Constructing, Creating and Contesting Cityscapes. A Socio-Anthropological Approach to Urban Transformation in Southern Xinjiang, People’s Republic of China

This manuscript is based on a PhD thesis submitted at the Institute of Social Anthropology at the University of Bern in 2014. The dissertation was part of the research project „Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Chinese Territoriality. The Development of Infrastructure and Han Migration into the Region“ under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Heinzpeter Znoj and financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF. Madlen Kobi analyzes the architectural and socio-political transformation of public places and spaces in rapidly urbanizing southern Xinjiang, P.R. China, and in doing so pays particular attention to the cities of Aksu and Kaxgar. As the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region lies in between China and Central Asia, it is especially characterized by differing political, cultural, and religious influences, and, furthermore, due to its being a multiethnic region, by multiple identities. One might expect cultural and social identities in this area to be negotiated by referring to history, religion, or food. However, they also become visible by the construction and reconstruction, if not demolition, of public places, architectural landmarks, and private residences. Based on ethnographic fieldwork performed in 2011 and 2012, the study explores everyday life in a continuously transforming urban environment shaped by the interaction of the interests of government institutions, investment companies, the middle class, and migrant workers, among many other actors. Here, urban planning, modernization, and renewal form a highly sensitive lens through which the author inspects the tense dynamics of ethnic, religious, and class-based affiliations. She respects varieties and complexities while thoroughly grounding unfolding transformation processes in everyday lived experiences. The study provides vivid insights into how urban places and spaces in this western border region of China are constructed, created, and eventually contested.

Conceptions of health held by Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Papua New Guinea health care students

Health is considered to be a fundamental human right. Concurrently health is assumed to be a global social goal (Bloom, 1987) yet many third-world countries and some sub-populations within developed countries do not enjoy a healthy existence. The research reported in this paper examined the conceptions of health, conceptions of illness and health practices for a group of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and Papua New Guinea university students studying health science courses. Results found three conceptions of health and three conceptions of illness that showed these students held traditional/cultural and Western beliefs about health and health practices. These findings may contribute to the development of health care courses that are more specific to how these students understand health. This may also serve to improve the educational status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and potentially improve the health status within these communities (author abstract)

Imagined relationships: political leadership in contemporary democracies

The image and style of political leaders are important elements of leadership, and of politics generally. They are related to both political culture and institutions, and are framed in ritual and ceremony. In democratic policies, where there is choice rather than coercion, the mediation of leadership/people relations creates imagined relationships between imagined leaders and their equally imagined interlocutors, the people or the electorate (who also, of course, actually exist). These relationships form part of the political process. By identifying, and adapting, classical Aristotelian distinctions in rhetorical studies, we can better understand this element or moment of the process, in particular the creation of an imagined intimacy in contemporary politics between leaders and followers. Political science should draw upon other disciplines and subdisciplines such as political psychology, cultural studies, rhetorical analysis, and social anthropology in order to understand how mediated relationships are inscribed into political institutions and exchange.

Key figure of mobility : The pedestrian

Peer reviewed

Migrant women’s employment in paid reproductive work through the crisis: the case of Italy (2007-2012)

Paid reproductive work, especially in the case of cleaning and home-care for elderly people, is an important sector for foreign women in Italy. For this reason, since the beginning of the current economic crisis, scholars have wondered about the impact of the recession on migrant domestic workers. They have looked particularly at possible competition with Italian women entering the sector for lack of better alternatives. Our paper takes this discussion a step further by assessing the overall changes affecting migrant women in the Italian labour market, 2007-2012. We will look at how their position has been transformed, by taking both an ethnic perspective, in relation to Italian women, and a gender perspective, in relation to migrant men. By way of a conclusion, the argument will be made that there is a substantial lack of competition between Italian and foreign women in the care and domestic sector due to differences in their earnings, hours of work and activities.

Fungal and Oomycete Diseases

Fungal and oomycete pathogens are the causal agents of many important plant diseases. They affect crops that are staple foods for humans and livestock and are responsible for significant economic losses every year. This in turn generates a global social impact. Although fungi and oomycetes evolved separately, they share similar strategies and weaponry to attack plants. Here we review the challenges to global food security posed by these pathogens, current technologies used for detection and diagnostics, the latest understanding of pathogens' strategies to colonize plants, and current and future control measures. Genomic sequences of several important fungal and oomycete pathogens, as well as many crop plants, are now available and are helping to increase understanding of host–pathogen interactions. Recent developments in this field are discussed.

