Anthropological Reasons Research Articles

A metafísica repensada a partir da tradição fenomenológico-hermenêutica

A metafísica pertence à espinha dorsal da tradição filosófica. O termo, não raro, porém, ainda causa uma espécie de mal-estar no meio acadêmico. Aqui, propomo-nos, inicialmente, mostrar que, de fato, um determinado modelo de metafísico soçobrou. Num segundo momento,justificaremos a retomada da reflexão sobre a metafísica por razões antropológicas e da tradição fenomenológico-hermenêutica, concedendo ênfase às perspectivas francesa e germânica. Ao final, argumentaremos em torno de uma noção de metafísica que deve incorporar, em seudiscurso, a temporalidade. É em Ricoeur que encontramos indicações decisivas, próprias da tradição fenomenológico-hermenêutica, que nos possibilitam reconfigurar, num novo e apropriado estilo, a metafísicanarrativa que integra a compreensão e a concepção de pessoa em seu bojo.

Researching smoking in the new Smokefree: good anthropological reasons for unsettling the public health grip

Researching smoking in the new Smokefree: good anthropological reasons for unsettling the public health grip

Crouching or lying-down? The reason of a (uncomfortable) delivery position

Through a deep historical and cultural perspective, this article focuses on the revolution that took place in childbirth, due to the introduction of medical knowledge and surgical skills. Ranging from Greek mythology to the Sixties, this contribution analyses the social, scientific and anthropological reasons that led to the desertion of the delivery vertical position in favour of the lying down one.

Did Calvin Foster or Hinder the Missions?

[, A tradition inherited from historians and theologians considers that, in Calvin’s thought, no missionary perspective towards the New World was developed. In this article, the author first of all sets out to analyze the circumstances surrounding this established fact which prevented the reformer and his immediate successors from engaging the Church in this type of mission. Next he presents other theological, ecclesiological and anthropological reasons which may have hindered the missiological development of Calvin’s thought. Lastly, the author shows that the missionary perspectives for Europe, opened up by Calvin, can provide arguments in favour of a worldwide missionary commitment which was actually realized only in the contemporary period.]

Countering canons, confronting francophonie: worldwide women's literature in French

There is a new proliferation of literary works composed in French by women from around the world. The manifesto, Pour une littrature-monde en franais (2007) bears the signatures of a stunningly diverse handful of women writers such as Maryse Cond, Ananda Devi, Nancy Huston, Anna Mo, and Brina Svit, who exemplify this significant phenomenon. The contributions of authors like Eva Almassy and Chahdortt Djavann to the 2007 book, Pour une littrature-monde (Le Bris and Rouaud 2007), also give evidence of the fact that women from a variety of backgrounds are now making unprecedented contributions to the French-language literary scene, and it is no accident that they are speaking out in favour of a movement that seeks to abolish hierarchical differences between French and Francophone that reign in the publishing world in France. If women from outside France who have chosen to write in French almost uniformly argue for a new conception of francophonie, whether they are from former French colonies or elsewhere, it is because they are keenly aware of the complicated political and economic factors that make up the system in which they publish, and they want their works of fiction to be read and accepted not for ethnological or anthropological reasons, but instead for their creativity and innovation, for their literary value.

