Alma Gottlieb
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Anthropology, Faculty Member
- Anthropology, African Studies, African Diaspora Studies, African Diaspora, Black/African Diaspora, Cabo Verde, and 29 moreCape Verde, Cape Verdean migration, História de Cabo Verde, Afro-Jewish Studies, Ivory Coast, Cote D'Ivoire, Religion, Theory of Religion, Child Development, Sociology of Children and Childhood, Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Childhood, Childhood studies, Menstrual Blood, History of Lusophone Africa, Ethnographic Methods, Ethnographic Research, Ethnographic Writing, Ethnography, Ethnography (Research Methodology), Memoir Writing, Interdisciplinarity, Collaboration, Coauthorship, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Cultural and Social Anthropology, Francophone Africa, and Lusophone Africaedit
This is a Portuguese translation of "The Afterlife is where We Come from: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa." This edition was translated by Mara Sobreira and published by the University of São Paulo Press (Editora Unifesp/Editora da... more
This is a Portuguese translation of "The Afterlife is where We Come from: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa." This edition was translated by Mara Sobreira and published by the University of São Paulo Press (Editora Unifesp/Editora da Universidade Federal de São Paulo) in Brazil in 2013.
Research Interests: Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Sociology of Children and Childhood, Philosophical Anthropology, Ethnography, and 15 moreSocial and Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Infancy, Children, Psicología Infantil, Afterlife, Educação Infantil, Reincarnation, Infant Development, Ivory Coast, Infants/ Babies, Infancia, Psicologia infantil, Anthropology of Religion, and Costa Do Marfim
A World of Babies provides a wide variety of answers to these and countless other child-rearing questions, precisely because diverse communities around the world hold such different beliefs about parenting and engage in remarkably... more
A World of Babies provides a wide variety of answers to these and countless other child-rearing questions, precisely because diverse communities around the world hold such different beliefs about parenting and engage in remarkably different child-rearing practices. While celebrating that diversity, the book also explores the challenges that poverty, globalization, and violence pose for parents.
Fully updated for the twenty-first century, this edition features a new introduction and eight new or revised chapters that directly address contemporary parenting challenges, from China and Peru to Israel and the West Bank.
Written as imagined advice manuals to parents, the creative format of the book brings alive a rich body of knowledge that highlights many models of baby-rearing–each shaped by deeply held values and widely varying contexts
Parenthood may never again seem a matter of “common sense.”
Fully updated for the twenty-first century, this edition features a new introduction and eight new or revised chapters that directly address contemporary parenting challenges, from China and Peru to Israel and the West Bank.
Written as imagined advice manuals to parents, the creative format of the book brings alive a rich body of knowledge that highlights many models of baby-rearing–each shaped by deeply held values and widely varying contexts
Parenthood may never again seem a matter of “common sense.”
Research Interests: Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Sociology of Children and Childhood, Linguistic Anthropology, and 30 moreChildren and Families, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Early Childhood Education, Child Development, Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Infant Toddler Care, Infancy Narratives, Infant Mental Health, Children and Youth, Infant Cognition, Cultural Anthropology, Sociology of Childhood, Infancy, Early Childhood, Early Childhood Care and Education, Children, Child, Psicología Infantil, Educación Infantil, Educação Infantil, Infant Development, Infants/ Babies, Infancia, Early Childhood Development, Newborn Infant, Psicologia infantil, Cross-Cultural Practices with Children, Young People and Families, Sociology of Childhood and Youth, Babies, and Sociology of Childbirth
Research Interests: Anthropology, Social Research Methods and Methodology, Academic Development, Research Methodology, Qualitative methodology, and 11 moreQualitative Methods, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Qualitative Research, Research, Cultural Anthropology, Career Development, Careers, Qualitative Methodologies, Life Cycle, Qualitative Analysis, and Academic careers
In a compelling mix of literary narrative and ethnography, anthropologist Alma Gottlieb and writer Philip Graham continue the long journey of cultural engagement with the Beng people of Cote d'Ivoire that they first recounted in their... more
In a compelling mix of literary narrative and ethnography, anthropologist Alma Gottlieb and writer Philip Graham continue the long journey of cultural engagement with the Beng people of Cote d'Ivoire that they first recounted in their award-winning memoir Parallel Worlds. Their commitment over the span of several decades has lent them a rare insight. Braiding their own stories with those of the villagers of Asagbe and Kosangbe, Gottlieb and Graham take turns recounting a host of unexpected dramas with these West African villages, prompting serious questions about the fraught nature of cultural contact. Through events such as a religious leader's declaration that the authors' six-year-old son, Nathaniel, is the reincarnation of a revered ancestor, or Graham's late father being accepted into the Beng afterlife, or the increasing, sometimes dangerous madness of a villager, the authors are forced to reconcile their anthropological and literary gaze with the deepest parts of their personal lives. Along with these intimate dramas, they follow the Beng from times of peace through the times of tragedy that led to Cote d'Ivoire's recent civil conflicts. From these and many other interweaving narratives - and with the combined strengths of an anthropologist and a literary writer - "Braided Worlds" examines the impact of postcolonialism, race, and global inequity at the same time that it chronicles a living, breathing village community where two very different worlds meet.
Research Interests: Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction, Comparative Literature, Anthropology, Folklore, and 70 moreMedical Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Journalism, Travel Writing, Ethnography, Political Anthropology, Anthropology of Knowledge, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Africa, Anthropology of Gender, Fieldwork in Anthropology, Anthropology of space, West Africa, Literature and Medicine, African Literature, Cultural Competence, Sociology of Mental Health & Illness, Cross-Cultural Studies, Creative Non-Fiction, Diagnosis & Detection of Mental Illness, Folktales, Writing, Ethnography (Research Methodology), West Africa politics, World Literature, Travel theory, Mythologies, Reflective Fieldwork (Anthropology), Memoir and Autobiography, Travel Literature, Ethnographic fieldwork, Cultural Anthropology, Cross-cultural studies (Culture), Activist Ethnography, Ethnographic Methods, Sensory Ethnography, Memoir Writing, Political Ethnography, Cross-Cultural Communicaiton, Contemporary Fiction and Creative Nonfiction, West Africa Studies, Mental Illness, French Imperialism in West Africa, Cross-Cultural Communication, Fieldwork, ethnography, comparative visual media, humanitarianism, human rights, biopolitics, Marxist critique, postcolonial studies, documentary studies, critical theory and cultural studies, posthumanism, animal studies, discourses of the child, Travel, Oral literature, Collective Identities, Cote D'Ivoire, Memoirs, Madness, Memoir, West African History, Culturally Sensitive Research, Philosophy of Mind and Mental Illness, Memoir writing/ autobiography, Ivory Coast, Literatures of Voyaging, Discovery, Travel & Colonialism, Personal essay, Illness narratives, Impacts of Western civilization on the African socio political system, Madness, Race Identity, Anthropology of Religion, Religion of Ivory Coast, Fieldwork Methodology, Research Area: North Africa (Berbers / Imazighen, African Immigrant Communities In Europe, Culturally Sensitive, and Creative Nonfiction, Experimental Nonfiction, Literary Hybrids
"What does a move from a village in the West African rain forest to a West African community in a European city entail? What about a shift from a Greek sheep-herding community to working with evictees and housing activists in Rome and... more
"What does a move from a village in the West African rain forest to a West African community in a European city entail? What about a shift from a Greek sheep-herding community to working with evictees and housing activists in Rome and Bangkok? In The Restless Anthropologist, Alma Gottlieb brings together eight eminent scholars to recount the riveting personal and intellectual dynamics of uprooting one’s life—and decades of work—to embrace a new fieldsite.
Addressing questions of life-course, research methods, institutional support, professional networks, ethnographic models, and disciplinary paradigm shifts, the contributing writers of The Restless Anthropologist discuss the ways their earlier and later projects compare on both scholarly and personal levels, describing the circumstances of their choices and the motivations that have emboldened them to proceed, to become novices all over again. In doing so, they question some of the central expectations of their discipline, reimagining the space of the anthropological fieldsite at the heart of their scholarly lives."
Addressing questions of life-course, research methods, institutional support, professional networks, ethnographic models, and disciplinary paradigm shifts, the contributing writers of The Restless Anthropologist discuss the ways their earlier and later projects compare on both scholarly and personal levels, describing the circumstances of their choices and the motivations that have emboldened them to proceed, to become novices all over again. In doing so, they question some of the central expectations of their discipline, reimagining the space of the anthropological fieldsite at the heart of their scholarly lives."
