Anthropological Perspective Research Articles

COVID-19 Vaccination and Ukrainians: Myths, Memes and Narratives

The paper deals with human cultural stereotypes embedded in mythological consciousness, which have influenced the formation of fear of vaccination against COVID-19. The material was collected in Ukraine in the period from September 2021 to January 2022. By analysing oral narratives and comments from social media users, the authors demonstrate the cultural mechanisms of fear of vaccination, specifically fear of death and fear of metamorphosis, and how they can be overcome. The profusion of memes, anecdotes, and jokes that people read and shared on social media or told each other became a way of overcoming collective fear. Nowadays, not only oral tradition but also social media can constitute a source for studying cultural stereotypes. A folkloristic and culturally anthropological perspective on the fear of vaccination allows us to trace folkloristic phenomena back to our everyday lives and to see folklore as a living, dynamic process that has become part of human culture.

Near-Death Experience in Video Games or How Looking Death in the Eyes Can Be a Sales Concept: The Case of Blasphemous from an Anthropological, Metaphysical, and Promotional Standpoint

Death is common in video games and one of the key elements to achieve bestseller status. From an anthropological perspective, near-death experience in video games enables the player to encounter familiarity with this uncharted phenomenon through interaction–which is necessary to understand and include it naturally in life from a metaphysical point of view–given the recreationalcommunicative nature of video games and their capacity for creating culture and horizons of meaning– not just the video game as a device, but also the full transmedia promotional narrative in which players participate first-hand. In this article, we analyze the anthropological and metaphysical components of the representation of death in video games following the German philosopher Hans Blumenberg’s theory of the absolutism of reality, as well as the case of Blasphemous and its promotional storytelling to determine how death appears as a sales concept in the publicity due to its place in the players’ common symbolic consciousness.

Akses dan Ekslusi dalam Reformasi Hutan di Sumatera: Studi Kasus di Nagari Simanau, Kecamatan Tigo Lurah, Kabupaten Solok, Sumatera Barat

This article discusses the village forest in Simanau. This research was conducted by using a qualitative method, one of which is a case study. Data collection was carried out by observation, interviews and literature study. Research departs from solutions to the problem of deforestation and forest degradation as business as usual or with international assistance through the village forest scheme. Village forests are one of Nawacita's priority programs as a strategic step in reducing deforestation and forest degradation and also overcoming poverty and poverty in national land tenure. My intension is to analyze the forest from a critical anthropological perspective, one of which is the political ecology framework to explore the village forest in Simanau. For this reason, I use the concepts of "access" and "exclusion" in sharpening economic goals in ecological terms. The research findings show that Simanau forest reform raises a dilemma where access to forests is limited for non-management communities. The concept of access is used to hide who gets (and doesn't get) the benefits of the existence of the village forest and through what they get it. This concept of access is then related to the concept of exclusion which means preventing people from accessing forests.

From the Mexican 'tianguis' to Instagram: Second-Hand Markets in Puebla-Tlaxcala.

This paper will discuss the dynamics of second-hand markets in Puebla-Tlaxcala, Mexico, from the 'tianguis' to eCommerce on Instagram. Our work will analyse the increasing use of second-hand clothes in Mexico from a sociological and anthropological perspective. 'Ropa de paca' are second-hand clothes that arrive illegally to Mexico from the United States and are distributed around the country to be sold in markets known as 'tianguis'. These markets have been around for centuries and are located in marginal and peripheral areas in Mexican cities. This paper aims to discuss the dynamics inside the markets and commercialisation through social media. Finally, we will problematise the current issue surrounding the second-hand market, which is currently going through gentrification. In the last years, and with the increasing trend of second-hand clothes, people from upper economic backgrounds have been more interested in buying them and reselling them online for lucrative means and under the excuse of sustainability. We acknowledge that the current dynamics are essential, but they are also greenwashing the market. The use of second-hand clothes is an essential alternative to the current fast fashion system, but gentrification in the Global South and its implications must be discussed.

Kekuasaan: Determinan Sosial dan Kebudayaan Penyakit Tuberkulosis Paru di Cinangka Serang Banten

The backgrounds of this research are the reality of pulmonary tuberculosis cases in Indonesia which has never been resolved since the colonial era until now, and the ignorance of biomedical experts to the results of medical anthropology research on pulmonary tuberculosis. Therefore, this study tries to get out of the usual themes of medical anthropological research and offer “power” as a new theme in medical anthropological research on pulmonary tuberculosis. The method used is a qualitative method with an ethnographic approach to describe the process of occurrence and transmission of pulmonary tuberculosis. The findings of this research are; (1) the knowledge of society in Cinangka Serang Banten regarding pulmonary tuberculosis is constructed by staff of public health center (puskesmas), as well as personalistic and naturalistic traditional healers, (2) social process, as a form of power implementation, can stimulate, encourage, or even facilitate the biological process of pulmonary tuberculosis, (3) the use of power issue in medical anthropology perspective for the understanding disease is significant as one of the themes in pulmonary tuberculosis research. The effect of these findings is; to stimulate the dynamization of theory and method in medical anthropology; reconstruct the way of thinking in the study of disease; provide a conceptual contribution to overcoming pulmonary tuberculosis.

