Anthropology Today

CONTENTS 2005 – vol 21

December 2005 – vol 21 – no 6

Front and back cover caption: POLITICS OF DRESS. The front and back covers illustrate Emma Tarlo’s narrative in this issue on the politics of Muslim dress in Britain. On the front cover, Muslim women in London protest against the proposed French law banning the wearing of ostentatious religious symbols in state schools. The march was organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamic political party which responded to the French proposal by promoting various forms of Islamic dress (hijab and jilbab) as a means of combating secularism, resisting integration and submitting to the commands of Allah.

The back cover shows press coverage of the story of Shabina Begum, the British Muslim girl from Luton who challenged her school’s uniform policy in 2002 by requesting to wear the long-sleeved neck-to-toe jilbab in school, and won her case in the Court of Appeal in 2005. Barely visible, but present in the background, is her brother and legal guardian – a link between the two images through his involvement with Hizb ut-Tahrir, the organizers of the demonstration and Shabina Begum’s advisors on issues of religious dress. A further link was made through the trainee journalist whom the Guardian entrusted to write its front-page article on the outcome of the case. When this journalist wrote a piece on the inevitability of Muslim anger one week after the London bombings, it emerged that, unknown to the newspaper, he was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

At a time when images of Islamic dress are increasingly used in the media as a visual shorthand for dangerous extremism, and when Muslims all over Europe are suffering from the consequences of such associations, how might anthropologists approach the issue of fundamentalist sartorial activism? Is it possible to expose the complexities of the jilbab case without contributing to the popular and false assumption that all forms of Islamic dress for women are necessarily linked to radical and oppressive ideas or suspect political agendas?

The jilbab controversy raises important issues about ethnographic responsibility – a theme discussed in relation to David Mosse’s book Cultivating development, and in relation to attempts to rethink guidelines on ethics in anthropology. Do anthropologists have a duty to report on politically and morally uncomfortable issues they encounter in the field or should they remain silent? If so, on what criteria should such judgements be made, and how might we assess the potential distortion generated by our silence on certain issues?

CONTENTS

David H. Price 1
America the ambivalent: Quietly selling anthropology to the CIA
Nancy Scheper-Hughes 2
Katrina: The disaster and its doubles
Gavin Douglas 5
Burmese music and the world market
Ian Harper, Alberto Corsín Jiménez 10
Towards interactive professional ethics

NARRATIVE
Emma Tarlo 13
Reconsidering stereotypes: Anthropological reflections on the jilbab controversy

BOOKS
Devi Sridhar 17
Ethics and development: Some concerns with David Mosse’s Cultivating development

COMMENT
Roderick Stirrat 19
Ethics and development
Nicolas Langlitz, Stefan Helmreich 20
Biosecurity

LETTERS
Beverley C. Rowe, Keith Hart 21
London bombings
George T. Nurse 21
The G/wi, and G//ana-speaking Bushmen

EXHIBITIONS
Anouska Komlosy 22
Amazon to Caribbean

OBITUARY
Thomas H. Eriksen, Marit Melhuus 23
Eduardo P. Archetti (1943-2005)

CONFERENCES
Roger Just 24
Eastern Christianities in anthropological perspective
Eleni Bizas 25
The human body as a universal sign: Rhythms and steps of Africa
Anouska Komlosy 25
Shifting boundaries

News 26 Calendar 28 Classified 29

October 2005 – vol 21 – no 5

Front cover caption: Children in the favela (squatter community) of ‘Caxambu’, in the northern zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Although favelas are often depicted as dangerous and as the housing option of last resort, they are also characterized by dense and multi-stranded social ties between residents, long histories of occupation and settlement, and multi-generational families. Caxambu (a pseudonym) was originally settled at the beginning of the 20th century, and residents often describe the neighbourhood as a ‘big family’. As the photo makes clear, the alleys, street corners and other public spaces in the favela often serve as giant playgrounds for local children.

