Showing papers in "Critique of Anthropology in 2004"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate economic aspects of citizenship in El Alto Bolivia through an exploration of micro-credit NGOs working with female Aymara rural-urban migrants, arguing that these attempts to extend Liberal citizenship through debt are undermined in two ways: first because the womens responses to the educational components are complex and not always accepting; and second because the NGOs themselves rely upon a collective embedded economic nationality of kinship and social control to ensure the re-payment of loans.
Abstract: This article investigates economic aspects of citizenship in El Alto Bolivia through an exploration of micro-credit NGOs working with female Aymara rural-urban migrants. Such NGOs operate from a basis of transnational discourses of citizenship conceived in an individualized neoliberal framework. Their activities can be understood as a set of citizenship projects which attempt to modify the ways in which individuals act as economic agents and view themselves. In recent years the domain of the informal economy has become one of the key fields in which differing conceptions of individuality and citizenship are worked on by local people the state and international agencies. The micro-credit NGOs focus on entrepreneurial activity assumes a market-based economic nationality and combines this with capacity-building in a human development model. This combination reveals much about the kinds of female citizens that governments and development agencies seek to create in Bolivia: empowered individual entrepreneurial active citizens who will take responsibility for their own and their families welfare and who are prepared for the market rather than the state to provide for their social rights. This article will argue that these attempts to extend Liberal citizenship through debt are undermined in two ways: first because the womens responses to the educational components are complex and not always accepting; and second because the NGOs themselves rely upon a collective embedded economic nationality of kinship and social control to ensure the re-payment of loans. (authors)
72 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that cultural performances could be treated as cultural property and consumed by tourists in a context of mutual exchange as opposed to a hegemonic one, and suggest that every cultural performance entails a statement about collective identity and thus the local battle for cultural ownership relates to the politics of self-representation and the position of the community in the wider world.
Abstract: This article is concerned with the efforts of a Garifuna community in Honduras to claim a space in the growing local tourist economy. Its inhabitants maintain that they suffer a form of culture loss because they do not control the commodification of their culture through tourism. By examining the local perspective, we argue that cultural performances could be treated as cultural property and consumed by tourists in a context of mutual exchange as opposed to a hegemonic one. We suggest that every cultural performance entails a statement about collective identity and thus the local battle for cultural ownership relates to the politics of self-representation and the position of the community in the wider world. The members of the community we studied articulate their desire to become an attraction, which can fully satisfy the tourist quest for authenticity and difference. Only this has to take place on their own terms, to serve their interests and to promote the image they have about themselves and their culture.
67 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an in-depth ethnography is presented of land conflicts between a peasant community and private landowners in Mexico, showing how, in their fight for agrarian justice, peasants get lost in a labyrinthine bureaucratic world, in which they create their own magic, fantasies and fetishes.
Abstract: The question that guides this article is how to articulate, on the one hand, huge bureaucracies and bewildering governmental techniques, and, on the other, a regime of rule where power is to a large extent based on money, personal relationships and ultimately violence. An in-depth ethnography is presented of land conflicts between a peasant community and private landowners in Mexico. The article shows how, in their fight for agrarian justice, peasants get lost in a labyrinthine bureaucratic world, in which they create their own magic, fantasies and fetishes. Instead of implementing standardized procedures the bureaucracy applies governmental techniques in personalized ways and on an ad hoc basis. In this context, brokers thrive. This points to the need for new ways of conceptualizing the relation between governmentality and state power.
60 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a case study on the overlapping of race, genomics, identities and politics in Brazil is presented, in which DNA appears as an outstanding player in the dispute between modalities for interpreting and transforming social and political realities.
Abstract: The ‘new genetics’ (or genomics) has penetrated overwhelmingly into a broad range of domains in the contemporary world, spawning a technocultural revolution in relation to genes that has transformed technologies, institutions, practices and ideologies. The ‘new genetics’ has not only reshaped the biological, cultural and social loci in the immediate surroundings of individuals, but also reconfigures wide-ranging macro-social, historical and political relations. In this article we approach the technocultural revolution surrounding the ‘new genetics’ by means of a case study on the overlapping of race, genomics,
identities and politics in Brazil. We analyze how the ‘new genetics’ extends far beyond the biological dimension to become an arena for dispute in which historical, social and political elements are present. Specifically, we will analyze the debate over the results of a survey that aimed to shed light on the ‘genetic origins of Brazilians’ based on the sequencing of parts of mitochondrial DNA and the Y chromosome. By focusing on how this survey was received, we will explore some of the new, intense and abundant forms of relations between ‘nature/genetics’ and ‘culture/society’, in which DNA appears as an outstanding player in the dispute between modalities for interpreting and transforming social and political realities.
56 citations
TL;DR: The authors explores how the concept of community has become the nodal point for political power struggles, state formation and the production of political subjectivity, and explores the role of community in political power struggle.
Abstract: The article explores how the concept of community has become the nodal point for political power struggles, state formation and the production of political subjectivity The ethnographic focus of t
32 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an ethnographic fieldwork was conducted on the well-known spirit possession cult of MarIa Lionza in the shantytowns of Caracas, focusing on one relevant aspect of extensive social trauma taking shape in the shadow of these events.