Evidence-Based Anthropological Exploration of Lanka's People

Sri Lanka’s rich palaeoanthropological and archaeological record as well as the present demographic aspects have much to offer in aiding our understanding of the island’s ancient past and recent population structure. Sri Lanka has yielded skeletal evidence for the earliest anatomically modern humans from South Asia indicating very early settlement of the region. Following early hunter-gatherer dispersals over 50,000 years ago, agricultural populations expanded to the region with historic settlements and urbanisation creating complex societies in the last three millennia. Through circum-Indian Ocean trade networks in historic times and colonial expansion in the last 500 years, population diversification has continued with groups of multiple genetic and ethno-linguistic backgrounds arriving and settling in the island. These early and later migrants share a gene pool that connects them to descendants of today, who form Sri Lanka’s multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multi-religious society. Using an anthropological perspective, this article investigates how complex societal and biological diversity would have developed over time in island Lanka. An appreciation of deep time, beyond historic records, helps us recognize that human evolution and diversification has been shaped over thousands of years, while an evidence-based, scientific approach is proposed to eliminate flawed ethnocentric interpretations.

A New Interpretation of the Essence of Aesthetic Experience: From the Perspective of Cognitive Neuroaesthetics and Aesthetic Anthropology

Abstract In the transformation from classical to modern aesthetics, the proposition and exploration of aesthetic experience constitutes one of the major dimensions of various aesthetic problems. Pragmatic aesthetics, phenomenological aesthetics, hermeneutic aesthetics, analytical aesthetics, and new pragmatic aesthetics have comprehensively analyzed and discussed aesthetic experience. Through the construction and deconstruction of aesthetic experience in aesthetic history, the study of the key concept seems to have come to a certain predicament. This is mainly reflected in the fact that the subjective and objective attribute of experience remains unclear, and the material base of aesthetics is not solid enough. In this regard, cognitive neuroscience and anthropology provide new ways to understand aesthetic experience. From the perspective of aesthetic anthropology, the study on aesthetic experience is rooted in a broad field and serves as a solid material basis for its objectification. Cognitive neuroaesthetics explains the psychological mechanism of aesthetic experience. Together, they provide an opportunity for the study on aesthetic experience to enter a new realm. Moreover, the new interpretation of the essence of aesthetic experience will help to improve the theory and practice of aesthetic education.

:Food Sharing in Human Societies: Anthropological Perspectives

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsFood Sharing in Human Societies: Anthropological Perspectives. Nobuhiro Kishigami. Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2022, 164 pp. $89.00, eBook. ISBN 978-981-16-7810-3.Michael AlvardMichael AlvardTexas A&M University Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Anthropological Research Volume 78, Number 4Winter 2022 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/721970 Views: 14Total views on this site For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Marshall Sahlins, where are you? From the intellectual to the existential

Marshall Sahlins, where are you? From the intellectual to the existential

Carnival in Africa

Carnival in Africa

SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND CULTURE

SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND CULTURE

“The Beach is Closed, But Not to Us”: Pandemic Experience and Social Boundaries in Rural Okinawa

Abstract This article offers an anthropological and ethnographic perspective on how the COVID-19 pandemic affected and shaped rural community social behaviour in Kayo village during Japan’s first official state of emergency, April 7th to May 6th, 2020. It draws from observations and informal conversations with villagers during this period. First, it discusses the researcher’s experience of living in a rural village in northern Okinawa during the state of emergency and addresses the position of the ethnographer during the pandemic. It explores the Japanese concept of uchi/soto (inside/outside), to discuss the insider/outsider dynamics that character-ise everyday social life in Okinawa. Secondly, it engages with Marshall Sahlins’ (2013) idea of kinship as ‘social mutuality’ to consider how the pandemic invites us to rethink interpersonal relationships, space negotiation, and social boundaries, and how the latter are reconstructed and negotiated according to the new situation (emergency state). The example of Okinawa rural communities shows how rural populations can reconceptualise their environment and practices during the pandemic. It allows us to understand how notions of space, accessibility and kinship are reshaped into subtle boundaries between locals and outsiders in order to regulate access.

