Illegal Economies and the Untold Story of the Amputees
CAROLYN NORDSTROM
Summary Supporters of the use of land mines argue that they deter soldiers and protect
sensitive areas during combat. Statistics show, however, that those most commonly
injured by land mines are not soldiers, but instead children, women, and men engaged
in nonmilitary activities. These mines leave their victims without limbs, often unable to
walk, work, or eke out an existence in a part of the world where wheelchairs are
nonexistent and life is incredibly hard, even for a healthy individual.
The women of Muleque, Angola, who were injured by these land mines, at first
developed informal economies in order to simply survive. But as Nordstrom points out,
they wanted more than to merely exist. They formed their own informal banking
systems, popular in Southern Africa, and with just a few pennies, managed to raise
money to invest in farmland. Joining an informal bank group, according to Nordstrom,
is the first step on the path that women follow out of poverty and into development.
There are many steps, and the process is difficult. Women start with nothing; hard labor
is the only way to raise the small amount needed to even join an informal bank group.
According to Nordstrom’s research, women are “the invisible center of gravity of
society” in Southern Africa. A man’s presence is fluid; a woman is always there. She
makes the connections that create family, society, and community networks. Without
the women, according to the author, families and societies collapse. With the women at
the center, families succeed, and health, education, and trade result. The author notes
that is interesting that the women’s efforts and their contributions to development go
unnoticed. According to figures from the United Nations, these informal economies
contribute $250 billion annually in imports, and this money goes directly into the
development of the country. Yet these women continue to be depicted by
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as stereotypical victims barely surviving by
selling bananas and charcoal.
According to Nordstrom in “Illegal Economies and the Untold Story of Amputees,”
the Muleque women and other women in southern Africa often create their own
self-run, informal banking systems.
Advice for Developers: Peace Corps Problems in Botswana
HOYT S. ALVERSON
Summary This classic article by Hoyt Alverson provides an excellent example of how
anthropology can be applied to the solution of practical problems. Although written
years ago, its message is equally relevant today as Peace Corps volunteers, USAID
workers, military personnel, and NGO (non-governmental organization) employees
engage in nation building around the world. Alverson’s conclusion is clear:
development work in foreign (and even in some domestic) settings requires
cross-cultural understanding.
Alverson was asked by a program director to investigate problems with the Peace
Corps’ development efforts in Botswana. Volunteers, he was told, were to introduce
development projects to Tswana farmers but found it difficult to so. The Tswana often
resisted the volunteers’ efforts. They would seem to cooperate but eventually nothing
happened. Frustrated, volunteers tended to isolate themselves, failed to learn the local
language, and hung out with other Americans or Europeans. Some gave up. Others
failed to complete their two-year contracts. Many felt spiteful toward the Tswana and
some even experienced nervous breakdowns.
Alverson approached his task by looking at both the culture and perspective of the
Peace Corps volunteers, and the culture and responses of the Tswana. (Alverson had
already spent 15 months doing ethnographic research in a Tswana community.) He
discovered that volunteers had many unstated assumptions, based on culture. Often, for
example, volunteers wished to be respected for their superior knowledge and their ways
of doing things, which they believed were better. Volunteers also believed that the
Tswana had asked them to help impart their Western cultural knowledge and that they,
the volunteers, were different from colonial authorities because they did not force
people to change. The conclusion to draw from this information is simple: the
volunteers’ self-perception made it harder for them to learn about the people they were
there to engage.
The remainder of Alverson’s paper deals with areas of cross-cultural misunderstandings
between volunteers and the Tswana. One example is the concept of time. The American
volunteer’s concept of time is lineal: the Tswana concept sees time as bounded by
events. Volunteers became frustrated when the Tswana did not show up on time.
Another example is that volunteers appreciate candor as they talk. The Tswana like
smooth, non-confrontational discourse. As a result, a Tswana may lie about something
to avoid conflict.
In sum, Alverson sees the discomfort displayed by American Peace Corps volunteers in
Botswana as a consequence of life in a very different, culturally defined Tswana world.
The implied solution is to inform volunteers about their own cultural and
self-perceptions, and teach volunteers as much as possible about the culture of those
with whom they intend to work.
In Alverson’s “Advice for Developers,” Peace Corps volunteers working in Botswana
often isolated themselves, hung out with other Americans or Europeans, felt spiteful
toward the Tswana, and failed to complete contracts.
According to Richard Lee, in 1963 !Kung men
a. supplied between 20 and 40 percent of the calories consumed by members of a camp.
b. hunted almost every day to bag sufficient food for people’s daily needs.
c. collected approximately 70 percent of the edible vegetable foods.
d. began hunting regularly before they were 10 years old.
Advice for Developers: Peace Corps Problems in Botswana
HOYT S. ALVERSON
Summary This classic article by Hoyt Alverson provides an excellent example of how
anthropology can be applied to the solution of practical problems. Although written
years ago, its message is equally relevant today as Peace Corps volunteers, USAID
workers, military personnel, and NGO (non-governmental organization) employees
engage in nation building around the world. Alverson’s conclusion is clear:
development work in foreign (and even in some domestic) settings requires
cross-cultural understanding.
Alverson was asked by a program director to investigate problems with the Peace
Corps’ development efforts in Botswana. Volunteers, he was told, were to introduce
development projects to Tswana farmers but found it difficult to so. The Tswana often
resisted the volunteers’ efforts. They would seem to cooperate but eventually nothing
happened. Frustrated, volunteers tended to isolate themselves, failed to learn the local
language, and hung out with other Americans or Europeans. Some gave up. Others
failed to complete their two-year contracts. Many felt spiteful toward the Tswana and
some even experienced nervous breakdowns.
Alverson approached his task by looking at both the culture and perspective of the
Peace Corps volunteers, and the culture and responses of the Tswana. (Alverson had
already spent 15 months doing ethnographic research in a Tswana community.) He
discovered that volunteers had many unstated assumptions, based on culture. Often, for
example, volunteers wished to be respected for their superior knowledge and their ways
of doing things, which they believed were better. Volunteers also believed that the
Tswana had asked them to help impart their Western cultural knowledge and that they,
the volunteers, were different from colonial authorities because they did not force
people to change. The conclusion to draw from this information is simple: the
volunteers’ self-perception made it harder for them to learn about the people they were
there to engage.
The remainder of Alverson’s paper deals with areas of cross-cultural misunderstandings
between volunteers and the Tswana. One example is the concept of time. The American
volunteer’s concept of time is lineal: the Tswana concept sees time as bounded by
events. Volunteers became frustrated when the Tswana did not show up on time.
Another example is that volunteers appreciate candor as they talk. The Tswana like
smooth, non-confrontational discourse. As a result, a Tswana may lie about something
to avoid conflict.
In sum, Alverson sees the discomfort displayed by American Peace Corps volunteers in
Botswana as a consequence of life in a very different, culturally defined Tswana world.
The implied solution is to inform volunteers about their own cultural and
self-perceptions, and teach volunteers as much as possible about the culture of those
with whom they intend to work.
According to Alverson in “Advice for Developers,” Peace Corps volunteers conceive of
time as lineal while the Tswana associate it with events.
The first phase of the coal mining reclamation process is
a. blasting the large horizontal seam of coal in the ground.
b. removing and storing the delicate layer of topsoil.
c. picking up, moving, and dropping the overburden into an already excavated mine.
d. removing the coal from the ground with draglines, shovels, and haul trucks.
According to Fish in “Mixed Blood,” an increase in immigration has caused the most
rapidly growing census category, which is now
a. other.
b. black.
c. Asian.
d. Native American.
In “Nice Girls Don”t Talk to Rastas,” Gmelch notes that American students often
behave according to a principle called personal autonomy when they live among people
in other societies. This means that
a. if they see what they believe is “truth,” they can act without concern for what others
think.
b. they should be able to have their own private space in which to live.
c. they can feel free to criticize local people.
d. if they don”t like a local custom, they can ignore it.
How Sushi Went Global
THEODORE C. BESTOR
Summary This article by Theodore Bestor reveals the complex network of
relationships that define a global economic system. Focusing on sushi, a traditional
Japanese cuisine, Bestor shows how the international adoption of the culinary custom,
and especially its centerpiece, raw bluefin tuna, has created a global system that
involves Atlantic fishing and fish farming, national and environmental regulations,
realignments of labor and capital, and shifting markets.
