indigenous people / minorities

Eating Christmas in the Kalahari

Published on December 19, 2004 by lorenz Posted in Africa, anthropology in the news, indigenous people / minorities, journal articles / papers, persons and theories, San-bushmen

Richard B. Lee, Natural History, December 1969

“Eating Christmas in the Kalahari” by Richard Borshay Lee was published in the December 1969 issue of Natural History. It is one of the’s most frequently reprinted stories. In the final paragraph, Lee wondered what the future would hold for the !Kung Bushmen with whom he had shared a memorable Christmas feast. >> continue (pdf, link updated 20.6.2025)

Richard B. Lee, Natural History, December 1969

Illustrates the history of ethnic groups in Russia with exhibition of trousers

Published on December 17, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, Europe, indigenous people / minorities

BBC News

St Petersburg’s Museum of Ethnography has decided to illustrate the history of ethnic groups living in Russia with an exhibition of trousers worn as part of their traditional costumes.

On display there are 70 pairs of trousers representing Turkic, Finno-Ugric and Baltic groups who inhabit the area from the Baltic Sea to the southern Urals.

The style of trousers reflects the environment people lived in and their daily routine, so they tell you more about the given culture than, say, a jacket or hat that often serve decorative rather than practical purposes, says the curator, Yelena Kolchina >> continue

BBC News

St Petersburg's Museum of Ethnography has decided to illustrate the history of ethnic groups living in Russia with an exhibition of trousers worn as part of their traditional costumes.

On display there are 70 pairs of trousers representing Turkic, Finno-Ugric…

“When somebody’s rights are diminished, as anthropologist, I have to speak out”

Published on December 3, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, ethics, indigenous people / minorities, Native American, politics

Lawrence Journal World

It seems more the stuff of an action movie than an anthropology professor’s field work. But Kansas University professor Bart Dean found himself in the middle of a violent showdown between corrupt Peruvian officials and the indigenous Cocama-Cocamilla people.

Seven months later, Dean has become embroiled in a nationwide controversy in Peru and is working with a group of KU students to document the abuses on the Internet. “My general sense is that when somebody’s rights are diminished, mine are as well,” Dean said. “As a concerned citizen and as a professor of anthropology, I had to speak out.”

Earlier this week he and his students unveiled a preliminary version of an Internet site, www.cocama.org, that eventually will contain video footage, photos and other information about the attack and political problems in Peru. >> continue

UPDATE 1.8.05PS: Their website is no longer accessible

Lawrence Journal World

It seems more the stuff of an action movie than an anthropology professor's field work. But Kansas University professor Bart Dean found himself in the middle of a violent showdown between corrupt Peruvian officials and the indigenous Cocama-Cocamilla…

New Compendium on Yanomami Language and Culture

Published on November 24, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, books, indigenous people / minorities, language, Native American

IPS News

After 15 years of research, ”we have concentrated our efforts on producing something more useful and rich in information than a simple dictionary — a book that can support the didactic measures that the Venezuelan society and state have the obligation to undertake with respect to the indigenous communities,” anthropologist and linguist Marie-Claude Mattéi told IPS.

It is more than a mere dictionary, instead serving as an encyclopaedic manual that can be used in Yanomami schools and for outsiders studying the Yanomami language and culture.

”A high-speed globalisation process is taking place in the world, but at the same time there is a revival of interest in minority groups and a vindication of traditional ways, to keep ethnic groups from being lost. In Venezuela, under the new constitution and the government of Hugo Chávez, there is a desire to do something,” said Mattéi. >> continue

IPS News

After 15 years of research, ”we have concentrated our efforts on producing something more useful and rich in information than a simple dictionary -- a book that can support the didactic measures that the Venezuelan society and state have…

Urban Legends: Do Eskimos really have 100 words for snow?

Published on November 21, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, culture traditions, indigenous people / minorities, inuit, language

i have a phoenix – Reviews by a librarian

Everyone thinks the Eskimos have 100-plus words for snow. Everyone is wrong. They don’t. In the book The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language, Pinker writes:

“Where did the myth come from? Not from anyone who has actually studied the Yupik and Inuit-Inupiaq families of polysynthetic languages spoken from Siberia to Greenland. The anthropologist Laura Martin has documented how the story grew like an urban legend, exaggerated with each retelling.”

Later, Pinker quotes linguist Geoffrey Pullum: “Horsebreeders have various names for breeds, sizes, and ages of horses; botanists have names for leaf shapes; interior designers have names for shades of mauve; printers have many different names for fonts…, naturally enough.” >> continue

i have a phoenix - Reviews by a librarian

Everyone thinks the Eskimos have 100-plus words for snow. Everyone is wrong. They don't. In the book The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language, Pinker writes:

"Where did the myth come from?…