Human neutrophil alloantigen‐1a, ‐1b, ‐2, ‐3a and ‐4a frequencies in Brazilians

Human neutrophil reactive antibodies may cause clinical disorders such as transfusion-related acute lung injury, febrile transfusion reactions, alloimmune neonatal neutropenia, immune neutropenia after stem cell transplantation, refractoriness to granulocyte transfusion, drug-induced neutropenia and autoimmune neutropenia. Using the granulocyte immunofluorescence test by flow cytometry, the phenotypic frequencies of the human neutrophil alloantigens (HNA)-1a, -1b, -2, -3a and -4a were determined in 100 healthy Brazilian persons. Neutrophils were separated from blood samples by sedimentation, centrifugated and incubated with HNA-specific alloantibody plus fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled F(ab')(2) fragments of anti-human IgG. The results showed that the phenotype frequencies of HNA-1a, -1b, -2a, -3a and -4a were 65%, 83%, 97%, 95% and 94%, respectively. We detected that neutrophils from 17% of Brazilians typed positive only with anti-HNA-1a (HNA-1a/a), 35% only with anti-HNA-1b (HNA-1b/b) and 48% reacted with both antibodies (HNA-1a/b). The frequencies found for HNA-1a and -1b were quite similar to that reported among Africans and American-Africans, but different from those found in Japanese and Chinese. In addition, our data showed that the frequencies of HNA-2, -3a and -4a in Brazilians were comparable with those observed in Caucasians. The determination of HNAs frequencies among populations with distinct racial backgrounds is important not only for anthropological reasons, but also for neonatal typing in suspected cases of alloimmune neutropenia or when patients are severely neutropenic.

Synoptic assessment of water resource variability in reservoirs by remote sensing: General approach and application to the runoff harvesting systems of south India

This paper presents a methodological procedure based on remote sensing and image analysis techniques designed to map and quantify water stocks in small irrigation reservoirs over vast, user‐defined regions. Because the method is based on unsupervised pixel classification schemes, it is analytically transparent and entirely replicable and can therefore be used in most settings as a tool for integrated water resource management, planning, or policy making, with benefits to irrigation, land use, agriculture, and water‐related social issues. Satellite images of semiarid south India are used here to quantify fluctuating water volumes in ∼2500 reservoirs. In this pilot study, the detection of temporal trends and spatial discontinuities in land use at successive dates within reservoir beds is a proxy for assessing the performance of reservoirs and for formulating hypotheses on the environmental, socioeconomic, or anthropological reasons behind the inferred levels of infrastructural maintenance or disuse. The synoptic approach paves the way for future efforts as better ground truth data become available.

Reading the Signs of Death

Determinations of death made by physicians are clinical judgments, but nonetheless judgments involving metaphysical realities, the passing of persons from this life. Current controversy about the validity of neurological criteria for determining death suggests the need for careful study of anthropological reasoning as well as medical data. This article proposes charity and wisdom as a theological context for the use of such neurological criteria. These concepts clarify what it means to relieve burdens to patients, family, and caregivers and to promote organ transplantation while refusing the direct killing of patients. A question remains whether neurological criteria suffice or should be related to signs in other parts of the body. This article defends in part the argument of Edward J. Furton for the validity of neurological criteria but argues that at least in some cases signs of life and death from other bodily systems should be regarded. P ERHAPS IT IS OBVIOUS that physicians should make the determination of death, especially when a person dies while in a state of unconsciousness. Because physicians possess the practical knowledge and technical skill, society rightly entrusts them with this task, while establishing a legal and moral-cultural framework for performing it. On the other hand, physicians can observe only the external signs that death has occurred. Whether one gives a common philosophical definition of death as the separation of the soul from the body or a more theological one, such as the expiration of the breath of life, death marks the loss of integrative wholeness in a person whose interior life is never fully revealed through those external signs. So the physician’s work makes a judgment of metaphysical, and not merely physical, relevance. To read magisterial pronouncements regarding the use of the brain-death criterion, one might assume that the Catholic Church simply defers to physicians on these judgments. For example, Pius XII taught that Life and Learning XVII Pius XII, “Address to an International Congress of Anesthesiologists” 1 (November 24, 1957) in Conserving Human Life, ed. Russell Smith (Braintree MA: Pope John Center, 1989), pp. 315-16, 318. Ibid., p. 318; see also p. 316. 2 John Paul II, “Address to the 18th International Congress of the 3 Transplantation Society” (August 29, 2000), n. 5, reprinted in National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 1/1 (2001): 89–92. 442 the role of medicine is “to give a clear and precise definition of ‘death’ and the ‘moment of death’ of a patient who passes away in a state of unconsciousness,” and to judge particular cases by that standard, following civil law in cases of doubt. On the other hand, the Pope charges physicians to 1 uphold certain presumptions, both medical and anthropological in nature, specifically, that “human life continues for as long as its vital functions–distinguished from the simple life of organs–manifest themselves spontaneously or even with the help of artificial processes.” Taken 2 together, these statements mark the beginning of a papal magisterium that asks for the integration of medical and anthropological understandings of human death in a specific context: the unconscious person on life support. Just over forty years later, after great medical progress had refined techniques for transplanting vital organs and the means of evaluating the condition of a patient’s organs, including the brain, John Paul II gave a qualified endorsement to the theory of brain death and, along the lines established by Pius XII, sketched the Church’s role in reading the signs of human death. According to current medical knowledge–assuming that the death of the brain ruptures the physical integrity of the body–the Pope taught that the criterion for ascertaining brain death, “if rigorously applied, does not seem to conflict with the essential elements of a sound anthropology...[and suffices] for arriving at that degree of assurance in ethical judgment which moral teaching describes as ‘moral certainty.’” Thus, a 3 medical decision that a death has occurred rests on an anthropological judgment that the irreversible cessation of the whole brain constitutes a sign of death, and not just a clinical definition of death, but the unique event that

