Search

In the early days of anthropology as a discipline in the nineteenth century, evolutionism and diffusionism supplied anthropologists with 'global' visions. Anthropologists have always been involved with all-encompassing cosmopolitan notions such as humankind and culture. Many have thus endeavoured to explain the world as a whole, and how humans have developed in different historical moments. In the 1980s and 1990s, when the new label 'globalization' generated a field of scholarly preoccupations, anthropologists started to contribute to this growing body of literature. Their most valuable contributions are related to the tensions between local and global forces, and between forces of heterogeneity and homogeneity, as well as to the use of ethnography as a methodological tool. Anthropologists have borrowed notions from other related disciplines such as sociology, history, and geography. This paper situates the anthropological production on 'the global' within this diverse history of borrowings, internal disciplinary debates, and wider historical junctures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses advances in the anthropology of women in Chiapas and Central America, an area in which the pioneers in this field helped to denounce androcentrism, elucidated gender relations, and chose the subordination of women as an anthropological research problem. Their actions increasingly helped shape a feminist gender perspective within the discipline. This article registers, documents, and analyzes the life and work of women and feminists who have made scientific-social contributions with respect to cultural diversity, social spaces and inequality, covering the "golden age" (1940-1964) up to the second decade of the 20th century, focusing on the contributions of June Nash and Mercedes Olivera Bustamante, two anthropologists whose work has been key to the discipline in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a review and reflection on the beginnings of Anthropology in Spain in the mid-twentieth century. In this reflexive analysis it is carried out in a review of a work by anthropologist Joan Prat Carós, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the Rovira i Virgili University of Tarragona (Spain). In this essay, the Spanish historical context of the time and the first authors who did anthropological work in Spain, as well as the germ of the consolidation of the discipline academically in that country, are specially addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial part of the conservative or reactionary backlash that occurs around the world is based on a double movement with regard to the social sciences. On the one hand, a denial of the perspectives of social construction and cultural and historical relativization; on the other hand, an appropriation of approaches abandoned by the social sciences, or of the mechanisms used by them to explain the social as a constructed reality. Perhaps the most striking example is that of "gender ideology". But I will also consider nationalism, the naturalization of ethnocentrism and racism, the notions of war of civilizations and religions, sexism and homophobia, reactions to the "politically correct", among others (namely, at more sophisticated levels, new theorizations with political implications, coming from genomics, evolutionary psychology, neurosciences, etc.). I will explore the hypothesis that this backlash is organized on the basis of an apparently contradictory alliance between neoliberalism and traditionalism, in a new and specific phenomenon of our time and not as an atavism of the past. In this sense, it is a "revolutionary" movement and the progressive fields (on which the social sciences are largely based) are sent to an uncomfortable place of "conservatism". How can anthropological discourse and ethnographic practice produce knowledge (and its dissemination) against this reality -- in a political gesture -- but also about it, in an attempt to make it intelligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In societies living at the margins of the State, interpersonal relationships and the use of power, as well as competition dynamics, are often similar among different groups in spite of preexisting differences in access to economic resources, moral authority and personal prestige. From this point of departure the present article undertakes an ethno historic analysis which attempts to illuminate changes affecting the Alto Marañon (Peru) Awajun people, between the years 1950 and 1970. The socio-cultural transformation this indigenous group was forced to undergo in order to attain membership in the wider national society, is described. Using the tools which ethno history and the anthropology of affectivity provide, and paying particular attention to the topic of the building of the "heroic body", the present text focuses on how Awajun society suffered significant changes regarding the of the use of force and of the symbolic management of violence, leading to the assimilation of new styles of indigenous leadership. All this occurs as a result of experiences resulting from close contact with the earliest agents of government authority to show up in their native homelands: evangelical missionaries and the army. This process led the Awajun to the development of unprecedented forms of "indigenous leadership", resulting from the assimilation, convergence and reworking of cultural material incorporated during their contacts with religious and military personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the history of Andalusian anthropology from the second half of the 19th century to the present. We also address the connections of this anthropological tradition with others in the Mediterranean area as well as with others in the Spanish sphere to achieve a greater appreciation of those traditions of thought outside of hegemonic scopes. From the time of folklore studies, we go on to the ethnological stage and to the consolidation of anthropological studies. In so doing, we observe the different stages and topics of investigation, from popular culture to community studies, identity and the relationship between global and local scopes in the present world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linguistic relativity, rightly understood, implies that the presence or absence of certain grammatical categories and discursive styles can influence how we perceive and experience the world around us. In this study, monolingual speakers of Chol Mayan, a tenseless language, were shown a series of visual stimuli portraying different sequences of events, and were asked to describe what they saw to an interviewer. Participants were shown a long silent story composed of many sequential images, and a set of shorter stories composed of a minimum of two sequential images and a maximum of five sequential images. None of the stories that the Chol speakers told in response to the stimulus followed a sequential-chronological order, and all sequential images were described in non-sequential terms. In line with the linguistic relativity hypothesis, it is argued that this interesting discursive effect may be the result of the tenselessness of the Chol language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

