Gift Giving and Corruption

When individuals exchange gifts, social bonds are strengthened and reciprocity is created. If the gift and the reciprocation both come from private resources, it is clearly a gift. If what is reciprocated after a gift is given comes from an organization, or is a government resource rather than from “one’s own pocket” then it is most likely a bribe. This study reviews the anthropological literature on gift giving and constructs a typology for examining the gift/bribe distinction in public administration. This classification helps distinguish analytically among different gift practices and clarify conceptual ambiguity of the terms gift and bribe.     

A preliminary study into the impact of using three-dimensional models in forensic anthropology learning and teaching

Forensic anthropology has traditionally relied on two-dimensional (2D) images, such as photographs and sketches, to perform analyses, and disseminate findings. However, as 3D imaging technology advances, it has become more widely implemented into forensic anthropology analysis and practice. Teaching and learning in forensic anthropology still often relies on 2D images, but increasingly three-dimensional (3D) models are available to be used by students training in anatomy and osteology. Additionally, 3D models have been found to be beneficial to comprehension in other contexts within forensic anthropology, such as in the courtroom. The use of these models in the teaching of forensic anthropology is not yet widely implemented and more importantly, the impact on learning is not yet understood. The use of 3D imaging and visualisation in other educational contexts has seen positive results, for example in medical training. To explore this further, a study was conducted using an online activity to compare the comprehension scores of students educated using 2D textbook style images or 3D models on Sketchfab. The results showed that the use of 3D images was not detrimental to comprehension. Students using the 3D models were more consistent in their performance and reported an increase in confidence regardless of prior experience. The results of this study are of particular importance when distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic which means that students cannot always learn in a laboratory environment.     

百年文学人类学研究范式的审美视阈

文学人类学是在文学和人类学的交叉点上生长起来的,经过百年来的不断发展,目前已经形成了一门世界性的学科。在中西文化交流的背景下,中国的文学人类学从无到有,逐渐得到发展。文学人类学既是一种批评的方法,又是对文学本质的一种认识,20世纪中国文学人类学的发展显示了文学研究范式的革新。     

An Anthropological Contribution to Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies

This article takes its stance in the fruitful perspectives with which anthropology may contribute to peace and conflict resolution studies, a field seemingly dominated by political science. Not only the relativity of ‘peace’ and ‘war’ is at stake when anthropologists intervene with their epistemologies applied to human interaction in violent contexts. Challenging the methodology of registering such interaction and asking for gender perspectives are pivotal parts of the anthropological endeavour within peace studies. Trying to emphasize the opposite of ‘normal’—which is concentrating on war—anthropologists have a longstanding tradition of focusing on peaceful societies as well as documenting the resocialization of peoples suffering from atrocities.     

Externalities in comparative guise

For those working with social science presumptions, ethical principles can seem to come out of nowhere. This paper wonders whether they operate like the positive externalities Callon wishes to derive from economists. In exploring the question, it is forced to consider different models of internal and external positioning. It does this through taking up two manifestations of the technological economy concerned with information management, following examples drawn from Callon's own work (competitive patenting and ethical deliberations on biotechnology).     

Does Anthropology Still Exist?

In response to Roger Sandall’s critical analysis, the problematic notion of culture in modern anthropology is examined in terms of cultural resistance to globalization. The example of McDonaldization is taken to be a potent instance of cultural globalization. Three conditions for successful cultural resistance to cultural standardization are proposed. The first is cultural in the shape of a strong aesthetic tradition of (national) resistance. This dimension involves some degree of cultural conservatism. The second condition is political, namely a viable and robust civil society that provides the basis for decisive (cultural) leadership. The third element is the involvement of the state in policies that promote and sustain a national heritage. Without this state involvement, global market conditions will largely shape the erosion of local and national cultures. Without a political response to cultural globalization, global market commodities will in all likelihood oust local goods and services. Those societies that lack both a strong aesthetic and an effective political leadership can offer little effective resistance to negative globalization and their local traditions are quickly destroyed. This argument is then examined in terms of a number of societies especially Turkey, China and Japan where the erosion of national cultures is proceeding rapidly. These critical assertions against global standardization require a strong first-order notion of culture which modern anthropology appears to be unable or unwilling to provide.

相际经营原理——中国经济人类学的理论结晶

中华民族是一个多民族融合的大家庭,各民族在适应所处自然生态系统和社会文化背景的过程中,形成了独特的民族文化。在跨文化跨区域的经济活动中,民族文化等众多非经济因素的影响不容忽视。《相际经营原理》一书正是在这一前提下,通过在贵州的田野调查资料,将西方经济人类学理论与中国实情相结合,提出跨相经营的理论,形成了独具中国特色的经济人类学理论体系。     

Antinomies of race: diversity and destiny in Kant

ABSTRACT

Larrimore's essay reads Kant's pioneering work in the theory of race in the context of his thought as a whole. Kant wrote on race for most of his career; at different stages of his thinking, race assured meaning in human diversity, confirmed the value of a practical-reason-informed understanding of human destiny, and provided a model for the ‘pragmatic’ knowledge of what ‘man can and should make of himself’. ‘Race’ was invented in 1775 as an advertisement for the new disciplines of geography and anthropology that Kant inaugurated and promoted throughout his career. Giving new meaning to a foreign (French) term associated with animal husbandry, Kant presented the (supposedly) exceptionlessly hereditary traits of race as the first fruit of a truly scientific ‘natural history’ of humanity. His concerns were not merely classificatory; his four-race schema, modeled on the temperaments, allowed a special status for Whites as at once a race and the transcendence of race (Kant invented ‘whiteness’ as well as ‘race’). The notion of ‘race’ was refined in essays Kant published in the 1780s, in the same journal as his celebrated essays on Enlightenment and the philosophy of history. It was given a new status, rather than displaced, by the critical turn. Granted a sanction ‘similar’ to the postulates of pure practical reason, its empirical verification would confirm Kant's whole critical system. Kant's theory of race came into its own in the 1790s, gaining wide acceptance. He relied on familiarity with it (and its lingering association with animal husbandry) in explaining the larger project of the ‘pragmatic anthropology’ without which he thought human progress impossible. Understanding how the concept of race contributed to Kant's more familiar and still appealing intellectual and practical concerns, we gain a better sense of its fateful and enduring attractiveness in subsequent eras.     

根据中国汉族成年男性椎体推断身长

对113具有确切生前资料记载的中国汉族成年男性的颈、胸、腰椎椎体前后高进行测量，求出了中国汉族成年男性颈、胸、腰椎椎体前后高的正常值。同时对测量数据用多元线性回归和逐步回归的方法进行统计处理，得到了16个根据颈、胸、腰椎椎体前后局测量推算身长的回归方程。复相关系数R在0．37～0．81之间，标准差在5厘米左右，有一定实用价值。     

Canine scavenging of human remains in an indoor setting

This case study documents the nearly complete consumption of adult human remains by two domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) inside a residence. While scavenging behavior has been observed for coyotes, wolves, hyenas and other canines in natural outdoor environments, little information is available concerning canine scavenging of human remains in an indoor setting. In this case, the dogs were confined with the body inside a residence for approximately 1 month. The impact of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on canine scavenging behavior and the postmortem interval are examined, such as clothing on the body, perimortem trauma, drug ingestion and the availability of alternative food sources. While cases of canine scavenging of their owners are scant in the literature, this phenomenon is probably not uncommon, particularly among the elderly and indigent who live alone with pets and are socially isolated.