The article begins with a description of a bluefin auction at a fishing pier near Bath
main. About 20 buyers evaluate and bid on three large bluefins, consulting buyers in the
Tsukiui fish market in Japan by cell phone to establish prices. Once bought, the fish are
packed in ice and flown to Japan. Japanese have a long-term affection for the bluefin, a
fish that was originally caught only for sport in the United States. The Japanese had
turned to international tuna suppliers in the past, when the world adopted a rule that
restricted fishing boats from one nation from fishing within 200 miles of the coast of
another country. Jumbo jets brought fresh New England bluefin into easy reach of
Japan, and U.S. fishermen began to catch and export the large tuna. The 1980s were
prosperous for Japan, which sustained the market for bluefin, but the economic bubble
burst in the early “90s. Just in time, North Americans developed a taste for sushi,
creating a strong market for the fish. As sushi became more and more popular in the
United States, and later Europe, the expanded market increased fishing activity all
across the Atlantic, and gave rise to fish farming, especially in Spanish and Croatian
waters. But markets rely on supply and demand; in 1999 the Japanese managed to catch
a year’s supply of tuna in three days, reducing demand and prices. Prices also fell when
environmental conditions in the Mediterranean resulted in reduced oxygen in the water.
About 800 tuna in a Spanish fish trap suffocated and were caught and processed
immediately, causing an oversupply that lowered tuna prices around the world.
Today, the market for tuna continues to thrive. The best bluefin still go to Japan where
the market is still strongest, but the rest satisfy palates in many other parts of the world.
Now fishermen often come in conflict with customers, governments, regulators, and
environmentalists around the world as they catch or farm tuna. Because tuna fishing is a
local industry, local economies based on fishing may be affected instantly by changes in
world prices for the fish.
Bestor also points out that a global market does not necessarily mean cultural
homogenization. Sushi, he argues, is considered a Japanese delicacy no matter where in
the world it is eaten.
According to Bestor in “How Sushi Went Global,” few North Americans ate bluefin
tuna before the international market for sushi developed, preferring instead to fish for
tuna as a sport.
In “Nuer Refugees in America,” Shandy notes that a peace agreement signed in
__________ ended the North”South war in Sudan, and South Sudan gained its
independence in __________.
a. 1983, 2005
b. 2011, 2014
c. 1996, 2011
d. 2005, 2011
One of the more successful gender identities in a coal mine is the tomboy, defined as
a women who
a. departs very far from the conventional notions of femininity and acts in a more
masculine manner.
b. purposely emphasizes her femininity at the expense of forming friendships with
guys.
c. departs from the conventional notions of femininity, does not mind getting dirty,
and does not get worked up about things.
d. strictly adheres to societally accepted gender roles.
According to Lee and Biesele, in order to survive today, the Ju/”Hoansi Kung will have
to
a. specialize in the manufacture of trade goods for tourists.
b. take jobs in nearby cities in order to earn cash.
c. form borehole syndicates and stake out ranches to protect their foraging areas.
d. open reproductions of traditional foraging camps in order to attract tourists.
According to Dubisch in “Run for the Wall: An American Pilgrimage,” the term
liminality refers to
a. the emotional content of ritual.
b. a ritual period that is different from normal, everyday time.
c. the patterned, repetitive aspects of ritual.
d. the special social myths reenacted by ritual.
Particular social categories of people who interact are labeled
a. roles.
b. statuses.
c. social situations.
d. social groups.
Law and Order
JAMES P. SPRADLEY AND DAVID W. McCURDY
Summary In this article, Spradley and McCurdy present law in the context of dispute
resolution, using cases drawn from anthropologist Laura Nader’s work in Ralu”a, a
Zapotec Indian village located in southern Mexico.
The article deals with several concepts: the structure of legal culture, including
substantive law and procedural law, legal levels, legal principles, and cultural values.
Substantive law consists of the legal statutes that define right and wrong. This is
illustrated by the flirtation of a married man with an unmarried woman, which the
Zapotec treat as a crime. Similarly, the case of a son who harvested coffee from his
father’s land without permission is also defined as a crime to be dealt with by the
community’s legal system.
Legal levels refer to the ways in which disputes are settled by different kinds of
authority agents. Among the Zapotec, several levels for settling disputes exist. Disputes
can be settled by family elders, witches, local officials, the priest, supernatural beings,
or officials in the municipio. If all else fails, the dispute can be taken to the district court
in Villa Alta.
Procedural law refers to the agreed-upon ways to settle disputes, which are often
unwritten, and therefore implicit in nature. In Ralu”a, for example, it is generally
agreed that one should not take family disputes to court, and disputes between villagers
(such as an argument over the washing stone) should be taken to court only if they
cannot be settled between the disputing individuals beforehand. In this case, the dispute
was settled when the presidente (village chairman who also presides over the village
court) and other elected village officials formed a work force, improved the washing
facilities at the well, and declared that washing stones would no longer be owned by
individuals.
Legal systems reflect legal principles and cultural values. Legal principles are based
on the fundamental values of a culture; a legal principle is a broad conception of some
desirable state of affairs that gives rise to many substantive and procedural rules.
Americans put great emphasis on establishing truth, while for the Zapotec, a major legal
principle is to “make the balance.” This means to encourage compromise and settlement
so that disputes disappear and disputants get along with each other in the future. This in
turn is based on the Zapotec cultural value of maintaining social equilibrium. A direct
confrontation between individuals where one loses and another wins is unsettling to
community members.
According to Spradley and McCurdy in “Law and Order,” substantive law is codified in
writing in literate societies. In non-literate societies, people define what a crime is by
using procedural law.
In “Mixed Blood,” Fish argues that human biological races do not exist because
a. people from anywhere on the planet can mate with others from anywhere else and
produce fertile offspring.
b. scientists have ignored important physical traits such as body shape.
c. people find it politically incorrect to name them.
d. the real traits that indicate genetic groupings cannot be observed.
One of the concepts that the Tiv found it necessary to reinterpret when they were told
the story of Hamlet was the English category for
a. revenge.
b. omen.
c. zombie.
d. ghost.
According to Spradley, culture, itself, is a kind of
a. behavior.
b. artifact.
c. knowledge.
d. ideal system.
In her article, “Shakespeare in the Bush,” Laura Bohannan shows that
a. the story of Hamlet does not retain its original meaning when told to a Tiv audience.
b. the story of Hamlet retains Shakespeare’s meaning for both the English and the Tiv.
c. the Tiv misunderstood why Hamlet’s father’s ghost would seek revenge.
d. the Tiv were shocked by the quick marriage of Hamlet’s mother to his uncle.
In “Conversation Style: Talking on the Job,” Tannen tells the story of how Amy, a
manager, tried to tell her employee, Donald, how to change an unsatisfactory report.
Her approach led to misunderstanding because
a. she was too direct.
b. she put Donald in a one-down position by demonstrating her superior knowledge.
c. she praised the good parts of the report before suggesting changes.
d. Donald took her comments as a personal criticism.
How Sushi Went Global
THEODORE C. BESTOR
Summary This article by Theodore Bestor reveals the complex network of
relationships that define a global economic system. Focusing on sushi, a traditional
Japanese cuisine, Bestor shows how the international adoption of the culinary custom,
and especially its centerpiece, raw bluefin tuna, has created a global system that
involves Atlantic fishing and fish farming, national and environmental regulations,
realignments of labor and capital, and shifting markets.
The article begins with a description of a bluefin auction at a fishing pier near Bath
main. About 20 buyers evaluate and bid on three large bluefins, consulting buyers in the
Tsukiui fish market in Japan by cell phone to establish prices. Once bought, the fish are
packed in ice and flown to Japan. Japanese have a long-term affection for the bluefin, a
fish that was originally caught only for sport in the United States. The Japanese had
turned to international tuna suppliers in the past, when the world adopted a rule that
restricted fishing boats from one nation from fishing within 200 miles of the coast of
another country. Jumbo jets brought fresh New England bluefin into easy reach of
Japan, and U.S. fishermen began to catch and export the large tuna. The 1980s were
prosperous for Japan, which sustained the market for bluefin, but the economic bubble
burst in the early “90s. Just in time, North Americans developed a taste for sushi,
creating a strong market for the fish. As sushi became more and more popular in the
United States, and later Europe, the expanded market increased fishing activity all
across the Atlantic, and gave rise to fish farming, especially in Spanish and Croatian
waters. But markets rely on supply and demand; in 1999 the Japanese managed to catch
a year’s supply of tuna in three days, reducing demand and prices. Prices also fell when
environmental conditions in the Mediterranean resulted in reduced oxygen in the water.
