Linda Armano is an anthropologist at the Department of Management in Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Previously she was a Marie-Sklodowska Global Fellow (2019-2022) at the Department of Management in Ca' Foscari University of Venice and the Faculty of Management at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests include Anthropology of non-renewable resources, Business Ethics, Sustainability, Luxury Brand Marketing
Rethinking ethical certification systems through indigenous concepts of ethicality Abstract Canad... more Rethinking ethical certification systems through indigenous concepts of ethicality Abstract Canadian diamonds are distinguished in the international market by an ethical certification connected to the protection of human rights and the environment. However, the idea that underpins the concept of ethics remains anchored in Western and anthropocentric views. Drawing upon the literature focused on the relationships between colonisation models embedded in global markets based on ethical certifications, this article reflects on the inherent shortcomings of the concept of ethics related to Canadian diamond certification from an Indigenous perspective. This research introduces a methodology based on the study of argumentation to develop an anthropological approach that is also useful in economic studies to rethink the processes of constructing certification schemes by integrating Indigenous concepts of ethics.
This issue of Im@go is dedicated to the analysis of environmental imaginaries and, in particular,... more This issue of Im@go is dedicated to the analysis of environmental imaginaries and, in particular, their emergency character. The anthropic impact on natural systems reconfigures, as never before, an apocalyptic scenario revealed by extreme events: cataclysms, desertification processes and rising seas, reduction of biodiversity, climate overheating and pollution of ecosystems. To avert the end of the world, mankind seems to have to remedy its faults by setting out, individually and collectively, on a rapid ecological transition. In this path of expiation, the notion of the environment takes on the contours of a semantic reservoir (Durand 1996) from which emerge moral orders and normative systems capable, with increasing force, of ordering and prefiguring different spheres of social reality: lifestyles and consumption, national and international policies, the capitalist system, techno-scientific research and aesthetic forms. The imagery of the environmental apocalypse has thus become a powerful device of social change that highlights a series of issues around which the journal intends to reflect.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Sep 30, 2022
This contribution focuses on Osoyoos Nk’Mip Cellar, an indigenous winery in British Columbia. Spe... more This contribution focuses on Osoyoos Nk’Mip Cellar, an indigenous winery in British Columbia. Specifically, this study has highlighted the possibility of overcoming the classic dichotomy, often present in anthropological studies focused on agricultural practices, between a subsistence system and an industrial agricultural production. In particular, the productive and cultural context of Osoyoos Nk’Mip Cellar allowed joining, within the same investigation, issues related to the actions of indigenous self-determination against the Canadian government, which proved to be an important factor of attraction for visitors particularly sensitive to the issues of political recognition of native Canadian groups. To these considerations is also added the preference of consumers towards particular wines, such as Icewine, which also allowed the investigation of the consumption experiences of visitors in the winery.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Jul 29, 2022
L'industria mineraria è stata travolta da preoccupazioni riguardanti l'inquinamento del suolo e d... more L'industria mineraria è stata travolta da preoccupazioni riguardanti l'inquinamento del suolo e dell'aria, gestioni del lavoro poco etiche e violazioni dei diritti umani. Rintracciando interpretazioni culturali del concetto di eticità in relazione ai diamanti canadesi, questo contributo problematizza i significati della certificazione dei diamanti etici canadesi e la loro tracciabilità lungo la filiera. Specificatamente, lo studio evidenzia che più ci si allontana dal contesto estrattivo canadese, più il concetto di eticità legato al diamante si fa nitido grazie a narrazioni pubblicitarie, mentre più ci si avvicina al contesto di indagine, più il concetto di eticità diventa offuscato, eterogeneo, frammentato e incomprensibile.
