This book provides a uniquely positioned contribution to the current debates on the integration o... more This book provides a uniquely positioned contribution to the current debates on the integration of immigrants in Europe. Twelve social anthropologists—“strangers by vocation”—reflect upon how they were taken in by those they studied over the course of their long-term fieldwork. The societies concerned are Sinti (northern Italy), Inuit (Canadian Arctic), Kanak (New Caledonia), Māori (New Zealand), Lanten (Laos), Tobelo and Tanebar-Evav (Indonesia), Banyoro (Uganda), Gawigl and Siassi (Papua New Guinea) and a township in Odisha (India). A comparative analysis of these reflexive, ethnographic accounts reveals as yet underrepresented, non-European perspectives on the issue of integrating strangers, enabling the reader to identify and reflect upon the uniquely Western ideals and values that currently dominate such discourse.
Focussing on an analysis of horticulture, the kinship system, ceremonial exchanges and rituals in... more Focussing on an analysis of horticulture, the kinship system, ceremonial exchanges and rituals in "Life that comes from elsewhere" the author poses fresh questions about the constitution of social units of the Gawigl in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. This ethnographic approach to an area that has been at the centre of multiple anthropological debates on issues related to sociality and the concept of the person, reveals new elements for the analysis of the societies of this region. It shows, in particular, the importance the Gawigl accord to the movement of people, things and knowledge through time and space, without which reproduction is impossible. But it also reveals the central concept of exteriority upon which all these movements rely, and which creates Gawigl social units as temporary and dynamic.
Almut Schneider obtained her doctorate in ethnology and social anthropology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris). She teaches at the department of social anthropology of the University of Münster (Germany).
Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, Exchange, Ritual, Gardens, Kinship, Personhood
Chaque année, des centaines de Papous venus des quatre coins du pays se retrouvent à Mount Hagen,... more Chaque année, des centaines de Papous venus des quatre coins du pays se retrouvent à Mount Hagen, au cœur des montagnes de la Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée. Lors de ce grand rassemblement qu'ils préparent avec passion durant des mois, les différents clans s'affrontent dans des tours de danses et de chants, revêtus de somptueuses parures corporelles, d'imposantes coiffes de plumes de paradisier ou de colliers et bracelets en coquillages, les visages et les corps soigneusement peints et enduits d'huiles odorantes...
Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment 44 (1), 2022
Summary: High-altitude farmers in South Tyrol (Italy) live and work in the mountain belt of
the E... more Summary: High-altitude farmers in South Tyrol (Italy) live and work in the mountain belt of the Eastern Alps and are the focus of an ongoing research project on which first results are presented here. Located between 1,200 and 1,900m above sea level, some of their farmsteads are among the highest in Western Europe. The particular historico-political development of the region accounts for the relatively favourable situation of these farmers. Since the 1970s, the regional government has heavily subsidized these smallholdings, to ensure that the farmers can remain on their land and market their produce. Keeping the mountain sites cultivated is crucial for ecological reasons but also for the tourist industry on which the region depends heavily. How do farmers approach the apparent contradiction between self-sufficiency that lies at the core of their work and the resources that they receive—and need—from external agencies? (keywords: European Alps, farmers, relationship to land, food production, subsidies, selfsufficiency)
Comparison as one of the core element of anthropological thinking has been brought to its best in... more Comparison as one of the core element of anthropological thinking has been brought to its best in a classical study of a European alpine region. Cole and Wolf’s The Hidden Frontier; Ecology and Ethnicity in an Alpine Valley (1974) is based on joint ethnographic fieldwork in Italy, conducted over three years in the 1960s in two adjacent villages at the border of South Tyrol and Trentino. As a first anthropological study of ethnicity in Europe the authors questioned, and finally refuted, a fundamental assumption of the cultural-ecological approach in anthropology, that similar environmental conditions lead to similar forms of social life. This also questioned the suppositions (many of which were based on Steward, 1972 [1955]) of their contemporary American colleagues, doing research in the Alps at that time. Would Cole and Wolf have had the same insights, would their results have been similarly ground-breaking and sustainable in time – we are still gaining valuable understandings from this study – had they not based their analysis on comparison?