Back cover caption: THE HUMAN BODY. The photo on the back cover shows one of the exhibits from Gunther von Hagens’ anatomical exhibition Body Worlds, discussed by Uli Linke in this issue. The exhibits in this show are fashioned from human corpses. The male figure shown here, the body of a man holding and gazing at his own skin, attempts to convey something about the human skin.

The anatomical museum markets corpses, artfully transformed to appeal to the viewer. Body Worlds has toured internationally, and attracted millions of visitors. Dead bodies are transformed into sensually appealing ‘works of art’, playing to fantasies of the alluring body common to the dream worlds promoted by multinational media and entertainment industries.

In the exhibition anatomy and pedagogy, economy and medical science, pathology and human rights are closely intertwined. But where do the bodies come from? The corpses, contrary to the exhibitor’s claims, are not supplied by German donors – they are procured from Eastern Europe, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and China, from places where human rights and bioethical standards are not enforced.

Von Hagens insists that bodies displayed are from donors, and his exhibition website (http://www.bodyworlds.com) welcomes donations to its body donation programme. In his body factory in Dalian, China, thousands of corpses, including the remains of executed prisoners, are flayed and prepared for later use. This trade in bodies, a multi-million-dollar enterprise, is highly problematic. For the trumpeted ‘art of anatomy’, with its beautified corpses and eroticized installations, also has a violent dimension, with human victims whose bodies are bought and sold for profit.

In November 2002, Gunther von Hagens risked prosecution by holding the first public dissection of a (donated) body in the UK since the 1830s, in London’s Atlantis Gallery. The issues surrounding procurement, preparation, dissection and display of human remains are central to anthropology, and in this article Uli Linke discusses in particular the various ways in which this exhbition was interpreted in Germany.

CONTENTS

Keith Hart 1
The London bombings: A crisis for multi-culturalism?
R. Ben Penglase 3
The shutdown of Rio de Janeiro: The poetics of drug trafficker violence
Lisa Dikomitis 7
Three readings of a border: Greek Cypriots crossing the Green Line in Cyprus
Uli Linke 13
Touching the corpse: The unmaking of memory in the body museum

COMMENT
Peter Wade and Herbert S. Lewis 20
Genomics and race
Brian Street 21
Islamophobia and racism
Hugh Gusterson and Michael Whisson 21
The ethics of spying

CONFERENCES
Julie Scott and Peter Lugosi 22
Spreading the net
Keith Hart 23
Rhetoric in politics and economics
Cathrine Degnen 24
Animals and science
Kaveri Harriss 25
Pakistan workshop 2005

Calendar 26 News 27 Classified 29

August 2005 – vol 21 – no 4

Front cover caption: The photo on the front cover, taken from the World Monuments Fund (WMF) website, shows house in Hilinawalö Mazingö, South Nias, Indonesia which was recently included on the WMF's List of 100 most endangered sites. Built in the 19th century, the house withstood the massive earthquake of 28 March 2005 that reduced the port towns of Nias to rubble and made over 150,000 people homeless. Constructed without nails, its complex structure can absorb tremors where modern concrete houses collapse. However, the hardwoods needed to replace columns and panels damaged by fire, rain and insects are no longer available, since Nias has been stripped of primary forest. Urgent conservation work is needed if the stone-paved villages and traditional architecture of Nias are to survive further destruction. In order to house the homeless, reconstruction planners are now studying the possibility of reviving traditional designs using cheaper, renewable materials. South Nias, whose plight was barely reported in the aftermath of the earthquake, received no government attention until ten days after the disaster. In his article on pp. 5-7 of this issue, Andrew Beatty reflects on the lack of development in Nias since he began fieldwork there in 1986 and considers the context of the recovery operation, showing how selective reporting, narrowly focused on stereotypical human interest stories, has failed to address local conditions, allowing corruption and inefficiency to thrive. Local knowledge is key to the success of aid. But only better reporting of regional power structures and stakeholders, combined with greater scrutiny of official dealings, will help to ensure that aid reaches those most in need.

