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- Volume 34, 2005
Annual Review of Anthropology - Volume 34, 2005
Volume 34, 2005
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IMMIGRANT RACIALIZATION AND THE NEW SAVAGE SLOT: Race, Migration, and Immigration in the New Europe
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 363–384More LessAbstractThis review explores contemporary processes through which immigrants are categorized into shifting racial landscapes in the new Europe. Tracing the racial genealogy of the immigrant through European and Europeanist migration studies, the successive construction of overlapping tropes of the nomad, the laborer, the uprooted victim, the hybrid cosmopolite, and the (Muslim) transmigrant are examined. This history points to the perduring problematization of the immigrant as the object of national integration. If migration studies have effectively tended to racialize migrants into a new savage slot, recent ethnographies of the immigrant experience in Europe point to ways in which immigrant and diasporic groups cross racial frontiers and enact solidarity across class and cultural lines.
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AUTOCHTHONY: Local or Global? New Modes in the Struggle over Citizenship and Belonging in Africa and Europe
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 385–407More LessAbstractThe past 15 years have brought an upsurge of “autochthony.” It has become an incendiary political slogan in many parts of the African continent as an unexpected corollary of democratization and the new style of development policies (“by-passing the state” and decentralization). The main agenda of the new autochthony movements is the exclusion of supposed “strangers” and the unmasking of “fake” autochthons, who are often citizens of the same nation-state. However, Africa is no exception in this respect. Intensified processes of globalization worldwide seem to go together with a true “conjuncture of belonging” (T.M. Li 2000) and increasingly violent attempts to exclude “allochthons.” This article compares studies of the upsurge of autochthony in Africa with interpretations of the rallying power of a similar discourse in Western Europe. How can the same discourse appear “natural” in such disparate circumstances? Recent studies highlight the extreme malleability of the apparently self-evident claims of autochthony. These discourses promise the certainty of belonging, but in practice, they raise basic uncertainties because autochthony is subject to constant redefinition against new “others” and at ever-closer range.
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CASTE AND POLITICS: Identity Over System
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 409–427More LessAbstractTo integrate conceptually the relationship between caste and politics, one must appreciate that the pure ritual hierarchy operates only when backed by wealth and power. In fact, there are multiple hierarchies in the caste order because each caste overvalues itself in relation to others. This can be gauged from their origin tales, which, without exception, claim an exalted past regardless of the actual status a caste occupies on the ground. With the breakdown of the closed village economy and the rise of democratic politics, the competitive element embedded in caste has come to the fore. This has resulted in the collapse of the caste system but also in the rise of caste identities.
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THROUGH WARY EYES: Indigenous Perspectives on Archaeology
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 429–449More LessAbstractArchaeology has been linked to colonialist attitudes and scientific imperialism. But what are the perspectives of Indigenous groups concerning the practice of archaeology? Numerous organizations recognize the distinctive needs of Indigenous communities throughout the world and have adopted agreements and definitions that govern their relationships with those populations. The specific name by which Indigenous groups are known varies from country to country, as local governments are involved in determining the appropriateness of particular definitions to populations within their borders. This paper begins with an examination of the various aspects that have been used to determine whether or not a group of people might be considered “indigenous” under various definitions, and then uses the history of the relationships between North American archaeologists and Indigenous populations as a background for the examination of some of the political aspects of archaeology that have impacted Indigenous populations. It then proceeds to discuss perspectives on archaeology offered by members of various Indigenous populations throughout the World.
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METABOLIC ADAPTATION IN INDIGENOUS SIBERIAN POPULATIONS
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 451–471More LessAbstractPrevious research has suggested that arctic populations have elevated metabolic rates in response to their cold, marginal climate. Recent studies of indigenous Siberian groups have confirmed these earlier findings and have shed light on the mechanisms through which northern populations adapt to their environments. Indigenous Siberians show significant elevations in basal metabolic rate compared with reference values. Total energy expenditure is variable across Siberian groups and is correlated with levels of acculturation. Siberian populations appear to have adapted to cold stress through both short-term acclimatization and genetic adaptations, with thyroid hormones playing an important role in shaping metabolic responses. Elevated metabolic rates also have important consequences for health and may contribute to the low serum lipid levels observed in Siberian groups. Further research is needed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of metabolic adaptation and their implications for ongoing health changes among indigenous Siberians.
