Socio-anthropological Perspective Research Articles

The Impact of Sleep: From Ancient Rituals to Modern Challenges

AbstractAlthough sleep is crucial for mental and physical health, insufficient sleep is a growing problem in our modern society. In general, adults need approximately eight hours of sleep per night, but this is often unfeasible nowadays. This sleep restriction has been observed, and it has worsened, throughout the past two centuries; therefore, it is more attributed to socioeconomic changes than to biological adaptations. The most important factors to contribute to this sleep restriction were the popularization of artificial light and industrialization. The present manuscript briefly overviews, from a socioanthropological perspective, the reasons why sleep has been impacted, disclosing its effects on individuals and on society.

Biomedicalization and responses to aids in Brazil: research notes

This text addresses the process of biomedicalization in the responses to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (aids), based on field research in Rio de Janeiro and document and literature reviews. Considering the socio-anthropological perspective and social studies of science, the current predominance of preventative biomedical strategies implies both reconfigurations of the scientific and institutional order and interventions in health and sexuality. These transformations reveal an established definition of the epidemic as a clinical problem, reconfiguration of debates on sexuality and stigma, and erasure of the discussion on structural inequalities and human rights, and new studies on HIV/aids within social sciences and humanities are needed.

“Transplantando esperança”: Experimentações terapêuticas com células-tronco e a economia política da cura do HIV

Abstract In this article, I use a socio-anthropological perspective to analyze the configurations and developments of the first five cases of an HIV “cure” or “long-term remission”. These unprecedented results in the history of medicine were achieved through experimental stem cell transplants, whose donors had a rare genetic mutation called CCR5Δ32/Δ32, which confers a “natural resistance” to HIV infection. More specifically, I seek to explore the role of hope in these assemblages, that is, how it is manifest in narratives and composes situated practices. To do so, I collected and analyzed the content of scientific, journalistic, and biographical documents in a cartographic exercise (2008-2023). I observed that the first “success stories” in curative therapies for HIV can be seen as events in the trajectory of the HIV/AIDS pandemic that promoted short-circuits in the status quo and sparked new techno-scientific controversies. In this context, hope reveals complex and fluid connections, mobilizes desires, creates possibilities, attracts investments, and fosters discourses about the supposed “end” of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Finally, I suggest that this reflection is situated within a broader technobiopolitical network, which I call the “political economy of the HIV cure”.

Socio-anthropological exploration of Saudi youth identity formation in domestic and social spaces

This comprehensive research examines the formation of social identity among Saudi youth within the domains of bedrooms, homes, and Istiraha, a traditional communal gathering space. Drawing inspiration from Western studies on room culture and societal dynamics, the primary objective of this research is to scrutinize the socio-cultural transformations occurring within Saudi society, as reflected in the interactions of its youth in these distinct spaces. Departing from the conventional functional and moralistic framing of Saudi youth as social issues, this study adopts a socio-anthropological perspective. It perceives young individuals as active agents in the process of shaping their identities within a unique cultural milieu, employing a descriptive-analytical methodology. Fieldwork was conducted in late 2022, involving the administration of questionnaires to a randomly selected sample of 384 students at the University of Hail, Saudi Arabia, in addition to focus group discussions with 37 students. These methods were utilized to explore students' perceptions, activities, and attitudes within the specific social environments under investigation. The study's findings reveal that Saudi youth employ their bedrooms, homes, and Istiraha spaces to delineate their identities through three distinct social strategies: Autonomy, Reproduction, and Integration. Additionally, this research uncovers a gender-based distinction in the prevalence of room culture among the youth, contrary to Western findings. Istiraha, as an ancient cultural tradition, assumes a significant role as a gathering space for Saudi youth, affording them an opportunity to distance themselves from societal and familial constraints. In light of these discoveries, this research recommends an expansion of studies concerning the anthropology of spaces and social milieus in relation to the ongoing social transformations in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, it suggests an examination of room culture and Istiraha culture among Saudi youth from the perspective of their parents to gain insights into how these phenomena are perceived, their attitudes towards them, and the resulting behaviors. This exploration can illuminate aspects of generational continuity and disruption within the Saudi social fabric.

