HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: nelson_p@apollo.hp.com (Peter Nelson)
Subject: Re: communities
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 13:42:44 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Chelmsford, MA

In article <BvB5uA.JGG@comp.vuw.ac.nz> maven@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (Jim Baltaxe) writes:
>In article <BvB129.Dy0@apollo.hp.com> nelson_p@apollo.hp.com (Peter Nelson) writes:

>>  Why is it so unreasonable to expect references, anway?   Isn't
>>  the dynamics of communities, what makes them work, what holds
>>  them together, etc, a pretty major subject in cultural anthro-
>>  pology?
>
>Of course. And the references are there - in bulk - but often
>discussions of such things as mutual obligation and "social credits"
>are phrased in terms of their local organising principles, i.e.
>kinship. The enormous literature on reciprocity and gifts is an
>example.

   And I've read some of this material too.  But I'm asking a slightly
   different question.  The literature I've read discusses these 
   relationships in the context of what's important in the culture
   under discussion (e.g., (did you really mean "i.e.", above) kinship).

   What I'm asking is whether any anthropological research has suggested
   *general* features of cultures that make community possible.  That
   is, is there any operational definition of "community" that allows
   it to be studied across cultures?  In other words, is "community"
   as a general phenomenon accessible to anthropological research?
   Everything I've read has been very culture-specific.



>Virtually all of classical social anthro. is just this, but the idiom
>used in the description may be specific to the society however. I
>think you may be asking for information about societies which are
>fairly similar to the small-town U.S. society for which you have
>diaries (if I remember your earlier postings properly). Try the
>extensive literature on Russian peasant villages, particularly the
>SHTETL, traditional Russian Jewish communities.

  Right.  In fact it was reading several books by Isaac Singer,
  (some fiction, some non-) a few years ago that first put me onto
  the idea that something about the role of community in our lives
  had changed over the last few generations.   There's a lot of 
  material on shtetl life probably for the same reason that there's
  a lot of material on 18th and early 19th century US life -- 
  The Jews were, by the standards of that period, literate, and
  there are journals, letters, various commentaries, etc.  
  
  But my point is that while I can try to draw my own conclusions,
  I would prefer to know what the conclusions are of trained anthro-
  pologists who have studied many cultures in depth, both European
  and non-European.


>Good luck - you have some exciting material here if you wish to follow
>it through.

  I wish I did.


---peter


Newsgroups: sci.anthropology,soc.bi,soc.culture.china,soc.culture.japan,soc.motss,alt.homosexual,alt.motss.bisexua-l,aus.culture.china
From: hookom@mari.acc-admin.stolaf.edu (Jeffrey J Hookom)
Subject: Homosexuality/Bisexuality
Organization: St. Olaf College; Northfield, MN
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 01:01:58 GMT

Wanted: Research Materials on Homosexuality
	and Bisexuality in China and Japan!


	Greetings!

	My name is Jef Hookom.  I am an undergraduate
student studying Fine Arts and Asian Studies at St. Olaf
College in Northfield, MN.  Among other activities, I
am involved in OLGA, the Olaf Lesbian, Bisexual and Gay
Alliance here on the hill.  

	I am looking for research materials on Homosexuality
and Bisexuality in East Asia, primarily China and Japan.  
What I mean by "research materials" is: modern scholarship on
the subject, historical evidence (in translation...,) or
just about anything remotely related or interesting.  Pretty
much an open field.  I am especially interested in the 
construction(s) of sexuality in East Asia and how they differ
from our modern Western construction(s).  Same-sex sexual 
activity in light of confucian demands, the role of same-sex
love in politics, religion...  Etc.  You name it, I'll read
it!

	I have found a book by Bret Hinsch titled:
_Passions_of_the_Cut_Sleeve;_the_male_Homosexual_tradition
in_China_ (1990, University of California Press, Berkeley
and Los Angeles, California.)  which deals historically 
with the topic.  I stumbled across it at a sale and would like
more information about the author, if available, and about it's
academic reputation as historical research.  

	Any information/insights would be greatly appreciated
and credited, for what ever *that's* worth :)  Please EMAIL info (or
reply-to-sender) to hookom@stolaf.edu, as I don't often have
the time to peruse the news-nets.

	Thanks-in-advance, 

				-Jef

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"HOMO means SAME means EQUAL" -Queer Edward II (c)1992?
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From: lunatic@diku.dk (Philip Hoelgaard)
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
Subject: Help: Address for Dept. of Anthropology, Cambridge
Date: 1 Oct 92 09:57:24 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, U of Copenhagen

I apologize for mailing the following request to this newsgroup,
I have not been able to find a more appropriate one.

I would be grateful if anyone could help my with the "electronic" mailing
address for the Department of Anthropology, Cambridge University.

Or maybe just the address of the university itself, assuming that there is
one.

