I've installed a new forum in English - in addition to the one in Norwegian (the same forum script) that has been (more or less) active for eight-nine months now. Use the forum to discuss or ask questions to other visitors. There's a built in email-notification feature, alternatively you can use the forum's RSS-Feed.
Alexander Knorr, Xirdalium
Oftentimes there is a confusion about what anthropological 'fieldwork' actually is. One aim of my project is to transpose anthropology's rich and powerful methodology to the terra nova online: thick participation plus its weaknesses compensated by other methods like the ethnographic interview.
As Damien Stolarz has put it, Shapiro provides us with a "Simple hack using Skype as an audio interviewing and archive tool. Instead of needing phone interview recording hardware (which you might not have) you can use computer tools (which you have in abundance)." This contains tremendous possibilities for every trustworthy cyberanthropologist. >> continue (Link updated)
SEE ALSO:
Whats your Skype Research Project? by anthropologist Dina Mehta
Dina Mehta: How social software and social tools are truly worldchanging
Skype and VOIP - all posts by Dina Mehta
antropologi.info's links on Cyberanthropology
LINKS UPDATED 9.1.2021
D. Murali in the The Hindu Buisiness Line
"Children have become conduits from the consumer marketplace into the household, the link between advertisers and the family purse," writes Juliet B. Schor in his book "Born to Buy". Marketers have "set their sights on children" — not for the odd trinket and toy as in those good old days, but also for the big money that this niche group can yield by influencing buying decisions.
What is depressing is the amount of specialised research that companies unleash on children. "They've gone anthropological, using ethnographic methods that scrutinise the most intimate details of children's lives. Marketers are videotaping children in their private spaces," laments Schor. Quite shockingly, "Researchers are paying adults whom kids trust, such as coaches, clergy, and youth workers, to elicit information from them"? Prying happens online too.
The last chapter springs a hope that childhood can be decommercialised, though the job is not going to be easy. Some of the changes that Schor proposes involve Government regulation of ads and marketing. >> continue
David Zeitlyn, University of Kent at Canterbury
Building on Eric Raymond’s work this article discusses the motivation and rewards that lead some software engineers to participate in the open source movement. It is suggested that software engineers in the open source movement may have sub-groupings which parallel kinship groups such as lineages. Within such groups gift giving is not necessarily or directly reciprocated, instead members work according to the ‘axiom of kinship amity’ – direct economic calculation is not appropriate within the group. What Bourdieu calls ‘symbolic capital’ can be used to understand how people work in order to enhance the reputation (of themselves and their group). >> continue (pdf) (Link updated 12.4.2021)
(Found in the huge paper collection on Open Source at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
SEE ALSO:
Social Exchange Theory: Lecture by William Davis, University of California, Davis
Photojournalist Nayan Sthankiya, OhmyNews
Very little attention in today's fast-paced society is paid to the history and dedication involved in the production of traditional Korean fans. However, one man in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, continues to keep the art alive in much the same way it was practiced hundreds of years ago. >> continue
ZNet
Despite their small numbers, the Sakhalin aborigines are standing up to multinational energy companies that are developing oil and gas deposits on the island. On March 25-26, representatives of the Nivkh, Orok, Evenk, and Nanai peoples of Sakhalin held a congress in the town of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Roughly 3,000 indigenous people make up about 0.5 percent of the island’s total population.
The indigenous congress created a council which will represent the island’s indigenous population in negotiations with the oil companies and Russian government authorities. The council will advocate for an ethnographic study to assess the cultural impact of the oil and gas projects on indigenous peoples.
The new Shell pipeline is being constructed over a sacred Nivkh burial ground. The noise from the construction has impacted the caribou population and driven herders away from their traditional grazing grounds. The new Shell drilling platform and the pipeline connecting it to the shore is due to be constructed near the key feeding area of the endangered western pacific gray whale. >> continue
SEE ALSO:
Peoples of the Russian North and Far East (Arctic Circle)
IPS News
A new dam funded by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB ) and hailed as a windfall for Laos may end up doing more harm than good to one of the world's poorest nations and its vulnerable farmers, several independent development groups say. It shows that international financial institutions, spearheaded by the Washington-based World Bank, are paying little regard to indigenous people, the environment or the long-term welfare of the poor nation. This will drastically alter the character of two important rivers, displace thousands of desperately poor residents, and disrupt the livelihoods of tens of thousands more. >> continue
SEE ALSO:
International Rivers Network: Nam Theun 2 - Open letter to the World Bank
The impact of the Nam Theun 2 dam on indigenous peoples (World Rainforest Movement)
It's now easier to find older entries and pages. We're no longer dependent on the atomz free site search. As the maximum number of pages has been exceeded, not all pages were indexed. Now I've installed the isearch-search engine. The search is accessible in the menue on the left site of this page and on my anthropology search page.
As some of you might know, Yahoo has launched their social network tool Yahoo! 360º, including blog, photo sharing etc. In order to sign up, you need an invite. I have plenties of invites left, so if somebody is interested, drop a note with your email address and I'll send you an invite. Use the comment function or the contact form. By the way, I've got still lots of gmail invites...
Recent comments