Volume 55, No. 3, Fall 1996
Blood on the Ice: Status, Self-Esteem, and Ritual Injury among Inuit Hockey Players
Peter Collings and Richard G. Condon
Key words: hockey, Inuit youth, recreational acculturation, social change, self-esteem, injury ritual, sports violence, Canada, Arctic
Since the 1970s, the pace of social, economic, and political change has accelerated throughout the Canadian Arctic. In the Copper Inuit community of Holman, change has been accompanied by an increase in recreational facilities and activities organized by the local Hamlet Council and paid for by the Government of the Northwest Territories. Recreational involvement, primarily in the form of competitive team sports like hockey, provides a valuable outlet for Inuit teenagers and young adults who find it difficult to adjust to the new northern social order. This article examines the most visible of these sports - hockey - and discusses the effects that game involvement, violence, and ritualization of injury have upon young men's sense of control, status, and self-esteem.
Alutiiq Vikings: Kinship and Fishing in Old Harbor, Alaska
Craig Mishler and Rachel Mason
Key words: kinship, fishing; Alutiiq, Scandinavian, US, Alaska
The community of Old Harbor on Kodiak Island is populated mainly by Alutiiq Natives and by descendants of male Scandinavian immigrants who married Alutiiq women. Scandinavian and Alutiiq intermarriage during the last one hundred years has produced a new creolized social class, but this new class is maintained by an aboriginal Alutiiq social structure built upon hierarchy and rank. Looking at Alutiiq kinship terminology allows us to map the complex network of relationships between fishing captains and between fishing captains and crews. It is within the framework of Alutiiq kinship and the Scandinavian work ethic that Old Harbor residents of Scandinavian descent have attained a high level of material prosperity that is invisible in neighboring Alutiiq communities where such intermarriage has not occurred.
Digging Fish Ponds: Perspectives on Motivation in Luapula Province, Zambia
Elizabeth Harrison
Key words: fish farming, development, motivation, Zambia
The promotion of small-scale fish farming in Africa has had only limited success. Although on many occasions there is apparently no difficulty in getting people to dig ponds, subsequent management and maintenance tend to be poor and ponds are often abandoned. Because of the legacy of past development interventions, many farmers dig fish ponds in anticipation of benefit or to associate themselves with a "culture of development" rather than because of any known merit in the technology itself. The article argues that part of the problem lies in the approach to farmer motivation taken by development projects. Three assumptions are unfounded: that all members of fish farming households are equal; that the decision making process of farmers is an informed weighing of costs, benefits and risk; and that the production of fish is the most important outcome. The article is based on research conducted in Luapula Province, Zambia in association with an FAO-supported project with fish farmers in the province.
Access to Labor in Rural Mali
Laurence C. Becker
Key words: Household, labor, women, farming systems, West Africa, Mali
Re-conceptualization of the rural household in West Africa has emphasized dynamic processes that determine household form and function. This article examines the role of the household in mobilizing farm labor. Negotiating within the framework of the household to gain access to labor is itself a process that transforms the household. Within households individuals have different production interests related to their social status. In a case study village 50 km southeast of Bamako, Mali with a rainfed sorghum/millet based cropping system, it was found that individual farm workers have very different work patterns, managing their own farms and working for others.
What's a "Year's Work" Worth? The Influence of the State on Cultural Constructs of Farming in Norway
Kendall M. Thu
Key words: farming, state, bureaucracy, Norway
Based on fieldwork conducted in a rural community in south-central Norway from 1988-1990, I provide ethnographic insight into the state agricultural bureaucracy, the influence of the state on agricultural conditions and local cultural constructs of farming, and the interplay between community-based notions of rural identity and modern farming. Drawing on participant observation, interviews, and surveys among farmers and state agricultural organizations, I show how the state and its policies create conditions within which farmers make operating decisions and shape their conceptions of farming.
Land Use Choice and Change: Intensification and Diversification in the Lowland Tropics of Costa Rica
John Schelhas
Key words: land use, tropics, forest, cash crops, Costa Rica
Processes of intensification and diversification of land use in a humid, lowland tropical area of Costa Rica are discussed through the application of Boserup's model of agricultural intensification. Environmental conditions and cultural factors are integrated into Boserup's model to provide a framework for understanding choices between beef and dual-purpose cattle systems, permanent cash crops (black pepper and coffee), forest, and off-farm employment in household land use and economic systems. The results indicate that intensification of cattle grazing is possible even on acid, infertile lowland tropical soils, and that small landholders intensify cattle grazing by increasing labor investments in pasture and animal management when markets for dairy products are favorable. As returns to labor from cattle grazing diminishwith intensification, farmers diversify into intensive permanent cash crops or off-farm labor. Risk is a key factor influencing intensification and diversification decisions. Trees remain important even on intensively managed farms to meet household subsistence needs and provide environmental services, but overall intensification of land use is accompanied by intensification of forest land uses and substitution of purchased products for forest products. Understanding the processes of land use choice behind intensification of diversification is critical to the development of sustainable land uses.
Grassland Enclosures: Catalyst of Land Degradation in Inner Mongolia
Dee Mack Williams
Key words: environmental degradation, pastoralism, common property resources, land tenure, China
Since de-collectivization, Chinese government policies have promoted household enclosures as the best solution to maximize pastoral productivity and control desert expansion in grassland areas. Recent fieldwork from Inner Mongolia contradicts this optimism. Data and participant-observation reveal that enclosures, as implemented through village level social context, actually compound grazing problems for most residents and the wider ecosystem. Expanding household enclosures function to intensify hyper-critical stocking ratios on highly vulnerable range land, exacerbating wind and soil erosion processes across vast territories only to protect small isolated fields dedicated to poorly financed fodder cultivation. This case study indicates that privatization of land in modernizing pastoral societies can be less meaningful for good resource management than other factors, such as secure tenure, equitable access to community resources, and meaningful institutional supports in the form of credit, production services, and legal protection.