The sub-pubic angle in adult indigenous Malawian subjects

A number of parameters are used to assess the pelvis for clinical, physical and forensic anthropological reasons. When it is adequately assessed within any population group, the pelvis displays wide variations. Although the sub-pubic angle is one of the three forensically important angles of the pelvic outlet, literature is scanty or lacking on East and Central Africans, and no published report is available on indigenous Malawian subjects. To determine the sub-pubic angle in indigenous Malawians and compare them with angles from other population groups previously reported. A cross-sectional study. Queen Elizabeth Central and Blantyre Adventist hospitals in the city of Blantyre. One hundred and nineteen antero-posterior radiographs of pelves of adults indegenous Malawians aged 20-84 years to determine their sub-pubic angle. Women showed significantly wider sub-pubic angles than men (129.07 +/- 14.190 SD women and 99.16 +/- 15.730 SD men; P < 0.001), confirming similar results previously studied in other population groups. We have demonstrated that the sub-pubic angle alone could accurately assign sex to 67.12% of males and 63.04% of females, and race could be accurately assigned to 21.92% of men and 89.96% of females. Malawians showed significantly wider angles than Amerindians, Black and White Americans (P < 0.001). This study documents sexual and racial differences and for the first time (on comparison) the sub-pubic angles indicate geographical variations, underpinning the need to establish normal ranges of these angles in any given population. We recommend the establishment of local references of the sub-pubic angle to other countries in the sub-region.

Motivating Donors to Genetic Research? Anthropological Reasons to Rethink the Role of Informed Consent

In this article we explore the contribution from social anthropology to the medical ethical debates about the use of informed consent in research, based on blood samples and other forms of tissue. The article springs from a project exploring donors' motivation for providing blood and healthcare data for genetic research to be executed by a Swedish start-up genomics company. This article is not confined to empirical findings, however, as we suggest that anthropology provides reason to reassess the theoretical understanding of autonomy as generally defined by Beauchamp and Childress. Careful consideration of the trust expressed by donors through the act of donation, furthermore, suggests that there is reason to redirect the ethical scrutiny from informed consent to issues concerning institutional arrangements and social responsibility. In particular, we suggest that an anthropological approach could facilitate a reconsideration of the political implications of using informed consent as a regulatory practice in tissue-based research.

Children need music

Neurobiological and anthropological reasons call for high-priority attention to the human need for music as a rhythmically organized sound experience and an expressive tool for communication. Every human being is born with a certain level of musical potential. The most powerful neural networks and behavioural attitudes are developed during childhood. Therefore, music education plays an essential role in developing and consolidating this given potential.

