse are unsatisfying, one may become a homosexual. But the punishments for homosexuality [unacceptable by law among certain societies] have become so severe that one wonder how, if the social learning theory were correct, there could be any homosexual persons at all. We also note that the increased social acceptance of homosexual persons in recent years has apparently not increased the number of homosexual persons, as might be expected if homosexuality were a learned sexual role. Most homosexual persons had heterosexual parents, and most children of homosexual parents are themselves heterosexual persons. There is no convincing evidence that having a homosexual parent, uncle, teacher, or neighbour increased the likelihood of a child’s becoming a homosexual person.Punishment and discrimination against homosexual persons if often defended as necessary to prevent homosexuals from seducing young people into homosexuality. If homosexuality were a biological predisposition which homosexual persons do not choose and are powerless to change, then seduction into homosexuality is unlikely, making punishment of homosexual persons needless, useless, and perhaps cruel. If homosexuality is a personality defect arising from unsatisfactory parent role models in childhood, seduction by homosexual persons is again unlikely and punishment is again useless. If homosexuality is a product of reward-punishment social learning, then seduction is possible and punishment might discourage homosexuality, and a rational argument can be made for excluding homosexual persons from jobs where one is a role model, such as teaching or in the ministry. And there is also the question of values: Is homosexuality an abomination which should be repressed or is it an alternative life-style which people should be free to choose and follow without penalty?<br /> Until these questions of theory and values are settled, a rational set of social policies concerning homosexuality is difficult to agree upon. </p> http://antropologi.info/bb/topic/world-economic-development-a-systemic-appreciation#post-13 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 14:06:38 +0000 mbeleck 13@http://antropologi.info/bb/ <p>General Considerations<br /> In the expanding global economy of the eighteenth century each continent played its special part. Almost useless as a market for European manufactures trade with Asia was subject to an ancient limitation. There was much that Europeans wanted from Asia, but almost nothing that Asians wanted from Europe. The peoples of Indian, Chinese and Malay cultures had elaborate civilisations with which they were content; they lacked the dynamic restlessness of Europeans, and their masses were (more so even than Europe) that they could not buy anything anyway. Europeans found that they could send little to Asia except gold. The drain of gold from Europe to Asia had gone on since ancient times and, accumulating over the centuries, was one source of fabulous treasures of Oriental princes. To finance the swelling demand for Asian products it was necessary for Europeans to constantly replenish their stocks of gold. The British found an important new supply in Africa along the Gulf of Guinea, where one region [the present Ghana] was long called Gold Coast. The word “guinea” became the name for gold coin minted in England. From 1663 to 1813 and long remained a fashionable way of saying twenty-one-shillings.<br /> What Europeans sought from Asia was still in part spices – pepper and ginger, cinnamon and cloves – now brought in mainly by the Dutch from East India islands. But they wanted manufactured goods also. Asia was still in some considerations superior to Europe in technical skills. It is enough to mention rugs, chinaware, and cotton cloth. The very names by which cotton fabric are known in English and other European languages reveal the places from which they were thought to come. “Madras” and “calico” refer to the Indian cities of Madras and Callicut, “muslin” to the Arabic city of Mosul. Most of the Eastern manufactures were increasingly initiated in the eighteenth century Europe. Axminster and Anbusson carpets carpeted with Oriental rug. In 1709 a German named Boettcher discovered the formula for making a vitreous and translucent substance comparable to porcelain of China; this European “china,” made at Sèvres, Dresden, and in England, soon competed successfully with the imported original. Cotton fabrics were never produced in Europe at a price to compete with India until after the introduction of power machinery which began in India in about 1780. Before that date the demand for Indian cotton goods was so heavy that woolen, linen and silk interests became alarmed. They could produce nothing like the sheer muslin and calico prints which caught the public fancy, and many governments, to protect the jobs and capital involved in the old European textile industries, simply forbade the import of Indian cottons altogether.<br /> America in the eighteenth century bulked larger than Asia in the trade of Western Europe. The American trade was based mainly on one commodity – sugar. Sugar had long been known in the east, and in the European Middle ages little bits of it had trickled to delight the palates of lords and prelates, About 1650 sugar cane was brought in quantities from the East and planted in the West Indies by Europeans. A whole new economic system arose from a few decades. It was based on the “plantation.” A plantation was an economic unit consisting of a considerable tract of land, a sizable investment of capital, often owned by absentees in France or England, and a force of imposed labour, supplies by blacks bought from Africa as slaves. Sugar, produced in large quantities with cheap labour at a low cost, proved to have an inexhaustible market.<br /> The plantation economy, first established in sugar, and later in cotton [after 1800], brought Africa into the foreground. Slaves had been obtained from Black Africa from time immemorial, both by the Roman Empire and by the Muslim world, both of which, however, enslaved blacks and whites indiscriminately. After the European discovery of America, blacks were taken across the Atlantic by the Spanish and the Portuguese. Dutch traders landed them in Virginia in 1619, a year before the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers in Massachusetts. But slavery in the Americas before 1650 may be described as occasional.