Digital harm and addiction: An anthropological view

A broad trend of anti-tech rhetoric has raised fears about the dangers of digital overuse and reliance and suggests that technology is addictive, unnatural or harmful. Some people have limited their hours of ‘screen time’ or resorted to the practice of ‘digital detoxing’ – a catch-all term to describe temporarily ‘leaving’ the digital world. Using her ethnographic work in a North American digital detox retreat, the author considers an anthropological approach to digital harm and addiction that emphasizes their socially constructed nature. Following Horst and Miller (2012) and the view that digital harms are socially constructed, she argues that digital technology will be removed in different places for different reasons, and that geographically bound cultural values are vital to understanding how digital harms come to be imagined and counteracted. Whether or not digital use will ever be proven to be clinically harmful, digital harm is best viewed as a ‘social fact’.     

Dead missionaries,wild Sentinelese: An anthropological review of a global media event

This article aims to shed light on the background to a media event that occupied the world press, and even more the digital media, for a few weeks at the end of last year. The trope of the violent ‘murder’ of a white missionary by one of the last ‘uncontacted tribes’ is likely to evoke a variety of Western projections. Ultimately, it is about power over images, interpretations and how we want to behave towards isolated groups of people in today’s world: leave them alone? Protect them from the culture of violence at the fringe of their territories or contact them now and support them in the long term? An anthropological reading of the case does not lead to a simple answer to this question, but it might help in getting a more informed perspective on a complex subject matter.     

石楼殿山寺彩塑艺术赏析

殿山寺也称后土圣母庙,位于山西石楼县城西40公里的前山乡张家河村西南2．5公里的殿山半山梁上。殿山寺坐北朝南略偏西,占地面积2375平方米,建筑面积约1500平方米。寺内建筑由中轴线呈对称分布,依次为正殿、戏台、山门和仿临汾魏村牛王庙戏台所修戏台一座;两旁分别有东西配殿、厢房及排列不太对称的十一孔窑洞(图一)。殿山寺古建筑群除了两侧的厢房部分塌损外,其它建筑保存完好。虽然其规模小大,但其布局整齐唯美,殿宇造型奇特,是一处不可多得的明代古寺庙建筑群。     

清代漆器赏析

制漆业经过唐代螺钿漆器的出现和金银平脱的盛行以及宋元戗金漆器的发展,进入清代漆器制造业空前繁荣,这一时期用漆之多和范围之广前所未有,漆器的制造无论其规模,还是工艺技法都得到了很高的发展。尤其是乾隆时期,随着社会经济的繁荣,漆器生产更加兴盛,技法更加丰富多彩,工艺更加高超,达到了历史上最为辉煌的高峰。现将内蒙古博物馆收藏的部分漆器及其制造工艺介绍如下。     

An examination of metal objects from Tell Abraq, U.A.E.

Four metal objects excavated at Tell Abraq in 1989 and dating to the Bronze Age and Iron Age were analyzed at the Technical University of Copenhagen. The results are reported here and the implications of the work are discussed.     

端庄秀丽 典雅逸致——王庆墓碣书法艺术赏析

隶书萌芽于上古,继用于秦,兴于汉,尤其到了东汉,最为发达。隶书将篆书逐渐方正平直化,形成了与篆书线条差别很大的基本笔画,隶书的定型化过程称“隶变”,这是汉字书法发展史上最了不起的     

Citizen Participation,Process, and Transparency in Local Government: An Exploratory Study

This study had two purposes. First, it empirically examined the relationship between citizens' participation in administrative policymaking phases and their perception of government transparency. Second, it investigated how citizens' use of both offline and online participation channels and their involvement in different phases of policymaking (i.e., agenda setting, implementation, and evaluation) were related to their assessment of transparency in government. A 2009 survey of residents of Seoul, South Korea, was used to test the study hypotheses. Using two‐stage least squares estimate techniques, the study found that citizens involved in any citizen participation programs are more likely than those not involved to positively assess transparency in government. With regard to the relationship between participation channels and transparency, citizens who used offline participation channels were more likely than nonusers to perceive enhanced transparency in local government. However, their use of online participation channels had limited effect on perceptions of transparency. Finally, participation in two phases of the policy process, agenda setting and evaluation, positively affected citizens' assessment of transparency in government.     

Recent ceramic analysis: 2. Composition,production, and theory

This is the second of two articles reviewing the burgeoning literature on recent ceramic analysis. The first (Journal of Archaeological Research, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1996) (pp. 133–163) surveyed functional and stylistic analyses and pottery origins. This article reviews compositional investigations and studies of pottery production, both of which have flourished in a period of heightened examination of specific techniques, assumptions, and concepts, such as standardization. In addition, researchers are exploring new analytical methods as well as approaches to ceramic theory. The review closes with a series of observations and critiques of current directions.     

Aggregation and aggression: The state of war in anthropological thought

Foster, Mary Lecron, and Robert A. Rubinstein, eds. Peace and War: Cross‐Cultural Perspectives. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Books, 1986. vii + 369 pp. including chapter references and index. $29.95 cloth, $16.95 paper.

Mann, Michael. The Sources of Social Power: Volume I: A History of Power from the Beginning to A.D. 1760. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. v + 549 pp. including chapter bibliographies and index. $59.50 cloth, $18.95 paper.

Shamgar‐Handelman, Lea. Israeli War Widows: Beyond the Glory of Heroism. South Hadley, Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey, 1986. vii + 219 pp. including index, appendices, chapter notes, and references. $29.95 cloth.