About 800 tuna in a Spanish fish trap suffocated and were caught and processed
immediately, causing an oversupply that lowered tuna prices around the world.
Today, the market for tuna continues to thrive. The best bluefin still go to Japan where
the market is still strongest, but the rest satisfy palates in many other parts of the world.
Now fishermen often come in conflict with customers, governments, regulators, and
environmentalists around the world as they catch or farm tuna. Because tuna fishing is a
local industry, local economies based on fishing may be affected instantly by changes in
world prices for the fish.
Bestor also points out that a global market does not necessarily mean cultural
homogenization. Sushi, he argues, is considered a Japanese delicacy no matter where in
the world it is eaten.
In “How Sushi Went Global,” Bestor concludes that Japan is still the central market for
internationally caught bluefin tuna, and the Japanese have tried to teach American
fishermen and tuna buyers how to judge the quality of tuna that are suitable for the
Japanese market.
In “Forest Development the Indian Way,” Reed argues that, for the Guaran, __________
was essential to subsistence.
a. farming
b. foraging
c. the combination of hunting and gathering
d. the combination of farming and foraging
Navigating Nigerian Bureaucracies
ELIZABETH A. EAMES
Summary In this article, Elizabeth A. Eames describes her experiences in Nigeria both
from the perspective of an anthropologist and as an individual raised in the U.S.
bureaucratic system. She shares the lessons she learned as she tried to decipher the rules
of proper behavior, and concludes with a discussion of Max Weber’s concept of
patrimonial authority.
Eames’ experiences and frustrations with the Nigerian social system stemmed in part
from her “American-ness,” her belief in equal and efficient treatment for all. Much to
her surprise, the social system in Nigeria operated on different principles: in Nigeria,
rights are negotiable, bribery is a legitimate way of doing business, and power comes
from being in a position to grant favors to others.
The author’s introduction to the intricacies of Nigerian society and how much it depends
on interpersonal relations began before she ever set foot on Nigerian soil: a personal
connection rescued her visa from the maze of paperwork at the New York consulate. At
the time she had no idea how important the currency of favors and gratitude was to the
social system, but quickly came to understand that these, along with hospitality and
strong greeting skills, were the only way to accomplish anything in the patrimonial
bureaucracy that operates in Nigeria today. Seemingly simple undertakings, such as
getting immigration forms signed, registering as a graduate student, and extending her
visatasks that were typically routine, impersonal, and efficient in a legally dominated
bureaucracy such as in the United Stateswere time-consuming, confusing, and nowhere
near routine. For some of these tasks, the simple act of describing the problem led from
one contact to another, and eventually a resolution presented itself. As her network of
contacts grew, so did her ability to get things done. Eames also learned the hard way
that not allowing acquaintances to assist her had significant consequences; it was seen
as a betrayal or a denial of a relationship. Everything in Nigeria, the author came to
understand, was personal.
The author describes Max Weber’s ideals of legal and patrimonial domination, and
articulates the six principles of patrimonial administration that Weber believed would
eventually be replaced by bureaucracy. Eames disputes this claim. Because an
individual’s understanding of hierarchy is based on the relationship of infant and
caretaker, Eames believes this creates a psychological need for personalized treatment
when interacting with authority figures. This tendency causes individualseven in legal
bureaucraciesto hope for personal treatment and resent impersonal, cold interactions.
According to Elizabeth Eames in “Negotiating Nigerian Bureaucracies,”
Nigerian bureaucracies, like those in the west, are organized on the principle Max
Weber called legal domination.
According to Skinner, as noted by Gmelch in “Baseball Magic,” magic once established
requires to be maintained.
a. regular rewards
b. sporadic rewards
c. formal instruction
d. uncertainty
Village Walks: Tourism and Globalization among the Tharu of Nepal
ARJUN GUNERATNE AND KATE BJORK
Summary Arjun Guneratne and Kate Bjork focus on what it was like for an ethnic
group, the Tharu, to become the objects of tourists’ curiosity (the “tourist gaze”). The
article describes tourists arriving in Pipariya, a Tharu village located near the Chitwan
National Forest in Nepal’s tarai region in 1989. They report on what the tour guide says
and how the tourists and villagers respond. The so-called “village walk” is a good
example of cultural tourism (there is also recreational, medical, religious, eco-, and sex
tourism). It is usually one stop on a more broadly structured tour of Nepal’s mountains,
cities, and the Chitwan forest itself. The authors stress the importance of the
anthropological study of tourism as a significant part of globalization research. They
point out that nearly 100 million people go on tour every year and spend billions of
dollars. Their impact on local economies as well as on people’s ways of life represents a
significant globalizing force.
From the Tharu’s point of view, the way they are characterized by Nepal’s tourist
industry is both significant and humiliating. Originally the tarai was a heavily forested
area bordering the foothills and valleys of the Himalayan Mountains. Despite the land
made inhospitable by malaria, the Tharu still managed to settle there, tilling small forest
plots and hunting for their subsistence. All this changed in the 1950s when the
insecticide DDT largely eradicated the mosquitoes that carried malaria. As a result,
settlers from Nepal’s hills and India’s plains soon infiltrated the area and cleared most of
the land for cultivation. Settlers soon outnumbered the Tharu, who adapted to the
newcomers. Tharu now worked in tourist hotels and farmed in the same way as other
rural Nepalese, and their children attended school. For the tourist industry, however, the
Tharu past seemed like a natural tourist attraction. Tourist brochures claimed that the
Tharu were “a primitive native people” who were “untouched by civilization.” Tour
guides echoed this view as they walked tourists through Pipariya. In addition, most
guides belonged to Nepal’s two highest-ranked ethnic groups, the Brahmin and Chhetri,
and treated the Tharu as inferiors. They brought tourists into Tharu houses without
permission and treated those inside with disrespect. Tourists themselves were largely
ignorant of the Tharu and occasionally treated villagers like zoo exhibits. From the
Tharu perspective, tourists could usually be tolerated as guests. (There is no word for
“tourist” in their language; they call them “guests.”) Their greatest concern was the
negative way they were portrayed by the tourist industry.
In 2009, one of the authors revisited Pipariya and encountered a different picture. The
Tharu had constructed a small museum. Museum exhibits represented how they used to
live, successfully divorcing their past from the present. (The “tourist gaze” often makes
people more aware of their culture and its past.) The museum was the first place that
tourists visited and deflected most of them away from the village’s residential
compounds. Globalization had also impacted the Tharu in other ways. Many young men
have gone to work in foreign countries and send money home regularly. A few have
even managed to acquire green cards for work and residence in the United States.
As Guneratne and Bjork observe in “Village Walks,” most guides that led tours to
Pipariya were from lower-ranking ethnic groups and had little knowledge of the Tharu.
Village Walks: Tourism and Globalization among the Tharu of Nepal
ARJUN GUNERATNE AND KATE BJORK
Summary Arjun Guneratne and Kate Bjork focus on what it was like for an ethnic
group, the Tharu, to become the objects of tourists’ curiosity (the “tourist gaze”). The
article describes tourists arriving in Pipariya, a Tharu village located near the Chitwan
National Forest in Nepal’s tarai region in 1989. They report on what the tour guide says
and how the tourists and villagers respond. The so-called “village walk” is a good
example of cultural tourism (there is also recreational, medical, religious, eco-, and sex
tourism). It is usually one stop on a more broadly structured tour of Nepal’s mountains,
cities, and the Chitwan forest itself. The authors stress the importance of the
anthropological study of tourism as a significant part of globalization research. They
point out that nearly 100 million people go on tour every year and spend billions of
dollars. Their impact on local economies as well as on people’s ways of life represents a
significant globalizing force.