Genetic analysis of modern and historical burned human remains

Burning of corpses is a well-known funeral procedure that has been performed for a long time in many cultures. Nowadays more and more corpses are burned in crematories and buried in urns, often for practical and financial reasons. In some scientific, criminal or civil cases even after cremation there is the need of genetic investigations for identification or paternity testing. Furthermore, burned remains are the only remains left in North Europe from 1200 BC to 500 AD. This makes genetic investigation of those materials interesting for anthropological reasons. We present on one hand a systematic investigation of 10 corpses before and after the cremation and on the other hand the analysis of seven historical remains representing the bronze age. We chose the ground bone powder and the less destroyed bone parts respectively and employed a slightly modified commercially available DNA extraction method. The presence of human nuclear and mitochondrial DNA was tested by a simple but highly sensitive Duplex-PCR. DNA quantification was done using real time PCR, and genetic typing was tried out using the AmpFISTR Identifiler Multiplex Kit, followed by an automatic analysis on an AbiPrism310.

Making History in Banda: Anthropological Visions of Africa's Past (review)

Ann B.Stahl. Making History in Banda: Anthropological Visions of Africa's Past. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 268 pp. The publication of Eric Wolf's path-breaking volume Europe and the People Without History in 1982 inspired many scholars with burgeoning interests in historical archaeology and anthropology to focus their attention on illuminating the pasts of the history-less peoples of Africa, the Americas, and other parts of the globe. Despite the initial swell of enthusiasm and the enormous potential, archaeology's contributions have been modest. Ann Stahl's Making History in Banda: Anthropological Visions of Africa's Past is among the notable exceptions. Reasoning that archaeology offers a crucial strand of evidence that supplements knowledge derived from written and oral histories, she explores the theoretical and methodological issues that arise in constructing Africa's past, and in addition, provides insights into the lives of an African people who have endured colonialism's legacies. As such, her book will interest Africanist historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists, as well as a variety of other researchers who have taken on the challenges of redressing colonialism's consequences in ways that communicate its scope, pervasiveness, and resistances. The study centers on Banda, a region in west central Ghana, where Stahl has conducted archaeological research for more than twenty years. The book traces this intellectual journey by offering personal reflections on changing theoretical perspectives and research directions that, along with interpretation and evidence, help the reader appreciate scholarly work and especially the task of assembling a many-sided and more comprehensive story of the past such as Stahl has done in Making History in Banda. For the non-African specialist, these observations complement the text's thick description of political regimes and cultural geography, and occasional lapses into heavy-handed, though lucid, theorizing. The book unfolds over eight chapters. In the first of these, Stahl provides an overview of how ethnographers, historians, and archaeologists have envisioned Africa's past. She outlines the intellectual traditions and research agendas within each discipline and the ways these have shaped understandings that depart from the long-standing opinion that the continent existed outside of history. Efforts aimed at correcting these misconceptions have yielded conflicting, and perhaps equally troubling, images of Africa that are not easily reconciled. Although the epistemological differences that underwrite these characterizations may be the result of circumstances that are as divisive and complicated as those responsible for partitioning the continent itself during its recent history, Stahl is optimistic about interdisciplinary engagement. The methodology she advocates, and indeed practices, entails working in interdisciplinary spaces, instead of forging collaborations across discrete disciplines. The approach anticipates that researchers drawing on multiple strands of evidence, including archaeology, may be able to see interpretive possibilities not previously imagined and gauge the limits of particular systems of knowledge. Accordingly, archaeology's ability to reveal mundane routines provides a means of invigorating interpretations of Africa's past. Stahl next discusses the methodological consequences of these epistemological legacies. Her criticisms about establishing direct historic baselines echo ones expressed by other scholars, as do her comments about problems with the concept of invented traditions. Although such criticisms resonate in the literature, her reiteration of the mantra lends compelling arguments against the false dichotomies between real and invented, then and now, and before and after, that continue to inform anthropological reasoning despite evidence to the contrary. Rejecting strict essentialist and constructionist views of history, she tacks back-and-forth between ideas about contemporary culture-making and glimpses of past cultural practices through an analytical lens sighted on political-economic processes. …

The function of "desert kites" - hunting or livestock husbandry ?