Abstract: During the 1990s, Venezuela saw both an intensification in the levels of everyday violence and in the ideological operations blaming the poor for this state of affairs, resulting in a large-scale criminalization of shantytown dwellers, especially young men. This production of social stigma is of one piece with the implementation of repressive state policies. Based on one-year’s ethnographic fieldwork on the well-known spirit possession cult of MarIa Lionza in the shantytowns of Caracas, this article discusses one relevant aspect of the extensive social trauma taking shape in the shadow of these events. As an emergent form of popular religion where different styles of embodiment are constantly being produced, the cult quickly activated spirits of a particular type dormant in its populous pantheon: the delinquents – malandros. These spirits, which became an instant success among young spiritist mediums, trace out the tragic encounter of scores of poor Venezuelans with the change of the century.
30 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, cultural capital and its deployment in pre-and post-independence Vietnam is discussed, focusing on transnational career and family life as experienced by multilingual women and their families.
Abstract: This article is concerned with cultural capital and its deployment in pre- and post-independence Vietnam. Its focus is transnational career and family life as experienced by multilingual women and ...
27 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that the myth of a Minuteman-Gunfighter Nation has its roots in 20th-century politics and ideology, while the real legacy of the frontier was inter-ethnic violence and hatred as well as social inequality and class conflict, which were part and partial of a continuity of conquest before and after 1890.
Abstract: Recent debates concerning the nature and extent of violence on the US frontier are evaluated with regard to the legacy for contemporary American violence and foreign policy. It is argued that the myth of a Minuteman-Gunfighter Nation has its roots in 20th-century politics and ideology, while the real legacy of the frontier was inter-ethnic violence and hatred as well as social inequality and class conflict, which were part and partial of a continuity of conquest before and after 1890. The resulting mixture of class warfare, gender roles, religious identity, political ideology and financial interests has made the United States the most socially polarized and violent of post-industrial countries.
26 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the conflicts and contradictions of vending and shopping at ground zero in New York City and present a series of paradoxes about the meaning of capital in modern American society lie at the heart of this analysis.
Abstract: In this article the authors explore the conflicts and contradictions of vending and shopping at ground zero in New York City. At the center of the analysis are the vendors of World Trade Center souvenirs, who have been subject to both praise and condemnation by tourists who visit the site, police who patrol it, journalists who represent it in the media and politicians who negotiate its management. A substantial number of people describe ground zero as a sacred space, an area that should be protected from the contaminating effects of commerce. Yet simultaneously commerce is central to American national identity. A series of paradoxes about the meaning of capital in modern American society lie at the heart of this analysis.
20 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that the events of September 11th and the war on terrorism have produced a culture of fear that will have lasting, if as yet unintelligible, effects on the racial dynamics of the United States.
Abstract: The tragedy of September 11th produced immense controversy and re-ignited simmering culture wars in the media over the presentation of these events in American schools, or what students should know. The ethnographic research conducted with fourth-grade students in a public school in Brooklyn, New York, side-stepped this debate in order to contribute to it. Specifically, the goal was to capture what children do in fact know through an investigation of their modes of speaking and writing about these events. What figured most prominently in the students’ talk and writing was their racialization of a far-away and ill-defined enemy. By showing how this racialization was also evident in the students’ interactions and friendship, and contextualizing these patterns in the racial (dis)order of the United States, I suggest that the events of September 11th and the war on terrorism have produced a culture of fear that will have lasting, if as yet unintelligible, effects on the racial dynamics of the United States.
17 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine new directions of Taiwanese social movements during the last decade, their promises, struggles, agendas and obstacles, ranging from loosely knit collective protests to the acti...
Abstract: This article examines new directions of Taiwanese social movements during the last decade—their promises, struggles, agendas and obstacles. Ranging from loosely knit collective protests to the acti...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the local meaning of self-determination in a Totonac coffee-growing population in the Sierra Norte de Puebla, Mexico and argue for the complexity and context-dependency of "autonomy".
Abstract: Policy debates are still too polarized between those who expect too much of ‘indigenous autonomy’ and those who expect too little. This article examines the local meaning of, and proposals toward, self-determination in a Totonac coffee-growing population in the Sierra Norte de Puebla, Mexico. The article argues for the complexity and context-dependency of ‘autonomy’. Several factors shape visions of autonomy/self-determination in the Sierra. First, the Zapatistas in Chiapas have inspired Totonac organizations toward antiglobalization discourses and new approaches to relations among culture, cosmology and agriculture. But, second, the inertia built up over three decades of state-assisted coffee production keeps development thinking trained on a major, if crisis-ridden, global market. Third, resource deterioration renders doubtful any full conversion to the ‘traditional’ subsistence farming called for by some Totonac rights organizations. Autonomy initiatives emerging in the Sierra are uneasy combinations o...
