bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Monotonous Percussion Drumming and Trance Postures: A Controlled Evaluation of Phenomenological Effects
Authors: Woodside Lisa N. , Kumar V. K. , Pekala Ronald J.
Published: November 2004

Felicitas Goodman (1990) observed that naive participants experienced unique trance states, characterized by specific visionary content, when they assumed particular postures and listened to monotonous rattling. Students (n = 284), enrolled in various sections of the course Introduction to Psychology, experienced one of four conditions with their eyes closed: Sitting Quietly with and without Drumming, Standing (Feather Serpent) Posture plus Drumming with and without Suggested Experiences. Participants completed the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (Pekala 1982, 1991c) and wrote narratives following their respective stimulus conditions. Participants reported less imagery, joy, and absorption, but more internal dialogue, self‐awareness, and muscular tension in the posture, compared to the sitting quietly, conditions. Goodman's results of specific posture (content‐related) effects with naive participants were not replicated.
Finding Order in David's Disorder
Authors: Jervis Lori L.
Published: November 2004

This paper describes how I came to know a younger, mentally ill resident during fieldwork in an urban nursing home. I describe my efforts to establish a connection with this man, revealing the manner in which the academic and personal become fused in ethnographic research. In his discourse David conveys an unsettling universe filled with extreme power asymmetries, where he continually gravitates between the roles of victim and victimizer. His various identities are in a state of constant flux, at times blurring the boundaries of culturally recognized categories. While fragmentation and multiplicity are often glorified within postmodernism, I suggest that persons with psychosis may find them imprisoning rather than liberating.
Anthropology of Religion
Authors: Gruber Mark
Published: November 2004

Anthropology of Religion:. Handbook. Stephen D. Glazier. ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing,1997. 552pp. $99.50.
Three Diné Women on the Navajo Approach to Dreams
Authors: Dadosky John
Published: November 2004

In the Summer of 1994 I had the opportunity to participate in Northwestern University's ethnographic field school. I decided to begin a project on the Navajo approach to dreams. For the Navajo (Diné1), the recounting of dreams is taken very seriously. The interviews of the three reports I collected reflect that their beliefs surrounding dreams are personal and they do not speak about them readily. Indeed, within a three month period I was fortunate to collect these interviews. Likewise, this report is preliminary and anticipates further study. What follows are the highlights of these interviews with three Diné women. In short, a summary of these interviews supports much of the previous research to date. Likewise, this report addresses the value of dreams, the distinctions between good and bad dreams, the role of the diagnostician in dream interpretation (the Navajo appear to have specialists for different types of dream interpretation), and some possible areas of future research. Keywords: Dine, Navajo, dreams, women
Dream Fact and Real Fiction: The Realization of the Imagined Self
Authors: Edgar Lain
Published: November 2004

This paper intends to explore the topic of consciousness in relation to the domain of the contemporary dream, its narration and interpretation. "Consciousness" involves the experience and interplay of dream, fantasy and "reality." Hence an ethnography of the dreaming subject involves several interlinked domains: the cultural construction of dream symbolism, dream narration, and dream interpretation within and through a group setting. The paper is based on findings from a recent ethnographic study of dreamwork groups in the U.K. Examples from the study will explore how personal identity and consciousness is represented and invented through the production of socially informed imaginative contents in both dreamwork and guided fantasy. Key words: dreamwork, anthropology, metaphor, group therapy
The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture
Authors: Rich Grant Jewell
Published: November 2004

The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture. Frank R. Wilson. 1998. New York: Pantheon Books. $30.00 (cloth)
Erika Bourguignon: A Portrait of the Anthropology of Consciousness
Authors: Rich Grant Jewell
Published: November 2004

This is an interview with Erika Bourguignon, who has been a presence in the anthropology of consciousness for decades. Her work has examined possession, altered states of consciousness, religion, psychological anthropology, and shamanism. Her own fieldwork in Haiti has been augmented by book‐length comparative work with Lenora Greenbaum as well. In a 1996 article in Ethos, Melford Spiro notes that Bourguignon is a scholar who has resisted the trends of "postmodernists and interpretivists" and he describes her as "a preeminent psychological anthropologist as well as the premier anthropological authority on trance, possession, and altered states of consciousness."
Mannequins and Spirits: Representation and Resistance of Siberian Shamans
Authors: Miller Thomas R.
Published: November 2004

In the early 20th century anthropologists collected sounds, images and artifacts to represent traditional cultures. Under the direction of Franz Boas, anthropologists working for the American Museum of Natural History's JesupNorth Pacific Expedition documented a variety of northeastern Siberian shamanisms. Demonstrations staged for the phonograph and the camera served as models for museum representations. These ethnographic inscriptions, together with the collection of texts and sacred objects, documented shamanistic traditions; yet ceremonial traditions remained partially obscured, resisting full intelligibility. The complexity of variations suggests that mystification and opacity are central to shamanic efficacy and the continued vitality of performative ritual, and that Siberian shamanic practices are inherently resistant to anthropological modes of interpretation.
Death and the Corpse: An Analysis of the Treatment of Death and Dead Bodies in Contemporary American Society
Authors: Emerick Elizabeth J.
Published: November 2004

