Human Organization 1999

Abramson, David M. A Critical Look at NGOs and Civil Society as Means to an End in Uzbekistan. Human Organization, Fall. 1999 Vol. 58 No. 3 : 240-250.

El artículo trata sobre la manera en que las Organizaciones No Gubernamentales en Uzbekistán conceptualizan y desarrollan su papel.

A partir de entrevistas, encuentros y talleres con responsables de ONG en Uzbekistán, l autor analiza la inadecuación de tal categoría en la realidad socio cultural de ese país. Muestra cómo, a partir de la historia reciente, no es posible diferenciar sectores en la perspectiva y con la estructura occidental.

Esta inadecuación propicia una deformación no sólo conceptual, sino en la forma de establecer las relaciones de ayuda al desarrollo de agencias internacionales con sus contrapartes locales; además de que tal situación es aprovechada por las personas que crean y dirigen estas ONG para canalizar recursos y asegurar su permanencia, alimentando por otra parte la formación de una nueva elite –en el fondo el reciclamiento de las anteriores-, bien conectada a nivel internacional y nacional.

CLARITY: 4
JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA CHAGOYÁN Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez Lizaur)

Abramson, David M. A Critical Look at NGOs and Civil Society as Means to an End in Uzbekistan. Human Organization 1999 Vol. 58(3):240-48.

This article discusses the implementation and effect of foreign aid and development around the world, focusing on the consequences of aid for the target country and the political biases and interests of the donors. The lack of research on these topics “lulls us into complacency in thinking that aid is essentially a selfless enterprise” (240). In particular, the article examines the cultural translation of concepts such as civil society, nongovernmental organization, and nonprofit, as mechanisms donor governments use to “legitimate” foreign aid.

Abramson emphasizes his discussion on three important points throughout the article, thus he says: “First, elite recipient communities are not pre-existing, but are largely created through the development process.” This means that projects structure a recipient community of elites, and this generated new forms of knowledge and practice, alignment and interest, where “the dialectic of acceptance and subversion of NGO ideals by local recipients” were examined. This brings us to the second point, where the ways in which the meaning of NGO was created are subjects to controversy. Lastly, promoting activities that are alien to state structures may lead to violent conflicts, as well as to mistrust and social disintegration.

Uzbekistan attained independence in September, 1991. In 1994 foreign aid organizations began to spend both the time and money on the development of nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The main issues facing NGOs in Uzbekistan then, and now (1999) are “securing governmental approval and acknowledgment that NGOs are not trade unions or political parties and do not therefore pose a political threat” (243).

Over the few last years, Uzbek state policies toward Muslim organizations, practices, and activism have become more restrictive. Promoted by government fears that movements from Afghanistan and Tajikistan might politicize and arm Muslims in Uzbekistan, a conference on Civil Society in Central Asia was convened by the donor community in March 1998. The article indicates the anti-Islamic rhetoric and mistrust of Islam that are prevalent in the donor and development community, as well as in the government in Uzbekistan.

Current U.S. government policy on aid to Uzbekistan conforms to Uzbek government rules, which prohibit support for political parties, trade unions and religious organizations. Consequently, the nongovernmental sector supported by U.S. assistance represents a very small, well-educated, Russian-speaking and anti-Islamic part of the population. Civil society was being built, but was excluding the political participation of Muslim activist groups. This contributed to the lack in development of foreign or locally supported organizations that were concerned with Islam as an organizing framework in Uzbekistan. This creates conflict between internationally supported grassroots Muslim organizations. “Uzbekistan runs the grave risk of alienating its poorer classes and facing increased competition from alternative social movements whose members may seek external support and become less willing to compromise with the idea of national state. Algeria, Egypt, and Palestine are three tragic examples of this problem” (248).

The elite that is western-educated and trained, benefit from their involvement in distributing money using it to build civil institutions. Uzbek national NGOs foster a particular strategy, where “civility” is opposed to accommodating an Islamic political culture. The article concludes that to help build civil society, Uzbek citizens would have to be exposed to the western ways of democracy, western economic practices, and political systems, but at this point it is still unclear how Uzbek citizens would utilize that exposure, or what they would learn from NGO support. “The goal is to provide moderates with possibilities conductive to drawing respectfully on the past and flexible enough to accommodate conflicting visions for the future” (248).

CLARITY RANKING: 3.
ANA C. VRNOGA, California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Agar, Michael and Heather Schact Reisinger. Numbers and Patterns: Heroin Indicators and What They Represent. Human Organization. 1999 Vol. 58(4):365-375.

Quantitative epidemiological indicators are typically used to monitor trends in substance usage. Such trends are usually tracked via a “number trail” by institutions that deal with drug users, such as the Federal Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

In this article Agar and Reisinger demonstrate how quantitative indicators were ineffective in detecting new trends in heroin use in the Baltimore, Maryland metropolitan area in the late 1990s. At this time it was noted that use was rising in “nontraditional” groups, such as white youths from the suburbs. From interviews with youth and adult experts as well as analysis of the Baltimore Sun, a time-line was established to indicate that the trend first began to appear around 1996.

The authors then analyzed typical indicators from the drug use field to determine how well they matched the results seen in interviews and media analysis. A survey of 12th graders in the Baltimore City schools indicated that heroin use was at best a trivial problem. Data from surrounding counties indicated the same thing. The authors concluded that, based upon this data alone, concern over heroin use was a waste of time.