This research analyses, through ethnographic research, the cultural interpretations of the global... more This research analyses, through ethnographic research, the cultural interpretations of the global storytelling of Canadian ethical diamonds given by different subjects, belonging to diverse sociocultural and economic contexts, including staff of mining companies, indigenous communities, jewellers, and consumers. The study took place at the two ends of the diamond supply chain, in the Canadian Northwest Territories, where the mines and mining companies are located, and in two jewellery stores in Milan and Bologna, that sell Canadian diamonds. Introducing the concept of the Process of Argumentative Aphasia I highlight how the discourses of the participants in the research on Canadian ethical diamonds were becoming increasingly metaphorically unpronounceable and, therefore, misaligned with the official storytelling as I approached the mining context; whereas moving towards the sales contexts, the argumentative contents of the jewellers' and consumers' speeches were more aligned with the contents of the global advertising narratives on diamonds mined in Canada.
Rivista italiana di antropologia applicata, Dec 20, 2019
Cyberspace is only one of the many metaphors used to describe the Internet. While there is a grow... more Cyberspace is only one of the many metaphors used to describe the Internet. While there is a growing body of literature on identity formation in cyberspace, there are important gaps in this field. One of these is related to the analysis of the use of digital technologies by the Northern Canadian Indigenous people. Precisely, the author, focusing her attention on Tåîchô and Yellowknives Dene communities in Northwest Territories of Canada, analyzes the contents of their websites and online archives in order to understand how these native groups promote their culture and spread out their knowledge through digital technologies for working toward decolonization.
Armano's Deep Cultural Interpretation Model (DCIM) (2018) is useful as it systematises cultural v... more Armano's Deep Cultural Interpretation Model (DCIM) (2018) is useful as it systematises cultural values and worldviews collected through ethnographic research in a language understandable to management and marketing. The DCIM codifies the culturally modelled knowledge that a human group has of the reality in which it lives. In particular, the DCIM photographs, within categories, the cultural structure of a group from which cultural values, cultural norms (which allow values to be expressed in reality), implicit habits, and explicit behaviours are unfolded. The DCIM is effective for comparing different worldviews of different social groups (belonging to different cultures and subgroups within the same culture). In this way, by photographing and codifying the cultural vision of different groups of people it is possible to focus attention not only on the contents of the DCIM categories (which will be illustrated below) but especially on the relationship between different worldviews in order to highlight any value-related gaps and possibilities of encounter.
In Sierra Leone, the underwater search for diamonds coexists with the artisanal extraction of bui... more In Sierra Leone, the underwater search for diamonds coexists with the artisanal extraction of building materials and precious metals such as sand, stone, gold, and diamond extracted in the mine. There are numerous and substantial differences between these various mining activities, but one aspect is shared by all miners: the need to earn money – more specifically, "fast money" - with which to escape poverty or improve their own status. This paper shows how miners' ideas about "fast money" are key to understanding temporal perceptions of resources, highlighting a temporal economy based on the articulation of different modes of production. Various kinds of temporalities, as well as different rhythms and cycles, are at stake in this mining context. This paper explores this multiplicity and endeavors to explain the emergence of accelerated temporalities. By examining and comparing different kinds of extractive activities, this paper argues that artisanal diamond mining can be seen as a transformative practice that seeks to accelerate the encounter between a variety of rhythms and temporalities.
This study aims to highlight the use of the peculiar interconnection between two different produc... more This study aims to highlight the use of the peculiar interconnection between two different production sectors, specifically the diamond and the food sectors, in order to show the cultural interpretations given to the certification of diamonds presented by consumers. These latter, while buying Canadian diamonds, and having little knowledge of the real working conditions of miners in mines in Canada. Thus, they passively accept as truthful the jewellers’ claims in presenting ethical diamonds on which they base the moral purchasing decisions that also enable them to distinguish ethical diamonds from other non-certified diamonds. Drawing inspiration from studies on framing related to the analysis of language, the study shows how “frames of familiarity” linked to cultural ideas of food production sectors managed to incorporate “frames of novelty” in relation to Canadian diamonds, which are still niche products in Italy, on the part of a socio-cultural community of consumers who were thus able to increase the perception of trustworthiness with regard to these products. Thus, this research demonstrates that interpreting the certification of Canadian ethical diamonds through the lens of organic food produced in Italy, which is a label that generally refers to meanings of careful, respectful, and high-quality processing, allowed Italian consumers interviewed to perform an act of acculturation of diamonds mined in Canada.