The Survival of Acehnese Traditional Markets in the Modernization Era

This article examined the sustainability aspects of traditional markets from a socio-anthropological perspective. The author aimed to demonstrate that fundamental changes occur due to the convergence of two economic systems in contemporary society. In the research process, the author employed qualitative research methods using an ethnographic approach. The research took place in Bireuen Regency, Aceh Province, which is located in the western region of the Republic of Indonesia. The study subjects included traders, market visitors, and the surrounding community. Data collection techniques involved interviews, direct observations, and literature reviews. The collected data were analyzed ethnographically by categorizing and connecting all the data to obtain subtopics and their meanings. The research findings revealed the existence of subcultures and societal customs that have been organized and passed down through generations. Traditional markets now coexist with the influences of modernization.

Explication of Mosque Construction Funds from Roadside Charity Donations in the Perspective of Islamic Law Sociology

This study aimed to determine the characteristics of religiosity, sociology, psychology in the controversy over mosque construction funds from roadside donations made by the people of Pakuniran District. Madura Indonesia The research method uses qualitative and ethnographic approaches, structural-functional theory, and Islamic law (IL). Ethnography is a concept of actualizing cultural aspects. Meanwhile, Talcott Parson's structural-functional theory from a socio-anthropological perspective aims to interpret society, religion and government in a linked structure. The perspective of Islamic law (IL) is a series of shari'ah of Allah Subhanahu Wa-ta'ala which is the fundamental reference for Muslims and mujtahidin in giving fatwas. So that ethnography, structural-functional, and Islamic law (IL) form a triangular methodology, which becomes a data collection and analysis technique. Results The researcher describes the perspective of roadside donation activities by formulating three fundamental data: (a) Ethnographic perspective related to roadside donation activities. (b) Structural-functional community according to the context of Talcott Parson. (c) The conformity of Islamic law (IL) to roadside charities. This study identifies the phenomenon of the Pakuniran community according to context, thereby triangulating the contradictory results between community activities and the perspective of Islamic Law (IL).

Narratives about the Origin of COVID-19 on Twitter with an Emphasis on Conspiracy Theory

The primary idea of the following paper is to identify and analyze posts on Twitter about the origins of the coronavirus and the responses to the pandemic outbreak through the conspiracy theories that place China, communism, and other international social and political players as responsible for the creation and dissemination of the SARS-CoV-2. The theoretical contributions of this article resort to the understanding of conspiracy theories’ production and diffusion considered from a socio-anthropological perspective, bringing into evidence the concept of conspiracy theory. The methodology assumes that the means of experiencing reality and constructing new cognitive and social processes are currently being affected by the internet with its digital platforms, social networks, and new technologies, altering how societies understand the world and its events. The research shows that social networks, such as Twitter, can function as the basis for new social processes of this century. The integration of different generations with new technologies finds on the internet a new space for developing new common-sense knowledge and expressing political, ideological, and social stances.

My brilliant city: Naples, urban poverty and the ‘ethnographic imagination’ of Elena Ferrante

ABSTRACT Elena Ferrante’s ‘Neapolitan Novels’, published in English between 2012 and 2015, tell the coming-of-age story of two women born in a poor neighbourhood in post-war Naples. The international success of this four-part series of novels – named in the Italian edition after the title of the first novel, L’amica geniale (‘My Brilliant Friend’) – testifies to the enduring popularity of the urban poor of Naples as a literary subject. This article discusses several key issues of urban poverty that emerge from the series (i.e. social exclusion, ghettoization, widespread illegality, endemic violence and women’s oppression) and analyses how they are narrated, drawing on two classic texts of ethnographic scholarship: Thomas Belmonte’s The Broken Fountain (1979) and Italo Pardo’s Managing Existence in Naples (1996). In doing so, it reconsiders Ferrante’s narrative from a socio-anthropological perspective and assesses her ‘ethnographic imagination’ vis-à-vis two opposing tendencies in the literature about the urban poor of Naples: one geared towards stigmatization and the other towards romanticization. The article thus argues that the ‘Neapolitan Novels’ offer a refreshing take on a deeply stereotyped subject, countering (at least in part) the process of ‘othering’ that traditionally affects the literary representation of Naples’ urban poor.