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INDIGENOUS MOVEMENTS IN AUSTRALIA
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 473–494More LessAbstractThe metaphor of “movement” has been applied in limited measure to indigenous action in Australia, and more to recent events (∼1960s and afterwards) than to earlier ones. This review characterizes movement in social-semiotic terms that allow consideration of such a notion over a longer time span and range of social circumstances than is usual in Australianist literature. Examination of a limited number of relatively well-documented cases from differing times and places reveals differences in the grounds of action and kinds of objectification that movements appear to have involved and also a continuing shift toward shared indigenous-nonindigenous understandings and forms of activism in the face of persisting social differentiation. The arguably limited impact of indigenous movements needs to be considered in the light of systematic constraints on them.
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THE ECOLOGIES OF HUMAN IMMUNE FUNCTION
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 495–521More LessAbstractImmune function is notoriously complex, and current biomedical research elaborates this complexity by focusing on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that characterize immune defenses. However, the human immune system is a product of natural selection that develops and functions in whole organisms that are integral parts of their surrounding environments. A population-level, cross-cultural, adaptationist perspective is therefore a necessary complement to the micro levels of analysis currently favored by biomedical immunology. Prior field-based research on human immunity is reviewed to demonstrate the relevance of cultural ecological factors, with an emphasis on the ecologies of nutrition, infectious disease, reproduction, and psychosocial stress. Common themes and anthropological contributions are identified in an attempt to promote future research in human ecological immunology that integrates theory and method for a more contextualized understanding of this important physiological system.
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THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 523–548More LessAbstractEverywhere the issue has been examined, people make discriminations about others’ physical attractiveness. Can human standards of physical attractiveness be understood through the lens of evolutionary biology? In the past decade, this question has guided much theoretical and empirical work. In this paper, we (a) outline the basic adaptationist approach that has guided the bulk of this work, (b) describe evolutionary models of signaling that have been applied to understand human physical attractiveness, and (c) discuss and evaluate specific lines of empirical research attempting to address the selective history of human standards of physical attractiveness. We also discuss ways evolutionary scientists have attempted to understand variability in standards of attractiveness across cultures as well as the ways current literature speaks to body modification in modern Western cultures. Though much work has been done, many fundamental questions remain unanswered.
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INDIGENOUS MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA, 1992–2004: Controversies, Ironies, New Directions
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 549–573More LessAbstractThis review examines literature on indigenous movements in Latin America from 1992 to 2004. It addresses ethnic identity and ethnic activism, in particular the reindianization processes occurring in indigenous communities throughout the region. We explore the impact that states and indigenous mobilizing efforts have had on each other, as well as the role of transnational nongovernmental organizations and para-statal organizations, neoliberalism more broadly, and armed conflict. Shifts in ethnoracial, political, and cultural indigenous discourses are examined, special attention being paid to new deployments of rhetorics concerned with political imaginaries, customary law, culture, and identity. Self-representational strategies will be numerous and dynamic, identities themselves multiple, fluid, and abundantly positional. The challenges these dynamics present for anthropological field research and ethnographic writing are discussed, as is the dialogue between scholars, indigenous and not, and activists, indigenous and not. Conclusions suggest potentially fruitful research directions for the future.
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THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF BLACK AMERICANS IN RECENT TIMES*
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 575–598More LessAbstractA review of work on African Americans through archaeology takes place under diasporic studies and relies on literature that defines the North American black experience. The focus is on the establishment of freedom by the founding of maroon communities and independent settlements of free people, as well as on the use and interpretation of African diasporic history and theory, particularly by archaeologists using knowledge of the diaspora to effect modern political change.