Luxury. History, Culture, Consumption , May 4, 2023
This study aims to highlight the use of the peculiar interconnection between two different produc... more This study aims to highlight the use of the peculiar interconnection between two different production sectors, specifically the diamond and the food sectors, in order to show the cultural interpretations given to the certification of diamonds presented by consumers. These latter, while buying Canadian diamonds, and having little knowledge of the real working conditions of miners in mines in Canada. Thus, they passively accept as truthful the jewellers’ claims in presenting ethical diamonds on which they base the moral purchasing decisions that also enable them to distinguish ethical diamonds from other non-certified diamonds. Drawing inspiration from studies on framing related to the analysis of language, the study shows how “frames of familiarity” linked to cultural ideas of food production sectors managed to incorporate “frames of novelty” in relation to Canadian diamonds, which are still niche products in Italy, on the part of a socio-cultural community of consumers who were thus able to increase the perception of trustworthiness with regard to these products. Thus, this research demonstrates that interpreting the certification of Canadian ethical diamonds through the lens of organic food produced in Italy, which is a label that generally refers to meanings of careful, respectful, and high-quality processing, allowed Italian consumers interviewed to perform an act of acculturation of diamonds mined in Canada.
Dada Rivista di Antropologia post-globale , Sep 30, 2022
This contribution focuses on Osoyoos Nk’Mip Cellar, an indigenous winery in British Columbia. Spe... more This contribution focuses on Osoyoos Nk’Mip Cellar, an indigenous winery in British Columbia. Specifically, this study has highlighted the possibility of overcoming the classic dichotomy, often present in anthropological studies focused on agricultural practices, between a subsistence system and an industrial agricultural production. In particular, the productive and cultural context of Osoyoos Nk’Mip Cellar allowed joining, within the same investigation, issues related to the actions of indigenous self-determination against the Canadian government, which proved to be an important factor of attraction for visitors particularly sensitive to the issues of political recognition of native Canadian groups. To these considerations is also added the preference of consumers towards particular wines, such as Icewine, which also allowed the investigation of the consumption experiences of visitors in the winery.
Rethinking ethical certification systems through indigenous concepts of ethicality Abstract Canad... more Rethinking ethical certification systems through indigenous concepts of ethicality Abstract Canadian diamonds are distinguished in the international market by an ethical certification connected to the protection of human rights and the environment. However, the idea that underpins the concept of ethics remains anchored in Western and anthropocentric views. Drawing upon the literature focused on the relationships between colonisation models embedded in global markets based on ethical certifications, this article reflects on the inherent shortcomings of the concept of ethics related to Canadian diamond certification from an Indigenous perspective. This research introduces a methodology based on the study of argumentation to develop an anthropological approach that is also useful in economic studies to rethink the processes of constructing certification schemes by integrating Indigenous concepts of ethics.
This issue of Im@go is dedicated to the analysis of environmental imaginaries and, in particular,... more This issue of Im@go is dedicated to the analysis of environmental imaginaries and, in particular, their emergency character. The anthropic impact on natural systems reconfigures, as never before, an apocalyptic scenario revealed by extreme events: cataclysms, desertification processes and rising seas, reduction of biodiversity, climate overheating and pollution of ecosystems. To avert the end of the world, mankind seems to have to remedy its faults by setting out, individually and collectively, on a rapid ecological transition. In this path of expiation, the notion of the environment takes on the contours of a semantic reservoir (Durand 1996) from which emerge moral orders and normative systems capable, with increasing force, of ordering and prefiguring different spheres of social reality: lifestyles and consumption, national and international policies, the capitalist system, techno-scientific research and aesthetic forms. The imagery of the environmental apocalypse has thus become a powerful device of social change that highlights a series of issues around which the journal intends to reflect.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Sep 30, 2022
