De skatevriendelijke stad heeft de toekomst. Wereldwijd nemen gemeenten urban sports steeds concreter op in hun stadsontwikkeling. Andersom vindt die toenadering ook plaats. In plaats van een... Show moreDe skatevriendelijke stad heeft de toekomst. Wereldwijd nemen gemeenten urban sports steeds concreter op in hun stadsontwikkeling. Andersom vindt die toenadering ook plaats. In plaats van een strijd om ruimte of een tegendraadse houding, doet een groeiende groep skaters voorstellen om de openbare ruimte te verbeteren. Eigenlijk heel logisch: onder skaters bevinden zich ook architecten, beleidsmakers, docenten en onderzoekers. In dit artikel belicht ik drie steden waarin deze nieuwe samenwerking leidt tot skateplekken die positief bijdragen aan de openbare ruimte. Show less
Skaters horen bij de stad, als gangmakers, als creatievelingen én als steeds belangrijkere doelgroep voor planologen. Maar het is niet al goud wat er blinkt. Skatestoppers - van die uitstulpingen... Show moreSkaters horen bij de stad, als gangmakers, als creatievelingen én als steeds belangrijkere doelgroep voor planologen. Maar het is niet al goud wat er blinkt. Skatestoppers - van die uitstulpingen op straatmeubilair om skaters en andere ongewenste mensen te weren - maken vooral zichtbaar dat moderne steden en structurele uitsluiting hand in hand gaan. Show less
A coalition of educators believes that ChatGPT will kill the essay. But should we really fear the algorithms used in large language models? Anthropology has the generative potential to re-evaluate... Show moreA coalition of educators believes that ChatGPT will kill the essay. But should we really fear the algorithms used in large language models? Anthropology has the generative potential to re-evaluate teaching practices that attend to the use of emergent technologies in the classroom. Show less
Through a correspondence between two scholars, this paper explores and critiques various ways in which scholars working in ethnography and cultural analysis frame and construct their methodology... Show moreThrough a correspondence between two scholars, this paper explores and critiques various ways in which scholars working in ethnography and cultural analysis frame and construct their methodology and object of study. Through the close reading of theoretical accounts of methodology in ethnography and cultural analysis, we examine how these accounts construct the relationship between the scholar and her object of study. We read these scholarly practices as protocols, referring to the ways in which accounts of methodology may be understood as rules/guidelines by which scholars in these fields conduct research. Protocol etymologically refers to protos (first) and kolla (glue). Through the figure of the protocol, we delineate how scholars in ethnography and cultural analysis themselves become implicated in giving accounts of their research methodologies. Show less
Himalayan environments have changed, and are changing, due to the ways in which people have interpreted, sourced, and utilised them. Scholarly analysis of the transformations induced, be it in... Show moreHimalayan environments have changed, and are changing, due to the ways in which people have interpreted, sourced, and utilised them. Scholarly analysis of the transformations induced, be it in deforestation, dam building or glacial melt, foreground how man is shaping the world in the Anthropocene. Alternatively, multispecies studies have shown how people invariably depend on, and are being shaped, by the dedicated environments in which they find themselves. Rather than people existing independent of these, their lives are the product of ‘co-becoming’ (Country et al 2016: 1) or ‘becoming-with’ (Haraway 2008: 12) a variety of spaces and species. In relation to the Himalayas, the two angles of enquiry outlined above have so far seldom been combined. In an attempt to engage with this lacuna, the contributions to this special issue scrutinise the changing framing and interpretation of human and non-human relationships, and the way these find expression in everyday life. At the same time, the contributions explore how large-scale interventions instigated by state making, development initiatives and the expansion of commercial ventures have transformed, and continue to transform, mountain spaces and species, generating new societal contexts in which these acquire new meanings. Show less
The Khoisan of the Cape are widely considered virtually extinct as a distinct collective following their decimation, dispossession and assimilation into the mixed-race group ‘coloured’ during... Show moreThe Khoisan of the Cape are widely considered virtually extinct as a distinct collective following their decimation, dispossession and assimilation into the mixed-race group ‘coloured’ during colonialism and apartheid. However, since the democratic transition of 1994, increasing numbers of ‘Khoisan revivalists’ are rejecting their coloured identity and engaging in activism as indigenous people. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Cape Town, this book takes an unprecedented bottom-up approach. Centring emic perspectives, it scrutinizes Khoisan revivalism’s origins and explores the diverse ways Khoisan revivalists engage with the past to articulate a sense of indigeneity and stake political claims. Show less
Africa is at the lower end of internet use, but Facebook connectivity is rapidly increasing, linking diaspora and local people in mainly urban regions in Africa. A survey conducted in N’Djaména... Show moreAfrica is at the lower end of internet use, but Facebook connectivity is rapidly increasing, linking diaspora and local people in mainly urban regions in Africa. A survey conducted in N’Djaména revealed that 1 in 10 people uses Facebook, which is an important platform for these connected Chadians to express feelings, write thoughts, and create networks (i.e., to create a social life). In countries where daily conflict, oppression, insecurity, and mistrust pervade social life, posts and messages engage with these circumstances in a certain dialogue, which can be understood as an expression of duress. This article follows three Facebook users from both the diaspora and N’Djaména, and I position their Facebook expressions and actions in the context of their personal lives in contemporary Chadian political and connectivity history. Facebook appears to be an escape route from the reality of duress, and a form of practical action coupled with political agency. Show less