Thank you
Regards
Philip Hoelgaard
Dept. of Computer Science, Copenhagen
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
From: mimir@stein.u.washington.edu (Al Billings)
Subject: Re: Query: science and technological culture
Organization: The Friends of Loki Society
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 03:17:45 GMT

In article <BvJwD2.96p@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> thomasl@silver.ucs.indiana.edu ((thomasl)) writes:
>Can anyone recommend reading on "the information age", the role of technology
>and science in the post-modern world, and the implications for social 
>organization, either locally or globally?  

 _Powershift_ and _The_Third_Wave_ by Alvin Toffler. His works are the
best that I have read on current and future changes that are occuring
because of information techonologies.

Wassail,
Al

Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
From: fskanes@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Subject: Grad schools??
Organization: Memorial University. St.John's Nfld, Canada
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 16:18:34 GMT

Hi, I would like to take a moment to say that I am quite happy to
see anthropology with it's own news group. This may have been a group
that has been around for a while but I have not been at the news for
quite some time.

I would like to take the time to ask anyone who may have advice on the
following problem that I find myself grapppling with at this time. Last
year I applied to graduate school (Phd) here in Canada at 6 different
schools. I had decided on completion of my Masters that I would like to
pursue anthropology further. To my dismay I received 6 rejections
citing more or less the same reasons for my non-admittance: due to the
high recession; higher than average applicants. I was let down quite a bit.
I would like the advice of people outside of my own department to comment 
on whether or not it may be friutful to reapply again this year, and if so
are there any pre-application steps that I should take? I am also looking
for advice on how to select a proper school---is this based on the 
following criteria--funding--faculty--are there any guides taht would
help in writnig the application?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

                                   Fred Skanes
                                   Dept. of Anthropology 
                                   Memorial University of Newfoundland.
                                   St. John's
                                   fskanes@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
From: bechdol@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Jeff Bechdol)
Subject: The Bible In The Context of Its Time
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1992 13:58:22 GMT
Reply-To: bechdol@vnet.ibm.com
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM Rochester


Greetings !

Does anyone know of any references that approach the Scriptures from a cultural
anthropology point of view that put the Text in the idioms of the time when it 
was written?

-- 
                                                                     Cheers,

                                                          Jeffery A. Bechdol
"What is essential is invisible to the eye."        IBM/ABS System Design II
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet: bechdol@vnet.ibm.com                           Voice: 507/253-5500
  Office: rchland(bechdol)                                 Fax: 507/253-8684
    Post: 3605 Hwy. 52 North; Rochester, MN 55901-7829     T/L: 553
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Disclaimer: These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's
From: gil@Gilsys.DIALix.oz.au (Gil Hardwick)
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
Subject: Millenium (TV Series)
Distribution: world
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 92 05:16:45 GMT
Organization: STAFF STRATEGIES - Anthropologists & Training Agents
Reply-To: gil@Gilsys.DIALix.oz.au


In article <BvEDM7.H08@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> wilkr@silver.ucs.indiana.edu writes:

 > BTW, I have heard that M-L himself did not write the series.
 > It was written by a team of professional TV people, who have
 > only a passing acquaintance with anthropology. In my own
 > experience working with public TV, they have very little
 > patience with or understanding of the differences of opinion  
 > among the people they deem 'experts.' They want us to have
 > a single consistent story, and when we insist that there are
 > important differences of opinion, they go off and write what they
 > think the public wants to hear.

I have no problem at all with professional TV people; they do have far
more experience communicating through their medium to the public than
we do. I think this is partly because we do not tend to speak to the
public very much at all about what we do as anthropologists, but also
because at least a period of supervised tertiary study is required for
access to anthropology anyway.

If you do not broadcast what they want to hear they will switch you
off, and it is probably far more effective to embed your message
within a comfortable frame of reference. If you do not wrap the
medicine in sugar, they will spit it out. Even then, some will spit it
out anyway . . .

Thank you for the remainder of your reply. We here live everyday with
the people the "North" ignores. I make no apology for being a cranky
bastard sometimes; and do expect that others will engage their brain
before placing their mouth into gear, and think about the effect their
words have before visiting such grief and anguish on other people who
have done nothing to harm them in any way.

In this particular newsgroup, please if you do not know what you are
talking about just sit and read it. Hopefully you will learn something
edifying about yourselves if you stick with it long enough.



Gil Hardwick                                      gil@Gilsys.DIALix.oz.au
Independent Consulting Ethnologist                            3:690/660.6
PERTH, Western Australia                                 (+61 9) 399 2401
   * * Sustainable Community Development & Environmental Education * *
From: ethan@ut-emx.uucp (Ethan Tecumseh Vishniac)
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
Subject: Re: homosexuality and evolution
Summary: altruism and adaptive behavior
Date: 6 Oct 92 14:00:09 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin; Austin, Texas

>In article <witta.717643882@sfu.ca> witta@fraser.sfu.ca (Darren Witt) writes:
...
>}the point is that homosexuality may at one time have been an adaptive
>}behaviour that in actuality, increased an individual's reproductive
>}fitness over time.