Agar and Reisinger then analyzed data compiled by DAWN. This data, gathered from hospitals and medical examiners, indicated that “not much (was) going on with heroin” at the same time the rise in use was known to have appeared. Combined with inconclusive DEA data, this apparent anomaly led the authors to investigate the link between indicators and patterns of use.

The authors then turned to two qualitative indicators that recognized the new pattern of use at the same time as the interviewees and the newspaper. The Pulse Check system. developed by the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the White House, employs a series of telephone calls to key people in a city, including ethnographers, who are expected to know what is happening with illicit drugs. As these observers are more immediately involved with drug scenes, they are likely to recognize major changes in patterns of use. This is exactly what occurred in 1995, when the system reported a rise in use by middle and upper-middle class teenagers and young adults. The second source of qualitative data was the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG). In late 1995, the group reported new heroin users from all socioeconomic groups who tended to snort rather than inject. While traditional qualitative indicators failed to track new trends in heroin use, the more novel qualitative indicators employed were much more accurate and more reflective of the reality of the situation.

The authors ultimately recommend improving the collection and analysis of qualitative data, and to more systematically compare results with traditional quantitative indicators. Despite the obvious utility seen in this case, Agar and Reisinger contend that qualitative data has been held in disdain, due to a bias in favor of numerical data.

Agar and Reisinger then recommended a novel new system of monitoring based upon anecdotal data, or “narrative” data, as they call it. Such a system would be comprised of a variety of people in close contact with different drug-using groups. These people are typically uncredentialed, and in some cases have little formal education. The authors call these people the “grunts” of drug intervention, research, and law enforcement. According to the authors, one can learn more from these people about details and variations in patterns than from any other outside source. A system of this type, with its shift away from “experts” to “grunts,” would indeed be a novel approach.

CLARITY RANKING: 4
FLOYD MEADOWS California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Agar Michael and Heather Schacht Reisinger. Numbers and Patterns: Heroin Indicators and What They Represent. Human Organization. Fall. 1999 Vol. No. 3: 365-374.

Los autores presentan el resultado de un estudio realizado en 1998 en Baltimore, donde había reportes sobre el incremento del uso de heroína entre grupos de consumidores llamados “no tradicionales”.

El énfasis del estudio es llamar la atención sobre cómo pueden variar los datos cuantitativos de los cualitativos, la importancia de cotejarlos y no emitir resultados contundentes en una investigación basándose sólo en uno de los dos aspectos.

Los datos existentes antes de hacer la investigación provenían de:

1.- FEDERAL DRUG ABUSE WARNING NETWORK ( DAWN ), que tenían estadísticas de pacientes admitidos en ayuda de emergencia y los datos eran recolectados por SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH ADMINITRATION ( SAMHSA ).

2.- Investigaciones de población escolar y adultos.

3.- Datos estatales y federales sobre admisión para tratamientos también recolectados por SAMHSA.

Los investigadores agregaron datos de DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION ( DEA ) y usaron faxes del Center por Sustance Abuse Research ( CESAR ) de la Universidad de Maryland, recurrieron a los comentarios recibidos en PULSE CHECK, un programa de la Casa Blanca que recibe llamadas telefónicas sobre drogas, además de hacer sus propios cuestionarios y entrevistas personales a jóvenes y adultos.

Los datos tomados en las escuelas y en casas de familias de la ciudad indican que es poco el uso de heroína pero según los datos de Pulse Check se ha incrementado desde principios de los 90.

Durante las entrevistas detectaron que la mayoría de los entrevistados reportaba como “hace dos años” cuando se enteraron del incremento del consumo de heroína y por los estudios concluyeron que eso se debía a que a fines de 1995 y principios de 1996 el diario THE BALTIMORE SUN publicó varios reportajes sobre este asunto, lo que quedó en la memoria popular como su inicio, pero las entrevistas reportaron que en realidad esto sucedió mucho antes, desde principios de los 90’s.

La explicación que encontraron es que en estas fechas empezó a llegar heroína colombiana, mucho más pura, más barata que la asiática y que facilitaba inhalarse en vez de inyectarse como la tradicional. La población ya tenía más conciencia del riesgo de contraer SIDA por inyecciones así que fue fácil el cambio pero las autoridades no “vieron “ lo que sucedía y ni siquiera tenían el concepto de heroína colombiana en esas fechas.

Otros datos descubiertos gracias a las entrevistas es que los blancos se refieren a la heroína como “droga de negros” y estos a su vez dicen “droga de blancos” y no había diferencias en el consumo entre gente urbana o sub-urbana como lo acentuaban los datos cuantitativos.

Resumen los autores diciendo que la entrevista informal revela muchas veces los estereotipos que niegan los datos cuantitativos.

CLARITY :5
SCARLETT ZAMORA. Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur )

Arcury, Thomas & Sara Quandt. Participant recruitment for qualitative research: A site-based approach to community research in complex societies. Human Organization Summer, 1999 Vol.58(2):128-133.

This article outlines a method for participant recruitment in qualitative research. The main concern is that complex societies lack clearly bounded groups from which to select participants. The article contains a step-by-step outline on how to locate, select, and recruit research participants in contemporary societies. The authors present this guideline to prepare future researchers in obtaining participants as well as giving readers of past case studies a means of critiquing such studies participant sampling.

