Samoan Moral Discourse and the Loto

An old adage in anthropology holds that societies perpetuate their moral codes by the manner in which people raise their children, but socialization is far more than the straightforward passing on of culture. Rather, culture acquisition is a highly conflictual process, rich in contested meanings. What other theorists have shown on the level of cultural systems, this analysis intends to show at the level of micro-interactive processes. The article examines Samoan child-rearing routines, subjective reactions to these routines, the manner in which these reactions are in conformity and in resistance to cultural norms, and the discourse through which Samoan society finally strives to temper the resisting subject. By taking the conflictual dimensions of the socialization process into account, the article describes and analyzes indigenous perspectives on Samoan temperament. These perspectives have the potential to reconcile certain vehement disagreements that characterize the ethnography of the self in Samoa.     

Ritual and the Constitution of Social Structure

The constitution and reproduction of structure through the action orientations of social actors remains a basic question in the social sciences. Most sociological theories have stressed a purposive-rational model of action in the constitution of structure. These models of action have not been able to account for either the external constraints of structure or for its internal obligatory nature. This paper argues that a theory of ritual action is able to explain both the external and the internal obligatory nature of social structure.     

Pierced by Murugan's Lance: Ritual, Power, and Moral Redemption among Malaysian Hindus

Pierced by Murugan's Lance: Ritual, Power, and Moral Redemption among Malaysian Hindus. Elizabeth Fuller Collins. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1997. 246 pp.     

Ritual and Social Change: Another Javanese Example

This paper was submitted for publication to American Anthropologist and in the usual manner was sent anonymously to three referees. The referees' coymerits are appended     

The Cool Knife: Imagery of Gender, Sexuality, and Moral Education inKaguru Initiation Ritual

The Cool Knife: Imagery of Gender, Sexuality, and Moral Education inKaguru Initiation Ritual. T. O. Beidelman. Washington, DO. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. 312 pp.     

Personal Features of Identification and Uniqueness in the Anthropological Field of Social Discourse

In this article, fashion is understood as a means by which an individual gains access and gradual establishment as a participant in a social environment. Fashion can be seen as the evolution of the expression of specific views on the external expression of a person’s common understanding. Then it is perceived too as an element of clothing and a person’s overall wardrobe. In a broader sense, as shown here, fashion is thought of as a social standard that is fulfilled only when it corresponds to a common cultural perception of the social order. The relevance is determined in particular by the fact that fashion is part of the mass culture and can form the appearance of a person.

Thus we understand fashion as part of mass culture, and its impact on the personal formation and development of people in the modern society becomes the subject of study. In particular, the set of fashion elements of youth is taken, in addition to development in the social environment itself.

The novelty of this study lies in determining that a person perceives fashion not only in the process of his/her professional development but also in the processes of developing their own emotional and personal status. Youth is most vulnerable to this. We have studied university students who were born during the phase of the post-Soviet state’s formation. For the first time results can be presented on the basis of the analysis of that generation, which determines their way of life after the transition period. A further direction and application of this study are in forming a link that will create a correlation between current fashion trends and the opportunities young people have for social adaptation.     

Personal Sentiments and Polyphonic Voices in Warao Women's Ritual Wailing: Music and Poetics in a Critical and Collective Discourse

Ritual wailing performed during funerals provides Warao women with a vehicle for individual and collective expression and a crucial point of access to political processes. When asked about the significance of these musical and texted laments, women emphasize the importance of crying "right alongside each other." This article examines the musical and poetic elements that enable wailers to produce a collective discourse while retaining the distinctiveness of individual voices. I argue that the polyphonic and intertextual character of laments plays an essential role in the cultural construction of women's social power; specifically, these performance dynamics engender special forms of subjectivity that enable women to produce a discourse whose "truth" and "strength" resist reappropriation.