From the Tharu’s point of view, the way they are characterized by Nepal’s tourist
industry is both significant and humiliating. Originally the tarai was a heavily forested
area bordering the foothills and valleys of the Himalayan Mountains. Despite the land
made inhospitable by malaria, the Tharu still managed to settle there, tilling small forest
plots and hunting for their subsistence. All this changed in the 1950s when the
insecticide DDT largely eradicated the mosquitoes that carried malaria. As a result,
settlers from Nepal’s hills and India’s plains soon infiltrated the area and cleared most of
the land for cultivation. Settlers soon outnumbered the Tharu, who adapted to the
newcomers. Tharu now worked in tourist hotels and farmed in the same way as other
rural Nepalese, and their children attended school. For the tourist industry, however, the
Tharu past seemed like a natural tourist attraction. Tourist brochures claimed that the
Tharu were “a primitive native people” who were “untouched by civilization.” Tour
guides echoed this view as they walked tourists through Pipariya. In addition, most
guides belonged to Nepal’s two highest-ranked ethnic groups, the Brahmin and Chhetri,
and treated the Tharu as inferiors. They brought tourists into Tharu houses without
permission and treated those inside with disrespect. Tourists themselves were largely
ignorant of the Tharu and occasionally treated villagers like zoo exhibits. From the
Tharu perspective, tourists could usually be tolerated as guests. (There is no word for
“tourist” in their language; they call them “guests.”) Their greatest concern was the
negative way they were portrayed by the tourist industry.
In 2009, one of the authors revisited Pipariya and encountered a different picture. The
Tharu had constructed a small museum. Museum exhibits represented how they used to
live, successfully divorcing their past from the present. (The “tourist gaze” often makes
people more aware of their culture and its past.) The museum was the first place that
tourists visited and deflected most of them away from the village’s residential
compounds. Globalization had also impacted the Tharu in other ways. Many young men
have gone to work in foreign countries and send money home regularly. A few have
even managed to acquire green cards for work and residence in the United States.
In “Village Walks,” Guneratne and Bjork note that, despite the incursion of tourists
during the dry season, the Tharu residents of Pipariya managed to live much as they had
before the 1950s.
Illegal Economies and the Untold Story of the Amputees
CAROLYN NORDSTROM
Summary Supporters of the use of land mines argue that they deter soldiers and protect
sensitive areas during combat. Statistics show, however, that those most commonly
injured by land mines are not soldiers, but instead children, women, and men engaged
in nonmilitary activities. These mines leave their victims without limbs, often unable to
walk, work, or eke out an existence in a part of the world where wheelchairs are
nonexistent and life is incredibly hard, even for a healthy individual.
The women of Muleque, Angola, who were injured by these land mines, at first
developed informal economies in order to simply survive. But as Nordstrom points out,
they wanted more than to merely exist. They formed their own informal banking
systems, popular in Southern Africa, and with just a few pennies, managed to raise
money to invest in farmland. Joining an informal bank group, according to Nordstrom,
is the first step on the path that women follow out of poverty and into development.
There are many steps, and the process is difficult. Women start with nothing; hard labor
is the only way to raise the small amount needed to even join an informal bank group.
According to Nordstrom’s research, women are “the invisible center of gravity of
society” in Southern Africa. A man’s presence is fluid; a woman is always there. She
makes the connections that create family, society, and community networks. Without
the women, according to the author, families and societies collapse. With the women at
the center, families succeed, and health, education, and trade result. The author notes
that is interesting that the women’s efforts and their contributions to development go
unnoticed. According to figures from the United Nations, these informal economies
contribute $250 billion annually in imports, and this money goes directly into the
development of the country. Yet these women continue to be depicted by
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as stereotypical victims barely surviving by
selling bananas and charcoal.
According to Nordstrom in “Illegal Economies and the Untold Story of
Amputees,” individuals in Muleque, Angola, who have been injured by land mines are
provided with wheelchairs and prosthetics to make it easier for them to get around.
Taxes would best be classified as a form of
a. redistributive exchange.
b. allocation of resources.
c. market exchange.
d. reciprocal exchange.
The Worst Lover: Boyfriend Spirits in Senegal
RACHEL MUELLER
Summary This article by Rachel Mueller details the unique coexistence and
cooperation in modern Senegal of the Sufi sect of Islam, and Lbou, a religious cult that
attributes inexplicable behavior, health issues, and adversity to troublesome spirits (rab)
who intentionally interact and sometimes possess girls and women.
According to Mueller, Senegal is a growing, cosmopolitan country filled with history
and a tradition of great hospitality, or terenga. By all appearancesprayer mats in office
buildings, posters and photos of Islamic holy men in the cities’ taxis, and people in
prayer five times a daySenegal, and in particular, Dakar, is filled with people who
practice Islam. Sprinkled among the followers of Muhammad are individuals who
adhere to a religious tradition that involves invisible spirits roaming the earth and
interacting with humans, sometimes in an unpleasant and troublesome manner.
Mueller details the reasons these spirits are unhappy, and relates tales of their efforts to
possess young women who are beautiful and well dressed. Women and girls are
encouraged to cover their knees in public (these are a particular weakness of the faru
rab, the “boyfriend spirits” who possess and preoccupy girls and women) and dress
conservatively, even while sleeping. Islam and Lbou intersect at times, namely when
Islamic holy men are called upon to communicate with the spirits who bother women.
Significantly, however, female healers and priestesses (called an ndeppkat) also play an
important role in liaising with the spirit world. Both the Islamic holy men and the
ndeppkat, Mueller explains, learn about the rab and determine what can be done to
discourage or drive him away. The remedies may include bathing in holy water, making
animal sacrifices, and dressing in a color unpleasant to the rab. Unfortunately, these
efforts do not always work, and an elaborate ritual called an ndepp may be necessary to
exorcise the rab entirely.
Mueller elaborates on the intersection of Islam and Lbou, as well as the effect that
modernization, globalization, and the Internet might have on the future of the Lbou
beliefs and traditions. Although Senegalese with financial means now turn to Western
doctors for solutions to what they believe is rab spirit control, and some of the effects
are cured, many continue to turn to healers because the rab spirit world is so strongly
engrained in the Lbou culture.
According to Rachel Mueller in “The Worst Lover: Boyfriend Spirits in Senegal,” the
more common religion in Senegal is the Sufi sect of Islam. However, it is not
uncommon for young women to be possessed by jealous and vindictive “boyfriend
spirits” called faru rab, who make women act crazy and take off all of their clothes.
According to Boxer in “The Military Name Game,” the first name given to U.S.
operations in Afghanistan was
a. Desert Storm.
b. Mountain Shield.
c. Enduring Freedom.
d. Infinite Justice.
In “Village Walks,” Guneratne and Bjork indicate which Nepalese ethnic group(s) the
tour guides are most likely to come from:
a. Brahmin and Chhetri
b. Bhangi and Brahmin
c. Sherpas
d. Dolpa
Which of the following is the best example of an action based on a tacit cultural rule for
members of U.S. society?
a. chewing with one’s mouth closed
b. driving on the right side of the street
c. giving your father “his” chair in front of the family television
d. moving to the opposite side of an elevator when there is only one other person in it
We Are Going Underwater
SUSAN A. CRATE
Summary The Viliui Sakha, a horse- and cattle-breeding people of northeastern
Siberia, live in an extreme, subarctic climate that has continuous permafrost and annual
temperature swings of 180 degrees Fahrenheit. This place-based community has
adapted to many different changes over hundreds of yearsbeginning with Russian
imperial expansion in the 1600s and as recently as a result of the breakup of the Soviet
Union in the 1990s. More recently, their adaptations have been in response to local,
physical changes brought about by global climate change. In her essay, Susan Crate
outlines the most notable ways global climate change has impacted life for the Sakha,
and details their remarkable capacity to adapt to these changes.