This paper analyzes perceptions of the corpse as intertwined with perspectives of death in contemporary American culture. America has combined concepts of theology, medicine, and commercialism to form a unique ideology. The corpse is the repository of these ideologies, which are riddled with fear. This paper will discuss differences among American ways of treating death, including specific attention to perceptions of the corpse. It will analyze the fear of death and corpses found in society, by reference to how many Americans view and deal with the body at death and thereafter.
Preparing for the Pure Land
Authors: Shih Hsien Hui
Published: November 2004

Buddhists see life and death as a whole with death as the beginning of another new life. Death is a fact of life for the Chinese, as it is for all people. When they think about death, many Chinese immediately call to mind the terms J ing Tu Zhong or, in recent times, Nian Fo. These Chinese terms are interchangeable and have been translated literally into English using the two words, "Pure Land". Because Jing Tu Zhong, "Pure Land" has been imbedded in the Chinese point of view for thousands of years, most Chinese only think of Jing Tu in terms of saving people after they have died, so that they will go to the Pure Land. Most people forget the other, more important religious aspect of this concept, which is to prepare the living to enter the Pure Land after death. In fact, Nian Fo is an extremely important and worthy school of philosophy, which not only guides the living to prepare for death but also to guide the dying as they face and pass through the fear of death. This paper discusses the Chinese peoples' conception and meaning of the Pure Land by following the original history of the concept of the "Pure Land" and the related sutras. Additionally, this paper addresses the contemporary chanting ceremony of Amitabha's name, how chanting practices in the Pure Land School deals with concerns about dying and the human spirit, and the Pure Land ceremonies used in conjunction with chant before and after death.
Experience, Coherence, and Culture: The Significance of Dilthey's 'Descriptive Psychology' for the Anthropology of Consciousness
Authors: Throop C. Jason
Published: November 2004

This paper explores Dilthey's "descriptive psychology "and its significance for the anthropology of consciousness. To do justice to the complexities of Dilthey's project a significant portion of the paper is devoted to an exposition of the basic tenets of his"descriptive psychology." Most notably, his views on"experience,""aconsciousness,""introspection,"and"objectified mind"are discussed before turning to examine his concept of the"acquired psychicnexus." After outlining these basic tenets the paper turns to explore how Dilthey's "descriptive psychology"can serve to shed light on current anthropological research on the experience of pain. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the contemporary relevance of Dilthey's project as it explores how his ideas may further inform current theoretical perspectives in anthropology about the relationship between consciousness, culture, and experience.
Rational Mysticism: Dispatches from the Border between Science and Spirituality
Authors: Schroll Mark A.
Published: November 2004

Rational Mysticism: Dispatches Jrom the Border between Science and Spirituality. John Horgan. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003. 292 pp. $25.00 (cloth)
time, nature, and spirit: a symbolic analysis of Greek‐American spiritual kinship1
Authors: CHOCK PHYLLIS PEASE
Published: November 2004

Greek‐American spiritual kinship is treated as a system of kinship symbols which contrast with the symbols of consanguineal and affinal kinship. The dimensions of this three‐way contrast between spiritual, consanguineal, and affinal kinship are nature vs. spirit (or, alternatively, time vs. eternity) and birth vs. sex. Transformations of the symbols birth and love between the natural and spiritual worlds are analyzed.
maximization, marriage and residence among the So1
Authors: LAUGHLIN CHARLES D.
Published: November 2004

In this article, the economic ramifications of brideprice exchange and postnuptial residence are examined for the So of northeastern Uganda. Aspects of ecology and social organization are presented and a complete description of So marriage practices is offered. A number of specific deductive hypotheses relating economic deprivation to economizing behavior are statistically tested. Allocation of resources to brideprice is seen as only one alternative use of livestock. As resources become more scarce, the So become more concerned with proximal payoffs and thus shift the direction of allocation. Choice of residence is shown to be an important locus of maximization decisioning. Finally, two general deductive hypotheses, suggested by the So data, are generated from maximization theory and offered for testing in other field situations.
the lexicon for madness in a Colombian city: an exploration in semantic space1
Authors: MICKLIN MICHAEL , DURBIN MARSHALL , LEON CARLOS A.
Published: November 2004

