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New anthropology blog: Fieldwork on cosmopolitism and migrants in Paris

Published on December 19, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, cosmopolitanism, Europe, fieldwork / methods, migration, Us and Them

Cicilie Fagerlid, anthropologist at the University on Oslo, has started blogging from her fieldwork in Paris. After the youth protests, she writes, her research question is “more justified than ever”: What influences senses of belonging and community making in a cosmopolitan city like Paris?

She comments on the recent protests in the suburbs of Paris, shares her impressions from demonstrations against French immigration policy and her observations among “banlieue bloggers” and internet forums.

She’s just moved to Paris and therefore still wondering how to carry out her fieldwork:

So far, I’ve considered, and rejected, three possible approaches: 1) Hanging around in a (multi ethnic) music or artist collective, preferably with political objectives. 2) A neighbourhood study in the cosmopolitan area Belleville. 3) Participating in two (multi ethnic) political groups working towards recognition of the colonial era in France. Yesterday, when I asked to local (Maghrebi) baker if he would help me with my research, I messed it up a bit and confused my three approaches. It was easier when I just asked the greengrocer what he thought about the present situation… Anyway, now it seems to me that I just have to live with the information overload some more time, to see what will happen.

>> visit Cicilie Fagerlids blog “Cicilie among the Parisians”

PS (23.1.06): Due to spam attacks, comments are closed for this post.

Cicilie Fagerlid, anthropologist at the University on Oslo, has started blogging from her fieldwork in Paris. After the youth protests, she writes, her research question is "more justified than ever": What influences senses of belonging and community making in a…

Nomads help anthropologists get their PhD’s but dont’ get any feedback

Published on December 18, 2005 by lorenz Posted in Africa, anthropology in the news, ethics, fieldwork / methods, Us and Them

New York Times writes about the Ariaal society in northern Kenya and some bad behaving anthropologists. The Ariaal answer all their strange questions. But anthropologists don’t give something back. A local chief, Stephen Lesseren, said he wished their work would lead to more benefits for his people:

“We don’t mind helping people get their Ph.D.’s. But once they get their Ph.D.’s, many of them go away. They don’t send us their reports. What have we achieved from the plucking of our hair? We want feedback. We want development.”

“I thought I was being bewitched,” Koitaton Garawale, a weathered cattleman, said of the time a researcher plucked a few hairs from atop his head. “I was afraid. I’d never seen such a thing before.”

>> read the whole story

New York Times writes about the Ariaal society in northern Kenya and some bad behaving anthropologists. The Ariaal answer all their strange questions. But anthropologists don't give something back. A local chief, Stephen Lesseren, said he wished their work would…

Interview with Benedict Anderson: "I like nationalism’s utopian elements"

Published on December 15, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, globalisation, persons and theories, Us and Them

I recently interviewed Benedict Anderson. He wrote one of the most read books on nationalism, “Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism”. I was surprised over Andersons positive views on nationalism. He thinks that nationalism can be an attractive ideology because it makes you feel that you’re member of a society:

“You follow the laws because they are your laws – not always, because you perhaps cheat on your tax forms, but normally you do. Nationalism encourages good behaviour. (…) I am probably the only one writing about nationalism who doesn’t think it ugly. I actually think that nationalism can be an attractive ideology. I like its Utopian elements.”

Anderson is quite critical towards recent theories of globalisation and modernity. Despite all the talk of transnationalism and fluid identities, he stressed, nationalism is in the best of health. Newer examples of nationalism are the long-distance nationalisms of migrants: Jews in the USA fighting for a state in the Middle East, or Tamils in Norway working for their own state in Sri Lanka. Some of the most ardent Sikh nationalist are situated in Australia and Canada – thanks to the Internet and cheap airline tickets.

One thing that fascinates Benedict Anderson is how nationalism evolves along with other developments in society. Right now nationalism “clashes” with the Internet and mobile technologies. Previously it “clashed” with the women’s movement.

>> read the whole interview (Link updated with copy. I also published a copy at https://www.lorenzk.com/english/2005/benedict-anderson-interview/)

Flags and identity: Strong feelings, mystical rituals and equivocal messages

Published on December 15, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Europe, journal articles / papers, Northern America, Us and Them

(Links updated 24.9.2020) By studying flags it is possible to study how a society includes and excludes people. A few weeks ago, the research program “Cultural Complexity in the New Norway” arranged a two days’ conference on Flags and Identity with some leading flag experts from the UK, the USA and the Nordic countries. We even heard about flag burning. My summary has now been translated into English. It starts like this:

One of the fundamental insights of social science is “Nothing is just” (Dustin Wax): Football is not just a game; family isn’t just the people one is related to; and a flag is not just a square of cloth on a metal pole. Flags mark group identity; flag are symbols, loaded with emotion. The police in Northern Ireland, for example, refrain from taking prohibited flags down from lamp posts: They know that this would lead to rioting, explained anthropologist, Neil Jarman. Flags symbolize the happy union of family and nation, said folklorist Anne Eriksen. Those who question this idyll, as Thomas Hylland Eriksen once did, will be forced to rethink: As a teenager, together with some friends, he waved a Swedish flag during Norway’s 17th of May Independence Day parade. They were removed from the procession and sent home.

>> read the whole article

All papers can be downloaded as pdf-files.

(Links updated 24.9.2020) By studying flags it is possible to study how a society includes and excludes people. A few weeks ago, the research program "Cultural Complexity in the New Norway" arranged a two days' conference on Flags and Identity…

What Is An “Ancient People”? – We are All Modern Now!

Published on November 21, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, indigenous people / minorities, Us and Them

An cliché, guaranteed to be found in any newspaper article or TV show about indigenous peoples, is the moniker “ancient people”. The idea is that their way of life has remained unchanged for centuries. It is a nice fantasy, but it is almost never true, anthropologist Kerim Friedman writes and summarizes some central points:

We find it amusing that they might listen to rock music and enjoy Hollywood movies. It must all be so strange for them! But it is really strange for us. We need them to be ancient and traditional so that our own alienation can be better comprehended. (…) It is also an important myth for those who self-identify as members of an ancient people.

>> read the whole article on Savage Minds

SEE ALSO MY EARLIER COMMENT:
Our obsession with the notion of the primitive society