Back cover caption: POLICY AND RACE. The back cover reproduces questions from recent censuses conducted in England and Wales (above) and the USA (below). The former asks the respondent to state 'your ethnic group'; the latter seeks information on a 'person's race'. Statistics from the responses to these questions are given on page 4 of this issue.

The British census question on ethnic origin, first introduced in 1991, is unusual in the European context. The 2001 census introduced a new 'mixed' category, as well as the term 'British' as a qualifier (to permit identification as British Black or British Asian), and a 'white' category subdivided into British, Irish and others. It also included a question on religion for the first time in more than a century, in response to the concerns of those for whom ethnic affiliation relates closely to religion (e.g. South Asian Muslims). In the US, the census of 2000 offered individuals, for the first time, the opportunity to identify themselves as belonging to more than one racial category (previously people of mixed descent were asked to choose a single racial category or to respond as 'some other race').

Most countries conduct regular censuses of their populations. In 1995 the United Nations Assembly passed a resolution calling on all its member countries to compile census data by 2004. However, a census depends on the consent of the population. Germany has not taken a full census since 1987, after postponing its scheduled 1983 census because of public concern over the proposed use of census returns to update local population registers; the Netherlands has not had a census since 1971, when high rates of refusal rendered returns unreliable. In common with a number of other countries, including Denmark, these two have turned to alternative data sources, particularly population and housing registers as well as sample surveys, for population statistics.

The discourse of governance and perceptions of social category are powerfully influenced by the terms officially sanctioned by governments for the classification of citizens. The US census identifies its use of race as 'sociopolitical constructs' that are not 'scientific or anthropological in nature' (quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_68186.htm). Race is surely one of the most potent and elusive of concepts anthropology is trying to make sense of, whether as a scientific or as a cultural category. In this issue of AT, Michael Banton contends that contributors to recent debate have not distinguished sufficiently between scientific classifications and the categories current in the English language of everyday life. In their review of the recent 'Anthroplogy and Genomics' conference, Simpson and Konrad point out how issues of race and policy arise in this dynamic field.

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY continues to offer a forum for topical debate on issues of public concern, and welcomes further contributions on these questions.

CONTENTS

Alan Thorold 1
The fundamentalist challenge, or rehinging the pendulum
Michael Banton 3
Genomics and race: Vexed questions
Andrew Beatty 5
Aid in faraway places: The context of an earthquake
Robert J. Foster 8
Commodity futures: Labour, love and value
Kristina Tiedje 13
People, place and politics in the Huasteca, Mexico

COMMENT
Maja Povrzanovic Frykman, Aleksandar Boškovic 18
Balkan anthropology
Joyce D. Hammond 18
Quilting as art
László Kürti, Peter J.M. Nas, Bartholomew Dean, Richard Fardon 19
The ethics of spying

CONFERENCES
Stephanie Bunn 22
Creative windows on creativity
Bob Simpson and Monica Konrad 23
Anthropology and genomics: Exploring third spaces
Patrick Laviolette 24
Cultural landscapes in the 21st century

OBITUARY
Toni de Bromhead 25
Arthur Howes, 1950-2004
Andre Singer 25
John Marshall, 1932-2005

Calendar 26 News 27 Classified 29

June 2005 – vol 21 – no 3

Front and back cover caption: ENERGY AND VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

The photo on the front and back cover illustrates the article by Annette Henning in this issue. A solar collector is hoisted onto the roof of a Swedish house. In Sweden, the most common solar heating systems are those that supply hot water for both heating and general domestic hot water purposes. Contrary to popular belief, solar collectors are not dependent on a high air temperature, but produce heat throughout the year, whenever there is a clear sky.