This contribution focuses on Osoyoos Nk’Mip Cellar, an indigenous winery in British Columbia. Spe... more This contribution focuses on Osoyoos Nk’Mip Cellar, an indigenous winery in British Columbia. Specifically, this study has highlighted the possibility of overcoming the classic dichotomy, often present in anthropological studies focused on agricultural practices, between a subsistence system and an industrial agricultural production. In particular, the productive and cultural context of Osoyoos Nk’Mip Cellar allowed joining, within the same investigation, issues related to the actions of indigenous self-determination against the Canadian government, which proved to be an important factor of attraction for visitors particularly sensitive to the issues of political recognition of native Canadian groups. To these considerations is also added the preference of consumers towards particular wines, such as Icewine, which also allowed the investigation of the consumption experiences of visitors in the winery.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Jul 29, 2022
L'industria mineraria è stata travolta da preoccupazioni riguardanti l'inquinamento del suolo e d... more L'industria mineraria è stata travolta da preoccupazioni riguardanti l'inquinamento del suolo e dell'aria, gestioni del lavoro poco etiche e violazioni dei diritti umani. Rintracciando interpretazioni culturali del concetto di eticità in relazione ai diamanti canadesi, questo contributo problematizza i significati della certificazione dei diamanti etici canadesi e la loro tracciabilità lungo la filiera. Specificatamente, lo studio evidenzia che più ci si allontana dal contesto estrattivo canadese, più il concetto di eticità legato al diamante si fa nitido grazie a narrazioni pubblicitarie, mentre più ci si avvicina al contesto di indagine, più il concetto di eticità diventa offuscato, eterogeneo, frammentato e incomprensibile.
This research analyses, through ethnographic research, the cultural interpretations of the global... more This research analyses, through ethnographic research, the cultural interpretations of the global storytelling of Canadian ethical diamonds given by different subjects, belonging to diverse sociocultural and economic contexts, including staff of mining companies, indigenous communities, jewellers, and consumers. The study took place at the two ends of the diamond supply chain, in the Canadian Northwest Territories, where the mines and mining companies are located, and in two jewellery stores in Milan and Bologna, that sell Canadian diamonds. Introducing the concept of the Process of Argumentative Aphasia I highlight how the discourses of the participants in the research on Canadian ethical diamonds were becoming increasingly metaphorically unpronounceable and, therefore, misaligned with the official storytelling as I approached the mining context; whereas moving towards the sales contexts, the argumentative contents of the jewellers' and consumers' speeches were more aligned with the contents of the global advertising narratives on diamonds mined in Canada.
Rivista italiana di antropologia applicata, Dec 20, 2019
Cyberspace is only one of the many metaphors used to describe the Internet. While there is a grow... more Cyberspace is only one of the many metaphors used to describe the Internet. While there is a growing body of literature on identity formation in cyberspace, there are important gaps in this field. One of these is related to the analysis of the use of digital technologies by the Northern Canadian Indigenous people. Precisely, the author, focusing her attention on Tåîchô and Yellowknives Dene communities in Northwest Territories of Canada, analyzes the contents of their websites and online archives in order to understand how these native groups promote their culture and spread out their knowledge through digital technologies for working toward decolonization.
Armano's Deep Cultural Interpretation Model (DCIM) (2018) is useful as it systematises cultural v... more Armano's Deep Cultural Interpretation Model (DCIM) (2018) is useful as it systematises cultural values and worldviews collected through ethnographic research in a language understandable to management and marketing. The DCIM codifies the culturally modelled knowledge that a human group has of the reality in which it lives. In particular, the DCIM photographs, within categories, the cultural structure of a group from which cultural values, cultural norms (which allow values to be expressed in reality), implicit habits, and explicit behaviours are unfolded. The DCIM is effective for comparing different worldviews of different social groups (belonging to different cultures and subgroups within the same culture). In this way, by photographing and codifying the cultural vision of different groups of people it is possible to focus attention not only on the contents of the DCIM categories (which will be illustrated below) but especially on the relationship between different worldviews in order to highlight any value-related gaps and possibilities of encounter.
