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Home : ethnography and design
\"Making Homes: Anthropology and Design is a strong addition to the emerging field of design anthropology. Based on the latest scholarship and practice in the social sciences as well as design, this interdisciplinary text introduces a new design ethnography which offers unique and original approaches to research and intervention in the home. Presenting a coherent theoretical and methodological framework for both ethnographers and designers, the authors examine 'hot' topics - ranging from movements and mobilities to im/material environments, to digital culture - and confront the challenges of a research and design environment which seeks to bring about the changes required for a sustainable, resilient, 'safe', and comfortable future. Written by leading experts in the field, the book draws on real-life examples from a wide range of international projects developed by the authors, other researchers, and designers. Illustrations throughout help to convey the methods and research visually. Readers will also have access to a related website which follows the authors' ongoing research and includes video and written narrative examples of ethnographic research in the home. Transforming current understandings of the home, this is an essential read for students and researchers in fields such as design, anthropology, human geography, sociology, and media and communication studies\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Science Interrupted
Science Interrupted examines how scientists in China pursue environmental sustainability within the constraints of domestic and international bureaucracies. Timothy G. McLellan offers a theoretical framework for analyzing the formal procedural work of Chinese bureaucracy—work that is overlooked when China scholars restrict their gaze to the informal and interpersonal channels through which bureaucracy is often navigated.
Homing in on an agroforestry research organization in southwest China, the author takes the experiences of the organization's staff in navigating diverse international funding regimes and authoritarian state institutions as entry points for understanding the pervasiveness of bureaucracy in contemporary science. He asks: What if we take the tools, sensibilities, and practices of bureaucracies seriously not only as objects of critique but as resources for re-thinking scientific practice?
Extending a mode of anthropological research in which ethnography serves as source of theory as well as source of data, Science Interrupted thinks with, and not only against, bureaucracy. McLellan shows that ethnographic engagement with bureaucracy enables us to imagine more democratic and more collaborative modes of scientific practice.
eBook
Images and power : rock art and ethics
\"Images and Power: Rock Art and Ethics addresses the distinctive ways in which ethical considerations pertain to rock art research within the larger context of the archaeological ethical debate. Marks on stone, with their social and religious implications, give rise to distinctive ethical concerns within the scholarly enterprise as different perceptions between scholars and Native Americans are encountered in regard to worldviews, concepts of space, time, and in the interpretation of the imagery itself. This discourse addresses issues such as the conflicting paradigms of oral traditions and archaeological veracity, differing ideas about landscapes in which rock art occurs, the intrusion of \"desired knowledge\", and how the past may be robbed by changing interpretations and values on both sides. Case studies are presented in regard to shamanism and war-related imagery. Also addressed are issues surrounding questions of art, aesthetics, and appropriation of imagery by outsiders. Overall, this discourse attempts to clarify points of contention between Euro-American scholars and Native Americans so that we can better recognize the origins of differences and thus promote better mutual understanding in these endeavors.\"--Publisher's website.
Book
The oldest Pottery Neolithic
In the past, establishing a clear chronology for the Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic periods in eastern Mazandaran proved challenging. A major obstacle had been the lack of radiocarbon dating. Previous dates provided by Coon and McBurney were not considered reliable, even after recalibrations. However, over the last fifteen years, new archaeological fieldwork and research have significantly enhanced our understanding of these periods. Recent excavations at the PN sites of Touq Tappeh and Tappeh Valiki have provided new information about the Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic chronology and dating. The sites yielded the oldest dating of the PN in northeastern Iran so far, making the PN of eastern Mazandaran start at least from the first half of the 7.sup.th millennium BC and lasted until the early 6.sup.th millennium BC (c. 6600-5800 BC). While Tappeh Valiki represents the oldest dates, the PN periods may have started in the region even earlier, given the presence of potteries from the lowest layers of the site. Analysis of the available material from these sites through dating indicates strong regional connections, while also showing inter-regional connections. The new dating from the old and new Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic sites of eastern Mazandaran suggests there is no gap between them, which is not surprising given the favorable environment during the early Holocene.