In her article, Annette Henning examines the actual and potential role of anthropology in energy studies. She reflects on her own experience of the trials of working as an anthropologist in the energy sector, where economists and technical expertise reign, and where production- and distribution-oriented approaches prevail. There is a great deal of resistance to anthropological contributions, in part because anthropologists have made so little effort to be heard in the public domain on this issue.

In his editorial, Hal Wilhite makes the case for 'energy anthropology'. He argues that anthropologists have paid insufficient attention to one of the most urgent problems facing the world, namely our patterns of energy consumption and their economic and environmental consequences. Increasing consumerism in developing countries makes anthropological approaches indispensable, particularly in finding ways to moderate energy consumption and to help implement small-scale renewable energy initiatives.

In his review of three of the latest books on vernacular architecture, Marcel Vellinga identifies architecture as a prominent cultural category and a major consumer of energy and resources, and thus a significant contributor to current environmental problems. Vellinga argues that anthropology should pay more attention to vernacular architecture as a locus of indigenous knowledge, to help the global community address the challenges of creating a sustainable built environment for all.

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY brings these contributions to your attention in the hope of stimulating discussion and promoting wider ethnographic research in areas of public concern.

CONTENTS

Harold Wilhite 1
Why energy needs anthropology
Marcel Vellinga 3
Anthropology and the challenges of sustainable architecture
Annette Henning 8
Climate change and energy use: The role for anthropological research
Gregory Forth 13
Hominids, hairy hominoids and the science of humanity
Geoffrey Gray 18
Australian anthropologists and World War II

BOOKS
Raymond Scupin 22
Leach's legacy

COMMENT
Lucy Norris 24
Cast(e)-off clothing
Graham Fordham 24
HIV/AIDS: New questions
Felix Moos, Richard Fardon, Hugh Gusterson 25
Anthropologists as spies from the archives
Franz Boas 27
Scientists as spies
Kofi Ada-re 27
Body postures

News 28   Calendar 29   Classified 30

April 2005 – vol 21 – no 2

Front and back cover caption: BBC TRIBE

The front and back covers show images of male ceremonial dress from the series Tribe, which Pat Caplan discusses in this issue. The back cover shows an Asmat man from West Papua in ceremonial dress; the front cover shows Bruce Parry, a British ex-marine and presenter of the series, wearing ceremonial dress during his visit to the Asmat, prior to his stay with the Kombai. The series, which involved visits to six different peoples, was broadcast at peak viewing time in Britain in January and February 2005.

Of his experiences with the Asmat, Parry said:

'It was early in the morning and a family had spotted me the day before (which was our first day in an Asmat village - West Papua) and had decided that I was the spitting image of their son (somehow?) and so wanted to adopt me. My face-painting only came after my ceremonial sucking of three elderly women's breasts to signify my becoming their child (luckily I'd read about this and so wasn't too bemused) and a name-giving ceremony. I was then painted and adorned with all the Asmat finery as you see in the picture. Cuscus fir hat, cockatoo feathers, large shell and beads. I don't know if there was any special significance of the face paint design, but it was an amazing experience. A note here is that the crew were dressed up in finery too but I was the only real adoption with the breast episode.'

'The [other] painted face was an Asmat man from West Papua. The face painting is traditional warrior paint for various ceremonies including head-hunting raids, bisj ceremonies and the like. Now done for tourists and occasional village occasions.'

'The Kombai would have to be my choice for place to stay for the longest. Even though I could rarely get further away from what I take for granted back home culturally or socially, I have never laughed so much in my life or been made to feel more at home. I loved every minute.'

Although this was not an anthropological series, it was often perceived as such by lay viewers and reviewers, a fact which raises important issues about the public perception of anthropology. It is hoped that this article will stimulate debate on the topic in the pages of ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY.

