Ethnological Knowledge Research Articles

A Future for Ethnographic Film?

ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM IS A CONTESTED GENRE, not unlike the documentary. The majority opinion is that an film is any documentary that focuses on non-Western people (see Heider). The adjective ethnographic is used in a very loose manner, similar to the way psychological or historical is applied to a film. Few people expect a psychological film to be a serious rendering of the constructs of psychology or for the maker of the film to be a professionally trained psychologist. As a consequence, many films screened at places such as the American Anthropological Association or the Margaret Mead festival are documentaries made by professional filmmakers who have little or no training in anthropology. I have argued for a more restricted approach-one that confines the genre to the work of academic anthropologists. In my book Picturing Culture, I articulated a fantasy version of this position. To begin ... a moral tale for anthropologists, a fantasy in which an cinema exists-not documentaries about anthropological subjects, but films designed by anthropologists to communicate insights. It is a well-articulated genre distinct from the conceptual limitations of realist documentary and broadcast journalism. It borrows conventions and techniques from the whole of cinema-fiction, documentary, animation and experimental. A multitude of film styles vie for prominence-equal to the number of theoretical positions found in the field. There are general audience films produced for television as well as highly sophisticated works designed for professionals. While some films intended for a general audience are collaboratively made with professional filmmakers, solely professional anthropologists, who use the medium to convey the results of their studies and ethnological knowledge, produce most. University departments regularly teach the theory, history, practice and criticism of communications-verbal, written and pictorial-enabling scholars from senior professors to graduate students to select the most appropriate mode in which to publish their work. There are a variety of venues where these works are displayed regularly and serve as the basis for scholarly discussion. Canons of criticism exist that allow for a critical discourse about the ways in which anthropology is realized pictorially. A low-cost distribution system for all these products is firmly established. Videotapes/CD-ROMs/DVDs are as common as books in the libraries of anthropologists, and the internet and world wide web occupy a place of some prominence as an resource. Needless to say, the fantasy has remained just that. I see no reason to assume things will change much, although with the advent of prosumer three-chip digital cameras and the ease of computer editing, more anthropologists are delving into video production. Having lived through a number of major technological changes, beginning with cable television and sync-sound Super 8mm cameras, which both promised radical departures from the norm, I am not one to put much faith in what might be called techno-salvation. A change in technology will not bring about the kind of changes I am interested in because the problems are not technical. They are conceptual. To accomplish the task I have proposed, anthropologists will have to divorce themselves from the economic realities of the commercial documentary world. Anthropological filmmaking would have to become a scholarly activity with no commercial potential, similar to the way scholars write books published by scholarly publishers. Academics never assume that their publishing efforts will produce a living wage. It is now possible for scholars to experiment without obtaining large grants that require the production of materials designed either for the classroom or for public television, nor are they forced to hire professional crews whose goals are often at odds with those of a scholar. …

TheAs Ifin Cognitive Science, Neuroscience and Anthropology

In recent years, neurophysiological and psychological research has highlighted a pragmatic version of the theory of knowledge, a version in which the concept of simulation has been found to play a crucial role. In fact, research on canonical and mirror neurons has shown that an as if simulative schema is required to perceive, categorize and understand the meaning of the external world. The present study compares the cognitive paradigm of embodied cognition with Pierre Bourdieu’s practice theory. Specifically, cognitive processes and cultural mechanisms are described as phenomena that emerge from the dynamic interaction that exists between people’s practical abilities and the structure of the local environment in which they act and live. A pragmatic conception of knowledge has also emerged in the field of ethnological investigation. Indeed, the concepts of resonance and empathy have proven to be essential instruments for ethnological knowledge.