In Sierra Leone, the underwater search for diamonds coexists with the artisanal extraction of bui... more In Sierra Leone, the underwater search for diamonds coexists with the artisanal extraction of building materials and precious metals such as sand, stone, gold, and diamond extracted in the mine. There are numerous and substantial differences between these various mining activities, but one aspect is shared by all miners: the need to earn money – more specifically, "fast money" - with which to escape poverty or improve their own status. This paper shows how miners' ideas about "fast money" are key to understanding temporal perceptions of resources, highlighting a temporal economy based on the articulation of different modes of production. Various kinds of temporalities, as well as different rhythms and cycles, are at stake in this mining context. This paper explores this multiplicity and endeavors to explain the emergence of accelerated temporalities. By examining and comparing different kinds of extractive activities, this paper argues that artisanal diamond mining can be seen as a transformative practice that seeks to accelerate the encounter between a variety of rhythms and temporalities.
This study aims to highlight the use of the peculiar interconnection between two different produc... more This study aims to highlight the use of the peculiar interconnection between two different production sectors, specifically the diamond and the food sectors, in order to show the cultural interpretations given to the certification of diamonds presented by consumers. These latter, while buying Canadian diamonds, and having little knowledge of the real working conditions of miners in mines in Canada. Thus, they passively accept as truthful the jewellers’ claims in presenting ethical diamonds on which they base the moral purchasing decisions that also enable them to distinguish ethical diamonds from other non-certified diamonds. Drawing inspiration from studies on framing related to the analysis of language, the study shows how “frames of familiarity” linked to cultural ideas of food production sectors managed to incorporate “frames of novelty” in relation to Canadian diamonds, which are still niche products in Italy, on the part of a socio-cultural community of consumers who were thus able to increase the perception of trustworthiness with regard to these products. Thus, this research demonstrates that interpreting the certification of Canadian ethical diamonds through the lens of organic food produced in Italy, which is a label that generally refers to meanings of careful, respectful, and high-quality processing, allowed Italian consumers interviewed to perform an act of acculturation of diamonds mined in Canada.
Luxury. History, Culture, Consumption , May 4, 2023
This study aims to highlight the use of the peculiar interconnection between two different produc... more This study aims to highlight the use of the peculiar interconnection between two different production sectors, specifically the diamond and the food sectors, in order to show the cultural interpretations given to the certification of diamonds presented by consumers. These latter, while buying Canadian diamonds, and having little knowledge of the real working conditions of miners in mines in Canada. Thus, they passively accept as truthful the jewellers’ claims in presenting ethical diamonds on which they base the moral purchasing decisions that also enable them to distinguish ethical diamonds from other non-certified diamonds. Drawing inspiration from studies on framing related to the analysis of language, the study shows how “frames of familiarity” linked to cultural ideas of food production sectors managed to incorporate “frames of novelty” in relation to Canadian diamonds, which are still niche products in Italy, on the part of a socio-cultural community of consumers who were thus able to increase the perception of trustworthiness with regard to these products. Thus, this research demonstrates that interpreting the certification of Canadian ethical diamonds through the lens of organic food produced in Italy, which is a label that generally refers to meanings of careful, respectful, and high-quality processing, allowed Italian consumers interviewed to perform an act of acculturation of diamonds mined in Canada.
Dada Rivista di Antropologia post-globale , Sep 30, 2022
This contribution focuses on Osoyoos Nk’Mip Cellar, an indigenous winery in British Columbia. Spe... more This contribution focuses on Osoyoos Nk’Mip Cellar, an indigenous winery in British Columbia. Specifically, this study has highlighted the possibility of overcoming the classic dichotomy, often present in anthropological studies focused on agricultural practices, between a subsistence system and an industrial agricultural production. In particular, the productive and cultural context of Osoyoos Nk’Mip Cellar allowed joining, within the same investigation, issues related to the actions of indigenous self-determination against the Canadian government, which proved to be an important factor of attraction for visitors particularly sensitive to the issues of political recognition of native Canadian groups. To these considerations is also added the preference of consumers towards particular wines, such as Icewine, which also allowed the investigation of the consumption experiences of visitors in the winery.