Research Interests: African Studies, Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Travel Writing, Social Sciences, and 35 moreParticipatory Research, Action Research, Research Methodology, Research Design, Career Management, Ethnography, Lifelong Learning, Research Ethics, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Academic Writing, Fieldwork in Anthropology, History of Anthropology, Professional Career Trends, Career Orientation, Academia Research, Qualitative Research, Longitudinal Research, Research, Ethnographic fieldwork, Cultural Anthropology, Academic Profession, Fieldwork, Life Satisfaction, Language Learning, Career, Work-Life Balance, Career Development, Research Writing, Careers, Sociology and Anthropology, Life Cycle, Career Change, Academic careers, Gender & Careers, and Mid Late Career Change
When a new baby arrives among the Beng people of West Africa, they see it not as being born, but as being reincarnated after a rich life in a previous world. Far from being a tabula rasa, a Beng infant is thought to begin its life filled... more
When a new baby arrives among the Beng people of West Africa, they see it not as being born, but as being reincarnated after a rich life in a previous world. Far from being a tabula rasa, a Beng infant is thought to begin its life filled with spiritual knowledge. But how do these beliefs affect the ways the Beng raise their children?
In this unique and engaging ethnography of babies, Alma Gottlieb explores how Beng religious ideology affects every aspect of their childrearing practices, from bathing infants to protecting them from disease to teaching them how to crawl and walk. She shows too how widespread poverty among the Beng sets practical limits on these practices. A mother of two, Gottlieb includes moving discussions of how her experiences among the Beng changed the way she saw her own parenting. Throughout the book she also draws telling comparisons between Beng and Euro-American parenting, bringing home just how deeply culture matters to the ways we all raise our children.
Anyone interested in the culture of infancy, and vice versa, will enjoy The Afterlife Is Where We Come From.
In this unique and engaging ethnography of babies, Alma Gottlieb explores how Beng religious ideology affects every aspect of their childrearing practices, from bathing infants to protecting them from disease to teaching them how to crawl and walk. She shows too how widespread poverty among the Beng sets practical limits on these practices. A mother of two, Gottlieb includes moving discussions of how her experiences among the Beng changed the way she saw her own parenting. Throughout the book she also draws telling comparisons between Beng and Euro-American parenting, bringing home just how deeply culture matters to the ways we all raise our children.
Anyone interested in the culture of infancy, and vice versa, will enjoy The Afterlife Is Where We Come From.
Research Interests: Emotion, Special Education, Sociology of Children and Childhood, Ethnography, Child health, and 76 moreSocial and Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology of the Body, Ritual, Motor Development, Francophone Africa, Child Development, Social Cognition, Anthropology of Gender, West Africa, Dental Anthropology, Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Emotional Development, Language Development, Nonverbal Communication, Human Pregnancy, Birth And Breastfeeding, Emotion Regulation, Infant Toddler Care, Infancy Narratives, Infant Mental Health, Infant Cognition, Ethnography of Religion, Language Acquisition and Development, Young People, Infancy, Early Childhood, Anthropology/Sociology of Pregnancy, Infant Sign, Parent Education, Self-regulation, Infanticide, Children, Childbirth Practices, Childbirth Traditions, Face-to-face Interaction, Pregnancy, French and Francophone Studies, African and Caribbean Literature, New World Studies, Gender and Women Studies, Facial expressions, Cote D'Ivoire, Infant nutrition, Psicología Infantil, Touch, Reincarnation, Infant Development, Dental Development, Social Development in Infancy, Mother and Infant Interaction, Infant feeding, Traditional Midwifery, Birth Attendants, Maternal Health, Childbirth, Ivory Coast, Infants/ Babies, Socialization, Child Caretaking, Culture and Child Rearing, Reincarnation Research, Reincarnation beliefs, Mother-Child Attachment, Young Childhood Intelligence, Reincarnation in all faiths, Baby, Social Emotional Competencies, Development in infancy, Baby Talk, Infant and young child feeding, Childbirth and human lactation, Infant Mortality, Perinatal mental health, Child Speech and Language Development, Baby Food, Anthropology of Religion, At Risk Populations, Emotion Related Parenting, Socialization of Emotion, Infants and Toddlers, Families In Poverty, New Born, Umbilical Cord, Babbling in language development, and Nonverbal Expressions
"Back-cover blurbs: Blurbs – Parallel Worlds “At once thought-provoking and Entertaining, this compelling narrative offers the reader insight into the mysteries of magic, love, and life. Bravo!” -Oscar Hijuelos, winner of the... more
"Back-cover blurbs:
Blurbs – Parallel Worlds
“At once thought-provoking and Entertaining, this compelling narrative offers the reader insight into the mysteries of magic, love, and life. Bravo!”
-Oscar Hijuelos, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
“A beautiful memoir that will be savored with pleasure by seasoned fieldworkers, about-to-be fieldworkers, and anyone who is simply a fieldworker of the imagination.”
-Sherry Ortner, author of New Jersey Dreaming: Capital, Culture, and the Class of ’58.
“Parallel Worlds is a tour de force. Beautifully and carefully written, this book sensually evokes an African landscape filled with contradictions, passions, sorrows, and joys.”
-Paul Stoller
“A remarkable look at a remote society [and] an enegaging memoir that testifies to a loving partnership . . . compelling.”
-James Idema, Chicago Tribune
“A marvelously detailed and intriguing accounts of the hazards attending an attempt to embrace a radically different culture culture . . . . A unique collaborative achievement.”
-Norman Rush, author of Mating
"
Blurbs – Parallel Worlds
“At once thought-provoking and Entertaining, this compelling narrative offers the reader insight into the mysteries of magic, love, and life. Bravo!”
-Oscar Hijuelos, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
“A beautiful memoir that will be savored with pleasure by seasoned fieldworkers, about-to-be fieldworkers, and anyone who is simply a fieldworker of the imagination.”
-Sherry Ortner, author of New Jersey Dreaming: Capital, Culture, and the Class of ’58.
“Parallel Worlds is a tour de force. Beautifully and carefully written, this book sensually evokes an African landscape filled with contradictions, passions, sorrows, and joys.”
-Paul Stoller
“A remarkable look at a remote society [and] an enegaging memoir that testifies to a loving partnership . . . compelling.”
-James Idema, Chicago Tribune
“A marvelously detailed and intriguing accounts of the hazards attending an attempt to embrace a radically different culture culture . . . . A unique collaborative achievement.”
-Norman Rush, author of Mating
"
Research Interests: Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction, Travel Writing, Social and Cultural Anthropology, West Africa, and 22 moreCreative Non-Fiction, Memoir and Autobiography, Cultural Anthropology, Contemporary Fiction and Creative Nonfiction, Life Writing (Literature), Creative Nonfiction (Literature), Humanistic Anthropology, Life Writing, Experimental Writing, Creative Writing Workshops, and Avant-Garde Texts, Memoir, Memoir writing/ autobiography, Ivory Coast, Literary Anthropology, Autobiography and Life Writing, Literature and Anthropology, Religion of Ivory Coast, Anthropology and Literary Imagination, Anthropology And/O Literature, Anthropological and Literary Readings of Narratives, Anthropology and Literature (Wells, Creative Nonfiction; Memory Studies, and Creative Nonfiction, Experimental Nonfiction, Literary Hybrids
Are babies divine, or do they have the devil in them? Should parents talk to their infants, or is it a waste of time? This book provides answers to these and many other questions about the nature and nurturing of infants. In fact, it... more
Are babies divine, or do they have the devil in them? Should parents talk to their infants, or is it a waste of time? This book provides answers to these and many other questions about the nature and nurturing of infants. In fact, it provides several distinct answers to each one.
These answers appear as advice to parents in seven societies around the world. The authors of this book have imagined what a foreign-born Dr. Spock might have written if he (or she) were a healer from Bali . . . or an Aboriginal grandmother from the Australian desert . . . or a diviner from a rural village in West Africa. As the seven “manuals” that make up this book reveal, experts from elsewhere offer intriguingly different advice to new parents.
The creative format of this book brings alive a rich fund of ethnographic knowledge about seven societies, vividly illustrating a simple but powerful truth: there are many models of babyhood, each shaped by deeply held values and widely varying cultural contexts.
After reading this book, child-rearing may never again seem a matter of “common sense.”
These answers appear as advice to parents in seven societies around the world. The authors of this book have imagined what a foreign-born Dr. Spock might have written if he (or she) were a healer from Bali . . . or an Aboriginal grandmother from the Australian desert . . . or a diviner from a rural village in West Africa. As the seven “manuals” that make up this book reveal, experts from elsewhere offer intriguingly different advice to new parents.
The creative format of this book brings alive a rich fund of ethnographic knowledge about seven societies, vividly illustrating a simple but powerful truth: there are many models of babyhood, each shaped by deeply held values and widely varying cultural contexts.
After reading this book, child-rearing may never again seem a matter of “common sense.”