</p> <p>The Era of Plantations<br /> With the rise of the plantation economy after 1650, and especially after 1700, it became a fundamental economic institution. Slavery now formed the labour supply of a very substantial and heavily capitalised branch of world production. About 610,000 blacks were landed from Africa in the island of Jamaica alone between 1700 and1786. Total figures are hard to give, but it is certain that, until well after 1800, far more Africans than Europeans made the voyage to the Americas. The trans-Atlantic slave trade in the eighteenth century was conducted mainly by English-speaking interests, principally in English but also in New England, followed as closely as they could manage it by the French. Yearly export of merchandise from Great Britain to Africa, used chiefly in exchange for slaves, increased tenfold between 1713 and 1792. As for merchandise coming into Britain from the British West Indies, virtually all produced by slaves, in 1790 it constituted almost a fourth of all British import. If we add British imports from the American mainland, including what in 1776 became the United States of America, the importance of black labour to the British economic system will appear still greater, since a great part of exports from the mainland consisted of agricultural products, such as tobacco and indigo, produced partly by slaves. It can scarcely be denied that the phenomenal rise of British capitalism in the eighteenth century was based to a considerable extent on the enslavement of Africans. The town Liverpool, an insignificant place o the Irish Sea in 1700, built itself up by the slave trade in the slave-produced wares to a busy trans-Atlantic commercial centre, which in turn stimulated the “industrial revolution” in Manchester and other neighbouring towns.The west-European merchants, British, French, and Dutch, sold the products of America and Asia to their own peoples and those of Central and eastern Europe. Trade with Germany and Italy was fairly stable. With Russia it enormously increased. To cite the British record only, Britain imported fifteen times as much goods in 1790 as in 1700, and sold the Russians six times as much. The Russian landlords, as they became Europeanised, desired Western manufactures and the colonial products such as sugar, tobacco, and tea which could be purchased only from western Europeans. They had grain, timber, and navel stores to offer in return. Similarly, landlords of Poland and north Germany, in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, found themselves increasingly able to move their agricultural products out through the Baltic and hence increasingly able to buy the products of western Europe, America, and Asia in return. Landlords of Eastern Europe thus had an incentive to make their estates more productive. “Big” agriculture spread,, developing in eastern Europe a system not unlike the plantation economy in the new world. It had many effects. It contributed, along with political causes, to reducing the bulk of the east-European population to serfdom. It helped to civilise and to refine, in a word, to “Europeanise,” the upper classes. And it helped to enrich the merchants of western Europe.</p> <p>The contribution of political economy<br /> [Anti-Dühring]. In agreement with positivism on this question, Marxism sees in development a property which is intrinsic in Western civilisation: old primitive communities could subsist for thousands of years before commerce with the outside would within them bring about differences in fortunes which caused their dissolution.<br /> Marxism however innovates on two points of topical importance. In the first place, it gives credit to old primitive civilisations for discovery without which western development would not have been conceivable, and in relation to which the extent of development, as it could be envisaged in the 19th century, is reduced to modest proportions: the most remote of antiquity… has as starting point man distancing himself from the animal reign and, in content, victory over difficulties such as would never again present themselves to man associated with the future” [Engels, Anti-Düring]. In the second place and especially, Marx overturns the perspective in which the process of industrialisation and development are generally considered. For him industrialisation is not an autonomous phenomenon to be introduced from outside, into civilsations which have remained passive. To the contrary, industrialisation is a function of, and an indirect result, of the condition of so-called “primitive” societies or, more exactly, of historical ties between them and the west.<br /> The basic question for Marxism is to know why and how labour produces added value. It has not been often enough noticed that Marx’s response to this question offers an ethnographic aspect. Primitive humanity was sufficiently reduced to establish itself only in regions of the world where natural conditions a positive result to his work. On the other hand, it is a property which is intrinsic of the culture in the sense given by ethnologists to this term. – to establish between surplus value and labour a relationship such that the former is always added to the latter. For these two reasons, one logical, the other historical, it can be postulated that at the beginning, every labour necessarily produces surplus value. The exploitation of man by man comes later, and it appears concretely in history in the form of the exploitation of the colonised by the coloniser, in other words by appropriation, in favour of the latter, of the excess of surplus value which as we showed is a intrinsic component of primitive being: if we suppose that it takes for the inhabitants of the insular twelve hours of work a week to meet all his needs; it arises that the first favour that providence accords him is plenty of leisure. For him to use it productively, there should be a chain with historical incidences; for him to spend it surplus work for a third person, he should be pushed by force” [Marx, Capital II].<br /> It results from this, firstly that colonisation is historically and logically anterior to capitalism, and that the capitalist regime consists of the treatment of the people of the west as the west had in the past treated indigenous populations. For Marx, the relationship between the capitalist and the proletariat is thus only a particular case of the relationship between the coloniser and the colonised. From this perspective, it could almost be posited that in Marxism, economics and sociology arise as belonging to ethnography. It is in The Capital, book one, Volume III, chapter 31, that the thesis is put forward with perfect clarity: the origin of the capitalist regime goes back to the discovery of gold and iron-rich regions of America, then the reduction of indigenes to slavery, and then the conquer and pillage of East Indies, and finally the transformation of Africa into “a sort of commercial garenne for the hunting of black skins.” This thus is the idyllic path to the primitive accumulation which signaled the capitalist era at its birth. Soon after, there was the outbreak of the mercantile war. For piedestal it needed the dissimulated slavery of salary earners of Europe, the nameless slavery in the New World.Reflexive appraisal<br /> Whether one accepts or rejects the positions of Marxism, these considerations are important for they alert on two aspects of the problem of development that contemporary thinkers too much tend to gloss over. In the first place, the societies which we today call “underdeveloped” are not so by their own making, and it would be false to conceive of them as being exterior to western development or as being indifferent to the development of the west. Actually, it is these societies, which through their direct or indirect destruction between the 16th and the 19th century made the development of the west possible. Between them and the west there exists a relationship of complementarity. Development itself, and its exigencies have made them what they are as development finds then today. </p>