Historical Anthropological Perspective Research Articles

Rastros documentales de la (des)aparición de cuerpos: inhumaciones irregulares y antropología forense en un cementerio público de Córdoba

This article reflects on the extensive use of irregular burials in public cemeteries as a method of disappearance/elimination of bodies during the last civic-military dictatorship in Argentina. Drawing on a historical-anthropological perspective, it investigates a paradigmatic case: the discovery of one of the largest mass graves in Latin America, located in the San Vicente Cemetery in the city of Córdoba, Argentina. The underlying assumption guiding the analysis is that irregular burial involved the intervention of bureaucratic-administrative instances linked to the regular handling of corpses—hospitals, morgues, and public cemeteries—resulting in the existence of documentary traces that currently account for its use and extent. The article begins with the description of a letter written in 1980 by morgue workers and a newspaper article about the first identification in Córdoba, serving as temporal markers of a lengthy search process. The geographical and historical reconstruction of San Vicente and its burial practices configure it as a territory of marginalities and impurities, as a receiver of bodies of the sick, the poor, and also “subversive delinquents.” Analyzed as cultural artifacts, the morgue's entry books and the 1980 letter reveal different aspects of the irregular burial practice and how the bodies of the murdered were incorporated into the routines of state agencies. Such records were crucial in the forensic anthropological work of searching for and locating the large mass grave. The article is framed among studies focusing on the “legal” and “administrative” forms of state repression and terror. It seeks to highlight the importance of preliminary investigation and interdisciplinarity in the application of forensic anthropology, not only in the analyzed geographical area but also in clarifying the multiple violences that permeate the region.

Voices of the forests. Eviction, control, and the birth of the ‘Parish Lapp’ system in early modern Sweden

ABSTRACT This paper examines the birth of the exploitative sockenlappssystemet (the ‘Parish Lapp’ system) in central Sweden during the early eighteenth century. Based on a foundation of control and eviction instituted in earlier laws, the 1720s saw a forceful rise in royal concern over the existence of nomadic Sámi in central Sweden. His Majesty King Fredrik I specifically expressed fear of damage to the resources of the forests through Sámi hunting, especially bird hunting. The period between 1720 and 1730 saw King Fredrik corresponding with the Royal Council, the county governors, and some groups of Sámi agents. The council sought to evict the Sámi and move them or have them move to the lappmarker. The Sámi agents claimed birth right and asserted that Sámi in central Sweden had no relationship to either the land or the Sámi in the northern part of the realm. This paper uses a historical anthropological perspective, based on a wide set of sources, including historical archaeology, history, and ethnography, in order to paint a bigger picture of the conflicted situation that led to the founding of the unique system of forced indenture: the so-called Parish Lapp system.

The multiple presentations of Chengdu's leisure life in <i>Xinxin News</i> advertisements from 1930 to 1949 from the perspective of historical anthropology

This study used advertisements in the Xinxin News, a daily newspaper published in the Republic of China, as its historical material, took the leisure life of modern Chengdu citizens as its research object, and applied the research paradigm of historical anthropology to observe multiple changes in the leisure life of modern Chengdu. It was shown that, on the one hand, advertisements in the newspaper motivated the leisure lifestyle of modern Chengdu citizens, on the other hand, that leisure consumption became a fashionable modern goal actively pursued by Chengdu citizens in their daily lives. This paper discussed the leisure life of modern Chengdu as revealed by advertisements in the Xinxin News and explored the changing trajectory of the social panoramas of modern Chengdu, thus showing how a landlocked city in China started to become an international city in the wave of globalisation that washed over the country.

Environmental conditioning: Mobile geomedia and their lines of becoming in the air, on land, and on water

Geomedia reflect the infrastructural, environmental, and practical conditions under which they come into being. By reading traces of and as geomedia in different natural elements, the “thick mappings” of lines presented in this article render the properties of the crossed environments visible. From a historical-anthropological perspective, geomedia have taken on a double perspective in this process since the late 18th century, with the first aerial images. With regard to the movement in the air, on land, and on water, this double mediality concerns the paradox of representing an in situ perspective and simultaneously a line of becoming. Geomedia always exhibit a documentary and a procedural form. These two characteristics are chiasmically linked with each since the Industrial Revolution. Geomedia are practices that reflexively demonstrate how the paradox can be visualized, namely, that a mediated human body on the move is in a stable position, while the surroundings are fluid.

