Stigma, community, ethnography: Joan Ablon's contribution to the anthropology of impairment-disability

Joan Ablon has helped establish the anthropology of impairment-disability and significantly contributed to the role of anthropology in disability studies. In this article, we review the development of and situate Ablon's ethnographic research in the anthropology of impairment-disability. We then address various methodological issues in her work including her ethnographic approach, her grounding in action anthropology and her support for the development of the academic study of disability in anthropology and the careers of disabled anthropologists. The next section of the article examines Ablon's use of the notion of stigma, her understanding of community, and her engagement with disability rights. As examples of themes important to disability studies, we present her discussion of the implications of the ideal of the body beautiful, and gender differences in negotiating intimacy for people with physical differences. We close with a discussion of the future of an anthropology of impairment-disability. [disability, impairment, Ablon, genetics, ethnography]     

The reality of anthropology

The article concerns the continuity between anthropology and the reality it studies. Discovery and definition merge. This is substantiated by a discussion of ‘events’ and ‘worlds’. While the anthropologist becomes her own informant in the field, in the sense that her experience informs her ethnography, anthropology simultaneously shapes her discoveries. This simultaneity ultimately dissolves the distinction between subject and object, and from this point anthropology may recondition the conditions of science.     

Anthropology in conversation with an Islamic tradition: Emmanuel Levinas and the practice of critique

As an alternative to approaching Islam as an object for anthropological analysis, this article develops the idea of an anthropologist participating in conversations going on within an Islamic tradition. The idea of a conversation is developed through the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas and his ideal of knowing as an ethical relation with an infinite other. Levinas opposes a sterile and oppressive relation of ‘totality’, where the knowing self encompasses the other within concepts and thought that originate in the self, with a critical and creative relation of ‘infinity’, in which the alterity of the other is maintained and invites conversation that brings the self into question. In the article, recent disciplinary discussions of how anthropology should engage with alterity, which have been framed in terms of ontology and post‐secular anthropology, are examined in the light of Levinas's ideal of knowing as ethical and critical practice.     

Key informants on the history of anthropology

The history of anthropology is a growing field of study within the discipline itself. Our series ‘Key Informants on the History of Anthropology’ is offered as a contribution to the discussion of how anthropology, as it is understood and practised today, evolved and took shape. In this invited contribution, T. O. Beidelman reflects on the formative, enlightening and sometimes dramatic encounters and experiences that have shaped his engagement with anthropology, and have influenced his many and lasting contributions to the discipline.     

2009 Society for Medical Anthropology Conference: The Intersection of Anthropology and Medicine as Portrayed in Paul Farmer’s Photo Album