Girls’ education in Djibouti: an holistic approach in response to the ideolog y of development

International audience

The Gender of Drunkenness

International audience

Sobre la Falsedad y la Inevitabilidad: La Paradoja de la Condición Humana desde el Estudio de los Procesos Migratorios

INTRODUCCIÓN En los últimos tiempos, se percibe en la sociedad una preocupación hacia lo diferente que se manifiesta en procesos discriminatorios y de exclusión. La población y las instituciones manifiestan rechazo al otro-inmigrante con una legislación limitadora de derechos, unos medios de comunicación que alimentan una dinámica discriminadora y excluyente muy peligrosa y, un discurso de la clase política muy negativo para con los inmigrantes. El uso de frases y lemas que generalizan aspectos negativos y conectan la inmigración con el delito, con la amenaza al estado del bienestar y con el desempleo ha de calificarse como peligroso. El primer objetivo de este trabajo es entender a la persona en su paradoja. La paradoja de que somos seres sociales y rechazamos al otro. El segundo objetivo es por un lado, analizar la falsedad de afirmaciones como que “los inmigrantes cometen más delitos que los nacionales o que son más propensos al delito que los nacionales” y, por otro, comprobar que dichas afirmaciones son inevitables. DESARROLLO TEÓRICO En cuanto a la paradoja de que somos seres sociales y rechazamos al otro, se analiza el origen del rechazo al inmigrante desde la naturaleza y la condición humanas, lo que nos lleva a concluir que la percepción de una persona en sociedad se desarrolla en un proceso interrelacional e intersubjetivo que es eminentemente paradójico. La formación de la persona se desarrolla sobre la base del proceso de imitación, la identificación y reidentificación de la persona se exponen en teorías diversas, la teoría de la identidad de la comunidad cuyo máximo representante es Tajfel (1969), la teoría de las creencias de grupo de Bar-Tal (1990), la teoría de la amenaza comprehensiva de Stephan et al. (2005) y la teoría de los valores centrales de Bauman (2001). El segundo objetivo de esta tesis es por un lado, analizar la falsedad de afirmaciones como que “los inmigrantes cometen más delitos que los nacionales o que son más propensos al delito que los nacionales” para lo que se ha realizado una revisión bibliográfica que concluye que los inmigrantes no cometen más delitos que los nacionales y que no son más propensos al delito que los nacionales; y, por otro, comprobar que dichas afirmaciones son inevitables, para lo que se ha aplicado el método estadístico cualitativo teniendo como base la pregunta 18 de la Encuesta del CIS número 2967 del año 2012 relativa a la percepción de la inmigración. Para la comprobación de que dichas afirmaciones son inevitables, se ha aplicado la metodología estadística cualitativa a la pregunta 18 de la Encuesta número 2967 del CIS del año 2012 cuya redacción es la siguiente “La inmigración, como todo, tiene aspectos positivos y negativos. ¿Y qué aspecto negativo destacaría más?” Con la aplicación del método Kendall-Stoyanov se obtuvieron coeficientes de concordancia en el orden de importancia de los items y coeficientes de ponderación que dan mejor información sobre cuán importante es un determinado aspecto negativo sobre los demás. La metodología expuesta se aplicó en dos Análisis fundamentales: un análisis descriptivo y un análisis multivariable. Con el análisis descriptivo se comparan las opiniones de las categorías sociodemográficas propuestas por el CIS. Dado que el análisis descriptivo puede considerarse excesivamente homogéneo y limitado, por cuanto se comparan categorías socio-demográficas que son univariable, se ha procedido a realizar un análisis multivariable comparando dos perfiles. El perfil del cosmopolita responde a las siguientes variables, Hombre o mujer, de 18-40 años, con estudios universitarios e ideología de izquierdas. El perfil provinciano o local responde a estas otras variables, Hombre o mujer, de más de 65 años, con educación básica o secundaria e ideología de derechas. Para numerosos autores (Diez Nicolás, 1999, Cea D´Ancona, 2004, Haubert y Fussel, 2006 y Ford, 2012), los perfiles sociodemográficos muestran que las personas de más de 65 años, de derechas, bajo estatus socioeconómico y baja educación son xenófobos. Por el contrario, la gente joven con alta educación, status socioeconómico alto, de izquierdas y los que han viajado al extranjero muestran menor grado de xenofobia. Sin embargo, tras la aplicación del método Kendall-Stoyanov a la pregunta 18 del CIS, ambos perfiles muestran una absoluta concordancia en cuanto al orden de los aspectos negativos y en cuanto a la importancia atribuida a dichos aspectos. CONCLUSIONES Como primera conclusión, se ha podido constatar lo paradójico de la condición humana. La revisión bibliográfica especializada concluye que los inmigrantes no cometen más delitos que los nacionales y que no son más propensos al delito que los nacionales. Por su parte, con los análisis descriptivo y multivariable, se demuestra la inevitabilidad del rechazo sobre la base de una opinión concordante u homogénea en la sociedad española en el año 2012. Esta homogeneidad se debe, entre otros, al proceso de securitización producido en la sociedad española en 2012. BIBLIOGRAFÍA BAR-TAL, D. (1990). Group Belief: A conception for Analyzing Group Structure, Processes and Behaviour. Springer Science+Business Media. Nueva York. BAUMAN, Z, (2001). “Identity in a Globalizing World”. Social Anthropology, vol. 1, issue 2, pp. 121-129. CEA D ́ANCONA, M.A. (2004). La activación de la xenofobia en España. ¿Qué miden las encuestas? Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas. Madrid. DÍEZ NICOLÁS, J. (1999). “Los Españoles y la Inmigración”. Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, Secretaría General de Asuntos Sociales, Instituto de Migraciones y Servicios Sociales. Observatorio Permanente de la Inmigración. FORD, R. (2012). “Parochial and Cosmopolitan Britain. Examining the Social Divide in Reactions to Immigration”. Transatlantic Trends Immigration Focus Papers. HAUBERT, J. and FUSSELL, E. (2006). “Explaining pro-immigrant sentiment in the U.S.: Social class, cosmpolitism, and perceptions of immigrants.” International Migration Review, vol. 40, n. 3. The Center for Migration Studes of Nueva Yor, Inc. pp. 489-507. STEPHAN, W. G., RENFRO, C. L., ESSES, V. M, STEPHAN. C.W. and MATINE, T. (2005). “The effects of feeling threatened on attitudes toward immigrants”. International Journal of Intercultural Relations. Volume 29, Issue 1, Pages 1–19. BAR-TAL, D. TAJFEL, H. (1969). “Cognitive Aspects of Prejudice”, 25 J. SOC. ISSUES 79-97.