The Multiple Presentations of Chengdu's Leisure Life in Xinxin News Advertisements from 1930 to 1949 from the Perspective of Historical Anthropology

The Multiple Presentations of Chengdu's Leisure Life in Xinxin News Advertisements from 1930 to 1949 from the Perspective of Historical Anthropology

Humanity and Rituals in the Age of Living with COVID-19

Abstract The spread of the novel coronavirus brought an impact on human civilization. The history of infectious diseases teaches us that overcoming them requires the long-term perspective for the complex of the following keys, including the mutation of pathogens, the disappearance of vectors, the effectiveness of protective measures, the acquisition of herd immunity, the development of vaccines, and the climate. So, what do we lose or gain in this unwanted situation of living with viruses? From the perspective of historical anthropology, it is necessary to consider the transformation of humanity and the culture, social etiquette, ceremonies, and rites in the age of living with COVID-19.

A romantic nation: Eduards Volters’ concepts of ethnographical-statistical studies of Lithuania

The aim of this paper is to show the academic links inherent in the idea of ethnographical-statistical studies of Lithuania conceived by the Latvian ethnographer Eduards Volters (1856–1941). In as early as the end of the nineteenth century, the Latvian linguist and ethnographer was working at the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and was developing ethnographical-statistical studies to determine the “tribal” composition of the population. In an original way the theory integrated the concepts of the history of ideas and ethnographical statistics. In 1930 Volters engaged in the activities of the Lithuanian Scientific Society and introduced the concept of “the soul of a nation” in his ethnographical-statistical studies. The author of this article tests the hypothesis that the beginnings of “the soul of a nation” concept in relation to the Lithuanians are connected with the historical anthropological perspective. The author theoretically analyses the rhetoric of Volters’ idea of ethnographical statistics from the following points of view: (1) ethnographical-statistical studies of Lithuania, (2) a romantic nation, and (3) the idea of science and education.

Sources for the history of the Church in postwar Ukraine: a case of historical anthropology study

The article examines major groups of sources for the study of the Church “under communism” from the perspective of historical anthropology. The characteristic is based on the author’s own research into the history of the Russian Orthodox Church and a Greek-Catholic community, forcefully “reunited” with it, in postwar Soviet Ukraine from the mid-1940s – early 1970s. The author also briefly characterizes major archival holdings for these sources. The author defines methodological framework for such a study and also considers recent discussions on the source value and reliability of various texts from the Soviet epoque. The application of historical anthropology approach to Soviet studies in general and study in the life and survival of the Church in particular has the broadening of the spectrum of research questions as its outcome. Logically, the number and diversity of sources for their study also expand. The author lists and characterizes all the groups of sources she uses in her study. These are the so-called “archive of repression” (namely, official Soviet documents and secret documents of Soviet security organs), both official and church periodic, various church documents (from Patriarchal messages and Synodal decisions to church correspondence), and a variety of sources from below. The latter consists of the so-called “letters to power” coming from the Church (both clergy and lay activists), “hidden texts” (according to James C. Scott) of church members, and oral interviews taken after the fall of the USSR. Ethnographic materials, sociological studies, and numerous visual materials similarly constitute source base for such a study. This variety of sources becomes a powerful challenge for researchers because requires an understanding of the character of each group from them as well as skillful application of appropriate methodological instruments for their analysis. Article received 24.02.2019

The history and future of Kham: Perspectives based on a historical anthropological reading of Alai's four novels

Up to the present, the distinguished Tibetan writer, Alai, has published four full-length novels – King Gesar, Nyarong (Zhandui), Red Poppies, and the Hollow Mountain series – which have, to a great extent, shaped outsiders’ impressions of Kham, or Eastern Tibet, one of the three traditional divisions of ‘cultural Tibet’ or ‘ethnographical Tibet’. Based on a historical anthropological perspective, this article examines the spatial and temporal dimensions of Kham history reflected in these four novels. On the one hand, it shows how the native Khampa's senses of space, referring to surrounding political entities, changed first from an ancient model of ‘four regimes in four directions’, then to a dual model of the central Han and local Tibetan polities on opposing sides during late Imperial China and the Republican Period, and finally to the unitary model of a single central government in the contemporary period. In addition, this article shows how Khampa have experienced changing senses of time, from circulatory Tibetan Buddhist time to the dynastic time of Chinese Empires to modern linear time. Beyond revealing the transformations in the spatial and temporal senses of the Khampa people, Alai also implicitly describes the alternative models in Sino-Tibetan relations as both historical reality and ideality: Spatially, in the process of forced integration, Han Chinese and Tibetan people have simultaneously experienced ethnic distinction, which has been recognized by elite Khampa agents; Temporally, free borderland markets, acting in the role of historical transcendence, have been protective and under control, especially for the sake of the Tibetan side. The above narratives are both empirical facts and Alai's expectations and construction. On the one hand, as an ethnic-minority writer and native speaker (Tibetan dialect rGyalrong), Alai loves his fellow Tibetans and tends to understand their conditions from the bottom up; on the other hand, raised in a peripheral Tibetan village near a Han area, educated in modern Mandarin schools and a Mandarin college, and unable to practice writing in his mother language, Alai has a conception of history that has been generated from the top down. It is easy to understand how, faced with issues of frontiers and ethnic minorities, native elites like Alai are quite likely to develop a historical construction of literary complexity. This complexity further diversifies outsiders' impressions of Tibet.