Most researchers have little insight on how qualitative sampling is carried out in a scientific research format. There is also little information available to those exploring case studies on judging the appropriateness of the sampling techniques used. The authors see this problem and address it with both a discussion of the inherent problems with participant recruitment and a guideline on how to go about participant recruitment in complex societies. An example of a problem mentioned was making sure the participants reflect the purpose and goals of the study. It is important to choose representative individuals. They mentioned, “justifying the composition of a qualitative ethnographic sample.” In complex societies the large size of the population must be taken into account, with simple sampling approaches not being possible or ineffective in showing relevant characteristics.

The outline for participant selection includes five steps designed to generate an unbiased representative and stratified sample for qualitative research in community-based societies. The first step is to specify the characteristics relevant to the sampling, especially those characteristics of the group the researcher wishes to study. The second step is to generate a list of representative sites from which to obtain these participants, such as places, organizations, and services used by the members of interest. Step three is to estimate the composition of the clientele at each site. The authors mentioned “Gatekeepers” or community informants, from which accurate statistics on each study group could be obtained. In this step entry into the community is possible. Step four is the participant recruitment itself: deciding on a list of sites compiled and the number of participants from each site. The fifth and final step is to maintain a table of characteristics of the participants. From this process the authors feel you can expect to obtain a group of participants with the characteristics needed. At the same time the researcher will have learned much more about the community.

This method is illustrated in a specific project: the Rural Health and Nutrition program or RUN. This three-year study tried to specify the nutritional self-management strategies of rural older adults. The authors described how the use of in-depth interviews in this study was very effective in obtaining the information needed. This study supported their opinion of simple sampling, such as “snowball sampling,” being ineffective in participant recruitment in larger more complex societies. It was found that with the method advocated here, the RUN study was able to produce a proper representative sample.

Current academic research and writing does not make much mention of methods for participant recruitment. This can be a major problem leading to sampling bias and unreliable results. This problem is particularly serious when studying complex societies. The few existing methods for inclusion of participants in research are quite often only effective on smaller groups. When applied to larger groups, such as in complex societies, these methods are both unrealistic and problematic. This step-by-step guide can aid researchers in obtaining participants in an organized and efficient manner. In addition readers can use this guideline to analyze the quality of participant recruitment in countless case studies previously done.

CLARITY: 4
CANOVA, GABE California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Arcury, Thomas A. and Quandt, Sara A. Participant Recruitment for Qualitative Research: A Site-Based Approach to Community Research in Complex Societies. Human Organization, 1999 Vol. 58 No. 1 : 128-133.

Sobre la experiencia de investigación sobre salud en personas de la tercera edad a nivel local en los EU, los autores proponen un método de selección de participantes en estudios cualitativos que asegure su calidad y representatividad.

Uno de los aspectos más relevantes en el método de investigación de la antropología es la representatividad de las personas estudiadas, especialmente en sociedades complejas.

Los autores nos proponen la aproximación de “Base-sitio” para desarrollar un proceso de selección de los sujetos en cinco pasos: precisando las variables clave a investigar en la población objetivo; listado de sitios, entendidos como lugares, organizaciones, servicios, etc., que son utilizados por miembros de la población objetivo; hacer un estimado de la composición de la clientela de cada sitio, especialmente con la ayuda del ‘portero’; reclutar una muestra de participantes de prueba de los sitios seleccionados; el quinto y último paso es propiamente el reclutamiento de los individuos de los sitios.

Los autores nos muestran el caso en el que tal método se aplicó, mostrando cómo con relativamente pocos recursos, este procedimiento es útil para seleccionar teniendo representatividad, así como más elementos de comprensión de la población estudiada y mayor facilidad de acceso y participación de las personas en el proceso. En pocas palabras, aumenta la capacidad de manejar y dirigir el proceso para obtener mayores resultados.

Finalmente, los propios autores nos explican que el método es uno de tantos posibles, y lo positivo de éste es que surge a partir de la experiencia y resultados obtenidos.

CLARITY: 5
JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA CHAGOYÁN Universidad Iberoamericana (Dra. Marisol Pérez Lizaur)

Baba, Marietta. Dangerous Liaisons: Trust, Distrust, and Information Technology in American Work Organizations. Human Organization Fall, 1999 Vol.58(3):331-346.

Baba is concerned with the effects of trust and distrust on the use of information technology in the American work place. She discusses the interactions that generate trust and distrust between the individuals, subunits, and firms in U.S. businesses. The author relates this to the influx of new information technologies in organizational settings. Baba suggests that without the presence of strong interpersonal relationships, advanced information technology cannot be implemented.

The article begins with definitions of trust and distrust. Trust was defined as the “subjective expression of one actor’s expectations regarding the behavior of another actor.” The presence of trust or distrust has a direct influence on the effectiveness and efficiency of instrumental exchanges within organizational settings. Trust gives companies a competitive advantage by enabling more effective cooperation and coordination. Employees who trust one another have collaborative relationships and learn from each other. This trust can only exist when the second actor preserves the safety and security of the first actor. It is safety and security, which promotes long-term stability. The lack of this security was the basis of distrust.

