- Professor, Università di Bologna, Department of History and Cultures, Faculty Memberedit
The cotton empire is part of a "global" history in which this plant plays a leading role due to the antiquity of its presence in immense spaces and the numerous bibliography that has been dedicated to it. The aim of this paper is to... more
The cotton empire is part of a "global" history in which this plant plays a leading role due to the antiquity of its presence in immense spaces and the numerous bibliography that has been dedicated to it. The aim of this paper is to restore "flesh and blood" to the historical and cultural skeletons by bringing to light the connections between ethnography, microhistory and regional and social history. Special attention is paid to the accounts of some indigenous Wichí women from the former Franciscan mission of Misión Nueva Pompeya (Chaco, Argentina), where, from the 1960s onwards, entire families were engaged in cotton picking. The aim is to highlight these female voices within a national and regional history that tells us little or nothing about their lives as pickers.
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Chi sono oggi gli indigeni Wichí e che tipo di transizione alimentare stanno vivendo? Cosa ci racconta la loro storia più recente e come sono giunti ad un tipo di alimentazione prevalentemente basata su prodotti industrializzati? Si... more
Chi sono oggi gli indigeni Wichí e che tipo di transizione alimentare stanno vivendo? Cosa ci racconta la loro storia più recente e come sono giunti ad un tipo di alimentazione prevalentemente basata su prodotti industrializzati? Si ripercorrerà la storia dei gruppi Wichí che si stanziarono con i padri francescani presso la futura missione Nueva Pompeya per riflettere sui diversi cambiamenti economici e nutrizionali. Oggi infatti malnutrizione e obesità affliggono il Chaco argentino e in particolare le zone indigene. Bambini, adolescenti e adulti sono parimenti colpiti. Attraverso dati etnografici e della letteratura si farà luce sulle conseguenze socio-culturali della transizione alimentare tenendo a mente che il rapporto che i Wichí hanno con il loro bosco è di stretta e totale interdipendenza e abbraccia il sistema economico-sociale e quello simbolico dei valori condivisi. Ci si focalizzerà su alcuni progetti legati a Slow Food a cui partecipa la ONG, Fundación Gran Chaco per capire se essi rispondano ad alcune urgenze legate alla transizione alimentare.
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The article reflects on the significance of certain photographic portraits and old family photographs for some indigenous wichís of the Argentine Chaco. If in the photographic portraits taken at their request one notices, from the poses... more
The article reflects on the significance of certain photographic portraits and old family photographs for some indigenous wichís of the Argentine Chaco. If in the photographic portraits taken at their request one notices, from the poses they assume, a certain conventionalism, in the photographs taken by a young indigenous boy a marked creativity emerges, and in the family photographs shown to me one perceives a vivid desire to preserve historical memory through images. Each photograph is followed by a story, a comment, a kind of ekfrasis that guides the shot or accompanies the moment when old photographs are shown. Photographs are like life stories: choral and personal at the same time, they prompt reflection on their meaning and value and on the meaning they have from the point of view of their materiality and the emotions they convey. This is the main objective of the article, which is followed by that of the desired restitution. It is therefore not a review of studies on the role of photography in anthropological and indigenous studies, but rather a reflection that can be shared with the protagonists of the images and stories.
Research Interests:
The two women whose work is discussed in anthropological history texts are Ruth Benedict (1887-1948) and Margaret Mead (1901-1978), both disciples of German anthropologist Franz Boas (1858-1942). The article takes into account the main... more
The two women whose work is discussed in anthropological history texts are Ruth
Benedict (1887-1948) and Margaret Mead (1901-1978), both disciples of German anthropologist Franz Boas (1858-1942). The article takes into account the main lines of Boas’ approach, which concentrated especially on the study of the person, and analyzes the paths of some of his direct and indirect students, who, for different reasons, failed to be included in the canonical history of anthropology. These
life stories reveal not only the theoretical, methodological, and ethnographic density of the Boasian anthropology networks, but also the fact that these women were courageous researchers with respect to their studies and ethnographic approach. We pay special attention to the paths followed by Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), Elsie Clews Parsons (1875-1941), and Ruth Landes (1908-1991).
Keywords: anthropology, ethnography, history of anthropology, women.
Benedict (1887-1948) and Margaret Mead (1901-1978), both disciples of German anthropologist Franz Boas (1858-1942). The article takes into account the main lines of Boas’ approach, which concentrated especially on the study of the person, and analyzes the paths of some of his direct and indirect students, who, for different reasons, failed to be included in the canonical history of anthropology. These
life stories reveal not only the theoretical, methodological, and ethnographic density of the Boasian anthropology networks, but also the fact that these women were courageous researchers with respect to their studies and ethnographic approach. We pay special attention to the paths followed by Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), Elsie Clews Parsons (1875-1941), and Ruth Landes (1908-1991).
Keywords: anthropology, ethnography, history of anthropology, women.
The aim of this essay is to propose some methodological reflections on indigenous autobiography and on the anthro- pology of emotions through an ethnographical case study. The autobiography creates a link that can often be very strong... more
The aim of this essay is to propose some methodological reflections on indigenous autobiography and on the anthro- pology of emotions through an ethnographical case study. The autobiography creates a link that can often be very strong between the anthropologist and the informant. This can lead both to pay particular attention to emotional aspects, which therefore become tools for understanding the cultural system. Out of this case study what has emerged is a particular reading of certain cultural practices related to kinship and life in society.