5 The Distinction of Sex and Generation in Gawigl Relationship Terminology: An Exercise Almut Sch... more 5 The Distinction of Sex and Generation in Gawigl Relationship Terminology: An Exercise Almut Schneider When colleagues ask where my enthusiasm for kinship and relationship terminologies in particular comes from, I always have to go back to my introduction to the subject. I had ...
Autorité et Pouvoir en Perspective Comparative , 2017
To talk "reasons" among the Gawigl
This article examines the institution of "eminent men" (big m... more To talk "reasons" among the Gawigl
This article examines the institution of "eminent men" (big men) in the Tambul valley (Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea) in relation to the principal question of this edited volume. These men, well known by the anthropological literature of a certain era, are considered to be eminent through their actions during the ceremonial exchanges (magadl), that are essential for the social life of the Gawigl. A gawigl person obtains his or her life, growth and ancestry through ceremonial exchanges that usually take place between social units called 'Houses'. The article outlines a crisis when a man does not give the magadl for his children, which he owes to his affines, leading ultimately to the suicide of his wife. A process (the magadl for children) which usually involves two men, their families, and (to some degree) their Houses, then became (to confine and overcome the conflict) much more important and involved a much greater prestation, organised by big men. The article analyses in particular the speeches of these big men whose status - fragile and ephemeral - depends to a significant degree on their ability to employ their rhetorical skills. They are particularly important in times of crisis and conflict that require an exceptional representation of a House or the greater social unit (the Name) by one or two men who "align" the reasons and the intentions of all men. They then act like funnels which condense, occasionally, a relational network to become effective in an important socio-political context.
Der Prüfungsausschuss Ethnologie hat in seiner Sitzung vom 01.06.2011 einige neue Regelungen zur ... more Der Prüfungsausschuss Ethnologie hat in seiner Sitzung vom 01.06.2011 einige neue Regelungen zur Vereinfachung des Verwaltungsablaufes verabschiedet. Bitte informieren Sie sich hier über die Details dieser Regelungen:
The Gawigl in the Papua New Guinea Highlands provide Almut Schneider with a domicile and garden; ... more The Gawigl in the Papua New Guinea Highlands provide Almut Schneider with a domicile and garden; along with the sites selected by her hosts, a social identity is transferred to her. She is to become a member of a certain ‘Men’s House’ and clan, whose land is to nourish her in both the physical and metaphysical sense. In this chapter Schneider describes how her continued participation in gift exchanges strengthens her inclusion as a ‘red woman—stranger from far away’. By the same token her ‘strange’ provenance remains to be valued, for it is as such that she makes the occasional gift of money and other ‘foreign’ valuables that contribute to the clan’s fame throughout the valley.
To talk "reasons" among the Gawigl This article examines the institution of &am... more To talk "reasons" among the Gawigl This article examines the institution of "eminent men" (big men) in the Tambul valley (Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea) in relation to the principal question of this edited volume. These men, well known by the anthropological literature of a certain era, are considered to be eminent through their actions during the ceremonial exchanges (magadl), that are essential for the social life of the Gawigl. A gawigl person obtains his or her life, growth and ancestry through ceremonial exchanges that usually take place between social units called 'Houses'. The article outlines a crisis when a man does not give the magadl for his children, which he owes to his affines, leading ultimately to the suicide of his wife. A process (the magadl for children) which usually involves two men, their families, and (to some degree) their Houses, then became (to confine and overcome the conflict) much more important and involved a much greater prestation, organised by big men. The article analyses in particular the speeches of these big men whose status - fragile and ephemeral - depends to a significant degree on their ability to employ their rhetorical skills. They are particularly important in times of crisis and conflict that require an exceptional representation of a House or the greater social unit (the Name) by one or two men who "align" the reasons and the intentions of all men. They then act like funnels which condense, occasionally, a relational network to become effective in an important socio-political context.
