Studying Modern Nation‐State in a World‐Historical Perspective: The Instance of Iraq

By examining conceptual and historical approaches on modern state and state formation in the context of Iraq, this paper addresses four interrelated methodological aspects of studying state formation (1) to contest the simplicity of Eurocentric knowledge production in studying state formation especially in the periphery, (2) to bring capital and nation‐state into a relational analysis and to call for research on how they constitute each other historically and geographically, (3) to integrate methodologically local and world‐historical context in understanding the historical complexity of state formation, (4) to problematize the concepts of “capital relation” in order to recognize nature and transformation of nature in the study of state formation.     

Studying social capital in situ: A qualitative approach

In recent years, the concept of social capital – broadly defined as co-operative networks based on regular, personal contact and trust – has been widely applied within cross-disciplinary human science research, primarily by economists, political scientists and sociologists. In this article, I argue why and how fieldwork anthropologists should fill a gap in the social capital literature by highlighting how social capital is being built in situ. I suggest that the recent inventions of “bridging” and “bonding” social capital, e.g., inclusive and exclusive types of social capital, are fruitful concepts to apply in an anthropological fieldwork setting. Thus, my case study on the relationship between local people and newcomers in the rural Danish marginal municipality of Ravnsborg seeks to reveal processes of bridging/bonding social capital building. Such a case study at the micro level has general policy implications for a cultural clash between two different groups by demonstrating the complexity of a social capital mix where bonding social capital strongly prevails. This ultimately leads to a “social trap” (Rothstein 2005), implying widespread distrust and serious social and economic costs for a whole population. Gunnar Lind Haase Svendsen is Senior Researcher, at the Institute of Rural Research and Development, Southern University of Denmark. He is the co-author, with G. T. Svendsen, of The Creation and Destruction of Social Capital: Entrepreneurship, Co-operative Movements and Institutions (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, 2004, Paperback edition, October 2005); and author of Samarbejde og konfrontation. Opbygning og nedbrydning af social kapital i de danske landdistrikter 1864–2003 [Cooperation and Confrontation. The Creation and Destruction of Social Capital in Rural Denmark 1864–2003], Ph.D. dissertation, University of Sourthern Denmark, Esbjerg, 2004: http://www.humaniora.sdu.dk/phd/dokumenter/filer/Afhandlinger-30.pdfg. Gunnar Svendsen's scholarly interests include Bourdieusian Economics (new socioeconomics), capital theory, social capital, rural civic movements, and rural discourses. He has recently finished a research project for the Danish Ministry of the Interior about the role of intangible assets (culture, networks, and historical traditions) for differences in economic performance (DEP) among four Danish local communities.     

Culture and Cognition: A Process Account of Culture

Sociologists of culture and cognition are well positioned to take up the rigorous study of culture as a dynamic process by which meanings come to be perceived as shared through social interaction and influence. A wealth of exciting new work in psychology on how cognitive representations and associations are shaped and strengthened by social interaction can be integrated into a more comprehensive account of the dynamic process of culture. Understanding how shared meanings develop and change sheds light onto some of the most important questions in sociology. I provide a brief example of how a process‐based account of culture can help us understand peer conflict in schools.     

Shifting categories,changing attitudes: A boundary work approach in the study of attitudes toward migrants

Considerable research exists that examines attitudes toward migrants. Most studies are quantitative, relying on surveys or survey experiments, but a growing body of literature explores such attitudes from a qualitative perspective. At the same time, the study of symbolic boundaries and how people use cultural repertoires of meanings to draw distinctions between “us” and “them” is increasing. This review looks at research, both quantitative and qualitative, which has put these two streams of work into conversation with one another. We organize this work along three dimensions: (1) the micro-level of individuals and their life-worlds; (2) the meso-level of negotiation among the moral communities of civil society; and (3) the macro-level of institutions and policy. We also highlight those studies that cut across levels. By doing so, we help bridge the quantitative/qualitative divide. Studying attitudes toward migrants through the concept of symbolic boundaries allows us to apply a more sensitive and meaning-centered approach toward attitude formation, contestation and change and to explore the linkages to available cultural repertoires.     

Shifting visibilities: the social implications of a Roma aesthetic

ABSTRACT

This paper is a personal reflection by a Roma artist upon the mutual influence of Roma social relations and Roma visual culture. Strategies of art making are considered via analyses of contemporary Roma art works. It is suggested that historic marginalisation and continuing discrimination have determined the contingent nature of the Roma aesthetic resulting in keen facilities for adaptation and obscured visibility. Roma artefacts are shown to employ these resistant characteristics of Roma visuality to convey social, cultural, artistic and political agency via visual and performative means. The conclusion calls for a reconceptualisation of Roma visibilities so that we as Roma might forge new political unities and new forms of politics to more effectively challenge embedded Romaphobia.     

Diana Fu: Mobilizing Without the Masses: Control and Contention in China

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

Shifting values in agriculture: the farm family and pollution regulation1

It has long been acknowledged that the notion of family continuity of farm occupation through succession is one of the central tenets of the ethos of ‘family’ farming, but recent evidence suggests that it is being called into question by family members. Farming practices are being pursued in a rapidly changing world, an important feature of which is a greater level of public and political concern for protecting the rural environment. This paper examines a range of new influences affecting farming practice and environmental consciousness and the implications these have for farming values, particularly that of family succession. Using evidence from a study of dairy farm families and pollution regulation in Devon in South West England, it suggests that rural social change is providing new routes through which environmental values can flow through farm households, influencing the ways farmers understand the environmental implications of their practices, and the ways they and their families think about their long-term futures.     