Crate conducted surveys and interviewed elders of the community who had the
advantage of witnessing many decades of change, offering a perspective that not many
other community members could. Crate’s research identified nine ways in which global
climate change has impacted the Sakha, including increased water on the land, late and
lagging seasons, a decline in certain game species, and temperature fluctuations. These
changes cannot be attributed solely to climate change; many of them have multiple
stressors. Regardless, the Sakha have had to make psychological, social, and physical
adaptations to accommodate the new reality of their physical world. Interestingly, very
few of the Sakha attribute the changes to global climate change, and instead point to
other local causes such as a hydroelectric reservoir or the overabundance of technology
and mechanization. Despite this, the Sakha will continue to adapt as they have for
hundreds of years, figuring out how to negotiate the additional water on their land,
learning how to adjust their practices to have enough hay for their cows and horses, and
purchasing electric freezers to replace the traditional buluus (underground freezers) that
are now increasingly flooded out. The Sakha and their adaptations are offered by Crate
as an example of how communities and scientists might benefit from sharing
information. Scientists have much to learn about how climate change is affecting local
environments and culture, and communities can learn from scientists how to adapt in
ways to address these local changes.
While many think of geologists and chemists as those best equipped to help the world
adapt to the effects of global climate change, Crate believes that anthropologists can
help communities weather these changes by fostering a greater understanding of how
people like the Sakha have adapted and continue to do so successfully. By identifying
and learning about those communities that are the most flexible in their responses to
local changes, communities will have a model to follow when global climate change
begins to have a greater impact on the more temperate zones of the planet.
The increasing water on the land was psychologically upsetting to the Sakha and made
them fear that their land was sinking.
Using Anthropology
DAVID W. McCURDY
Summary In this article, McCurdy discusses some of the professional applications of
anthropology, such as in advertising, engineering, teaching, and business, to name a
few. He also argues that an anthropological perspectivecharacterized by ethnographic
research, embracing the concept of microculture, and cross-cultural sensitivitycan help
professionals perform better in a wide array of situations.
McCurdy illustrates his argument using the case of a newly appointed warehouse
manager who is called upon to improve service to customer outlets operated by UTC, a
large corporation. Instead of bringing in new rules and regulations, as most new
managers do, she chose to undertake an ethnographic approach during her six-week
“grace period.” By using ethnographic research she was able to discover the detailed
nature of the problem, while building goodwill with the warehouse employees.
The educational materials handled by the warehouse had been reaching customer
outlets in poor condition and in inaccurate amounts. Warehouse employees, who had
been under great pressure to work rapidly, had felt forced to estimate, rather than count,
the materials they shipped to outlets.
By having the books shrink-wrapped and reducing the size of the shipping boxes, the
manager was able to speed up work at the warehouse, ensure that the right number of
books and other materials was being shipped, and improved the condition of the goods
at their destination.
By using an ethnographic approach, the new manager had revealed the problems at
hand. Only this made it possible to find realistic solutions.
According to McCurdy in “Using Anthropology,” over half the Ph.D.s in anthropology
each year find employment outside of academia.
Village Walks: Tourism and Globalization among the Tharu of Nepal
ARJUN GUNERATNE AND KATE BJORK
Summary Arjun Guneratne and Kate Bjork focus on what it was like for an ethnic
group, the Tharu, to become the objects of tourists’ curiosity (the “tourist gaze”). The
article describes tourists arriving in Pipariya, a Tharu village located near the Chitwan
National Forest in Nepal’s tarai region in 1989. They report on what the tour guide says
and how the tourists and villagers respond. The so-called “village walk” is a good
example of cultural tourism (there is also recreational, medical, religious, eco-, and sex
tourism). It is usually one stop on a more broadly structured tour of Nepal’s mountains,
cities, and the Chitwan forest itself. The authors stress the importance of the
anthropological study of tourism as a significant part of globalization research. They
point out that nearly 100 million people go on tour every year and spend billions of
dollars. Their impact on local economies as well as on people’s ways of life represents a
significant globalizing force.
From the Tharu’s point of view, the way they are characterized by Nepal’s tourist
industry is both significant and humiliating. Originally the tarai was a heavily forested
area bordering the foothills and valleys of the Himalayan Mountains. Despite the land
made inhospitable by malaria, the Tharu still managed to settle there, tilling small forest
plots and hunting for their subsistence. All this changed in the 1950s when the
insecticide DDT largely eradicated the mosquitoes that carried malaria. As a result,
settlers from Nepal’s hills and India’s plains soon infiltrated the area and cleared most of
the land for cultivation. Settlers soon outnumbered the Tharu, who adapted to the
newcomers. Tharu now worked in tourist hotels and farmed in the same way as other
rural Nepalese, and their children attended school. For the tourist industry, however, the
Tharu past seemed like a natural tourist attraction. Tourist brochures claimed that the
Tharu were “a primitive native people” who were “untouched by civilization.” Tour
guides echoed this view as they walked tourists through Pipariya. In addition, most
guides belonged to Nepal’s two highest-ranked ethnic groups, the Brahmin and Chhetri,
and treated the Tharu as inferiors. They brought tourists into Tharu houses without
permission and treated those inside with disrespect. Tourists themselves were largely
ignorant of the Tharu and occasionally treated villagers like zoo exhibits. From the
Tharu perspective, tourists could usually be tolerated as guests. (There is no word for
“tourist” in their language; they call them “guests.”) Their greatest concern was the
negative way they were portrayed by the tourist industry.
In 2009, one of the authors revisited Pipariya and encountered a different picture. The
Tharu had constructed a small museum. Museum exhibits represented how they used to
live, successfully divorcing their past from the present. (The “tourist gaze” often makes
people more aware of their culture and its past.) The museum was the first place that
tourists visited and deflected most of them away from the village’s residential
compounds. Globalization had also impacted the Tharu in other ways. Many young men
have gone to work in foreign countries and send money home regularly. A few have
even managed to acquire green cards for work and residence in the United States.
According to Guneratne and Bjork in “Village Walks,” most foreign tourists failed to
detect a difference between Brahmin and Tharu houses in Pipariya.
According to Lee, when a !Kung hunter kills a large animal, he is likely to tell others
a. “I have killed a large giraffe.”
b. “I have killed a big one in the bush.”
c. “I am no good for hunting. I saw nothing at all…just a little tiny one.”
d. “A giraffe happened to step in front of my flying arrow.”
According to anthropologists, all human disputes are dealt with by legal systems, not
just ones that go to a formal court.
Nuer Refugees in America
DIANNA SHANDY
Summary In this article updated in 2015, Dianna Shandy, who has conducted
ethnographic research among Nuer refugees in the upper Midwest since 1997, looks at
what their status as refugees means, how they managed to come to the United States,
why they were located in more than 30 different U.S. states, how a people raised as
cattle herders survive and adapt to life in a U.S. urban setting, and what this tells us
about “the interconnectedness of a globalizing world and anthropology’s role in it.”
Although no special categories were assigned to people who first migrated to the United
States (they were all simply called immigrants), today there are at least two categories ,
migrants and refugees based on their reasons for coming here. The United Nations (UN)
defines refugees as people who have left a country because of a well-founded fear of
persecution based on race; religion; nationality; membership in a particular social
group; or political opinion. They are not merely IDPs (internally displaced persons)
who have left home but are willing to return. To manage the refugee “problem” (by
2014 there were 60 million refugees in the world), there is a UN agency headed by a
high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR). The UN and many countries see three
solutions for refugee placement: voluntary repatriation, integration into a country of
asylum, or rarely, third-country resettlement. Typically, refugees are first housed in
camps, and then certified for resettlement. The United States takes in a limited number
of refugees and employs the UN criteria for refugee certification. But decisions about
who is eligible vary, based on officials’ interpretations of the criteria and ever shifting
resettlement policies. Officials also must deal with cross-cultural differences and
language barriers as they decide who is a refugee and who is an “economic refugee”
(someone whose main motive to move is for economic advantage).
The Nuer who live in the United States have made it through this bureaucratic process.
Thok Ding, who is mentioned in the article, was brought up herding cattle in a Nuer
pastoral village, experienced the death of his father when northerners attacked his
village, moved with his family to a camp in Ethiopia, attended and excelled at a
Christian mission school there, moved to another camp for further schooling, moved
back to the Sudan with his family when fighting broke out in Ethiopia, traveled back to
Addis Ababa where he joined friends, moved to a camp in Kenya, applied for refugee
status with the UN there, and was eventually accepted for refugee resettlement by the
United States. His arrival and settlement in the United States was facilitated by
Lutheran Social Services, a volunteer organization (“volag” to insiders) contracted by
the United States. Helped by the organization, he was placed in Minneapolis, settled in
an apartment, and guided toward a job. Later he left Minneapolis for Des Moines and a
job in the meat packing industry, where he hopes to continue his education, save money,
marry a woman from the South Sudan, and bring his family, with whom he corresponds
frequently and to whom he sends money, to the United States.