A medical anthropological perspective on the relationship between malnutrition and the subsistence economy: the prevalence of undernutrition and obesity among elderly farmers

Objective: In this study, the relationship between malnutrition in the elderly population and the agriculture subsistence economy was examined.Methods: The study was conducted on two groups (farmers and non-farmers) aged 65 and over living in the province of Hatay, Southern Turkey. Anthropometric measurements of 111 (67 males, 44 females) in the farmer group (Group 1) and 89 (41 males, 48 females) in the non-farmer group (Group 2) were taken and their nutritional status was determined. The stature and body weight of the elderly who accepted to participate in the study were measured following international procedures and then body mass index (BMI) values were calculated.Results: In our sample, both groups had a low rate of undernourishment (Group 1 %2.7; Group 2 %1.1); however, overweight (Group 1 %38.7; Group 2 %32.6) and obesity (Group 1 %35.1; Group 2 %40.5) were more common. Although the prevalence of “overweight + obese” was higher in females in studies of the elderly, the contrary was observed in the farmer group, where the frequency rate was higher in favor of males. In the non-farmer group, results consistent with the general pattern were obtained.Conclusion: Due to daily lives and activity levels of women who live by farming, it has been found that the obesity prevalence in females has declined below that of males, indicating that the gender-based obesity pattern (females>males) in the general population is not valid in the farmer group.

Kajian Kostum Solo Batik Carnival 2019 dengan Pendekatan Antropologi Seni

This research aims to find out how Solo Batik Carnival performance viewed from an anthropological perspective. Therefore, it can be a reflection for the parties involved in the art performance in terms of the design contained in the batik clothing, the materials used, and describe the performance used in batik clothing. This research was conducted in Surakarta City, especially in the preparation, implementation, and post-implementation of Batik Solo Carnival (SBC) in 2019. The data source is primary data. It is from randomly selected informants in concarnival activities and secondary from supporting documents and journals. The methods of data collection is using method of observation, In Depth Interview, and documentation. The data analysis technique used in this study is interactive data analysis with a qualitative approach from theory of art anthropology. adventure Timor Leste, Vietnam Timeless Charm, Kingdom of Wonder Cambodia, Wonderfull Indonesia, Uniquely Singapore, Malaysia Truly Asia, Kay Ganda Philippines, Simply Beautiful Laos, and The Green Heart of Brunei. It is based on various types of costumes displayed from various countries, and then analyzed based on the design, batik materials and performance in appearance. impression of splendor, luxury, glamor, and festivity. (2) Batik material is a heritage has undergone extraordinary sophistication. It is especially for Javanese batik has the richest decorative patterns, the most developed coloring techniques, and the most perfect manufacturing techniques compared to batik from other regions (3) The performance of the 2019 Solo Batik Carnival is not only as a festive carnival event but also as a tool in introducing the culture of each ASEAN country.

The Late Migration Period Cemetery at Drnholec (Břeclav District, Czech Republic) / Pohřebiště z konce doby stěhování národů z Drnholce (okres Břeclav, ČR)

The authors present part of a burial ground of the Late Migration Period in Drnholec - Pod sýpkou (Břeclav district, Czech Republic), where seven graves were discovered in 2016 and 2017. The grave goods were identified, by typological analysis, as Langobardian/Lombardian. The authors argue that even a small part of a cemetery with a limited number of graves can bring important new data and open strategic questions, challenging traditional interpretations. The paper aims to present the results of excavation in the light of archaeological, anthropological and zooarchaeological perspectives. Archaeological part is focused on presenting the grave units and the cemetery as a contextual unit. Stylistic and typological analysis of grave goods, radiocarbon dates and probability modeling were used to establish the chronology of the cemetery. Anthropological and palaeopathological examinations were accompanied with buccal dental microwear analysis and tooth cementum annulation (TCA) which provide information about diet and age-at-death estimation. Zooarchaeological analysis was mainly driven by the find of a mule skeleton. In addition to skeletal expertise, Nitrogen and Carbon stable isotopes analyses were also applied. The authors set out their thoughts, based on material and bibliographical study, on the problem of classifying and understanding the cultural and ethnic identity of the Migration Period populations.