Distrust is seen as the absence or failure of trust. In complex societies the importance of kinship as a mechanism of trust is significantly reduced. An example is the importance of insurance and warranty arrangements. Such arrangements exist from a lack of trust between people and organizations. Baba proposed the idea that trust could be a byproduct of cooperation. This meant that distrust could be caused by a lack of cooperation. Looking at society once more, she saw that greater social distance resulted in less information exchange, making it difficult for the individual to determine who is trustworthy.

Baba noted that the presence or absence of trust between organizational managers and their employees directly affected the implementation of new information technology. The lack of trust experienced by employees with surveillance and production monitoring, lowers their chances of risk taking and innovation. She discussed examples in U.S. automotive and aerospace firms where problems with communication in organizations lead to inefficiency and problems. In one case a lack of communication between groups in production prohibited full integration of new design software resulting in inefficiency. The company continued supporting paper blueprints and manual programming techniques over newer, more efficient computer software. The reason for this continued use of outdated and inefficient techniques was because the implementation of new CAD software brought about problems that caused the designers to create products with flaws. These problems only existed because there was no communication between the programmers and designers. This exemplified how trust is something that needs to be encouraged in organizations today.

In her discussion of the case studies, Baba mentions the process of information control. The use, lack of use, or misuse of information, all have purposes in managing relationships between groups. She also discussed information quality, specifically that any group that receives low quality information may make poor decisions, appearing incompetent. In closing she pointed out that it is very important for new concepts of organization and management to be implemented in order to better deal with these problems of trust and distrust inherent in the established “self-interest-seeking” behavior. Baba’s discussion of these problems was very clear and would be an invaluable read for any member of an organization, be it an employee or manager.

CLARITY: 5
CANOVA, GABE California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Baba, Marieta L. Baba. Dangerous Liaisons: Trust, Distrust, and Information Technology in American Work Organizations. Human Organization, Spring. 1999 Vol. 58 No. 3 : 331-346.

El artículo trata de la relación que se da entre estructura organizacional, el flujo y manejo de la información, y la confianza en una corporación norteamericana.

Teniendo como marco teórico las relaciones de intercambio dentro de una estructura organizacional, la autora realiza un estudio en algunas de las direcciones y niveles de la corporación con el fin de establecer cuál es el papel de la confianza dentro de las relaciones que utilizan alta tecnología de información.

A través de 6 casos de estudio desarrollados, establece que, las condiciones y estructura preexistente a la adopción de tecnología de información, es la clave para entender cómo las distintas personas y grupos dentro de las direcciones y niveles de operación, usan, bloquean, interrumpen, cuidan, destruyen, en una palabra, administran la información, de acuerdo con sus intereses, posiciones y roles; aún cuando estén en proceso de adoptar y hayan adoptado tecnologías nuevas de información.

Por lo tanto, la autora recomienda para los programas de adopción de nuevas tecnologías, tomar en cuenta las relaciones preexistentes y trabajar con las personas que están directa e indirectamente involucradas, en procesos más amplios orientados a fortalecer sus capacidades y las relaciones de la estructura organizacional.

CLARITY: 5
JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA CHAGOYÁN Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez Lizaur)

Baer, Roberta D., Susan C. Weller, Lee Pachter, Robert Trotter, Javier Garcia de Alba Garcia, Mark Glazer, Robert Klein, Lynn Deitrick, David F. Baker, Lynlee Brown, Karuna Khan-Gordon, Susan R. Martin, Janice Nichols, Jennifer Ruggiero. Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the Common Cold: Data from Five Populations. Human Organization. Fall, 1999 Vol. 58 (3) 251-225

This paper focuses on conceptualizations of the common cold among four geographically dispersed groups of Latin Americans: Guatemalans in Guatemala; Mexicans in Guadalajara, Mexico; persons of Mexican descent in Edinburg, Texas (on the Texas-Mexican border); and Puerto Ricans in Hartford, Connecticut. In addition, a comparison group of middle income Americans living in Tampa, Florida was also studied to see the extent to which cold concepts were seen in what is considered to be a “mainstream” population. The paper includes a detailed and valuable abstract.

“The Cold” is biomedically referred to as a type of acute respiratory infection (ARI), or specifically, an upper respiratory infection (URI). Baer, et al. explain that the common cold was chosen for study for the following reasons: it is a very common illness, it is rarely of great severity, and there are very few data from cross-cultural studies on the extent to which perceptions regarding the causes, symptoms, and treatments of the cold vary cross-culturally or across different geographic regions within a single population. The literature suggests a hot-cold folk classification of medicine and illness throughout Latin America. In the folk classification, an imbalance of hot and cold in the body may cause illness, which is to be treated with “hot” and “cold” remedies. It is often assumed that the beliefs of middle-income or mainstream Americans are more similar to those of health care providers. The information taken from the literature raises the question of to what extent nonbiomedical, or folk, conceptualizations about the common cold are seen in populations not usually associated with folk medicinal beliefs, such as middle-income/mainstream Americans. Another issue addressed by the authors’ research was how conceptualizations of the common cold differ from similar illnesses, such as “the flu,” and other illnesses.

