The contributions of applied anthropology to peasant development

Includes bibliography

PRACTICING ANTHROPOLOGY IN PORTUGAL

The rise of anthropology in Portugal is examined within the framework of several cycles of development. The chapter discusses how the consolidation of anthropology at university level was the main focus until the 90’s. Applied anthropology, as distinctive from academic anthropology received very little attention. Consequently, there was an absence of an institutionalization of applied anthropology in the country. Nowadays, however, two main trends converge that supports the growth of applied anthropology and is providing work for anthropologists outside academia. First, anthropology departments in Portugal have stabilized their staff quotas resulting in very few positions open for anthropologists at the university level. Second, global changes are impacting the social framework of the country and, consequently, opening up new horizons of research and practice for social scientists. Several examples of these opportunities are discussed which is creating an optimism about the various niches for new and relevant anthropological practices.

Fecundidad diferencial de distintas subpoblaciones de mujeres en España: una diferencia no tan grande

La sombra de las grandes diferencias de fecundidad se cierne otra vez sobre las poblaciones europeas. Siempre se ha temido al de fuera. La aportación al crecimiento natural de las poblaciones foráneas ha constituido un leit-motif en Demografía en el siglo pasado. El miedo no se basa en el tamaño de la familia; o sea la cantidad de hijos que tienen las mujeres venidas de fuera, sino en las consecuencias a largo plazo. La cuestión que provoca temores se centra en la proporción en que las generaciones futuras estarán formadas por personas cuyos padres serán de fuera.

Estimación de efectivos de Pueblos indígenas en el Estado de Pernambuco (Brasil)

Existe reciente interés por parte de las autoridades de muchos países que cuentan con poblaciones indígenas en conocer su número con mayor precisión. Los diferentes estados argumentan que resultará efectivo para la definición de las políticas públicas que atañe a estas personas. Ello no impide reconocer que este interés iguala a estas sub-poblaciones con el resto. Se puede decir que constituye una forma de reconocimiento y/o aceptación de la que carecían anteriormente. Las nuevas normas legales, como por ejemplo en Argentina, reconocen estatus específicos y derechos a estas comunidades. Ello conlleva un respeto y una forma de tratamiento y/o de acercamiento, específico y participativo...

Fecundidad diferencial de distintas subpoblaciones de mujeres en España: una diferencia no tan grande

La sombra de las grandes diferencias de fecundidad se cierne otra vez sobre las poblaciones europeas. Siempre se ha temido al de fuera. La aportación al crecimiento natural de las poblaciones foráneas ha constituido un leit-motif en Demografía en el siglo pasado. El miedo no se basa en el tamaño de la familia; o sea la cantidad de hijos que tienen las mujeres venidas de fuera, sino en las consecuencias a largo plazo. La cuestión que provoca temores se centra en la proporción en que las generaciones futuras estarán formadas por personas cuyos padres serán de fuera.

Estimación de efectivos de Pueblos indígenas en el Estado de Pernambuco (Brasil)

Existe reciente interés por parte de las autoridades de muchos países que cuentan con poblaciones indígenas en conocer su número con mayor precisión. Los diferentes estados argumentan que resultará efectivo para la definición de las políticas públicas que atañe a estas personas. Ello no impide reconocer que este interés iguala a estas sub-poblaciones con el resto. Se puede decir que constituye una forma de reconocimiento y/o aceptación de la que carecían anteriormente. Las nuevas normas legales, como por ejemplo en Argentina, reconocen estatus específicos y derechos a estas comunidades. Ello conlleva un respeto y una forma de tratamiento y/o de acercamiento, específico y participativo...

Place de la notion d’honneur en psychothérapie et en pratique ethnopsychiatrique : entrevues réalisées auprès de psychothérapeutes et ethnothérapeutes montréalais et parisiens

Confrontée à des familles devant faire face à des questions reliées à l'honneur, l'ethnopsychiatrie ne peut faire l'économie de s'interroger sur cette notion. C'est l'un des objectifs de cette thèse qui se donne pour mission, non seulement de réaliser une revue de la littérature sur ce thème, mais aussi de dégager l'intérêt de ce concept pour cette discipline.

The "Fair trade nation": market-oriented development in devolved European regions

Scholars have largely ignored the roles played by government and public sector institutions in the fair trade movement. This article addresses the knowledge gap through examining government involvement in fair trade networks in the context of European devolution and the localization of international development action. Proposing a relational view of fair trade networks, and considering the Fair Trade Nation as a social category for development, it highlights how power sources outside the centralized nation-state permit a political community to associate itself with fair trade. Research from Wales demonstrates that government acts in a leadership role rather than as regulator, conferring political voice and finance while enhancing its international credentials and contributing to the politics of nation-building. Our conclusion is cautious; campaigners celebrate political commitment to fair trade embodied within the category of the Fair Trade Nation, but evidence suggests that government reliance on the market as a vehicle for decentralized development action is limited by how the Fair Trade Nation is currently executed.

