Anthropological Concepts Research Articles

Research Libraries’ Diverse Orientations to an Algorithmic Future

Abstract This article addresses the question of the future of research libraries by exploring the recent literature on libraries and artificial intelligence (AI) or – as we prefer to call these emerging technologies – algorithms. We apply the anthropological concepts of the future by Bryant and Knight as lenses of analysis and identify examples from the literature under six future orientations: anticipation, expectation, speculation, potentiality, hope, and destiny. Through the examples that describe research libraries’ approaches to algorithm-powered technologies, we aim to demonstrate that there are alternative time views for approaching the future. By questioning our narratives about the new technologies, we aim to join the collective deliberation on algorithmic futures.

Differences in the Shape of the Frontal Bone between 20th-Century Euro-Americans and Germans

Geometric morphometrics is a very useful but rarely applied concept in forensic anthropology. It uses information on the shape of an object for data analysis. For this study, geometric morphometrics has been used to compare the shape of the frontal bone between a German and a Euro-American sample (both early 20th century). Results were compared using size-only, shape-only and size-and-shape combined. Results show that the frontal shapes of the two study populations can clearly be distinguished from one another. The best classification results could be achieved when combining size and shape data for analysis. Centroid size showed significant variation by group and sex, and that Euro-Americans are more sex dimorphic than Germans. We conclude that shape data provides a considerable amount of extra information for population affinity estimation, even on a single cranial bone like the frontal. A broader application of geometric morphometrics in forensic anthropology could thus help generating a more reliable biological profile, as well as providing additional insight into German-American morphometric differentiation.

ChatGPT in the public eye: Ethical principles and generative concerns in social media discussions

With ChatGPT’s rapid adoption, concerns regarding generative artificial intelligence (AI) have shifted from theoretical to practical. Drawing upon the “algorithmic imaginary” framework from critical algorithm studies and the anthropological concept of “ordinary ethics,” we analyzed Twitter discourse during ChatGPT’s initial deployment, examining 368,359 tweets. Our analysis identified five topics reflecting functional and critical aspects of ChatGPT. We specifically point to two topics with a critical perspective: “Ethics” and “Concerns.” The first aligns with scholarly discussions in AI ethics on fairness and transparency, while the second focuses on ChatGPT’s generative capabilities. This highlights an emerging trend: While the academic discussion on AI ethics has gained popularity, especially in scrutinizing ChatGPT, the conversation is now expanding to more nuanced ethical deliberations. We analyzed the posts’ engagement and sentiment over time, demonstrating the AI ethics community’s influence in addressing the potential and harms of generative AI systems.

Trading places with the traitor: Pieter Pourbus (c. 1523-1584) and sixteenth-century Last Supper iconography

Pieter Pourbus’ Last Supper of 1548 (Bruges, Groeningemuseum) contains some unusual iconographic elements that have not yet been extensively analysed: the figure of Judas, rising from the table and making a move to leave the gathering; the devilish creature entering the room from the right; the boy picking up the overturned chair in the foreground. By making use of recent scholarly insights into the employment of the anthropological concept of ‘liminality’ in the context of the visual arts (notably by Lynn Jacobs on Early and Renaissance Netherlandish painting and manuscript illumination), this contribution aims to show that these features were meant to enhance the contemporary viewer’s involvement in the depiction. The work seems to invite them to enter, as it were, the painted realm and to take Judas’ abandoned place. An investigation of Last Supper imagery in the Western European visual arts from the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance reveals that in some cases the figure of Judas plays a distinctive role in the presentation of the iconography and in the viewer’s devotional and psychological experience of participation in the sacred story. Sometimes, as in a panel from the circle of the Master of the Amsterdam Death of the Virgin (c. 1485-1500) or in the likewise anonymous Antwerp Last Supper (c. 1525-1530), a mortal human has been included in the painting, portrayed in the immediate vicinity of the scene and apparently being ready and prepared to take over Judas’ place once the latter leaves the gathering. Pieter Pourbus’ painting, which probably played a role in the literary-religious context of the Bruges rederijkers’ Chamber of the Holy Spirit, is more inventive in nature. Lacking an intermediary worshipper depicted in the foreground, it transfers this worshipper’s role to the viewer, thus establishing a bridge between the painted realm and the real world.

