Multiculturalismo, gênero e etnografia: trajetória e contribuições fundamentais de Jean Elizabeth Jackson para a antropologia sul-americana

O presente trabalho busca apresentar a trajetória e as principais contribuições de Jean E. Jackson para a antropologia sul-americana no âmbito do dossiê “Femmes pionnières de l’anthropologie sud-américaniste”. Retoma-se o caráter pioneiro de seu trabalho etnográfico com povos indígenas do Uaupés colombiano, e o modo como a perspectiva etnográfica da autora interliga suas outras linhas de pesquisa com identidade, movimentos indígenas e pacientes de um centro de tratamento de dor crônica. Por fim, enfatiza-se a relevância da temática das relações de gênero que estabelece uma linha transversal ao longo da trajetória da pesquisa de Jackson. A temática de gênero constitui-se tanto como tema de atenção em sua pesquisa quanto como um ponto de articulação em sua própria abordagem como etnógrafa.This paper presents the trajectory of Jean E. Jackson’s principal contributions to South American anthropology within the scope of the dossier “Femmes pionnières de l’anthropologie sud-américaniste.” While we focus on her pioneering ethnographic work with the Indigenous peoples of the Colombian Vaupés, we also consider how her ethnographic perspective connects to her other lines of research on identity, indigenous movements and chronic pain patients. Our discussion draws on Jackson’s many publications and on our conversations with her in the context of several interviews. Finally, we emphasize the relevance of gender as a consistent thread throughout Jackson’s research trajectory—both as a topic of attention in her research, and as a pivot point in her own positioning as a female ethnographer.Cet article présente la trajectoire et les principales contributions de Jean E. Jackson à l’anthropologie sud-américaine dans le cadre du dossier « Femmes pionnières de l’anthropologie sud-américaniste ». Il souligne le caractère pionnier de son travail ethnographique chez les peuples indigènes du Vaupés colombien ainsi que la manière dont la perspective ethnographique de l’auteure relie ses autres thèmes de recherche que sont l’identité, les mouvements indigènes et les patients dans un centre de traitement de la douleur chronique. Enfin, la question des relations de genre apparaît comme une ligne transversale tout au long de la trajectoire de recherche de Jackson. Le thème du genre constitue à la fois un objet de recherches et un point d’articulation dans sa propre démarche d’ethnographe

The paleobiolinguistics of domesticated chili pepper (Capsicum spp.)

Paleobiolinguistics employs the comparative method of historical linguistics to reconstruct the biodiversity known to human groups of the remote, unrecorded past. Comparison of words for biological species from languages of the same language family facilitates reconstruction of the biological vocabulary of the family's ancient proto-language. This study uses paleobiolinguistics to establish where and when chili peppers (Capsicum spp.) developed significance for different prehistoric Native American groups. This entails mapping in both time and geographic space proto-languages for which words for chili pepper reconstruct. Maps show the broad distribution of Capsicum through Mesoamerica and South America mirroring its likely independent domestication in these regions. Proto-language dates indicate that human interest in chili pepper had developed in most of Latin America at least a millennium before a village-farming way of life became widespread. © 2013 Society of Ethnobiology

Does Lateral Transmission Obscure Inheritance in Hunter-Gatherer Languages?

In recent years, linguists have begun to increasingly rely on quantitative phylogenetic approaches to examine language evolution. Some linguists have questioned the suitability of phylogenetic approaches on the grounds that linguistic evolution is largely reticulate due to extensive lateral transmission, or borrowing, among languages. The problem may be particularly pronounced in hunter-gatherer languages, where the conventional wisdom among many linguists is that lexical borrowing rates are so high that tree building approaches cannot provide meaningful insights into evolutionary processes. However, this claim has never been systematically evaluated, in large part because suitable data were unavailable. In addition, little is known about the subsistence, demographic, ecological, and social factors that might mediate variation in rates of borrowing among languages. Here, we evaluate these claims with a large sample of hunter-gatherer languages from three regions around the world. In this study, a list of 204 basic vocabulary items was collected for 122 hunter-gatherer and small-scale cultivator languages from three ecologically diverse case study areas: northern Australia, northwest Amazonia, and California and the Great Basin. Words were rigorously coded for etymological (inheritance) status, and loan rates were calculated. Loan rate variability was examined with respect to language area, subsistence mode, and population size, density, and mobility; these results were then compared to the sample of 41 primarily agriculturalist languages in [1]. Though loan levels varied both within and among regions, they were generally low in all regions (mean 5.06%, median 2.49%, and SD 7.56), despite substantial demographic, ecological, and social variation. Amazonian levels were uniformly very low, with no language exhibiting more than 4%. Rates were low but more variable in the other two study regions, in part because of several outlier languages where rates of borrowing were especially high. High mobility, prestige asymmetries, and language shift may contribute to the high rates in these outliers. No support was found for claims that hunter-gatherer languages borrow more than agriculturalist languages. These results debunk the myth of high borrowing in hunter-gatherer languages and suggest that the evolution of these languages is governed by the same type of rules as those operating in large-scale agriculturalist speech communities. The results also show that local factors are likely to be more critical than general processes in determining high (or low) loan rates

Public access to research data in language documentation: Challenges and possible strategies

The Open Access Movement promotes free and unfettered access to research publications and, increasingly, to the primary data which underly those publications. As the field of documentary linguistics seeks to record and preserve culturally and linguistically relevant materials, the question of how openly accessible these materials should be becomes increasingly important. This paper aims to guide researchers and other stakeholders in finding an appropriate balance between accessibility and confidentiality of data, addressing community questions and legal, institutional, and intellectual issues that pose challenges to accessible dat

The paleobiolinguistics of domesticated manioc (Manihot esculenta)

Paleobiolinguistics is used to identify on maps where and when manioc (Manihot esculenta) developed importance for different prehistoric groups of Native Americans. This information indicates, among other things, that significant interest in manioc developed at least a millennium before a village-farming way of life became widespread in the New World. © 2013 Society of Ethnobiology

Translators’ introduction

National Foreign Language Resource Cente