Our Box Was Full: An Ethnography for the Delgamuukw Plaintiffs by Richard Daly

OUR BOX WAS FULL: AN ETHNOGRAPHY FORTHEDELGAMUUKWPLAINTIFFS by RichardDaly University of British Columbia Press,Vancouver, 2004. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 400 pages. $85.00 cloth, $29.95 paper. RICHARD DALY, an independent anthro pologist living inNorway, gave themost ex tensive ethnological expert opinion regarding Aboriginal rightsand titleever heard before a Canadian court in the landmark case known as Delgamuukw (decided in 1997). This evidence was given on behalf of theheads of theGitksan house chiefs and members. This FirstNation, togetherwith the neighboring Witsuwit'en, began tonegotiate a comprehensive land claim in 1977 and, making no progress, entered into the litigation process in 1982.Daly began his work in 1986,with a particular focus on the oral traditionsof thecommunity.Our BoxWas Full ishis expert report together with a preface, introduction,and epilogue thatplace thereport in context,particularly theproduction of eth nological knowledge under the conditions of litigation. In this,Daly ismarvelously candid and thoughtful,and his isperhaps the clearest statement inprint of the issues facing anthro pologists engaged in legal testimony. The ethnographic study itself, which com prises thebody ofOur BoxWas Full, is situated within thefield of hunter-and-gatherer studies and the literature on gift-exchangesocieties.Daly takes the position that "hunter and gatherer," the termoften applied topeoples of theNorth PacificCoast, isa condition or enterprise within a variety of social formations,and he develops and uses a relational approach rather than rely ingon essentialized categorizing.His argument is thatthisapproach allows forthe studyof the penetration of capital into indigenous societ ies.Notably, it ishis contention that it is not New Edition of 1994Oregon Book AwardWinner StubbornTwig Three Generations in theLife ofa Japanese American Family By Lauren Kessler This book is a living work of social history that rings with the power of truth and the drama of fiction. The story of the Yasui family from the patriarch's 1903 arrival in the United States through WWII internment and beyond speaks to both the promise and the peril of America. The new edition's preface, reading group questions, and interview with Homer Yasui help teachers, students, and individual readers explore this difficult, but ultimately triumphant, story. 398 pp., 27 photographs, $25.00, paper Available at theOHS Musuem Store or order from theOregon Historieal Society Press -*> Classroom sets available Oregon Historical Society Press 1200 S.W. Park Avenue Portland, Oregon 97205 press@ohs.org 503-306-5233 Distributed by theUniversity of Washington Press 156 OHQ vol. 107, no. 1 axiomatic that simple entities,such as foraging societies,become culturallyobliteratedwhen en countering more complex ones, such as capitalist statesocieties. More generally, he argues against a "simple-complex" distinction.This is important because itunderlies his view that theGitksan andWitsuwit'en social systems,particularly the chiefly andHouse systems, have persisted and are relevant to thepursuit of land claims. Daly writes that the House crest stories, orat ed forthe trialby thosewith thehereditarypre rogative,constitute an overlapping web? and hence a systemof social relations ? over the area of thosewho mutually participate in cer emonial feasting.The feasts systemdepends on a systemof intentional "misrecognition"which obscures thepolitical calculations beneath the ceremony and the respect relations (p. 34). Fur ther,the feast system engages a code of honor and subsequent challenges tohonor,which cre ate and contest symbolic capital and allows fora formofdomination without physical coercion. Inmaking his case about Gitksan society,Daly provides an example of a totem-pole raising feast, which isparadigmatic of social relations between matrilineal kin groups. This discussion of gift-giving and Bourdieui an social capital allows Daly to argue thathis expert testimonyand the subsequent book, Our BoxWas Full, are formsof gift-giving. His testi mony, he says,giftedthepublicwith information, ideas,and relationships, but therecompense isof a delayed nature. Seen from another angle, the contents ofOur BoxWas Full were given to the courtbut returnedunopened by a trialjudgewho was unable to grasp themeaning of the contents. Bywriting this book, he hopes, thering might not be broken and a community of understanding might yet emerge. The epilogue is itselfa box of treasures.Daly writes thatthetwodecades afterthetrialprocess began have yielded unproductive treaty talks, and the pattern of removal ofwealth (in the form of natural resources) fromGitksan and Witsuwit'en territory continues. Meanwhile, the litigationprocess has changed perceptions such...

The geographic polymorphisms of Y chromosome at YAP locus among 25 ethnic groups in Yunnan, China

The genetic polymorphisms of Y chromosome at YAP locus in 25 ethnic groups (33 populations) of China were analyzed in a total of 1294 samples. The average YAP+ frequency of the 33 populations was 9.2%, coinciding with published data of Chinese populations. Primi has the highest YAP+ frequency (72.3%), which is also the highest YAP+ among all the eastern Asian populations studied. The YAP+ occurred in 17 populations studied including Tibetan (36.0%), Naxi (37.5% and 25.5%), Zhuang (21.3%), Jingpo (12.5%), Miao (11.8%), Dai (11.4%, 10.0%, 3.3% and 2.0%), Yi (8.0%), Bai of Yunnan (6.7% and 6.0%), Mongol of Inner Mongolia (4.3%), Tujia of Hunan (2.6%), Yao (2.2%) and Nu (1.8%). The other 15 populations are YAP-including Lahu (2 populations), Hani, Achang, Drung, Lisu, Sui, Bouyei, Va, Bulang, Deang, Man and Hui and Mongol of Yunnan and Bai of Hunan. The YAP+ frequencies varied among the different ethnic groups studied, and even different among the same ethnic group living in different geographic locations. Using the genetic information, combined with the knowledge of ethnology, history and archaeology, the origin and prehistoric migrations of the ethnic groups in China, especially in Yunnan Province were discussed.

