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Photos and songs from fieldwork in Siberia, reflections on ethnographic photographing

Published on October 12, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Asia, indigenous people / minorities, Visual Anthropology, websites

Estonian anthropologist Janno Simm has his own website with several exciting photos from his fieldwork in Northern Khanty fishing and reindeer communities in Siberia. You can even listen to two Khanty songs.

In his text Reflections on Ethnographic Photographing, he states, that “the best pictures depict the relationship between the ethnographer and the local subjects”.

In his text Reflections on Ethnographic Photographing, he…

"Dull anthropology" – Book review: A Society Without Husbands or Fathers

Published on August 28, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Asia, books, gender, persons and theories

“Despite the fascinating content, the book is a methodical anthropological study, and thus heavy going at times. One longs to hear more Na voices, to read more stories of their ways”, David Loftus writes in his review of the book A Society without Fathers or Husbands: The Na of China by anthropologist Cai Hua. His critism reminds on debates in the 1980s and 90s (“How could such interesting people (anthropologists) doing such interesting things (fieldwork) produce such dull books?”). While the debate contributed to some more personal ethnographies (personal reflections on fieldwork, multiple voices etc), postmodernism led to some totally unreadable accounts.

The reviewed book is about a matrilineal society where “genetic fathers have no recognized kinship with children, and no part in their upbringing”. Furthermore, “men and women take multiple sex partners. “An attempt to monopolize one’s partner is always considered shameful and stupid,” Cai Hua writes, “and the villagers will mock it for a long time.”

>> read the whole review on blogcritics.org

ON MATRILINEAL SOCIETIES SEE ALSO:

Eggi’s Village. Life Among the Minangkabau of Indonesia (another matrilineal society)

Contemporary matriarchal societies: The Nagovisi, Khasi, Garo, and Machiguenga

Matriarchy: history or reality?

Anthropologists: U.S. Marriage Model Is Not Universal Norm

MORE ON ACADEMIC WRITING:

How To Speak and Write Postmodern

Karla Poewe: Writing Culture and Writing Fieldwork: The Proliferation of Experimental and Experiential Ethnographies

"Despite the fascinating content, the book is a methodical anthropological study, and thus heavy going at times. One longs to hear more Na voices, to read more stories of their ways", David Loftus writes in his review of the…

Christopher Kaplonski’s website on Anthropology of Mongolia

Published on August 19, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, Asia, fieldwork / methods, politics, websites

You can download several articles and papers on Anthropology of Mongolia on Christopher Kaplonski’s website. He is currently doing research on concepts of democracy in Mongolia and political Violence and its legacy.

He writes:

Among other things, I have looked at how different political parties confronted the issue of rehabilitation and compensation for the victims of political repression. Exactly who is a victim and who is not a victim raises important questions about identity and politics. Given the importance of this category to work on human rights, reconciliation, truth commissions and memory studies, it intrigues and puzzles me that it has been left almost completely unexamined in existing research. I thus see an integral part of this larger project on political violence being the problematization of the label of “victim.”

(…)

It is very interesting and important to me that any discussion of the concept of democracy that I’ve read in Mongolian explains the concept in terms of its Greek origins and Western theories. As an anthropologist, I’m pretty convinced that this is not the most useful approach. Rather, I think it is important not to just to look at how people respond to surveys, or understand European and American political theory but how they actually talk and act in different situations. My current thinking is that in many ways, the textbook definition of democracy is irrelevant in the daily life of people. People seem to be thinking of democracy as a form of ‘anti-socialism.’

>> read more on his website

The layout is clean and friendly, but the navigation is quite confusing. Here some shortcuts:

>> conference papers to download

>> more articles to download

>> section about Mongolia incl lots of pictures

>> his general section on anthropology, fieldwork and data-analysis

You can download several articles and papers on Anthropology of Mongolia on Christopher Kaplonski's website. He is currently doing research on concepts of democracy in Mongolia and political Violence and its legacy.

He writes:

Among other things, I have looked…

Intel is using locally hired anthropologists in new development centers

Published on August 1, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, applied anthropology, Asia, corporate & business anthropology, design anthropology, technology

RedHerring

In a bid to eventually sell more chips, Intel plans to announce Monday that it has set up four new offices around the world that are staffed with anthropologists and engineers to help design computers with features for emerging markets. Traveling from dusty rural villages in India to busy Internet cafés in Brazil, these Intel employees will collect data from weather to the content needs of people in regions where computers are not yet popular.

The company began sending ethnographers to study how people interact with technologies. One anthropologist spent a year living in rural China. With the creation of its new business unit and four development centers, Intel has set up permanent and locally hired staff to do ethnographic studies and engineering. The efforts appear to be paying off. >> continue

Comment by Judd Antin, Technotaste: What I particularly like about their approach is that they aren’t just sending Western researchers overseas, they’re hiring local folks to help understand their own communities

Anthropologist helps Intel see the world through customers’ eyes

When cultures shape technology – Interview with Genevieve Bell

RedHerring

Thailand: Local wisdom protects hometown from the onslaught of globalisation

Published on June 27, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Asia, culture traditions, ecology nature, globalisation

Bangkok Post

“We fishermen have knowledge about the Mekong based on our time-tested experiences,” said Oon Thammawong, 57, of Ban Had Bai in Chiang Rai’s Chiang Khong district. “But policy-makers dismiss us as simple folk so that they can dismiss our voices and impose their policies, which only benefit businessmen but destroy our way of life.”

Over the past five years, in the wake of the building of dams and the blasting of rapids in China, the condition of the Mekong as it flows through Chiang Khong has drastically deteriorated. Like other communities, the Bangkok-oriented education and political systems have robbed the locals of their historical roots and pride in their culture.

Local pride swelled, however, when a group of residents took on the role of researchers to profile Chiang Khong’s ethnographic history and document changes in their hometown. “Reconnecting with one’s past and understanding what has shaped one’s present is always an empowering process,” explained veteran anthropologist Srisakara Vallibhotama, director of the project, which is supported by the Thailand Research Fund. >> continue

SEE ALSO:
Local taboos could save the seas

Bangkok Post

"We fishermen have knowledge about the Mekong based on our time-tested experiences," said Oon Thammawong, 57, of Ban Had Bai in Chiang Rai's Chiang Khong district. "But policy-makers dismiss us as simple folk so that they can dismiss our…