CONTENTS

Thomas Hylland Eriksen 1
Nothing to lose but our aitches
Pat Caplan 3
In search of the exotic: A discussion of the BBC2 series Tribe
Aleksandar Boškovic 8
Distinguishing 'self' and 'other': Anthropology and national identity in former Yugoslavia
Eva Mackey 14
Universal rights in conflict: 'Backlash' and 'benevolent resistance' to indigenous land rights

COMMENT
Patrik Lindenfors 21
Rethinking violence
Stefan Helmreich 21
Biosecurity
Jonathan Benthall 21
Islamophobia

CONFERENCES
Evie Plaice 22
Face to face: Connecting proximity and distance
Ananta Kumar Giri 23
Towards a new mutuality?
David S. Leitner and Lee Wilson 24
Ethics at home - A non-conference report

OBITUARY
Isak Niehaus 26
David Hammond-Tooke

Calendar 27 News 28 Classified 29

February 2005 – vol 21 – no 1

SPECIAL ISSUE: POLICY AND ISLAM

Front and back cover caption: Towards a public anthropology.
The front cover shows an extract from House of Commons Research Paper 04/89 on The Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, discussing the proposal, introduced by the British Home Secretary, to make incitement to religious hatred a new offence. The back cover shows the preamble and the first page of the Draft Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe, 25 June 2004. Both these legal measures, if enacted, have major implications for our society, and in this issue ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY focuses on their significance for anthropologists.

In their guest editorial, Janine R. Wedel and Gregory Feldman argue that public policy issues lie at the heart of anthropology. Policy-makers increasingly seek to shape our lives in areas where anthropologists have much expertise.

Maryon McDonald focuses on the European Union as a specific instance, arguing that as the proposed Constitution moves the EU towards greater policy powers and legal competences, there is a danger of ill-judged decisions based on outmoded ideas about the economy, society and culture, and about cultural, ethnic and religious identities. She urges anthropologists to contribute their perspectives.

In Europe as elsewhere, Islam has become a central issue for public policy-makers. Pnina Werbner is ambivalent towards the proposed UK law against incitement to religious hatred as a response to Islamophobia, questioning whether mainstream British attitudes towards Islam will be improved through legislation.

Jonathan Benthall argues that an anthropological approach to the history of religious toleration in Islam and Christianity respectively may yield insights into differences between the two traditions that remain surprisingly significant today.

Magnus Marsden brings us down to earth by asking more closely ethnographic questions about the role played by Islam in the lives of village and small-town Muslims in the mountainous and politically sensitive Chitral region of North Pakistan.

Keith Hart looks at reactions to the French government’s ban on the veil in schools, concluding that perhaps the problem is ours in that Britain and the US have abandoned the idea of a secular public sphere that the French still hold dear.

CONTENTS

Janine R. Wedel and Gregory Feldman 1
Why an anthropology of public policy?
Maryon McDonald 3
EU policy and destiny: A challenge for anthropology
Pnina Werbner 5
Islamophobia: Incitement to religious hatred - legislating for a new fear?
Magnus Marsden 10
Muslim village intellectuals: The life of the mind in northern Pakistan
Jonathan Benthall 16
Confessional cousins and the rest: The structure of Islamic toleration
Keith Hart 21
Letter from Europe: February 2005

COMMENT
Gregory Forth 22
Palaeoanthropology and local legends: Homo floresiensis in the news
Brian Morris 22
Pre-university education: A response to AT's special issue on education (20[6])
Siew-Peng Lee 23
Anthropology and Education: A response to Brian Street (AT 20[6])
J. Guillemin, M. Schoch-Spana 23
Bioterrorism: A response to Monica Schoch-Spana (AT 20[5])

LETTERS
D.P. Moody 24
Rethinking violence
Jean Besson and Nici Nelson 24
Applied anthropology at Goldsmiths

CONFERENCE
P.-J. Ezeh 24
Hope and impediments in African anthropology
Max Carocci 25
Featuring myths, scripting reality

Calendar 26 News 27 Classified 28

(back to top)