Topoiesis: Procesos de espacialización en la literatura (crítica y metodología)

ABSTRACT

Space in literary texts has been widely studied but poorly systematized. There is no valid method of analysis that gives space a critical meaning. For instance, critics have eluded the fact that time and space cannot be considered separately. On the other hand, they have used concepts or methods from disciplines aside literature such as anthropology, biology, psychology, or geography that do not help clarify the meaning or signification of a literary text. We begin this article by giving a review of the main theoretical and critical positions regarding space in literature from the second half of the twentieth century. We do this in order to evaluate the main results those studies have attained. Later on, we propose a methodology that may clarify the significance of space in a literary text. The concept topoiesis (as far as we know, it has not been used in the humanities) represents for us a key word. It helps us to distinguish one main process where space can turn from a signification practice to the production of meaning in a literary text.     

古代人骨的分子考古学研究现状与展望

本文重点讨论分子生物学在考古学研究中的应用。根据对人类学研究的回顾与展望,在以研究人类的起源和进化为首要任务的人类学研究领域,由于现代分子生物学理论和方法的应用,为人类学的发展提供了科学可信的研究方法和具发展前景的研究方向。     

Culture,Information, and Inheritance: New Perspectives on Old Questions

Two books under review investigate the relationship between biological and cultural transmission of information. This perspective offers a promising basis for a definition of culture with broad applicability in contemporary anthropology. Lamb and Jablonka stress the complexity of biological transmission and the importance of behavioral and symbolic variation to evolutionary biology. Richerson and Boyd present a rigorous model-based approach to the analysis of cultural transmission. The approach reduces cultural phenomena to simple models for methodological purposes. Modeling cultural transmission has value for anthropology but cannot replace approaches drawn from social theory and from detailed contextual studies.     

Inequality and the return to structure in anthropology

The four books under review are all more or less explicitly critical of the impact of post-modernism on socio-cultural anthropology and archaeology. They all call for the building of anthropology by reconnecting to the earlier traditions of structural and comparative analysis. Although spanning both socio-cultural anthropology and archaeology, they set the focus clearly on the pervasive influence of inequality on social processes. The different authors demonstrate the explanatory power of concepts such as class, surplus, inequality, and structure for a multitude of contexts from prehistoric foragers to neo-liberal market ideologies.     

Three-dimensional laser scanning: potential uses for museum conservation and scientific research

Recent technological advancements have made a tremendous impact in the fields of biological anthropology and archaeology. Although advancements in DNA analysis have overshadowed other areas of progress in the subfields of biological anthropology, bioarchaeologists are now utilizing many other new forms of technology in their work. In particular, three-dimensional (3D) laser scanning offers a sophisticated method of documenting and studying prehistoric human skeletons. In recent years, portable laser scanning devices capable of creating high resolution images have become available, enabling researchers to scan and archive skeletal collections from archaeological sites and museum collections around the world. 3D laser scanners are inexpensive, simple to operate, and completely non-destructive to human skeletal material. A major benefit is that they offer a cost-effective method of creating a digital record of skeletal collections for museum archives. Since published research using 3D methods typically focuses on sophisticated analyses used to analyze 3D data that are difficult for the novice user to follow, in this paper we provide a simple and straightforward overview of 3D scanning methods aimed at non-specialists. We discuss how these methods can be used to preserve and document osteological material in museums, develop research ideas in the subfields of biological anthropology, and increase the potential for scholarly collaboration.     

Introduction: Biographies of Anthropologists as Anthropological Data

Biographies of anthropologists are widely recognized as useful for the history of science and the discipline. Introducing this special issue “Biographies of Anthropologists,” I argue that they not only provide information about anthropology, but also data for anthropology because they are studies of human agents enmeshed in social and cultural contexts, comparable to life histories of ethnographic informants. Biographies of anthropologists are of similar importance for empirical and theoretical anthropology as ethnographies, grammars, and monographs in archaeology and biological anthropology. They depict cultural dynamics from a person-centered, intimate, experience-near, and diachronic perspective on anthropology's cluster of sodalities.     