Perspectives of European Ethnology

The current identity discourse inside and outside ethnology is - for different reasons - since more than a decade connected with political rhethorics. It includes a frequent labelling of artifacts and attitudes as ethnic and the use of history in search for key-words as roots and authenticity. Since ethnologists often are authors or mediators of plausible metaphorics they seem to serve as story-tellers, as entertainers. Since ethnologists offer materials for the construction of the self by interpreting habits, rituals etc., contemporary everyday-life turns out to be a scientificated one and has lost its quality of indisputable self-evidence. Modern lives have to be narrated and explained by stories. People have learned to use a set of options and thus are enabled to celebrate a 'virtual identity' which turns out to be the everyday practice. Interpretations surrounding identity brought up by ethno-sciences as well as its creators achieve more importance since ethnological knowledge is to be regarded as an integral part of modern lifestyles. They demand responsibility. The planned celebrations for the year 2000 e.g. are stuffed with cited patterns of culture marking a change.

European Ethnology and Intercultural Communication

European Ethnology was proposed as a name of our discipline in Arnhem in 1955. Although it is now used in several European countries, it is still unclear what the name really denotes and what distinguishes it from Folklore, Ethnography, Cultural Anthropology or Ethnology. The article attempts to determine the position of European Ethnology and to outline some of its goals and tasks: While folklorists largely focus on the study of their own, national folk cultures, and ethnologists on the study of alien, exotic cultures, European Ethnologists should concern themselves with the study of both own and alien European cultures and their interrelations and interactions, both from the emic and the etic perspectives. Thus, on the macro-level, comparative and interethnic studies should be a main concern, while on the micro-level, face-to-face inter cultural communication should become an integral object of European Ethnology. It is argued that the problems resulting from increased culture contact caused by migrations, by the European Union, by globalization etc. make the application of ethnological knowledge to the solution of these social problems indispensable - and make new demands on European Ethnologists.

War and hunting poisons of the New World. Part 1. Notes on the early history of curare

The history to about 1850 of the muscle-relaxant poison curare is discussed, especially the developments leading to the botanical identification of the plants that yield the alkaloidal active principles: Loganiaceae ( Strychnos species) and Menispermaceae ( Abuta, Chondrodendron, and Curarea species). One of the earliest encounters with the poison appears to have been during the exploration of the Lake Maracaibo region in Colombia by Alonso Pérez de Tolosa in 1548. It is pointed out (yet again) that Sir Walter Ralegh did not bring back the poison to Europe in 1595 and that it was Keymis who first came across the word ourari when exploring the lower reaches of the Orinoco in 1596. Gumilla, La Condamine, Ulloa, Veigl, and others gave much additional information about the poison during the 18th century. Scientific studies began in the latter part of the century when Schreber listed the botanical identities of four of the plant components entering into the curare prepared by the Akawai Indians of Surinam. As far as is known, none of these people actually saw curare being made. Thereafter, progress was rapid. Humboldt and Bonpland were the first trained scientists to witness the preparation of the poison, at the very beginning of the 19th century. Subsequent exploration by Martius and Spix, Poeppig, Youd, the Schomburgk brothers, De Castelnau and Deville, Spruce, and others, up to the middle of the century, extended and deepened botanical and ethnological knowledge of curare. Study of its physiology started at about that time with the classical experiments of Rudolf von Koelliker and Claude Bernard.

L'ethnicité comme volonté et comme représentation : à propos des Peul du Wasolon

La notion d'ethnie qui a été empruntée aux Grecs (ethnos) désignait chez eux les peuples qui n'étaient pas organisés en cités-États (polis) et de façon générale des groupes d'animaux ou des groupes d'humains vivant ensemble et partageant la même culture bien que n'appartenant pas forcément au même clan ou à la même tribu. Reprise par les théoriciens modernes, cette notion a toujours été utilisée en référence à une problématique raciale.C'est Vacher de Lapouge qui le premier a introduit la notion dans la langue française mais il ne faisait que s'inscrire dans tout un courant dont le nom le plus marquant est celui de Gobineau.