The main methods used to collect the data from all five areas (the four geographic dispersed groups and the comparison group) were interviews, and qualitative and quantitative questionnaires. The responses were analyzed and aggregated using consensus analysis. The data suggest a great deal of both intra- and intercultural agreement as to the causes, symptoms, and treatments of the common cold. For example, all five sites agreed that colds can be caused by a lack of vitamins, low resistance, exposure to drafts/wind/air, a change in the weather, not being properly clothed in cold weather, and by being around a person who has a cold. They also agreed that the symptoms of a cold include red, inflamed eyes; sneezing; muscle and body aches; fever; a runny nose; sore throat; headache, etc. Agreed upon treatments include drinking liquids, using medicines given by a doctor; drinking orange or lemon tea; using eucalyptus or camphor balm, such as Vicks; and/or taking vitamins.

The cold seems to be viewed as very much in the realm of a biomedical illness, with the exception of ascribing the hot/cold system of causality to the common cold, among all five populations. Finally, the cold is clearly differentiated from what is known as “the flu.” An illness with the characteristics of folk flu does not seem to exist in any of the Latino populations. This suggests that “the flu” is perhaps a culture-bound syndrome. This illustrates the importance of understanding cross-cultural and cross-lingual terminology.

In the conclusion, the authors point out the importance of biomedically-trained healthcare workers being aware of patients’ conceptualizations about “cold” causality. Without this knowledge, there may be difficulties in communicating with patients about more serious types of acute respiratory infections and their prevention.

CLARITY RANKING: 4
ERIN M. EARNSHAW California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Baer Roberta, Welle Susan, Pachter Lee, Trotter Robert, García de Alba Javier, Glazer Mark, Klein Robert, Deitrick Lynn, Baker David, Brown Lynlee, Khan-Gordon Karuna, Martin Susan, Nichols Janice and Ruggiero Jennifer. Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the Common Cold: Data from Five Populations. Human Organization, Autum. 1999. Vol. 58 (3):251-260

Los autores parten de que la dicotomía frío/calor ha sido una creencia importante para la clasificación de las enfermedades y su tratamiento en Latinoamerica, incluso en espacios considerados urbanos. Ellos vinculan esta concepción con la cultura folk. Se interesan en saber si existe un cuerpo coherente para conceptualizar la enfermedad en 5 distintas poblaciones. Buscan establecer de qué manera la variabilidad étnica influye y de qué manera el resfriado difiere conceptualmente de otras enfermedades como la gripe.

Los datos fueron tomados de 3 puntos de USA, uno de Guatemala y otro de México. De USA, participó gente de la comunidad México-Americana de Edinburg Texas, de Puerto Rico, la comunidad de Hartford, Conneticud y gente de clase media de Tampa Florida. De Guatemala, la comunidad ladina rural de Esquintla y, de México, gente de la Cd. de Guadalajara.

Participaron 200 personas en total, 40 por cada población. Se les aplicó un cuestionario que contenía 142 ítems, 52 sobre casos, 48 sobre síntomas y 42 sobre el tratamiento para el resfriado. También incluía datos demográficos y cuestiones acerca de su experiencia con la enfermedad.

Se realizó un análisis estadístico de covarianza. Encontraron que la interpretación intercultural varía al examinar la relación entre variables demográficas y diferencias culturales en cuanto a creencias y/o pensamientos. Los cuatro grupos latinos manifestaron diferencias entre resfriado y gripe. Los mexicanos tendieron a definir la gripe como un ejemplo del catarro. Algunas personas de Texas incluyeron la alta temperatura como un síntoma.

Estos datos sugieren que a nivel intra e intercultural existen bastantes similitudes en cuanto a causas , síntomas y tratamiento del resfriado común en las muestras con las cuales se trabajó. Asimismo, los 5 grupos, mencionaron que el frío es un importante concepto de causalidad del resfriado común.

Los autores concluyen que observaron un alto grado de semejanza al comparar los grupos en cuanto a causas, síntomas y tratamiento del resfriado común en los 5 grupos estudiados.

CLARIDAD : 4
LETICIA OSORNIO CASTILLO, México, Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Bee, Robert L. Structure, Ideology, and Tribal Governments. Human Organization. Summer, 1999 Vol. 58(3): 285-294.

Robert Bee’s article attempts to evaluate the “ideal” qualities of tribal governance (effectiveness, broad representativeness, stability, and fair and effective distribution of tribal assets) for Native Americans in the United States. Bee focuses on effective stability in the context of reservation politics. While advocating reform, he recognizes the difficulties of bringing this about.

The article claims that the underlying disquieting factor in Native American governance is its use of a western political structure imposed by federal government through the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (PL 93-638). Bee gives clear examples of the imbalance between the western political structure and traditional ideology and structure of the Native American groups. Although not all Native American Nations share the same traditions of governance, leadership, and use of power, Bee shows how the stability of tribal governance is threatened from inside influences and outside intervention. Case studies exemplify tribal community response to leadership behavior and state intervention to weaken or limit tribal powers by challenging political sovereignty of Indian Nations.

Bee uncovers the conflicts between behavior of tribal governing bodies that oppose prevailing tribal ideals. These examples of conflict lead Bee to formulate ideas of institutional reform through the rewriting of tribal constitutions and other formalized government operating procedures to reflect more accurately the prevailing tribal ideology about appropriate and legitimate leadership behavior. His emphasis is always on tribal responsibility for its own needs and cultural values, rather than an imposed federal structure or ideology.