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LINGUISTIC, CULTURAL, AND BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 599–617More LessAbstractOver the past decade, the field of biocultural diversity has arisen as an area of transdisciplinary research concerned with investigating the links between the world's linguistic, cultural, and biological diversity as manifestations of the diversity of life. The impetus for the emergence of this field came from the observation that all three diversities are under threat by some of the same forces and from the perception that loss of diversity at all levels spells dramatic consequences for humanity and the earth. Accordingly, the field of biocultural diversity has developed with both a theoretical and a practical side, the latter focusing on on-the-ground work and policy, as well as with an ethics and human rights component. This review provides some background on the historical antecedents and beginnings of this field and on its philosophical and ethical underpinnings, and then surveys the key literature on biocultural diversity, concentrating on three main aspects: global and regional studies on the links between linguistic, cultural, and biological diversity; the measurement and assessment of biocultural diversity; and the protection and maintenance of biocultural diversity. The review concludes with some considerations about future prospects for this emerging field.
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MAPPING INDIGENOUS LANDS
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 619–638More LessThe mapping of indigenous lands to secure tenure, manage natural resources, and strengthen cultures is a recent phenomenon, having begun in Canada and Alaska in the 1960s and in other regions during the last decade and a half. A variety of methodologies have made their appearance, ranging from highly participatory approaches involving village sketch maps to more technical efforts with geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing. In general, indigenous mapping has shown itself to be a powerful tool and it has spread rapidly throughout the world. The distribution of mapping projects is uneven, as opportunities are scarce in many parts of the world. This review covers the genesis and evolution of indigenous mapping, the different methodologies and their objectives, the development of indigenous atlases and guidebooks for mapping indigenous lands, and the often uneasy mix of participatory community approaches with technology. This last topic is at the center of considerable discussion as spatial technologies are becoming more available and are increasingly used in rural areas. The growth of GIS laboratories among tribes in the United States and Canada, who frequently have both financial and technical support, is in sharp contrast to groups in the South—primarily Africa, Asia, and Latin America—where resources are in short supply and permanent GIS facilities are rare.
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HUMAN RIGHTS, BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE, AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES AMONG SOUTH AMERICAN INDIGENOUS GROUPS*
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 639–665More LessAbstractDespite the efforts of international health agencies to reduce global health inequalities, indigenous populations around the world remain largely unaffected by such initiatives. This chapter reviews the biomedical literature indexed by the PubMed database published between 1963 and 2003 on South American indigenous populations, a total of 1864 studies that include 63,563 study participants. Some language family groupings are better represented than are others, and lowland groups are better represented than are highland groups. Very few studies focus on major health threats (e.g., tuberculosis, influenza), public health interventions, or mestizo-indigenous epidemiological comparisons. The prevalence rates of three frequently studied infections—parasitism, human T-cell lymphotropic viral infection (HTLV), and hepatitis—are extraordinarily high, but these facts have been overlooked by national and international health agencies. This review underscores the urgent need for interventions based on known disease prevalence rates to reduce the burden of infectious diseases in indigenous communities.
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INTERROGATING RACISM: Toward an Antiracist Anthropology
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 667–693More LessAbstractOver the past several decades, global manifestations of racism have undergone significant transformations. The anticolonial struggle, the civil rights movement, and the antiapartheid offensive have challenged the former established racial regimes. But the consolidation of global capitalism has also created new forms of racialization. A variety of antiracist strategies and interventions have emerged to confront new racisms. Analyses of racism have sought to interrogate its history and contemporary manifestations, how it is maintained and reproduced, and to predict its future. Anthropologists and other social scientists are challenged to develop theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches to advance our understanding of these new manifestations of race and racism.
