note that it is not without its strengths. A bitter and heavily politicized opposition has been f... more note that it is not without its strengths. A bitter and heavily politicized opposition has been far too willing to dismiss too many of its findings and arguments out of hand; it deserves another look. At the same time, it is astonishing that this report should be published (especially if at the urging of those who, for whatever reason, wanted very much for it to be taken seriously) in such an unsatisfactory form, which virtually assures its dismissal by serious readers today.
Page 236. nine Unjuk Rasa (Expression of Feeling) in Sumba Bloody Thursday in Its Cultural and ... more Page 236. nine Unjuk Rasa (Expression of Feeling) in Sumba Bloody Thursday in Its Cultural and Historical Context Joel C. Kuipers Although there are many reasons to doubt the analytical validity of ritual as a universal category ...
Indonesia's policy since independence has been to foster the national language. In some regio... more Indonesia's policy since independence has been to foster the national language. In some regions, local languages are still political rallying points, but their significance has diminished, and the rapid spread of Indonesian as the national language of political and religious authority has been described as the 'miracle of the developing world'. Among the Weyewa, on the island of Sumba, this shift has displaced a once vibrant tradition of ritual poetic speech, which until recently was an important source of authority, tradition, and identity. But it has also given rise to new and hybrid forms of poetic expression. This first study to analyse language change in relation to political marginality argues that political coercion or cognitive process of 'style reduction' may partially explain what has happened, but equally important in language shift is the role of linguistic ideologies.
Page 1. VOL. 43, NO. 3 ETHNOMUSICOLOGY FALL 1999 Ululations from the Weyewa Highlands (Sumba): Si... more Page 1. VOL. 43, NO. 3 ETHNOMUSICOLOGY FALL 1999 Ululations from the Weyewa Highlands (Sumba): Simultaneity, Audience Response, and Models of Cooperation JOEL C. KUIPERS / George Washington University ...
Arabic names are a component of a changing Islamic discourse in Java. If Arabic names in Java und... more Arabic names are a component of a changing Islamic discourse in Java. If Arabic names in Java undergo change and growth, then this has implications for changes in Javanese Islam. This research demonstrates the validity of an approach that uses names as a window into Javanese culture. Drawing on a dataset of 3.7 million names analyzed diachronically across 100 years, and using a quantitative method sharpened by ethnography, the analysis of names offers a new way to investigate trends that were previously often difficult to document systematically. In the past, Javanese names usually reflected social classification: santri, abangan, priyayi, or lower and upper class. However, towards the end of the twentieth century, names with class connotations were increasingly abandoned (see Kuipers and Askuri 2017). In this paper we explore further the connection between the decline of class marked names, and the rise of Arabic names. Drawing on data from Askuri (2018), we argue that although the decline of class marked names precedes the sharp rise in the use of Arabic names, the former does not seem to have caused the latter in a simple way. Our data show that in the 20 th century, there were two important stages in the Arabisation of Javanese names; 1) an initial "synthetic" stage of one-word blended Javanese Arab names, popular from roughly 1930-1960; 2) a later stage, beginning in 1980, of 2 and 3 word names, one of which was a purified Arabic name. The conclusions have implications for an understanding
authors; or, if they are looking for work on particular themes, it would surely make better sense... more authors; or, if they are looking for work on particular themes, it would surely make better sense to seek works and collections on the themes or topics in question; or, if they are working online or in the library they might no less conveniently consult the relevant issue of CJE itself-to which most literature references are likely to refer them anyway. In short, in so far as this volume arguably unnecessarily duplicates existing and easily available scholarly resources, it is rather hard to see what genuine academic (as opposed to sentimental) purpose has been served by assembling such a highly general and diverse collection. In an age in which there is already excessive inflation of research output (much of it, not least in educational theory, of questionable value) one cannot help thinking that the kind of reduplication that one finds here-particularly in a world of rapidly diminishing natural resources-is not easy to justify.
