EXCITANTIA AND THE EVERYDAY: THE RISE OF PLEBEIAN LUXURIES

Reprint of Mintz, Sidney W. 1998. Excitantia and the Everyday: The Rise of Plebeian Luxuries. Suomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society 23 (4): 4–15. The article is based on a paper presented in a workshop titled Consumption, Luxuries and Exchange, organized in Helsinki on the 13th of May 1998

Another Look at the Backyard: Caribbean Peoples Past and Present

This talk was presented at Sacred Heart University on November 5, 1992 as part of the University\u27s observance of the Columbus Quincentennial

El Caribe como área socio-cultural

In this essay, Sidney W. Mintz discusses the Caribbean region by way of a number of attributes that, presented in a meaningful sequence, demarcate a large area of discussion: (1) a lowland, subtropical, insular ecology; (2) rapid extermination of the native population; (3) the location of the islands as a sphere of European overseas capitalism based mainly on sugar plantation slavery; (4) a correlative development of island social structures with little internal differentiation and a bipolar configuration; (5) ongoing interaction between plantations and small-scale peasant agriculture; (6) successive, massive immigration of new laboring populations (7) prevailing absence of an ideology of national identity (8) the persistence of colonialism, and of a colonial atmosphere, longer than any other area outside of Western Europe; (9) a high degree of individualization, particularly in economic terms, as an aspect of social organization.En el ensayo que aquí traducimos, “El Caribe como área socicultural,” Sidney W. Mintz aborda la región del Caribe a partir de una serie de atributos que, presentados en una secuencia significativa, demarcan un amplio espacio de discusión: (1) una ecología de tierras bajas, subtropical e insular; (2) el exterminio rápido de la población nativa; (3) la definición de las islas como una esfera del capitalismo agrario ultramarino europeo basado principalmente en plantación esclavista azucarera; (4) el desarrollo correlativo de estructuras sociales insulares con escasa diferenciación interna y una configuración bipolar; (5) la interacción continua entre las plantaciones y la agricultura campesina a pequeña escala; (6) la sucesiva inmigración masiva de nuevas poblaciones trabajadoras (7) la ausencia prevalente de una ideología de identidad nacional (8) la persistencia del colonialismo, y del ambiente colonial, por más tiempo que en cualquier otra área fuera del occidente europeo; (9) un elevado grado de individuación –particularmente económica– como un aspecto de la organización social

Eating Paradise: Food as Coloniality and Leisure

Sandals Resorts’ Gourmet Discovery Dining programme continues the company’s practice of marketing difference by combining tourism with the commodification of food from non-Western cultures (Dodman and Rhiney 2008). The article draws on bell hooks’ (1992) concept of ‘eating the other’ and the analysis undertakes an interdisciplinary approach that combines visual analysis with Anibal Quijano’s (2007) concept of modernity/coloniality. The discussion explores the trends of global multiculturalism that have been adopted by Sandals in a hybridized cut and mix approach to selling a packaged ideal of the Caribbean. The visual techniques devised to create a culinary holiday package are overlaid onto a manufactured and homogenised or McDonaldized (Ritzer and Liska 1997) Caribbean that provides insight into the way in which global neoliberal multiculturalism is framed by ongoing colonial relations after formal colonial rule has ended in the Caribbean region

Sushi in the United States, 1945-1970

Sushi first achieved widespread popularity in the United States in the mid-1960s. Many accounts of sushi’s US establishment foreground the role of a small number of key actors, yet underplay the role of a complex web of large-scale factors that provided the context in which sushi was able to flourish. This article critically reviews existing literature, arguing that sushi’s US popularity arose from contingent, long-term, and gradual processes. It examines US newspaper accounts of sushi during 1945–1970, which suggest the discursive context for US acceptance of sushi was considerably more propitious than generally acknowledged. Using California as a case study, the analysis also explains conducive social and material factors, and directs attention to the interplay of supply- and demand-side forces in the favorable positioning of this “new” food. The article argues that the US establishment of sushi can be understood as part of broader public acceptance of Japanese cuisine

From West Indies to East Indies: Archipelagic Interchanges

In this paper, I work to rethink notions of comparison and area studies by viewing my ethnographic work in Indonesia through the lens of theories developed by anthropologists working in the Caribbean region. In bringing 'East Indies' and 'West Indies' together in this way, I explore the possibility of reconfigured networks of citation, collaboration and interchange that might help anthropology respond in new ways to contemporary dynamics of globalisation. © 2006 Copyright Discipline of Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Western Australia

Induced pseudoscalar coupling of the proton weak interaction

The induced pseudoscalar coupling $g_p$ is the least well known of the weak coupling constants of the proton's charged--current interaction. Its size is dictated by chiral symmetry arguments, and its measurement represents an important test of quantum chromodynamics at low energies. During the past decade a large body of new data relevant to the coupling $g_p$ has been accumulated. This data includes measurements of radiative and non radiative muon capture on targets ranging from hydrogen and few--nucleon systems to complex nuclei. Herein the authors review the theoretical underpinnings of $g_p$, the experimental studies of $g_p$, and the procedures and uncertainties in extracting the coupling from data. Current puzzles are highlighted and future opportunities are discussed.Comment: 58 pages, Latex, Revtex4, prepared for Reviews of Modern Physic