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ENHANCEMENT TECHNOLOGIES AND THE BODY
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 695–716More LessAbstractThe technological ability to alter biology, along with the social conditions and cultural expectations that enable such transformations, is spawning a variety of techniques that augment bodily forms and functions. These techniques, collectively known as enhancement technologies, aim to improve human characteristics, including appearance and mental or physical functioning, often beyond what is ‘normal’ or necessary for life and well-being. Humans have always modified their bodies. What distinguishes these techniques is that bodies and selves become the objects of improvement work, unlike previous efforts in modernity to achieve progress through social and political institutions. There are profound effects on sociality and subjectivity. This chapter reviews analytical approaches through which researchers have attempted to illuminate the practices, moral and economic reasoning, cultural assumptions and institutional contexts constituting enhancements, framing the discussion by examining the concept of the normal body. Examples from cosmetic, neurological and genetic enhancements will illustrate.
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SOCIAL AND CULTURAL POLICIES TOWARD INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: Perspectives from Latin America*
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 717–739More LessAbstractThroughout the twentieth century, social and cultural policies toward indigenous peoples in Latin America have been closely related to indigenismo, an ideological movement that denounced the exploitation of aboriginal groups and strove for the cultural unity and the extension of citizenship through social integration and “acculturation.” This review traces the colonial and nineteenth-century roots of indigenismo and places it in the context of the populist tendencies in most Latin American states from the 1920s to the 1970s, which favored economic protectionism and used agrarian reform and the provision of services as tools for governance and legitimacy. Also examined is the role of anthropological research in its relation to state hegemony as well as the denunciation of indigenista policies by ethnic intellectuals and organizations. In recent decades, the dismantling of populist policies has given rise to a new official “neoliberal” discourse that extols multiculturalism. However, the widespread demand for multicultural policies is also seen as the outcome of the fight by militant indigenous organizations for a new type of citizenship.
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SURFACING THE BODY INTERIOR
Vol. 34 (2005), pp. 741–756More LessAbstractIn the wake of critiques that have rendered problematic such familiar objects of study as culture and social structure, anthropologists seeking ways to engage ethnographically with the complexities of the contemporary world have fashioned new kinds of objects of study. These generally continue, however, to be framed as just that—as objects. Rather than pursue the “anthropology of” any particular object that preexists ethnography, anthropologists should find ways of bringing the openness and creativity of ethnographic work more boldly into the theoretical framing of what it is that they study. I propose here the notion of surfacing the body interior as one framing device that may help facilitate such ethnographic explorations into bodies, their interiors, and their surfaces as contingent configurations made and unmade through practices that are at once social, material, and representational.
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Previous Volumes
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Volume 53 (2024)
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Volume 52 (2023)
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Volume 51 (2022)
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Volume 50 (2021)
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Volume 49 (2020)
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Volume 48 (2019)
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Volume 47 (2018)
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Volume 46 (2017)
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Volume 45 (2016)
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Volume 44 (2015)
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Volume 43 (2014)
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Volume 42 (2013)
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Volume 41 (2012)
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Volume 40 (2011)
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Volume 39 (2010)
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Volume 38 (2009)
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Volume 37 (2008)
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Volume 36 (2007)
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Volume 35 (2006)
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Volume 34 (2005)
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Volume 33 (2004)
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Volume 32 (2003)
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Volume 31 (2002)
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Volume 30 (2001)
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Volume 29 (2000)
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Volume 28 (1999)
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Volume 27 (1998)
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Volume 26 (1997)
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Volume 25 (1996)
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Volume 24 (1995)
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Volume 23 (1994)
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Volume 22 (1993)
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Volume 21 (1992)
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Volume 20 (1991)
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Volume 19 (1990)
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Volume 18 (1989)
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Volume 17 (1988)
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Volume 16 (1987)
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Volume 15 (1986)
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Volume 14 (1985)
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Volume 13 (1984)
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Volume 12 (1983)
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Volume 11 (1982)
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Volume 10 (1981)
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Volume 9 (1980)
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Volume 8 (1979)
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Volume 7 (1978)
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Volume 6 (1977)
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Volume 5 (1976)
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Volume 4 (1975)
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Volume 3 (1974)
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Volume 2 (1973)
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Volume 1 (1972)
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Volume 0 (1932)