Bee provides an in-depth analysis of the impact of tribal leadership stability, especially in the distribution of tribal economic resources. He reviews the influence of western colonization and federal intervention and imposition of a western political structure and associated ideologies on traditional tribal political ideologies. Bee refers to three tribal situations of the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Lakota communities, the Quechan tribe on the Fort Yuma reservation of Southern California, and Mashantucket Pequot of Connecticut.

The article concludes with the carrot-and-stick approach to motivate tribal governments to seek stability while avoiding state intervention. Throughout the article a clear representation and understanding of Native American legislation relevant to the issues of government stability is presented. In fact, it is in the federal legislation that Bee identifies a stimulus and an avenue for tribal governments to achieve stability.

Bee places ultimate responsibility in the hands of Native American tribes. He offers two suggestions: 1) to circumvent broad issues of political ideologies, focus on how to ensure equitable distribution of economic resources and 2) removal of tribal council members from the specific hiring/firing decisions within tribal programs as well as from allocating program benefits. He maintains that the tribal council should retain overall responsibility for determining goals of such programs and overseeing their effectiveness. He sums up the principal weakness of tribal governance as, “…local political factionalism primarily sparked by the distribution of scarce economic resources;…”

CLARITY RANKING: 4
ARLENE WARD California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Bee, Robert L. Structure, Ideology and Tribal Governments. Human Organization, Fall.1999 Vol . No 3: 285-294

El autor hace un estudio etnográfico y análisis documental del conflicto que representa para las tribus Indias de Estados Unidos la opción de mantener su ideología tradicional o adoptar la ideología occidental que con frecuencia se les trata de imponer.

La estabilidad de la estructura política de los pueblos Indios en E. U. Es la preocupación fundamental del autor. Dicha estabilidad se ha visto amenazada, pero no se puede afirmar que en forma generalizada se deba a presiones externas o a conflictos internos.

En su ensayo etnológico comparativo, Bee presenta diversos ejemplos de grupos que han logrado su cohesión interna, han mantenido su estructura jerárquica y conservado su estabilidad como los Mashantucked Pequot de Connecticut, que después de estudiarlos, llega a la conclusión de que la estabilidad estructural que tienen se debe a que el gobierno tribal distribuye amplia y equitativamente los recursos que obtienen de un casino de su propiedad.

Otros grupos han permanecido en cierto nivel de aislamiento, que aparentemente podría ayudarles a conservar su unidad y por lo tanto estabilidad, pero desde el punto de vista del autor el tener una “cerca” a su alrededor por sí sola no garantiza la estabilidad ni la continuidad en su ideología; sin embargo opina que esto no significa que una tribu debe adoptar la ideología de otra.

Existen diferencias de ideología política en las reservaciones que distinguen entre tradición orientada a “pura sangre” y otra culturalmente más heterogénea: “sangre mezclada “, lo cual crea ideologías contradictorias que luchan entre continuar con la ideología tradicional o tomar la ideología occidental , lo que a su vez, provoca conflicto, que es aprovechado por partidos políticos para sus propios fines.

Bee enmarca su estudio desde la Antropología Política y la teoría del conflicto y observa que en épocas de inestabilidad las ideologías se vuelven difusas. Ha habido casos en que la distribución de recursos no era equitativa, los líderes tribales fueron acusados de actuar como dictadores pues su conducta violaba los mandatos constitucionales y en general presentaban conflictos debidos a incompatibilidad de ideologías y de estructuras políticas.

Por otra parte, menciona una imposición sociocultural para tener un balance entre lo tradicional y lo occidental. Afirma que hay un sofisticado esfuerzo estatal para inhibir el desarrollo soberano económico y político de los pueblos indios y concluye afirmando que para tener respetabilidad, las tribus deben empezar a actuar como gobierno y usar hábilmente sus recursos, propios pues ahora la presión viene de afuera, pero pronto la presión vendrá desde dentro y sin estabilidad o estructura no podránsolucionar sus problemas.

CLARITY: 5
SCARLETT ZAMORA. Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez Lizaur )

Birenbaum-Carmeli, Daphna. Love Thy Neighbor: Sociability and Instrumentality Among Israeli Neighbors. Human Organization, 1999 Vol. 58 No. 1 : 82-92.

A partir del estudio etnográfico de 3 familias israelíes de clase media alta en un barrio de Tel Aviv, la autora descubre la forma de organización social tradicional y cuál es el uso y función para los actores.

La autora encuentra que la organización vecinal se construye sobre la base de una tradición comunitaria judía, según la cual la buena relación y la reciprocidad es un valor importante; sin embargo, a partir del estudio, ella nos muestra cómo tal forma de organización tradicional es instrumentalizada y refuncionalizada por los actores para hacerse de servicios menores que sirven para resolver problemas cotidianos de la vida, pero sin involucrar otros aspectos de la vida personal, a pesar de la frecuencia e intensidad de la relación entre los actores.

Finalmente la autora hace una revisión crítica de la institución comunitaria tradicional judía y de los valores ligados a ella, a la luz de los hallazgos observados en esta zona de la ciudad.

