Analisi comparativa e interdisciplinare (antropologia e storia) sulla guerra e la violenza in sei... more Analisi comparativa e interdisciplinare (antropologia e storia) sulla guerra e la violenza in sei societ\ue0 africane, pre-coloniali, coloniali e post-coloniali
Questo contributo riflette sull’assunzione da parte di un movimento sociale di uno strumento tipi... more Questo contributo riflette sull’assunzione da parte di un movimento sociale di uno strumento tipico degli Stati, il censimento. Le politiche chaviste appoggiano gli attivisti che sostengono le rivendicazioni di comunita che si identificavano come “negre”. Il socialismo del secolo XXI sposa la causa del riscatto, la finanzia, l’indirizza e la fa interagire con esigenze statali e partitiche. In questo clima favorevole, gli intellettuali promuovono il ripensamento e la riscrittura della storia nazionale, propongono una nuova categoria identitaria, quella di “afrodiscendenti”, denunciano la perdurante invisibilita delle comunita “afro”. Per i leader del movimento, il riconoscimento del peso sociale e politico delle comunita che rappresentano passa per una campagna pluriennale finalizzata ad una conta formale degli “afrodiscendenti” che si realizza nel censimento del 2011. L’inserimento delle nuove categorie etnico-razziali si rivela pero controproducente per chi guida il movimento: l’id...
This essay uses an anthropological phenomenology to examine the relevance of the notion of comfor... more This essay uses an anthropological phenomenology to examine the relevance of the notion of comfort. It contains a definition of comfort, an illustration of models of comfort distribution as well as an exploration of the potential contribution of sensuous relaxation in reviving theoretical tools introduced by Michel Foucault (techniques of the self), Philippe Descola (naturalism), Mary Douglas (danger and risk) and Antonio Gramsci (hegemony). I show that these key notions in the history of anthropology can be usefully refashioned to analyse contemporary comfortable existences: the epochal shift towards the overcoming of fatigue; the progressive screening of the undomesticated environment from holistic sensuous experiences; the amplification of disgust associated to organic substances and agencies; the transition from an hegemony exercised through cultural institutions to a generalised dependency on global economic and financial agencies, resulting from the spread of comfortable produ...
This theme section inquires into the contribution of political anthropology to radical theories, ... more This theme section inquires into the contribution of political anthropology to radical theories, social imagination, and practices underlying political “alternatives”, which we propose to call “alterpolitics”. The issue of an alternative to contemporary powers in globalization is a central topic in social movements and radical debates. This sense of possibility for political alternatives is associated with the desertion of the belief in “the end of history”: the current economic crisis and the decline of Western hegemony presumably announce a radical transformation of the neoliberal world, opening space to alternatives. Actually, the reconfiguration of twentieth-century capitalism is associated with a growing mistrust of political institutions, the crisis being “organic”, in the Gramscian sense (Gramsci 1975). Recent social movements and insurrections around the world—from the “colored revolutions” in Central Asia to the Spanish indignados, the US Occupy movement, the Arab Spring, u...
In the course of the 1970s, one of the principal focuses of the emerging feminist anthropology wa... more In the course of the 1970s, one of the principal focuses of the emerging feminist anthropology was the reassessment of issues of gender inequality. Drawing their inspiration from Marxist theory going back to Engels, some works historicized female oppression and analyzed its political and economic determinants. To demonstrate that gender inequality was the product of specific historical formations, the observable gender relations were, at times, opposed to a prior egalitarian social order in which value differentiation was not attached to the gendered labor division (e.g., Leacock 1981). The approach was criticized by those who believed that female subordination characterized present and past societies on which solid documentary evidence was available (e.g., Rosaldo 1974). The idea that gender realtions in some non-western societies were marked by parity prior to the degradation produced by colonization was not abandoned, however, and influenced neighboring disciplines.Recent studies...
... Abu (1983) and Tetteh (1967) support Fortes's thesis of the importance of the se... more ... Abu (1983) and Tetteh (1967) support Fortes's thesis of the importance of the separateness of spouses with data from their surveys carried out in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions which show that approximately half of the married women do not live in the same household ...