CEPAL Review no.60

Development thinking and policies: the way ahead / Gert Rosenthal. -- Macroeconomic policies for growth / Ricardo Ffrench-Davis. -- Capital flows: lessons from the Chilean experience / Eduardo Aninat, Christian Lorrain. -- Changes In the industrial development of Latin America / José Miguel Benavente, Gustavo Crespi, Jorge Katz, Giovanni Stumpo. -- Pension system reforms in Latin America: the position of the International organizations / Carmelo Mesa-Lago. -- The contributions of applied anthropology to peasant development / John Durston. -- Biodiversity prospecting: a new panacea for development? / Julie M. Feinsilver. -- Foreign Investment and competitive development In Latin America and the Caribbean / Alejandro C. Vera-Vassallo. -- The Mexican peso crisis / Stephany Grijfìth-Jones.

Politiche di sviluppo e questione etnica. La cooperazione italiana IN Bosnia Erzegovina

The globalization process of the last twenty years has changed the world through international flows of people, policies and practices. International cooperation to development is a part of that process and brought International Organizations (IOs) and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) from the West to the rest of the world. In my thesis I analyze the Italian NGOs that worked in Bosnia Herzegovina (BH) to understand which development projects they realized and how they faced the ethnic issue that characterized BH. I consider the relation shaped between Italian NGOs and Bosnian civil society as an object of ethnic interests. In BH, once part of former Yugoslavia, the transition from the communist regime to a democratic country has not been completed. BH’s social conditions are characterized by strong ethnic divisions. The legacy of the early 1990s crisis was a phenomenon of ethnic identities created before the war and that still endure today. The Dayton Peace Agreement signed in 1995 granted the peace and reinforced the inter-ethnic hate between the newly recognized three principal ethnicities: Serbs, Croats and Bosniak. Through the new constitution, the institutions were characterized by division at every level, from the top to the bottom of society. Besides it was the first constitution ever written and signed outside the own country; that was the root of the state of exception that characterized BH. Thus ethnic identities culture survived through the international political involvement. At the same time ethnic groups that dominated the political debate clashed with the international organization’s democratic purpose to build a multicultural and democratic state. Ethnic and also religious differences were the instruments for a national statement that might cause the transition and development projects failure. Fifteen years later social fragmentation was still present and it established an atmosphere of daily cultural violence. Civil society suffered this condition and attended to recreate the ethnic fragmentation in every day life. Some cities became physically divided and other cities don’t tolerated the minority presence. In rural areas, the division was more explicit, from village to village, without integration. In my speech, the anthropology for development – the derivative study from applied anthropology – constitutes the point of view that I used to understand how ethnic identities still influenced the development process in BH. I done ethnographic research about the Italian cooperation for development projects that were working there in 2007. The target of research were the Italian NGOs that created a relation with Bosnian civil society; they were almost twenty divided in four main field of competences: institutional building, education, agriculture and democratization. I assumed that NGOs work needed a deep study because the bottom of society is the place where people could really change their representation and behavior. Italian NGOs operated in BH with the aim of creating sustainable development. They found cultural barricade that both institutions and civil society erected when development projects have been applied. Ethnic and religious differences were stressed to maintain boundaries and fragmented power. Thus NGOs tried to negotiate development projects by social integration. I found that NGOs worked among ethnic groups by pursuing a new integration. They often gained success among people; civil society was ready to accept development projects and overcome differences. On the other hand NGOs have been limited by political level that sustained the ethnic talk and by their representation of Bosnian issue. Thus development policies have been impeded by ethnic issue and by cooperation practices established on a top down perspective. Paradoxically, since international community has approved the political ethnic division within DPA, then the willing of development followed by funding NGOs cooperation projects was not completely successful.

In campo. Il ruolo pubblico dell'antropologia

La tesi riflette sulla necessità di un ripensamento delle scienze antropologiche nel senso di un loro uso pubblico e del loro riconoscimento al di fuori dell’accademia. Viene introdotto il dibattito sulla dimensione applicata dell’antropologia a partire dalle posizioni in campo nel panorama internazionale. Negli Stati Uniti la riflessione si sviluppa dalla proposta della public anthropology, l’antropologo pubblico si discosta dalla tradizionale figura europea di intellettuale pubblico. Alla luce delle varie posizioni in merito, la questione dell’applicazione è esaminata dal punto di vista etico, metodologico ed epistemologico. Inizialmente vengono prese in considerazione le diverse metodologie elaborate dalla tradizione dell’applied anthropology a partire dalle prime proposte risalenti al secondo dopoguerra. Successivamente viene trattata la questione del rapporto tra antropologia, potere coloniale e forze armate, fino al recente caso degli antropologi embedded nello Human Terrain System. Come contraltare vengono presentate le diverse forme di engagement antropologico che vedono ricercatori assumere diversi ruoli fino a casi estremi che li vedono divenire attivisti delle cause degli interlocutori. La questione del ruolo giocato dal ricercatore, e di quello che gli viene attribuito sul campo, viene approfondita attraverso la categoria di implication elaborata in contesto francese. Attraverso alcune esperienze di campo vengono presentate forme di intervento concreto nel panorama italiano che vogliono mettere in luce l’azione dell’antropologo nella società. Infine viene affrontato il dibattito, in corso in Italia, alla luce della crisi che sta vivendo la disciplina e del lavoro per la costituzione dell’associazione nazionale di antropologia professionale.