Research Interests: Developmental Psychology, Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Cultural Sociology, Sociology of Children and Childhood, and 53 moreChildren and Families, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Early Childhood Education, Cultural Theory, Parenting, Child Development, Identity (Culture), Culture, Human Pregnancy, Birth And Breastfeeding, Midwifery, Social Developmental Psychology, Parental Behavior, Infant Mental Health, Parent Child Relationships, Parent Child Interaction, Cultural Anthropology, Infancy, Anthropology/Sociology of Pregnancy, Parenting/childcare, Breastfeeding, Maternal and Child Health, Children, Colic, Childbirth Practices, Childbirth Traditions, Pregnancy, Social Development, Childbirth, Parental Involvement in Education, Educação Infantil, Parenting Styles, Natural Childbirth, Infant Development, History of childbirth and midwifery, Traditional Midwifery, Birth Attendants, Maternal Health, Childbirth, Nursing and midwifery, Infants/ Babies, Socialization, Child Caretaking, Culture and Child Rearing, Weaning, SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Infants and Toddlers in Childcare, Infant weaning, Midwives, Parental rearing styles, Breastfeeding, lactation, and reproductive health, FACTORS INFUENCING BREASTFEEDING PRACTISES, Midwife, Midwifery Womens health breastfeeding primary health care, Beliefs and Attitudes of Mothers Towards Breastfeeding, Childbirth Midwifery, Infantile Colic, Parental Practices, and Normal Childbirth
First published in 1988, this volume redefined the anthropological study of menstrual customs. Examining cultures as diverse as long-house dwellers in North Borneo, African farmers, Welsh housewives, and postindustrial American workers,... more
First published in 1988, this volume redefined the anthropological study of menstrual customs. Examining cultures as diverse as long-house dwellers in North Borneo, African farmers, Welsh housewives, and postindustrial American workers, it challenged the previously widespread image of a universal "menstrual taboo" as well as the common assumption of universal female subordination that underlay it. Offering feminist perspectives on comparative gender politics and symbolism, the book has interested students and scholars in anthropology, women's studies, religion, and comparative health systems. Originally listed as a “Notable” book in Choice, it later won the first Most Enduring Edited Collection Prize, awarded by the Council for the Anthropology of Reproduction (a unit of the American Anthropological Association.). The book continues to be taught regularly around the world.
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Sex and Gender, Women's Studies, Feminist Theory, Gender History, and 56 moreAnthropology of the Body, Feminist Epistemology, Ritual, Feminist Philosophy, Reproduction, Gender and Sexuality, Anthropology of Gender, Gender, Gender Equality, Gender and Work, Gender Discourse, Gender Theory, Feminism, Women and Gender Issues in Islam, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Menstruation, Poststructuralist Feminist Theory, Gender and Politics, Gender and religion (Women s Studies), Feminist history, Ritual (Anthropology), Transnational Feminism, Ritual Theory, Feminist Research Methods, Abortion, Gender and Islam, Sexuality Studies, Feminist studies, Gender Discrimination, Ritual Studies, Taboo, Maternity, Gender Issues, Stigma and Taboo, Queer, Twentieth-Century Australian History, Wales, Menstrual Purity, Critical Race and Whiteness Studies, Beng, Ritual Purity, Menstrual Blood, Menstrual Cycle, Menstrual Taboos, Pollution Ideologies, Yurok, Sacred Laws. Greek Religion. Religion Hebrew. Women. Religious Taboos. Sexuality. Blood. Sacrifice. Purity. Impurity. Chastity., History of Menstruation, Taboo Words, Ritual Practices, Menstrual Activism, Cultural Aspects of Menstruation, Menstrual Practices, Lesbian and Gay History, Citrizenship, and Sexualtiy Gender and National Identity
This companion volume to "Parallel Worlds" explores ideology and social practices among the Beng people of Cote d'Ivoire. Deploying interpretive and postmodern perspectives, the book highlights the dynamically paired notions of identity... more
This companion volume to "Parallel Worlds" explores ideology and social practices among the Beng people of Cote d'Ivoire. Deploying interpretive and postmodern perspectives, the book highlights the dynamically paired notions of identity and difference as symbolized by the kapok tree planted at the center of every Beng village.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Mythology And Folklore, Sociology of Religion, Anthropology, and 42 moreFolklore, Mythology, Indigenous Studies, Ethnography, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Divination, Francophone Africa, Identity (Culture), Sociology of Identity, West Africa, Indigenous Knowledge, Folktales, Cultural Identity, Anthropology of Kinship, Francophonie, Folklore (Literature), Indigenous Peoples, Francophone, Witchcraft, Religion and Magic, Comparative mythology, Individual Differences, Marriage (History), Myth, Identity, Religious Studies, Dogs, French and Francophone Studies, African and Caribbean Literature, New World Studies, Gender and Women Studies, Cote D'Ivoire, Arranged Marriages, Marriage and Family, Traditional Witchcraft, Commodities, Ivory Coast, Beng, Double Descent, Earth Deity, Arranged Marriage, Spotted Hyena, Hyena, French and Francophone Studies, Anthropology of Religion, and Hyenas
An etymological and explanatory dictionary of Beng (a Southern Mande language distantly related to Bamana, Jula, and other Northern Mande languages). Includes pronunciation, grammar, compound words, phrases, proverbs, plants, commerce,... more
An etymological and explanatory dictionary of Beng (a Southern Mande language distantly related to Bamana, Jula, and other Northern Mande languages). Includes pronunciation, grammar, compound words, phrases, proverbs, plants, commerce, medical information, and many other topics; with an English-Beng index.
Research Interests: West Africa, African languages, Comparative linguistics, African Linguistics, Swahili Language and Culture, African Linguistics, Cote D'Ivoire, and 6 moreDictionary, Ivory Coast, Beng language, African languages linguistics, African languages and literature, indigenous knowledge systems, onomastics, and African Languages and linguistics
This article considers claims of Mesman et al. (2017) that sensitive responsiveness as defined by Ainsworth, while not uniformly expressed across cultural contexts, is universal. Evidence presented demonstrates that none of the components... more
This article considers claims of Mesman et al. (2017) that sensitive responsiveness as defined by Ainsworth, while not uniformly expressed across cultural contexts, is universal. Evidence presented demonstrates that none of the components of sensitive responsiveness (i.e., which partner takes the lead, whose point of view is primary , and the turn-taking structure of interactions) or warmth are universal. Mesman and colleagues' proposal that sensitive responsiveness is "providing for infant needs" is critiqued. Constructs concerning caregiver quality must be embedded within a nexus of cultural logic, including caregiving practices, based on ecologically valid childrearing values and beliefs. Sensitive responsiveness, as defined by Mesman and attachment theorists, is not universal. Attachment theory and cultural or cross-cultural psychology are not built on common ground.
Research Interests:
This article examines the parent intervention program evaluated by Weber et al. (2017) and argues that there are scientific and ethical problems with such intervention efforts in applied developmental science. Scientifically , these... more
This article examines the parent intervention program evaluated by Weber et al. (2017) and argues that there are scientific and ethical problems with such intervention efforts in applied developmental science. Scientifically , these programs rely on data from a small and narrow sample of the world's population; assume the existence of fixed developmental pathways; and pit scientific knowledge against indigenous knowledge. The authors question the critical role of talk as solely providing the rich cognitive stimulation important to school success, and the critical role of primary caregivers as teachers of children's verbal competency. Ethically, these programs do not sufficiently explore how an intervention in one aspect of child care will affect the commu-nity's culturally organized patterns of child care. The reliance on parent intervention programs-such as the one described by Weber, Fernald, and Diop (2017)-to improve parenting practices and thus children's developmental achievements is a growing trend in applied developmental science. We find this trend alarming for both scientific and ethical reasons. These parenting programs rarely pay attention to the conceptual and methodological assumptions underlying the research and the translation of research findings on which they are based. The same can be said of the way these programs are evaluated. The assumptions that guide these endeavors reflect values and practices of a small percentage of the world's people: those who live Following Morelli, author names are listed in alphabetical order.
Research Interests:
This article examines the parent intervention program evaluated by Weber et al. (2017) and argues that there are scientific and ethical problems with such intervention efforts in applied developmental science. Scientifically , these... more
This article examines the parent intervention program evaluated by Weber et al. (2017) and argues that there are scientific and ethical problems with such intervention efforts in applied developmental science. Scientifically , these programs rely on data from a small and narrow sample of the world's population; assume the existence of fixed developmental pathways; and pit scientific knowledge against indigenous knowledge. The authors question the critical role of talk as solely providing the rich cognitive stimulation important to school success, and the critical role of primary caregivers as teachers of children's verbal competency. Ethically, these programs do not sufficiently explore how an intervention in one aspect of child care will affect the commu-nity's culturally organized patterns of child care.
Research Interests: African Studies, Psychological Anthropology, Development Studies, Language Acquisition, Globalization, and 15 moreHumanitarianism, Critical Pedagogy, Early Childhood Education, Parenting, Cultural Psychology, Cross-Cultural Psychology, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Modernization, Pedagogy, Parent Child Relationships, NGOs (Anthropology), Westernization, Parenting support, Parental education, and Parenting interventions
This article considers claims of Mesman et al. (2017) that sensitive responsiveness as defined by Ainsworth, while not uniformly expressed across cultural contexts, is universal. Evidence presented demonstrates that none of the components... more
This article considers claims of Mesman et al. (2017) that sensitive responsiveness as defined by Ainsworth, while not uniformly expressed across cultural contexts, is universal. Evidence presented demonstrates that none of the components of sensitive responsiveness (i.e., which partner takes the lead, whose point of view is primary , and the turn-taking structure of interactions) or warmth are universal. Mesman and colleagues' proposal that sensitive responsiveness is " providing for infant needs " is critiqued. Constructs concerning caregiver quality must be embedded within a nexus of cultural logic, including caregiving practices, based on ecologically valid childrearing values and beliefs. Sensitive responsiveness, as defined by Mesman and attachment theorists, is not universal. Attachment theory and cultural or cross-cultural psychology are not built on common ground.
