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Shanghai: Study says 1 in 4 youths thinks about taking own life

Published on December 7, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Asia, youth

Christian Science Monitor

A recent study revealed that one-quarter of the children (ages 8 to 15) in China’s wealthiest city have considered taking their own lives. Perhaps more surprising is that the results were made public. Long a taboo topic in China, suicide is becoming part of public discussion.

“In the area of the examination system, there is tremendous pressure on kids today, especially urban kids,” says Arthur Kleinman, chairman of Harvard University’s anthropology department, who has studied social trends in China for three decades. >> continue

Arthur Kleinman: Ethics and Experience – an Anthropological Approach to Health Equity (Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Working Paper Series Number 99.04)

About Arthur Kleinman’s research (Harvard University)

Christian Science Monitor

A recent study revealed that one-quarter of the children (ages 8 to 15) in China's wealthiest city have considered taking their own lives. Perhaps more surprising is that the results were made public. Long a taboo topic in…

Applied anthropology – A wedding ceremony in support of peace in West Timor

Published on December 6, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, applied anthropology, Asia, culture traditions, politics, Regions, Us and Them

Ingvild Solvang, social anthropologist, Jesuit Refugee Service Indonesia (JRS)

JRS Indonesia has experienced that traditional ways to solve issues of displacement can be very fruitful, not only in West Timor but also in other parts of Indonesia. Finding the appropriate traditional approach becomes a process in itself, which ties the refugees and local communities together. It creates an arena where people sit down to discuss values that are essential in their culture.

In the local community, the binding of local tradition is stronger than formal legal documents. That makes the Fetsawa Umamane ceremony, in this case, an important supplement to the legal process. The combination of a formal legal and traditional approach will hopefully lay a solid foundation for good durable solutions for old and new families in Sukabitetek. >> continue

Ingvild Solvang, social anthropologist, Jesuit Refugee Service Indonesia (JRS)

“Reindeer People” Resort to Eating Their Herds

Published on November 5, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Asia, culture traditions, indigenous people / minorities

National Geographic

Ghosta is a shaman who lives with his reindeer in the remote forests of northwestern Mongolia. He believes these sacred forests will die if he and his dwindling tribe of Dukha reindeer people abandon their ancestral homeland. Yet if the Dukha do leave, it’s they themselves who are almost certain to die out.

This, at least, is the conclusion of Hamid Sardar, a Harvard-trained anthropologist with the Geneva, Switzerland-based Axis-Mundi Foundation. Sardar recently spent three years on the trail of Mongolia’s last nomadic reindeer herders. >> continue

National Geographic

China’s minority fears

Published on November 5, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Asia, indigenous people / minorities, politics, religion cosmology

BBC

Five days of pitched battles between thousands of Hui Muslims and Han Chinese villagers in Henan province left at least seven people dead, the latest in a series of large-scale confrontations that have come to light in recent weeks.

Often hidden in the past, these tensions are now bubbling to the surface, exacerbated by new problems associated with economic growth, such as the country’s widening wealth gap and increased competition for scarce resources. >> continue

BBC

Often hidden…

New Slideshow: The Colours of Rajasthan

Published on November 3, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Asia, culture traditions, websites

Charu from A Time To Reflect (formerly “Peek into my mind”) has put online beautiful and colorful pictures from Rajastan and other travels in India. She writes:

“Rajasthan must be the most vibrant and colourful place in India, if not the world. And this, despite the harsh conditions in which people there live… Kota, Bundi, Jaipur and Jodhpur – October 2004”

>> continue

Charu from A Time To Reflect (formerly "Peek into my mind") has put online beautiful and colorful pictures from Rajastan and other travels in India. She writes:

"Rajasthan must be the most vibrant and colourful place in India, if not the…