Grounding Eco-Spiritualities: Insights Drawing on Research in Switzerland

The articulation of ecology and spirituality has long-time either be ignored or taken for granted. Rarely has it been approached by a constructivist or processual perspective. This text draws on research on public environmentalism in Switzerland since 2015 when an increasing number of appeals to consider ecological issues with spiritual references appeared. While this observation could not be explained simply by the hypothesis of “greening of religions”, the research asked what the social profiles were of the carriers of this articulation? This text presents how the research has explored life courses of environmentalists to reconstruct the way they have articulated their spiritual or moral ideas with ecology or vice versa. It thereby identifies two main groups who have very different positions in the public realm. The aim of this text is to understand how the two fields of religion—in the broadest sense of the word—and ecology, which were previously quite distinct and relatively impervious to each other, have recently been reshaped in relation to each other, particularly around the notion of eco-spirituality. This text adopts a socio-anthropological perspective to describe eco-spirituality not only as an intellectual category invented in theological and philosophical spheres but as entailing a variety of practices, worldviews, and meaning-making processes interweaving ecology and spirituality.

‘It’s not God I’m joking about’: Religion, stand-up comedy, dark comedy, and public sphere

This article tries to look at the social aspects of dark comedy used in stand-up comedy. Dark comedy is seen as problematic because it is in a vortex of humor, subjectivity, and the public. To capture and analyze these various phenomena, the authors use socio-anthropological perspective with the play theory from Sastramidjaja’s dissertation (2016) which is complemented by publicness from Sasono’s PhD theses (2019). This research is qualitative, using data collection methods in the form of semi-structured interviews with several main questions which are deepened by still referring to the main questions, especially to know the process of preparing jokes and stand-up comedy performances.This research was conducted in the Stand Up Indo Bekasi community and the Stand Up University Bhayangkara Jaya (UBJ) Bekasi with three comedians who often used dark joke material consisting of Bilal (Muslim), Ahmad (Muslim), and James (son of a Christian priest). This paper reveals the finding that dark comedy does not only come from the comedians, but also involves the public sphere as a form of grievances. The authors see that dark comedy is born from concerns that include comedian subjectivity in viewing various symbols – including religious symbols or those related to religion, reversing them, and contextualizing them in an incongruity.

Deradicalization of Qur'an Exegesis in Islamic Boarding Schools in Central Java

<p>Since its establishment in the 13th century, Islamic boarding schools have played a key role in deradicalization using the exegesis of the Qur'an in Indonesia. The diversity of Islamic boarding schools is the result of the creativity of the ulama in acculturating the culture of the local Muslim community with the kyai as the main driver. As an Islamic educational institution, Islamic boarding schools integrate with the community in performing spiritual worship, educating, and integrating normative culture in religion. Islamic boarding schools create a harmonious, pluralist, and inclusive Muslim community. Nowadays, Islamic boarding schools face accusations from the West as an institution that produces radicals and terrorists. Bombings in Indonesia are mostly done by alumni of Islamic boarding schools. Bomb documents from JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels belonging to Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) contain information that 141 Islamic boarding schools and 388 Islamic leaders have joined JI. This study aims to complement the shortcomings of existing studies by highlighting the role of Islamic boarding schools in deradicalization using the exegesis of the Qur’an for students in Central Java so that they can avoid radicalism and terrorism. This study is crucial to answer negative accusations against Islamic boarding schools and encourage the creation of moderate exegeses. To elaborate on this effort, the researcher uses the social dialectical theory of Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, the concept of non-violent Islam from Abdurrahman Wahid, and the concept of Zamakhsyari Dhofier's Islamic boarding schools using socio-anthropological perspectives.</p>

Consecration and Education as socialization strategies: socio-anthropological perspective

Consecration and Education as socialization strategies: socio-anthropological perspective

Um ensaio sobre a cronicidade do viver com HIV/Aids na infância, adolescência e juventude

ABSTRACT This essay works on the intertwining of time using the notions of experience, memory and disturbance from a socio-anthropological perspective to discuss the chronicity of living with HIV/Aids in childhood, adolescence and youth. Following the essay definitions, we propose a conceptual craftwork that offers another way of looking at stigma, precariousness, vulnerability, and chronicity. We invested in a perspective that faces the barriers of living produced by stigma, discussing to what extent chronicity can accentuate the precariousness that constitutes humans, although for many, due to their social location, it can mean greater precariousness and vulnerability; considering that, when one is a child, adolescent, and youth, this precariousness can lead to an impossibility in the flow of affections, in the fundamental daily exchanges within groups, and to a constant feeling of inadequacy.

