scholarly journals Reclaiming Women’s Perspective: Feminist Anthropology and the Androcentric Bias

2019 ◽  
pp. 93-106
Author(s):  
Maja Muhić

The past few decades have been marked by an increasing discussion on the role of dialogue in anthropology, especially following the anthropological turn of the 80s, when the discipline was looked upon as one “writing a culture” rather than understanding it from the insider’s perspective, while the ethnographer was thought of as the epistemic dictator, incapable of establishing a dialogical relation with his subjects of inquiry. The power relationship was indeed one of the most prominent problems in creating an equal, dialogical setting between the anthropologist and the other culture. This paper aims at revisiting feminist anthropology tracing the elements which constituted it, its original inspiration, and main motifs of action mostly gathered around the strong male bias of the discipline. This bias was predominantly manifested in the monological, androcentric understanding and exploration of cultures. In tracing these aspects, and acknowledging the more egalitarian status of this discipline since its early days versus other social sciences (Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict were among the most prominent women anthropologists), the paper will look at early women anthropologists works some of which were excluded from the canon. It will also point to the existence of strong male bias in ethnography and the discipline as a whole, thus triggering the emergence of feminist anthropology with its capacity for reflexivity and accountability in ethnographic work.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-112
Author(s):  
Richard Larouche ◽  
Nimesh Patel ◽  
Jennifer L. Copeland

The role of infrastructure in encouraging transportation cycling in smaller cities with a low prevalence of cycling remains unclear. To investigate the relationship between the presence of infrastructure and transportation cycling in a small city (Lethbridge, AB, Canada), we interviewed 246 adults along a recently-constructed bicycle boulevard and two comparison streets with no recent changes in cycling infrastructure. One comparison street had a separate multi-use path and the other had no cycling infrastructure. Questions addressed time spent cycling in the past week and 2 years prior and potential socio-demographic and psychosocial correlates of cycling, including safety concerns. Finally, we asked participants what could be done to make cycling safer and more attractive. We examined predictors of cycling using gender-stratified generalized linear models. Women interviewed along the street with a separate path reported cycling more than women on the other streets. A more favorable attitude towards cycling and greater habit strength were associated with more cycling in both men and women. Qualitative data revealed generally positive views about the bicycle boulevard, a need for education about sharing the road and for better cycling infrastructure in general. Our results suggest that, even in smaller cities, cycling infrastructure may encourage cycling, especially among women.


1979 ◽  
Vol 3 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 242-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Kuklick

Despite differences in coloration Miller and Benson are birds of a feather. Although he is no Pollyanna, Miller believes that there has been a modest and decent series of advances in the social sciences and that the most conscientious, diligent, and intelligent researchers will continue to add to this stock of knowledge. Benson is much more pessimistic about the achievements of yesterday and today but, in turn, offers us the hope of a far brighter tomorrow. Miller explains Benson’s hyperbolic views about the past and future by distinguishing between pure and applied science and by pointing out Benson’s naivete about politics: the itch to understand the world is different from the one to make it better; and, Miller says, because Benson sees that we have not made things better, he should not assume we do not know more about them; Benson ought to realize, Miller adds, that the way politicians translate basic social knowledge into social policy need not bring about rational or desirable results. On the other side, Benson sees more clearly than Miller that the development of science has always been intimately intertwined with the control of the environment and the amelioration of the human estate.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Lauren Ray ◽  
Peter Mende-Siedlecki ◽  
Ana P. Gantman ◽  
Jay Joseph Van Bavel

Over the past few decades, two-factor models of social cognition have emerged as the dominant framework for understanding impression formation. Despite the differences in the labels, there is wide agreement that one dimension reflects sociability potential, and the other, competence. One way in which the various two-factor models do clearly differ, however, is in the way the dimensions incorporate or produce evaluations of morality. Aristotle saw morality as the most important basis on which to form positive evaluations, because competence and sociability could only be virtuous, sincere, and trustworthy if expressed through a moral character. This chapter highlights research demonstrating the unique and possibly primary role of morality in social cognition. We clarify the dynamic, interactive, and conjoint effects of morality on social perception, and argue morality, competence, and sociability are three influential and interactive dimensions of social perception.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Khairul Firdhaus Abdullah ◽  
Mohamad Marzuqi Abdul Rahim ◽  
Wahyu Hidayat Abdullah