El Estado nación y la producción del conocimiento social sobre <em>emigración española</em> a finales del siglo XIX

Este artículo se centra en analizar la relación que se establece entre el Estado nacional español a finales del siglo XIX, y la producción de conocimiento social sobre el movimiento de la población a través de sus fronteras internacionales. Bajo una perspectiva histórico-antropológica, apoyada en la historia cultural, la sociología del conocimiento y la antropología política, este trabajo intenta poner en evidencia la existencia de una relación estructural y estructurante entre diversos campos sociales (políticos, económicos, militares, etc.), la implementación de políticas estatales de control del movimiento de la población y la producción de conocimiento sobre los denominados emigrantes españoles. En este contexto, se examina cómo se genera y difunde dicho conocimiento a cargo de una élite intelectual, perteneciente a la burguesía, en el marco de una ideología liberal y nacionalista, con el que dialogarán y confrontarán por un largo periodo los cuadros técnicos del Estado y los saberes científicos académicos autorizados para hablar de lo social.

Chieftains Into Ancestors: Imperial Expansion and Indigenous Society in Southwest China, edited by David Faure and Ho Ts’ui-P’ing. Vancouver: UBS Press, 2013. xiv + 254 pp. US$95.00 (hardcover), US$34.95 (paperback).

Chieftains Into Ancestors: Imperial Expansion and Indigenous Society in Southwest China, edited by David Faure and Ho Ts'ui-P'ing. Vancouver: UBS Press, 2013. xiv + 254 pp. US$95.00 (hardcover), US$34.95 (paperback).This collection of chapters by nine authors offers an alternative interpretation of indigenous societies in southwest China, from perspective of historical anthropology. To articulate the indigenous historical voice (p. 4), authors eschew traditional central-local dichotomy (Sinicization) approach to incorporation of southwest and its peoples into Chinese imperial administrative system. Rejecting records gathered and preserved by centre (p. xii) as too biased, they prefer local documentation conserved in stelae, private manuscripts, legends and rituals. Some historians have viewed legends and rituals with suspicion, deeming them empirically unsound as historical sources, but it is exactly here that authors demonstrate methodological innovation. By understanding legends and rituals as points of contact between indigenous peoples and imperial state, they are able to harness them as sources to unravel indigenous perspectives on history of their conquest by Chinese imperial state. This is basic stance laid out by one of editors, David Faure, in his Introduction.Indigenous peoples in southwest sorely lack histories that tell their version of history. For a long time, attempts by Herold Wiens, Edward Schafer and others were largely treated as studies of exotic visited on an uninterested community of China scholars. It was not until 1990s that historical and anthropological studies began to appear in quantity. This book adds to growing literature. Unraveling history from legend and ritual, as well as tracing creation of genealogies, reveals changes experienced by seemingly static societies. Though not discussed directly here, approach of authors and editors contributes to answering fundamental question of whether a comprehensive history of all indigenous societies is really viable. Given vast differences in political, social and religious organization among indigenous peoples, there are no grounds for assuming that they ever shared a common history, but approach provides a benchmark for attempting to construct a comprehensive history of indigenous societies by taking common experience of imperial conquest, subjugation and imposition of Chinese ritual and genealogy as a starting point for evaluating historical change.The methodology is an adaptation of techniques applied to history of Han society and religion in south China, and it works equally well for nonHan. By and large, authors argue that imperial conquest of southwest turned indigenous rituals and legends into means for realigning relationships with ancestors by promoting patrilinearity, and led to adoption of ancestral worship, genealogy compilation and lineage halls. Use of Han script reinforced changeover, but oral tradition still persisted in transmitting earlier rituals. Several authors (for example, Xie Xiaohui, pp. 125-30) reveal evidence of a latent female tradition, and Ho Ts'ui-P'ing discusses gender in detail.Some indigenous ethnic groups such as Miao are well known for their unity in facing outside enemies. Huang Shu-li (Chapter 1) is only author to examine ideology that supports such solidarity. She argues that qhuab kev funeral ceremony, which describes journey of deceased Hmong back to land of ancestors, does not represent historical route of an ancient Hmong diaspora, as some claim, but serves to maintain Hmong identity and to augment their autonomy as an ethnic group, because it enforces notion of correct compliance with Hmong way as a moral code for individual and collective behavior.Two authors examine role of gendered agency after conquest. …