Summary: High-altitude farmers in South Tyrol (Italy) live and work in the mountain belt of the E... more Summary: High-altitude farmers in South Tyrol (Italy) live and work in the mountain belt of the Eastern Alps and are the focus of an ongoing research project on which first results are presented here. Located between 1,200 and 1,900m above sea level, some of their farmsteads are among the highest in Western Europe. The particular historico-political development of the region accounts for the relatively favourable situation of these farmers. Since the 1970s, the regional government has heavily subsidized these smallholdings, to ensure that the farmers can remain on their land and market their produce. Keeping the mountain sites cultivated is crucial for ecological reasons but also for the tourist industry on which the region depends heavily. How do farmers approach the apparent contradiction between self-sufficiency that lies at the core of their work and the resources that they receive—and need—from external agencies? (keywords: European Alps, farmers, relationship to land, food production, subsidies, selfsufficiency)
This book provides a uniquely positioned contribution to the current debates on the integration o... more This book provides a uniquely positioned contribution to the current debates on the integration of immigrants in Europe. Twelve social anthropologists—“strangers by vocation”—reflect upon how they were taken in by those they studied over the course of their long-term fieldwork. The societies concerned are Sinti (northern Italy), Inuit (Canadian Arctic), Kanak (New Caledonia), Māori (New Zealand), Lanten (Laos), Tobelo and Tanebar-Evav (Indonesia), Banyoro (Uganda), Gawigl and Siassi (Papua New Guinea) and a township in Odisha (India). A comparative analysis of these reflexive, ethnographic accounts reveals as yet underrepresented, non-European perspectives on the issue of integrating strangers, enabling the reader to identify and reflect upon the uniquely Western ideals and values that currently dominate such discourse.
Focussing on an analysis of horticulture, the kinship system, ceremonial exchanges and rituals in... more Focussing on an analysis of horticulture, the kinship system, ceremonial exchanges and rituals in "Life that comes from elsewhere" the author poses fresh questions about the constitution of social units of the Gawigl in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. This ethnographic approach to an area that has been at the centre of multiple anthropological debates on issues related to sociality and the concept of the person, reveals new elements for the analysis of the societies of this region. It shows, in particular, the importance the Gawigl accord to the movement of people, things and knowledge through time and space, without which reproduction is impossible. But it also reveals the central concept of exteriority upon which all these movements rely, and which creates Gawigl social units as temporary and dynamic.
Almut Schneider obtained her doctorate in ethnology and social anthropology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris). She teaches at the department of social anthropology of the University of Münster (Germany).
Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, Exchange, Ritual, Gardens, Kinship, Personhood
Chaque année, des centaines de Papous venus des quatre coins du pays se retrouvent à Mount Hagen,... more Chaque année, des centaines de Papous venus des quatre coins du pays se retrouvent à Mount Hagen, au cœur des montagnes de la Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée. Lors de ce grand rassemblement qu'ils préparent avec passion durant des mois, les différents clans s'affrontent dans des tours de danses et de chants, revêtus de somptueuses parures corporelles, d'imposantes coiffes de plumes de paradisier ou de colliers et bracelets en coquillages, les visages et les corps soigneusement peints et enduits d'huiles odorantes...
Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment 44 (1), 2022
Summary: High-altitude farmers in South Tyrol (Italy) live and work in the mountain belt of
the E... more Summary: High-altitude farmers in South Tyrol (Italy) live and work in the mountain belt of the Eastern Alps and are the focus of an ongoing research project on which first results are presented here. Located between 1,200 and 1,900m above sea level, some of their farmsteads are among the highest in Western Europe. The particular historico-political development of the region accounts for the relatively favourable situation of these farmers. Since the 1970s, the regional government has heavily subsidized these smallholdings, to ensure that the farmers can remain on their land and market their produce. Keeping the mountain sites cultivated is crucial for ecological reasons but also for the tourist industry on which the region depends heavily. How do farmers approach the apparent contradiction between self-sufficiency that lies at the core of their work and the resources that they receive—and need—from external agencies? (keywords: European Alps, farmers, relationship to land, food production, subsidies, selfsufficiency)
Comparison as one of the core element of anthropological thinking has been brought to its best in... more Comparison as one of the core element of anthropological thinking has been brought to its best in a classical study of a European alpine region. Cole and Wolf’s The Hidden Frontier; Ecology and Ethnicity in an Alpine Valley (1974) is based on joint ethnographic fieldwork in Italy, conducted over three years in the 1960s in two adjacent villages at the border of South Tyrol and Trentino. As a first anthropological study of ethnicity in Europe the authors questioned, and finally refuted, a fundamental assumption of the cultural-ecological approach in anthropology, that similar environmental conditions lead to similar forms of social life. This also questioned the suppositions (many of which were based on Steward, 1972 [1955]) of their contemporary American colleagues, doing research in the Alps at that time. Would Cole and Wolf have had the same insights, would their results have been similarly ground-breaking and sustainable in time – we are still gaining valuable understandings from this study – had they not based their analysis on comparison?
5 The Distinction of Sex and Generation in Gawigl Relationship Terminology: An Exercise Almut Sch... more 5 The Distinction of Sex and Generation in Gawigl Relationship Terminology: An Exercise Almut Schneider When colleagues ask where my enthusiasm for kinship and relationship terminologies in particular comes from, I always have to go back to my introduction to the subject. I had ...
Autorité et Pouvoir en Perspective Comparative , 2017
To talk "reasons" among the Gawigl
This article examines the institution of "eminent men" (big m... more To talk "reasons" among the Gawigl
This article examines the institution of "eminent men" (big men) in the Tambul valley (Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea) in relation to the principal question of this edited volume. These men, well known by the anthropological literature of a certain era, are considered to be eminent through their actions during the ceremonial exchanges (magadl), that are essential for the social life of the Gawigl. A gawigl person obtains his or her life, growth and ancestry through ceremonial exchanges that usually take place between social units called 'Houses'. The article outlines a crisis when a man does not give the magadl for his children, which he owes to his affines, leading ultimately to the suicide of his wife. A process (the magadl for children) which usually involves two men, their families, and (to some degree) their Houses, then became (to confine and overcome the conflict) much more important and involved a much greater prestation, organised by big men. The article analyses in particular the speeches of these big men whose status - fragile and ephemeral - depends to a significant degree on their ability to employ their rhetorical skills. They are particularly important in times of crisis and conflict that require an exceptional representation of a House or the greater social unit (the Name) by one or two men who "align" the reasons and the intentions of all men. They then act like funnels which condense, occasionally, a relational network to become effective in an important socio-political context.
Der Prüfungsausschuss Ethnologie hat in seiner Sitzung vom 01.06.2011 einige neue Regelungen zur ... more Der Prüfungsausschuss Ethnologie hat in seiner Sitzung vom 01.06.2011 einige neue Regelungen zur Vereinfachung des Verwaltungsablaufes verabschiedet. Bitte informieren Sie sich hier über die Details dieser Regelungen:
The Gawigl in the Papua New Guinea Highlands provide Almut Schneider with a domicile and garden; ... more The Gawigl in the Papua New Guinea Highlands provide Almut Schneider with a domicile and garden; along with the sites selected by her hosts, a social identity is transferred to her. She is to become a member of a certain ‘Men’s House’ and clan, whose land is to nourish her in both the physical and metaphysical sense. In this chapter Schneider describes how her continued participation in gift exchanges strengthens her inclusion as a ‘red woman—stranger from far away’. By the same token her ‘strange’ provenance remains to be valued, for it is as such that she makes the occasional gift of money and other ‘foreign’ valuables that contribute to the clan’s fame throughout the valley.
