AN    INTERNATIONAL     JOURNAL     OF
CULTURAL  AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Volume 48, no. 4 (Fall 2009)

CAJUN OR COONASS? EXPLORING ETHNIC LABELS IN FRENCH LOUISIANA REGIONAL DISCOURSE

Rocky Sexton
Ball State University

This article explores the evolution of the label "coonass," debates over its meaning, and recent patterns of use of the term in French Louisiana regional discourse. Coonass has been associated with the Cajun French for at least 70 years. The term became more widely used in the 1970s and 1980s as it was socially, politically, and economically commodified in conjunction with French Louisiana regional pro-motions and Cajun ethnic revival. Use of coonass has been opposed by some Cajun individuals and Cajun ethnic organizations. Some scholars have posited divergent meanings of coonass versus Cajun/Acadian. However, coonass is commonly accepted and used by Cajuns, with patterns of use linked to degree of involvement in ethnic organizations, social class, gender, and context. (Coonass, Cajun, ethnic labels, French Louisiana, regional discourse).

COMMODITIZING CULTURE: THE PRODUCTION, EXCHANGE, AND CONSUMPTION OF COURO VEGETAL FROM THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON

Richard H. Wallace
California State University, Stanislaus

Many communities strive to increase incomes in the global economy by commoditizing their culture. They do this by selling traditional crafts and clothing imbued with cultural meanings, and performing traditional dances and rituals for tourists. This article, based on the theoretical work of Marcel Mauss and anthropological studies of gifts, commodity exchange, and consumption examines how forest communities in the Brazilian Amazon, with the assistance of "cultural brokers," use the World Wide Web to market culture-imbued products fashioned from latex extracted from rubber trees. It argues that by providing potential consumers with details of extractor livelihoods, including productive activities and rituals, and their sustainable use of the forest, cultural brokers facilitate developing social bonds between buyers and Amazon extractors. This suggests that businesses can play an important role in helping communities add cultural value to products; however, these global marketers must ensure that communities understand the socio-economic and cultural changes that market activities can bring, and prepare them to administer operations and growth. (Amazon, commoditization, consumption, sustainable development, economic anthropology).

POST-SOCIALIST UNCERTAINTY: BHILDBEARING DECISIONS IN HUNGARY

Marida Hollos
Brown University

Laura Bernardi
University of Lausanne

Using a set of in-depth interviews from Budapest, Hungary, research focused on reproductive decision-making under personal, economic, and the social uncertainty in the post-socialist transition resulting in unclear behavioral alternatives and unpredictable outcomes. Falling birthrates throughout the region reflect these uncertainties. The subjects' responses to uncertain conditions are one of the ways by which demographic behavior is affected in the post-socialist context of institutional change. (Post-socialist Hungary, economic uncertainty, marriage and family postponements).

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE STRUCTURE OF LOVE IN THE U.S. AND RUSSIA: FINDING A COMMON CORE OF CHARACTERISTICS AND NATIONAL AND GENDER DIFFERENCES

Victor de Munck
SUNY, New Paltz

Andrey Korotayev
Russian State University for the Humanities

Darya Khaltourina
York College, CUNY

A fourteen-item Likert survey in Russia and the United States was used to discover if there is a common conception of romantic love and if there are national or gender variations. Evolutionary, cultural, and popular literature on love suggests that males and female differ in their conception of romantic love and its relation to sex. But what is the relationship (if any) in similarities and differences between these national cultures and between genders. Research results showed a strong overall agreement on a common core that includes altruism, intrusive thinking, and emotional fulfillment. Also, there were national and gender differences, with nation having a stronger effect on the conception of romantic love than does gender. (Romantic love, gender, cross-cultural, cultural model, Russia, U.S.