This article introduces the concept of institutional alignment, referring to the contemporary con... more This article introduces the concept of institutional alignment, referring to the contemporary convergence of a number of institutions (political, governmental, economical, clerical and media) working to hegemonize legitimate knowledge and privilege certain issues. In such instances institutions are called upon to align themselves in terms of narrative style, use of lexicon, symbolic array and, most importantly, the diffusion of a homogeneous and approved truth. Institutional alignment has been implemented in the last few years in Italy on a number of issues crucial to the ideological and economic preservation of the established order: the support for the wars conducted by the Italian armed forces under the guise of humanitarian intervention, especially during periods of patriotic mourning; the backing for the construction of large public infrastructural projects; the condemnation of what is labelled as ‘political violence’; the protection of policies said to generate ‘economic and financial stability’. The issue is illustrated with reference to the celebrations for the anniversary of Italy's 150 years of unity. The agencies involved in promoting a uniform representation in this context are examined. Finally, the frailty of the hegemonic grip is discussed.
The spatial expressions of egalitarian and hierarchical political relations, respectively along t... more The spatial expressions of egalitarian and hierarchical political relations, respectively along the horizontal and vertical axis, are visually illustrated in a broad cross-cultural perspective. The dichotomy between los de abajo (those below) and los de arriba (those above) is explored in contemporary Venezuelan politics, using ethnographic and visual evidence. The socialist party, which presents itself as representative of los de abajo, has been increasingly criticized for being los de arriba both by the opposition and by grassroots PSUV (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela; United Socialist Party of Venezuela) activists who denounce the persistence of hierarchical dynamics through metaphors such as paracaido (para-shooter) and poner la escalera (holding the ladder).
This essay uses an anthropological phenomenology to examine the relevance of the notion of comfor... more This essay uses an anthropological phenomenology to examine the relevance of the notion of comfort. It contains a definition of comfort, an illustration of models of comfort distribution as well as an exploration of the potential contribution of sensuous relaxation in reviving theoretical tools introduced by Michel Foucault (techniques of the self), Philippe Descola (naturalism), Mary Douglas (danger and risk) and Antonio Gramsci (hegemony). I show that these key notions in the history of anthropology can be usefully re-fashioned to analyse contemporary comfortable existences: the epochal shift towards the overcoming of fatigue; the progressive screening of the undo-mesticated environment from holistic sensuous experiences; the amplification of disgust associated to organic substances and agencies; the transition from an hegemony exercised through cultural institutions to a generalised dependency on global economic and financial agencies, resulting from the spread of comfortable production.
Analisi della nozione di crisi e dell'allineamento dei poteri statali, finanziario, mediatico, ec... more Analisi della nozione di crisi e dell'allineamento dei poteri statali, finanziario, mediatico, economico
Analisi comparativa e interdisciplinare (antropologia e storia) sulla guerra e la violenza in sei... more Analisi comparativa e interdisciplinare (antropologia e storia) sulla guerra e la violenza in sei societ\ue0 africane, pre-coloniali, coloniali e post-coloniali
Questo contributo riflette sull’assunzione da parte di un movimento sociale di uno strumento tipi... more Questo contributo riflette sull’assunzione da parte di un movimento sociale di uno strumento tipico degli Stati, il censimento. Le politiche chaviste appoggiano gli attivisti che sostengono le rivendicazioni di comunita che si identificavano come “negre”. Il socialismo del secolo XXI sposa la causa del riscatto, la finanzia, l’indirizza e la fa interagire con esigenze statali e partitiche. In questo clima favorevole, gli intellettuali promuovono il ripensamento e la riscrittura della storia nazionale, propongono una nuova categoria identitaria, quella di “afrodiscendenti”, denunciano la perdurante invisibilita delle comunita “afro”. Per i leader del movimento, il riconoscimento del peso sociale e politico delle comunita che rappresentano passa per una campagna pluriennale finalizzata ad una conta formale degli “afrodiscendenti” che si realizza nel censimento del 2011. L’inserimento delle nuove categorie etnico-razziali si rivela pero controproducente per chi guida il movimento: l’id...
This essay uses an anthropological phenomenology to examine the relevance of the notion of comfor... more This essay uses an anthropological phenomenology to examine the relevance of the notion of comfort. It contains a definition of comfort, an illustration of models of comfort distribution as well as an exploration of the potential contribution of sensuous relaxation in reviving theoretical tools introduced by Michel Foucault (techniques of the self), Philippe Descola (naturalism), Mary Douglas (danger and risk) and Antonio Gramsci (hegemony). I show that these key notions in the history of anthropology can be usefully refashioned to analyse contemporary comfortable existences: the epochal shift towards the overcoming of fatigue; the progressive screening of the undomesticated environment from holistic sensuous experiences; the amplification of disgust associated to organic substances and agencies; the transition from an hegemony exercised through cultural institutions to a generalised dependency on global economic and financial agencies, resulting from the spread of comfortable produ...