explores different perspectives on the archives of repression and, adopting the approach to archive as a process constructed by the archival discipline, history and anthropology, studies the Archive of the Department of Police Information of the Argentine province of Santiago del Estero as a power device. This allows illuminating the legal figures, scientific discourses, practical knowledge used in the environmental reports that supported their files. The article contributes to the discussion about the militarization of the police and their role in the repression in the 1970s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, on August 20, 2020, Dr. Jorge A. Flores Ochoa passed away. He has been a fundamental figure in Cuzco and Peruvian anthropology due to his multiple merits as a researcher, professor, engaged intellectual and tireless cultural animator. This text reviews his main research themes and interests, in particular his notable contributions and constant study of Andean pastoralist societies and, associated with this, his studies regarding the management of Andean agro-ecological complexity. The article then moves to his research on Cuzco's colonial and republican art and material culture, his ethnography of the city's and region's religious celebrations, his broader contributions to the anthropology of the city of Cuzco and his interpretations and analysis on the history and importance of contemporary Cuzco Incanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following text presents "the myth of Claudio Becochi" from the indigenous reservation "La Laguna", in the Municipality of Caldono, Cauca, Colombia. The myth is presented as it was registered and narrated by the anthropologist Ícaro Cuervo, in the decade of 1980. Based on this narrative, this text reflects on the conditions in which the myth was told from the notes and field diaries of the same anthropologist. Finally, the article analyzes the myth in testimonies of members of the indigenous community, who accompanied Ícaro Cuervo during his fieldwork. The purpose of the article is to explore the conditions of anthropological fieldwork in the Cauca region in the 1980s. Based on the myth, the article reflects on the historical conditions of anthropological work and the political position of researchers in the interaction between indigenous struggles for territorial rights and anthropological research. The information presented was collected between 1999 and 2000, during a six-month field visit in the indigenous reservation of La Laguna, Siberia, in the Municipality of Caldono, Cauca, Colombia. Such field work was part of a research aimed at understanding the influence of anthropology on the indigenous movements and the influence of indigenous movements on anthropology. The reflection presented here was excluded in the results of that research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nicolás Gómez Dávila characterizes democratic Modernity as a gnostic age. This article pretends to reconstruct his characterization by way of an intertextual reading of Textos. Gómez Dávila's thesis is derived from a philosophy of history and a philosophical anthropology; both allow him to interpretModernity from a religious perspective. His conclusion is that democratic Modernity bestows human beings unlimited sovereignty, which for him means gnostic divinization. Thus, I intend to explain how intertextuality works in the assessment of democratic Modernity and put forward a few critical considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this present brief essay, I describe the main ideas of the work "Ancient Society", published in 1871, by the anthropologist Henry Lewis Morgan (1818-1881). Morgan is one of the first anthropologists in the United States. Henry Lewis Morgan is framed in classical evolutionism school and he is contemporary of other evolutionists like Tylor. The author represents a key figure in the "renaissance" of evolutionary ideas from the thirties of the twentieth century to be inspiration of cultural ecology, cultural materialism and the anthropology of kinship from the midtwentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the results of the first operational phase (1956-1959) of a University of Chicago project that focused on the Tseltal and Tsotsil populations of Chiapas, and the documents that offered shared visions. First, we deal with the general characteristics of this intellectual endeavor. Second, we discuss the usual way anthropologists have understood the project and we present an alternative perspective. Third, we explore the contributions and contradictions offered. The last section discusses elements that validate the activities undertaken by the Chicago Project in Chiapas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the professional trajectory of the belgianperuvian anthropologist and sociologist Juan Ansión. The paper presents his main research interests and their developments over time, from his early work on mythical thought in the Andean world, to his sustained commitment with education in rural communities, the expectations and projects of rural and urban people around education and migration, and the impact of political violence in schools. A topic that intersects those concerns, interculturality, raises from the need to conceptualize a new proposal for understanding and challenging the subordination and discrimination among cultural groups that characterize Peruvian society. Ansión contributed meaningfully in the discussion around interculturality to this day, not limited to education, but including also health and justice. The paper also draws attention to his role as university professor, first in the National University San Cristobal de Huamanga, keeping a long lasting relationship with it, and later the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru, where he taught over thirty years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the experience of Victor Daniel Bonilla and Luis Guillermo Vaco, two social scientists in Colombia who, during the 1970s and 1980s created a proposal for ethnographic work in conjunction with the indigenous movements in Colombia, from their work in the Committee of solidarity with Indigenous Peoples (Comité de solidaridad con los pueblos indígenas). The text proposes an explanation to the question of why this proposal was rejected and was not developped in the exercise of the anthropological subsequent generations. I affirm in this article that the proposal of this group of researchers requires of joint political construction spaces between the academic researchers and the social organizations when their society projects converge, but this requires a prior debate. The collaborative research can not exist if there are no articulation spaces that have been built along the path of social organizations, nor can be forced to exist outside of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of antiquities was a key element for the institutionalization of the Colombian Academy of History. This article analyzes the content of the Academy's journal, Boletín de Historia y Antigüedades between 1902 and 1943, and several texts written by precursors and prominent members of the Academy. Based on these sources, the article shed light on how was articulated the institutional and epistemological validation of archeological objects. Aesthetics concerns, concludes the article, played an important role in the way the local intelligentsia interpreted the indigenous material culture before the academic institutionalization of Anthropology in Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diverse studies on philosophy of science and social history of science have been concerned about the intricate relations between social sciences development and the avatars of the political power. Some Mexican, Brazilian and Venezuelan works on this topic promoted more thoughts around the national styles of the sciences, and its role on their national foundations. This essay reviews the initial era of the Colombian anthropology and the themes that influenced later the current development of this discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]