The resilience of caste: Dalits, psychological essentialism, and intercaste marriage in the Himalayan foothills of Eastern Nepal

This thesis discusses caste-based discrimination in the Himalayan foothills of East Nepal. It is based on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork among the Bishwakarma (previously known as Kāmi), a Dalit caste whose traditional occupation is blacksmithing. While social practices that denote the Bishwakarma as ‘untouchable’ have largely disappeared from the public sphere, they endure in domestic contexts. In the face of this ongoing discrimination, the Bishwakarma deploy a number of strategies to improve how they are perceived by others. The first part of the thesis discusses these strategies as well as their limitations. The second part argues that a cognitive bias known as ‘psychological essentialism’ plays a significant role in the ongoing stigmatisation of the Bishwakarma and Dalits more generally. The extent to which this is the case has been overlooked in previous anthropological studies, and this has been detrimental to academic understandings of the phenomenon and to efforts to improve Dalits’ social status. Conversely, caste has largely been overlooked in existing studies of psychological essentialism, which have focused on gender, race and ethnicity. The recognition of the role that psychological essentialism plays in the social construction of caste leads to a different interpretation of two types of action that have been used to alleviate caste-based discrimination. One is based on identity politics; the other tries to reduce the essentialisation of Dalits by promoting mixing with non-Dalits. Promoting intercaste marriage between Dalits and others, a fringe phenomenon in Nepal, is an example of the latter; an analysis of the promotion of such marriages is offered in the last part of the thesis. Finally, a suggestion is made that recognising the role of psychological essentialism can lead to a more informed comparative study of discriminatory social systems across different cultural contexts

Peer imitation in children : imitators show communicative attitude only when they copy "effect-less" actions

This field study assesses children's relational attitude when they imitate other children. We observe that 3.7- to 5.4-years-old children show communicative attitude toward the model when they reproduce "effect-less" actions, but not when they copy target actions

Ferrocene- and Fullerene[60]- Containing Liquid-Crystalline Materials

This paper shows the versatility of ferrocene and fullerene for the design of thermotropic liquid-crystalline materials: i) the electrochemical properties of the ferrocene-ferrocenium system were exploited to design redox-active metallomesogens (1 and 2); ii) ferrocene-containing side-chain liquid-crystalline polysiloxane (3) and polymethacrylates (5 and 6) were synthesized by grafting a mesomorphic vinylferrocene monomer (4) onto commercially available polysiloxane and by free-radical polymerization of mesomorphic methacrylate-ferrocene monomers (7 and 8), respectively; iii) a first-generation ferrocene-containing liquid-crystalline dendrimer (9) was synthesized; and iv) liquid-crystalline fullerene (10) and mixed fullerene-ferrocene (11) derivatives were obtained by functionalizing the C60 core with a twin cholesterol moiety

De la pratique à l’enseignement d’un métier : l’obligation de formation universitaire comme événement marquant du parcours professionnel

Les enseignants de la formation professionnelle au secondaire sont principalement recrutés dans différents domaines en raison de leur expérience d’un métier, sans nécessairement avoir les compétences ni la formation pour l’enseigner. Or, le ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport du Québec exige, depuis 2003, qu’ils obtiennent un baccalauréat en enseignement professionnel de 120 crédits. Le choix de bifurquer vers l’enseignement marque donc le retour en formation pour ces adultes. Ainsi, ils doivent faire face à l’obligation de formation universitaire tout en vivant une transition professionnelle importante entre la pratique et l’enseignement de leur métier. Dans ce contexte, ils sont en parfaite rupture avec le cursus suivi par le personnel enseignant à la formation générale des jeunes, qui arrive dans l’enseignement de manière linéaire après avoir obtenu un baccalauréat. Contrairement à ces enseignants, ceux de la formation professionnelle au secondaire s’engagent dans un processus de développement professionnel aux étapes enchevêtrées dont l’expérience de métier constitue le socle. Cet article propose d’examiner, selon une perspective macrosociologique, quelques éléments structurant le parcours de ces enseignants.Teachers of trades at the secondary level are hired based mainly on their experience in the profession, regardless of teaching skills or training. Since 2003, these teachers have also been required by the ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport du Québec to obtain a 120-credit bachelor’s degree in professional teaching. Choosing to teach initiates a return to school for these adults. They are therefore required to get their university education while experiencing a major professional transition between the practice and the teaching of their profession. In this context, they are following a much different course than that of general education high school teachers, who take a linear path into the profession after having completed a bachelor’s degree. Contrary to these teachers, those teaching professional programs at the secondary level get involved in a professional development process with overlapping steps, based on their experience in the trade. From a macrosociological perspective, this article examines some elements that structure the path of these teachers.Los maestros de formación profesional de secundaria provienen de muy diversos sectores y han sido reclutados debido a su experiencia profesional, sin necesariamente poseer la formación ni las habilidades para enseñar. Incluso, el Ministerio de Educación, recreación y deporte de Quebec exige, desde 2003, que esos maestros obtengan un bachillerato en educación profesional de 120 créditos. La posibilidad de bifurcar hacia la enseñanza inaugura el retorno a la formación para esos adultos. Así pues, se ven confrontados con la obligación de adquirir una formación universitaria y viven una transición profesional importante entre la práctica y la enseñanza de su profesión. En dicho contexto, están en total ruptura con los maestros de formación general quienes han accedido al puesto de maestro de manera linear, al terminar su bachillerato. A diferencia de ellos, los maestros de formación profesional de secundaria se comprometen en un proceso de desarrollo profesional cuyas etapas se entreveran y que tiene como verdadero eje organizador su experiencia profesional. En este artículo se examinan, desde una perspectiva macrosociológica, algunos de los elementos que estructuran la trayectoria profesional de dichos maestros

Homo anthropologicus: unexamined behavioural models in sociocultural anthropology

Inferences from ethnography in sociocultural anthropological arguments frequently rely on an unexamined model of the human mind and behaviour. Across a range of theoretical approaches, human thought and behaviour are implicitly understood as coherently following a single underlying cultural logic, described in terms such as of ‘ontology’, habitus, political strategy. We term this implicit model Homo anthropologicus, by analogy with Homo economicus. Both simplify human behaviour and can thus lead to errors in its interpretation. We examine examples of Homo anthropologicus in anthropological approaches to ontology, caste, state evasion, and habitus. We propose that such accounts are erroneous in light of the multiple cognitive systems involved in human thought and behaviour, discussed with close reference to dual process theory. Unlike Homo anthropologicus, Homo sapiens’ behaviour is frequently inconsistent. Whilst anthropologists have long acknowledged this is the case, in practice, as we demonstrate through our examples, inconsistency is frequently seen as a problem to be explained away rather than as a feature of behaviour to be accounted for in its own right. We therefore conclude by calling for a greater degree of methodological reflexivity when making inferences from ethnography