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Cultural complexity in Norway – Turning away from ethnicity as explanatory model

Published on by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, Europe, interdisciplinary, migration, Us and Them

University of Oslo

Cultural complexity in the new Norway, represents a large commitment by the University of Oslo towards research on cultural diversity. This is the first time in the history of the University of Oslo that it is being worked cross-disciplinary to such an extent.

Through interdisciplinary cooperation, the research project will be able to present new perspectives on Norway as a multicultural society, project manager Professor in Social Anthropology Thomas Hylland Eriksen promised. It is not immigrants alone who will be studied; Norwegians will be studied, too. One will look at ways of being Norwegian, and relations between them. It is of great importance to focus on other identities than ethnic ones. >> continue

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Thomas Hylland Eriksen: So what kinds of people exist – really?

University of Oslo

Cultural complexity in the new Norway, represents a large commitment by the University of Oslo towards research on cultural diversity. This is the first time in the history of the University of Oslo that it is being worked…

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Teamwork, Not Rivalry, Marks New Era in Research

Published on by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, fieldwork / methods, interdisciplinary, University / Academia

Los Angeles Times / KTLA TV

Teamwork across departmental lines was once a rarity at the nation’s most prestigious universities. But the practice, usually known as interdisciplinary research, is spreading rapidly. They are teaming psychologists and anthropologists with economists, laboratory biologists with computer-modeling experts, and scientists who study the brain with humanities professors who explore music and art.

One of the main reasons for the surge in interdisciplinary research is the complexity of today’s crucial issues. “For any problem that has some importance today, you find that, really, it doesn’t fit neatly into biology or into chemistry or into law” said Roberto Peccei, UCLA’s vice chancellor for research.

Still, some experts say, the quality of some interdisciplinary research is questionable. In certain cases in the humanities and social sciences, “interdisciplinary work simply provides a home for misfits, malcontents, those who are anti-disciplines without being pro-anything,” said Howard Gardner, a Harvard Graduate School of Education professor studying interdisciplinary trends. (no longer available online)

>> read the whole article (pdf)

Los Angeles Times / KTLA TV

Teamwork across departmental lines was once a rarity at the nation's most prestigious universities. But the practice, usually known as interdisciplinary research, is spreading rapidly. They are teaming psychologists and anthropologists with economists, laboratory biologists…

Read more

Why do we laugh? – Interdisciplinary project on cartoons

Published on by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, interdisciplinary, persons and theories

TownOnline.com

A team of researchers from several fields at the University of Michigan is launching a study of why people laugh at cartoons. Come on, guys: Because they’re funny! That’s not good enough for the psychologists, linguists, anthropologists, historians and others who will be able to confront their subjects with every cartoon every published in The New Yorker magazine, all 68,647 of them. (no longer available online), see more here: What’s so funny about humor (The New York Times / kniff.de)

TownOnline.com

A team of researchers from several fields at the University of Michigan is launching a study of why people laugh at cartoons. Come on, guys: Because they're funny! That's not good enough for the psychologists, linguists, anthropologists, historians and others…

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Emphasis on ‘culture’ in psychology fuels stereotypes, scholar says

Published on by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, culture traditions, interdisciplinary, journal articles / papers, persons and theories, Us and Them

Currents online, University of California

In an invited lead article in the current issue of the influential journal Human Development, UCSC psychology professor Per Gjerde challenges his colleagues to reconsider popular ideas about the role of culture in human development.

Much of the trouble stems from the use of nations as proxies for cultural units, said Gjerde. Notions of culture are linked to national boundaries and geographical areas, like “East” and “West,” fueling generalizations about “American individualism” and “Asian collectivism,” said Gjerde.

Gjerde is critical of the fieldwork that forms the basis for most notions of culture, saying it has been conducted in “limited and bounded social contexts” and that the fixation on groups has obscured the exploration of variation and complexity within and between human beings.

Gjerde’s model would take a more interdisciplinary approach to the study of culture, incorporating the writings of anthropology and other fields, and it would consider the influence of power, coercion, and class differences on individual psychological development. >>continue

Currents online, University of California

In an invited lead article in the current issue of the influential journal Human Development, UCSC psychology professor Per Gjerde challenges his colleagues to reconsider popular ideas about the role of culture in human development.

Much of…

Read more