The case illustrates several points. Refugee issues are complex and varied, and involve
endless bureaucratic hurdles. Refugees who manage to gain resettlement (many do not)
must be tenacious, ambitious, clever, and opportunistic. The Nuer make successful
refugees because many possess these characteristics.
In “Nuer Refugees in America,” Shandy argues that the only ways refugees can gain
resettlement in another country is by having a useful skill needed by the country, or by
the intervention of relatives or friends who guarantee they will provide the refugees
with jobs.
Mother’s Love: Death without Weeping
NANCY SCHEPER-HUGHES
Summary In this article, Nancy Scheper-Hughes argued that under conditions of
extreme poverty where there are high rates of infant mortality, it is a natural human
response for mothers to distance themselves emotionally from their dead and dying
infants.
Scheper-Hughes based her conclusion on 25 years of fieldwork, starting in 1965, in the
shantytown of Alto do Cruzeiro on the edge of Bom Jesus de Mata, a market town in
northeast Brazil. Poverty in the shantytown produced a life expectancy of only 40 years,
largely due to high rates of infant mortality.
Scheper-Hughes first encountered women’s reactions to infant death in 1965 when 350
children died in a “great baby die-off.” Mothers seemed strangely indifferent to the
deaths of their children. It was then that Scheper-Hughes concluded that mothering in
Alto do Cruzeiro meant learning to abstain from forming emotional ties to their infants
who were sick or weakthose who were likely to die.
Social conditions were marked by brittle marriages; single parenting by women was the
norm. Most had no choice but to work in the “shadow economy”; babies were
frequently left home alone because infants could not be taken to work. Midwives and
other women supported mothers in their detachment. Even civil authorities and the
clergy discouraged the attachment of mothers to their babies. Registration of infant
deaths was short and informal. Doctors did not recognize malnutrition and, instead of
treating a child at risk of dying, merely tranquilized them. The church did not hold
ceremonies for dead children, and infants were buried without headstones in graves that
would be used over and over again.
In an epilogue added by Scheper-Hughes for this edition, the author notes that by 2008
much had changed in Bom Jesus. The advent of a democratic government brought a
national health care system, a change in Catholic beliefs about infant death, an
under-the-counter “morning after” pill, and most important, the installation of water
pipes throughout the city. The result was a dramatic decline in both infant birth and
death rates. Mothers who once were resigned to “letting go” of sickly babies now “hold
on” to their infants. Unfortunately, high infant mortality has been replaced by a new
form of violence: the killing of young men, by gang leaders, banditos, and local police.
In “Mother’s Love: Death Without Weeping,” Scheper-Hughes feels that it was
instinctual for poor mothers to grieve deeply over the death of their babies in most
societies unless they have been separated from their infants by illness or divorce.
When the members of a society permit two people to settle a dispute by fighting each
other, we call their action self-redress and classify it as part of the legal system.
Forest Development the Indian Way
RICHARD K. REED
Summary When Richard Reed first entered the Guaran village of Itanaram over 20
years ago, he had to make an arduous journey, first on rugged dirt roads by car, then for
two days on foot along a tropical forest trail. Only rivers and swampy areas broke the
forest canopy. The village itself was buried in the forest, with houses scattered along a
trail next to a small river. Reed’s subsequent study revealed a tightly knit community
whose members were tied together by kinship and values on sharing and cooperation.
Political structure was informal; a village leader (tamoi) mediated disputes. Although
villagers exploited their tropical forest environment, they did so in a way that permitted
its renewal. Men cleared garden plots in the forest. Women burned the brush and
planted the fields with beans, manioc, and orange trees. As fields became exhausted
after two or three years, new plots were cleared and old ones permitted to lie fallow for
10 to 20 years so they could be reclaimed by the forest. Hunting and fishing provided a
significant portion of people’s food and, though seemingly isolated, villagers traded
some forest products especially yerba-mate leaves, for hooks, machetes, soap, and salt
with outsiders. Results of his study were described in “Cultivating the Tropical Forest,”
an article included in earlier editions of Conformity and Conflict.
Subsequent visits to Itanaram over the intervening years reveal changes commonly
found in many areas of the Amazon drainage. Roads now bisect the forest, bringing an
influx of ranchers, farmers, traders, frontier towns, and truck traffic. Clear cutting for
farms and ranches has devastated Guaran life and its sustainable economy. Settlements
stand isolated and devoid of resources. Villagers can no longer practice slash-and-burn
agriculture; there are no animals to hunt or fish to catch. Without renewable resources,
many Indians have joined the legions of unemployed or underemployed in frontier
towns, and suicide rates, especially among young men, have skyrocketed.
Shouldn”t the Guaran simply accept the pain that accompanies modern development
and look forward to a brighter future? No, argues Reed, because the use of forestland
for ranches and farming is unsustainable. Cleared land quickly ceases to produce and is
left vacant without a surrounding forest to reclaim it, leaving a red desert. Instead, the
Guaran model for forest exploitation, even when it involves the extraction of forest
products for sale to outsiders, is more economical because it is sustainable. Persuaded
by this argument, the Nature Conservancy has recently bought and set aside 280 square
miles of forest for sustainable development using the Guaran model.
According to Reed’s “Forest Development the Indian Way,” the Guaran and, in the past,
millions of other Indians, exploited the Amazonian tropical forests without causing
permanent harm to the ecosystem.
If a person uses a powerful spell to hurt another individual, anthropologists would label
him or her a witch.
Malawi Versus the World Bank
SONIA PATTEN
Summary This article by Sonia Patten describes the impact of market-oriented World
Bank and International Monetary Fund policy on the subsistence farmers of Malawi.
Early on these two lending institutions adopted the “Washington Consensus,” a policy
designed to reform the economies of poor nations by instituting capitalism and bringing
them into the world economy. The “Consensus” required borrowing countries to adopt
five rules in order to receive loans: (1) cut spending on health, (2) privatize state-owned
enterprises, (3) allow market set interest rates, (4) open their economies to foreign
investment and competition, and (5) manage currency rates.
Malawi is a small African nation. Ninety-five percent of its population lives on small
one to four acre plots of land typically producing just enough food (maize in this case)
to feed family members and participate in ceremonies such as weddings. Maize is hard
on the land because it requires substantial nutrients to grow properly. There is no land
left to farm in Malawi, thus no way to let some of it lie fallow to recover its fertility.
British colonial officials recognized the negative impact of exhausted land on maize
yields and started providing subsidized fertilizer by 1952, a policy continued after
independence. By the early “80s Malawi approached the World Bank for a loan because
of a balance of payments problem. By 1990 the government had ended fertilizer
subsidy programs, price controls, and regulated seed prices, and devalued its currency.
Unable to afford the cost, farmers grew crops without using fertilizer. The result was
vastly reduced crop yields, starvation and malnutrition, and a life expectancy of 37
years. Malawians responded by skipping meals, mixing brans with maize flour, adding
cassava to maize four, selling assets and land, and in some cases begging.
Before the 2007 planting season, Malawi’s president reinstituted the subsidization of
fertilizer. The resulting yield that year so large that the country was able to export grain.
Malnutrition dropped and health increased. The Malawian case illustrates the impact of
macro-economic policy on a local micro economy.
According to Patten in the article “Malawi Versus the World Bank,” the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund sought to loan Malawi money in the 1980s until
recently because the people there were no longer able to meet their daily need for food.
Marriage and Adulthood in West Africa
SUSANNA FIORATTA
Summary
Across cultures, marriage is a rite of passage that confers statusboth legal and socialon
those who participate in it. Marriage often increases social status and, in some societies
such as the United States, affords participants legal protections not available through
other means. However, it is not generally thought of as something that affects an
individual’s status as an adult. Individuals in the United States and other countries have
every reason to believe that they will be successful whether they marry or not. In her
article, “Marriage and Adulthood in West Africa,” Susanna Fioratta describes a society
in Guinea where marriage is the only way to be considered a responsible adult.