The paper proposes, on the one hand, a reflection on the anthropological methodology. It analyzes how the disciplinary paradigm and research practices neither encourage nor require a systematic clarification of the implicit methodology.... more
The paper proposes, on the one hand, a reflection on the anthropological methodology. It analyzes how the disciplinary paradigm and research practices neither encourage nor require a systematic clarification of the implicit methodology. On the other hand, the prerogatives of the biographical method are presented, which allows for a sensitive ethnography that tries to be particularly attentive to the “person” factor. Finally, some testimonies of current Wichís women from Misión Nueva Pompeya in the Argentinian Chaco are introduced. These stories were mainly told in Spanish and one of them was translated from the Wichí by the author itself with a young Wichi student. In these testimonies, the protagonists reflect on the meaning of some verbal expressions, propose notional translations, and explain their contexts of use.
After a brief characterization of the Wichi (or Weenhayek) people and their language, and pointing out the circumstances that gave rise to this dossier, the articles are critically reviewed by emphasizing in each case what can be... more
After a brief characterization of the Wichi (or Weenhayek) people and their language, and pointing out the circumstances that gave rise to this dossier, the articles are critically reviewed by emphasizing in each case what can be considered as their original contribution. Likewise, a cross-cutting dialogue is established between the articles within each section (the people, the world, the word), and some problems of Wichi studies that cross the dossier as a whole are discussed: for instance, the importance of linguistic data in ethnographic research (and vice versa) or the technical, political and social implications of adopting a writing system for the Wichi/Weenhayek language.
Partiendo de un preciso análisis histórico y social del contexto, el libro se aden- tra en el microcosmo de una familia indígena, los lazos de parentesco, la vida cotidiana, las transiciones y la viva adhesión al universo tradicional. El... more
Partiendo de un preciso análisis histórico y social del contexto, el libro se aden- tra en el microcosmo de una familia indígena, los lazos de parentesco, la vida cotidiana, las transiciones y la viva adhesión al universo tradicional. El pueblo es el de Misión Nueva Pompeya, una antigua misión franciscana en el Chaco argentino, donde hoy conviven comunidades indígenas, criollos, misioneros de distintas filiaciones, chaqueños y gringos. Un universo observado a través de los ojos de Teodora, que llegó aquí en los años setenta, cuando acababa de llegar Guillermina Hagen Montes, una monja perteneciente al movimiento de la Teología de la Liberación.
El libro analiza cómo se articulan las redes de parentesco, de qué se nutren las relaciones en las familias wichís, qué significa el temor de encontrarse atrapado en el incesto.
La historia que presenta Teodora es inevitable no pensarla en los ecos, cerca- nos o lejanos, del mito. Al igual que el mito, muestra los dramas familiares, los aspectos dolorosos y ocultos de su existencia, las fragilidades de una mujer huérfana frente a redes de parentela que prescriben comportamientos preci- sos dentro del propio grupo. Si en el mito, los hijos de la corzuela (tsona), para evitar las restricciones impuestas por su condición de orfandad (la de contra- er matrimonio con una hermana clasificatoria), se sustraen completamente al mundo social refugiándose en el mundo celeste, las historias aquí relatadas muestran qué sucede cuando los huérfanos deciden vivir conscientemente su vida social y no pueden o no quieren escapar.
Zelda Alice Franceschi es doctora en Antropología por la Universidad de Milán Bicocca (Italia) y titular del curso Historia de la Antropología e Antropología de las Américas en la Universidad de Bolonia (Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà, Scuola di Lettere e Beni Culturali).
Ha enseñado en las universidades nacionales de Córdoba y Salta (Argentina), en la Universidad de Montreal (Canadá) y en la Universidad Nacional de Bogotá (Colombia). Tiene una afiliación en el Departamento de Antropología de la Universidad de Oxford y es miembro del Centro de Investigaciones Históricas y Antropológicas (CIHA). Sus prin- cipales líneas de investigación son la historia de la antropología, las historias de vidas y las autobiografías indígenas. Su etnografía se centra en la región del Chaco argentino.
El libro analiza cómo se articulan las redes de parentesco, de qué se nutren las relaciones en las familias wichís, qué significa el temor de encontrarse atrapado en el incesto.
La historia que presenta Teodora es inevitable no pensarla en los ecos, cerca- nos o lejanos, del mito. Al igual que el mito, muestra los dramas familiares, los aspectos dolorosos y ocultos de su existencia, las fragilidades de una mujer huérfana frente a redes de parentela que prescriben comportamientos preci- sos dentro del propio grupo. Si en el mito, los hijos de la corzuela (tsona), para evitar las restricciones impuestas por su condición de orfandad (la de contra- er matrimonio con una hermana clasificatoria), se sustraen completamente al mundo social refugiándose en el mundo celeste, las historias aquí relatadas muestran qué sucede cuando los huérfanos deciden vivir conscientemente su vida social y no pueden o no quieren escapar.
Zelda Alice Franceschi es doctora en Antropología por la Universidad de Milán Bicocca (Italia) y titular del curso Historia de la Antropología e Antropología de las Américas en la Universidad de Bolonia (Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà, Scuola di Lettere e Beni Culturali).
Ha enseñado en las universidades nacionales de Córdoba y Salta (Argentina), en la Universidad de Montreal (Canadá) y en la Universidad Nacional de Bogotá (Colombia). Tiene una afiliación en el Departamento de Antropología de la Universidad de Oxford y es miembro del Centro de Investigaciones Históricas y Antropológicas (CIHA). Sus prin- cipales líneas de investigación son la historia de la antropología, las historias de vidas y las autobiografías indígenas. Su etnografía se centra en la región del Chaco argentino.