Research Interests: Developmental Psychology, Emotion, Psychological Anthropology, Education, Globalization, and 15 moreCritical Pedagogy, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Early Childhood Education, Critical Thinking, Parenting, Child Development, Cultural Psychology, Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Cross-Cultural Studies, Attachment Theory, Parent Child Relationships, Affect (Cultural Theory), Ethnocentrism, Eurocentrism, and Cultural variation
This article explores ethical issues raised by parenting interventions implemented in communities in low-to middle-income countries (LMICs) with rural, subsistence lifestyles. Many of these interventions foster " positive parenting... more
This article explores ethical issues raised by parenting interventions implemented in communities in low-to middle-income countries (LMICs) with rural, subsistence lifestyles. Many of these interventions foster " positive parenting practices " to improve children's chances of fulfilling their developmental potential. The practices are derived from attachment theory and presented as the universal standard of good care. But attachment-based parenting is typical primarily of people living Western lifestyles and runs counter to the different ways many people with other lifestyles care for their children given what they want for them. Thus, such parenting interventions involve encouraging caregivers to change their practices and views, usually with little understanding of how such changes affect child, family, and community. This undermines researchers' and practitioners' ability to honor promises to uphold ethic codes of respect and beneficence. Support for this claim is provided by comparing positive parenting practices advocated by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF; with the world health organization [WHO]) Care for Child Development (CCD) intervention with parenting practices typical of communities with rural, subsistence lifestyles—the most common of lifestyles worldwide and largely observed in LMICs. As UNICEF has a considerable presence in these countries, the CCD intervention was selected as a case study. In addition, parenting interventions typically target people who are poor, and the issues this raises regarding ethics of fairness and justice are considered. Recommendations are made for ways change agents can
Research Interests: Developmental Psychology, Psychological Anthropology, Ethics, Development Studies, Globalization, and 15 moreCritical Pedagogy, Early Childhood Education, Cultural Psychology, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Modernization, Culture, Cross-Cultural Studies, Attachment Theory, NGOs (Anthropology), Westernization, Ethnocentrism, Eurocentrism, Parenting support, UNICEF, and Parenting interventions
ABSTRACT This chapter presents an alternative view to classic attachment theory and research, arguing for systematic, ethnographically informed, approaches to the study of child development. It begins with the observation that the... more
ABSTRACT This chapter presents an alternative view to classic attachment theory and research, arguing for systematic, ethnographically informed, approaches to the study of child development. It begins with the observation that the attachments children develop are locally determined, and insists that these features of attachment can only be captured through observing, talking with, and listening to local people as they go about living their lives, including caring for children. It reviews the profound ways in which childcare around the world differs from the Western model, upon which attachment theory was founded and myriad recommendations have been derived. This worldwide account of childcare is profusely illustrated with ethnographic examples. Network theory is then discussed: from the full range of social networks to relational ones (i.e., smaller sets of individuals to whom children may become attached). The chapter considers attachment theorists’ resistance to the idea of multiple attachments, historically and still today. Discussion closes with a summary of the implications of our theoretical rethinking and the questions that remain.
Research Interests: Social Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Psychological Anthropology, Ethnography, Critical Pedagogy, and 15 moreEarly Childhood Education, Parenting, Child Development, Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Culture, Socialization, Attachment Theory, Parent Child Relationships, Infancy, Interdisciplinary research (Social Sciences), Emotional bonds, Westernization, Ethnocentrism, Eurocentrism, and Close relationships
Attachment Theory has its roots in an ethnocentric complex of ideas, longstanding in the United States, under the rubric of "intensive mothering." Among these various approaches and programs, attachment theory has had an inordinate... more
Attachment Theory has its roots in an ethnocentric complex of ideas, longstanding in the United States, under the rubric of "intensive mothering." Among these various approaches and programs, attachment theory has had an inordinate influence on a wide range of professions concerned with children (family therapy, education, the legal system, and public policy, the medical profession, etc.) inside and outside the United States. This chapter looks critically at how attachment theory has been applied in a variety of contexts and discusses its influence on parenting. It examines the distortion that often results when research findings are translated into actual applications or programs, ignoring any particularities of cultural context, It describes how attachment theory has been used as the basis for child-rearing manuals and has influenced programs and policies more directly, to form legal decisions that affect families, as well as to develop public policy and programs - all without requisite evidence to support such application and, more importantly, without regard to cultural context. Because child-rearing practices vary among cultures, the value systems that motivate these different practices must be recognized and accounted for when applications are developed and implemented. It concludes with a call for researchers to become proactive in rectifying misuses of attachment theory and holds that doing so is a matter of social responsibility.
Research Interests: Developmental Psychology, Psychological Anthropology, Ethics, Critical Pedagogy, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and 15 moreEarly Childhood Education, Cultural Psychology, Cross-Cultural Psychology, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Modernization, Emotional Development, Attachment Theory, NGOs (Anthropology), Early Childhood, Westernization, Anthropology of Childhood, Ethnocentrism, Eurocentrism, UNICEF, and Parenting interventions
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o p e n i n g t h o u g h t s The silver sedan screeched to a stop inches before me as I dashed across the well-marked crosswalk. After catching my breath and turning to catch a glimpse of the Portuguese driver who had nearly killed me, I... more
o p e n i n g t h o u g h t s The silver sedan screeched to a stop inches before me as I dashed across the well-marked crosswalk. After catching my breath and turning to catch a glimpse of the Portuguese driver who had nearly killed me, I remembered the word for " run over " —atropelar—which I had just looked up yesterday, after seeing it mentioned numerous times in the local newspaper. Suddenly a series of stories I'd barely glanced at the past week made sense, and I made a mental note to pay more attention to what I now suspected might become a theme in my stay in this city—and that, I worried, might even be a theme endemic to the Portuguese psyche. After twenty-fi ve-plus years living among, working with, and writing about the Beng, a small, rural, " animist " community in the rain forest of Côte d'Ivoire, I recently began research in a radically diff erent space—the Euro-pean capital city of Lisbon—as the jumping-off point for a new research project with Cape Verdeans, a deeply diasporic population dispersed across Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Some anthropologists move easily from one fi eldsite to another; that was not my profi le. Loyalty had kept me attached to the Beng long after the point when I could visit them safely, and a good decade of indecision had kept me from committing to a new fi eldsite. My hesitations had both scholarly and personal foundations. In this chapter, I use my own case to think through broader trends and themes that characterize our disciplinary expectations for the model professional career.
Research Interests: Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Social Research Methods and Methodology, Research Methods and Methodology, Research Methodology, and 34 moreEthnography, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Urban Anthropology, Africa, Francophone Africa, Fieldwork in Anthropology, History of Anthropology, Reflexivity, West Africa, Urban Studies, Ethnographic Fieldwork (Anthropology), Ethnography (Research Methodology), Qualitative Research, Francophonie, Lusophone Cultures, Reflexive Anthropology, Ethnographic fieldwork, Cultural Anthropology, Ethnographic Methods, Ethnography of urban spaces, Cape Verde, Cabo Verde, Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Reflexive Writing, Urban Research, French and Francophone Studies, Cape Verdean Immigration, Rural research, Cape Verdean migration, Lusophone Africa, Anthropology of Religion, Religion of Ivory Coast, and Reflexivity In Research
In this paper, on the basis of Beng cultural practices from Ivory Coast, I challenged the model that easily associated women with pollution. Although we might imagine that this outdated model, which prevailed in much of 20th-century... more
In this paper, on the basis of Beng cultural practices from Ivory Coast, I challenged the model that easily associated women with pollution. Although we might imagine that this outdated model, which prevailed in much of 20th-century anthropology, is long gone, Donald Trump's recent remarks about Fox journalist, Megan Kelly, "bleeding from her wherever" reminds us that the model of women's bodies as being inherently polluting still lurks just beneath the surface of much patriarchal thinking.
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RESUMO Em quase toda a literatura antropológica bebês são frequentemente negligenciados, como se estivessem fora do escopo tanto do conceito de cultura quanto dos métodos da disciplina. Este artigo propõe seis razões para essa exclusão... more
RESUMO Em quase toda a literatura antropológica bebês são frequentemente negligenciados, como se estivessem fora do escopo tanto do conceito de cultura quanto dos métodos da disciplina. Este artigo propõe seis razões para essa exclusão dos bebês ...