Genetic relationships based on discrete dental traits: Basketmaker II and Mimbres

Investigations of the relationships between culture and biology among prehistoric populations of the southwestern United States can enhance our reconstruction of social interactions. The present study analyses the permanent dentition of Basketmaker II and Mimbres individuals from multiple sites using the Arizona State University dental anthropology system, and compares them with a regional sample. Discrete dental trait analysis provides a useful means for assessing the degree of genetic relatedness between populations when large comparative samples are available. Both in situ cultural change and population replacement have been posited as the dominant mechanism acting on Basketmaker and early Puebloan groups. We examine the relationship of these populations to probable Uto‐Aztecan speakers in light of the Uto‐Aztecan farmer migration hypothesis. The Basketmaker II complex, traditionally recognised as a distinct cultural unit, exhibits considerable population heterogeneity. Western Basketmakers appear to share biological ties with Uto‐Aztecan speakers, while Eastern Basketmakers do not, as predicted by the model. The relationship of the Mimbres to probable Uto‐Aztecan speakers is less clear because the Mimbres show only weak affinities to northern Mexican populations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Animal DNA in PCR reagents plagues ancient DNA research

Molecular archaeology brings the tools of molecular biology to bear on fundamental questions in archaeology, anthropology, evolution, and ecology. Ancient DNA research is becoming widespread as evolutionary biologists and archaeologists discover the power of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify DNA from ancient plant and animal remains. However, the extraordinary susceptibility of PCR to contamination by extraneous DNA is not widely appreciated. We report the independent observation of DNA from domestic animals in PCR reagents and ancient samples in four separate laboratories. Since PCR conditions used in ancient DNA analyses are extremely sensitive, very low concentrations of contaminating DNA can cause false positives. Previously unidentified animal DNA in reagents can confound ancient DNA research on certain domestic animals, especially cows, pigs, and chickens.     

The future of the enthnographic museum (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

This essay discusses the recent past of ethnographic museums and raises questions about their future. In the last thirty years or so, ethnographic museums have faced many challenges arising both from within and beyond anthropology to the extent that in the post‐colonial and post‐modern era they could be said to have suffered an identity crisis. Many have been renamed, remodelled or rehoused in spectacular new premises (such as the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris). Only a few have remained largely unaltered, as at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford where the authors of this essay are employed. Drawing on the theoretical literature in museum anthropology and material culture, many years of ‘hands on’ curatorial experience and the insights gained from a five year collaborative research project involving ten major ethnographic museums in Europe, the authors investigate how ethnographic museums might engage with new audiences and new intellectual regimes in the future.     

Demographic growth and the “cultural factor” in ireland: rethinking the relationship between structure and event

The structure/event dichotomy has been a bone of contention in anthropology for many decades. The so‐called “synchronic paradigms” such as functionalism and structuralism saw “structure” (defined in various ways) as the object of anthropological analysis, whereas “events” were left to historians. Recent trends in anthropological thought are eager to dismiss the ahistoricity of traditional approaches as they attempt to include the diachronic perspective within anthropological research. Very often, this re‐historization of anthropology has entailed the criticism of the structure/event dichotomy. By using data from Irish demographic history, in this article I postulate the need to recover this dichotomy as a fundamental component of the anthropological approach to human affairs.     

Intellectual Property and Cultural Appropriation

Many recent works on intellectual property have been published that come from outside anthropology but offer context for a set of ethical and legal questions central to the discipline, subsumed by the term cultural appropriation. These questions include concern for the circulation of ethnographic knowledge beyond source communities. Four recent works address the relationship between intellectual property and cultural appropriation. These books do not deal with iconic anthropological source communities. Rather, they offer anthropologists points of entry into debates on cultural appropriation that are of urgent interest both within and beyond anthropology.     