To which someone (sorry, somehow I lost the name) responded:

>Please give an example of how this may have been so.

As long as you remember that such explanations are necessarily
very hypothetical......

Homosexuality *might* serve to increase an individual's fitness 
in some circumstances if it resulted in a general benefit to the
immediate relatives of the person in question.  For example, 
a homosexual might give assistance to number of families, without
having children of his/her own to consider.  A male homosexual
might form part of an unusually effective combat force (like the 500
of Thebes).  In this case human homosexuality would be analogous to
altruistic behavior among other social species, in which behavior
that decreases the chance of immediate offspring nevertheless
increases the fitness of the kinship group and thereby acts to
propagate the altruistic genes.

Of course, this is pretty speculative.  Historically, I'm not sure 
that homosexuality has usually implied a lack of children.  Moreover, 
it's always possible that homosexuality has no explanation in terms of
`fitness', but is simply a kind of behavior made possible
by adaptations that have no obvious connection to it.


-- 
"Quis tamen tale studium, quo ad primam omnium rerum causam evehimur,
tamquam inutile aut contemnendum detractare ac deprimere ausit?"-Bridel
Ethan T. Vishniac, Dept. of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas, 78712                   ethan@astro.as.utexas.edu
From: bz590@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (S. Buigues)
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
Subject: Bronze and Iron Age art
Date: 4 Oct 92 05:40:41 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


I would like to make contact with anyone conducting research or with an
interest in how the process of orientalization reflects in the native
arts of the Western Mediterranean during the Bronze and Iron Ages.  I am
especially interested in the southern and eastern areas of the Iberian
Peninsula as well as on the Balearic Islands.
 
Me gustaria contactar con quien este investigando o tenga interes en como
el proceso de orientalizacion se refleja en las artes autoctonas del
Mediterraneo Occidental durante las edades del Bronce y Hierro.  Estoy
particularmente interesado en el levante y sur de la Peninsula Iberica
asi como en las Islas Baleares.
 
Santiago Buigues
E-mail:  bz590@cleveland.freenet.edu
From: scls_ss@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Eric Scoles)
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
Subject: Re: Homosexuality & Evolution
Date: 27 Sep 92 03:07:21 GMT
Organization: University of Rochester - Rochester, New York

In <1992Sep26.130201.850@mala.bc.ca> apland@mala.bc.ca writes:

>In article <1a0r28INN8k2@uniwa.uwa.edu.au>, arkdr@uniwa.uwa.edu.au (Dave
>Rindos) writes: 
>> monaghan@cac.washington.edu (Tracy Monaghan {IS}) writes:
>> 

>>>In article <1992Sep14.230543.204@dartvax.dartmouth.edu>
>>>Jane.R.Deering@dartmouth.edu (Jane R. Deering) writes: 
>>>>Perhaps an even more straightforward example comes from ancient Greek
>>>>society.  Not only was homosexual activity between grown men and young
>>>>boys allowed, the love it was supposed to be inspired by was looked
>>>>upon as more honorable and deeply rooted than the love between husbands
>>>>and wives.  [deletions ...]
>>>>
>>>Care should be taken before drawing too strong a conclusion based on a
>>>single source.
>> 
>>>What would you conclude of Victorian England culture based on a transcript
>>>of an Oscar Wilde dinner party?
>> 
>> BZZZZZZZTTT....
>> 
>> Sorry, dear, one should conclude LOTS!  And most of it correct!
"most of it", whatever it is? :-? !:-)

>> 
>> Dave,
>> smiling....

>Ya, I suppose one could conclude LOTS!  How about that it was a cultural
>adaptation to a lack of women due to the high level of infanticide practiced,
>particularly with female infants?

Hn, but why was there female infanticide?  Goes round 'n round.  IT's not
"cultural" or anything else specific, IT's everything all together.  (BTW,
IMHO you really can't conclude anything useful about the society of
Victorian/Empire/Edwardian England from a Wilde Party Transcript, in
isolation.  And if it's not in isolation, you've got to deal with the
context.)
-- 
Eric Scoles			: <<insert witty, pithy comment 
scls_ss@uhura.cc.rochester.edu  :    here >>
University of Rochester --------:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
From: wilkr@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (richard wilk)
Subject: Re: Fathers' presence at birth of children
Summary: Yes, it is done
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 15:40:38 GMT

I did fieldwork among Kekchi Maya people in southern
Belize. They do not have midwives. Instead, husbands are
expected to be the birth attendants for their wives.
Fathers train their sons in helping at births. Often
a woman's mother is also in attendance, but because
much residence is patrilocal, mothers are often living
far away and cannot make it.