CLARITY: 4
JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA CHAGOYÁN Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez Lizaur)

Birenbaum-Carmeli, Daphna. Love thy neighbor: Sociability and Instrumentality among Israeli Neighbors. Human Organization. January, 1999 Vol.58 (1): 82-91

In this article Birenbaum-Carmeli examines Israeli neighbor relations in the up-scale Givat Narkis neighborhood located in Tel Aviv. Her study is based on three years of field work and a local survey. Birenbaum-Carmeli presents three case studies as typical illustrations of the types of relations one would find in this neighborhood. The resulting data would suggest that neighbor relations in Givat Narkis are more instrumental than intimate. The study as a whole illustrates how Israeli neighbor relations differs from the type of cultural relations that we are familiar with here in the United States.

Birenbaum-Carmeli first outlines the particular way in which this and other neighborhoods in Israel came into being. These neighborhoods started off as somewhat complete settlements rather than true neighborhoods that expanded over time. The unusual start of these communities prompted studies to be undertaken regarding the nature of social interaction derived from these unusual circumstances. Israelis identified satisfaction in their neighborhoods to depend on local facilities and socioeconomic status rather than on the strength of neighbor relations (Birenbaum-Carmeli, 83). Neighbors were seen to be valuable but interchangeable. Long lasting bonds with neighbors were rare. Small services would be exchanged in order to maintain ones outward appearances as a “good neighbor” but ultimately an individual’s address seemed to dictate personal happiness.

The article then talks about and describes Givat Narkis spatially and in relation to other neighborhoods. It is a neighborhood that exhibits a high degree of internal social stratification, is predominantly middle class and considered very desirable to live in. The neighborhood is comprised of many high-rise apartment buildings and houses set close together. There is a lack of parks and open space which means that the residents have to share the available facilities. Over half of the residents surveyed said that they only knew one or two of their neighbors.

Three case studies illustrate the hypothysis that the relations between neighbors are often tense and superficial. One case involves a woman reporting her neighbor of many years for having a preschool in her home that is too loud. She knows that the woman with the school needs the income but felt slighted by her in a separate dealing in the past and decides to shut her down anyway. The woman with the school knows that her neighbor was the one who reported her but still maintains a social relationship with her in the form of small gift/task reciprocity. This type of behavior is common in Givat Narkis. To be considered ‘un-neighborly’ by other residents is a stigma that the people who live there try to avoid even to the extent that they are willing to maintain relations with difficult people at any cost. This behavior leads Birenbaum-Carmeli to conclude that relations are often strained and superficial.

This study illustrates the separate ways in which people of different cultures relate to each other in a very common situation shared by people all over the world. This type of study is important if one is to understand the differences in human interaction in the context of a shared commonality.

CLARITY RANKING: 4
DAVID HEDLEY, CSU Chico (William Loker)

Brown, Denise Fay. Mayas and Tourists and the Maya World. Human Organization, Fall 1999, Vol. 58(3):295-304.

In her article, Brown discusses the impact of the creation of El Mundo Maya tourist project on the cultural landscape of the indigenous inhabitants of the region. In 1992, five countries: Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico signed an agreement for the collective large-scale promotion of tourism in the region, called El Mundo Maya. Brown argues that the creation of a new cultural landscape, combining elements of existing Maya cultures with key elements added or eliminated toward tourist appeal, in turn creates a physical and cultural competition for the existing landscape. The author focuses on the Yucatec Maya town of Chemax in Mexico, examining how the commoditization of the Maya world affects and will affect the cultural survival of the Maya.

Brown begins with a brief description of the Mundo Maya project launched in 1992 to promote tourism throughout the Maya region to international tourist markets. Brown asserts that redrawing the map of the Maya world essentially redefines the landscape in terms of tourism marketability. Many important modern Maya centers disappear from these new maps, while places of tourist interests are added. Thus, infrastructure improvements and additional capital are concentrated in high-tourist areas.

The author discusses the concept of cultural landscape, in which the physical geography of the land and the cultural characteristics of the inhabitants meet. She describes a sort of cultural praxis, where the physical world, the subjective individual, and the collective cultural memory come together. Next, she describes the cultural landscape of Chemex, a Maya town located on the Yucatan Peninsula, inorder to illustrate how the redrawing of the Maya world map, “represents the appropriation of cultural spaces…will have devastating impacts on the indigenous peoples and cultures of this region.” Brown firmly asserts the Mundo Maya project had been undertaken by governments with little to no indigenous representation, inhabitants of potentially affected areas were not consulted, and this exclusion will lead to cultural disintegration through competition for cultural landscapes.

CLARITY RANKING: 5
HUNTER, TRAVIS AND ISAAC VEGA California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Brown, Denise Fay. Mayas and Tourists in the Maya World. Human Organization Fall, 1999. Vol.58 (3):295-304.

La autora nos muestra las consecuencias del impacto del turismo a gran escala en los espacios físicos y metafísicos que una sociedad y cultura necesitan para sobrevivir, mediante reflexiones acerca del significado del paisaje cultural y su impacto en la comunidad indígena originaria de esos espacios.

Se basa en el desarrollo del proyecto turístico Mundo Maya acordado en 1992 por los gobiernos de Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belice y México, y las consecuencias para las comunidades del municipio de Chemax, México, ya que dicho proyecto ha reconstruido el paisaje cultural de los mayas sin, ni siquiera en el mapa, considerar a las comunidades indígenas actuales que no representan un atractivo turístico.

Para demostrar lo anterior, Brown se apoya en conceptos teóricos de cultura, paisaje cultural, patrimonio y economía, entre otros, de diversos autores y los compara con el material etnográfico que elaboró durante su trabajo de campo en Chemax (3 meses en 1979 y 24 meses entre 1989 y 1999) y con lo que el proyecto Mundo Maya ofrece al turismo y a las comunidades indígenas.

