Households without Houses : Mobility and Moorings on the Eurasian Steppe

The research that provided the basis for this paper was carried out in collaboration with the Institutes of History and Archaeology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and would not have been possible without my colleagues Chunag Amartuvshin, William Honeychurch, and D. Molor and the hospitality of the people of Egiin Gol and Baga Gazaryn Chuluu. The work was supported by the Center for the Study of Eurasian Nomads, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the Institute of Archaeology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation, Gettysburg College, Yale University, the Smithsonian Museum’s National Museum of Natural History, the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University, the American School for Prehistoric Research, and the Gerda Henkel Stiftung.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Shin, Cin, and Jinn in far east Asian, central east Asian, and middle eastern cultures : case studies in transethnic communication by exchange of terminology for elementary spiritual concepts of ethic groups

Methodology and Objects: Methodologically, from a diachronic linguistics perspective regarding the concept of the shin, spirits in folk belief in China and neighbouring cultures, we compare texts that comprise meanings a) historically in the local language and b) compared to the meanings of equivalent terms in languages of other cultures. Comparing sources of this belief, we examine if and how the shin belief can serve as an example of communication across cultural borders including practical forms of worshipping. Argumentation: We argue that the concept of the shin is across cultural and national borders a result from folk culture transcending political or cultural borders transmitted via migration of ethnic groups. Although similar, mind concepts of different cultures and groups never melted; evidence for this independence gives the Islamic distinctive separation between shin and jinn in this area in the Chinese Quran and other spiritual Chinese writings. On the other hand, the practice of worshipping is similar. Conclusions: A spiritual concept like shin varies in practice in different areas. Central Asia as the melting pot of Chinese and Middle East culture shows the cultural practice of Shamanism with shin belief, complex mind concepts like in Daoism, and religions incorporating shin belief (Islam). Observed changes in the particular local languages show the continuity of the local set of meanings. Multilingual and multicultural areas such as Central Asia rather integrate new words to increase their thesaurus with new meanings than to change the set of previous existing meanings in the languages. Arabic as a language of conquerors in Central Asia is a typical example for such a language that serves as a tool to set up new meanings

Typology of Signed Languages: Differentiation through Kinship Terminology

Nearly all such studies have sought to understand the linguistic constraints of spoken languages, while largely neglecting signed languages. Despite the fact that spoken languages can be classified into types, signed languages are generally assumed to be clustered all together in one type which the current study challenges. Exploring the potential for a varied typology among signed languages requires identifying patterns across a sampling of geographically distinct and historically unrelated signed languages to formulate linguistic generalizations. To that end this study adopts Greenbergs 1966 analysis of Universals of Kinship Terminology, it examines the linguistic patterns that emerge from a comparison of kinship terminology in 40 signed languages, specifying what patterns can be seen in visual-gestural languages. Findings of this study revealed that form-function mappings of specific semantic domains are constructed by different strategies including: iconicity motivated by universal human and cultural-specific traits, arbitrary elements, and linguistic economy (semantic derivation). Patterns reveal that kin terms are motivated yet contain degrees of arbitrariness, suggesting a continuum of interaction of arbitrariness and iconicity. While iconicity is undeniably pervasive in signed languages, salient properties manifested in signed kinship terminology are not universal, but instead reflect the cultural and cognitive perception experienced by deaf people within their linguistic communities. As a result iconic properties framed by language-specific and cultural specific mappings lend to variations in signs, describing the trend that signed forms\u27 phonological properties are not simply phonemic representations, but instead are phonological properties that inherently signify semantic properties. In turn, iconicity emerges as an undeniable and powerful tool of schematization used to form signs in a visual-spatial modality. Data showed some kin terms were motivated by patterns of specific semantic-phonological interdependency. These patterns identified occurrences of semantic derivation and semantic extension within language-specific sets of kin terms. Signed kin terms are formed by combinations of initialization, fingerspelling/character writing constructions, and iconic and arbitrary descriptions. However, organization of kin terms by linguistic processes may not parallel what Greenberg found in his study of spoken languages. The nature of modality clearly manifests in different ways of organizing signed languages and spoken languages; illustrated by how markedness manifests differently. The extent of linguistic phenomenon seen in the domain of kinship terminology underscores the importance of exploring semantics through studies of phonology, morphology, and grammar in signed languages. Typological analyses of signed languages contribute significantly to understanding what linguistic traits appear consistently through all languages, both spoken and signed, by revealing more about the effects of the modality-independent and modality-dependent behaviors of languages in defining language universals

The Potential Conflict between Forensic Ethnic Identification and Societal Interpretation in America

Forensic anthropology is the application of the history, structure, and development of mankind in a forensic setting and serves as a bridge between societal and anthropological views on race. Forensic anthropology is a relatively new field and yet it, like all sciences, is impacted by the works of those who came before. While forensic anthropology is aided by the classification groups created in the past, it is hindered by the mantel of racism that covers any study into human differences. This study was intended to determine how the general educated public, as portrayed by members of Western Oregon University, viewed forensic anthropological terminology and to establish whether or not this opinion was influenced by age, position at WOU, or ethnicity. Age appeared to be the most significant factor when studying a participant’s reaction to and understanding of the selected forensic anthropological terminology. Although a wide variety of participant definitions was given for each term, relatively few respondents connected the terms with the scientific use: racial classifications based on biological accumulation of traits seen in the skeleton. The wide variety of definitions indicates that the field of forensic anthropology in general, and at Western Oregon University specifically, has not satisfactorily educated the general public as to the use, and reason behind the use, of the terms Mongoloid, Negroid, and Caucasoid in their appropriate scientific setting. However, the forensic anthropology program at WOU has begun only recently. As the program expands and more members of the campus community, particularly students, understand the terms Mongoloid, Negroid, and Caucasoid in their proper forensic anthropological setting, perhaps we will see a trend towards unity in definitions in the coming years

Dharma and the Free Market: Reconciling Buddhist Compassion with a Market Economy in Post-socialist Mongolia

In this inductive ethnographic study, I explore the unique social and theological pressures placed on Mongolian Buddhists after the wake of free market transition in Mongolia. It utilizes the Buddhist virtue of compassion as a lens by which the study might examine how Mongolians balance their spirituality and commitment to Buddhist ethics with new roles as rational agents in an emergent free market. In this study I draw on narratives from thirteen subjects as well as extensive participant observation to examine the ways that Mongolian market reform has guided social paradigms of ethic that present ethical contradictions with Buddhist dharma, how Buddhist Mongolians interact with these paradigms, and how they seek to reconcile their roles in a market economy with their religious values. First, texts, lectures, and accounts from interviewees provide insight into the significance of Buddhism to Mongolian culture, tradition, and heritage. Interview data then elucidates common perceptions of the meaning of compassion in Buddhism and how to practice the ethic in everyday life. Interviewees provide information on the influences of capitalism and free market economics in Mongolia. They explore perceived differences in how Mongolia has changed since the Democratic Revolution and shed light on the application of Dharma in the current post-Soviet socioeconomic context. Finally, I analyze the effects of market transition in post-socialist Ulaanbaatar with critical social theory focused on social strain and disharmonious ethical paradigms, and present possible explanations for observed social phenomena. The study seeks to further the developing conversation of how Mongolian culture and heritage will change in a globalizing world