| 1. |
- Anderson, David G., et al.
(författare)
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The Etnos Archipelago: Sergei M. Shirokogoroff and the Life History of a Controversial Anthropological Concept
- 2019
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Ingår i: Current Anthropology. - Chicago : University of Chicago Press. - 0011-3204 .- 1537-5382. ; 60:6, s. 741-773
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The concept of etnos—one of the more controversial anthropological concepts of the Cold War period—is contextualized by looking at its “life history” through the biography of one of its proponents. Sergei Mikhailovich Shirokogoroff was a Russian/Chinese anthropologist whose career transected Eurasia from Paris to Beijing via Saint Petersburg and the Siberian borderlands of the Russian Empire. His transnational biography and active correspondence shaped the unique spatial and intellectual configuration of a concept that became a cornerstone of both Soviet and Chinese ethnography. The theory of etnos turned out to be surprisingly stable, while circulating through various political and intellectual environments ranging from England, Germany, and China to Imperial, Soviet, and modern Russia. This case study presents a history of anthropology wherein networks and conversations originating in the Far East of Eurasia have had unexpected influences on the heartlands of anthropology.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Claes, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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The evolution of cultural complexity: Not by the treadmill alone
- 2016
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Ingår i: Current Anthropology. - : University of Chicago Press. - 1537-5382 .- 0011-3204. ; 57:3, s. 261-286
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Among the drivers and constraints on the evolution of complex hominin culture that have been proposed throughout the years, demographic factors have been particularly persistent, and they have recently again come to gain traction in the literature in the shape of the so-called treadmill model. The treadmill model connects cultural complexity to group size via a need to constantly “outrun a treadmill of cultural loss,” whose backward motion is caused by errors in culture transmission. The entrenchment of the treadmill explanation of cultural complexity, however, takes place against a background of critiques of the model and the presence of other explanatory propositions. This creates a need for deentrenchment: wider integration, elaboration, and critique of the premises of the treadmill model and the evidence advanced to validate it. We begin by reviewing the treadmill model, making an assessment of its current status, and then moving on to a more synthetic proposition by placing the model into the context of other models addressing the elaboration of cultural complexity. We end by considering the broader implications for the study of the evolution of culture and of human behavior to be gained from more integrated modeling of the various factors affecting cultural complexity.
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| 3. |
- Eriksson, Kimmo, 1967-
(författare)
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Comment on “The Evolution of Cultural Complexity : Not by the Treadmill Alone” by Andersson & Read
- 2016
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Ingår i: Current Anthropology. - 0011-3204 .- 1537-5382. ; 57, s. 275-276
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- At the end of their thoughtful target article, Andersson and Read conclude that formal models of cultural evolution are “useful but must be kept in perspective.” As a mathematician with a great interest in social science, I have some experience of working with such models. Based on this experience, I very much agree with the “but” part of the above conclusion. I see a clear tendency in the cultural evolution literature to put too much trust in the value of formal models.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Finnström, Sverker, 1970-
(författare)
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War stories and troubled peace : Revisiting some secrets of northern Uganda
- 2015
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Ingår i: Current Anthropology. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0011-3204 .- 1537-5382. ; 56:S12, s. S222-S230
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many aspects of war are deliberately kept secret, but some are so mundane that they simply are not reflected upon. In the face of the brutal mass violence of most wars today, these mundane secrets are not spectacular enough to capture media attention or the observers’ imaginations. They are, in a sense, the unmarked secrets of everyday war. In this article, I address such unmarked secrets of war. Focusing on war-torn northern Uganda, I follow two parallel threads. One is the anthropology of life histories, or my journey into anthropology in conjunction with the stories of a few Ugandan key informants. The second thread exposes the conditions that influence a researcher’s tendency to craft and edit data and experience. In acknowledging the entanglements of the two threads, I focus on storytelling and listening in situations that initially may remain unmarked – and thus silent and even secret – to the outside participant observer. In addition, rather than presenting any straightforward story of the war in northern Uganda, I extend a conversation on methodology.
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| 6. |
- Gärdenfors, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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The Archaeology of Teaching and the Evolution of Homo docens
- 2017
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Ingår i: Current Anthropology. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0011-3204 .- 1537-5382. ; 58:2, s. 188-201
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Teaching is present in all human societies, while within other species it is very limited. Something happened during the evolution of Homo sapiens that also made us Homo docens—the teaching animal. Based on discussions of animal and hominin learning, we analyze the evolution of intentional teaching by a series of levels that require increasing capacities of mind reading and communication on the part of the teacher and the learner. The levels of teaching are (1) intentional evaluative feedback, (2) drawing attention, (3) demonstrating, (4) communicating concepts, and (5) explaining relations between concepts. We suggest that level after level has been added during the evolution of teaching. We demonstrate how different technologies depend on increasing sophistication in the levels of cognition and communication required for teaching them. As regards the archaeological evidence for the different levels, we argue that stable transmission of the Oldowan technology requires at least teaching by demonstration and that learning the late Acheulean hand-axe technology requires at least communicating concepts. We conclude that H. docens preceded H. sapiens.
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| 7. |
- Hannerz, Ulf
(författare)
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Writing Futures An Anthropologist's View of Global Scenarios
- 2015
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Ingår i: Current Anthropology. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0011-3204 .- 1537-5382. ; 56:6, s. 797-818
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Toward the end of the twentieth century, the Cold War ended, and globalization became a key word in public discourse. In the new situation people could ask, with relief or anxiety, what might happen next. So a small but lively intellectual industry rose to the challenge, creating scenarios for a born-again world. As the world turned, there would be more of them. With 9/11 there was another wave of global commentary. There were hot wars in Central Asia and the Middle East, and then, with economic upheavals spreading rather unevenly over the world, there were shifts in the global centers of gravity. This again generated more scenarios for the world. Often, the future visions could be encapsulated in striking catchphrases: the end of history, the clash of civilizations, jihad versus McWorld, soft power, and others. The Eric Wolf Lecture of 2014 scrutinizes world scenarios as a genre of creative writing but also considers their role as a set of representations of the world that are now circulated, received, and debated in a worldwide web of social relationships. As a contemporary sociocultural phenomenon, the scenarios come out of a zone of knowledge production where academia, media, and politics meet. The authors are global public intellectuals. While anthropology has contributed little to them directly, these writings deserve attention for the way they offer the Big Picture of the world and, at times, for their use of cultural understandings.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Kulick, Don
(författare)
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When privacy and secrecy collapse into one another, bad things can happen
- 2015
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Ingår i: Current Anthropology. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0011-3204 .- 1537-5382. ; 56, s. S241-S250
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article discusses privacy and secrecy in relation to the sexual lives of adults with significant disabilities. It compares ideologies and practices of privacy in two Scandinavian countries that diverge dramatically when it comes to sexuality and disability. In Sweden, the sexual lives of adults with disabilities are hindered and blocked by the people the welfare state pays to assist them. In Denmark, those same kinds of assistants facilitate sexual lives. A reason for this difference hinges on how "privacy" is conceptualized and practiced. In Denmark, to label something as "private" configures a particular kind of ethical space of engagement. In Sweden, "private" means "secret," "off limits," "beyond the boundary of knowledge or engagement." This collapse of privacy and secrecy into one another has dire consequences for people with disabilities.
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