In search for evolutionary roots of a mindful cognition: A Darwinian view on sustained intentional awareness

The attention system underwent important evolutionary changes and specializations in the human genus. In fact, our outstanding social and technological complexity strictly depends on our attentional ability, which is sustained, intentional, and conscious. Attention, intention, and awareness are key features for what can be defined a mindful cognition, and we may wonder whether a specific combination of these cognitive traits may be the result of a natural selective process, or else an accidental by-product of mental complexity. In this article, basic concepts in evolutionary anthropology are reviewed, to consider whether positive, neutral, or negative selective forces might have influenced the evolution of a mindful cognitive ability. At present, all these alternatives are potentially supported by different kinds of evidence. Hybrid hypotheses, considering stabilizing mechanisms or distinct social roles and intra-specific variation, are also likely. An evolutionary approach to the cognitive abilities involved in attention and awareness can reveal potentialities, limitations, and drawbacks of our individual and collective natural behaviors, especially when dealing with the evolution of the human consciousness.

La fonction des écrits dans les relations entre la théorie et la pratique en psychiatrie et psychologie clinique. À la mémoire de Georges Lanteri-Laura et de Jean Garrabé

Among the many ways in which knowledge is transmitted in psychiatry and clinical psychology, written communication has always been a vast field. But new means of expression and communication have brought about a diversity in the modalities used in teaching and personal training in the midst of the diversification of psychiatric currents, the means of exploration, and therapeutic methods. The relationship between theory and practice is central to the means of transmission in the specific characteristics of the different currents of French psychiatry: 1) Psychiatric conceptions which focus on the various neurobiological and biochemical networks, genetic research and artificial intelligence are confronted in their current evolution with the epistemological demands of explanation and understanding. And psychiatry, in all its complexity, cannot and will not be spared adopting these same demands; 2) The different psychopathological dimensions that underlie the various concepts of psychiatric disorders in children, adolescents and adults are constantly confronted with the relationship between theoretical conceptions and practical modalities, in the clinical relationship and in therapeutic conduct. In this article, we propose to address a certain number of reflections in this field, by questioning the principal psychopathological conceptions of today. And this reflection places great emphasis on the need to clarify concepts, perspectives and projects; 3) Epistemological dimensions can thereby render it possible to identify the numerous articles concerning the transmission of psychiatry and its fields: – First and foremost, studies on the relationship between theory and practice make it possible to distinguish between the various categories. They provide a clear understanding of the specific dynamics involved in understanding psychiatric disorders; – Studies on the relationship between the fields of time and life sciences correspond to very important epistemological attitudes that are very important to be taken into account. The neurosciences which are currently playing a key role in medicine and psychiatry usher us into “the knowledge of life”. These various studies compel us to consider just what the relationship is betweenthe “objectivity of the scientist” and the “subjectivity of the living”. We can then turn our attention to the anthropological concepts concerning the philosophy of life where we will find in the various psychiatric disorders the essential questions about the meaning of life that are present in the mind of every human being.

