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Music and Socitiety in South Africa – Interview with Jonny Clegg

Published on by lorenz Posted in Africa, anthropology in the news, culture traditions, language, music, Us and Them

allAfrica.com

“I came from a country that forbade the mixing of culture, through cultural segregation and other enforced laws, so I was immediately attracted to the other side. Anthropology was a natural continuation of an interest I developed at the age of 14, hanging out with street musicians.

“We are at a fascinating moment and different South Africans have different ideas of what it is to be a South African. In all of that, I find myself at a very interesting time in South Africa where there is so much flux, change and movement. Languages are breaking down; languages are bleeding into each other. Indian words are coming into Africa. Afrikaans is coming in and a new hip urban kind of verbal style. All of these things for me as an anthropologist are fascinating. >>continue

allAfrica.com

"I came from a country that forbade the mixing of culture, through cultural segregation and other enforced laws, so I was immediately attracted to the other side. Anthropology was a natural continuation of an interest I developed at the age…

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India considers historic rewrite

Published on by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Asia, culture traditions, history, Us and Them

The Christian Science Monitor

In the past five years, Indian schoolchildren of all faiths have learned quite a bit about the culture of the Hindu majority. Last week, the allies of the newly elected Congress government, the Communist Party of India, called for yet another rewrite of Indian history, this time with a broader view of India’s many cultures instead of focusing on the religion of the majority. >>continue

The Christian Science Monitor

In the past five years, Indian schoolchildren of all faiths have learned quite a bit about the culture of the Hindu majority. Last week, the allies of the newly elected Congress government, the Communist Party of India,…

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Anthropologist: Iranian Nomads Constitute Cultural Treasure

Published on by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, indigenous people / minorities, Middle East

Iranian Cultural Heritage News Agency

“Nomads constitute a cultural treasure, not a simple community, because the Iranian society can trace back its roots among them and still feeds on their agricultural products,” said Dr. Jalaludin Rafifar, nomad expert and head of the Anthropology Association of Tehran University. Economically speaking, nomads meet 20 percent of Iran’s needs to red meat, though they themselves are very content and incur little, if no, cost on the central government.
>>continue

Iranian Cultural Heritage News Agency

“Nomads constitute a cultural treasure, not a simple community, because the Iranian society can trace back its roots among them and still feeds on their agricultural products,” said Dr. Jalaludin Rafifar, nomad expert and head of…

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Inuit play makes fun of anthropologists

Published on by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, Arctic / Northern Regions, culture traditions, indigenous people / minorities, inuit, Us and Them

Nunatsiaq News

Erin Brubacher, who, with Odile Nelson, is co-directing and acting in the play in Iqaluit this weekend, says this is a play that “fits with the community”. “The issues involved are universal: interracial marriage, the concept of cultural appropriation, political correctness…,” Taylor says. “Many Native issues are cross-cultural.”

One of the themes in the play involves a group of kids on a reserve who are visited by a group of anthropologists researching traditional legends. None of the elders will talk to the anthropologists, so instead, the kids told them the legends their grandparents had told them, in some cases making them up for 50 cents a legend.

The play not only makes fun of the anthropologists, but also the kids who made up the stories, and “how a trick can come back and trick you,” as Taylor puts it. >>continue

Nunatsiaq News

Erin Brubacher, who, with Odile Nelson, is co-directing and acting in the play in Iqaluit this weekend, says this is a play that "fits with the community". "The issues involved are universal: interracial marriage, the concept of cultural appropriation,…

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A personal look at anthropology

Published on by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, Arctic / Northern Regions, books, culture traditions, indigenous people / minorities, inuit

Kenai Peninsula Online (Alaska)

Generations of anthropologists have appeared in Alaska Native villages and attempted, with varying degrees of tact, naivete or insight, to explain the villagers’ lives. Margaret B. Blackman who teaches anthropology at the State University of New York College at Brockport parts in “Upside Down: Seasons among the Nunamiut,” from typical scholarly writing to create a book of essays that read more like personal memoir than academic treatise.

” … I tired of academic writing,” she says in her introduction. ” … I became increasingly irritated with the uncanny ability of so many anthropologists to render, in stilted prose, the most interesting cultures hopelessly pedantic and unappealing. I wanted to write differently about Anaktuvuk Pass.” The result is a beautifully written exploration of an anthropologist’s life as well as a portrait of the remote Nunamiut village in the Brooks Range. >>continue

Kenai Peninsula Online (Alaska)

Generations of anthropologists have appeared in Alaska Native villages and attempted, with varying degrees of tact, naivete or insight, to explain the villagers' lives. Margaret B. Blackman who teaches anthropology at the State University of New York…

Read more