anthropology in the news | antropologi.info

Haiti: Possessed by Voodoo

Published on July 7, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Caribbean, migration, religion cosmology

National Geographic

The ceremony begins with a Roman Catholic prayer. Then three drummers begin to play syncopated rhythms. The attendees begin to dance around a tree in the center of the yard, moving faster and harder with the rising pulse of the beat. The priest draws sacred symbols in the dust with cornmeal, and rum is poured on the ground to honor the spirits. In Haiti these rituals are commonplace: Voodoo is the dominant religion.

It was easy to meld the two faiths, because there are many similarities between Roman Catholicism and voodoo. Participation in voodoo ritual reaffirms one’s relationships with ancestors, personal history, community relationships—and the cosmos. >>continue

National Geographic

Hmong: An Endangered People

Published on July 7, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Asia, culture traditions, indigenous people / minorities, migration

University of California, Center for Southeast Asian Studies

There are more Hmong people today than Tibetans, yet the campaign to “Free Tibet” is widely popular in the U.S. and is internationally recognized, while the plight of Hmong people is relatively unknown. With this challenge, Dr. Eric Crystal introduced his lecture for the Center for Southeast Asian Studies on the UCLA campus. Eric Crystal is an anthropologist who has researched highland Southeast Asian cultures for over three decades.

The Hmong have had a long and distinctive history in China. Over the centuries they migrated south so that today they are dispersed throughout the highlands of southern China and northern Southeast Asia, including in Laos and Vietnam >>continue (Link updated 23.8.2022)

University of California, Center for Southeast Asian Studies

There are more Hmong people today than Tibetans, yet the campaign to "Free Tibet" is widely popular in the U.S. and is internationally recognized, while the plight of Hmong people is relatively unknown.…

The Rediff Interview/Nandini Chattopadhyay: Music and Protest

Published on July 7, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, music, persons and theories, politics

Rediff India

“I was doing my first major anthropology project studying the Baul protest movement and how it used music to talk about injustice, superstitions and hypocrisy. In Brazil too some of its most popular music and dance started in the ghettos as a protest against colonial rule and later against social inequities in general.”

“Anthropology is what I do in my everyday life. In addition to living in India, I have lived in Singapore, Montreal, Canada and San Francisco. I have also traveled extensively across Asia and Europe. Learning different languages, philosophies, belief systems and social codes of conduct are what I have been doing as part of my everyday life. Being an anthropologist is somewhat of a continuation of that” >>continue

Rediff India

"I was doing my first major anthropology project studying the Baul protest movement and how it used music to talk about injustice, superstitions and hypocrisy. In Brazil too some of its most popular music and dance started in the…

Ideas Bazaar – Ethnography and Consultancy

Published on July 7, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, corporate & business anthropology, websites

London based research-based strategy consultancy using ethnograhic methods. “Ethnographic research is highly suited to telling us what we don’t know about a given subject: it can tell us what really happens and how your product or service really fits into people’s lives. It’s good for bringing lives to life: generating intimacy but also new perspectives.”

Check their articles and weblog!

>>continue

London based research-based strategy consultancy using ethnograhic methods. "Ethnographic research is highly suited to telling us what we don't know about a given subject: it can tell us what really happens and how your product or service really fits into…

Forgotten culture: Ignored by society, black Mexicans deny their history

Published on July 5, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, Latin- and Central America, Us and Them

Houston Chronicle

They call each other negro and sing and joke about living in an all-black community. But ask the villagers here about their African ancestry, and they respond with blank stares. Around the turn of the 17th century, Mexico imported more African slaves than anywhere else in the New World. But countless Mexicans are unaware of that history or that there are blacks in the country. The Mexican census does not acknowledge them. Indians get more recognition than blacks, who speak Spanish. >>continue

Houston Chronicle