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AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF Volume 41, no. 2 (Spring 2002) |
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THE VITALITY OF LOCAL POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS IN THE MIDDLE ATLAS, MOROCCO Bernhard Venema with A. Mguild In the Middle Atlas, Morocco, growing government bureaucracy has not undermined the informal village council and the legitimacy of local functionaries such as shaykh or muqaddam. Although official or elected bodies may formally have de facto power, in practice the village council still controls access to local resources. Instead of being manipulated by the regional government bureaucracy, the village council continues to represent the common people. However, newcomers and educated folk hold different attitudes toward local institutions and functionaries which weaken them, giving government officials opportunity to intervene. (Village council, district council, regional government, herders, farmers, Middle Atlas, Morocco). |
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FAST FOOD AND INTERGENERATIONAL COMMENSALITY IN JAPAN: NEW STYLES AND OLD PATTERNS John Traphagan
L. Keith Brown
The introduction of McDonald's and indigenous fast-food restaurants reflects changes in the Japanese diet, eating behaviors, and social patterns. But these changes are not the expression of urban anomie and social fragmentation often attributed to postmodern society and symbolically represented by the ubiquity of these restaurants. Indeed, eating and social patterns within such establishments suggest that they provide opportunities for intergenerational commensality, conviviality, and intimacy that are less evident in some of the traditional Japanese fast-food establishments, where snacks and meals likewise are quickly served and quickly consumed. The proliferation in Japan today of these fast-food establishments reflects changes in Japan as part of global processes, rather than Westernization per se; such eating venues are used in ways that are consistent with patterns long established in Japanese culture. (Japan, family, globalization, fast food, McDonald's). |
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POETIC DIALOGUES: PERFORMANCE AND POLITICS IN THE TUSCAN CONTRASTO Valentina Pagliai
Performance can represent politics in a way that empowers the audience, transforming the context from one only marginally political into one in which relevant political decisions may be taken. In the Contrasto, a Tuscan genre of verbal duel, the constant articulation of a dialogue between two points of view allows the artists to dispute social behaviors and political views, while veiling their opinions through the formal structure of the genre. (Verbal art, performance, language and politics, Italy) . |
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MODERN COWS AND EXOTIC TREES: IDENTITY, PERSONHOOD, AND EXCHANGE AMONG THE IRAQW OF TANZANIA Katherine A. Snyder
This article examines forms of personhood and identity among the Iraqw of Tanzania. It explores how ideas of personhood have changed from the precolonial era to the present as the Iraqw have been incorporated into the wider regional, national, and global political economy. Drawing on the literature from Melanesia, it investigates how ideas of the individual versus relational person play out in an African context. It illustrates how Iraqw are, through exchange systems, connected to different communities and social networks, each with different emphases of the person. (Iraqw, East Africa, personhood, modernity). |
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CONFIRMING UNILOCAL RESIDENCE IN NATIVE NORTH AMERICA John H. Moore
Janis E. Campbell
Some scientists have been reluctant to cite the coded entries of the Human Relations Area Files, especially concerning marriage and residence, because the codes are largely based on normative statements rather than empirical data. In this article, HRAF assertions about postmarital residence among Crees and Mvskoke Creeks are tested against empirical databases. For Crees, 97.6 per cent of early historical first marriages were found to be patrilocal, in accordance with tribal law. For Creeks, 94.9 per cent of such marriages were matrilocal, also according to tribal law. (Cree, Creek, postmarital residence, HRAF). |
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