Journal Article
Hunting before herding: A zooarchaeological and stable isotopic study of suids
Suids (Sus sp.) played a crucial role in the transition to farming in northern Europe and, like in many regions, in the Netherlands pig husbandry became an important subsistence activity at Neolithic sites. Yet little is known about wild boar palaeoecology and hunting in the Late Mesolithic Netherlands with which to contextualize this transition. This paper presents the first multi-proxy analysis of archaeological suid remains in the Netherlands. It explores human-suid interactions at the Swifterbant culture sites of Hardinxveld-Giessendam Polderweg and De Bruin (5450-4250 BC) through biometric analysis, estimation of age-at-death, and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis. The results reveal targeted hunting of adult wild boar in the Late Mesolithic (5450-4850 BC), with a possible shift over time towards more juveniles. The wild boar in this period are demonstrated to be of comparably large size to contemporary northern European populations and exhibiting a wide range of dietary regimes. In the final occupational period (4450-4250 BC), small suids are present, possibly domestic pigs, but there is no evidence of pig management. This study demonstrates that the nature of human-suid interactions varied over time, which may have been connected to changing environmental conditions, human mobility, and wild boar behaviour. This study also contributes the first biometric and dietary baseline for mid-Holocene wild boar in the Netherlands.
Journal Article
Food culture
This volume offers a comprehensive guide to methods used in the sociocultural, linguistic and historical research of food use. This volume is unique in offering food-related research methods from multiple academic disciplines, and includes methods that bridge disciplines to provide a thorough review of best practices. In each chapter, a case study from the author's own work is to illustrate why the methods were adopted in that particular case along with abundant additional resources to further develop and explore the methods.
eBook
Origins of modern human ancestry
New finds in the palaeoanthropological and genomic records have changed our view of the origins of modern human ancestry. Here we review our current understanding of how the ancestry of modern humans around the globe can be traced into the deep past, and which ancestors it passes through during our journey back in time. We identify three key phases that are surrounded by major questions, and which will be at the frontiers of future research. The most recent phase comprises the worldwide expansion of modern humans between 40 and 60 thousand years ago (ka) and their last known contacts with archaic groups such as Neanderthals and Denisovans. The second phase is associated with a broadly construed African origin of modern human diversity between 60 and 300 ka. The oldest phase comprises the complex separation of modern human ancestors from archaic human groups from 0.3 to 1 million years ago. We argue that no specific point in time can currently be identified at which modern human ancestry was confined to a limited birthplace, and that patterns of the first appearance of anatomical or behavioural traits that are used to define
Homo sapiens
are consistent with a range of evolutionary histories.
A Review describes the three key phases that define the origins of modern human ancestry, and highlights the importance of analysing both palaeoanthropological and genomic records to further improve our understanding of our evolutionary history.
Journal Article
Big enough to matter: on the frequency and chronology of giantg handaxes in the British Lower Palaeolithic
Hypertrophic 'giant' handaxes are a rare component of Acheulean assemblages, yet have been central to debates relating to the social, cognitive and cultural 'meaning' of these enigmatic tools. The authors examine giant handaxes from the perspective of the British record and suggest that they are chronologically patterned, with the great majority originating from contexts broadly associated with Marine Isotope Stage 9. Giant handaxes tend to have higher symmetry than non-giants, and extravagant forms, such as ficrons, are better represented; they may therefore be linked to incipient aesthetic sensibilities and, potentially, to changing cognition at the transition between the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic.
Journal Article
Esquema general para la elaboración de un “Proyecto de Investigación” en Antropología Social
The article provides a general framework of sections which should be considered for a “typical” anthropological research project (mainly social anthropology, cultural anthropology, ethnology, focused on a period of fieldwork). It can be useful for students who are preparing their thesis, but also for professionals who want to present a research project to a source of funding or to any kind of institutional approval. It begins with some general considerations about the creation of anthropological knowledge. Subsequently, the eleven sections of an anthropological research project will be explained.
Se ofrece un esquema general de apartados a tomar en cuenta en la elaboración de un proyecto de investigación “típico” en antropología (principalmente antropología social, antropología cultural, etnología, centrada en un período de trabajo de campo), que puede ser de utilidad para estudiantes en el momento de elaborar su proyecto de tesis, y también para profesionales en el momento de presentar un proyecto de investigación en búsqueda de financiamiento o de aprobación institucional. Se inicia con una serie de observaciones generales sobre la creación del conocimiento antropológico. Posteriormente se explican los once apartados de un proyecto de investigación antropológica
Journal Article
Early architecture in Tonga: implications for the development of Polynesian chiefdoms
Durable architecture is a hallmark of Polynesian chiefdoms, associated with centralised control of residential and agricultural land. Previous work in West Polynesia has indicated a relatively late date for the onset of such construction activity--after AD 1000--suggesting that political development was influenced by events such as post-colonisation migration. The authors report new dating evidence from the excavation of a large earth mound on the island of Tongatapu. Its construction 1500 years ago indicates that, in contrast to previous findings, well-developed chiefdoms and field monuments probably dominated the landscapes of West Polynesia substantially prior to the colonisation of more easterly island nations.
Journal Article