The fall of kinship - towards an epidemiological explanation

Kinship used to be described as what anthropologists do. Today, many might well say that it is what anthropologists do not do. One possible explanation is that the notion of kinship fell off anthropology's radar due to the criticisms raised by Needham and Schneider among others, which supposedly demonstrated that kinship is not a sound theoretical concept. Drawing inspiration from epidemiological approaches to cultural phenomena, this article aims to enrich this explanation. Kinship became an unattractive theoretical concept in the subculture of anthropology not simply because of problems with kinship theory per se, but also on account of fundamental changes in the very conception of anthropological knowledge and the impact of these changes on the personal identity of anthropologists.

The Interview:An Ethnographic Approach

What are new interview methods and practices in our new 'interview society' and how do they relate to traditional social science research? This volume interrogates the interview as understood, used - and under-used - by anthropologists. It puts the interview itself in the hotseat by exploring the nature of the interview, interview techniques, and illustrative cases of interview use.

What is a successful and representative interview? How are interviews best transcribed and integrated into our writing? Is interview knowledge production safe, ethical and representative? And how are interviews used by anthropologists in their ethnographic practice?

This important volume leads the reader from an initial scrutiny of the interview to interview techniques and illustrative case studies. It is experimental, innovative, and covers in detail matters such as awkwardness, silence and censorship in interviews that do not feature in general interview textbooks. It will appeal to social scientists engaged in qualitative research methods in general, and anthropology and sociology students using interviews in their research and writing in particular.

IS THERE A PHYSIOLOGICAL-BASIS FOR THE COUVADE AND ONSET OF PATERNAL CARE

Couvade is the male experience of pregnancy and couvade syndrome incorporates a range of symptoms suffered by ''pregnant'' men. The aetiology of the couvade syndrome is unknown. Anthropologists, psychiatrists, nurses and sociologists have provided explanations for behaviour changes in ''pregnant'' men in terms of cultural pressure, intrapsychic processes and psychosocial adaptation to a new situation. The adoption of a biological perspective allows us to ask a new question: is there a physiological basis for the couvade syndrome? A fresh research agenda would include measurement of physiological change and a search for causation. Implications for nursing are outlined.

Managing Island Life:Social, Economic and Political Dimensions of Formality and Informality in Island Life

"Managing Island Life: Social, Economic and Political Dimensions of Formality and Informality in Island Life" is a significant and timely contribution to the study of islands and island life. Wide-ranging in terms of both geographical and theoretical sweep, contributions consider the conceptualisation of the island as well as social, economic and political dimensions of island life and living. Showcasing the current state of island research, contributors cover diverse areas of island life such as: informal economies in the West Indies; the effects of natural convservation policies in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland; the role of internet sites in British Isles heritage tourism, and the impact of multicultural policies in the Indian Ocean. This volume will appeal to undergraduate social scientists as well as professional anthropologists, sociologists and geographers, policy makers and islands and regional specialists.

Before the Volcano:Reverberations of Identity on Montserrat

How is identity claimed, contested and sustained?

This book looks at retentions, reconstructions and reverberations of identity in a colonial Caribbean setting. It is an ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘impressionistic’ ethnography of life on the island of Montserrat leading up to and including the present day volcanic eruptions. It explores Montserrat’s existing colonial identity and emerging postcolonial identity drawing upon examples from local poets, calypsonians and historians; controversial development and trade union struggles; and the impact of tourism and colonialism on the island – Black Irish identity claims and the celebration and/or commemoration of St. Patrick’s Day in particular.

This book will appeal to Anthropologists, Sociologists, and Cultural Studies and Caribbean Studies scholars, as well as those involved in and concerned for the reconstruction of Montserrat the place and Mons’rat the people.

Conversations with the Future: Creativity, Aesthetics and Industry Application in Anthropological Practice

This article presents a series of conversations with anthropologists working in collaborative, interdisciplinary settings and projects. It examines the changing role and place of anthropology on the island of Ireland, particular for early career anthropologists. With anthropologists now working in settings as diverse as business schools, health, music, documentary making and industry (to name but a few), early career researchers are now dealing with new challenges. In this piece, we map out a number of these debates and show how a multiplicity of anthropologies and practices are emerging on the island.

Intentionality, morality, and the incest taboo in Madagascar

In a recent article (Astuti & Bloch, 2015), cognitive anthropologists Rita Astuti and Maurice Bloch claim that the Malagasy are ambivalent as to whether considerations of intentionality are relevant to moral judgments concerning incest and its presumed catastrophic consequences: when making moral judgments about those who commit incest, the Malagasy take into account whether the incest is intentional or not, but, when making moral judgments relating to incest’s catastrophic consequences, they do not take intentionality into account. Astuti & Bloch explain the irrelevance of intentionality in terms of incest entailing such a fundamental attack on the transcendental social order that the Malagasy become dumbfounded and leave aside considerations of intentionality. Finally, they claim that a similar dumbfound reaction is what is involved in the moral dumbfounding concerning incest that social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has found in the US. In this article, we argue that (i) Astuti & Bloch are unclear about many aspects of their claims (in particular, about the moral judgments at stake), (ii) they do not provide sufficient evidence that considerations of intentionality are deemed irrelevant to moral judgments relating to incest’s presumed catastrophic consequences (and hence for the claim that the Malagasy are ambivalent), (iii) their hypothesis that conceiving of incest as an attack on the transcendental social renders considerations of intentionality irrelevant lacks coherence, and (iv) the extension of their explanatory account to the moral dumfounding of American students in Haidt’s well-known scenario of intentional incest is unwarranted.

Parading through the Peace Process:Anthropology, Governance and Crisis in Northern Ireland

Because the authors both did work on the North Ireland parades, they became integrally involved as fieldworking anthropologists in the monitoring of these events, and in the creation of policy for their management. They detail how they worked with individuals and groups at every level, from protestors on the street up to the Secretary of State for the region. Later funded to examine legal and policing approaches to protests in other countries, especially South Africa, they show how they used this comparative knowledge to urge the implementation of measures which appear to have led to a diminution of violence in the parades. Finally, they assess their own contribution to the peace process in terms of contingency, timing, luck, flexibility, and industry.