Antropologia del lavoro. Nuovi scenari di antropologia applicata

In questa tesi viene presentata una ricerca di campo che si configura come esempio di un’antropologia applicata alle dinamiche lavorative all’interno di un’azienda ICT italiana. Fulcro della trattazione è la riflessione sui diversi aspetti di un’analisi antropologica del clima aziendale, condotta sulla base di una rilevazione dei processi lavorativi presso una società italiana specializzata in progetti di digital marketing. Il lavoro associato alle tecnologie di ultima generazione non è impersonale o dettato soltanto da regole esterne, ma piuttosto un lavoro dal forte carattere rituale, sociale, morale e performativo, dove soggetti, ruoli, idee, scelte e problematiche si intrecciano secondo modalità uniche ed irripetibili, rintracciabili anche attraverso l’etnografia. E’ dunque necessario dare visibilità al ruolo attivo dei lavoratori nel loro essere contemporaneamente individui e soggetti che lavorano. Partendo da una riflessione su lavoro e tecnologia all’interno di un quadro interdisciplinare che vede coinvolte - insieme all’antropologia - la sociologia, l’economia e la storia, ci si sofferma sulle potenzialità dell’antropologia del lavoro. Dopo aver ripercorso tutti i passi della ricerca di campo presso l’azienda, viene condivisa una più ampia considerazione sul ruolo dell’antropologia applicata al lavoro in contesti aziendali. Infine l’esperienza di antropologa in azienda viene posta a confronto con un’altra attività svolta dalla stessa autrice in ambito accademico nel campo dell’antropologia dell’educazione. Gli studi presi in considerazione e le esperienze concrete offrono la possibilità di affrontare il tema dell’antropologia del lavoro all’interno di una più vasta riflessione sulla necessità di sviluppare un’antropologia applicata in Italia. Essa non occupa ancora un posto rilevante nello scenario della vita pubblica, ma molti sono gli sforzi che si stanno compiendo in questa direzione. Uno sguardo positivo verso il futuro e la consapevolezza di un’antropologia che è insieme azione, impegno, partecipazione e sperimentazione etnografica concludono la tesi.

Alpine Common Property Institutions under Change: Conditions for Successful and Unsuccessful Collective Action by Alpine Farmers in the Canton of Grisons, Switzerland

The protection and sustainable management of alpine summer pastures has been stated as a goal in Swiss national law since 1996, and direct payments from the state for summer pasturing have been tied to sustainability criteria since 2000. This reflects the increasing value of the alpine cultural landscape as a public good. However, provision of this public good remains in the hands of local farmers and their local common pool resource (CPR) institutions for managing alpine pastures. These institutions are increasingly struggling to maintain their institutional arrangements, particularly regarding the work needed to maintain the pastures. This paper examines two cases of local CPR institutions for managing alpine pastures in the Swiss Canton of Grisons that manifest different institutional developments in light of changing conditions. The differences in how these institutions reacted to change and the impacts this has had on the provision of the CPR are explained by focusing on relative prices, bargaining power, and ideology as drivers of institutional change that are often neglected within common property research. Key words: summer pasture management, institutional change, bargaining power, ideology

'Institutional Shopping' for Natural Resource Management in a Protected Area and Indigenous Territory in the Bolivian Amazon.

Focusing on an overlapping protected area and indigenous territory in the Bolivian Amazon, this article discusses how indigenous people continue to negotiate access to natural resources. Using the theoretical framework of New Institutionalism, ethnographic data from participatory observations, and interviews with Takana indigenous resource users and park management staff, we identified four phases of institutional change. We argue that under the current institutionally pluralistic setting in the overlapping area, indigenous users apply “institutional shopping” to choose, according to their power and knowledge, the most advantageous institutional framework in a situation. Indigenous users strategically employed arguments of conservation, indigeneity, or long-term occupation to legitimize their claims based on the chosen institution. Our results highlight the importance of ideologies and bargaining power in shaping the interaction of individuals and institutions. As a potential application of our research to practice, we suggest that rather than seeing institutional pluralism solely as a threat to successful resource management, the strengths of different frameworks may be combined to build robust institutions from the bottom up that are adapted to the local context. This requires taking into account local informal institutions, such as cultural values and beliefs, and integrating them with conservation priorities through cross-cultural participatory planning.