To talk "reasons" among the Gawigl This article examines the institution of &am... more To talk "reasons" among the Gawigl This article examines the institution of "eminent men" (big men) in the Tambul valley (Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea) in relation to the principal question of this edited volume. These men, well known by the anthropological literature of a certain era, are considered to be eminent through their actions during the ceremonial exchanges (magadl), that are essential for the social life of the Gawigl. A gawigl person obtains his or her life, growth and ancestry through ceremonial exchanges that usually take place between social units called 'Houses'. The article outlines a crisis when a man does not give the magadl for his children, which he owes to his affines, leading ultimately to the suicide of his wife. A process (the magadl for children) which usually involves two men, their families, and (to some degree) their Houses, then became (to confine and overcome the conflict) much more important and involved a much greater prestation, organised by big men. The article analyses in particular the speeches of these big men whose status - fragile and ephemeral - depends to a significant degree on their ability to employ their rhetorical skills. They are particularly important in times of crisis and conflict that require an exceptional representation of a House or the greater social unit (the Name) by one or two men who "align" the reasons and the intentions of all men. They then act like funnels which condense, occasionally, a relational network to become effective in an important socio-political context.
Summary: High-altitude farmers in South Tyrol (Italy) live and work in the mountain belt of the E... more Summary: High-altitude farmers in South Tyrol (Italy) live and work in the mountain belt of the Eastern Alps and are the focus of an ongoing research project on which first results are presented here. Located between 1,200 and 1,900m above sea level, some of their farmsteads are among the highest in Western Europe. The particular historico-political development of the region accounts for the relatively favourable situation of these farmers. Since the 1970s, the regional government has heavily subsidized these smallholdings, to ensure that the farmers can remain on their land and market their produce. Keeping the mountain sites cultivated is crucial for ecological reasons but also for the tourist industry on which the region depends heavily. How do farmers approach the apparent contradiction between self-sufficiency that lies at the core of their work and the resources that they receive—and need—from external agencies? (keywords: European Alps, farmers, relationship to land, food production, subsidies, selfsufficiency)
L’autorite, theme majeur de la philosophie politique, apparait comme un mystere (ou une mystifica... more L’autorite, theme majeur de la philosophie politique, apparait comme un mystere (ou une mystification) dans nos societes modernes ou l’on deplore (ou celebre) sa disparition, au moment meme ou les « relations de pouvoir » paraissent s’imposer dans certaines theories comme la cle ouvrant toutes les portes du savoir sociologique, par ses capacites infinies de devoilement des interets caches au cœur de toute relation sociale. Pourtant, a l’issue d’un examen approfondi, reunissant des lieux aussi divers que la Chine, l’Inde, la Nouvelle-Caledonie, la Nouvelle-Guinee, les Philippines, la Russie, la Tunisie et Wallis, des societes aux regimes politiques allant de l’empire a la « societe sans Etat » en passant par la democratie et des religions allant de l’islam au chamanisme, l’autorite se revele etre une dimension necessaire et consubstantielle a la vie sociale, articulant et ordonnant les valeurs fondamentales qui regissent la pensee et l’action collectives. En placant chaque forme d’autorite observee dans le tout de chaque culture, ce travail degage non seulement certaines conclusions quant a la nature de l’autorite, mais invite egalement a des considerations methodologiques generales en soulignant les impasses des « anthropologies potestatives » pour lesquelles seuls les rapports de pouvoir sont au fondement de l’ordre social.
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Books and edited volumes
Almut Schneider obtained her doctorate in ethnology and social anthropology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris). She teaches at the department of social anthropology of the University of Münster (Germany).
Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, Exchange, Ritual, Gardens, Kinship, Personhood
Articles
the Eastern Alps and are the focus of an ongoing research project on which first results are
presented here. Located between 1,200 and 1,900m above sea level, some of their
farmsteads are among the highest in Western Europe. The particular historico-political
development of the region accounts for the relatively favourable situation of these farmers.
Since the 1970s, the regional government has heavily subsidized these smallholdings, to
ensure that the farmers can remain on their land and market their produce. Keeping the
mountain sites cultivated is crucial for ecological reasons but also for the tourist industry on
which the region depends heavily. How do farmers approach the apparent contradiction
between self-sufficiency that lies at the core of their work and the resources that they
receive—and need—from external agencies?
