165 research outputs found
Perception, Prestige and PageRank
Academic esteem is difficult to quantify in objective terms. Network theory
offers the opportunity to use a mathematical formalism to model both the esteem
associated with an academic and the relationships between academic colleagues.
Early attempts using this line of reasoning have focused on intellectual
genealogy as constituted by supervisor student networks. The process of
examination is critical in many areas of study but has not played a part in
existing models. A network theoretical "social" model is proposed as a tool to
explore and understand the dynamics of esteem in the academic hierarchy. It is
observed that such a model naturally gives rise to the idea that the esteem
associated with a node in the graph (the esteem of an individual academic) can
be viewed as a dynamic quantity that evolves with time based on both local and
non-local changes in the properties in the network. The toy model studied here
includes both supervisor-student and examiner-student relationships. This gives
an insight into some of the key features of academic genealogies and naturally
leads to a proposed model for "esteem propagation" on academic networks. This
propagation is not solely directed forward in time (from teacher to progeny)
but sometimes also flows in the other direction. As collaborators do well, this
reflects well on those with whom they choose to collaborate and those that
taught them. Furthermore, esteem as a quantity continues to be dynamic even
after the end of a relationship or career. In other words, esteem can be
thought of as flowing both forward and backward in time.Comment: 40 page
Using prosodic cues to identify dialogue acts: methodological challenges
Using prosodic cues to identify dialogue acts: methodological challenge
A summary of Cameroonian Administrative history
In this paper I consider the reasons why a question about changing patterns of administrative history in Cameroon is easy to ask but hard to answer. Exploring this raises many issues of changing terminology, differences between quasi-colonial and post-colonial administration of the administration of the state (as it were) and decisions that in some cases were superseded before being implemented. A summary table is presented with comments about the limits of reliability of the figures
Arguments For Humility: Lessons For Anthropologists From Six Key Texts
In support of a lean and humble anthropology I discuss six key articles that provide indirect arguments for humility. In summary, these articles teach us that the terms of a discussion may be flawed and cannot be resolved by agreeing shared meanings (Gallie); we must accept limits on what we can know (Nagel); depictions, visual representations are potentially confusing, forms of translation across media types are ubiquitous; (Wolf); portraits are exemplary performances of the self, even the most casual depictions are of the act of posing; (Berger); varying meanings may be associated with a single item, which may convey different things to different people in different places and at different times (Miller and Woodward); and that accounts of a social group and its ideas must encompass vagueness and inconsistency rather than present a misleading coherence and consistency (Favret-Saada). Together these provide reasons for developing a humble anthropology, one that recognizes its incompleteness and revisability.
Keywords: Humility, sparsity, meaning, vaguenes
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Mambila traditional religion : Sua in Somie
This work is an analysis of Mambila religion based on fieldwork in Somie village,
Cameroon.
An ethnographic and historical introduction to the Mambila is followed by an account of
their religious concepts. It is argued that, despite their adherence to Christianity (and to
Islam), traditional practices continue to be of great importance in everyday life. In order to
examine traditional practice descriptions are given of divination and oath-taking rites.
Translated transcripts of the different forms of the sua-oath form the empirical core of the
thesis. The transcripts illustrate the way that Mambila experience and understand the
meaning of sua. Descriptions are also given of the sua masquerades. Finally I examine
problems inherent in the analysis of non-literate societies lacking a reflective tradition, and
in particular, societies lacking precise, structured religious concepts. This allows for
discussion of resulting implications on the relationships between religion, politics and
`symbolic power.
Disciplinary perspectives on archiving qualitative data
This webinar was organised by QUEST (Qualitative Expertise at Southampton) in collaboration with the National Centre for Research Methods and the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership. It was held on 23 June 2022.
The speakers were: Dr Rachel Ayrton (chair), Carolynn Low, Dr Susie Weller and Professor David Zeitlyn
Understanding Anthropological Understanding: for a merological anthropology
In this paper I argue for a merological anthropology in which ideas of ‘partiality’ and ‘practical adequacy’ provide a way out of the impasse of relativism which is implied by post-modernism and the related abandonment of a concern with ‘truth’. Ideas such as ‘aptness’ and ‘faithfulness’ enable us to re-establish empirical foundations without having to espouse a simple realism which has been rightly criticised. Ideas taken from ethnomethodology, particularly the way we bootstrap from ‘practical adequacy’ to ‘warrants for confidence’ point to a merological anthropology in which we recognize that we do not and cannot know everything, but that we can have reasons for being confident in the little we know
Little genetic differentiation as assessed by uniparental markers in the presence of substantial language variation in peoples of the Cross River region of Nigeria
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Cross River region in Nigeria is an extremely diverse area linguistically with over 60 distinct languages still spoken today. It is also a region of great historical importance, being a) adjacent to the likely homeland from which Bantu-speaking people migrated across most of sub-Saharan Africa 3000-5000 years ago and b) the location of Calabar, one of the largest centres during the Atlantic slave trade. Over 1000 DNA samples from 24 clans representing speakers of the six most prominent languages in the region were collected and typed for Y-chromosome (SNPs and microsatellites) and mtDNA markers (Hypervariable Segment 1) in order to examine whether there has been substantial gene flow between groups speaking different languages in the region. In addition the Cross River region was analysed in the context of a larger geographical scale by comparison to bordering Igbo speaking groups as well as neighbouring Cameroon populations and more distant Ghanaian communities.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The Cross River region was shown to be extremely homogenous for both Y-chromosome and mtDNA markers with language spoken having no noticeable effect on the genetic structure of the region, consistent with estimates of inter-language gene flow of 10% per generation based on sociological data. However the groups in the region could clearly be differentiated from others in Cameroon and Ghana (and to a lesser extent Igbo populations). Significant correlations between genetic distance and both geographic and linguistic distance were observed at this larger scale.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Previous studies have found significant correlations between genetic variation and language in Africa over large geographic distances, often across language families. However the broad sampling strategies of these datasets have limited their utility for understanding the relationship within language families. This is the first study to show that at very fine geographic/linguistic scales language differences can be maintained in the presence of substantial gene flow over an extended period of time and demonstrates the value of dense sampling strategies and having DNA of known and detailed provenance, a practice that is generally rare when investigating sub-Saharan African demographic processes using genetic data.</p
Faqs about open access: The political economy of publishing in anthropology and beyond
Editores: Ainhoa Montoya, Marta Pérez, Grégory Dallemagne & Víctor del ArcoTraducido por Ainhoa Montoya, Marta Pérez, Grégory Dallemagne, Víctor del Arco y Manuela Burns.Pre-publicación del Taller Preguntas frecuentes sobre open access: la economía política en torno a las publicaciones en antropología y en otras ciencias sociales (Open Access in Antrophology and beyond), celebrado en Madrid los días 16 y 17 de octubre de 2014. Organizado por el Grupo de Investigación en Antropología de Orientación Pública (GIAOP) de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
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