While conducting fieldwork among the Beng people of Cote d'Ivoire in 1979-80 and again in 1985, whenever I gave small presents to people, I was often thanked with the phrase, 'Eci mi gba lenni kpekpedda' - 'May god... more
While conducting fieldwork among the Beng people of Cote d'Ivoire in 1979-80 and again in 1985, whenever I gave small presents to people, I was often thanked with the phrase, 'Eci mi gba lenni kpekpedda' - 'May god give you a healthy child', or 'Eci mi gba lenni bamaa' - ...
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Universally, the crying of a baby is a call to action. Western-trained psycholo-gists term it an "aversive" sound that must somehow naturally signal surround-ing adults, or even older children, to do... more
Universally, the crying of a baby is a call to action. Western-trained psycholo-gists term it an "aversive" sound that must somehow naturally signal surround-ing adults, or even older children, to do something to comfort the unhappy, small creatures. Yet what that ...
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In the oral literature of Africa, perhaps the best-known animal is the hyena: prowling at night, scavenging on other animals' prey, howling in an eerie way, this creature has suggested all that is immoral to humans,... more
In the oral literature of Africa, perhaps the best-known animal is the hyena: prowling at night, scavenging on other animals' prey, howling in an eerie way, this creature has suggested all that is immoral to humans, symbolizing a range of negative character traits from avarice to ...
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... Le Moal, Guy. 1981. 'Les activites religieuses des jeunes enfants chez les Bobo', Journal des africanistes 51: 235-250. Lewis, Laurence A., and Leonard Berry. 1988. ... 1973. 'Symbols in African... more
... Le Moal, Guy. 1981. 'Les activites religieuses des jeunes enfants chez les Bobo', Journal des africanistes 51: 235-250. Lewis, Laurence A., and Leonard Berry. 1988. ... 1973. 'Symbols in African ritual', Science 179 (16 March): 1100-1105. Uchendu, Victor Chikezie. 1965. ...
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Reclaiming the submerged yet deeply embedded Jewish component of their islands' past, many contemporary Cabo Verdeans are now researching their families' Jewish history and contacting peers with similar backgrounds. This ethnography of... more
Reclaiming the submerged yet deeply embedded Jewish component of their islands' past, many contemporary Cabo Verdeans are now researching their families' Jewish history and contacting peers with similar backgrounds. This ethnography of Cabo Verdeans with Jewish ancestry examines a range of contemporary activities in which many Cabo Verdeans on and offthe islands engage (from blogs and DNA tests to full-scale conversion to Orthodox practice), to trace--and sometimes reactivate--that religious heritage. For anglophone scholars of Africa, putting lusophone studies on the research map opens up exciting new directions--including following diasporic Sephardic routes across Africa in their past and contemporary instantiations.
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I edited a special section of the journal, Mande Studies (vol. 16/17, 2015) dedicated to understanding a variety of issues relevant to the Cape Verde Islands. In this short introduction to the collection, I provide a brief overview of... more
I edited a special section of the journal, Mande Studies (vol. 16/17, 2015) dedicated to understanding a variety of issues relevant to the Cape Verde Islands. In this short introduction to the collection, I provide a brief overview of each of the five essays: Isabel P. B. F6o Rodrigues, "Grammars of Faith for Unruly Speakers: Creolization and the Transmission of Portuguese in Cabo Verde"--boldly proposes a new paradigm for creolization studies that is destined to change the way linguistic anthropologists approach the formation of creole languages. Alma Gottlieb, "Crossing Religious Borders: Jews and Cabo Verdeans"--explores the conjoined Jewish-Cabo Verdean diaspora, discussing how ttris largely unknown yet historically significant dual diaspora is now being re-evaluated among contemporary Cabo Verdeans (both on and offthe islands) who have Jewish ancestry.
Elizabeth Challinor--"Cape Verdean Students in Northern Portugal Living with Contingency"--explores how the experiences of Cabo Verdean students in northern Portugal push us to stretch the boundaries of anthropological inquiry in analyzing how Cabo Verdeans are both included in and excluded from Portuguese society; along the way, she destabilizes traditional andytical dualities such as "student" and'laborer," "legal" and "illegal" migrant, and "cosmopolitan" and "local."
Wilson Trajano Filho--"On Colors and Flags in the Hinterland of Cape Verde's Santiago Island"--offers an arresting analysis of ritual parades of Cabo Verdean "tabanca" flags to the houses of their patron saints; Filho argues that the pageantry of these processions--which includes national flags and sports team flags of other countries, as well as syncretic banners mixing icons of global mass culture such as Michael Jackson and Bob Marley--constitutes an assertion by peasants who occupy lands that are seemingly remote from the centers of world power, that they are "coeval" with all of us in this world, and that present-day life can be pleasant, despite poverty and other material deprivations, thanks to the blessings of religious figures ("patron saints").
Gina Sanchez-Gibau--"Telling Our Story, Because No One Else WilL Cabo Verdean Transnational Identity Formation as Knowledge Production"--explores recent scholarship and situated standpoints produced by educated Cabo Verdeans with a vested interest in exploring Cabo Verdean transnational identity as a means of making their truths known and expanding awareness of the diasporic Cabo Verdean experience.
Collectively, these five essays offer a powerful argument for the centrality of the all-too-frequently ignored Cabo Verde islands and their global diaspora in any historical or contemporary discussion of migration and modernity.
Elizabeth Challinor--"Cape Verdean Students in Northern Portugal Living with Contingency"--explores how the experiences of Cabo Verdean students in northern Portugal push us to stretch the boundaries of anthropological inquiry in analyzing how Cabo Verdeans are both included in and excluded from Portuguese society; along the way, she destabilizes traditional andytical dualities such as "student" and'laborer," "legal" and "illegal" migrant, and "cosmopolitan" and "local."
Wilson Trajano Filho--"On Colors and Flags in the Hinterland of Cape Verde's Santiago Island"--offers an arresting analysis of ritual parades of Cabo Verdean "tabanca" flags to the houses of their patron saints; Filho argues that the pageantry of these processions--which includes national flags and sports team flags of other countries, as well as syncretic banners mixing icons of global mass culture such as Michael Jackson and Bob Marley--constitutes an assertion by peasants who occupy lands that are seemingly remote from the centers of world power, that they are "coeval" with all of us in this world, and that present-day life can be pleasant, despite poverty and other material deprivations, thanks to the blessings of religious figures ("patron saints").
Gina Sanchez-Gibau--"Telling Our Story, Because No One Else WilL Cabo Verdean Transnational Identity Formation as Knowledge Production"--explores recent scholarship and situated standpoints produced by educated Cabo Verdeans with a vested interest in exploring Cabo Verdean transnational identity as a means of making their truths known and expanding awareness of the diasporic Cabo Verdean experience.
Collectively, these five essays offer a powerful argument for the centrality of the all-too-frequently ignored Cabo Verde islands and their global diaspora in any historical or contemporary discussion of migration and modernity.
Research Interests: Jewish Studies, Cape Verdean Diaspora Politics, Jewish Cultural Studies, Cape Verde, Cape Verdean Immigration, and 11 moreCape Verdean migration, Cape Verdean Creole, Santiago Cape Verde, Cape Verde return visits transnational migration, Cape Verdean Literature, ethnography, identity construction, Cape Verdean Americans, Cape Verdean Americans, Cape Verdean Language, Cape Verdeans, Cape Verdian Diaspora, and Cape Verde Studies
Research Interests: Multiculturalism, Jewish Studies, African Diaspora Studies, West Africa, Jewish History, and 25 moreJewish - Christian Relations, African Diaspora, Morocco, History of the Jews, Migration Studies, Diaspora Studies, Transnational migration, Jewish historiography, Sephardic Studies, Judaism, Modern Jewish History, Jewish Cultural Studies, Cape Verde, Cabo Verde, Sepharad, Jews, Sephardic Jewish Heritage, Sephardic Jews, New England, Sephardic culture, Sephardic history, Ladino, Sephardic Literature and Culture, Sephardi, Migrations of Sephardim and Mizrachim, Sephardic Diaspora and Migrations, and Marranos Crypto-Jews Anusim Sephardics Sephardic-Jews Spanish-Jews Judaism Converts Proselytes
This paper explores the nature of Americans' vacations from the perspective of social and symbolic anthropology. Taking the viewpoint of the vacationers themselves, it suggests that two polar types of vacations are recognized by... more
This paper explores the nature of Americans' vacations from the perspective of social and symbolic anthropology. Taking the viewpoint of the vacationers themselves, it suggests that two polar types of vacations are recognized by Americans, termed “Peasant for a Day” and “Queen (King) for a Day.” Each of these types inverts an aspect of American society, but depending on the class of the vacationer involved, the inversion takes on one of two forms: either dissolution or accentuation of the social hierarchy. Examples and variations of these two basic types of vacation are presented; both domestic and overseas holidays are discussed.