The African Church confronting the cosmic powers

This article focusses on the church in Africa, dwelling with God, empowered by the Holy Spirit to confront the cosmic powers. Using the African ‘circular’ patterns, God’s presence with his people from the Old Testament times through the New Testament, an argument is presented that the African church possesses the potency to confront the cosmic powers that impinge upon the human dignity, with intentions of breaking down the community of Christ. The circle is presented as a force building towards community cohesiveness and, therefore enhancing the communality for strength against eternal forces that are aimed to destroy the church. The secret of the victory of the community over the cosmic powers is through God’s presence with his people, communality (togetherness) of his followers, and the empowerment by the Holy Spirit. God made his presence visible through shekinah, tabernacle, miracles of provision for their needs, sacrificial rituals, temple and prophetic leadership. The article concludes that God has always opted to commune with his people, because he himself is a communal God. He is in community, the trinitarian God dwelling together with and among his people. During the uncertain times of confrontation with cosmic powers, he has been at the centre while his people are encircling him and look towards him as a centre of attraction.Intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary implications: Understanding the context of African church, confronted with cosmic powers, the church is encouraged to understand the power of the presence of God. With anthropological concept of a circle, one understand the importance of community as a way of being empowered to stand the challenges of cosmic powers.

Religion, Race, and the Limit of Ethics: Historical Considerations

ABSTRACTThis article examines the study of Indigenous religions and ethics in the late‐nineteenth and early‐twentieth centuries. Over the past few decades, scholars have grappled with the colonial origins of religious studies. This essay focuses on the history of anthropological scholarship on Indigenous religions and the significance of this work for the growth of the academic study of religious and ethical systems. I first consider scholarship on Indigenous ethical systems produced by theologians and comparative religionists. I next consider how anthropological concepts of cultural relativity offered scholars of religion important tools to broaden and deepen understandings of Indigenous cultures. Finally, I address the limits of these anthropological tools. During this era, scholars increasingly argued that Indigenous cultural traditions were worthy of study; however, the prevailing racialized assumptions contributed to assessments of these ethical systems as inferior to Euro‐American religio‐ethical systems.

Being, exploring, and playing outdoors: Young children philosophize through Sámi pedagogical imagination and storytelling

This article discusses the pedagogical role of the imagination and forms of life in Sámi early childhood education. Following Nergård’s development of Wittgenstein’s notion “form of life” as an imaginative, pedagogical, and anthropological concept, the article will explore how Sámi children both use and transform forms of life in Sámi early childhood centers. The article explores scenes from a day spent outdoors with early childhood educators and children. The aim is to show how young Sámi children philosophize and articulate their world, and how listening to the children can be a decolonizing practice that challenges colonial assumptions in pedagogy, philosophy and society. The empirical data was collected through a pilot project and the subsequent project Sámi Children as Thought Herders. The data material contains photos, short films, sound records, and notes collected through ethnographic fieldwork conceived as Critical Utopian Action Research, which takes into account the social learning of all participants, here specifically the children, the educators and the researchers. Thus, these are spaces for a joint critique that resists colonially structured practices. The main findings are that, during outdoor activities, educators and children imaginatively perform, play and encounter outdoor spaces and aspects of Sámi forms of life. This is explored on the basis of scenes where young children imaginatively engaged with the forest environment. The educators’ storytelling and the storytelling tradition continued into the children’s own storytelling. The children created stories about a Stállo who lives in a rusty oil barrel they found in the forest, making traditional stories and forms of life come alive and transforming them. In reflecting upon these scenes, we argue for the pedagogical, performative, and philosophical importance of engaging with the ways that children’s imaginative play interacts with place.

Cognitive and Evolutionary Inspirations in the Study of Religion with Emphasis on the Development of Ethnology and Sociocultural Anthropology in Slovakia

The cognitive and evolutionary approach to the research of religion in cultural and social anthropology has been systematically developing since the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century. At the end of the 1990s, cognitive and evolutionary theories of religion began to be applied in the research of religion by a narrow group of ethnologists, religionists, and anthropologists in Slovakia. This paper aims to provide a basic overview of the fundamental concepts of cognitive and evolutionary anthropology of religion. It focuses on selected scholars whose works and ideas are considered pivotal in the development of this field. The second objective is to outline how cognitive and evolutionary theories of religion have been reflected in ethnology and sociocultural anthropology in Slovakia.