Nerabezaroko maitasun bizipenen etnografia: Harremanen antolaketa, gorputz-lana eta heteroaraua Bilboko gaztetxoen artean

406 p.

The city, self, and connections : transyouth and urban social networking in Seoul

The end of the Korean War in 1953 marked the beginning of Seoul’s transformation from the shattered capital city of South Korea to one of the most connected, populous, and fast-changing hubs of global economy. Seoul’s technosocial development has been celebrated nationally and internationally. To the outside, young Koreans’ swift and extensive adoption and adaptation to digital technologies has been a subject of exotification; to adults in Korea, it has been a subject of criticism (see Yoon in this volume). With the understanding that ‘the city is connections,’ it is crucial to study not only the macro-level design of the city as a network (through policy, for example), but also its micro-level construction at the intersection of people, place, and technology. Accordingly, this chapter explores this exact intersection to comprehensively portray the constant renewal of the city as imagined and experienced by young Koreans. The chapter is based on fieldwork conducted in Seoul, South Korea, from 2007 to 2008 as part of a research project on the mobile play culture of Seoul transyouth, the transitional demographic situated between youth and adulthood, and the pioneers of the Korean ‘broadband miracle’ (Hazlett, 2004). The study draws upon transdisciplinary research data including interviews, questionnaires, diaries, and Shared Visual Ethnography (SVE) to render the everyday urban social networking of young Seoulites with and through which they interact to constantly (re)create the city and the self.