Les vacances des Américains. Cet essai emploie l'anthropologie sociale et symbolique en analysant le fond des vacances que prennent les Américains. En examinant le point de vue des voyageurs eux-mêmes, il suggère qu'il y a deux types polaires de vacances que reconnaissent les Américains nommés “Paysan pour une journée” et “Reine (roi) pour une journée.” Tous les deux types renversent un aspect de la société américaine, mais selon la classe des voyageurs, l'inversion prend l'une des deux formes: ou elle dissound ou elle accentue l'hiérarchie sociale. On présente des exemples et des variations des deux types de vacances; et les vacances domestiques et les vacances d'outre-mer sont analysées.
Les vacances des Américains. Cet essai emploie l'anthropologie sociale et symbolique en analysant le fond des vacances que prennent les Américains. En examinant le point de vue des voyageurs eux-mêmes, il suggère qu'il y a deux types polaires de vacances que reconnaissent les Américains nommés “Paysan pour une journée” et “Reine (roi) pour une journée.” Tous les deux types renversent un aspect de la société américaine, mais selon la classe des voyageurs, l'inversion prend l'une des deux formes: ou elle dissound ou elle accentue l'hiérarchie sociale. On présente des exemples et des variations des deux types de vacances; et les vacances domestiques et les vacances d'outre-mer sont analysées.
Research Interests: American Studies, Tourism Studies, Symbolic Anthropology (Anthropology), Political Ideology, Social Structure, and 13 moreTOURISME, L'Amerique, La Structure Sociale, L'ideologie Politique, L'Anthropologie Symbolique, Vacations, Class Structure, Ritual Inversion, Vacances, Structure de la Classe, Inversion Rituelle, Socioeconomic Class, and La Classe Socioeconomique
Physical discomfort such as bloating & cramps are probably universal premenstrually, but the psychological changes that are part of the US premenstrual syndrome (PMS) are not found cross-culturally. Here, the most prevalent type of PMS,... more
Physical discomfort such as bloating & cramps are probably universal premenstrually, but the psychological changes that are part of the US premenstrual syndrome (PMS) are not found cross-culturally. Here, the most prevalent type of PMS, in which irritability & hostility are predominant, is analyzed. It is argued that during PMS, women regularly & dramatically invert the cultural norms of acceptable feminine behavior. During the rest of the month, US women are expected to be nice, compassionate, & generous to the point of selflessness. PMS offers women an opportunity to reverse that norm in a manner similar to "rituals of reversal" that anthropologists have documented in many non-Western societies. Yet due to the general cultural view that PMS is fabricated by its sufferers, women are unlikely to have their complaints taken seriously. Thus PMS is, however unconsciously, a self-defeating condition; however, it is intrinsic to how US culture at present defines the personality options available to women.
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Anthropology, Women's Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology of the Body, and 18 moreWomen's Health, Anthropology of Gender, Gender, Women and Gender Issues in Islam, Menstruation, American Women Studies, Women's Empowerment, Socio-cultural, Women and Work, Stress (Psychology), Women and Culture, Women and Gender Studies, Premenstrual Syndrome, PMS, Menstrual Cycle, Menstrual Taboos, Premenstrual Mood Dysphoric Disorder, and Menstrual characteristics
In “Babies as Ancestors, Babies as Spirits: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa,” Alma Gottlieb explores the cultural values that underlie childhood in one corner of rural West Africa. In Côte d'Ivoire, the Beng people believe in an... more
In “Babies as Ancestors, Babies as Spirits: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa,” Alma Gottlieb explores the cultural values that underlie childhood in one corner of rural West Africa. In Côte d'Ivoire, the Beng people believe in an afterlife called wrugbe, where the deceased are said to live as ancestors before they are reincarnated in this life as infants. Yet all babies are said to partly remain in the afterlife, which they exit through a gradual spiritual journey that takes several years to complete. During the in-between time of early childhood, the consciousness of the baby is sometimes in wrugbe, sometimes in this life. Therefore, the main goal of parents of young children is to make this life pleasurable, so the child is not tempted to return to wrugbe. In this article, Gottlieb analyzes a set of ritual processes that are intended to hasten the baby’s exit from wrugbe and full entry into “this life,” including linguistic and other practices. The Beng model of childhood—with its dramatic differerences from the dominant Western view—reminds us that childhood is always deeply constructed by cultural assumptions, religious values, and social systems.
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This essay explores the unstudied practice of collaboration with spouses, colleagues, and others that characterizes much anthropological research and writing. The article suggests several factors -- from writing style to gender bias to... more
This essay explores the unstudied practice of collaboration with spouses, colleagues, and others that characterizes much anthropological research and writing. The article suggests several factors -- from writing style to gender bias to philosophical orientation -- that explain the wholesale neglect of the issue of anthropological collaboration. The essay exhorts anthropologists to take seriously the contemporary project of rethinking disciplinary norms by exploring theoretical as well as pragmatic implications of individual collaborative projects.
Research Interests: Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Research Methodology, Ethnography, Professional Writing, and 19 moreScholarly Communication, Academic Writing, Collaboration, History of Reading and Writing, Writing, Writing Studies, Ethnography (Research Methodology), Qualitative Research, Phd Writing, Research, Scholars publishing practices and strategies, Ethnographic fieldwork, Cultural Anthropology, Ethnographic Methods, Collaborative Networks, Collaborative Learning, Multidisciplinary Collaboration, Research Writing, and Scholarly Publishing
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Difficulties in comparing the position of women in different countries & cultures are discussed, with particular attention to problems arising from attempts to translate local customs, practices, & concepts into English or to label &... more
Difficulties in comparing the position of women in different countries & cultures are discussed, with particular attention to problems arising from attempts to translate local customs, practices, & concepts into English or to label & assimilate them into Western anthropological understanding. Keeping in mind these difficulties, an attempt is made to compare the conception, valuation, & structuring of male-female roles & statuses in sub-Saharan Africa & northern India, analyzing marriage, family, household, bridewealth, & dowry practices.
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Sex and Gender, Women's Studies, Feminist Theory, Gender, and 12 moreFeminism, Social status, Women and Culture, India, Women and Gender Studies, Cross-Cultural Comparison, Prestige, Females, Traditional Societies, Male-Female Roles/ Status, Dowry, and How Relevant is Dowry In Todays Context
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Research Interests: Social Anthropology, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Genre studies, Genre, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and 10 moreTextual Scholarship, Scholarly Communication, Academic Writing, Genre Theory, Cultural Anthropology, Ethnographic Writing, Research Writing, Ethnographic and Narrative Writing, Ethnographic documentation, and Ethnographic Writing and Cultural Representation
In this essay I destabilize the concept of “education.” Is the concept itself, as generally understood, universally applicable? Typically it presumes the notion of a child emerging from the womb as something of a tabula rasa, to be... more
In this essay I destabilize the concept of “education.” Is the concept itself, as generally understood, universally applicable? Typically it presumes the notion of a child emerging from the womb as something of a tabula rasa, to be educated by adults from to teach an essentially unknown, and un-knowing, newborn. As an anthropologist steeped in a variety of non-Western traditions, I encourage educators to rethink the notion of "education" itself as a concept rooted in a specific cultural tradition that may or may not be helpful elsewhere. Drawing on my research among the Beng people of Côte d’Ivoire, I focus on the Beng concept of the afterlife and analyze how that concept informs day-to-day child-care decisions that parents and other caretakers make in relation to babies and young children for the first years of their lives. Given an ideology of reincarnation, Beng infants are said to know a great deal in emerging from the womb. Before being born, it is thought, they were leading active lives in the Beng "afterlife.” There, they had specific pleasures, and they communicated with one another in any language spoken by humans anywhere. Thus in this life, adults speak regularly to even the youngest of infants, since they are said to emerge from the womb with their prior understanding of all languages still intact. Indeed, the major linguistic task of babies is to forget the irrelevant languages of the afterlife, rather than to learn an entirely new language. With such a view of the life cycle, the major challenge of Beng mothers is not to teach infants, but to learn from them so as to satisfy whatever desires their babies bring with them to this life. To discover these desires, Beng mothers consult diviners, who are said to understand (via a series of spirit intermediaries) the language of babies. Through this case study, I present an indigenous conception of the nature and task of “education” that is quite different from the one that most educators bring to the discipline.
Research Interests: Social Theory, Anthropology, Education, Social Anthropology, Languages and Linguistics, and 17 moreSociology of Children and Childhood, Social Sciences, Linguistic Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Early Childhood Education, Child Development, West Africa, Indigenous Knowledge, Infant Cognition, Cultural Anthropology, Infancy, Children, Infant Development, Ivory Coast, Cultural and Social Anthropology, Anthropology of Religion, and Babies
Anthropologists have neglected a significant dimension to religion by ignoring the spiritual lives of a society's youngest members. In Côte d'lvoire, Beng infants are said to lead a profoundly spiritual existence. Indeed, until the age of... more
Anthropologists have neglected a significant dimension to religion by ignoring the spiritual lives of a society's youngest members. In Côte d'lvoire, Beng infants are said to lead a profoundly spiritual existence. Indeed, until the age of five or so, Beng children are said to live at least part of the time in the spiritual other world (wrugbe) that they inhabited before being reincarnated. Exploring both ideology and praxis, the article probes the consequences for the daily experiences and care of Bang babies, including umbilical cord care, enemas, crying, adornment, naming, personality development, and infant disease and death. The article concludes by considering the implications of a full-blown treatment of infants for the practice of anthropology.