Cross-cultural visual anthropology: Beyond repatriation, exploring indigenous and non-indigenous exchanges

Collaboration is critical concept in Arctic anthropology, in which indigenous people participate not just as research subjects but as collaborative partners in advancing scientific knowledge. The trans-disciplinary approach develops new conceptual, theoretical, and methodological innovations that transcend discipline-specific boundaries. Such innovations facilitate engagement between indigenous and non-indigenous stakeholders in addressing real-world challenges. This paper documents several Siberian ethnography exhibitions organized by the authors and evaluates their anthropological and social significance. Historically, anthropological discourse has championed using visual materials as tools for cultural interventions aimed at societal transformation. Building upon this foundation, this study explores the challenges of both the Russian Arctic and Asian contexts. The article guides the readers to reconsider conventional anthropological perspectives and methods of collaborating both with the indigenous and non-indigenous partners. By outlining the authors experiences in involving local stakeholders across different countries in these exhibitions, they illuminate the impact of the exhibitions on diverse cultural contexts. As cross-cultural visual anthropology endeavors, the exhibits redefine the meaning of ethnographical snapshots as scientific knowledge and go beyond repatriating indigenous cultures or sharing research outcomes with the broader society. The cross-cultural exhibition is becoming a novel research modality and a tool for fostering social interactions.

Reflexive anthropology: On the method-guided construction of premises in social theory

The notion of reflexive anthropology follows Bourdieu's concept of reflexive sociology. It argues that it is necessary to take a reflexive look at the “unconscious” of sociological research in order to overcome epistemological limitations. At the same time, however, Bourdieu fails to identify scientific research practice as part of a differentiated society that is structurally dependent on the cult of the individual (Durkheim). Therefore reflexive sociology needs to be complemented by a reflexive anthropology that analyzes the human person and its normative special status as an institution of a horizontally differentiated society. This leads to the question that I explore in this article: what follows from the fact that the anthropological premises of sociological research affirm the anthropological conception of modern sociation? The fact that sociology reproduces the anthropological certainties of modern society has been repeatedly criticized. Based on these arguments, I present a critical procedure that allows us to work out whether and to what extent the general conceptual presuppositions of research reproduce modern anthropocentrism. Finally, I outline a social theory that makes it possible to render the modern self-conception an object of study.

Idea of Man by Max Sheler and Modern World

The paper is dedicated to the critical reconstruction of the project of philosophical anthropology drafted by German philosopher Max Sheler at the beginning of XX century in his article “On the Idea of Man” (“Zur Idee des Menschen”). The author tries also to show the contemporary relevance of the main notions and ideas of the anthropological conception which is drafted in this article. From the very title of the article, it becomes clear that Max Sheler based his philosophical anthropology on the phenomenological methodology. According to this methodological approach, we should grasp the idea of man in the act of ideation, which is a result of phenomenological reduction. In accordance to the phenomenological critique of the psychologism, Sheler shows that we cannot find the peculiar idea of man in the natural reality, since from this point of view a man is just an animal among other animals. Being human means overcoming yourself every movement of your existence. The “self-transcendence” is the main feature of the human being. One of the main instrument of the self-transcendence is a human language that gives world a chance to articulate itself. The human self-transcendence can lead to development and creation, but at the same time, it can lead to degradation and destruction. In the modern world, we can find many examples of the both processes.

Local Journalists as Brokers: Conceptualizing Information Relationships in Rural Communities

ABSTRACT This paper introduces the concept of brokerage to the scholarship of local news. Drawing on anthropological conceptions of actors that bridge gaps in social structure and help information flow across such gaps, we propose that local journalists act as cultural brokers in rural towns. Building upon Gould and Fernandez (1989, “Structures of Mediation: A Formal Approach to Brokerage in Transaction Networks.” Sociological Methodology 19:89. https://doi.org/10.2307/270949), we employ a typology of five brokerage functions to classify relationships between local journalists, their sources, and their audiences. In addition to coordinating, itinerant, representative, liaison, and gatekeeping brokerage, our analysis reveals a novel type of brokerage: relay brokerage. We argue that this typology is useful to conceptualize information relationships in rural communities and to understand how information flows change when local journalism ebbs. Empirically, the paper presents a comprehensive study of staffing at rural newspapers in Alberta, Canada, revealing that local media are stretched so thin in many geographic areas, there is little left to cut. For scholars, this simplified media ecosystem is an environment where relationships between reporters, sources, and audiences may be more easily analyzed.