Paul Farmer, physician, anthropologist, and author, spoke at the 2009 Society for Medical Anthropology Conference at Yale University in September.Medical anthropology is a very young field, only approximately 50 years old. The underpinnings of medical anthropology have been around for some time, but as a discipline, the burden to ensure that it continues to flourish and grow belongs to future generations of students and scholars. However, future generations of medical anthropologists cannot carry the field forward unless they examine the teachings of previous teachers and scholars. By narrating his own story, just as he so frequently narrates the intricacies of Haiti [1], Paul Farmer, physician, anthropologist, and author of Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor [2], displayed a parallel between the stories of his own past with that of medical anthropology.At the 2009 Society for Medical Anthropology Conference at Yale University in September, Farmer began his aptly titled presentation, Photo Album, with a discussion of his introduction to medical anthropology while an undergraduate at Duke. He stumbled upon medical anthropology quite by chance as an ambitious pre-med who was interested in taking every course that had the word “medical” in its title. He credited many people, including Patricia Pessar, Arthur Kleinman, and Linda Garro with aiding the development of his ideas and perception of the world and teaching him to use medical anthropology not only in passive observation, but in the active practice of medicine. You “don’t have to be a faculty member to teach,” stressed Farmer. Some of the most important lessons to learn come from the poor, to whom few listen.Farmer believes that listening can form the work we do. He honed his listening skills, which are used in anthropology in an ethnographic context, after his first night in an emergency room, when he saw that many minor cases were brought in solely because individuals had no other outlet for treatment. Being a good listener allowed Farmer to understand the full impact of a 1981 slavery case involving migrant workers in Florida. It was this skill of listening that enabled Farmer to understand and tell Haiti’s story, as well as understand the intricate web that exists between privilege and privation. Just as the line between medical anthropology and primary care is often blurred, the “bracing connection between privilege and privation” becomes even more apparent the longer one spends studying both extremes.This is a vantage point Farmer was particularly susceptible to, given his trips from Haiti to Harvard and back again. Listening to his patients in Haiti and the United States would allow Farmer to draw parallels of inequality and injustice that exist for the impoverished in both places. The only difference between the United States and Haiti is that eventually many impoverished individuals in the United States will wind up in somewhat adequate medical facilities. In the story of global economics, Farmer said, “Good things get stuck in customs and bad things get traded freely.” A practicing physician may easily note that inequalities between the rich and poor are not unique to the United States or to Haiti, but what, Farmer asks, can anthropologists say about this division?The cursory glance through Farmer’s photo album ended with a picture of friends whom he fondly termed “the structural violence mafia” and anthropological ideas regarding unequal access to health care. While at first, the portion of anthropology that dissects the structures of violence seems isolated from medical anthropology, those structures of violence institute the vast inequalities that cause medicine to seem inaccessible. Farmer also stressed that “how we think about social theory influences global health.” Work in Haiti taught Farmer firsthand about the phenomenon of blaming the victim [3]. To understand this entrenched system of structural violence fully, an intensive bio-social analysis must be undertaken. Structural violence results in a system in which the victims are blamed, empowering those who suppress the victim while inhibiting the victim’s access to health care. Pointing fingers at the vulnerable is illustrated by the fact that Haiti is often blamed for the introduction of AIDS into North America [4,5]. Farmer stressed not only the inherent trauma of structural violence, but Carolyn Nordstrom’s ideas on violence having a distinct tomorrow [6]. The perpetual cycle of structural violence enables this concept of violence having a clear future with the inherent cultural systems that allow for violence remaining stagnant while the individuals entrapped within the system change.Beyond this concept of structural violence is that of structural healing [3]. Though structural healing is a new phenomenon being examined by anthropologists, it provides a balance to structural violence with the idea being that there are certain societal standards that are either in place or can be introduced that allow for an alleviation of the suffering caused by structural violence. While Farmer’s discussion of the path that led him to his current position was inspirational in itself, the sharing of his story is of even more importance because he has been a teacher to so many. His story reinforces the idea that even though structural violence has a definite past and future, so do medical anthropology and the idea of structural healing. Thankfully, medical anthropology may be used as a relatively new force to combat structural violence. Farmer’s speech may have been unexpected in its autobiographical content, but perhaps the main point is that the intersection between medicine and anthropology can be seen not as a single point but a line that runs the full length of each of these disciplines. We all have a distinct responsibility to not only hear but to listen and learn, not to just passively observe, but actively understand. It is with this listening and acting, that future medical anthropologists can bridge the gap between social sciences and practical medicine.     

Australian Anthropologists and Public Anthropology

In 2004, the authors convened a session entitled ‘Public Anthropology’ at the Australian Anthropology Society's annual conference. The session examined the development of a specific stream of public anthropology in the USA and Britain and its articulation by writers such as Robert Borofsky in the aftermath of the Yanomami controversy and Richard Werbner in the African context. In pursuing this discussion, we identify three key characteristics that distinguish public anthropology: the broader application of ethnography to urgent and political social issues in a way that shows the profoundly relational nature of current crises to historical, political and local events and forces; a focus on this approach as a central aspect of training, particularly at the postgraduate level; and an active and accessible engagement in public discussion and debate. We present a short case study from Skidmore's research on disease, suffering and the health system in Burma to illustrate ways in which a public anthropology approach could represent the current health crisis in Burma in an effective manner. Drawing also on the work of our fellow panellists, we argue for the timeliness of the development of a public anthropology stream in Australia and for the deliberate inclusion of public anthropology in the Australian Anthropology Society's mandate.     

Anthropology and the Dialectic of Enlightenment: A Discourse on the Definition and Ideals of a Threatened Discipline

The knowledge practices of social and cultural anthropology can be conceived as undergoing constant methodological reconsideration or reformulation as a consequence of internal critique and of institutional change effected in the larger educational and political environment. Neo‐liberal shifts affecting the institutional context may have influenced a deepening of the crisis in anthropology where the nature of its project has become less certain or has threatened a reconfiguration of such proportion that anthropology may be losing sight of its direction. This essay explores some of the Enlightenment roots of social and cultural anthropology. It is presented as very much an idea that embodies and reflects what Adorno and Horkheimer discussed as the dialectic of Enlightenment. The argument presented is less pessimistic claiming that the distinction of anthropology is in its pursuit of Enlightenment ideals that it has maintained and rehoned as a consequence of its own routine internal critique. The vital implication of the discussion is that anthropology is in a situation of serious threat in largely a post‐Enlightenment world. In such a context, the methodological ideals that emerged as integral to the spirit of anthropology are well worth maintaining rather than abandoning. The ideals that are addressed are conceived to be integral to the importance of anthropology as critique and as a knowledge practice capable of sustaining a profound contribution to the understanding of the potential that is human being.     