In recent years social scientists, in general, and anthropologists, in particular, have attempted to specify the components of man's cognitive organization of his experiential world. The investigation reported here explores an alternative approach to this problem, combining survey research procedures with componential analysis. Features underlying the concept of loco (‘insane person’) are extracted from synonyms provided by large samples of laymen and medical‐paramedical specialists in a Colombian city. Results indicate three sets of primary and secondary contrasts generally used in this cultural setting and also suggest differences in cognitive organization between the two samples.
the structural context of religious conversion in Petén, Guatemala: status, community, and multicommunity1
Authors: REINA RUBEN E. , SCHWARTZ NORMAN B.
Published: November 2004

Why do some people change their religious affiliations, with all this may imply for family and community relations? Why are some communities more receptive than others to religious innovation? Are there any patterned relationships among social position, group organization, and community culture which help account for intra‐ and intercommunity variation in religious conversion? In Latin America, one area for investigating these questions is the conversion of traditional and folk Catholics to Protestantism and to modern Catholicism. The questions are, of course, related to the larger issues of change and stability, and for those interested in applied anthropology the answers may bear on the strategy used in approaching “target” societies; for others, the answers are relevant to theories of cultural innovation and continuity.
urbanization, plural marriage, and family size in two African cities1
Authors: CLIGNET REMI , SWEEN JOYCE
Published: November 2004

In this article we examine the degree to which two facets of traditional familial arrangements, plural marriage and familism (as measured by number of children), continue to be closely interrelated in the African urban context. We demonstrate that urbanization is, in effect, associated with changes in the number of choices available to male urban residents with regard to their familial life‐style, but not necessarily with changes in the nature of such choices. We show that male exposure to urban forces (as measured by educational and occupational attainments or by migratory experiences) is not necessarily accompanied by a decline in the incidence of polygyny or in the number of children attached to a household. Nor does it necessarily lead to a decline in the association between these variables. Further, we also examine whether the interaction between types of marriage and number of children varies with the characteristics of the immediate surroundings in which these individuals live, notably with their relative isolation from ethnic peers, or with the housing facilities that they use. Finally, we show that the responses of men and women to the problems of urbanization are not alike and that the functions performed by monogamous and polygynous wives are increasingly divergent. We conclude that the effect of urbanization on traditional life‐style is not necessarily unidirectional.
a Black American socialization pattern1
Authors: YOUNG VIRGINIA HEYER
Published: November 2004

We postulate that the teaching of conventions of behavior is not as effective a socialization technique in American Negro societies as in stable and integrated societies. We describe an alternative type of socialization in an urban group: the teaching of techniques of judging and adjusting to persons in authority while preserving a commitment to one's own goals. This behavior complex provides a new perspective for the analysis of the bicultural position of the group and for the description of a loosely structured culture.
the first of the Mohegans
Authors: BURTON WILLIAM , LOWENTHAL RICHARD
Published: November 2004

Historians have tended to treat Indian‐Puritan relations in New England as though the Indian people were simple reactors to Puritan behaviors. Specifically, the behavior of the Mohegan Sachem, Uncas, has been interpreted in various ways, none of which, however, take into account the ongoing political system amongst the New England Indians. By applying simultaneously the principles of anthropology and history, the authors suggest an interpretation for Uncas' actions which reveals him as an active initiator of the Pequot War in 1637 for political purposes entirely within the realm of Indian social structure.
ecology or evolution? the Hutterite case
Authors: DIENER PAUL
Published: November 2004

Ecological and evolutionary models are compared within the context of the Hutterite case. An evolutionary approach, utilizing an historical perspective and higher level analytical concepts, is found to (1) allow a more concrete and convincing explanation, (2) better relate the case to the social field within which it is found, and (3) provide a more fruitful basis for prediction and future research. The depiction of evolutionary theory as “vague” (Harris, Helm), or as not applicable to the analysis of single cases (Sahlins and Service), is found to be based on a faulty philosophy of science. The ecological model proposed by Vayda and Rappaport is briefly contrasted with the evolutionary approach employed in this paper, and the difficulties to be faced in effecting a synthesis are discussed.
proscription of cross‐cousin marriage among the southwestern Ojibwa1
Authors: SMITH JAMES G. E.
Published: November 2004

Hickerson (1962:73–86) argued that the proscription of cross‐cousin marriage among the Southwestern Ojibwa occurred during the Chequamegon phase of the late seventeenth century. It is argued here that changes in the kinship system, including the loss of the cross‐cousin marriage pattern, were a consequence of environmental, economic, political, and demographic factors of the early nineteenth century that became even more acute during the reservation period of the latter half of the century. The changes during the nineteenth century provide a solution to the problem of the persistence of terminological and behavioral patterns into the twentieth century, and for change to a lineal rather than generational system. Data from contemporary Rocky Cree and Caribou Eater Chipewyan, who have recently encountered similar problems, are utilized to indicate the process by which the shift occurred.
Aguaruna color categories1
Authors: BERLIN BRENT , BERLIN ELOIS ANN
Published: November 2004

