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Music and Socitiety in South Africa – Interview with Jonny Clegg

allAfrica.com

“I came from a country that forbade the mixing of culture, through cultural segregation and other enforced laws, so I was immediately attracted to the other side. Anthropology was a natural continuation of an interest I developed at the age of 14, hanging out with street musicians.

“We are at a fascinating moment and different South Africans have different ideas of what it is to be a South African. In all of that, I find myself at a very interesting time in South Africa where there is so much flux, change and movement. Languages are breaking down; languages are bleeding into each other. Indian words are coming into Africa. Afrikaans is coming in and a new hip urban kind of verbal style. All of these things for me as an anthropologist are fascinating. >>continue

allAfrica.com

"I came from a country that forbade the mixing of culture, through cultural segregation and other enforced laws, so I was immediately attracted to the other side. Anthropology was a natural continuation of an interest I developed at the age…

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Study examines how Inuit coped with contact

CBC North News

A unique anthropology project is under way in Holman – part of a growing trend to try to understand history from an Aboriginal perspective. Anthropologist Don Johnson is studying the adaptations Copper Inuit made after Europeans arrived in the Arctic. He says in some ways his job is to re-write history – in this case, from the Copper Inuit perspective. >>continue (Link updated)

CBC North News

A unique anthropology project is under way in Holman – part of a growing trend to try to understand history from an Aboriginal perspective. Anthropologist Don Johnson is studying the adaptations Copper Inuit made after Europeans arrived in…

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India considers historic rewrite

The Christian Science Monitor

In the past five years, Indian schoolchildren of all faiths have learned quite a bit about the culture of the Hindu majority. Last week, the allies of the newly elected Congress government, the Communist Party of India, called for yet another rewrite of Indian history, this time with a broader view of India’s many cultures instead of focusing on the religion of the majority. >>continue

The Christian Science Monitor

In the past five years, Indian schoolchildren of all faiths have learned quite a bit about the culture of the Hindu majority. Last week, the allies of the newly elected Congress government, the Communist Party of India,…

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Focus On: New product development with anthropologists

Business Europe

Finding out what the customer wants can be a difficult task. A new approach that is becoming more widespread is to treat potential customers as participants in the product development process. This customer research approach is known as ethnographic research and is defined as “the description and study of human culture”. For the purposes of new product development, customer research is conducted in a much shorter time scale to fit the needs of industry.

The power of taking such an approach is that it provides real life accounts of customers’ everyday activities, needs, desires, beliefs and values; it highlights the differences between what people do and what they say they do, and as a result find needs that have not been directly expressed; and it describes what meanings people place on products and how products are used. It is also cheap as it is purely about observing and listening.

Large multinational companies, including Microsoft, Nokia, Ericsson, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Kimberley Clark, General Mills and Motorola, are using this approach. >>continue

Business Europe

Finding out what the customer wants can be a difficult task. A new approach that is becoming more widespread is to treat potential customers as participants in the product development process. This customer research approach is known as ethnographic…

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Mat, kultur och grupptillhörighet

Västerbottens Folkblad, Umeå

Mat är en del av kulturen, så även i Västerbotten. Nu visar en rapport att den traditionella husmanskosten med kött, fet fisk och mjölk inte är så nyttig som många tror. Många norrlänningar är storkonsumenter av matfett, kött- och mjölkprodukter. Samtidigt äts det mindre av grönsaker och råg. I storstäder som Stockholm, Göteborg och Malmö är det precis tvärtom.

Glesbygdsregionerna har en mer traditionsbunden kultur och använder i högre utsträckning traditionella livsmedel. I län som Västerbotten har kosten inte förändrats i takt med att samhället förändrats.

– Man äter som man åt för 100 år sedan. Man är inte intresserad av att förändra, kulturen skapar en viss grupptillhörighet, säger Maria Baltzer, socialantropolog och en av forskarna bakom Folkhälsoinstitutets rapport, regionala matvanor och kostrelaterade dödsorsaker.

– I storstäderna är det inte lika traditionsbundet. Där är man mer öppen för nya intryck och förändringar. – Les mer

Västerbottens Folkblad, Umeå

Mat är en del av kulturen, så även i Västerbotten. Nu visar en rapport att den traditionella husmanskosten med kött, fet fisk och mjölk inte är så nyttig som många tror. Många norrlänningar är storkonsumenter av matfett, kött-…

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