Recently it was suggested that "desert kites" - man-made structures built, almost certainly, for hunting - were also used for the husbandry of semi-domesticated animals. The following response will examine this new notion and its suitability for interpreting the possible functioning of these archaeological structures. For both biological and anthropological reasons we do not accept the new explanation for the function of the "desert kites ".

Standards of Evidence in Anthropological Reasoning

Standards of Evidence in Anthropological Reasoning

The Anthropology of Misfortune and Cognitive Science. Examples from the Ivory Coast Senufo

The ArgumentThis paper applies the approach developed by the congnitive sciences to a classical field of social anthropology—i.e., the analysis of represetations and behaviors relative to misfortune in “traditional” societies.The initial argument is that the conceptual division and the modes of description and explanation of anthropology suffer from serious weaknesses: these concepts cannot serve to understand empirical phenomena (utterances and/or behavior); they rely on a confused and erroneous conception of the different domains involved and the causalities between them; and they use simplistic hypotheses about the existence and causal status of the entities that usually form the ultima ratio of anthropological reasoning (e.g., lineage organization, ancestors, witchcraft, etc.). These entities would directly “cause” other individual representations or behaviors. This simplification also affects the analysis of states of belief in these entities, to which individuals would supposedly “adhere”.I argue here that the cognitivist approach, within a “methodological individualism” framework, provides a more adequate description of phenomena observed in the field. This enables the various levels and domains to be more finely defined. The analysis of “typical” utterances and inferences in a “tranditional” society, the Senufo of the Ivory Coast, is here used to clarify these anthropological problems. Two levels can be distinguished: (1) a priori representations, which are underdetermined, enabling them to occur within valid inferences; (2) perception and/or action, which obeys different cognitive constraints. The existential status of unobservable entities appearing in causal inferences is not equivalent (“symmetrical”) depending on whether they are determined as antecedent or consequent.This paper suggests a theory of interpretive processes and beliefs having flexible references, because they are incomplete and domain-specific. It allows a comparison with facts observed in Western societies. It is also in contrast to the ordinary conception of religious states of belief — i.e., these states would be purely psychological, states of “adherence,” collective, autonomous, obligatory, part of a systemized set of knowledge; collective notions (of God, church, etc.) would here logically precede individual representations.

Brain-death as an anthropological or as a biological concept

In 1968, when the Harvard Committee defined brain-death to characterize irreversible coma, the question of when a doctor might stop resuscitation remained unresolved: braindeath is a safe, but not a sufficient criterion. Furthermore, the committee defined brain-death to be the death of man without any more than pragmatic reasons. Philosophers tried to give anthropological reasons, as important human functions are located in the brain. But this is misleading, for instance to concepts of partial brain-death. Biologically, however, the death of the whole brain disintegrates the organism and can therefore be accepted as the criterion for death of man.

La classification raciale de l'Afrique du Nord au début du XIXe siècle.

K. Haoui — Linguistic and Racial Classifications in 19th-Century Northern Africa. ; From its foundation, the Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris was interested in lan-guages and especially in the relations between language and race. Research on the ancient and modem languages of Northern Africa was conducted from the early 1800s, but the classification of these languages repeatedly changed through- out the century. Although it had been admitted that the languages of Northern Africa and of Europe were not related, special interest was shown, for anthro-pological reasons, in Berber and Egyptian cultures.

The place of the symbol in the practice of anthropological reasoning

Marshall Sahlins. Culture and Practical Reason. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1976. xii + 252 pp. Figures, table, references, and index. $17.50.

CYSTIC FIBROSIS IN THE AMERICAN INDIAN

Cystic fibrosis is a generalized, familial disorder exhibiting a marked ethnic variation. This paper presents the first two cases of this disorder reported in the American Indian population. The family pedigrees of these patients are described and certain genetic aspects of this disease are discussed briefly. Possible anthropological reasons for the occurrence of this disease in this racial group are mentioned.