Physical Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology in Europe: History,Current Trends and Challenges

This paper provides an overview of the development and current practice of physical anthropology as relating to the treatment of archaeological skeletal remains in Europe. The evolution of physical anthropology as a discipline is covered in detail from the 18th century onwards, and current trends in education and research are also discussed. Additional topics include a synthesis of the legislative framework for studying human skeletal remains in over 40 European countries while also addressing challenges, future trends and emerging ethical questions. This overview is the product of an extensive review of the literature partnered with information received via questionnaires completed by colleagues working in nearly 50 European countries. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Principal Component Regression in Spatial Lag Model: Teen Employment in the City of Rosario,Argentina

Teen employment is a very important socioeconomic phenomenon because of its consequences on human capital formation. We assess the relation between teen employment and poverty, education, and unemployment in the city of Rosario, using information from the 2010 Argentina Census disaggregated at census block level. We use two different spatial models: The spatial lag model (SLM) and a linear regression model with the spatial component filtered (filtering model, FM). Given the nature of the variables employed, multicollinearity is an issue. One of the techniques proposed in the literature to deal with multicollinearity problems is principal component regression (PCR). We develop an adaptation of such methodology to be used in the SLM. Both models are estimated using their traditional methodologies (instrumental variables for the SLM and OLS for the FM) and using PCR. Although results are similar between the two models, depending on the methodology used in the estimations they differ greatly. Under traditional methodologies estimations show high variability, instability, and contradictory outcomes, but under PCR, results behave according to the literature.     

Categorical Wombling: Detecting Regions of Significant Change in Spatially Located Categorical Variables

Wombling is a method for discovering boundaries in a collection of continuous variables observed at the same geographic localities. We extend this method to categorical data. A categorical wombling statistic C_i, which identifies areas of rapid change, is defined for every pair i = 1,…, n of adjacent localities, and is equal to the average number of category mismatches at i. We use both simulation and theory to consider the order statistics of C_i under null hypotheses of randomness, and of spatial autocorrelation for each variable, but independence between variables. Graph-theoretical statistics derived from C_i investigate whether areas of rapid change resemble boundaries. Computer simulation is used to study the distributions of these under the two null hypotheses. The methods are applied to linguistic data in three European areas. Other potential applications exist in biology, linguistics, anthropology, and other social sciences.     

Anthropology's inheritance: renaissance travel,romanticism and the discourse of identity

This article argues that anthropology inherited a series of contradictory imperatives from its origin as a form of travel. The point is made by studying the relationship between the metadiscourse on travel in the early modern period and the metadiscourse of classic anthropology in the twentieth century. Early commentators worried about the effect of travel on identity and argued that extended journeys resulted in a disaffiliation from inherited values. The goal was to acquire new customs, but not to return as a stranger in one's own country. To prevent the negative effects of travel, travellers were urged to fix their identity in advance of departure and to signal their untroubled reincorporation once they came home. In the Romantic era, an alternative emerged in the valuation of travel as an occasion of critique in which the return was attenuated or suspended. As anthropology developed out of earlier forms of travel, it acquired these competing notions of authenticity, at once defending itself against the accusation of abandoning identity while advocating total immersion in the context of fieldwork. Recent theoretical developments in anthropology are examined to ascertain whether the dilemma of priorities has been overcome. While the evidence suggests that this is possible, anthropology has continued to embrace a distinctive seventeenth‐century compromise, adopting unfamiliar customs selectively, without compromising the integrity of identity.     

Two Cultures: French and American Social Science in the Twentieth Century

The development of anthropology in France and North America during the early to mid 20th century showed both similarities and pronounced differences. In both cases anthropology matured alongside sociology, a relationship that would prove increasingly problematic as the century wore on. In France, in particular, another important influence was art and literature, especially the Surrealism of the 1920s and 1930s. This was less the case in North America, but in both countries, anthropology occupied a medial position between science and the humanities.     