The basic color categories of the Aguaruna Jívaro are described in detail, and the influence of culture contact is explored. Methodological problems and new elicitation procedures are discussed. Finally, some elaboration on and modification of the Berlin and Kay basic color term theory is suggested.
a reinterpretation of color nomenclature systems1
Authors: COLLIER GEORGE A.
Published: November 2004

Encoding and decoding are related aspects of communication both influenced by the relative frequencies of referent attributes according to a Bayesian probability model. The model explains why labels communicate well about referents that do not typify them, why, for instance, “RED” can be used to talk about hair colors that are not bright red. When considered from the standpoint of communicative efficiency, labels impart more information when applied to atypical than to typical referents. This interpretation of the “meaning” of labels has implications for language evolution. These ideas are illustrated through an analysis of color naming in which coding is seen as a kind of communications channel.
gratification patterns in Buganda: an explanation of intra‐cultural diversity1
Authors: THOMPSON RICHARD W.
Published: November 2004

Despite the increasing amount of research and debate being devoted to the problem of individual modernization, behavioral scientists have largely failed to reach an adequate understanding of the processes and transformations involved. The present investigation of economic gratification behavior in Buganda demonstrates the importance of examining patterns of intra‐cultural diversity in order to assess the full range of transformations and relationships occurring within a single cultural region during the modernization process. An explanation of the observed diversity in gratification orientations within Buganda is offered in terms of the relative security, economic predictability, and frustration experienced by individuals in the various research communities.
Kalapalo affinity: its cultural and social contexts1
Authors: BASSO ELLEN B.
Published: November 2004

Anthropologists have been so preoccupied with the controversy over the meaning of kinship and kinship terms that they have neglected the communicative aspects of terminological systems. Data on Kalapalo affinity, which was obtained in a variety of speech situations during the course of social action, suggests that a culturally valid description of this domain (and of kinship as well) must include sociolinguistic as well as descriptive semantic evidence.
ritualization of literacy: the works of Tunisian scholars in Israel1
Authors: DESHEN SHLOMO
Published: November 2004

Book publishing is an act of piety among the Tunisian immigrants of Israel. The literary content of books is less important than their talismanic value. The Tunisian community in Israel has abandoned many of its traditional religious practices, substituting for them pious acts such as pilgrimages and the publishing of religious books.
take and tell: a practical classification from the San Blas Cuna
Authors: HOWE JAMES , SHERZER JOEL
Published: November 2004

The San Bias Cuna of Panamá classify crops and wild forest products according to the kinds of access people other than their owners may have to them. In addition to a formal analysis of the classification itself and a discussion of its significance for “cognitive anthropology,” we show the relevance of the classification to everyday life, in particular to such critical problems in Cuna social and economic organization as theft, generosity, and a conflict between cash crops and the subsistence economy. We demonstrate that the Cuna disagree about the application of access rules to particular crops and conclude by considering the implications of this disagreement.
shamans, power symbols, and change in Argentine Toba culture1
Authors: MILLER ELMER S.
Published: November 2004

Despite nearly four centuries of contact with Europeans, the Argentine Toba symbolic system did not appear to be significantly influenced by Western symbolism until recent decades. This paper discusses the nature of that system, particularly as expressed in cosomology, shamanism, and sorcery, and the nature of change introduced by Pentecostalism. Emphasis is placed upon the communication processes involved when different symbolic systems confront each other through human interaction. Ambiguity is treated as the crucial factor in the communication process.
the direction of local‐level conflict in two Arab villages in Israel
Authors: NAKHLEH KHALIL
Published: November 2004

This paper focuses on intracommunity conflict. I argue that there has been a change from corporate‐based to faction‐based conflict as a result of changes in the political and economic environment of Arab villages in Israel and the policy of the Israeli regime.
why Amhara get kureynya: sickness and possession in an Ethiopian zar cult1
Authors: YOUNG ALLAN
Published: November 2004

Most accounts of spirit possession cults treat illnesses caused by spirits as an ancillary concern, interesting mainly as events through which people join such cults. However, in the Amhara zar cult, sicknesses caused by spirits remain an important focus for relations between cult members and cult spirits even after initiation. Further, it is by participating in recurrent sickness episodes that members gain access to the adaptive strategies offered by the cult.
Canadian Arctic modernization and change in female Inuit role identification
Authors: McELROY ANN
Published: November 2004

The commercial development and modernizing practices in two Eastern Arctic settlements of Canada have influenced the socialization of Inuit children. Decreased emphasis placed on the traditional role of females in subsistence techniques is reflected in the patterns of acculturation and vocational aspirations of female children and adolescents. Responses to a modified Instrumental Activities Inventory and data on education, employment, legal offenses, and marriage choices tend to support the conclusion that Inuit females identify more strongly with Eurocanadian values and roles than do Inuit males.
the Maya midwife as sacred specialist: a Guatemalan case
Authors: PAUL LOIS , PAUL BENJAMIN D.
Published: November 2004