TL;DR: In this article, an ethnographic study compares the experiences of two schools during the attacks of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in New York City, focusing on the response of administrators at neighborhood schools.
Abstract: When terror struck the Twin Towers on the morning of September 11th 2001, administrators at neighborhood schools had to act quickly. This ethnographic study compares the experiences of two schools ...
TL;DR: The late Chandra Jayawardena as discussed by the authors was at the centre of the ethical debate about the involvement of anthropologists in the Tribal Research Centre, a dispute which pitted him against W.R. Geddes.
Abstract: The Sri Lankan-born anthropologist, the late Chandra Jayawardena, was a pivotal figure in the development of Australian anthropology. He arrived at the University of Sydney in the late 1960s, a period of dramatic intellectual and political change. In the 1970s, he was at the centre of the ethical debate about the involvement of anthropologists in the Tribal Research Centre, a dispute which pitted him against W.R. Geddes. The article draws on his archived papers, including a previously unpublished essay on ethical practice, and locates the 1970s debate – which came at a crucial time in the development of Australian anthropology – in relation to contemporary debates about ethics and anthropological engagement.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the "moment of coincidence" between the Zapatista movement and elements of the independent labour movement in Mexico, while the indigenous guerr...
Abstract: This article is an examination of what I have termed the ‘moment of coincidence’ between the Zapatista movement and elements of the independent labour movement in Mexico. While the indigenous guerr...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the relationship between Heidegger's phenomenological ontology and Maurice Leenhardt's ethnographic study of New Caledonia, and suggest that an existentialist perspective not only extends the relevance of the interpretation of myth but also constitutes an important development in our understanding of Melanesian ontology.
Abstract: This article explores the relationship between Heidegger's phenomenological ontology and Maurice Leenhardt's ethnographic study of New Caledonia. For Leenhardt, the kamo, or authentic person, was a participatory personageexisting in relationship with other humans, with nature and with mythic beings. He used the term mythe vecu (living myth) to argue for an understanding of myth that was grounded in experience, rather than narrative, and to elaborate his understanding of a uniquely Melanesian mode of Being. I argue that, as well as echoing some of Heidegger's insights, Leenhardt's view of mythic consciousness has much in common with Sartre's analysis of emotional consciousness. The 'experience' I refer to in this discussion is that of the Hula, on the south-east coast of Papua New Guinea. Drawing also on some other Melanesian ethnography, I suggest that an existentialist perspective not only extends the relevance of Leenhardt's interpretation of myth but also constitutes an important development in our understanding of Melanesian ontology.
TL;DR: The use of 9/11 has been used in New York City politics to both explain the current fiscal crisis and justify certain economic development policies as discussed by the authors, which in fact lie in the contradictions of the set of economic development policy implemented in the years since the city's last major fiscal crisis in the mid-1970s.
Abstract: 9/11 has been used in New York City politics to both explain the current fiscal crisis and justify certain economic development policies. Such use of 9/11 obscures the long-term historical roots of the current fiscal crisis, which in fact lie in the contradictions of the set of economic development policies implemented in the years since the city’s last major fiscal crisis in the mid-1970s.
TL;DR: The authors assesses the global implications and structural limitations inherent in the history/identity production of traditionally oppressed Indian communities in the Ecuadorian Andes, and highlight the writing of James Baldwin, which offers an insightful means of assessing the 'conundrums' of native identity production in the face of history's crushing political power.
Abstract: This article assesses the global implications and structural limitations inherent in the history/identity production of traditionally oppressed Indian communities in the Ecuadorian Andes. This particular engagement of history is closely linked with development, since this paradigm profoundly structures all interactions between North–South global communities and nation-states. In this regard it is impossible to research historical exigencies without understanding the limits of political power, subtle forms of domination and development constraints that are immediately invoked by and structure the historical enterprise (as well as the ethnographic one). To this effect I highlight the writing of James Baldwin, which offers an insightful means of assessing the ‘conundrums’ of native identity production in the face of history(ies)’s crushing political power.
TL;DR: The authors propose quelques commentaires a partir de son propre sens de l'ambivalence: sur la distance and the connexion ; sur la difference and un point de vue commun.
Abstract: Introduisant un dossier sur l'apres-11 septembre 2001 a New York et la perspective anthropologique, l'A. propose quelques commentaires a partir de son propre sens de l'ambivalence : sur la distance et la connexion ; sur la difference et un point de vue commun. Soulignant l'apport de l'anthropologie comme espace specifique pour penser les non-dits ou les detournements de cet evenement historique, il suggere notamment que les contributions a ce dossier posent des questions redoutables sur l'intersection entre le professionnel, le politique et le personnel dans un champ sature par l'emotion. Etre engage dans ce champ, est un point de depart pour une pensee difficile, ce n'est pas une solution. La pratique de l'anthropologie qui se revele dans ces contributions met en relation deux choses d'une importance particuliere pour l'A. : tout d'abord, ce sens du travail politique-culturel intense qui est requis pour produire et reproduire le pouvoir, la domination et la subordination ; ensuite, l'utilisation et l'abus de la theorie dans l'etude du social.