In Search of Authenticity: The Formation of Folklore Studies

In Search of Authenticity: The Formation of Folklore Studies. Regina Bendix. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997.306 pp.     

The Limits of Authenticity in Vietnamese Consumer Markets

In this article, I address the saliency of the concept of "authenticity" in contexts of international law and anthropological inquiry. Using my research findings in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam, I show that although Vietnamese shoppers distinguish between what they term real and fake goods, they do not share with foreign corporations and international trade organizations a preoccupation with product and brand authenticity. To make this point, I describe four types of goods—model goods, mimic goods, real goods, and fake goods—employed by shoppers in HCMC, and discuss why they have little in common with notions of "authenticity" and "ownership" inherent in international standards of intellectual property. I argue that these conceptual differences in the commercial sphere challenge claims about the universal applicability of intellectual property rights laws and also encourage anthropologists to ask whether authenticity is always a useful tool of cross-cultural understanding.     

The Making of a Slicer: Activation of Human Argonaute-1

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Research note: Yeast flora of Haitian rum distilleries

Summary In Haïtian rum distilleries, few modifications have been carried out on the working conditions for some time.Schizosaccharomyces is the main yeast genus which exists in such distilleries. In the distilleries of the French West-Indies, there is a predominance ofSaccharomyces yeasts.Schizosaccharomyces strains allow the production of a light rum which is in great demand.

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Resumen En las destilerias de ron de Haiti los métodos de producción se han mantenido practicamente invariables desde hace tiempo. El género de levaduras más abundante en dichas destilerias esSchizosaccharomyces. En las destilerias de la Guayana francesa las levaduras predominantes son del géneroSaccharomyces. Las cepasde Schizosaccharomyces son las que permiten la producción de ron claro para el que existe una gran demanda.

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Résumé Il y a déjà un certain temps que l'on n'effectue que peu de modifications aux conditions de travail dans les distilleries Haïtiennes de rhum.Schizosaccharomyces est le genre principal de levure qui existe dans ces distilleries. Dans les distilleries des Antilles françaises, il y a prédominance des levuresSaccharomyces. Les souches deSchizosaccharomyces permettent la production de rhum de variété light qui est fort demandé.

     

Anténor Firmin: Haitian Pioneer of Anthropology

Anténor Firmin published De I'Égalité des Races Humaines in 1885 in Paris as a response both to Arthur de Gobineau's racist tome L'lnégalité des Races (1853-55) and to the racialist anthropology of the nineteenth century. This pioneering work of anthropology has been translated for the first time into English by Assclin Charles as The Equality of the Human Races (Firmin [1885]2000). In 662 pages of the original text, Firmin systematically critiqued the anthropometry and craniometry that dominated the anthropology of his day, while he envisioned a broad, synthetic discipline that would follow once this narrow approach to the study of man was abandoned. He challenged virtually every extant racial myth and laid a basis for the understanding of human variation as adaptation to climate and environment. Contrary to the polygenist doctrines of the infertility of interracial matings, Firmin extolled the value of racial mixture, especially in the vigorous New World hybrid populations. He developed a critical view of racial classifications and of race that foreshadowed much later social constructions of race. In the book he also articulated early Pan-Africanist ideas as well as an analytical framework for what would become postcolonial studies.
The Equality of the Human Races is a text that lies historically at the foundations of the birth of the discipline of anthropology, yet it is unknown to the field. It is a pioneering work in critical anthropology that awaits recognition 115 years after it was first published. [Anténor Firmin, history of racism, antiracism, historical texts, Haitian anthropologist, critical anthropology, nineteenth-century pioneer]     

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Power and Powerlessness of Transnational Narratives among Gay Martinican Men

In Martinique, self-identified gay men often tell each other stories about gay communities in other societies. France and Martinique are central characters in these stories but their presence is largely negative: life in the former is criticized for its economic or racial hardships and life in the latter is criticized for homophobia, hypocrisy, and smallness, creating a frustrating catch-22 for these men. However, in these narratives Quebec often emerges as an ideal destination of racial and sexual freedom. In this paper, I argue that Quebec is signified as utopic in terms that are antithetical and therefore profoundly connected to impressions of social life in France and Martinique. At the same time, however, I maintain that these narratives also reveal common threads in the African-pan-American diasporic experience. Furthermore, these men's experiences of "gay" life in other countries demonstrate their awareness of a "global gay" identity, albeit one that is commercially and ideologically centered in Euro-American societies, [homosexuality, Martinique, transnationalism, diaspora, race]     

Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low-Wage Work

Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low-Wage Work. Kathryn Edin and Laura Lein. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1997. 320 pp.     

Terrains of blood and nation: Haitian transnational social fields

As have a growing number of political leaders of emigrant-sending countries, Haitian government officials and immigrant leaders have envisioned Haiti as a transnational nation-state. This article explores the ways in which the vision of Haiti as a transnational nation builds upon the experiences, needs and aspirations of both persons living in Haiti and those who have settled in the United States. Using a concept of 'transnational social field', we examine how family obligations and the experiences of immigration are understood through a language of blood and descent that links individuals to broader concepts of a transnational homeland. Rather than celebrating transnational connections, this essay concludes by warning that the ideologies which undergird 'long distance nationalism' are problematic.     

The Issue of "Authenticity" in California Language Restoration

Two language revitalization programs in California are described here with a focus on how new words can be developed in a way authentic to a given language which reflects traditional values and thoughts. The importance of combining classroom approaches with community-based programs is also discussed.     

The process of ethnogenesis among Haitian and Israeli immigrants in the United States

This article examines the process of ethnic identity formation among two different groups of recent immigrants to the United States: secular kibbutz‐born Israelis and middle‐class Haitians. While the two groups are different in a number of ways, they share an ambivalence with the identities that American society would assign to them ‐ as Jews and blacks respectively. By contrasting these two case studies we identify the role of the ‘proximal host’, the category to which the immigrants would be assigned following immigration. The determination of the ultimate definition of the ethnic identities of these immigrants is a result of the interaction of the conception of identity the immigrants bring with them from their countries of origin, the definitions and reactions of the proximal host group, and the overall ordering and definitions of American society. The ambivalence of both groups of immigrants towards their post‐immigration identities is a result of both macro‐forces determining the definition of categories and micro‐forces of individual choice. In conclusion we show that because of the primacy of race in American society, Israelis are likely to face many more options in the determination of their identities, than are Haitians, although they both face a similar structural dilemma.     

Authenticity of ancient-DNA results: a statistical approach

Although there have been several papers recommending appropriate experimental designs for ancient-DNA studies, there have been few attempts at statistical analysis. We assume that we cannot decide whether a result is authentic simply by examining the sequence (e.g., when working with humans and domestic animals). We use a maximum-likelihood approach to estimate the probability that a positive result from a sample is (either partly or entirely) an amplification of DNA that was present in the sample before the experiment began. Our method is useful in two situations. First, we can decide in advance how many samples will be needed to achieve a given level of confidence. For example, to be almost certain (95% confidence interval 0.96-1.00, maximum-likelihood estimate 1.00) that a positive result comes, at least in part, from DNA present before the experiment began, we need to analyze at least five samples and controls, even if all samples and no negative controls yield positive results. Second, we can decide how much confidence to place in results that have been obtained already, whether or not there are positive results from some controls. For example, the risk that at least one negative control yields a positive result increases with the size of the experiment, but the effects of occasional contamination are less severe in large experiments.