Post-socialism and notions of context in St Petersburg

The anthropology of post-socialism has largely been framed around a suspension of judgement of the so-called 'transition to market capitalism'. In this article I explore this theme as an ethnographic question and ask how social context is marked locally. I argue that while suspending judgements about the nature of context is nearly impossible in a sustained fashion – marriages must be planned, universities attended, etc. – in many ways people have a practical disposition that does in fact resemble the anthropological hesitance to pass judgement. I argue that ways of imagining context have more to do with historically informed practices of personhood and 'pretence' than with crisis and chaos.     

Capitalism as culture,and economy1

Contemporary cultural anthropology has been marked by its distance from the analysis of economy. I argue that anthropology as a discipline has suffered from this distance and suggest a form in which these interests can be reconciled for the purposes of ethnographic research. The discussion is divided into three sections. In the first, I trace the ‘disappearing’ of economy from cultural anthropology. In the second, I propose a schema for bringing economy back. This schema involves adopting a phenomenology of the subject that relies on notions of value drawn from Appadurai and from Heidegger and Marx. Finally, I instance two examples of this schema in my own ethnographic research. One concerns Central Australia and pertains to recent debates about remote indigenous life. The other concerns Kingston Jamaica and references debates about gender, sex and dancehall. Both milieux involve types of change and violence that can bear on modern subjects. My suggestion is that anthropology will address these issues in more interesting ways if economy becomes a part of ethnographic analysis.     

Key informants on the history of anthropology: an itinerary

The history of anthropology is a growing field of study within the discipline itself. Our series ‘Key Informants on the History of Anthropology’ contributes to the discussion of how anthropology, as it is understood and practised today, evolved and took shape. In the following invited contribution Marc Augé, Professor of Anthropology at École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, reflects back on his work in Africa, in light of his more recent explorations of contemporary global issues. He observes how history intervenes also with previous research ‘as if the facts which I observed in former times were only taking on their full meaning today’. This relationship between past and present research reinforces his faith in social anthropology as a discipline that is particularly well suited to address contemporary issues of globalisation.     

Reading and Time: Two Approaches to the Materiality of Scripture

In this article I examine Christian approaches to conceptions of time as expressed in approaches to reading the Bible. The first main focus in this effort is upon the work of Saint Augustine, whose arguments about the connections between reading and time have been, as I try to show, very influential. The second main focus is more ethnographic in nature, and comes from my work in Zimbabwe on a small group of apostolic Christians whose views differ significantly from Augustine. These two cases are framed by some more general remarks on Christian temporalities, as well as a call for the newly-emerging interest in the anthropology of Christianity to take note of more general work on literacy and the ethnography of reading.     

Family,Networks and Academics

The history of anthropology is a growing field of study within the discipline itself. Our series ‘Key Informants on the History of Anthropology’ is offered as a contribution to the discussion of how anthropology, as it is understood and practised today, evolved and took shape. In this invited article, Larissa Adler Lomnitz reflects on how a cosmopolitan background aroused an interest in her in questions of social identity. Her studies of social networks in urban situations in Latin America are renowned in anthropology. Here she relates how they unfolded—and how they have been intimately connected to her family life.     

Optimal Foraging Theory and the Racecar Driver: The Impact of Student-Centered Learning on Anthropological Pedagogy

This article contributes to the field of anthropological pedagogy, adding to recent articles regarding needed change in anthropology teaching methods. All have in common the practice of anthropology in the classroom. The author used the theory of optimal foraging to encourage students to operationalize human behavior. The economic benefit that students reaped warrants discussion. Students rapidly and measurably improved several areas of their lifestyle including health, finance, and home. Pursuing an anthropology degree thus becomes a personal journey.     