For both men and women in the Fouta Djallon, marriage is not a choice. It is vitally
important that an individual be married in order to be considered a responsible adult
worthy of offering advice, taking on roles in the community, and being trusted with
money. Even potential leaderssuch as 72-year-old presidential candidatesmust have a
wife, children, and a home; otherwise, they are considered incapable of being
responsible, not worthy of offering advice, and unable to show sympathy or pity. In the
local Pular language, there is not even a word to describe an unmarried adult woman.
There are only words for girl or virgin (jiwo) and woman (debbo). A state of being an
adult unmarried woman is incomprehensible.
Achieving and maintaining a marriage in the Fouta Djallon is very difficult. Men must
make enough money to support a wife and family, build a house, and care for extended
family. This requires migrating to nearby countries to find work and save money.
Women, for their part, must endure painful excision to be considered eligible for
marriage. As wives, they must submit to their husbands at all times, cook and clean for
a dozen or more individuals, bear and take care of children, maintain a garden of
vegetables, and do so with inadequate funds. To make ends meet, wives often earn
supplemental income selling snacks, cloth, or other items in the village. Divorce and
premature death are not uncommon. When women are divorced or their husbands die
prematurely, their parents quickly arrange new marriages; some widows are inherited as
wives of their deceased husband’s brothers.
Fioratta argues that the challenges associated with marriage are what allow both men
and women to demonstrate that they are responsible, trustworthy adults. Despite these
challenges, particularly for women, marriage is a highly sought-after status and is
necessary to becoming a respected elder in the community.
The rite of passage for new babies in the Fouta Djallon may include a naming
ceremony, animal sacrifice, and blessing by an imam or elder.
Global Women in the New Economy
BARBARA EHRENREICH AND ARLIE RUSSELL HOCHSCHILD
Summary In this selection, Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Hochschild look at an
important aspect of globalization: the movement of poor women from Third World
societies to wealthier nations. Published as the introduction to Global Women: Nannies,
Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy, the piece begins with the story of a Sri
Lankan woman serving as a nanny to a two-year-old child in Greece. The subject of a
documentary film, When Mother Comes Home for Christmas, Josephene Perera has
been a migrant worker for 10 years. She earns enough to support her three children at
home, but only gets to see them once a year. Over time two of her children show signs
of distress. Despite this, she returns once again to her job in Greece, trading a life of
poverty at home for money in a distant land. Put another way, she gives up her family
life to make one for parents who work full time in a wealthy nation.
The authors stress several points about the flow of immigrant workers over the last few
years. Movement has occurred between poor and rich countries. The international
workforce, once largely consisting of men, now includes a substantial number of
women, laboring as domestics, nannies, and sex-for-hire workers. The change marks a
different relationship between rich and poor nations. Once rich nations mined poor ones
for their natural resources; now they mine them for people. Four migration patterns
stand out: one is the flow of workers from Southeast Asia to the Middle and Far East; a
second from Eastern to Western Europe; a third from South and Central America to
North America; and a fourth from Africa to Europe. In many of these places, foreign
workers have taken domestic jobs once held by local people. For example, in America
maids and nannies were once largely the domain of black women. These jobs are now
largely filled by Latinas. Poor countries have come to value the money sent home by
their citizens working abroad, and some have programs to prepare female citizens for
foreign service and to find jobs abroad.
There are a number of factors that attract poor women to do overseas work. There are
plenty of jobs for domestics in wealthier countries because so many women there have
gone to work in what was once a largely male economy. Job opportunities are even
greater in First World countries, because governments have not instituted programs to
help their working women with child care and other domestic needs; men have not
stepped in to fill the gap at home; and men have created a demand for sex-for-hire
workers. In addition, as the wealth gap between rich and poor countries grows, women
from poor countries can make many times the amount of money they could earn at
home by taking jobs abroad.
Women may also be “pushed” to leave their countries in order to work abroad. Some
leave to escape abuse at home. Many women who leave are well educated but had
found no reasonably paid opportunities.
In “Global Women in the New Economy,” Ehrenreich and Hochschild argue that most
women who migrate from poor countries to rich ones cannot get work in their home
countries because they are so poorly educated.
Marriage and Adulthood in West Africa
SUSANNA FIORATTA
Summary
Across cultures, marriage is a rite of passage that confers statusboth legal and socialon
those who participate in it. Marriage often increases social status and, in some societies
such as the United States, affords participants legal protections not available through
other means. However, it is not generally thought of as something that affects an
individual’s status as an adult. Individuals in the United States and other countries have
every reason to believe that they will be successful whether they marry or not. In her
article, “Marriage and Adulthood in West Africa,” Susanna Fioratta describes a society
in Guinea where marriage is the only way to be considered a responsible adult.
For both men and women in the Fouta Djallon, marriage is not a choice. It is vitally
important that an individual be married in order to be considered a responsible adult
worthy of offering advice, taking on roles in the community, and being trusted with
money. Even potential leaderssuch as 72-year-old presidential candidatesmust have a
wife, children, and a home; otherwise, they are considered incapable of being
responsible, not worthy of offering advice, and unable to show sympathy or pity. In the
local Pular language, there is not even a word to describe an unmarried adult woman.
There are only words for girl or virgin (jiwo) and woman (debbo). A state of being an
adult unmarried woman is incomprehensible.
Achieving and maintaining a marriage in the Fouta Djallon is very difficult. Men must
make enough money to support a wife and family, build a house, and care for extended
family. This requires migrating to nearby countries to find work and save money.
Women, for their part, must endure painful excision to be considered eligible for
marriage. As wives, they must submit to their husbands at all times, cook and clean for
a dozen or more individuals, bear and take care of children, maintain a garden of
vegetables, and do so with inadequate funds. To make ends meet, wives often earn
supplemental income selling snacks, cloth, or other items in the village. Divorce and
premature death are not uncommon. When women are divorced or their husbands die
prematurely, their parents quickly arrange new marriages; some widows are inherited as
wives of their deceased husband’s brothers.
Fioratta argues that the challenges associated with marriage are what allow both men
and women to demonstrate that they are responsible, trustworthy adults. Despite these
challenges, particularly for women, marriage is a highly sought-after status and is
necessary to becoming a respected elder in the community.
Most women in the Fouta Djallon wait until they are in their thirties before
accepting a marriage proposal.
Fieldwork on Prostitution in the Era of AIDS
CLAIRE E. STERK
Summary This article discusses ethnographic fieldwork as a processentering the field,
making contact, and developing rapport, as well as ethical dilemmas and stress.
Undertaking fieldwork in a Western microculture (in this case the culture of prostitute
life), illustrates how participant observation, originally developed to discover the
content of non-Western cultures, can be adapted for use at home. Sterk’s goal was to
learn about the lives of prostitutes from the women themselves. Her subjects comprised
180 “low end” prostitutes–those who worked on the streets and in the crack houses of
Atlanta and New York in the 1980s and 1990s.
Sterk learned that gatekeepers (initial contacts who give you access to other informants)
can become less important with time. Some self-nominated key informants had access
to only part of a cultural scene. Encouraging women to have some control over the
research process enhanced rapport; this meant letting informants tell their own stories
and refraining from judgement. Interviews were conducted in private and required
consent forms, which perhaps surprisingly Sterk was able to obtain. Abusive figures
who controlled prostitutespimpssometimes presented an impediment to research.
Fieldwork involved stress, which was partially relieved by being able to leave the field.
Leaving the field, however, led to feelings of guilt.
The article ends with six observations about prostitutes and their culture. Prostitutes
often blame past experiences for their current status and alienation from “normal”
people. There are different kinds of prostitutesstreetwalkers, women who became
hooked on drugs after they started in the profession, women who entered the life
already addicted to drugs, and women who turned tricks as payment for drugs.
Contracting AIDS was a great risk for prostitutes, but condom use was often rejected by
their customers and pimps. Men are often violent toward prostitutes. Finally, women
did sometimes leave this microculture, but their past often followed them.
In “Fieldwork on Prostitution in the Era of AIDS,” Sterk found that it was essential to
present yourself as an expert on the lives of informants before interviewing them and to
use such information to design interviews.