Um nada ‘admirável mundo novo’: medo, risco e vulnerabilidade em tempos de Covid-19

ABSTRACT A new coronavirus, initially designated as 2019-nCoV and after that as SARS-CoV-2, emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. By January 2020, at least 830 cases had been diagnosed in several countries. SARS-CoV-2 is the third coronavirus to emerge in the human population in the last two decades – an emergency that has set global public health institutions on high alert. A little more than a year later, cases and deaths are counted in millions worldwide, with Brazil holding a prominent position in the number of cases and deaths. The succession of events in this recent period brought up highly relevant issues: civilizational fraying, increased vulnerabilities, and resulting risks. In this essay, we propose some reflections on the social consequences of the pandemic from a socio-anthropological perspective, revisiting classic public health and social sciences themes such as fear, risk, and vulnerability. We observed resurging trends and escalating tensions, which leaves us with a horizon of great concern, especially regarding the expanding biopower devices. Thus, we join the ongoing reflexive effort on the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on sociality and power relationship forms in today’s world.

Declining of Chinese popular religion in the totalitarian era: the case of nuo

ABSTRACT In the early reform era, various forms of popular religion regained their role in maintaining moral order and low-level social control in rural communities. It was one of the main reasons that the Chinese Communist Party, a political party espousing state atheism, allowed and even endorsed the revival and flourishing of popular religion. Following on from that, though, the profound socio-economic transformation of the Economic Reform era began to reshape the landscape of Chinese rural society. As a consequence, the divine sanctioning power and communal function inherent in popular religion weakened, and thereby the undermining of the socio-religious function of enforcing moral and social norms derived from it. This then contributed to the decline of rural grassroots autonomous organisations which in turn allowed the authoritarian party-state to strengthen its autocratic power and exercise direct and uncompromising political control over Chinese rural populations. This article addresses the phenomenon from a socio-anthropological perspective, using the example of nuo, a form of popular religion commonly practiced in south-west China. This work is based on the author’s continuous decades-long fieldwork and research on Chinese popular religion.

Social Transformative Movement of Ulama and Pesantren in the Northern Coastal Java: Study of the Struggle of the Kyai to Promote Tradition, Economy, and Moderation of Islam

This field research seeks to analyze various developments and changes in the world of pesantren in the midst of changing societies and dynamic national political struggles. The kiai and pesantren institutions in the Indonesian context and the northern Javanese pesisiran in particular have various strategic roles both in the religious education sector which also guides the views and behavior of the surrounding community. In this research, it is seen from a socio-anthropological perspective with a choice of qualitative approaches. The data were collected through the observation by staying at the research location for several months, as well as interviewing the kiai, asaatidz, teachers at the pesantren, as well as several community leaders. Some historical data and others were obtained through documentation and search of other related literature. The findings of this study include the first presence of kiai with pesantren in northern coastal (pesisiran) Pati of Central Java, which has made many transformative social contributions to the surrounding environment. Both, historically, the pioneering of da'wah and the transformation of the pesantren, have been initiated by the kiai since the era of the struggle for independence, from kiai Salam, kiai Mahfudz to kiai Sahal struggle era and the young kiai in Islamic boarding schools in the Pati region, the northern coast of Java. The three Islamic boarding schools with social capital owned by the kiai (in the form of networking, norms, and trusts) not only play a role in interpreting and dialoguing the traditional values of Islamic teachings, but also maintaining and providing a role model for moderate Islam, in the empowerment movement of socio-religious, socio-education and socio-economics, even the socio-politics of contemporary society.

Entre el castigo y la intervención socioeducativa. Experiencias cotidianas en una institución penal juvenil de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires desde un enfoque socio antropológico y de género

Entre punição e intervenção socioeducativa: Experiências cotidianas em uma instituição penal juvenil na cidade de Buenos Aires sob uma perspectiva socioantropológica e de gênero analisa os sentidos das intervenções que se tencionam entre práticas socioeducativas e/ou punitivas em uma instituição de privação de liberdade para jovens rapazes entre 18 e 21 anos de idade, denominada Centro Socioeducativo de Régimen Cerrado (CSRC) Cortázar. Por uma perspectiva socioantropológica e de gênero, reflete-se sobre os sentidos das intervenções realizadas nessa instituição e sobre práticas de punição e socioeducativas. A partir da análise das observações participantes, de entrevistas semiestruturadas e de análise documental, as vozes dos atores são ressignificadas.