Midwives in San Pedro la Laguna, like shamans, are ritual specialists who enjoy high status, despite the subordinate position of women as a class. To account for the midwives' elevated status, a five‐point explanation is offered: (1) the role is highly professionalized, (2) requiring that incumbents be drawn from the pool of married women in their prime, (3) who must overcome their own and their husbands' resistance; (4) this barrier is surmounted only by manifold evidence of divine election, (5) which in turn accords midwives prestige and respect.
female forms of power and the myth of male dominance: a model of female/male interaction in peasant society1
Authors: ROGERS SUSAN CAROL
Published: November 2004

The assumption of universal male dominance, which stems from epistemological biases in anthropology, is belied by evidence that women wield considerable power within the context of the peasant household and community. The apparent contradictions between public stances of male dominance and the realities of female power can be resolved and explained by a model which is potentially extensible to other types of pre‐industrial societies. In conclusion, the transformation of male dominance from myth to reality during the process of industrialization is briefly explored.
some determinants of sex roles in a changing Indian town
Authors: SEYMOUR SUSAN
Published: November 2004

During an investigation of family organization and child‐rearing practices in a changing Indian town some variations in sex role behavior were observed. These are described for a more traditional and a more modern sector of the town, and social network theory is used to explain some of the differences found. In addition, certain variations in the organization of sex roles among lower socioeconomic households are attributed to economic factors.
segmentation in Chinese lineages: a view through written genealogies1
Authors: AHERIM EMILY M.
Published: November 2004

Written genealogies are used as a means of ascertaining how members of Chinese lineages regard the growth and segmentation of their own social groups. The genealogies reveal a concern, not with corporate and joint estates—the basis of segmentation in Chinese lineages according to Maurice Freedman's model—but with change in residence resulting from the formation of new settlements. The significance of this fact for understanding the indigenous view of both lineage growth and the connection between common residence and common descent is discussed.
environment and choice in rapid social change1
Authors: BRITAN GERALD , DENICH BETTE S.
Published: November 2004

Drawing on contemporary ecological and decision‐making theories, we develop a model synthesizing the concepts of environmental structure and individual choice. This approach avoids a static/dynamic dichotomy and therefore can explain behavioral processes in stable adaptation, gradual change, and rapid transformation. The application of the model is illustrated in two situations of rapid economic changeone in Yugoslavia, the other in Newfoundland—involving abrupt, widespread transformation in subsistence patterns through shifts from farming and fishing to industrial wage labor.
toward a perceptual model of folk biological classification1
Authors: HUNN EUGENE
Published: November 2004

The notion of taxonomic structure has played a central role in recent descriptions and analyses of folk systems of biological classification. The increasingly apparent inadequacies of that notion as a model of folk classification processes justify a fundamental theoretical reorientation. Reasonably interpretable and formally adequate definitions of inductive classification (Postulate I) and of dissimilarities in a classification space (Postulate II) are more adequate than the taxonomic model for understanding patterns observed in folk biological classification systems. A non‐rigorous extension of this “perceptual model” deals with the key problem of taxonomic ranks.
Omaha and “Omaha”1
Authors: ACKERMAN CHARLES
Published: November 2004

“Omaha” terminological equations may be of two kinds: (1) lineal, “direct,” e.g., MB = MBS, or (2) alternating, e.g., MB = MBSS ≠ MBS. It has been argued that the former are associated with matrilateral cross‐cousin marriage, although research concerning first‐cousin marriage rules has established that this association is a rare one. The relationship between second‐cousin marriage rules and terminology can be determined by “role‐cumulation,” which also demonstrates the association of lineal “Omaha” terminology with matrilaterality and the association of alternating “Omaha” terminology with patrilateral cross‐cousin marriage. The data base includes the terminologies and marriage rules of the Omaha, thirteen other North American tribes, the Ngarinjin, and the latmul.
talking about talking about residence: an Akamba case1
Authors: FJELLMAN STEPHEN M.
Published: November 2004

The data‐collection procedures described here elicit culturally relevant categories and the personal characteristics that are correlated with them. They permit the construction of a decision model which represents the organization of native knowledge about what kinds of people live in different domestic situations.
the modification of an interethnic boundary in Belize
Authors: GREGORY JAMES R.
Published: November 2004

Of Belize's several ethnic groups, the Mopan have been among the last to be drawn into the society's larger institutional system to a significant extent. This paper focuses on the interplay, across the Mopan/non‐Mopan boundary, between outside influences and local Initiative. The steadily increasing flow of transactions through a growing number of points of intercultural articulation has resulted in an ongoing process of institutional assimilation. The ethnic assimilation of the Mopan, however, remains problematical.
greetings in the desert1
Authors: YOUSSOUF IBRAHIM AG , GRIMSHAW ALLEN D. , BIRD CHARLES S.
Published: November 2004

