Volume 60, No. 3, Fall 2001
The Anthropology of Aviation and Flight Safety
Allen W. Batteau
This article examines the anthropological issues posed by commercial aviation, an industry that in less than a lifetime has changed the meanings of space and place, and altered fundamental perceptions of global civilization. The article begins with a critical examination of the concept of “human factors” as the standard industry approach to the human role. It notes that the representation of flight, as a mass transportation mode, has not kept pace with the global deployment of this technology across multiple cultural regions. The article notes that commercial aviation, as a large-scale technological system, has been deployed on a global scale yet is only weakly governed by United Nations bodies and multilateral arrangements among air carriers. The article concludes with the observation of a process of technological peripheralization, arguing that technologies that promise an escape from economic marginalization can often promote technological marginalization.
Key words: aviation, large-scale technological systems, safety
Operationalizing Microfinance: Women and Craftwork in Ifugao, Upland Philippines
B. Lynne Milgram
In the 1990s, microfinance has emerged as the leading development strategy adopted to alleviate poverty and empower the “poor,” particularly women. Views differ, however, on the extent to which access to financial services can enhance participants’ quality of life. This paper addresses this ongoing debate by analyzing a new (mid-1997) microfinance program in the northern Philippines established by the Central Cordillera Agricultural Programme (CECAP). Focusing on women’s work in crafts, this paper argues that CECAP has initially focused on achieving financial self-sustainability within the short time frame allotted to the project, rather than emphasizing social change objectives. In so doing, primarily those women with already existing businesses or microentrepreneurs, not the “poor,” are benefiting from the system; and many women are behind in their loan repayments. The fluctuating demand for crafts prevents entrepreneurs from passing on gains to small producers. By stressing timely loan repayments and not considering the broader socioeconomic and class infrastructure, CECAP’s microfinance program has failed to build borrower’s collective agency and empowerment. This paper suggests that for microfinance to contribute to the needs of its members, programs must enfold social initiatives other than credit.
Key words: microfinance, women, empowerment, poverty alleviation, Philippines
Women on Parole: Barriers to Success after Substance Abuse Treatment
Elizabeth A. Hall, Dana M. Baldwin, and Michael Prendergast
Providing substance abuse treatment to women addicts and their high-risk children is an important objective of national drug treatment policy because of the high psychological and social costs of addiction for women and their children, as well as the costs to society of lost productivity and added burdens on the social service and criminal justice systems. Using qualitative methods, we examined the barriers to success on parole among participants of an in-prison residential substance abuse treatment program. Primary barriers to success on parole were refusing community residential treatment, lack of vocational services within community residential programs, lack of community residential treatment programs that accept children, and the difficulty of avoiding habitual drug-using areas.
Key words: women, criminal justice system, parole, substance abuse treatment, focus groups, California
A Social Marketing Approach to Increasing Enrollment in a Public Health Program: A Case Study of the Texas WIC Program
Carol Bryant, James Lindenberger, Chris Brown, Ellen Kent, Janet Mogg Schreiber, Marta Bustillo, and Marsha Walker Canright
The Texas WIC Program used social marketing to recruit new program participants and improve participant and employee satisfaction with the program. This article focuses on research conducted by anthropologists and public health researchers to identify target populations who were eligible, but had not enrolled in the program, and discusses the role research played in developing a comprehensive, multifaceted outreach plan. Systematic observations, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and a survey were used to identify factors that motivate and deter eligible families from enrolling in the program. Research results revealed that most eligible families had positive attitudes about the WIC program but were unfamiliar with the program’s benefits. Women were deterred by a number of barriers: confusion about eligibility guidelines; reluctance to accept government assistance, problems signing up for WIC, and fear they would be treated disrespectfully by program staff or grocery store cashiers. Research findings were used to develop a social marketing plan to increase enrollment in WIC, improve program satisfaction, and enhance service delivery. Evaluation results point to significant growth in the program and suggest that social marketing can be helpful to program planners who want to improve their delivery of services and motivate new groups to utilize their services.
Key words: social marketing, WIC program, program utilization, program participation, audience segmentation, Texas
Reconfiguring the Countryside: Power, Control, and the (Re)Organization of Farmers in Mexico
James H. McDonald
This article examines the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Mexico’s agricultural economy, with particular emphasis on the role of the government in economic restructuring aimed at privatization and global competitiveness. Government policy and practice have sought to revitalize select agricultural sectors that have faltered with the opening of the Mexican economy. This process will be explored through the analysis of the shifting relationship between the state and local elites in the northwest highlands of Michoacán, an area dominated by small-scale dairy farming. Much of rural Mexico has a long history of powerful caciques (local political strongmen) and their patronage networks, which have arisen in the service of state interests only to be replaced when political-economic conditions change. In this instance, neoliberal reforms have resulted in the reconfiguration of power and authority, and the emergence of new-style techno-caciques—well-educated political and economic entrepreneurs with nonlocal connections and aspirations. The case underscores the contradictions and problems with neoliberal development operationalized through what are effectively old institutional forms.