In this piece, we shed light on the materiality of cell phones in the United States by comparing ... more In this piece, we shed light on the materiality of cell phones in the United States by comparing two cell phone repair shops in the Washington, DC metro region, and analyze the different ways in which these repair shops confront customers with the material realities of cell phones through variable yet systematic narratives and practices of repair. We argue that cell phone repair shops provide a distinctive site in which to unpack various articulations of the commodity fetishism of cell phones, the craft of repair, and thus the distinctive materiality of these now essential technological devices. By focusing on the tools and the techniques for their use, this ethnographic account highlights the ways in which repair, as an embodied practice, variously reveals, conceals, and constructs the value and agency of cell phones in the context of an emerging post-Fordist economy.
This article explores ambivalence to understand the cellular technology use of teenagers, their p... more This article explores ambivalence to understand the cellular technology use of teenagers, their parents and teachers in Washington, DC. Our interlocutors view phones as crucial for managing school, work, friendship and family — while also providing potentially dangerous ‘distractions’. The intimate possibilities afforded by these cell phones interact in unpredictable ways with the vast and largely unknown networked publics that phones often provide access to. As these tensions play out in teenagers' lives, these ambivalences are an increasingly important framework by which they confront worrisome trends towards greater social and digital inequality, as well as racial divides. As seductive as dystopian and utopian views of technology are, we need to lean into one of the hallmarks of anthropology and do what ethnography does best: seek to understand the lived realities — in this case, of the relationship between technology and ambivalence.
In the current US educational world—obsessed with accountability, measure-ment and testing—alloca... more In the current US educational world—obsessed with accountability, measure-ment and testing—allocating responsibility for intellectual activity in school science can be problematic. While science education promotes “hands-on” learning and “lab work ” that typically occur in a group context, many cur-riculum units also require students to represent their experiences as solitary, individual, and private. The data for this paper are drawn from a video ethnography of diverse middle school students experiencing a curriculum unit on Motion and Force. The analysis shows that since the curriculum unit “addresses ” the students as individuals but requires them to act in groups, they must learn to systematically erase the role of the group at strategic moments required by the curriculum. The reasons for this situation are linked not only to federal policies, but widespread theories of learning in the field of education. [Keywords: Theories of learning, learning process, “peer talk, ” curriculu...
note that it is not without its strengths. A bitter and heavily politicized opposition has been f... more note that it is not without its strengths. A bitter and heavily politicized opposition has been far too willing to dismiss too many of its findings and arguments out of hand; it deserves another look. At the same time, it is astonishing that this report should be published (especially if at the urging of those who, for whatever reason, wanted very much for it to be taken seriously) in such an unsatisfactory form, which virtually assures its dismissal by serious readers today.
Page 236. nine Unjuk Rasa (Expression of Feeling) in Sumba Bloody Thursday in Its Cultural and ... more Page 236. nine Unjuk Rasa (Expression of Feeling) in Sumba Bloody Thursday in Its Cultural and Historical Context Joel C. Kuipers Although there are many reasons to doubt the analytical validity of ritual as a universal category ...
Indonesia's policy since independence has been to foster the national language. In some regio... more Indonesia's policy since independence has been to foster the national language. In some regions, local languages are still political rallying points, but their significance has diminished, and the rapid spread of Indonesian as the national language of political and religious authority has been described as the 'miracle of the developing world'. Among the Weyewa, on the island of Sumba, this shift has displaced a once vibrant tradition of ritual poetic speech, which until recently was an important source of authority, tradition, and identity. But it has also given rise to new and hybrid forms of poetic expression. This first study to analyse language change in relation to political marginality argues that political coercion or cognitive process of 'style reduction' may partially explain what has happened, but equally important in language shift is the role of linguistic ideologies.
Page 1. VOL. 43, NO. 3 ETHNOMUSICOLOGY FALL 1999 Ululations from the Weyewa Highlands (Sumba): Si... more Page 1. VOL. 43, NO. 3 ETHNOMUSICOLOGY FALL 1999 Ululations from the Weyewa Highlands (Sumba): Simultaneity, Audience Response, and Models of Cooperation JOEL C. KUIPERS / George Washington University ...