?Ethnological knowledge is of vital importance?: The martialization of South African anthropology

Like so many of my generation, I thought that the well-documented abuses of anthropology by military forces had successfully been buried by the aftermath of Vietnam. By the late seventies, however, my euphoric idealism began to wear thin as troubling rumors of anthropological involvement in military repression in many parts of the world began to occasionally circulate at professional meetings. Still, since this was only hearsay, the prevailing sentiment seems to be one of non-concern, especially if one's field of interest is the United States or far-off Papua New Guinea. In 1981 my perceptions changed. Cultural Survival, the Cambridge-based human rights organization, asked me to write a short article on the issue of !Kung Bushmen joining the South African army. This had been raised initially by Richard Lee and given publicity by the journal Science. As a budding Melanesianist I was rather out of touch with developments in Southern Africa. I thought a good way to generate pertinent information would be to circulate the Science article to departments of anthropology at South African universities. The responses proved to be a Pandora's box at the bottom of which lurked the hydra-headed monster of the South African Defence Force.

Monument to a missionary: C. W. Abel and the Keveri of Papua

professed a reverence for the secure and respectable, and was easily convinced of the superiority of his own mode of thought. But Abel was also more intelligent than most of his colleagues and was a more violent partisan. In him ordinary qualities were magnified to an extraordinary degree. A self-educated emigrant who had worked at the age of 18 as a labourer among Maoris in New Zealand, Abel returned to England in 1884 to acquire an elementary knowledge of ethnology at Cheshunt College.1 Arriving in British New Guinea in 1890, Abel wrote a monograph on the Logea Islanders of eastern Papua into which he threw his characteristic passion for thoroughness. No one ever saw the habits of Logea man with a more dispassionate eye, nor recorded them with a more objective pen, than the Rev. Charles Abel. What were his legends? How did he collect food? * Part of the research upon which this article is based was derived from the Kwato Archives held by the University of Papua and New Guinea, which at the time of writing had not been catalogued. l R. W. Abel, Charles W. Abel of Kwato (New York 1934), 24. Founded in 1768, Cheshunt College was primarily a theological school which broadened its curriculum in the mid-19th century to include a missionary course. This emphasized theology and the art of preaching, and included elementary ethnology.

Portuguese Contributions to the Ethnological and Geographical Knowledge of Africa during the XVI Century

Portuguese Contributions to the Ethnological and Geographical Knowledge of Africa during the XVI Century

Professor J. Markwart

The death, in tragic circumstances, of Professor Josef Markwart, of Berlin, on 4th February, ought not to pass unnoticed in this country. For although his name is here unfamiliar to all but a small group of scholars, he occupies, and must always occupy, a place in the forefront of European Orientalists, and it would be difficult to name any past or present scholar with a wider range of learning or a more brilliant critical faculty, whether as philologist, historian, or ethnologist. He was a fine classical scholar; he could read nearly every literary language of Asia, and he had a profound knowledge of African ethnology. Though his total output of published work was comparatively small—amounting only to four or five books and a number of articles in learned journals—it may be said that every sentence he wrote bore the hall-mark of his immense learning and his rare analytical power.

Hawaiki: the Original Home of the Maori With a Sketch of Polynesian History

IT is most fortunate that Mr. Percy Smith was able to publish the fourth and authoritative edition of this book before his death, as it contains a considerable amount of new material and of revised conclusions. It represents the gleaning of a long life spent in amassing new data, and laboriously sifting and collating existing information. All students of oceanic ethnology owe a great debt to this painstaking, kindly, and learned pioneer. Mr. Smith entirely justifies his reliance on the general accuracy of tradition, and he has been able to give approximate dates to events in unwritten history, and also to trace three main migrations into the Pacific from Indonesia, and numerous migrations within the Polynesian area. Constructive work of this kind on imperfect material is necessarily open to criticism, but Mr. Smith courageously attempts to interpret hints and obscure words, and by imagination, controlled by intimate knowledge of Polynesian ethnology, he has made a plausible connected story, which, in his concluding words, “will in the meantime serve the purpose of a summary of the history of the people, on which others may build.” Hawaiki: the Original Home of the Maori. With a Sketch of Polynesian History. By S. Percy Smith. Fourth edition. Pp. 288 + 20 plates. (Auckland, Melbourne and London: Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd., 1921.) 12s. 6d.

The Peopling of Australia

IN the issue of NATURE dated December 28, 1899, there appeared a notice of my book, “Eaglehawk and Crow,” from the pen of Prof. A. C. Haddon. A copy did not reach me till the end of February, and for that and other reasons which need not be mentioned I delayed replying to the criticisms passed. With your kind permission I shall now endeavour to meet the principal objections raised to my work, with a desire of advancing, if even in a very small measure, our knowledge of Australian ethnology. All ethnologists are agreed upon the difficulty of the Australian problem, and no one who attempts to solve it will be surprised at their agreement.