When you think about it, this is a pretty good system.
It certainly promotes very close bonds between husband and wife
in child care from the very beginning, and makes men
directly responsible for their childrens' well being
at the very start of their lives.

Makes you wonder - what if we had a law mandating that
the father be present at the birth of their child and
that they catch the baby and cut the cord? I know that
for me these were peak moments in my life, and that they
affect my feelings of responsibility for my daughter every day.


-- 
Richard Wilk                             Anthropology Dept.
wilkr@iubacs                             Indiana University
voice 812-855-8162                       Bloomington, IN 47405
"Things are more like they are now than they've ever been before."
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
From: paj@uk.co.gec-mrc (Paul Johnson)
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
Subject: Re: Distance Education?
Date: 30 Sep 92 08:25:27 GMT
Reply-To: paj@uk.co.gec-mrc (Paul Johnson)
Organization: GEC-Marconi Research Centre, Great Baddow, UK

Someone else is thinking along these lines.  Check out the alt.uu.*
groups ("uu" stands for "Usenet University", although I keep thinking
of Terry Pratchett's "Unseen University").

The idea of UU is pretty much as you describe: assignments and tuition
posted to the Net by tutors, essays emailed back.

There is a UU FAQ cross-posted to news.answers as well.

I would like to see this.  I might very well enrole.  Anthro has
always been one of the things I would like more information about.
People are interesting.

Paul.

-- 
Paul Johnson (paj@gec-mrc.co.uk).	    | Tel: +44 245 73331 ext 3245
--------------------------------------------+----------------------------------
These ideas and others like them can be had | GEC-Marconi Research is not
for $0.02 each from any reputable idealist. | responsible for my opinions
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
From: thomasl@silver.ucs.indiana.edu ((thomasl))
Subject: Query: science and technological culture
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 15:00:38 GMT

Can anyone recommend reading on "the information age", the role of technology
and science in the post-modern world, and the implications for social 
organization, either locally or globally?  

What has been written recently on the cult or culture of science?

What is current thinking on developement v. preservation of indigenous
cultures on native lands?

Thank you.
From: gil@Gilsys.DIALix.oz.au (Gil Hardwick)
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
Subject: Re: communities
Distribution: world
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 92 03:59:15 GMT
Organization: STAFF STRATEGIES - Anthropologists & Training Agents
Reply-To: gil@Gilsys.DIALix.oz.au

(nelson_p@apollo <---> claird@Neosoft exchange deleted for space)

Peter, I don't think Cameron Laird was trying to sound cagey; it is
difficult in the social sciences to be direct about the real situation
people find themselves in without the risk of invading their privacy,
and being flamed on the network.

It is also highly problematic to insist on references, when the academic
record is at best limited and a reasonable ethnographic approach would
be to go and visit communities yourself. With your access to diaries
and journals an extremely valuable comparative study could be made.

However, Cameron's description of contemporary Amish society is a
fairly reliable one. It certainly fits the pattern worldwide of the
breakdown of communities exposed to the influence of Western social
policies (referred to "post-industrial society)

Perhaps the best examples of the type of community social structure
you cite from your earlier American sources still existing, can be
found in China. I have spent some time in towns & villages on the
Pearl River Delta, Guangdong Province, which have been closed off from
the contemporary West.

You might be interested to know that the pattern of social breakdown
of these communities, which never did experience "industrialisation",
now exposed to "post-industrialisation" is strikingly similar to that
described in Cameron's text. The Chinese appear somewhat more astute,
however, and manage to avoid the worst effects while exploiting new
opportunities by maintaining their strict rules of kinship and family
structure others seem to let go more readily.

Your notion of a "Goodwill Bank", is germane and relevant since it is
present in almost all non-industrial societies. I am hard-pressed to
think of anywhere it is not central to the practicalities of people
meeting their obligations to one another, although my own terminology
refers to "Social Credits" since the "depository" is rarely central.

I have seen them used even to the extent of patching up marriages,
where a foolish fling with another woman cost a married man all the
credits he had built up over the years. A breakup would have caused
problems for the whole community, and the fact that he had "used up
all his favours" amounted what we now legally refer to as a Community
Service Order in that he would have to work without any expectation
that anyone would do anything for him in return, for some time.

Good luck with your enquiries.

Gil Hardwick                                      gil@Gilsys.DIALix.oz.au
Independent Consulting Ethnologist                            3:690/660.6
PERTH, Western Australia                                 (+61 9) 399 2401
   * * Sustainable Community Development & Environmental Education * *
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
From: fskanes@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Subject: graduate publishing??
Organization: Memorial University. St.John's Nfld, Canada
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 16:20:40 GMT

Can anyone offer advice on sources for the publication of articles
by grad students?    fskanes@kean.ucs.mun.ca