The enduring experience of hardship, in the form of layers of various crises, can become deeply ingrained in a society, and people can come to act and react under these conditions as if they lead a... Show moreThe enduring experience of hardship, in the form of layers of various crises, can become deeply ingrained in a society, and people can come to act and react under these conditions as if they lead a normal life. This process is explored through the analytical concept of duress, which contains three elements: enduring and accumulating layers of hardship over time, the normalization of this hardship, and a form of deeply constrained agency. We argue that decisions made in duress have a significant impact on the social and political structures of society. This concept of duress is used as a lens to understand the lives of individual people and societies in Central and West Africa that have a long history of ecological, political, and social conflicts and crises. Show less
This article contributes to the need for imagining forms of sociological thinking and doing beyond the univocity of disciplinary knowledge. In order to do so, we demonstrate how connections... Show moreThis article contributes to the need for imagining forms of sociological thinking and doing beyond the univocity of disciplinary knowledge. In order to do so, we demonstrate how connections between different ‘sensory worlds’ involve equivocal understandings about what the ‘social’ entails. We begin by considering current anthropological reflections on the equivocal character of social relations as well as the equivocal ways in which western sociology has conceptualized the ‘social’. In order to visualize how ‘equivocal connections’ between different sensory worlds emerge, we build on Mapuche indigenous understandings about how different practices open up different sensory worlds. Through the examination of one of the hunger strikes that has taken place in the conflict between Mapuche people and the Chilean state, we show how such equivocal connections entail ontological, rather than epistemological, differences. Both as ethical and epistemological imperative, these differences must be actively demonstrated in order to reinvigorate the sociological imagination. Show less
Anthropologists have been studying the various phenomena associated with states and ‘state-like’ structures for a long time (cf. Fortes 1940, Leach 1954). It was only in the last decade of the 20th... Show moreAnthropologists have been studying the various phenomena associated with states and ‘state-like’ structures for a long time (cf. Fortes 1940, Leach 1954). It was only in the last decade of the 20th century, however, that ethnographers began to specifically define a new field for the study of the contemporary forms, functions, and actions of state apparatuses.Critical of both anthropological and political science approaches studying the state in African contexts, this volume’s stated objective is to shift focus from the “margins or interstices” of the state (cf. Das and Poole 2004) and towards the very core of bureaucratic processes and state actors. Show less
This book examines design proposals that show symbolic handling of the 9/11 attack on New York, the disaster symbolism of the ship washed ashore by the tsunami in Banda Aceh, and the design of the... Show moreThis book examines design proposals that show symbolic handling of the 9/11 attack on New York, the disaster symbolism of the ship washed ashore by the tsunami in Banda Aceh, and the design of the symbol of the city of Cape Town derived from a remnant of Dutch colonial architecture, or the mass pilgrimage to Elvis’s Graceland in Memphis. Cities Full of Symbols develops urban symbolic ecology and hypercity approaches into a new perspective on social cohesion. Approaches of architects, anthropologists, sociologists, social geographers and historians converge to make this a book for anyone interested in urban life, policymaking and city branding. Show less
In the mountains of northwest China, crowds of people gather at remote temples every summer. The normally grim and deserted landscape becomes a backdrop for elaborate feasting, chanting and... Show moreIn the mountains of northwest China, crowds of people gather at remote temples every summer. The normally grim and deserted landscape becomes a backdrop for elaborate feasting, chanting and sacrificing. While the mood is festive, the meetings take place in a region which has seen centuries of violent conflict between Muslims and Buddhists, Han-Chinese and Tibetans. Inter-ethnic relationships remain uneasy, but during the temple festivals people from different backgrounds accept the challenge of competing with one another on a very different kind of battlefield: that of love. Show less
Charles Darwin had no doubts about the origins of music - it was a kind of mating call, a primitive language of the emotions from an early stage of evolution. While his ideas about music and... Show moreCharles Darwin had no doubts about the origins of music - it was a kind of mating call, a primitive language of the emotions from an early stage of evolution. While his ideas about music and evolution have often been alluded to, Darwin never really paid much attention to music. His contemporary Herbert Spencer, who was much more conversant with music, saw it differently - music had evolved from language, in particular speech laden with emotion. Show less
On 26 October 1947 the state of Jammu and Kashmir acceded to the Indian Union, infuriating Pakistan and spawning one of the world's longest unresolved conflicts: Kashmir. India and Pakistan's half... Show moreOn 26 October 1947 the state of Jammu and Kashmir acceded to the Indian Union, infuriating Pakistan and spawning one of the world's longest unresolved conflicts: Kashmir. India and Pakistan's half-century of perpetual conflict has been punctuated by four full-scale wars waged over the Line of Control, forcing villagers to hinterland refugee camps that have fundamentally changed the structure of the families living in them. Show less
Do the performing arts play a role in sexual selection? How does music influence mating practices in different cultures? an the performing arts create social settings where sexual relationships... Show moreDo the performing arts play a role in sexual selection? How does music influence mating practices in different cultures? an the performing arts create social settings where sexual relationships germinate and grow - even where sex is a disruptive force, an arena for competition and conflict? And if so, where does this power of the performing arts come from? Show less
Gandrung is a beloved entertainment for ritual celebrations in rural Banyuwangi in easternmost Java. In this genre - a variety of one known throughout western Indonesia - a professional female... Show moreGandrung is a beloved entertainment for ritual celebrations in rural Banyuwangi in easternmost Java. In this genre - a variety of one known throughout western Indonesia - a professional female singer-dancer, the gandrung (who gives the genre its name) dances with male guests, accompanied by a small ensemble of drums, violins, gongs, and a triangle. It is not always easy for a gandrung to entice guests onto the dance floor, since their dancing, like hers, requires artistry and poise while their movements will be watched critically by spectators, who may include their own wives and children. Show less