Tuareg men must frequently travel into the wilderness of the western Sahara. The stakes are high in encounters. The desert is vast and threatening; the solitary traveler is continuously reminded of man's—and his own—insignificance. The camel is the “ship of the desert,” and the sighting far off of another rider engenders tensions similar to those experienced by seafaring travelers in the days of ships of sail, viz, is the unknown stranger friend or foe? News and companionship are highly valued in the wilderness, but strangers may be or become enemies. Sensitivity to cues of identity has high survival value; adult males must also learn complex rules for the interpretation of verbal and other behaviors in the accomplishment of greetings and information exchange. Analogs to encounters and greetings in other settings are adduced. A concluding section propounds some tentative universals on the (1) form, (2) function, (3) conditions for, and (4) constraints on, encounters and greetings.
human ecology and the population concept: the Yelnadu Reddi population in India
Authors: MONTGOMERY EDWARD
Published: November 2004

Key concepts in ecological anthropology need careful testing by case studies to determine the limits of their applicability and any need for redefinition and conceptual development. This article applies the concept of “population” to an endogamous group in southern India, the Yelnadu Reddis, who have a distinctive, reticulately structured set of relations with their physical and social resources.
women‐centered kin networks in urban bilateral kinship
Authors: YANAGISAKO SYLVIA JUNKO
Published: November 2004

Previous explanations of female centrality and “matrilateral asymmetry” in urban bilateral kinship have tended to reduce women's roles in extrahousehold kinship relations to their roles as mothers, and they have failed to explicate the social and cultural processes through which this asymmetry has emerged. In contrast, the present analysis of kinship relationships in an urban Japanese‐American community attributes the centrality of women in interhousehold networks to the creation of new normative expectations of the role of female kin. The failure of previous discussions of female centrality to differentiate analytically people's cultural constructs from the actual social consequences of their behaviors has obscured our understanding of kinship in urban industrial societies.
on the theory and measurement of domestic labor intensity
Authors: MINGE‐KALMAN WANDA
Published: November 2004

This paper describes increasing labor intensification as an adaptive strategy in domestic production. Historical literature on European peasants and empirical data from an Alpine village support the proposition that domestic groups prolong their survival as peasants in industrial societies by substituting more labor‐intensive products for the previous, less labor‐intensive ones. This view contrasts with the theory that the domestic group fails to intensify labor when it needs to do so. The latter position, as it is presented by Sahlins, is shown to be the result of an underestimation of domestic labor Intensity.
the salvation of a drunk
Authors: MANNING FRANK E.
Published: November 2004

This article examines a spectacular cultural event—the religious conversion of a drunken man at a Pentecostal worship service in Bermuda. The statements and actions of the congregation reveal both an empirical awareness of the man's profuse vomiting and a religious understanding of his symptoms as the manifestation of a dramatic struggle between Jesus and Satan. The playful aspects of Pentecostal ritual throw light on how these two orders of meaning are phenomenologically related and provide the basis of a hermeneutic analysis that allows generalization and comparison.
riddling and responsibility in Highland Peru
Authors: BOLTON RALPH
Published: November 2004

On the basis of both a cross‐cultural study and research on riddling in American and Tagalog cultures, John M. Roberts and Michael L. Forman (1971) made important contributions to the development of a theory of riddle involvement. They argued that riddles, as expressive models of oral interrogation, are associated with high levels of cultural complexity and with an emphasis on responsibility training. This paper reports the results of a series of tests of their hypotheses utilizing data obtained from thirty Quechua‐speaking children in the highlands of Peru. The relationships of riddle interest and competence to the performance of chores, responsible choice behavior, nagging, psychological conflict over oral interrogation, game preferences, and occupational preferences are explored.
the expectancy effect in anthropological research: an experimental study of riddle collection
Authors: FINE GARY ALAN , CRANE BEVERLY J.
Published: November 2004

This study investigates the impact of anthropologists' expectations on the results of empirical field studies. Interviewers were provided with one of three different expectation sets concerning the number of riddles they could expect to collect from a sample of college students. Interviewers then collected riddles from these students, and it was discovered that the more riddles an interviewer expected to collect, the more he or she did collect. Sex of the interviewer and the interviewer's previous experience also influenced the number of riddles collected, as did the size of the room in which the interviewing occurred.
rice harvesting in Kali Loro: a study of class and labor relations in rural Java
Authors: STOLER ANN L.
Published: November 2004