Воля к власти в этногенезе: ницшеанские мотивы евразийской антропологии

Introduction.The article carries out a philosophical reconstruction of Eurasian anthropology based on the analysis of the theory of ethnogenesis by L. N. Gumilyov. In the conceptual developments of the classicist of Eurasianism, the motives of Nietzschean anthropology are explicated, which makes it possible to fit the Eurasian concept of man into the context of post-metaphysical philosophy. Theoretical analysis. The application of methodological principles and guidelines of philosophical comparative analysis allows us to reveal parallels between the basic concepts of the theory of ethnogenesis and the basic concepts of Nietzschean anthropology (the will to power, overman, eternal return). Conclusion. A comparative analysis allows us to conclude that the key point of both Nietzschean anthropology and the anthropological teachings of L. N. Gumilev advocates transgression, understood by the author as an ontological horizon opposite to transcendence. The article substantiates the thesis that the constitutive moment of understanding a person in the teachings of F. Nietzsche and the theory of L. N. Gumilev is the rejection of transcendence and the affirmation of the purely transgressive nature of human existence. The rethinking of the nature of the connection between Nietzschean anthropology and the heritage of antiquity is also carried out. It is concluded that Nietzsche’s appeal to antiquity was provoked by the situation of crisis in European metaphysics and Western Christianity. The thesis is substantiated that the crisis of metaphysical philosophy is at the same time the main motive for the Eurasians to turn to the East as a fundamentally non-European horizon of philosophical thought.

Toward a Theology of Compassionate Release: Orthodox Christianity and the Dilemma of Assisted Dying. Confronting End-of-Life Realities with Faith and Compassion

This article examines the subtle interconnection between the sanctity of life and individual autonomy within the context of assisted dying, as seen through the lens of Orthodox Christianity. It seeks to unravel the complex theological, ethical, and pastoral considerations that inform the Orthodox stance on end-of-life issues, particularly the nuanced understanding of suffering, death, and the redemptive potential encapsulated within them. Orthodox theology, with its profound veneration for life as a divine gift, offers a counter-narrative to contemporary discourses that often prioritize personal autonomy and the alleviation of suffering above all. This tradition emphasizes the transformative power of suffering when united with Christ’s own redemptive suffering, proposing a vision of end-of-life care that is rooted in compassion, dignity, and hope for resurrection. The exploration begins with a historical and theological examination of the Orthodox perspective on life’s sanctity, engaging with the teachings of Church Fathers and contemporary theological and bioethical discussions. It highlights the foundational concepts of Orthodox anthropology, which perceives human beings as an indivisible unity of body and soul, reflecting the imago Dei. This anthropological understanding challenges reductionist views of human existence and informs the Orthodox approach to medical ethics, palliative care, and the spiritual accompaniment of the dying. By critically evaluating arguments for and against assisted dying, the article presents a balanced discourse that respects the depth of individual suffering while upholding the intrinsic value of life. It argues that Orthodox Christianity, through its rich theological heritage and pastoral practice, provides a compassionate and ethically nuanced framework for navigating the moral complexities of assisted dying. This framework advocates for an end-of-life care that honors the fullness of the human person, supports the spiritual journey toward eternal life, and fosters a communal embrace of life’s sacred threshold, offering a dignified passage that aligns with the faith’s deepest convictions about human destiny and divine grace.

