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Anthropologist observes native academics in their natural habitat

Published on by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, fieldwork / methods, interdisciplinary, University / Academia

Anthropologists seem to get more interested in academic culture. Not long ago we heard about anthropologists studying students. Now, anthropologist Rena Lederman is doing fieldwork among her her fellow academics. She is writing a book called “Anthropology Among the Disciplines,” which will examine the distinctions among several academic fields and explore how and when those borders become important, according to News at Princeton.

In an era when academia is emphasizing interdisciplinarity, Lederman sees significant differences in how anthropologists, sociologists, historians and social psychologists approach their fields, she says:

“My topic is not conventional perhaps, but my approach is classic participant observation: I attend closely to how disciplinary distinctions come up in everyday conversations. I pay attention to how scholars in one field talk about other fields or how they might defend their own if they feel it’s being challenged.”

“She’s one of a handful of people who’s taking the opportunity to reflect ethnographically on the kinds of institutional lives that academics live,” said Don Brenneis, a professor of anthropology at the University of California-Santa Cruz. “It’s complicated for different reasons when you’re working with your own tribe.

>> read the whole story in News at Princeton

SEE ALSO:

Understanding the ‘Natives’ at a Big University: Anthropologist studies students

To provide better services at the library: Another anthropologist is studying college students

Anthropologists seem to get more interested in academic culture. Not long ago we heard about anthropologists studying students. Now, anthropologist Rena Lederman is doing fieldwork among her her fellow academics. She is writing a book called “Anthropology Among the Disciplines,”…

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Ladakh: Emmigration is threatening sacred weaving traditions

Published on by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Asia, books, culture traditions, technology

Weaving is a tradition dear to the Rupshupa of Ladakh. But the craft is at the crossroads because many youngsters are leaving in search of a better lifestyle, says anthropologist Monisha Ahmed in The Hindu. “There are very few ethnic communities in the world where both men and women weave, and that’s what makes the Rupshupa special,” she says. She was so intrigued by their weaving tradition that in 1992 she decided to do her doctoral dissertation on the Rupshupa:

In the years since, Ahmed has spent a lot of time roaming and camping in their stark Changthang highlands with the Rupshupa, studying the fabric of their life. She has seen them moving 10 times a year, observed them herding and shearing their livestock, weaving their hair and fleece, playing traditional games, celebrating marriages, mourning the dead and offering worship at their monasteries in Thugje and Korzok, the tiny towns where they have their storehouses.

She has learned their songs and understood their prayers. Her first book, Living Fabric: Weaving among the Nomads of Ladakh, Himalaya, won the Textile Society of America’s Shep Award in 2003 for best book in the field of ethnic textile studies.

>> read the whole story in The Hindu

Weaving is a tradition dear to the Rupshupa of Ladakh. But the craft is at the crossroads because many youngsters are leaving in search of a better lifestyle, says anthropologist Monisha Ahmed in The Hindu. "There are very few ethnic…

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Chronicles Women’s Social Movements in India

Published on by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, Asia, development empowerment, gender, globalisation

The small groups of rural women in India fighting for change is something the rest of the world needs to take note of, says Mangala Subramaniam, an assistant professor of sociology and women’s studies. Since the late 1990s, Subramaniam has studied social movements in India, particularly the women’s movement in India and the dalit – poor, rural low-caste women in India – as they organized in their small villages.

Her book The Power of Women’s Organizing: Gender, Caste and Class in India will be published this month.

In a press release she says:

“Unfortunately, many people in America and Europe are not aware of or know about the vibrancy of women’s movements in Asian countries, such as India. And many people especially do not think about rural women in India organizing to fight for rights such as educational opportunities as well as to challenge discrimination based on social inequities of class, caste and gender. Studies of women’s social movements outside of the west – America and Europe – are necessary in this increasingly globalizing world.”

>> read the whole story at OneWorld.net

>> Review of The Power of Women’s Informal Networks: Lessons in Social Change from South Asia and West Africa. Bandana Purkayastha and Mangala Subramaniam

>> Information about her dissertation: Translating participation in informal organizations into empowerment: Women in rural India
Mangala Subramaniam

The World Social Forum is a place where social movements meet. Two years ago, it was held in Mumbai, India. I’ve written a summary: Inspiration from India: Hindus and Muslims eat breakfast together; Christian nuns join Tibetan monks in a chant. See also “Just like apartheid”: The dalits are engaged in a fierce struggle to stop the ancient discrimination.

The small groups of rural women in India fighting for change is something the rest of the world needs to take note of, says Mangala Subramaniam, an assistant professor of sociology and women's studies. Since the late 1990s, Subramaniam has…

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Schiffauer: “Man sollte ein Bekenntnis zum Grundwertekatalog verlangen”

Published on by lorenz Posted in Deutschland, Oesterreich, Schweiz, Ethnologie Sozialanthropologie Kulturanthropologie, Migration Integration, Wir und die Anderen

In einem Interview mit dem Deutschlandfunk sagt Ethnologe Werner Schiffauer, dass Integration nicht durch Einbürgerungsfragebögen ermittelt werden kann. Ein Bekenntnis zu dem Grundwertekatalog sei allerdings ratsam, da er das Selbstverständnis der Gesellschaft widerspiegele. Schiffauer plädierte außerdem für das kommunale Wahlrecht fuer Auslaender.