The labor‐intensive rice harvesting practices of rural Java are commonly hailed as a system of equity and a prime example of “shared poverty.” Closer examination, however, reveals a delicately balanced set of production and exchange relationships that determines both differential access and returns to harvesting opportunities. The paper describes methods of harvesting‐labor recruitment and payment in the context of village economy and presents quantitative data on harvesting practices. It concludes with a discussion of the historical developments in labor relations for the research site (Kali Loro) and Java in general and relates changes in the dominance of certain labor arrangements to recent and widespread changes in harvesting practices today.
the transatlantic nanny: notes on a comparative semiotics of the family in English‐speaking societies
Authors: DRUMMOND LEE
Published: November 2004

The paper suggests that systems‐building efforts in kinship studies have glossed over significant cultural variability in the institution of mother. A cultural analysis of family structure in Victorian England and English‐speaking countries of the Western Hemisphere focuses on the career of a prominent mother surrogate, the nanny. The diversity of fates experienced by nanny after her transatlantic voyage appears to support the view that the institution of mother is an eminently semiotic phenomenon, enmeshed in a system of meanings that comprises not only the family but also ethnic systems of the Americas.
Category grading and taxonomic relations: a mug is a sort of a cup
Authors: KEMPTON WILLETT
Published: November 2004

Gradations in the membership of objects in categories were elicited through hedged question frames (for example, is this “more or less a cup?”; is this “primarily a cup?”). These data are compared with relationships among categories elicited in a standard taxonomic interview (for example, “what are the different types of cups?”). Fuzzy set theory, which formalizes the idea of gradations in set membership, is used to relate category gradations to taxonomic structure. In certain cases, the definitions of fuzzy set theory do not correctly describe informant identifications of objects and require revision. With the necessary extensions, fuzzy set theory offers a means of capturing many aspects of folk classification that cannot otherwise be formally expressed.
promiscuity, paternity, and culture
Authors: GREENE PENELOPE J.
Published: November 2004

Recent theoretical developments, such as kin selection, suggest that there may be an association between genetic relationships and the functions of culture. In particular, the average level of paternity certainty in cultures with high levels of female extramarital promiscuity may correlate with certain aspects of the social structure. Data from the Human Relations Area Files exhibit patterns consistent with these expectations. That is, paternity uncertainty as measured by female promiscuity is associated with specific marital patterns and kinship terminology systems.
Industrialization and ethnic change in the Lower Chubut Valley, Argentina
Authors: WILLIAMS GLYN
Published: November 2004

The study of ethnicity must involve a social as well as a cultural component. I argue that ethnic salience relates to the connection between the ethnic group and changes in the wider economic structure. Drawing upon data from the Lower Chubut Valley, Argentina, I demonstrate that economic development has involved the loss of hegemony by the Welsh ethnic group, which experienced a collective downward mobility. A decline in the economic fortunes of the Welsh farmers has resulted in the development of a cultural division of land use and the formation of ethnically homogenous mutual aid networks. On the other hand, the same process has generated secularization and language erosion among members of the same ethnic group. As a result, ethnicity is in the process of changing from being seen in cultural/institutional terms to being viewed in terms of social closure.
Culture as rhetoric: patterning in the verbal interpretation of interaction between teachers and administrators in an American high school
Authors: VARENNE HERVÉ
Published: November 2004

Six “texts” produced by the staff of an American high school are analyzed and shown to possess a common rhetorical structure that is independently constituted and that may determine what is being said. It is argued that this rhetoric of everyday talk signifies a set of social positions that are projected onto social reality without always representing it. It is suggested that in this rhetoric may lie the concrete impulse in the phenomenological world that has led anthropologists to talk of culture.
Mundurucu: social change or false problem?
Authors: RAMOS ALCIDA R.
Published: November 2004

Robert Murphy's analysis of Mundurucu society is reevaluated, particularly with reference to three aspects: his hypothesis that in the past residence in this patrilineal society was patrilocal; his contention that their present‐day disharmonic system of patrilineality and uxorilocality, due to externally induced change, is a rare case of this combination; and his interpretation of the role of descent in Mundurucu society. I attempt to show that not only are disharmonic systems such as that of the Mundurucu relatively common in South America, but also, in the Mundurucu case, this system is structurally viable and consistent and not a result of any externally induced change; and that descent among the Mundurucu is a principle of social classification that has little to do with the organization of either technical or ceremonial activities. A comparison of Mundurucu and Sanuma (Yanoama) descent concepts in this regard is also presented.
Regional patterns of marriage ties in north‐central Luzon, Philippines
Authors: DANNHAEUSER NORBERT
Published: November 2004