The history of science through the prism of race

Abstract One methodological approach to grasping a ‘big-picture’ history of modern science involves tracing the complex entanglements between scientific knowledge and the development of racism and racialized economic systems. Indeed, no historical account of any scientific field can be complete without acknowledging the role of race as an intellectual, social or economic factor. We substantiate this argument through a synthetic review of three overlapping threads in the historiography of science. First, historical research on ‘race science’ has analysed the formation of disciplines directly involved in constructing scientific concepts of race, including medicine, anthropology, linguistics, phrenology, psychology, archaeology and genetics. Second, historians have demonstrated that connections between race and science are not limited to the domain of race science. Rather, European imperial expansion, colonialism and capitalism created the foundational infrastructures undergirding the emergence of modern professional science. Finally, new research shows how race remains covertly embedded in theoretical frameworks, statistical formulae and technological devices still used by scientists today. Through these examples, we perceive a big-picture history of science in which its co-constitution with race links localized case studies and imperial narratives across space and time.

German teachers' pilgrimage to an Israeli Holocaust Memorial: Emotions, encounters, and contested visions

AbstractDrawing on anthropological conceptions of pilgrimage, our ethnography of professional development at an Israeli Holocaust Memorial follows German teachers on journeys to Israel. Seeking transformative and transferable experiences to combat anti‐Semitism in schools, teachers experienced the voyage as a secular pilgrimage rooted in Christian traditions of guilt, confession, and absolution. As teachers' emotional encounters in Israel simultaneously forged communitas and challenged official historical–pedagogical visions, their practices abroad elucidate prevalent Holocaust education discourses in contemporary Germany.

COUNTERCULTURAL CHARACTER OF JOHANNINE CHRISTIANITY

The paper presents the rhetorical aspects of Johannine literature and shows the countercultural character of the community that produced it. Although different in genre, content and scope, the Gospels, the three Epistles and the Book of Revelation exude the same countercultural mechanism. To recognise these mechanisms on the literary level, the first part of the paper shows the impulses of countercultural interaction with the audiences. They are marked as a confrontation with religious and political authorities. Being in constant conflict with the Jewish synagogue and God-defying structures of the Greco-Roman world, the Johannine community built its own world. This world is legitimised as countercultural, i.e. constructed in opposition to the prevailing social structures and cultural practices. René Girard's anthropological concept of the scapegoat serves to observe the countercultural basis of Johannine Christianity, which is contained in the Christological symbol of the lamb. In the second part of the paper, examples of the operation of the countercultural mechanism are listed, and how it reshapes cultural practices and social structures is shown. The Johannine motifs of love and sacrifice are crucial in this process. Finally, the paper's conclusion briefly discusses the potential of the countercultural contribution of Johannine literature to Christianity and contemporary society.

Deconstructing Stereotypes in the Liminal Phases: A Postcolonial Feminist Analysis of An Educated Woman in Prostitution

Postcolonial Indians’ psyche has been colonised by the long effects of colonial and patriarchal stereotypes. Stereotypes work as a master’s tool in hindering the freedom of postcolonial Indian women. Due to the impact of this two-fold domination (colonial and patriarchal stereotypes) in the lives of postcolonial Indian women, they are forced to endure their sufferings and are oppressed to remain passive. Postcolonial feminism theory uncovers the unknown struggles endured by various voiceless categories and unrecognised social divisions of third world women. The memoir, An Educated Woman in Prostitution, was chosen for the study as it documents the traumatic life transition of a young girl choosing sex work as her identity in the Indian context. The effects of socio-political principles and dogmatic patriarchal stereotypes constructed around sex workers are transparently discussed in the text. The article employs Arnold van Gennep’s anthropological concepts, the three phases of liminality (preliminal, liminal and postliminal) from The Rites of Passage, to closely observe the life transitions and decisions made by the protagonist. The study utilises these phases of liminality to trace the survival strategies employed by the protagonist and other female characters in dismantling stereotypes and gaining freedom of choice. Conclusively, the study employs a qualitative analysis of Manada Devi’s memoir, drawing upon the theoretical exploration of liminal phases and stereotypes from a postcolonial feminist standpoint. The study identifies the transitional phase during which the protagonist breaks stereotypes and reintegrates into society with a new identity.