Os lugares da memória e da ação política em Guatemala. Justiça transicional, políticas do reconhecimento e ficções de secularismo

I analyze here the importance of religion in Guatemala during the conflict and post-conflict periods through: i) the “new” structures of social mobilization during the sixties and seventies; ii) religion as rhetorical practice and field of power; iii) the territorialization of memory policies; and iv) the processes of recovering historical memory. I argue against theories about secularism that coincide with some interpretations of identity that tend to separate and reproduce binary oppositional categories that prevent recognition of ambiguous, dynamic and complex social identities. I explain why a historical-anthropological perspective on space facilitates a more effective understanding of mobile and transversal societies in their processes of becoming constituted, political positioning, and interpreting the past.

Place renaming practices in post-war Karabakh/Artsakh

The article touches a “flammable” cultural component in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, explaining the value added to names for places as an effect of modernization, a legacy of the region’s imperial past and as a long-term impact on local human knowledge and humanities. Approaching the ethnographically recorded materials, mapping and renaming practices in the conflict area from a historical anthropological perspective, this author argues for the need for a more layered investigation and further comparative studies of the cases of “confronting symbolism”. The cascading character of such topographical measures as place (re)naming, overrides the current instrumentalist revitalizations as a belated form of Orientalism and gives opportunities for merging the unfairly diverged viewpoints in modern socialcultural anthropology.

Roni Weinstein Marriage rituals Italian style: A historical anthropological perspective on early modern Italian Jews Leyde, Brill, 2004, XI-515 p.

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

A Historical Anthropological Perspective on Surprising Discoveries in the Archaeology of Ancient China

A Historical Anthropological Perspective on Surprising Discoveries in the Archaeology of Ancient China

Writing Technology & Development: Insights from Jack Goody

In today's information age, information is power. This article examines Jack Goody's pioneering theories, as found in two of his major books, and applies them to the African society. Lack of information means no progress or development. Useful information is acquired mainly through reading and writing. And these two life skills are in turn acquired in the process of education. Reading and writing, that is to say literacy, are therefore directly linked to development. Because of this link, people are either progressive or retrogressive. This dichotomy of human society may not be so distinct today as individuals are increasingly getting literate. Goody is a British social scientist who has studied human societies from a historicalanthropological perspective. He places written communication centre-stage in the evolution of human societies. It emerges, from the two books, that his theories are highly pertinent to the developing world, and especially to Kenya Keywords: Writing, literacy, development, Kenya, Jack Goody Journal of Language, Technology & Entrepreneurship in Africa Vol. 1 (2) 2009: pp. 62-75

Textual discourses and behavior criterion: The historiographic significance of Tibetan biographies of the religious figures

From the perspective of historical anthropology, this article examines a great deal of the biographies of religious figures in Tibetan history, reveals their special way of writing, classification, and circulation. In Tibetan Buddhism, biographies of religious figures are considered as a subject’s demise (lung-rgyun) and have their special meanings. They are the text of the largest quantity in the historical works of Tibet and had great influence on Tibetan historiography. A comprehensive research on their cultural characteristic, historical evolvement and historical influence will help us understand the Tibetan culture in depth.

Roni Weinstein, Marriage Rituals Italian Style. A Historical Anthropological Perspective on Early Modern Italian Jews

Roni Weinstein, Marriage Rituals Italian Style. A Historical Anthropological Perspective on Early Modern Italian Jews

:Marriage Rituals Italian Style: A Historical Anthropological Perspective on Early Modern Italian Jews

Marriage Rituals Italian Style: A Historical Anthropological Perspective on Early Modern Italian Jews is the first comprehensive attempt to present the wealth of primary documents relating to marriage rituals in Jewish Italian communities - responsa, private letters, court protocols, defamating books, love stories, material objects - and place them in historical context. The book traces the chronological course of different phases of marriage (matchmaking, betrothal, the wedding day), and also adopts a thematic perspective. Marriage rituals mirror key issues in local Jewish culture: family life, gender, the youth sub-culture, sexuality, the uses of property, and the honor ethos. Jewish marriage rituals in Italy are revealed as surprisingly similar to those of their Catholic neighbors, and undergo similar change process.

The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas. vol. 3: South America, pt. 1

The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas. vol. 3: South America, pt. 1