Key words: globalization, agricultural development, elites, politics, power, Mexico
Politics, Population, and Family Planning in Guatemala: Ch’Orti’ Maya Experiences
Brent Metz
The Guatemalan population has increased from 3 million to over 11 million since 1950. A close look at the Guatemalan population boom, especially among Mayas, reveals several interrelated factors at play, including 1) a lifestyle based on manual labor and cooperation of kin, 2) inadequate indigenous contraceptive techniques, 3) poverty and marginality from public services, 4) ethnic distrust, 5) religion, 6) gender inequality, and, ultimately, 7) inadequate international and state assistance for family planning. Despite the myriad challenges to family planning in Guatemala, the physical and cultural accessibility to contraceptives can be enhanced by a holistic family planning program.
Key words: family planning, population, poverty, Maya, Guatemala
The Shan-Dany Museum: Community, Economics, and Cultural Traditions in a Rural Mexican Village
Jeffrey H. Cohen
The Shan-Dany Museum was founded by Mexico’s National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) and the leaders of Santa Ana del Valle, Oaxaca, in 1986 and has grown to become a multigalleried cultural center for the community. While the museum has had successes, it is also the site of many conflicts. This paper examines the development of the Shan-Dany and its role in social, economic, and cultural disputes in Santa Ana and between the village and state.
Key words: museums, culture change, political economy, ethnicity, Mexico
Community Participatory Approaches to Dengue Prevention in Sarawak, Malaysia
Sara Ashencaen Crabtree, Christina M. Wong, and Faizah Mas’ud
This paper covers preliminary findings from a participatory action research (PAR) project into dengue prevention in Sarawak, Malaysia, which formed one part of a national, multisite study. The objectives of the project in Sarawak were to reduce a high Aedes mosquito index and associated risk of dengue in two coastal Malay villages, using behavior modification strategies through a community participatory approach. The approach has achieved a reduced Aedes index as well as both material and nontangible benefits for the communities under study. These benefits may be calculated in terms of reduction of identified health risks and physical well-being of the community as well as in terms of more effective networking and self-advocacy with government agencies and the wider community.
Key words: dengue, participatory action research, Sarawak
Polluted Fish, Sources of Knowledge, and the Perception of Risk: Contextualizing African American Anglers’ Sport-Fishing Practices
Gregory P. Beehler, Bridget M. McGuinness, and John E. Vena
Risk reduction advisories exist for the Great Lakes because exposure to chemicals in sport fish could lead to adverse health effects in sport fish consumers. Concern has focused on minority anglers who consume more sport fish than white anglers. To determine the fishing and sport fish consumption context, including concepts of pollution and perceptions of risk, focus groups were conducted with African American anglers in western New York. Anglers viewed fishing as a beneficial, low-risk activity in which they engaged in their sport of choice, relaxed by the water, and socialized. Participants were either unaware or tended not to use health advisory information to direct their fishing practices, preferring to rely on traditional knowledge gained by personal experience or by learning from other anglers. Local waters were considered polluted, but this pollution was not thought to be typically hazardous or unavoidable. Judgements about pollution were empirical, based on what anglers could detect with their unaided senses. Specific waters and fish were purposely avoided based on personal judgments of safety. Discussion focuses on lay models of pollution and risk, the role of culture, and application of findings to risk communication.
Key words: risk perception, cultural models, contaminated fish, sport fishing, African Americans
Border Enforcement in Daily Life: Palestinian Day Laborers and Entrepreneurs Crossing the Green Line
Avram S. Bornstein
Changing procedures at the border between the West Bank and Israel burdened the lives of many Palestinians. By tracing the intersections between these state practices, the demands of capital, and the local behavior of individuals, this article describes the impact of the border on those who work in Israeli construction and those subcontracting garment assembly from Israeli clothing manufacturers. The border struggle, fundamental to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, shapes relations of production and relations of work. Like other cases of border enforcement, intensifying the imminence of violence at the “Green Line” has had schismogenic results.
Key words: borders, work, construction, clothing industry, Palestine, Israel