Add language documentation to any ethnographic project in six steps

All anthropologists should take to heart Dell Hymes' frequent quip: ‘Language is too important to leave to linguists and linguistics is too valuable to ignore’. This century will see the disappearance of hundreds of languages and a significant reduction in the use of thousands of others, at the very least. Documenting endangered ways of speaking (in any language) is part of producing sophisticated and ethically robust anthropology. Most indigenous communities want their knowledge documented and many are enthusiastic about collaborative projects with anthropologists. Producing language documentation has never been easier with the recent proliferation of computer software and inexpensive quality audio equipment. Collaborative anthropology need not eclipse theory‐driven anthropology or divert junior scholars from the production of PhD dissertations and journal articles critical for professional advancement. This article provides anthropologists with a six‐step programme to add a language documentation element to their current ethnographic research practices. Documentary linguists preach to their colleagues that people speak in a context, and this context needs attention. Anthropologists know that, of course, but they need to be reminded of the importance of form in expression and the documentation of specific, original forms leads to a richer and deeper anthropology. It is also a vital part of ethical research practices, good relations with source communities, and an easy way to make a significant impact now and forever. A small investment in time and money produces anthropology that makes a difference in people's lives.     

Literature in the German science of the soul: Johann Gottlob Krüger’s Dreams

The early history of anthropology in eighteenth-century Germany wove together contributions from medicine, metaphysics, and a host of other disciplines in an attempt to develop a holistic ‘science of man.’ This paper examines a literary text written by prominent figure in that movement, Johann Gottlob Krüger’s Dreams (Träume) (1754). The collection of parables staged as dreams in this book presents specifically literary cases against the sufficiency of either philosophy or physiology for the study of human life as a whole. Through close readings of a number of these dreams and related texts, this paper shows how Krüger’s Dreams advocates an approach to anthropology that recognizes the importance of literature for an interdisciplinary study of human life. More than simply recognising literary writing as another means of studying human life, the vision of a new anthropology implied in this book draws on literary devices to counter the overconfidence and partisanship of existing philosophical and medical theories of human nature.     

A racial triangle: physical anthropology and race theories between Germans,Jews and Poles

The last decades of the nineteenth century saw a growing prominence of German racial sciences. This article documents how East Central European scholars responded to their potential marginalization within the scientific community due to German racial theories in the field of physical anthropology and the popularization of science. Three personalities represent a sample of this variety: Ludwik Gumplowicz, a Polish-Jewish sociologist; Mateusz Mieses, a Galician Jewish amateur anthropologist; and Jan Czekanowski, professor of anthropology and spiritus rector of the Lwów school of anthropology. All three cases illustrate the contradictions inscribed into the concept of transnationalism. To varying extents, they belonged to the German-speaking scientific community, through which they gained access to international science. Their reactions to anti-Jewish and anti-Slavic positions among the dominant racial theories of their time shines light on the tensions which were present within the academic community, as well as on the tensions that appeared between their own (semi-)professional status, self-perception and their group identities. The international communication and contacts came into conflict with the exclusionary philosophy of racial theories, thus perpetually challenging their transnational position. The responses of these actors sought to redefine spatial and methodological frameworks amid the dominant discourses. Each making attempts in their own way, they aimed at reversing what they perceived as aberrations of racial theories while persistently remaining within this discourse.     

试论历史人类学与中国近代史研究中的几个问题

兴起于20世纪80年代中后期的历史人类学,尽管从学术传承上分属于两个不同的学科,但它的出现为消融历史学与人类学的边界,促成两个学科的交叉与融合,起到了不可低估的作用。在历史学内,“历史人类学”的形成亦经历了一个从社会史、社会文化史到历史人类学的演变过程。而在中国近代史领域,历史人类学已经展开一些研究实践,但是尚需进一步提倡。这种提倡表现在三个方面:底层视角、区域经验、文本与田野互动。历史人类学会对中国近代史研究产生有益的影响,会成为一种介于宏大叙事与经验性实证研究的“中层理论”。从历史学科的本位出发,历史人类学对人类学的吸收借鉴颇多,但是不能轻易放弃历史学科本位。