Thinking about Ecology: Cognition of Pacific Northwest Forest Managers across Diverse Institutions
Catherine Woods Richardson, Robert G. Lee, and Marc L. Miller
Key words: cognition, forest management, ethnoecology, resource management institutions, US, Washington, Pacific Northwest
A case study of 48 forest managers in the Dungeness River watershed in Washington State revealed four main cognitive models of the forest ecology of the watershed. Organizing principles for the four models were the concept of wilderness, timber management, forests as habitat or 'home' for humans and animals, and a bureaucratic orientation that incorporated forest regulation and policy. Managers' ecological cognitions varied with multiple personal, institutional, and cultural influences. Managers with a wilderness orientation represented a common wilderness-civilization dichotomy in American thought, while the cognition of managers with a timber orientation appeared to be largely a product of professional training. The habitat orientation coincided with a close economic relationship to the land, i.e., direct use of land for subsistence or income as a farmer or logger. The bureaucratic orientation appeared to develop with experience as a middle or upper manager in public agencies. Considerable diversity in ecological cognition appeared within forest management institutions. This contradicts previous research suggesting that managers in the same institutions become homogenized in their thought.
Collaborative and Participatory Research in Urban Social Planning and Restructuring: Anthropological Experiences from a Medium-Sized Canadian City
Alexander M. Ervin
Key words: urban anthropology, needs assessment, health promotion, social planning, participatory and collaborative research, visual impairment, immigrants, Canada, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
The main claim of this article is that anthropologists have advantages by maintaining generalist, non-specialist, or "rover" roles in applied urban research. These strengths are related to current policy contexts where public sector deficits compel many jurisdictions to restructure and integrate the components of government and non-government human service delivery at the local level. The author elaborates on these claims through discussions of anthropological contributions and potentials regarding perspectives, issues, and methodologies associated with needs assessments, health promotion, and collaborative and participatory/action research. These, and other implications, are illustrated through five research and policy involvements in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, a city of 188,000. The projects included: a multi-component community needs assessment for the local United Way, participation in a social planning council with an emphasis on social indicators and child well-being, participation in a health promotion research center, an exploration of indicators of immigrant and refugee adaptation, and research into the informational needs of the visually impaired.
Obstacles and Opportunities in Access to Professional Work Organizations for Long-term Fieldwork: The Case of Japanese Laboratories
Samuel Coleman
Key words: access, bioscience, methodology, professional work organization, Japan
Professional work organizations such as corporations and government agencies are becoming important sites for anthropological research. As a result, we need more attention to one of the most difficult yet critical aspects of long-term fieldwork in such organizations: access. After delineating the critical features of professional work organizations, the author uses his experiences in Japanese and American bioscience laboratories to generate hypotheses concerning their dynamics of access. This article argues that we can increase access by identifying and serving the needs of the professional work organizations studied, and offers some exploratory suggestions for systematic intellectual treatment of the access issue. Modifications of our own professional practices and organization are suggested in light of the challenges posed by access to these organizations.
Paths to Scaling-up: Alternative Strategies for Local Nongovernmental Organizations
Peter Uvin and David Miller
Key words: nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), scaling-up, development
This article proposes an initial scientific look at scaling-up, i.e., the process whereby non-governmental organizations (NGOs) increase their impact. It distinguishes four types of scaling-up - quantitative, functional, political and organizational - and discusses the paths organizations can employ to achieve these types. The article constitutes what can be called a "pre-theory:" the development of some clear definitions and taxonomies, which can constitute the basis for scientific investigation and comparative discussion. The conclusion of this article briefly presents two visions for approaching NGO scaling-up in its larger social context.
Ethnic Coalitions and Public Health: Delights and Dilemmas with the Afghan Health Education Project in Northern California
Patricia A. Omidian and Juliene G. Lipson
Key words: refugees, community health promotion, public health, Afghan refugees, action anthropology
Working with ethnic coalitions is new in public health. The Afghan Health Education Project was funded by the California State Health Department to establish an Afghan coalition, do a community health assessment and plan culture/language appropriate health education. We describe attempts to balance the contract expectations with the cultural/political realities of the Afghan community, e.g., the dilemma of "empowering" people who refuse to take power because of potential political repercussions.
Attitudes toward Needle "Sharing" among Injection Drug Users: Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods
Robert G. Carlson, Harvey A. Siegal, Jichuan Wang, and Russel S. Falck
Key words: injection drug users, needle sharing, HIV infection, qualitative and quantitative research methods, Midwest U.S.
Ethnographers working with injection drug users in U.S. AIDS prevention projects have found that these drug users generally prefer not to use each other's needles and do not conceive of needle "sharing" (transfer) as a key dimension of their identity. To date, these findings have been based primarily on qualitative ethnographic methods. We operationalized injection drug users' values toward needle transfer and administered a questionnaire to 276 active drug injectors recruited in 1993 for the Dayton/Columbus, Ohio, AIDS Prevention Research Project. About 71% of the sample were African American, 28.6% were white, and 77.9% were male. The results generally confirm the qualitative evidence. For example, 96% disagreed with the statement: "When shooting up with other people, I feel like I have to use the same outfit everyone else uses." Only 16.3% perceived new needles were inaccessible, while 72.8% feared carrying needles because of drug paraphernalia laws. This study demonstrates the value of combining qualitative and quantitative methods in AIDS prevention research.