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Research Interests: Ethnography, Fieldwork in Anthropology, Ethnographic Fieldwork (Anthropology), Ethnography (Research Methodology), Qualitative Research, and 9 moreQualitative Research Methods, Ethnographic fieldwork, Ethnographic Methods, Fieldwork, Methodology (political theory, typology, social science research methods), Ethnographic & autoethnographic research, Qulitative Resaerch and Community Participation, Dialectics of Fieldwork, and Fieldwork Methodology
Research Interests: Sociology of Children and Childhood, Values Education, Play, Social sciences and values, Human Values, and 25 moreValues, Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Children and Youth, Outdoor Play and Learning, Children's lore, play & games, Children's Play, Anthropology of Children and Youth, Children, Anthropology of Childhood, Folklore, Anthropology, Aesthetics, Theories of Play, Games, and Humor, Popular Culture, History of Media and Technology, Narrative Theory, Informal Networks, Early Childhood Curriculum, Early childhood music, movement, singing, dance, musical brain development, play, musical exploration, Children's Play & Traditional Games, Social Emotional Learning, My main areas are teaching methods, especially student centred methods, especially cooperative learning, as well as multiple intelligences and extensive reading. I also do environmental education and I want to do more with human-animal studies., Cooperation and Competition as Learning Tools, Teaching Values, Teaching Good Virtues and Values, Childhood Studies, Early Childhood Education, and Children's Play Culture., Ethics and Values, Beliefs & Values, Family Oriented Values, Play and Culture, Play and Creativity in the Curriculum, and Peer Groups and Their Influence Upon the Learning of Young Children
The role of experience in the development of pictorial competence has been the center of substantial debate. The four studies presented here help resolve the controversy by systematically documenting and examining manual exploration of... more
The role of experience in the development of pictorial competence has been the center of substantial debate. The four studies presented here help resolve the controversy by systematically documenting and examining manual exploration of depicted objects by infants. We report that 9-month-old infants manually investigate pictures, touching and feeling depicted objects as if they were real objects, even trying to pick them up off the page. The same behavior was observed in babies from two extremely different societies (the United States and Beng in the Ivory Coast). This investigation of pictures occurs even though infants can discriminate between real objects and their depictions. By the time infants are 19 months of age, their manual exploration is replaced by pointing at depicted objects. These results indicate that initial uncertainty about the nature of pictures leads infants to investigate them. Through experience, infants begin to acquire a concept of “picture.” This concept includes the fact that a picture has a dual nature (it is both an object and a representation of something other than itself), as well as knowledge about the culturally appropriate use of pictures.
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By focusing on how the Beng depict hyenas in oral literature and how they treat living hyenas in ritual activities, this article explores how each of these domains makes radically different statements about a single subject. In both... more
By focusing on how the Beng depict hyenas in oral literature and how they treat living hyenas in ritual activities, this article explores how each of these domains makes radically different statements about a single subject. In both cases, hyenas represent a form of subversion of society, but the value such subversion is given contrasts dramatically in the two realms under discussion. Bakhtin's concept of "heteroglossia" is used as a model for analyzing how two distinct realms of meaning in a single society may exist in mutual contradiction.
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Research Interests: Mythology And Folklore, Economic Geography, Anthropology, Plant Ecology, Ethnobotany, and 77 moreWilderness (Environment), Ethnography, Political Ecology, Environmental Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Environmental Anthropology, Contemporary Spirituality, Spirituality, History of West Africa, Human-Environment Relations, Ritual, Africa, Tropical Ecology, Economic Anthropology, African Religion in Africa and the Diaspora, West Africa, Social science (Africa), Forest Ecology And Management, Local Economic Development, Environment and natural resources conservation, Science and Spirituality, Folk legends, Ecology, Timber, Economic Development, Spirituality & Mysticism, Sacred (Religion), Folklore (Literature), Environmental Sustainability, Anthropology Of Nature, Spiritualism, Contemporary animism, Spirit Possession (Anthropology), Animal Sacrifice (Anthropology), Cultural Anthropology, Animism, West Africa (History), Timber Supply (Forestry Economics), Nature, Sacred spaces and conservation, West Africa Studies, Tropical trees, Folk literature, Belief Systems, Rain forest, Cote D'Ivoire, Color symbolism, Folk and Fairy Tales, Tropical Forest Ecology, West African History, Folk Literature, Folk Deities & Tribal Culture, Polytheism, Shamanism, Pagan studies, Animism, Connectedness to Nature, Social Change, Community Economic Development, Public Management, Policy Analysis and Evaluation Research, Project/program Management, Strategic Management, Rain Forest Ecology, Rain forest conservation, Nature Conservation, Sacred Space, Political ecology, NGOs, sustainable development, biodiversity, agroecology, amazonia, brazil, global change, environmental actors, protect areas, nature conservation., Timber Harvesting, Ritual Animal Sacrifice, Sacred Groves, Ivory Coast, Trees, Slash and Burn Agriculture, Logging operation, Environment and Development, Sustainable Timber Construction, Logging, Illegal Logging, Timber Research, Chlorophora Excelsa, Tropical rain forest, Natural forest management for timber, Sustainable Logging, and Monumental Trees
An imagined childcare guide for parenting, Beng-style, as if it were written by a (fictionalized) Beng diviner and grandmother, but based on ethnographic research written up in more scholarly style elsewhere (especially, The Afterlife Is... more
An imagined childcare guide for parenting, Beng-style, as if it were written by a (fictionalized) Beng diviner and grandmother, but based on ethnographic research written up in more scholarly style elsewhere (especially, The Afterlife Is Where We Come from: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa, by Alma Gottlieb; U. of Chicago Press, 2004).
Research Interests: Religion, Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Sociology of Children and Childhood, Child health, and 19 moreChildren and Families, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Child Development, West Africa, Infant Cognition, Cultural Anthropology, Infancy, Parenting/childcare, Children, Infant Development, Ivory Coast, Childcare, Reincarnation Research, Infants and Toddlers in Childcare, Reincarnation beliefs, Reincarnation in all faiths, Anthropology of Religion, Religion of Ivory Coast, and Idea of Reincarnation
Research Interests: Ethnography, Qualitative methodology, Qualitative Methods, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Africa, and 17 moreFieldwork in Anthropology, West Africa, Qualitative Methods (Methodology), Ethnography (Research Methodology), Qualitative Research, Qualitative Research Methods, Ethnographic fieldwork, Cultural Anthropology, Ethnographic Methods, Mental Illness, Qualitative Research Methodology, Fieldwork, Qualitative inquiry, Madness, Qualitative Methodologies, Ivory Coast, and Cultural and Social Anthropology
In this essay, which was originally published in 1982 (and then revised for publication in this collection in 1988), I sought to relocate the topic of menstruation to a new framework at variance with much of the then-current scholarly... more
In this essay, which was originally published in 1982 (and then revised for publication in this collection in 1988), I sought to relocate the topic of menstruation to a new framework at variance with much of the then-current scholarly literature on menstruation (as laid out in the Introduction to this volume)--a framework not directly rooted in gender, nor restricted to the view that menstrual blood is by definition perceived negatively. Specifically, I explored Beng notions of menstruation as they relate to wider notions of pollution and fertility. I argued that, rather than indicating a concern with a general model of women's pollution, and hence women's lower status, Beng menstrual taboos and notions of menstrual pollution address a larger concern with the spatiosymbolic pollution of human fertility when it is removed from its proper place (as posited by cultural models of space). Moreover, rather than debasing women, menstruation among the Beng adds value to a major component of women's value--women's cooking.