The New Ecological Anthropology

Older ecologies have been remiss in the narrowness of their spatial and temporal horizons, their functionalist assumptions, and their apolitical character. Suspending functionalist assumptions and an emphasis upon (homeo)stasis, "the new ecological anthropology" is located at the intersection of global, national, regional, and local systems, studying the outcome of the interaction of multiple levels and multiple factors. It blends theoretical and empirical research with applied, policy-directed, and critical work in what Rappaport called an "engaged" anthropology; and it is otherwise attuned to the political aspects and implications of ecological processes. Carefully laying out a critique of previous ecologies by way of announcing newer approaches, the article insists on the need to recognize the importance of culture mediations in ecological processes rather than treating culture as epiphenomenal and as a mere adaptive tool. It closes with a discussion of the methodologies appropriate to the new ecological anthropology. ["the new ecology," political ecology, applied or engaged anthropology, linkages methodology]     

Research for Change versus Research as Change: Lessons from a Mujerista Participatory Research Team

In this article, I aim to further the discussion of engaged research in anthropology and education by examining the unique changes promoted by participatory research in contrast to policy-oriented activist research models. Drawing on my work with Latina immigrant mothers in a school reform movement, I argue for a Latina feminist view of participatory research that illuminates and builds on Latina women's capacities for social critique and transformative resistance.  [participatory research, activist anthropology, Latino parents, school reform]     

Building Bridges and Traveling through Time: Ethics, Practice, and Priorities in the Second Moscow International Visual Anthropology Film Festival

International film festivals are entangled spaces in which filmmakers and audiences negotiate aesthetic, ethical, political, and practical traditions and communities. This review of the Second Moscow International Visual Anthropology Film Festival explores some of the differences in ethics, practice, and priorities of anthropological filmmaking between Russia and the West. By providing a brief history of Soviet anthropology and a discussion of the festival's main themes, this review explores some of the historic and contemporary influences shaping the development of (one particular strain of) visual anthropology in post-Soviet Russia.     

Beyond the Post-Structural Impasse in the Anthropology of Development

In recent years anthropologists have produced innovative and critical scholarship that refuses to simplify or essentialise the development process. However, for the most part the anthropology of development remains closely tied to the post-structuralist paradigm. Why, after more than two decades, does the post-structuralist critique continue to hold its dominant grip on the anthropology of development? Why haven’t anthropologists been able to move the anthropology of development, or development itself, further ahead? These are the main questions addressed in this article. More specifically, it is argued that the anthropology of development has reached an impasse; it remains bound to an overly structural interpretation of the development process, a construction that privileges not only structure over agency, but also hegemony over dialectics. Using the ethnography of a high-profile case of development in northwest Namibia, the article suggests a possible path forward by outlining a proposal for a simultaneous theoretical re-orientation and methodological reclamation in the anthropology of development.     

Teaching ethnic and racial relations: some comments on Michael Banton

Banton's critique of race and ethnic relations highlights differences between the U.K. and the U.S.A. The interplay between ethnic politics and the teaching of the subject in the universities reflects differing reactions to the demise of Marxism, the impact of globalization and the growth of transnationalism. In America, anthropology, economics, cultural studies and conflict resolution have had a mixed impact on the field, but an examination of textbooks over the past thirty years - as well as Banton's prolific scholarship - suggests that most of the core problems remain the same.     

Cough sweets and angels: the ordinary ethics of the extraordinary in Sufi practice in Lebanon

This article presents an ethnographic account of the social production of the miraculous in Sufi practice in Lebanon, including displays of bodily mortification. It examines the interdependence of the extraordinary and the ordinary/everyday, following, but problematizing, Max Weber's classic discussion of charismatic authority. For Weber the extraordinary lies outside the bounds of rules. Adopting the terms of some recent interventions in the anthropology of ethics, I claim on the contrary that the extraordinary has its ordinary ethics too. In so doing I not only add to the anthropology of wonder but also challenge those who would argue that anthropology's especial focus is on the ordinary, to the exclusion of its opposite. If this is not to be mere piety, sorting out what belongs to which category will prove challenging. Especially within the anthropology of religion, one can hardly do with one without the other.     

Practical considerations over spectral quality in solid state NMR spectroscopy of soluble proteins

Great theoretical and methodological advances are pushing the limits of resolution and sensitivity in solid state NMR (SSNMR). However, sample preparation remains a critical issue for the success of an experiment. The factors affecting spectral quality in SSNMR samples are discussed, examining cases encountered in the literature and presenting new experimental data. A discussion on resolution and sensitivity in sedimented solutes is framed in this context.