Native American | antropologi.info

UPDATED – The future lies behind: How languages reflect our conception of time

Published on February 27, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, indigenous people / minorities, language, Latin- and Central America, media, Native American

Laura Spinney, The Guardian

For the Aymara people living in the Andes, the past lies ahead and the future lies behind. The Aymara word for past is transcribed as nayra , which literally means eye, sight or front. The word for future is q”ipa , which translates as behind or the back. Over the years, rumours have surfaced of similar strangeness in other languages.

The researcher is Rafael Núñez, a cognitive scientist at the University of California, San Diego. With his collaborator, linguist Eve Sweetser, he will publish his findings later this year.

“This Aymara finding is big news,” says Vyvyan Evans, a theoretical cognitive linguist at the University of Sussex. “It is the first really well-documented example of the future and past being structured in a totally different way from lots of other languages, including English.” >> continue

UPDATE (28.2.05):
Anthropologist Kerim Friedman writes “I can’t understand the fuss being made over the Aymara people living in the Andes who supposedly have a unique spacial conception of time. My guess is that this is simply another example of reporters mangling academic research in order to make the story more exciting.” >> continue

Laura Spinney, The Guardian

“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…

Germans as Indians: Ethnographic images explore an unsettling cultural exchange

Published on November 12, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, art, Europe, indigenous people / minorities, migration, Native American, Us and Them

Boston Globe

Photographers Andrea Robbins and Max Becher, who have work up at the Bernard Toale Gallery, are anthropologists of a sort. They document explosions of one culture within another, which occur through migration, colonialism, but also through odder means, such as appropriation.

They’ve photographed a town in Washington that sells itself as Bavarian, with chalet-style architecture, signage in a Germanic font, and lederhosen worn during parades — even though the town has no historic ties to Germany. Their work examines the strange gaps and attractions between societies with a cool, deadpan eye.

That particular interest in German culture shows up in the pair’s exhibition at Toale, ”German Indians.” Certain people in Germany enjoy dressing up in traditional Native American garb. >> continue

Boston Globe

Long battle between Argentine oil company and Ecuadorian indigenous community

Published on November 10, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, development empowerment, ecology nature, indigenous people / minorities, Native American

IPS News

– Buenos Aires has unexpectedly become the new stage for a long-standing battle between an Argentine oil company and an Ecuadorian indigenous community fighting to defend its ancestral land rights in the Amazon rainforest.

Representatives of the Kichwa community of Sarayaku have come to the Argentine capital to call on President Néstor Kirchner to intervene in the conflict. ”Our people’s future is threatened. We are living in a constant state of fear,” Marlon Santi, a community leader from Sarayaku, told IPS.

The Ecuadorian government of President Lucio Gutiérrez has now militarised the area in an attempt to ensure that the project goes ahead, claiming that it will bring development and jobs to the region. >> continue

IPS News

- Buenos Aires has unexpectedly become the new stage for a long-standing battle between an Argentine oil company and an Ecuadorian indigenous community fighting to defend its ancestral land rights in the Amazon rainforest.

Representatives of the Kichwa community of…