Ethnolinguistic repertoire: Shifting the analytic focus in language and ethnicity1

This paper addresses a contradiction in research on language and ethnicity: how can we discuss distinctively ethnic ways of speaking and still account for the variation and fluidity that characterize them? The theoretical construct introduced in this paper enables researchers to avoid this contradiction. ‘Ethnolinguistic repertoire’ is defined as a fluid set of linguistic resources that members of an ethnic group may use variably as they index their ethnic identities. This construct shifts the analytic focus from ethnic ‘language varieties’ to individuals, ethnic groups, and their distinctive linguistic features. It addresses problems of inter‐group, inter‐speaker, and intra‐speaker variation, as well as debates about who should be considered a speaker of a dialect. This approach, which can also be applied to social groupings beyond ethnicity, is discussed in relation to other approaches and is supported with data on language use in African American, Latino, and Jewish communities in the United States.     

Postcards in Japan: A Historical Sociology of a Forgotten Culture

Extending the study of picture postcards beyond an analysis of their content demonstrates that changes in the material circumstances of the production of postcards, and the conceptual shifts that they catalyzed, fundamentally altered the visual field of late nineteenth–century Japan. Once the postal system began in Japan in 1870, government–issued prepaid postcards, and picture postcards collected and sent from other countries, did introduce the medium to a small degree. However, private production of picture postcards only started in 1900, when postcards to which stamps could be affixed were first allowed. Stores and periodicals first produced them as promotional gifts, opening an arena for print technology experiments. During this period, government–issued commemorative postcards officially encouraged soldier–civilian correspondence, sparking wartime collecting booms. Early postcards of "beauties", bound by taboos against depicting ordinary women, featured only geisha; later ones depicted ordinary women, subsequently creating a constellation of national stars, setting the stage for later postcard–format bromide paper prints of movie stars' photographic portraits. "Current–events postcards", rather than prioritizing accuracy, served as commemorative memorials. However, it was the rise of photojournalism that rendered the genre obsolete. Railway travel, besides reconfiguring and expanding the landscape of tourist destinations, also shaped practices of communication, aided by the innovation of the fountain pen. Increased speed and mobility changed travellers' ways of seeing in a manner that, like postcards, altered visuality and transformed notions of time and space. Ultimately, picture postcards simultaneously offered intimacy with and distance from the object of the scopophilic gaze of an expanding audience.     

Aboriginal Harvesting in the Moose River Basin: A Historical and Contemporary Analysis

Les territoires traditionnels de chasse et de trappe des Cris dans les régions méridionales du bassin de Moose River ont été infiltrés au début du XXe siècle, par les colons euro-canadiens et l'exploitation des ressources qui s'est ensuivie, avec l'encouragement actif du gouvernement provincial. Après la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, ces tendances se sont également propagées au nord du bassin. Selon de nombreux contemporains, l'économie basée sur la chasse et la trappe des Cris s'était désintégrée face à la concurrence des Euro-Canadiens et l'appât du travail rémunéré et de la vie villageoise. Cependant, de récentes études sur le terrain démontrent l'importance continue et la viabilité de l'économie autochtone traditionnelle du bassin de Moose River.
The traditional hunting and trapping territories of the Cree in the southern reaches of the Moose River Basin were infiltrated by Euro-Canadian settlement and resource-based development early in the 20th century, with the active encouragement of the provincial government. After the Second World War, these trends were also evident in the northern part of the Basin. Many contemporaries believed that the Cree hunting and trapping economy had disintegrated in the face of Euro-Canadian competition and the lure of wage labour and village life. However, recent field studies document the continuing importance and viability of the traditional aboriginal economy of the Moose River Basin.     

Prostitution and the Politics of HIV Prevention in Cambodia: A Historical Case Study

Cambodia received international attention in the early 1990s when it emerged from civil war with the highest HIV rate in Asia, in which up to 60% of sex workers were infected. A massive influx of financial, human, and material resources ensued, and debates over “best practices” for HIV prevention were played out. Over time, the politics of AIDS shifted, mirroring changes in the politics of the largest player in global health, the United States. This sparked acrimonious polarization within international health policy, with direct implications for the lives of sex workers. This article traces those debates over sex work and HIV, highlighting the example of one brothel district in Cambodia where Medecins Sans Frontieres provided services to over 300 migrant Vietnamese sex workers. Using literature and program documentation from the time, this article highlights how countries such as Cambodia can become vulnerable to manipulation and used to serve wider political agendas.     

Norbert Elias: A Milestone in Historical Psycho-Sociology The Making of the Social Person

Abstract The originality of Elias's perspective and the significance of the subject he has chosen in his main works The Civilizing Process and The Court Society will be evaluated and explained in the light of the history and rediscovery of his work in West Germany and of some roots of the psycho-sociological historical approach. The paper begins with an intellectual-biographical note, introduces the crucial aspects of Elias's main work, offers a critical debate and concludes with a historical-intellectual rooting of the investigation.