L’Occidente ha simbolicamente innalzato l’11 settembre 2001 a confine tra un prima e un dopo, in ... more L’Occidente ha simbolicamente innalzato l’11 settembre 2001 a confine tra un prima e un dopo, in seguito al quale il mondo non è stato più lo stesso. Il dramma mondiale, in cui si è palesato per la prima volta dal dopoguerra l’interrogarsi sul senso di una modernità fragile e sofferta, ha contemporaneamente aperto la possibilità della fine di un mondo che prima invece sembrava funzionasse. In quel giorno di apocalisse fu percepita la distruzione della domesticità di una realtà sicura e prevedibile, mettendo in discussione l’intera storia dell’Occidente e dei suoi valori. È chiaro che, alla luce di attacchi terroristici in Europa e nell’Occidente intero, è fondamentale, per chi appartiene a questo mondo culturale, rendere il disastro socialmente comprensibile, oltre che culturalmente accettabile e superabile. I valori postmoderni, ancorché maggioritari quanto a diffusione, non sembrano più in grado di tirare fuori la convivenza umana dalla crisi di inconsistenza e di incertezza che la caratterizza nel contesto attuale. La conversione all'Islam si presenta quindi, per alcune categorie socio-culturali, come la soluzione alternativa per una sostituzione dei valori.
L’emergere dell’Anthropology of Mining, a seguito della pubblicazione dell’articolo di Godoy, sem... more L’emergere dell’Anthropology of Mining, a seguito della pubblicazione dell’articolo di Godoy, sembra essere diretta conseguenza, fra varie cause, anche del clamore suscitato dall’eccezionale boom della quotazione dei metalli preziosi, tra la fine degli anni Settanta e l’inizio degli anni Ottanta. Le implicazioni teoriche per una comprensione del sistema minerario multinazionale possono generare interpretazioni impegnative, poco esplorate e questioni di vasta portata sull’omogeneità della gestione multinazionale estrattiva, sulle forme di potere, sulle gerarchie e sulla razionalizzazione dei profitti.
The next issue of Im@go is dedicated to the analysis of environmental imaginaries and, in particu... more The next issue of Im@go is dedicated to the analysis of environmental imaginaries and, in particular, their emergency character. The anthropic impact on natural systems reconfigures, as never before, an apocalyptic scenario revealed by extreme events: cataclysms, desertification processes and rising seas, reduction of biodiversity, climate overheating and pollution of ecosystems.
Questo workshop è stato pensato per mettere in luce come le voci subalterne possano sensibilizzar... more Questo workshop è stato pensato per mettere in luce come le voci subalterne possano sensibilizzare discussioni e riflessioni sulla relazione tra produzione di saperi e poteri istituzionalizzati. Riteniamo che tali voci siano oggetto di indagine e di stimolo per riprogettare spazialità di lavoro conoscitivo, curativo e materialmente trasformativo. Partendo da tale questione, il workshop intende rivalutare gli scarti di conoscenza e gli interstizi nella vita quotidiana dei ricercatori per estrarre il potenziale trasformativo e ripensare ai diversi campi delle teorie e delle pratiche scientifiche in una connessione fondata sul lavoro-poiesi.
Uploads
Papers by Linda Armano
To avert the end of the world, mankind seems to have to remedy its faults by setting out, individually and collectively, on a rapid ecological transition. In this path of expiation, the notion of the environment takes on the contours of a semantic reservoir (Durand 1996) from which emerge moral orders and normative systems capable, with increasing force, of ordering and prefiguring different spheres of social reality: lifestyles and consumption, national and international policies, the capitalist system, techno-scientific research and aesthetic forms. The imagery of the environmental apocalypse has thus become a powerful device of social change that highlights a series of issues around which the journal intends to reflect.
To avert the end of the world, mankind seems to have to remedy its faults by setting out, individually and collectively, on a rapid ecological transition. In this path of expiation, the notion of the environment takes on the contours of a semantic reservoir (Durand 1996) from which emerge moral orders and normative systems capable, with increasing force, of ordering and prefiguring different spheres of social reality: lifestyles and consumption, national and international policies, the capitalist system, techno-scientific research and aesthetic forms. The imagery of the environmental apocalypse has thus become a powerful device of social change that highlights a series of issues around which the journal intends to reflect.