Food Producers in The Peri-Urban Area of Mexico City. A Study on the Linkages between Social Capital and Food Sustainability

Small producers in peri-urban areas have been identified as key actors in building more sustainable urban food systems, but they often have limited capacities to develop and consolidate their initiatives. This article describes the conditions of peri-urban farmers in Mexico City who work with agroecological schemes, analyzing the role of social and cultural capital in their ability to consolidate their economic-productive projects and establish links with consumers in the city. The research was developed from an anthropological perspective based on field visits and interviews conducted in 60 production units located in the peri-urban area of Mexico City. The article discusses the literature on peri-urban agriculture and the contextual particularities of the case study and then describes a typology constructed based on the analysis of the documented cases, considering the objectives of the initiatives and the different types of social and cultural capital on which their activities and marketing strategies are based are considered. The discussion argues that the social and cultural capital of the production units are key elements in determining the viability of the agroecological transition, reaffirming the importance of social articulation and other sociocultural aspects for the promotion of sustainable food projects.

Biocultural perspectives of infectious diseases and demographic evolution: Tuberculosis and its comorbidities through history.

Anthropologists recognize the importance of conceptualizing health in the context of the mutually evolving nature of biology and culture through the biocultural approach, but biocultural anthropological perspectives of infectious diseases and their impacts on humans (and vice versa) through time are relatively underrepresented. Tuberculosis (TB) has been a constant companion of humans for thousands of years and has heavily influenced population health in almost every phase of cultural and demographic evolution. TB in human populations has been dramatically influenced by behavior, demographic and epidemiological shifts, and other comorbidities through history. This paper critically discusses TB and some of its major comorbidities through history within a biocultural framework to show how transitions in human demography and culture affected the disease-scape of TB. In doing so, I address the potential synthesis of biocultural and epidemiological transition theory to better comprehend the mutual evolution of infectious diseases and humans.

Wojna kulturowa między Rosją a Ukrainą. Sposób na osłabienie rosyjskiego kulturowego imperializmu

CULTURAL WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE: A WAY TO WEAKEN RUSSIAN CULTURAL IMPERIALISM
 The imperial plans of the Russian Federation towards Ukraine at the end of February 2022 passed to the next stage and took the form of a full-scale war, which covers not only the military, political, economic, but also cultural spheres. The author of this article, starting from this assumption, presents an analysis of the war between Russia and Ukraine from the cultural and anthropological perspective. He refers to the so-called the phenomenon of the “small-Russian nature” of the Ukrainian nation, which, starting from the times of the Russian Empire, influenced the perception of Ukrainians as being secondary to Russians. This situation didn’t change even after Ukraine regained its independence in 1991. Only the events on the Maidan in Kiev, the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Donbas caused a change in cultural vectors. Ukraine began to forge its own national cultural identity, completely breaking away from what was Russian. The full-scale war, unleashed at the end of February, significantly sharpened this rhetoric, additionally underpinned by the policy of cultural sanctions applied by the West. Therefore, the aim of this article is to present the Russian-Ukrainian cultural war, the consequence of which is the process of shaping an independent Ukrainian cultural awareness.

A Scholarly Review of Global Business Indications and Economic Trends: Understanding International Competitiveness, Economic Globalization, and Digitization Through the Lens of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the New Normal

The nature and evolution of global businesses and international economics have experienced far volatility than social construction of free trade since early 1800’s. Generally, trade theories investigated between mainstream international economics and global businesses support multiple aspects of politics, geography, culture, ethnic studies, anthropological perspectives, and sociological ideas. Within these dimensions remain interspersed boundless ethical values and ethical concepts of doing global business successfully. The current framework of economic globalization is examined by challenging assumptions spread across themes of internationalism, entrepreneurialism, colonialism, imperialism, and harmonization of trade organizations and agreements. Multiple aspects of globalization are analyzed through institutionalization and several ideological developments. We examine ethical standards and codes of international free trade and global economics of institutions and organizations. Global dimensions of digitization of business practices and international competitiveness of corporations are explored through themes of artificial intelligence, sustainability, automation, robotification, and organizational structures and designs. We conclude with discussions of impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on technological transformations, digital trends, and virtualization of contemporaneous international market management and sustainable development of communities.

Imagination theory: Anthropological perspectives

The term imagination and its derivatives often serve as points of departures, yet a concise understanding of imagination in anthropology is lacking. In this paper, we argue for a contextualized anthropological approach to imagination; a complex notion which has been used to describe the human capacity to mentally (re)create that what is not materially present; the creative process of imagining; and the individual and social products of such a process. We address terminological particularities, conceptual differences, and related concepts in addition to discussing the importance of methods and the poetic imagination. In doing so, we consolidate and elaborate on previous analytical and conceptual works to provide a more explicit middle-range theory of imagination from an anthropological perspective. While we propose understanding imagination as a guiding action in situations of uncertainty or ignorance and emphasize focusing on everyday processes and practices, our discussions provide a framework to discuss and compare empirically grounded findings regarding imagination.