This paper deals with four problem areas that frequently appear in the literature on regional marriage rates: the prediction of marriage frequencies between settlements from independent quantifiable variables; the change in size of the endogamous zones that surround settlements; the degree to which these zones overlap with other socially significant boundaries to form interregional communities; and the effect of socio‐economic status upon the regional reach of contracting mates. Heretofore, these closely related issues have been examined separately in different social settings. This study uses sufficiently inclusive marriage records of a provincial town in the Philippines to address these issues with a single body of data.
conflicting Japanese interpretations of the outcaste problem (buraku mondai)
Authors: RUYLE EUGENE E.
Published: November 2004

Everywhere in the modern world, traditional ideologies are being challenged by a new one, Marxian socialism. This paper seeks to understand the nature and significance of this ideological conflict by examining two opposing Japanese views on a major Japanese social problem, the social discrimination against outcastes (burakumin). The conflicting views of the Japanese government and the Marxist‐oriented Outcaste Problem Research Institute (Buraku Mondai Kenkyujo) are presented and related to the class structure of contemporary Japan. The implications of the analysis for contemporary anthropology are discussed.
“flowery war” in Aztec history
Authors: HICKS FREDERIC
Published: November 2004

The notion that the Aztec fought “flowery wars” primarily to provide captives needed for human sacrifice is called into question. The data on wars called “flowery” in the ethnohistorical sources indicate that they were simply wars not aimed at conquest, and that the most common motive for waging them was to provide military training and practice.
a stochastic process model of conflict and cooperation in Andean communities
Authors: ROBBINS MICHAEL C. , ROBBINS LINDA COFFMAN
Published: November 2004

Whyte's (1975) study of perceived conflict and cooperation in Andean communities elucidated four community types represented by combinations of these two variables and analyzed community stability and change from one type to another over a five‐year period. Using a Markov model, we deduce what the expected future distribution of community types will be if present trends continue and what these projections reveal about long‐term processes of community evolution in this region.
on the uses of history in anthropology: the palio of Siena
Authors: SILVERMAN SYDEL
Published: November 2004

To illustrate the potential of joining history and anthropology in the study of complex societies, a particular ritual complex is considered from three different theoretical viewpoints — all essentially ahistoric — and then analyzed from a historical perspective. Comparing various approaches to the Sienese palio suggests that history need not be limited to providing “background” or addressing questions of origin; it can be used by anthropologists to critically examine their theories, sharpen their methods, and develop new lines of analysis. This requires, however, that historical material be evaluated by standards applied to field data and recast in anthropological terms.
arithmetic as a tool for investigating relations between culture and cognition
Authors: REED H. J. , LAVE JEAN
Published: November 2004

After working out the details of four arithmetic systems among traditional tribal tailors in West Africa, we present an analysis of arithmetic errors that makes possible predictions about the varied educational experiences of the tailors and about individual problem‐solving characteristics. It is argued that arithmetic is a powerful domain for exploring the impact of education on cognitive skills because of the systematic properties of the domain and because coexisting arithmetic systems lead to contrasting problem‐solving strategies within most cultures.
do the differences make a difference? an empirical evaluation of the culture of poverty in the United States
Authors: ABELL TROY , LYON LARRY
Published: November 2004

Causal path models of initial occupational prestige and income for the poor and the middle class (United States) are developed from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience in order to test Lewis's “perpetuation of poverty” hypothesis. All the variables predictive of educational, occupational, and financial achievement also differentiate the lower and middle classes. However, two‐thirds of the income gap between the descendants of the poor and those of the middle class is determined by structural factors beyond individual control.
production and the patterning of social relations and values in two Guatemalan villages
Authors: LOUCKY JAMES
Published: November 2004

Peasant communities in highland Guatemala have developed distinctive production specializations based largely on factors that are ecological in nature. Household heads from a village specializing in rope making are compared with neighboring agriculturalists, and a patterned difference in social features and cognitive and value orientations emerges. Opportunities to utilize extensively women's and children's labor are among the components of rope making that most strongly influence these patterns.
cognitive pluralism or individual differences: a comparison of alternative models of American English kin terms
Authors: ROSE MICHAEL D. , ROMNEY A. KIMBALL
Published: November 2004

This paper uses multidimensional scaling (MDS) to compare alternative models of kinship terms of American English. It thereby inquires into whether the same person can operate with alternative cognitive structures when the verbal context of the kinship terms is systematically modified by the presence (as in the Wallace‐Atkins model) or the absence (as in the Romney‐D'Andrade model) of an ego reference point. Our experiments also demonstrate unexpected discrepencies between the results of similarity tests with dyads and those with triads when the ego reference point is present.
a strucon model of Delaware culture and the positioning of mediators
Authors: MILLER JAY
Published: November 2004

A strucon (structural configuration) model of Delaware culture is presented, subdivided into sensory, interpersonal, and cosmic emanations of an apical opposition called a paideuma. Then consideration is given to the origin and position of mediators within this cultural tradition in order to specify the process called “intrusion” whereby mediators enter contrast sets within the general strucon model.