O direito à escolarização de crianças e adolescentes com doenças crônicas no Brasil: uma análise a partir do pensamento complexo e da teoria crítica

O empreendimento deste artigo tem como objetivo dar ênfase sobre o processo de escolarização de crianças e adolescentes com doenças crônicas no Brasil. Consideramos que o impacto do adoecimento crônico e os prejuízos associados à doença, podem (in)visibilizar sua participação e protagonismo no espaço escolar e por conseguinte na sociedade. Muitos estudos sobre a experiência do adoecimento crônico, na perspectiva socioantropológica nas últimas décadas, se intensificou no Brasil valendo-se de referenciais de experiência que privilegiam o ponto de vista das pessoas em suas narrativas, contrapondo-se à concepção biomédica. Nesse sentido, metodologicamente, para este empreendimento, nos valeremos das concepções da teoria crítica e da complexidade. Ao recorremos tais concepções, foi possível considerar que, tanto as marcas que (in)visibilizam crianças adolescentes com doenças crônicas na escola, são também as que colocam seus familiares/cuidadores, assim como professores em condições desiguais de exclusão e humilhação social, sob a ordem do preconceito e discriminação. Na mesma medida que nos aponta para a necessidade de maior aprofundamento no que se refere às possibilidades e aos desafios sofridos cotidianamente, mas principalmente e efetivamente sobre seus direitos e amparo à vida escolar, do mesmo modo que indica maior responsabilidade do Estado para ampliação das políticas públicas de amparo e proteção social à esse público.

Religião, memória e cultura: perspectivas teóricas a partir de Maurice Halbwachs

Os grupos humanos desenvolveram toda a espécie de recursos mnemotécnicos e sistemas de registo para facilitar o acesso posterior a algo que foi descoberto, produzido e adquirido. A religião, na medida em que condensa uma parte das experiências humanas de construção da coletividade, é um laboratório relevante no que à construção social da memória diz respeito. A conservação da memória implica sempre estratégias de inovação. Assim, as tradições religiosas da humanidade dão testemunho de um longo trabalho de (re)construção de uma certa perspetiva sobre o mundo (cósmico e social), sobre os modos de nele e sobre ele agir, projetando as pontes para outros «mundos». Este ensaio parte da noção de memória, nas suas aceções socioantropológicas, para compreender a religião como fenómeno cultural em várias das suas dimensões estruturantes: propagação, distribuição, durabilidade, transmissão. Esta via de teorização alicerça um percurso que, tendo como ponto de partida a obra de Maurice Halbwachs, visa estabelecer um quadro interpretativo para um duplo problema: o lugar da religião enquanto memória das culturas; os processos de memoração como cerne da atividade religiosa.

Educación y contextos vulnerables: retos y recursos para la prevención del consumo de drogas y otras adicciones

Desde el contexto educativo del Proyecto Scholas Occurrentes, y concretando, desde la Cátedra de la Universidad Católica de Valencia, consideramos que hemos de fomentar y facilitar un cambio en la educación; por lo que dentro de este ámbito hemos reflexionar sobre la necesidad de una intervención con perspectiva socioantropológica para llegar a una intervención educativa, desde la evidencia científica y la aportación académica-universitaria.En este contexto no podemos obviar la realidad de las conductas adictivas, priorizando y definiendo la vulnerabilidad contextual, para desde ahí, alcanzar la era digital/virtual en la que nuestros/ as adolescentes se encuentran inmersos, tanto desde el ámbito educativo y social, emergiendo nuevas conductas adictivas, y por “ende” nuevas violencias.Contextualizaremos los conceptos de educación y vulnerabilidad, llegando al análisis de los factores de riesgo y protección que facilitan o predisponen a nuestros adolescentes a la evolución o cronificación de una conducta adictiva. Dentro del ámbito educativo-preventivo, señalamos niveles y ámbitos (aceptando una parte del fracaso en la intervención preventiva que se ha realizado en la últimas décadas), revisando nuestras acciones, proponiendo nuevos enfoques y técnicas. No podemos eludir una nueva realidad: la era digital/virtual existente, generando necesidad de educar al respecto a los adolescentes, considerados nativos digitales; el desarrollo de las TIC (Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación) y otras tecnologías emergentes, realidad cambiante, con sus ventajas y sus riesgos, junto a la aparición de las tecnoadicciones, y sus consecuencias: “nuevas violencias desde las redes sociales”, haciendo especial mención al Ciberbullying, problemática que desde Scholas Occurrentes, preocupa y se ocupa sensibilizando y actuando en un contexto educativo, formativo incluyendo al profesorado.