This theme section inquires into the contribution of political anthropology to radical theories, ... more This theme section inquires into the contribution of political anthropology to radical theories, social imagination, and practices underlying political “alternatives”, which we propose to call “alterpolitics”. The issue of an alternative to contemporary powers in globalization is a central topic in social movements and radical debates. This sense of possibility for political alternatives is associated with the desertion of the belief in “the end of history”: the current economic crisis and the decline of Western hegemony presumably announce a radical transformation of the neoliberal world, opening space to alternatives. Actually, the reconfiguration of twentieth-century capitalism is associated with a growing mistrust of political institutions, the crisis being “organic”, in the Gramscian sense (Gramsci 1975). Recent social movements and insurrections around the world—from the “colored revolutions” in Central Asia to the Spanish indignados, the US Occupy movement, the Arab Spring, u...
In the course of the 1970s, one of the principal focuses of the emerging feminist anthropology wa... more In the course of the 1970s, one of the principal focuses of the emerging feminist anthropology was the reassessment of issues of gender inequality. Drawing their inspiration from Marxist theory going back to Engels, some works historicized female oppression and analyzed its political and economic determinants. To demonstrate that gender inequality was the product of specific historical formations, the observable gender relations were, at times, opposed to a prior egalitarian social order in which value differentiation was not attached to the gendered labor division (e.g., Leacock 1981). The approach was criticized by those who believed that female subordination characterized present and past societies on which solid documentary evidence was available (e.g., Rosaldo 1974). The idea that gender realtions in some non-western societies were marked by parity prior to the degradation produced by colonization was not abandoned, however, and influenced neighboring disciplines.Recent studies...
... Abu (1983) and Tetteh (1967) support Fortes's thesis of the importance of the se... more ... Abu (1983) and Tetteh (1967) support Fortes's thesis of the importance of the separateness of spouses with data from their surveys carried out in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions which show that approximately half of the married women do not live in the same household ...
This article introduces the concept of institutional alignment, referring to the contemporary con... more This article introduces the concept of institutional alignment, referring to the contemporary convergence of a number of institutions (political, governmental, economical, clerical and media) working to hegemonize legitimate knowledge and privilege certain issues. In such instances institutions are called upon to align themselves in terms of narrative style, use of lexicon, symbolic array and, most importantly, the diffusion of a homogeneous and approved truth. Institutional alignment has been implemented in the last few years in Italy on a number of issues crucial to the ideological and economic preservation of the established order: the support for the wars conducted by the Italian armed forces under the guise of humanitarian intervention, especially during periods of patriotic mourning; the backing for the construction of large public infrastructural projects; the condemnation of what is labelled as ‘political violence’; the protection of policies said to generate ‘economic and financial stability’. The issue is illustrated with reference to the celebrations for the anniversary of Italy's 150 years of unity. The agencies involved in promoting a uniform representation in this context are examined. Finally, the frailty of the hegemonic grip is discussed.
The spatial expressions of egalitarian and hierarchical political relations, respectively along t... more The spatial expressions of egalitarian and hierarchical political relations, respectively along the horizontal and vertical axis, are visually illustrated in a broad cross-cultural perspective. The dichotomy between los de abajo (those below) and los de arriba (those above) is explored in contemporary Venezuelan politics, using ethnographic and visual evidence. The socialist party, which presents itself as representative of los de abajo, has been increasingly criticized for being los de arriba both by the opposition and by grassroots PSUV (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela; United Socialist Party of Venezuela) activists who denounce the persistence of hierarchical dynamics through metaphors such as paracaido (para-shooter) and poner la escalera (holding the ladder).
This essay uses an anthropological phenomenology to examine the relevance of the notion of comfor... more This essay uses an anthropological phenomenology to examine the relevance of the notion of comfort. It contains a definition of comfort, an illustration of models of comfort distribution as well as an exploration of the potential contribution of sensuous relaxation in reviving theoretical tools introduced by Michel Foucault (techniques of the self), Philippe Descola (naturalism), Mary Douglas (danger and risk) and Antonio Gramsci (hegemony). I show that these key notions in the history of anthropology can be usefully re-fashioned to analyse contemporary comfortable existences: the epochal shift towards the overcoming of fatigue; the progressive screening of the undo-mesticated environment from holistic sensuous experiences; the amplification of disgust associated to organic substances and agencies; the transition from an hegemony exercised through cultural institutions to a generalised dependency on global economic and financial agencies, resulting from the spread of comfortable production.
Analisi della nozione di crisi e dell'allineamento dei poteri statali, finanziario, mediatico, ec... more Analisi della nozione di crisi e dell'allineamento dei poteri statali, finanziario, mediatico, economico
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