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Research Interests: Social Anthropology, Research Ethics, Qualitative methodology, Qualitative Methods, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and 16 moreFieldwork in Anthropology, Reflexivity, West Africa, Professional Ethics, Local Economic Development, Local Development, Qualitative Research, Qualitative Research Methods, Reflexive Anthropology, Ethnographic fieldwork, Cultural Anthropology, Fieldwork, Anthropological Ethics, Ivory Coast, Reflexive Writing, and Cultural and Social Anthropology
Parent-offspring conflict theory suggests that the reproductive interests of parents and children may conflict when parents want to have another child and an existing child wants continued parental attention and resources. This conflict... more
Parent-offspring conflict theory suggests that the reproductive interests of parents and children may conflict when parents want to have another child and an existing child wants continued parental attention and resources. This conflict leads toddlers to throw temper tantrums and use other psychological weapons to maintain parental investment. Few studies employing this theory have considered both the cultural and the biological contexts of weaning. Using systematic qualitative and quantitative data collected among the Bofi farmers and foragers of Central Africa, we examined the influence of cultural schemas and practices, nursing patterns, child's age, maternal pregnancy, and maternal work patterns on children's responses to the cessation of nursing. As predicted by the theory, Bofi farmer children exhibited high levels of fussing and crying when abruptly weaned while Bofi forager children showed no marked signs of distress. Differences in child care practices associated with the cessation of nursing contributed to this variation, and these practices are linked to broader differences in cultural schemas and social relations. These findings are used to discuss intersections between culture and biology and to show that parent-offspring conflict theory can accommodate a diversity of contexts.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Abstract: As is the case with the vast majority of cultural anthropologists, I began my field research working with adults. Becoming a mother changed my life – not just my family life (of course), but also my career. Being pregnant,... more
Abstract: As is the case with the vast majority of cultural anthropologists, I began my field research working with adults. Becoming a mother changed my life – not just my family life
(of course), but also my career. Being pregnant, undergoing childbirth, and embarking on the awesome project of raising a child also raised for me countless questions – practical and
emotional to be sure, but also intellectual. Along with the gift of a child came a second gift, the gift of becoming an anthropologist of motherhood – and, more generally, of parenthood,
of caretaking, and of the object of all that affection and work, children themselves. In this essay, I look back on the difference that parenthood made in reshaping my scholarly
perspective on social life, and in reshaping my teaching career in the academy as a mentor and a professor. I conclude by reflecting on the pleasures and challenges of forging an
anthropological study of that tiniest and most sociologically invisible of human groups, infants.
Résumé : Comme pour la majorité des anthropologues culturels, devenir mère a changé ma vie – pas seulement ma vie de famille (bien sûr) –, mais aussi ma carrière. Être enceinte,
donner la vie et se lancer dans le projet fou d‘élever un enfant a fait surgir en moi d‘innombrables questions – d‘ordre pratique et émotionnel bien sûr, mais également d‘ordre intellectuel. Le cadeau que représente un enfant s‘est accompagné d‘un autre, celui de devenir une anthropologue de la maternité – et, plus globalement, de la parentalité, de la prise en charge, et de l‘objet de toute cette affection et ce travail, les enfants eux-mêmes. Dans cet article, je me penche sur ce que la parentalité a changé dans ma perspective de recherche sur la vie sociale et dans ma carrière d‘enseignante à l‘Université en tant que mentor/maître de stage et professeur. Je conclus avec quelques réflexions sur les plaisirs et les défis que représente la construction d‘une étude anthropologique des êtres les plus petits et sociologiquement presque invisibles, les enfants.Mots-clefs : Anthropologie de la petite e
(of course), but also my career. Being pregnant, undergoing childbirth, and embarking on the awesome project of raising a child also raised for me countless questions – practical and
emotional to be sure, but also intellectual. Along with the gift of a child came a second gift, the gift of becoming an anthropologist of motherhood – and, more generally, of parenthood,
of caretaking, and of the object of all that affection and work, children themselves. In this essay, I look back on the difference that parenthood made in reshaping my scholarly
perspective on social life, and in reshaping my teaching career in the academy as a mentor and a professor. I conclude by reflecting on the pleasures and challenges of forging an
anthropological study of that tiniest and most sociologically invisible of human groups, infants.
Résumé : Comme pour la majorité des anthropologues culturels, devenir mère a changé ma vie – pas seulement ma vie de famille (bien sûr) –, mais aussi ma carrière. Être enceinte,
donner la vie et se lancer dans le projet fou d‘élever un enfant a fait surgir en moi d‘innombrables questions – d‘ordre pratique et émotionnel bien sûr, mais également d‘ordre intellectuel. Le cadeau que représente un enfant s‘est accompagné d‘un autre, celui de devenir une anthropologue de la maternité – et, plus globalement, de la parentalité, de la prise en charge, et de l‘objet de toute cette affection et ce travail, les enfants eux-mêmes. Dans cet article, je me penche sur ce que la parentalité a changé dans ma perspective de recherche sur la vie sociale et dans ma carrière d‘enseignante à l‘Université en tant que mentor/maître de stage et professeur. Je conclus avec quelques réflexions sur les plaisirs et les défis que représente la construction d‘une étude anthropologique des êtres les plus petits et sociologiquement presque invisibles, les enfants.Mots-clefs : Anthropologie de la petite e
Research Interests: Anthropology, Feminist Theory, Social Research Methods and Methodology, Sociology of Children and Childhood, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and 14 moreChild Development, Academic Writing, Biography, Academia Research, Qualitative Research, Book Publishing, Cultural Anthropology, Infancy, Academic Publishing, Ideologies of Motherhood, Sociologia da Infância, Women in academia, Monographs, and Getting Tenure
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
I interview Robbie Davis-Floyd about a new book she has recently co-authored (with Charles Laughlin), The Power of Ritual.
Research Interests: Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Ritual, and 15 moreRitual (Anthropology), Cultural Anthropology, Ritual Theory, Ritual Studies, Childbirth Practices, Medicalization of Childbirth, Technocratic Childbirth, Childbirth Traditions, Childbirth, Rituals, Natural Childbirth, Traditional Midwifery, Birth Attendants, Maternal Health, Childbirth, Ritual Practices, Anthropology of Childbirth, and Childbirth Midwifery
Research among laughing gathering-hunting women of Central Africa might give newly empowered female members of the U.S. Congress some inspiration about how to keep unruly men in line.
Research Interests: Feminist Sociology, Political Sociology, Anthropology, Feminist Theory, Applied, engaged, and public anthropology, and 15 morePolitical Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Laughter, Feminism, Black feminism, Feminist activism, Women of Color Feminism, Black Feminist Theory/Thought, Feminism(s), Hunter-Gatherers (Anthropology), Feminism and Social Justice, Feminist Political Theory, New Media and Political Activism, Hunters-gatherers, and Hunter-Gatherers
Unilever and General Mills have both created ad campaigns aimed at challenging disempowering images of women. This blog post compares their successes and failures and ends by calling for systematic overhaul of the advertising industry to... more
Unilever and General Mills have both created ad campaigns aimed at challenging disempowering images of women. This blog post compares their successes and failures and ends by calling for systematic overhaul of the advertising industry to promote more gender-positive and empowering images of women.
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Reflections on lessons learned after having received a venomous bite by a brown recluse spider. Concludes with a call for a new anthropology of pain.
Research Interests: Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Social Research Methods and Methodology, and 12 moreSocial Sciences, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Chronic Pain, Cultural Anthropology, Arachnology, Pain Management, Spiders, Animal venoms and toxins, Poisoning, Cultural and Social Anthropology, Arachnophobia, and Entomology and Arachnology
Anthropological linguist Perry Gilmore and I have a conversation about her astonishing new book, Kisisi.
Research Interests: Intercultural Communication, Second Language Acquisition, Languages and Linguistics, Sociology of Children and Childhood, Natural Language Processing, and 25 moreChildren and Families, Child Development, Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Language Evolution, Pidgins & Creoles, Children's Perceptions, Children's Voices, Creole languages and education, Kenya, Pidgin and Creole Languages, Intercultural Competence, Children's Play, Language Learning, Children, Creole linguistics, Pidgins and Creoles, Second Language Acquisiton, Language Learning, Play, Children's Literature, Pidgin Languages, Pidginization, Children's Language Development, Pidgin and creole studies, Pidgin, Children's Informal Language Practices and Learning, and Sociolinguistics, Pidgins and creoles
This short reflection piece was written to accompany US showings of "The Consul of Bordeaux," a film chronicling the life of Portuguese diplomat, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who single-handedly saved the lives of perhaps some 30,000 people... more
This short reflection piece was written to accompany US showings of "The Consul of Bordeaux," a film chronicling the life of Portuguese diplomat, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who single-handedly saved the lives of perhaps some 30,000 people from the Holocaust by issuing transit visas (from France through Spain) to these individuals (mostly in an astonishing six-day period) while he served as Portuguese consul in Bordeaux. The Portuguese film (subtitled in English) has been introduced to the US by SPIA Media (dir., Claire Andrade-Watkins).
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Anthropologist Helena Wulff has been conducting research on youth culture and multiple art worlds (especially in Western Europe) for over thirty years. Wulff’s recent book, "Rhythms of Writing: An Anthropology of Irish Literature"... more
Anthropologist Helena Wulff has been conducting research on youth culture and multiple art worlds (especially in Western Europe) for over thirty years.
Wulff’s recent book, "Rhythms of Writing: An Anthropology of Irish Literature" (Bloomsbury, 2017), brings an anthropologist’s questions to the world of contemporary literature.
We recently had an e-conversation about her new, pathbreaking book about Irish writers. Read the interview here.
Wulff’s recent book, "Rhythms of Writing: An Anthropology of Irish Literature" (Bloomsbury, 2017), brings an anthropologist’s questions to the world of contemporary literature.
We recently had an e-conversation about her new, pathbreaking book about Irish writers. Read the interview here.