This study aims to evaluate the role of Maahad Tahfiz ADDIN to produce huffaz in the State of Perak Darul Ridzuan based on the implementation of the Tahfiz Al-Quran curriculum with important instruments of collecting quantitative data (questionnaires). A survey method which was used involved 366 students from the Maahad Tahfiz Al-Quran ADDIN in the state of Perak who are randomly selected. The subjects of the study were students aged 13 years to 17 years old. A questionnaire was developed to collect the required data. The findings were analyzed descriptively by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 22.0. The results show that the implementation of the goals and objectives of the Quranic Tahfiz curriculum at Maahad Tahfiz ADDIN was the highest mean of 3.60. The conclusions from this study show that the goal and objectives of tahfiz are at a good level and can be further enhanced. On the other hand, the content of the curriculum and time allocation for the Quranic memorization should be given due attention and improvements so that Maahad Tahfiz ADDIN can actually filling the gap in producing more quality huffaz in the state of Perak Darul Ridzuan.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 22-33
Author(s):  
E.V. KUDRYAVTSEVA

The article is dedicated to the memory of Mikhail Konstantinovich Treushnikov, Doctor of Law, Professor, Honored Scientist, Head of the Department of Civil Procedure of the Law Faculty of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. The article analyzes the methodology of teaching civil procedure, focuses on the methodology of lecturing, seminars, and game processes. Mikhail Konstantinovich paid great attention to the methodology of teaching civil procedure. The author of the article offers a study of the section “Methods of Teaching Law” from the book “Creative Search in the Science of Civil Procedure Law” by M.K. Treushnikov published in 2020. This section presents methodological recommendations on how to prepare and give lectures for newly elected judges at the republican training courses for legal officers on two subjects: “Preparation of civil cases for trial is a mandatory stage of the process”, “Types of evidence in civil proceedings”. The other two articles in this section are devoted to different issues. One is devoted to the methodology of teaching law in non-law universities (on the example of Moscow State University), the other is written on the basis of a speech “Traditions and Innovations in Legal Education” at the conference meeting of the heads of the departments of social sciences of the Lomonosov Moscow State University on 16 February 2007 and shows the role of departments in solving the problems of legal education.


Author(s):  
Vicki Cummings

The transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic in Britain and Ireland remains one of the most debated and contested transitions of prehistory. Much more complex than a simple transition from hunting and gathering to farming, the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in Britain has been discussed not only as an economic and technological transformation, but also as an ideological one. In western Britain in particular, with its wealth of Neolithic monuments, considerable emphasis has been placed on the role of monumentality in the transition process. Over the past decade the author‧s research has concentrated on the early Neolithic monumental traditions of western Britain, a deliberate focus on areas outside the more ‘luminous’ centres of Wessex, the Cotswold–Severn region, and Orkney. This chapter discusses the transition in western Britain, with an emphasis on the monuments of this region. In particular, it discusses the areas around the Irish Sea – west Wales, the Isle of Man, south-west and western Scotland – as well as referring to the sequence on the other side of the Irish Sea, specifically eastern Ireland.


Author(s):  
Vanessa Lopes Lourenço Hanes

Given the massive changes that Brazil has undergone in the past century, particularly in distancing itself linguistically from its former colonizer, this study is an attempt to determine the role of translation in the country's cultural evolution. Translational approaches have developed along opposing poles: on the one hand, a strong resistance to incorporating orally-driven alterations in the written language, while on the other, a slow, halting movement toward convergence of the two, and both approaches are charged with political and ideological intentionality. Publishing houses, editors and translators are gatekeepers and agents whose activities provide a glimpse into the mechanism of national linguistic identity, either contributing to or resisting the myth of a homogenized Portuguese language.


