Time and replacement among the Q’eqchi’ Maya

Among speakers of Q’eqchi’ Maya, replacement (–eeqaj) refers to activities as disparate as house-building, civil-religious elections, vengeance, loans, illness cures, adultery, and namesakes. Such practices involve the substitution of one entity for another entity, insofar as these entities have shared properties, and insofar as they hold a role in an obligatory position. For example, one man may substitute his labor for another man’s labor insofar as men have similar degrees of strength and skill, and insofar as a position in a labor-pool must be filled. In this paper, I explore the relation between replacement, as an idea and institution, and ‘lived time’. To do this, I offer five different ways of framing temporality (as repetition, irreversibility, roots and fruits, reckoning, and worldview); and I show how replacement may be figured through each of these frames. Along the way, I show how entities caught up in replacement are different from other items of value, such as singularities and commodities; and I offer an entity-centered, as opposed to event-centered, framing of time.Entre los hablantes de maya q’eqchi’, la noción de remplazo (–eeqaj) se refiere a actividades tan diversas como la fabricación de una casa, la elección de cargos civiles o religiosos, la venganza, los préstamos, las curaciones, el adulterio, o los tocayos. Dichas prácticas implican la sustitución de una entidad por otra, en la medida en que estas entidades comparten propiedades comunes, y que cumplen un papel en una posición obligatoria. Por ejemplo, un hombre puede substituirse a otro en un trabajo en la medida en que los dos hombres comparten grados similares de fuerza y habilidad, y que una posición en un equipo de trabajo tenga que ser ocupada. En este artículo, exploro la relación entre el remplazo, entendido como idea e institución, y el “tiempo vivido”. Para ello, propongo cinco modos distintos de abarcar la temporalidad (como repetición, irreversibilidad, raíces y frutos, cálculo y visión del mundo); y muestro cómo el remplazo puede concebirse en cada uno de estos marcos. En ese proceso, muestro también cómo las entidades implicadas en la operación de remplazo son diferentes de otros artículos de valor, tales como las singularidades y las mercancías, y propongo una aprehensión del tiempo centrada en las entidades, mas que en los eventos.Pour les locuteurs du maya q’eqchi’, la notion de remplacement (–eeqaj) réfère à des activités aussi diverses que la construction d’une maison, les élections civiles et religieuses, la vengeance, les prêts, les cures médicinales, l’adultère ou encore les personnes homonymes. De telles pratiques impliquent la substitution d’une entité par une autre, sous la condition que ces entités partagent des propriétés et remplissent un rôle à une position obligatoire. Ainsi, le travail d’un homme peut-il être substitué par celui d’un autre, dans la mesure où les deux hommes ont des degrés similaires de force et d’habileté, et où une position au sein d’une équipe de travail doit être occupée. Dans cet article, j’explore la relation entre le remplacement, en tant qu’idée et institution, et le « temps vécu ». Pour ce faire, je propose cinq modes distincts de concevoir la temporalité (comme répétition, irréversibilité, racines et fruits, mesure et vision du monde), et je montre comment le remplacement peut s’inscrire au sein de chacun de ces modes. Ce faisant, je mets au jour la façon dont les entités prises dans des opérations de remplacement diffèrent d’items de valeur, tels que les singularités et les marchandises, et je propose d’appréhender le temps à partir des entités plutôt que des évènements

Grading, gradients, degradation, gracePart 1: Intensity and causality

This article has two overarching and intertwined themes. The first is the social and semiotic mediation of “comparative grounds”—in particular, the way people come to understand, and alter, the relative intensity of entities and events. The second is the social and semiotic mediation of “causal grounds”—in particular, the way people come to understand, and alter, the sequencing of events, or the channeling of forces. Focusing on the multiple processes that mediate people’s understandings of landslides in a Mayan village in highland Guatemala, it shows the ways causal and comparative grounds relate to physical forces and phenomenological experience, as much as to communicative practices and social conventions. More generally, though less explicitly, this article is about four topics that underlie the Anthropocene: “gradients” (the way qualities vary in their intensity over space and time, and the ways such variations relate to causal processes), “grading” (the ways agents assess and alter such intensities, and experience and intervene in causal processes), “degradation” (the ways highly valuable variations in qualitative intensities are lowered or lost), and “grace” (the way agents work to maintain gradients, care for those whose lives have been degraded, and value those agents who work and care in such ways)

Grading, gradients, degradation, grace

This article has two overarching and intertwined themes. The first is the social and semiotic mediation of “comparative grounds”—in particular, the way people come to understand, and alter, the relative intensity of entities and events. The second is the social and semiotic mediation of “causal grounds”—in particular, the way people come to understand, and alter, the sequencing of events, or the channeling of forces. Focusing on the multiple processes that mediate people’s understandings of landslides in a Mayan village in highland Guatemala, it shows the ways causal and comparative grounds relate to physical forces and phenomenological experience, as much as to communicative practices and social conventions. More generally, though less explicitly, this article is about four topics that underlie the Anthropocene: “gradients” (the way qualities vary in their intensity over space and time, and the ways such variations relate to causal processes), “grading” (the ways agents assess and alter such intensities, and experience and intervene in causal processes), “degradation” (the ways highly valuable variations in qualitative intensities are lowered or lost), and “grace” (the way agents work to maintain gradients, care for those whose lives have been degraded, and value those agents who work and care in such ways)

The anthropology of an equation. Sieves, spam filters, agentive algorithms, and ontologies of transformation

This article undertakes the anthropology of an equation that constitutes the essence of an algorithm that underlies a variety of computational technologies—most notably spam filters, but also data-mining tools, diagnostic tests, predictive parsers, risk assessment techniques, and Bayesian reasoning more generally. The article foregrounds the ways ontologies are both embodied in and transformed by such algorithms. And it shows the stakes such ontological transformations have for one particularly widespread and powerful metaphor and device—the sieve. In so doing, this inquiry shows some of the complex processes that must be considered if we are to understand some of the key relations linking semiosis and statistics. Reflexively, these processes perturb some core ontological assumptions in anthropology, science and technology studies, and critical theory.

Grading, gradients, degradation, grace Part 2: Phenomenology, materiality, and cosmology

Part 1 of this article, which appeared in the last edition of this journal, focused on intensity and causality through the lens of social conventions and communicative practices. This part focuses on related themes from the standpoint of phenomenology, cosmology, and materiality. The central ethnographic object is still landslides in Highland Guatemala, and the ways speakers of Q’eqchi’ (Maya), from a small village in the cloud forest, relate to such events. And so we will continue to analyze the aftermath of one such landslide, taking up precisely where part 1 left off. More generally, though less explicitly, this article continues our articulation of four key terms for the Anthropocene (and, as should now be clear, for almost Everycene): “gradients” (the way qualities vary in their intensity over space and time, and the ways such variations relate to causal processes), “grading” (the ways agents assess and alter such intensities, and experience and intervene in causal processes), “degradation” (the ways highly valuable variations in qualitative intensities are lowered or lost), and “grace” (the way agents work to maintain gradients, care for those whose lives have been degraded, and value those agents who work and care in such ways).

Language culture and mind : natural constructions and social kinds

This book focuses on a variety of grammatical structures and discursive practices through which mental states are encoded and social relations are expressed : inalienable possessions, such as body parts and kinship terms ; interjections, such as, 'ouch' and yuck' : complement-taking predicates, such as 'beleive and desire' ; and grammatical categories, such as mood, status, and evidentiality