390 Bräuche, Etikette, Folklore
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This article departs from the hypothesis that Alexander von Humboldt used ‘Big Data’ in order to bring new scientific evidence into the open. His method of measuring and combining temperature, humidity, altitude and magnetism in a geographical environment must be regarded as innovative, indeed, as the foundation of modern science. Although Humboldt lived in an analogue world and used the instruments of his time, his way of assembling information was not so different from what we are seeing in today's digitalised world. Information has no value unless it is shared. It does not say anything unless it is linked with other data. It cannot remain isolated but must be compared and interpreted. The generation of ʻBig Dataʼ was a pathway to Humboldt's concept of ʻKosmosʼ in much the same way as ʻBig Dataʼ today is the pathway to a virtual world. In this sense, Humboldt not only laid the foundation of modern science but anticipated the existence of a world where data and information are the source of everything when it comes to understanding the interconnectivity of the physical and the virtual world.
Memoirs by women (from the Global North) who have employed a gestational host (from the Global South) to become mothers are situated in a force field of intersecting discourses about gender, race and class. The article sheds light on the characteristic dynamics of this special sub-genre of ‘mommy lit’ (Hewett), labelled ‘IP memoirs,’ with a special emphasis on memoirs featuring transnational cross-racial gestational surrogacy arrangements in India. These texts do not only present narratives of painful infertility experiences, autopathographic self-blame, and scriptotherapeutic quests towards happiness, i.e. (a) child(ren), but also speak back to knotty issues such as potential exploitation, commodification, colonisation and disenfranchisement, as well as genetic essentialism in the context of systemic inequities.
Tigers are indisputably in danger of extinction due to habitat loss and demand for their parts. Tigers are extirpated in the wild from every country bar one in mainland East and Southeast Asia. Although consumption of tiger products is known to be established in China, less is known about demand for tiger products in Southeast Asia. In this study, we investigate tiger product demand in Vietnam, a major illegal wildlife consumer country. There has been little research into consumption, in particular the level of use, the products being consumed, variation in use of products between areas, and the motivations of consuming tiger products. Through a quantitative survey of 1120 individuals, we show that use of tiger products could be as high as ~11% of the sample in both urban centers of Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Tiger bone glue is the predominant product used, for medicinal purposes. In Hanoi, it is generally purchased by the individual for self-use, while in Ho Chi Minh City it is generally purchased as a gift. In both cities, individuals were generally highly satisfied with the product, indicating entrenched belief in efficacy among consumers. Ultimately, our results show that tiger product use is relatively pervasive. We suggest that conservation organizations should focus on behavior change campaigns that are informed by the results here, and that are specific to each area and to the specific use of tiger product glue for medicine. By reducing demand, beleaguered tiger populations will have a greater chance of stabilization and eventual growth.
This special issue explores how finance deploys time, structures the future, and interacts with actors and institutions that sometimes function according to very different temporal regimes. Finance capitalism’s logic of recurrence, repetitive cycles, and successive ruptures has long been with us, but the essays in this special issue are particularly interested in how recent decades of intensified financialization have restructured temporal experience. They interrogate the production and dissemination of agency in an age of acceleration, risk, and uncertainty, asking how the temporality inscribed in financial transactions emerges from and simultaneously shapes individual and social practice. Topics covered range from the logic of finance and foundational concepts of financial theory to the intersection between objective structures and social practice, the role of literature, and finally questions of social insecurity, political action, and the possibility of resistance within a context of competing temporalities. In this introduction, the editors delineate some fundamental concepts and questions for our financial times.
Although throughout the history of anthropology the ethnography of urban societies was never an important topic, investigations on cities in Africa contributed to the early theoretical development of urban studies in social sciences. As the ethnography of rural migrants in towns made clear, cultural diversity and creativity are foundational and permanent elements of urban cultures in Africa (and beyond). Currently, two new aspects complement these insights: 1) Different forms of mobility have received a new awareness through the concept of transnationalism. They are much more complex, including not only rural–urban migration, but also urban–urban migration, and migrations with a destination beyond the continent. 2) Urban life-worlds also include the appropriation of globally circulating images and lifestyles, which contribute substantially to the current cultural dynamics of cities in Africa. These two aspects are the reasons for the high complexity of urban contexts in Africa. Therefore, whether it is still appropriate to speak about the “locality” of these life-worlds has become questionable. At the same time, these new aspects explain the self-consciousness of members of urban cultures in Africa. They contribute to the expansive character of these societies and to the impression that cities in Africa host the most innovative and creative societies worldwide.
Yuniyanti Chuzaifah is one of the founders of "Voice of Concerned Mothers" (Suara Ibu Peduli or SIP) and later joined the "Coalition of Indonesian Women" (Koalisi Perempuan Indonesia or KPI). She studied at the Universities of Leiden and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and later returned to Indonesia. Since March 2010 she has been the Director of the "Indonesian National Commission on Violence against Women" (Komnas Perempuan). This interview was conducted on 15 March 2010 at the organisation’s premises in Jakarta.
The Mbuti people, "the pygmies of the Ituri Forest", have long been considered the nucleus of pygmy groups in Equatorial Africa, and have been studied by Sche besta, Gusinde, Putnam, and Turnbull. to name a few. Most of these studies were mainly somatometrical or concerned with the society, culture and religion, for the most part overlooking the ecological aspect. Until this time, few studies made by researchers directly involved in observing and participating in the hunting-gathering style of life have gone into an in-depth, ecology-focused approach to that life. C. M. Turnbull, in his book, "The Mbuti Pygmies: An Ethnographic Survey" (1965a), divides the Mbuti people into net hunters and archers. and summarizes ethnographic data gathered by Schebesta and Putnam, which he then uses to compare the two groups. He makes the point that the hunting-gathering economy exerts a great influence upon Mbuti society and ideology, tending to regulate their way of life. However. his data and analysis of actual hunting activities do not seem sufficient enough to prove this point. The same is the case with previous research of band societies around the world: It has often been stated that a hunting-gathering economy brings forth nomadism, division of labor according to sex, co-operation of labor, egalitarianism, distribution of food among the group, etc. Subsequently, studies have been undertaken to discover how these factors work to regulate the social life, social structure and ideology of a given hunting-gathering group. However, each time substantial investigation of the various hunting and food gathering activities themselves. which support the hunting-gathering economy, seems to have been left out. Cultural anthropologists who take the standpoint of cultural ecology discuss the relationships between the culture of a given group and its natural environment, but they make only a general description of both the natural environment involved, and of the actual association of the culture to that environment. This paper. as the first report on the ecological-anthropological studies of the Mbuti people. deals mainly with hunting, one of their subsistence activities. illustrating its various features and attempting to discuss the data I have obtained. Since the focus of this paper is on hunting activities, I will not cover the general life of the Mbuti people; the more general economic activities, social life, ideology, and so on. I will deal with these problems in another report. Here, I want to make it the ultimate object to gain clearer comprehension of Mbuti life, society, and mentality by concentrating on Mbuti hunting, which is closely connected with nature. This account obtained by first-hand observation of hunting activities, will illustrate the general hunting methods of the Mbuti people, and discuss the mode of existence of the Mbuti band. T. Tanno is to make a more detailed analysis of net hunting.