Arabic names are a component of a changing Islamic discourse in Java. If Arabic names in Java und... more Arabic names are a component of a changing Islamic discourse in Java. If Arabic names in Java undergo change and growth, then this has implications for changes in Javanese Islam. This research demonstrates the validity of an approach that uses names as a window into Javanese culture. Drawing on a dataset of 3.7 million names analyzed diachronically across 100 years, and using a quantitative method sharpened by ethnography, the analysis of names offers a new way to investigate trends that were previously often difficult to document systematically. In the past, Javanese names usually reflected social classification: santri, abangan, priyayi, or lower and upper class. However, towards the end of the twentieth century, names with class connotations were increasingly abandoned (see Kuipers and Askuri 2017). In this paper we explore further the connection between the decline of class marked names, and the rise of Arabic names. Drawing on data from Askuri (2018), we argue that although the decline of class marked names precedes the sharp rise in the use of Arabic names, the former does not seem to have caused the latter in a simple way. Our data show that in the 20 th century, there were two important stages in the Arabisation of Javanese names; 1) an initial "synthetic" stage of one-word blended Javanese Arab names, popular from roughly 1930-1960; 2) a later stage, beginning in 1980, of 2 and 3 word names, one of which was a purified Arabic name. The conclusions have implications for an understanding
authors; or, if they are looking for work on particular themes, it would surely make better sense... more authors; or, if they are looking for work on particular themes, it would surely make better sense to seek works and collections on the themes or topics in question; or, if they are working online or in the library they might no less conveniently consult the relevant issue of CJE itself-to which most literature references are likely to refer them anyway. In short, in so far as this volume arguably unnecessarily duplicates existing and easily available scholarly resources, it is rather hard to see what genuine academic (as opposed to sentimental) purpose has been served by assembling such a highly general and diverse collection. In an age in which there is already excessive inflation of research output (much of it, not least in educational theory, of questionable value) one cannot help thinking that the kind of reduplication that one finds here-particularly in a world of rapidly diminishing natural resources-is not easy to justify.
In this piece, we shed light on the materiality of cell phones in the United States by comparing ... more In this piece, we shed light on the materiality of cell phones in the United States by comparing two cell phone repair shops in the Washington, DC metro region, and analyze the different ways in which these repair shops confront customers with the material realities of cell phones through variable yet systematic narratives and practices of repair. We argue that cell phone repair shops provide a distinctive site in which to unpack various articulations of the commodity fetishism of cell phones, the craft of repair, and thus the distinctive materiality of these now essential technological devices. By focusing on the tools and the techniques for their use, this ethnographic account highlights the ways in which repair, as an embodied practice, variously reveals, conceals, and constructs the value and agency of cell phones in the context of an emerging post-Fordist economy.
This article explores ambivalence to understand the cellular technology use of teenagers, their p... more This article explores ambivalence to understand the cellular technology use of teenagers, their parents and teachers in Washington, DC. Our interlocutors view phones as crucial for managing school, work, friendship and family — while also providing potentially dangerous ‘distractions’. The intimate possibilities afforded by these cell phones interact in unpredictable ways with the vast and largely unknown networked publics that phones often provide access to. As these tensions play out in teenagers' lives, these ambivalences are an increasingly important framework by which they confront worrisome trends towards greater social and digital inequality, as well as racial divides. As seductive as dystopian and utopian views of technology are, we need to lean into one of the hallmarks of anthropology and do what ethnography does best: seek to understand the lived realities — in this case, of the relationship between technology and ambivalence.
In the current US educational world—obsessed with accountability, measure-ment and testing—alloca... more In the current US educational world—obsessed with accountability, measure-ment and testing—allocating responsibility for intellectual activity in school science can be problematic. While science education promotes “hands-on” learning and “lab work ” that typically occur in a group context, many cur-riculum units also require students to represent their experiences as solitary, individual, and private. The data for this paper are drawn from a video ethnography of diverse middle school students experiencing a curriculum unit on Motion and Force. The analysis shows that since the curriculum unit “addresses ” the students as individuals but requires them to act in groups, they must learn to systematically erase the role of the group at strategic moments required by the curriculum. The reasons for this situation are linked not only to federal policies, but widespread theories of learning in the field of education. [Keywords: Theories of learning, learning process, “peer talk, ” curriculu...
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