Er sagte u.a.:

Man sollte ein Bekenntnis zum Grundwertekatalog verlangen und man sollte den Grundwertekatalog vermitteln. Das Problem der Diskussion im Augenblick ist, dass man diese ganzen Sachen fokussiert und zu einem Misstrauensdiskurs gegen eine ganz spezifische Bevölkerung wendet. Und das ist nun wirklich, im Bezug auf die Identifikationsbemühungen, wirklich kontraproduktiv. Der Punkt ist, dass man, wenn man einer Bevölkerung Misstrauen entgegenbringt, man tatsächlich die Identifikation verhindert.

(…)

Wir dürfen uns von Einbürgerungssachen, Fragebögen, aber auch Bekenntnissen zur Verfassung, nicht versprechen, dass wir solche Probleme [Ehrenmorde, Zwangsheiraten etc] in den Griff bekommen. (…)
Hier finden andere Mechanismen statt. Sie sind Ausdruck einer Migrantenkultur, die sich in sich selbst zurückzieht aus ganz verschiedenen Gründen, die aber mit der Herkunftskultur wenig zu tun haben, statt. Wir wissen es ja, dass Einwanderer oft konservativer sind als im Heimatland, einfach weil sie sich gegen die Mehrheitsgesellschaft meinen verteidigen zu müssen. Und hier führt zusätzlicher Druck oft ganz kontraproduktiv wieder dazu, dass die Leute ihre Borsten aufstellen, dass sie in Verteidigungshaltung et cetera gehen und sich tatsächlich zurückziehen. Und all das ist der Boden, wo tatsächlich solche Probleme aufkommen können.

>> zum Interview im Deutschlandfunk

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“Ooohhh … Vaterland!” Der russische Schriftsteller Wladimir Kaminer füllt den Frageborgen aus (taz, 1.4.06)

In einem Interview mit dem Deutschlandfunk sagt Ethnologe Werner Schiffauer, dass Integration nicht durch Einbürgerungsfragebögen ermittelt werden kann. Ein Bekenntnis zu dem Grundwertekatalog sei allerdings ratsam, da er das Selbstverständnis der Gesellschaft widerspiegele. Schiffauer plädierte außerdem für das kommunale Wahlrecht…

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Telemarkskua, bygdeliv og næringsutvikling

Published on by lorenz Posted in Kultur tradisjon kunnskap, Norge, økonomi, sosialantropologi i Norge, Sverige og Danmark, turisme

Dag og Tid skriver om forskningsprosjektet natur- og kulturbasert næringsutvikling i Telemark der antropolog Dag Jørund Lønning kartlegger hvordan Telemarkskua kan spille en rolle i næringsutvikling i Telemark.

15.–16. juni arrangeres det en stor internasjonal konferanse i Seljord: «Bygdeliv 2006. Kulturlandskapet og kulturell identitet». 17. juni er det så festdag i Kviteseid, der det skal avdukes en bronseskulptur av ei telemarksku i full størrelse med kronprinsparet til stede.

Antropologen forklarer:

– Telemarksfeet er omspunne av mytar og mange soger. Her er innslag av soger om tussekyr som kom inn i flokken, her er forteljingar om korleis telemarksfeet varslar vêret ved å te seg på visse måtar, og soger om klokskapen hjå desse dyra. Sogene skal no samlast inn og nyttast mellom anna i reiselivssamanheng. Sogene gjev meirverdi til Telemark som reiselivsprodukt. Det er utsikter til at telemarksfeet vil få sitt eige museum òg, eller lat oss kalla det opplevingssenter – i Seljord.

>> les hele saken i Dag og Tid

SE OGSÅ:

Dag Jørund Lønning: Fra palestinsk aktivisme til merkevarebygging i Telemark

Dag Jørund Lønning: Stemningar til sals: Landskap som ressurs i kulturøkonomien

Lanserer Telemarkskua i Europa. Telemarkskua er eit viktig symbol for fylket vårt, sier Dag Jørund Lønning

Dag Jørund Lønning: Tankar om ungdom og Bygdenoreg i ei brytningstid (pdf)

Dag og Tid skriver om forskningsprosjektet natur- og kulturbasert næringsutvikling i Telemark der antropolog Dag Jørund Lønning kartlegger hvordan Telemarkskua kan spille en rolle i næringsutvikling i Telemark.

15.–16. juni arrangeres det en stor internasjonal konferanse i Seljord: «Bygdeliv 2006. Kulturlandskapet…

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