(keywords: European Alps, farmers, relationship to land, food production, subsidies, selfsufficiency)
social life. This also questioned the suppositions (many of which were based on Steward, 1972 [1955]) of their contemporary American colleagues, doing research in the Alps at that time.
Would Cole and Wolf have had the same insights, would their results have been similarly ground-breaking and sustainable in time – we are still gaining valuable understandings from this study – had they not based their analysis on comparison?
This article examines the institution of "eminent men" (big men) in the Tambul valley (Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea) in relation to the principal question of this edited volume. These men, well known by the anthropological literature of a certain era, are considered to be eminent through their actions during the ceremonial exchanges (magadl), that are essential for the social life of the Gawigl.
A gawigl person obtains his or her life, growth and ancestry through ceremonial exchanges that usually take place between social units called 'Houses'. The article outlines a crisis when a man does not give the magadl for his children, which he owes to his affines, leading ultimately to the suicide of his wife. A process (the magadl for children) which usually involves two men, their families, and (to some degree) their Houses, then became (to confine and overcome the conflict) much more important and involved a much greater prestation, organised by big men.
The article analyses in particular the speeches of these big men whose status - fragile and ephemeral - depends to a significant degree on their ability to employ their rhetorical skills. They are particularly important in times of crisis and conflict that require an exceptional representation of a House or the greater social unit (the Name) by one or two men who "align" the reasons and the intentions of all men. They then act like funnels which condense, occasionally, a relational network to become effective in an important socio-political context.
Papers
Almut Schneider obtained her doctorate in ethnology and social anthropology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris). She teaches at the department of social anthropology of the University of Münster (Germany).
Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, Exchange, Ritual, Gardens, Kinship, Personhood
the Eastern Alps and are the focus of an ongoing research project on which first results are
presented here. Located between 1,200 and 1,900m above sea level, some of their
farmsteads are among the highest in Western Europe. The particular historico-political
development of the region accounts for the relatively favourable situation of these farmers.
Since the 1970s, the regional government has heavily subsidized these smallholdings, to
ensure that the farmers can remain on their land and market their produce. Keeping the
mountain sites cultivated is crucial for ecological reasons but also for the tourist industry on
which the region depends heavily. How do farmers approach the apparent contradiction
between self-sufficiency that lies at the core of their work and the resources that they
receive—and need—from external agencies?
(keywords: European Alps, farmers, relationship to land, food production, subsidies, selfsufficiency)
social life. This also questioned the suppositions (many of which were based on Steward, 1972 [1955]) of their contemporary American colleagues, doing research in the Alps at that time.
Would Cole and Wolf have had the same insights, would their results have been similarly ground-breaking and sustainable in time – we are still gaining valuable understandings from this study – had they not based their analysis on comparison?
This article examines the institution of "eminent men" (big men) in the Tambul valley (Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea) in relation to the principal question of this edited volume. These men, well known by the anthropological literature of a certain era, are considered to be eminent through their actions during the ceremonial exchanges (magadl), that are essential for the social life of the Gawigl.
A gawigl person obtains his or her life, growth and ancestry through ceremonial exchanges that usually take place between social units called 'Houses'. The article outlines a crisis when a man does not give the magadl for his children, which he owes to his affines, leading ultimately to the suicide of his wife. A process (the magadl for children) which usually involves two men, their families, and (to some degree) their Houses, then became (to confine and overcome the conflict) much more important and involved a much greater prestation, organised by big men.
The article analyses in particular the speeches of these big men whose status - fragile and ephemeral - depends to a significant degree on their ability to employ their rhetorical skills. They are particularly important in times of crisis and conflict that require an exceptional representation of a House or the greater social unit (the Name) by one or two men who "align" the reasons and the intentions of all men. They then act like funnels which condense, occasionally, a relational network to become effective in an important socio-political context.