Articles, Papers, and Essays by Maria Luisa Ciminelli
La traduction, considérée par plusieurs auteurs comme paradigmatique pour l'entreprise anthropolo... more La traduction, considérée par plusieurs auteurs comme paradigmatique pour l'entreprise anthropologique, est aussi une pratique habituelle sur le « terrain », où les malentendus, et ce qui peut être interprété comme une manipulation volontaire, peuvent ensuite s'avérer des clés pour la vérification des résultats de la recherche et, plus généralement, des instruments de compréhension. C'est dans cette perspective que l'auteure réexamine la transcription d'un entretien s'étant déroulé en 1992, au début de sa recherche dans le Bélédougou (Mali), en mettant en contraste le dialogue en français entre elle et l'interprète bambara avec sa traduction française du dialogue, en langue bamanan, entre l'interprète et la guérisseuse interviewée, une jinètigi (prêtresse du culte des jinè). Abstract: Often regarded as paradigmatic of anthropological knowledge, translation is an ordinary practice in fieldwork, where different types of misunderstanding and even what could be interpreted as voluntary manipulation may, however, prove to be precious insights into understanding. In that light, the author reexamines the transcription of a conversation held in 1992 in Bamana and French languages, contrasting her translation of Bamana sentences with the translation formulated by the interpreter.
The author, an anthropologist, argues that ethnically-marked contemporary art (such as African, A... more The author, an anthropologist, argues that ethnically-marked contemporary art (such as African, Aboriginal, or native contemporary art) is included in the contemporary in the form of Agamben's exception: i.e., according to the logic of exclusive inclusion, which mirrors what Dumont defined as «l'englobement du contraire» in his notion of hierarchical oppositions. By examining some recent examples, the author contends that a systematic «denial of coevalness» (Fabian), mostly achieved by applying certain categorial pairs respectively to unmarked/marked contemporary art, is still operating in current curatorial discourse. This type of discourse surreptitiously reaffirms the cultural difference of ethnically-marked contemporary art, and of artists creating it, precisely in praising the " disjunctive " and " different time " of such art as a marker of its contem-poraneity. The article ends with a plea for a critical reassessment of the dichotomies qualifying the anthropological dualism we/others within the dominant historical-artistic paradigm, advocating for the existence of different coeval aesthetics, not solely pertaining to what, for us, is art.
This article deals with the yellow line that in Italian banks, postal offices, pharmacies, hospit... more This article deals with the yellow line that in Italian banks, postal offices, pharmacies, hospitals, indicates the physic limit to not cross for respecting individuals’ right to personal data confidentiality. Called “ courtesy distance” in Italian laws and regulations, but established by no norm, this visual detail - formerly employed in prisons as a "dispositif disciplinaire" - has been spontaneously implemented by virtue of the cultural meanings of yellow, dating back to the Middle Age and still persisting, as further uses of the yellow line as a borderline demonstrate. The Author argues that the bureaucratic measure amounts to a micropractice of power, pertaining to the foucauldian process of normalization, and questions its possible results in the social body.
This article focuses on the risks inherent in the external enhancement of cultural heritages.
Aft... more This article focuses on the risks inherent in the external enhancement of cultural heritages.
After an excursus on anthropological critics and the actions of UNESCO through several examples of sites registered in the World Heritage List in Mali (Djenné, Timbuctu, Bandiagara Escarpment), the author describes the typical limits in the safeguarding of cultural heritage.
Indeed, international implementations of soft law in extra-occidental countries can generate a discontinuity between the setting of aims and their outcome.
This paper deals with the use of the anthropological concept of culture in the Convention for the... more This paper deals with the use of the anthropological concept of culture in the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (Paris, 2003), and in some of its collateral documents. In criticizing the notion of intangible cultural heritage as it is presented by article 2 of the Convention, I rely on anthropological record of the processes of reification, commo¬di-fication, and touristization, undergone by some of the 90 Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity proclaimed in 2001, 2003, and 2005. The purpose of this note is to draw attention to some possible, interrelated ‘collateral effects’ of the Convention, i.e.: ethnomimesis (“the performance of culture and tradition,” as Clifford sees it, or the 'self representation' of cultural identity), and ethnogenesis (the production of new identities).
Información del artículo Nama (nyama) as cause of evil and illness: Analysis of a mana-concept in... more Información del artículo Nama (nyama) as cause of evil and illness: Analysis of a mana-concept in the Bamana context.
After briefly running through the history of WHO/OMS involvement in the question of FGM, the arti... more After briefly running through the history of WHO/OMS involvement in the question of FGM, the article highlights the anthropological implications of the definition adopted in 1995 (amended in 2000). The apparent neutrality and universality of the biomedical lexicon is based on significant exclusions and oppositions, both implicit and explicit: male/female, internal/external, therapy/culture, culture/religion, traditional/non-traditional, western/non-western.
Vi è una parola che nell'Africa occidentale ex-francese traduce «Bianco»: tubaab in Senegal, tuba... more Vi è una parola che nell'Africa occidentale ex-francese traduce «Bianco»: tubaab in Senegal, tubabu in Mali. In quest'ultimo Paese, a Bamako, e ancor più a Kolokani (capoluogo della regione del Beledugu, abitata da Bambara ritenuti, dagli stessi maliani, molto «tradizionalisti»), i bambini si divertono a gridare, indicando i Bianchi:«Tubabu, tubabuden!»{Tubabu, figlio di tubabuì).
The relationship between local and national languages in the heath policies of African nations ha... more The relationship between local and national languages in the heath policies of African nations has as yet received little consideration even in the medical-anthropological context to which this issue more closely pertains. The expression" oriented translations" is intended to refer to the directionality and to the asymmetry in subject/object dynamics that the fact of translation necessarily calls into being.
Books by Maria Luisa Ciminelli
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Articles, Papers, and Essays by Maria Luisa Ciminelli
http://www.ledijournals.com/ojs/index.php/antropologia/article/view/168/161
After an excursus on anthropological critics and the actions of UNESCO through several examples of sites registered in the World Heritage List in Mali (Djenné, Timbuctu, Bandiagara Escarpment), the author describes the typical limits in the safeguarding of cultural heritage.
Indeed, international implementations of soft law in extra-occidental countries can generate a discontinuity between the setting of aims and their outcome.
Books by Maria Luisa Ciminelli
http://www.ledijournals.com/ojs/index.php/antropologia/article/view/168/161
After an excursus on anthropological critics and the actions of UNESCO through several examples of sites registered in the World Heritage List in Mali (Djenné, Timbuctu, Bandiagara Escarpment), the author describes the typical limits in the safeguarding of cultural heritage.
Indeed, international implementations of soft law in extra-occidental countries can generate a discontinuity between the setting of aims and their outcome.