Anthro in the news 9/29/14

Relevance of cultural anthropology to business

The Huffington Post carried an article describing how concepts in cultural anthropology apply to business models as presented in a new book, Handbook of Anthropology in Business, edited by Rita Denny and Patricia Sunderland. Denny and Sunderland are anthropologists who run a consumer research and strategic consultancy, Practica Group. Their clients include SC Johnson, Whirlpool, Nissan, Pernod Ricard, Target, PepsiCo, Samsung, and Darden Restaurants. This Handbook demonstrates the links between the commercial arena and ethnographic research and cultural analysis. The book presents findings from 60 international scholars. Sections include: Dynamics of Tension, Forces of Change: With “Big Data” coming into the forefront, what is the anthropologist’s role in sorting through, applying reason, making sense, and ultimately turning it to a productive business use?; Boundaries Breached and Blurred: Where does anthropology come into play when we are dealing in a global marketplace? Can interactions with other countries be enhanced with better cultural understandings?; Plying the Trade: Who are the anthropologists that have managed to successfully insert themselves into the business paradigm? How do they co-exist with the number crunchers and old-line sales mentalities?; and The Energy of Memes: How do ideas, products, or behaviors circulate through a culture? Is there a way to enhance the process? Continue reading “Anthro in the news 9/29/14” →

Tattoos as Transformational Pilgrimage: Women’s Tattoo Narratives in Houston, Texas

Guest contributor: Laura Newman

Skin communicates many messages to others — a person’s race, gender, age, and even socioeconomic status. A tattoo is a chance for individuals to mark themselves outside of conventional boundaries. As DeMello explains: “If the physical body serves as a site in which gender, ethnicity, and class are symbolically marked, tattoos and the process of inscription itself create the cultural body themselves, thereby creating and maintaining specific social boundaries. Tattoos articulate not only the body, but the psyche as well” (1993:10).

Tattoos also have meaning to the individual. For my M.A. thesis at the University of Houston, my research goal was to analyze and understand how tattoo narratives help the story teller explain to themselves and to others how their tattoo has symbolized a change in their lives. Getting a tattoo can be a significant event for women in itself. Tattoos are often planned out with the artist to ensure that it is exactly what the wearer wants.

A tattoo narrative is rich with details and meaning. “As individuals reflect on the major events that have shaped their lives, they maintain and get others to acknowledge important features of their self-understanding. More than a social obligation, this sharing of personal experience serves the psychological purpose of bolstering one’s subjective sense of being properly motivated and well directed in life” (McCollum 2002:113). Being visually accessible to others the tattoo story is told over time and repeatedly. My goal was to record these stories and identify important changes in a woman’s life related to their tattoos. Continue reading “Tattoos as Transformational Pilgrimage: Women’s Tattoo Narratives in Houston, Texas” →

Anthro in the news 8/19/13

• In Cairo: the Morsi camps

Supporter of President Mohamed Morsi — A supporter of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Aug. 12, 2013. VOA/Reuters

Early this week, Voice of America reported that supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi were defiantly remaining at their protest camps in Cairo, despite days of warnings that the government would soon move on the sites. The article quoted Saba Mahmood, associate professor of anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley, who told VOA the interim government has not broken up the camps because the resulting bloodshed would be a “very serious political cost.”

But she says Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood is facing bigger stakes than getting him back in office: “So there is that issue that if indeed they back down, they’re going to not just simply lose Morsi, but they’re going to lose even the basis — the political, social basis — they have built over the last 40 years.”

[Blogger’s note: since then, much blood has been shed and are yet to see what the political costs for the military government will be].

• A probable first in history of anthro: U.S. President fist-bumps anthropologist

While on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, according to the Boston Globe, U.S. President Obama played golf with World Bank President Jim Kim.

[Blogger’s note: Jim Kim, as most aw readers know, is not only the president of the World Bank but also a medical anthropologist, doctor, health advocate, and former university president].

President Barack Obama and World Bank President Jim Kim playing golf on Aug. 14, 2013. Darlene Superville/Associated Press

Continue reading “Anthro in the news 8/19/13” →