Baseball Magic
GEORGE GMELCH
Summary This updated selection by George Gmelch shows how Americans use
magical ritual to reduce the anxiety associated with uncertainty. Gmelch focuses on
baseball players but cites the work of Bronislaw Malinowski on magic in the Trobriand
Islands, where islanders use magic when braving dangerous marine trips. In both cases,
so different at first glance, magic is used to reduce anxiety and increase a sense of
control.
Ritual in baseball involves those prescribed behaviors in which there is no connection
between the behavior (e.g., tapping home plate three times) and the desired end (e.g.,
getting a base hit). Gmelch describes how ritual surrounds two of the three main
activities associated with the gamehitting and pitching. This is because both involve
great uncertainty. Fielding, the other main activity, is relatively error-free and therefore
receives little magical attention.
Baseball players display most varieties of magic. They use personal magic, such as a
regular cap adjustment before each pitch. Fetishes are also used; these are
charmsusually small objects believed to embody supernatural power (luck) that can aid
or protect the owner. Baseball fetishes are sometimes lucky pennies. Magic practices
also include special diets, special clothing, and a host of other devices they feel are
associated with successful play. They also observe taboos (things that should not be
done, and that can bring bad luck), including one against crossing bats.
At the root of such behavior is this notion: people associate things with each other that
have no functional relationship. If a pitcher eats pancakes for breakfast and wins a game
that day, he may continue to eat them each time he plays because the act is now
associated with success on the field. Citing research on rats and pigeons, Gmelch notes
that once an association is established, it only takes sporadic success to perpetuate the
relationship. Gmelch concludes that although baseball players do not attribute their acts
to any special, supernatural power, they nonetheless follow ritual practices carefully to
influence luck and guard against failure.
In “Baseball Magic,” Gmelch quotes a theory by anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski
that argues for the association between magic and uncertainty.
Grammar refers to the categories and rules for linking vocal symbols with their
referents.
The world system is the economic incorporation of different parts of the world into
a system based on capitalism, not politics.
Baseball Magic
GEORGE GMELCH
Summary This updated selection by George Gmelch shows how Americans use
magical ritual to reduce the anxiety associated with uncertainty. Gmelch focuses on
baseball players but cites the work of Bronislaw Malinowski on magic in the Trobriand
Islands, where islanders use magic when braving dangerous marine trips. In both cases,
so different at first glance, magic is used to reduce anxiety and increase a sense of
control.
Ritual in baseball involves those prescribed behaviors in which there is no connection
between the behavior (e.g., tapping home plate three times) and the desired end (e.g.,
getting a base hit). Gmelch describes how ritual surrounds two of the three main
activities associated with the gamehitting and pitching. This is because both involve
great uncertainty. Fielding, the other main activity, is relatively error-free and therefore
receives little magical attention.
Baseball players display most varieties of magic. They use personal magic, such as a
regular cap adjustment before each pitch. Fetishes are also used; these are
charmsusually small objects believed to embody supernatural power (luck) that can aid
or protect the owner. Baseball fetishes are sometimes lucky pennies. Magic practices
also include special diets, special clothing, and a host of other devices they feel are
associated with successful play. They also observe taboos (things that should not be
done, and that can bring bad luck), including one against crossing bats.
At the root of such behavior is this notion: people associate things with each other that
have no functional relationship. If a pitcher eats pancakes for breakfast and wins a game
that day, he may continue to eat them each time he plays because the act is now
associated with success on the field. Citing research on rats and pigeons, Gmelch notes
that once an association is established, it only takes sporadic success to perpetuate the
relationship. Gmelch concludes that although baseball players do not attribute their acts
to any special, supernatural power, they nonetheless follow ritual practices carefully to
influence luck and guard against failure.
In “Baseball Magic,” Gmelch observes that pitchers have the most control over the
outcome of what they do in baseball, and therefore use the least magic.
Public Interest Ethnography: Women’s Prisons and Health Care in California
RACHAEL STRYKER
Summary In this article, Rachael Stryker describes how ethnography can be used to
affect public policy. With government sponsorship, she and a group of her
undergraduate students interviewed a number of inmates incarcerated in two California
state prisons for women. Their goal was to learn about the provision of health care from
the prisoner’s perspective. Armed with the “insider’s” point of view, they produced
recommendations for changes, some of which were adopted by prison authorities.
Public interest ethnography (a branch of applied anthropology) involves ethnographic
research among people who are affected by policy. It brings a human face to the impact
of policy and often seeks to empower those affected by it. The study of health care
provided in California’s women’s prisons is a good example. The researchers discovered
that to receive care, an inmate had to fill out a request, pay a five-dollar copay, receive a
ducat (something like a hall pass), and then see one of three people: an MTA (medically
trained correctional guard), a nurse, or a doctor. The process could take weeks and was
complicated by the fact that inmates had little money, were often treated by unqualified
health providers, and were frustrated by an inability to speak English (many inmates
spoke only Spanish). Inmates often feared medical procedures and felt that doctors
treated them with disrespect. They also told about instances of sexual harassment. Other
factors related to inmate health included poor sanitation caused by overcrowded cells,
and lack of cleaning and personal hygiene supplies. AIDS patients were housed in the
general inmate population. Food was also a problem, especially for diabetics and those
with food allergies. Finally, inmates did not get enough exercise. Inmates often
responded to these problems by treating themselves or ignoring symptoms.
The ethnographic study produced a list of recommendations. It advised the state to
simplify the process required of inmates to receive health care, reduce or eliminate the
copay because inmates had little money, eliminate the MTA position, hire more
qualified nurses and doctors, provide translators, reduce overcrowding, and improve
nutrition and sanitation. In response to these recommendations the state increased
translation services, eliminated the MTA position, and started a process to reduce
overcrowding. Other recommendations were taken under advisement.
As Stryker contends in “Ethnography in the Public Interest,” public interest
ethnography may achieve a redistribution of power that includes those affected by
policy.
Caste, like class, is a kind of social stratification into which members are born,
but which permits mobility based on the acquisition of wealth and symbols of
higher standing.
Forest Development the Indian Way
RICHARD K. REED
Summary When Richard Reed first entered the Guaran village of Itanaram over 20
years ago, he had to make an arduous journey, first on rugged dirt roads by car, then for
two days on foot along a tropical forest trail. Only rivers and swampy areas broke the
forest canopy. The village itself was buried in the forest, with houses scattered along a
trail next to a small river. Reed’s subsequent study revealed a tightly knit community
whose members were tied together by kinship and values on sharing and cooperation.
Political structure was informal; a village leader (tamoi) mediated disputes. Although
villagers exploited their tropical forest environment, they did so in a way that permitted
its renewal. Men cleared garden plots in the forest. Women burned the brush and
planted the fields with beans, manioc, and orange trees. As fields became exhausted
after two or three years, new plots were cleared and old ones permitted to lie fallow for
10 to 20 years so they could be reclaimed by the forest. Hunting and fishing provided a
significant portion of people’s food and, though seemingly isolated, villagers traded
some forest products especially yerba-mate leaves, for hooks, machetes, soap, and salt
with outsiders. Results of his study were described in “Cultivating the Tropical Forest,”
an article included in earlier editions of Conformity and Conflict.
Subsequent visits to Itanaram over the intervening years reveal changes commonly
found in many areas of the Amazon drainage. Roads now bisect the forest, bringing an
influx of ranchers, farmers, traders, frontier towns, and truck traffic. Clear cutting for
farms and ranches has devastated Guaran life and its sustainable economy. Settlements
stand isolated and devoid of resources. Villagers can no longer practice slash-and-burn
agriculture; there are no animals to hunt or fish to catch. Without renewable resources,
many Indians have joined the legions of unemployed or underemployed in frontier
towns, and suicide rates, especially among young men, have skyrocketed.
Shouldn”t the Guaran simply accept the pain that accompanies modern development
and look forward to a brighter future? No, argues Reed, because the use of forestland
for ranches and farming is unsustainable. Cleared land quickly ceases to produce and is
left vacant without a surrounding forest to reclaim it, leaving a red desert. Instead, the
Guaran model for forest exploitation, even when it involves the extraction of forest
products for sale to outsiders, is more economical because it is sustainable. Persuaded
by this argument, the Nature Conservancy has recently bought and set aside 280 square
miles of forest for sustainable development using the Guaran model.
The Guaran, according to Reed, have exploited the forest commercially as well as for
subsistence for nearly 500 years.