1970 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 82-90
Author(s):  
Michael Drake

In recent years the quest for the proper form and content of social science studies has been a major preoccupation of academics. The reasons for this are numerous: the very rapid expansion of higher education generally and the particularly marked demand for the social sciences has led to a proliferation of new departments; brash young men have been promoted early (too early, many would say) to positions of power within the universities; the increasingly vocal criticism by the consumers of education – the students themselves – and, perhaps most important of all, a growing desire to re-aggregate human knowledge to counter the trend towards ever narrower degrees of specialism. All these factors have contributed to a mounting dissatisfaction with the traditional ways of studying the social sciences – that is, in almost hermetically sealed departments of economics, of politics, of sociology, and so on. Instead attempts have been made to draw the various social sciences together in studies of particular areas (Britain, Latin America, the underdeveloped world, the ‘new nations’); or of particular processes such as industrialisation, or urbanisation; or of particular problems as associated with, for instance, poverty or race. Each of these represents, of course, a multi- or inter-disciplinary approach to the study of the social sciences. Over the past four years I have been associated with two attempts to produce an integrated, inter-disciplinary course in social sciences. One was a failure; the other, my current preoccupation, is, I think, promising. What I have to say tonight is concerned with an analysis of these two intellectual experiments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Keinänen ◽  
M. Kilpeläinen ◽  
J. Pajuoja ◽  
S. Tyni

AbstractPrison leave was introduced into the Finnish legal system in 1971, with the aim to reduce negative effects of institutionalization and disadvantages caused by the length of the prison sentence. After the total reform of prison legislation in 2006, the role of the prison leave has become even more central; the number of prisoners has decreased, but the amount of prison leave has increased. Historically, the length of the sentence has been the most common ground for prison leave. A prisoner can be granted a prison leave when two thirds of the prison term has been served, for example, after 2 years if the length of the total sentence served in prison is 3 years. However, during the past 10 years, prison leave based on an important reason has grown into the most common type of prison leave. This indicates a structural change from the rigid legal rules to a more flexible practice. In 2018, there were about 17,000 prison leave applications, and over 13,000 of those were granted, i.e. 79%. The conditions were breached 466 times, which is 3.5% of all prison leaves. The most common breaches of prison leave conditions were returning from a prison leave after the set time limit or under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The majority of prison leave applications are decided in the prisons. On the other hand, for example, the decision on the prison leave of a life-sentenced prisoner is made by the Criminal Sanctions Agency. There have been significant differences in the probability of granting prison leave, which are emphasized especially in the practices of closed prisons. Among those prisoners who serve longer than 1 year in prison, the application rate of prison leave rises over 90%. For the sentences under 3 months, it is less than 20%.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiera Lindsey

This article discusses a recent art project created by the Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi artist Jonathon Jones, which was commissioned to commemorate the opening of the revitalized Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney in early 2020. Jones’ work involves a dramatic installation of red and white crushed stones laid throughout the grounds of the barracks, merging the image of the emu footprint with that of the English broad convict arrow to ‘consider Australia’s layered history and contemporary cultural relations’. This work was accompanied by a ‘specially-curated programme’ of performances, workshops, storytelling and Artist Talks. Together, these elements were designed to unpack how certain ‘stories determine the ways we came together as a nation’. As one of the speakers of the Artist Talk’s programme, I had a unique opportunity to experiment with what colleagues and I have been calling ‘Creative histories’ in reference to the way some artists and historians are choosing to communicate their research about the past in ways that experiment with form and function and push disciplinary or generic boundaries. This article reflects upon how these two distinct creative history projects – one visual art, the other performative – renegotiate the complex and contested pasts of the Hyde Park Barracks. I suggest that both examples speak to the role of memory and creativity in shaping cultural responses to Australia’s colonial past, while Jones' programme illustrates how Indigenous artists and academics are making a profound intervention into contemporary understandings of how history is ‘done’ in Australia.


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