Concluye que el éxito del programa turístico basado en el paisaje cultural de los mayas ha implicado un desplazamiento cultural de los mayas actuales, con los consecuentes cambios culturales y sociales para éstos que a cambio no han recibido algún beneficio y corren el peligro de que desaparezcan sus espacios de producción y reproducción cultural.

CLARIDAD:5
SUSANA PEDRAZA-GARRIDO Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Burkholder and Howard B. Glasgow, Jr. Science Ethics and its Role in Early Supression of The Pfiesteria Issue. Human Organization. Winter. Vol. 58 (4) 1999. 443-453

El comentario incluye los hechos que se presentaron ante la corte en contra de ciertos oficiales de estado que han impedido la investigación sobre los efectos de la Pfiesteria sobre la salud humana y el medio ambiente en Carolina del Norte, Estados Unidos.

Los autores del comentario, ambos investigadores del Aquatic Botany Laboratory de la North Carolina State University, especialistas en la Pfiesteria y sus efectos en la muerte de peces y en los seres humanos.

Ambos autores acusan a George Griffith de haber distorsionado la información acerca de la Pfiesteria en su artículo “Exaggerating Enviromental Health Risk: The Case of the Toxic Dinoflagellate Psiesteria” Human Organization, Summer,1999. Vol. 58 (2):119-127.

Los autores dan cuenta y defienden la calidad académica de su trabajo sobre tema, el cual ha sido reconocido por la comunidad científica, especialmente por la American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Los autores acusan a Griffith de no haber realizado un buen diseño de la investigación y de negar la evidencia acerca del asunto. También lo acusan de no haber consultado fuentes, documentos y publicaciones científicas al respecto. También lo acusan de haber influido en los criterios de evaluación de las propuestas de proyectos de investigación, de tal forma que afectó la investigación realizada en la universidad sobre la Pfiesteria, a su favor para lograr financiamiento para su proyecto. Otra acusación es el de afectar el prestigio ético y científico de los autores.

El escrito acusa a Griffith y otros oficiales, -Griffith trabaja como investigador y profesor asociado en el Institute for Coastal and Marine Resources and Department of Anthropology, East Carolina University-, de conducta científica no ética, de impedir el avance de la ciencia y de estar confabulado con los intereses de las autoridades locales encargadas del turismo, así como de la industria pesquera y turística de negar evidencia que puediera dañar el desarrollo industrial.

El comentario pone en serias dudas el interés científico y de compromiso ético de Griffith con la salud de la población estudiada.

CLARITY 4
MARISOL PÉREZ-LIZAUR Universidad Iberoamericana Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Chibnik Michael. Popular Journalism and Artistic Style in Three Oaxacan Wood-Carvin Communities. Human Organization. Summer. Vol.58 No 2 . 1999:182-189

La aparición de dos publicaciones sobre trabajos de escultura en madera provenientes de tres pueblos de Oaxaca provoca el interés de Michael Chibnik para investigar las consecuencias económicas en la vida de dichos pueblos.

Shepar Barbash escribió un artículo en la revista Smithsonian en 1991 acompañado de fotografías de Vicki Ragan. Posteriormente los mismos autores publican el libro Oaxacan Wood Carving: The Magic in the Trees , en 1993. Esto le da gran impulso a estas creaciones, empieza a haber agentes que las promueven por catálogo, otros compradores llegan directamente a los pueblos y en general, mayor publicidad a las artesanías de Oaxaca.

Al iniciar su trabajo etnográfico mediante entrevistas y observación participante, el autor relata que causó cierta desilusión en los pobladores de estos pueblos pues esperaban que tomara muchas fotografías como los autores del libro quienes vivieron dos años en Oaxaca.

Chibnik hace breves relatos de cómo se inició esta actividad en cada uno de los pueblos. El primer artesano nació en Arrazola en 1919 y vendió sus primeras piezas de escultura en madera en el mercado de Oaxaca a fines de los años 50 y principios de los 60. A partir de ahí poco a poco se fueron conociendo las esculturas, empezaron a hacerlas en los pueblos cercanos aunque con otra técnica ya que el iniciador nunca ha enseñado su método a otra persona que no sea su hijo y poco a poco también las empezaron a vender en Oaxaca. Ya en los años 80 tenían tanta demanda que intervenían hasta los niños para ayudar a pintarlas.

Sin embargo aunque los pobladores insisten en puntualizar que el auge había empezado antes de las publicaciones, éstas proporcionaron un “boom” realmente importante pues no se puede menospreciar que la revista Smithsonian tiene una circulación de más de dos millones

Este auge cambió las vidas de las gentes pues como observa Chibnik desde la Antropología Económica, casi todos los pobladores de los tres pueblos empezaron a dedicarse a hacer esculturas en madera y fueron dejando las labores en el campo a las que se dedicaban antes, pues no había comparación con los ingresos que recibían en una y otra actividad. Otro factor que desde su punto de vista influyó fue que en esos años ( 1993-1994 ) hubo una devaluación del peso y eran más atractivas las ventas. Cuando en otros pueblos de México había pobreza y sufrimiento, en estos pueblos los campesinos incrementaron sus ingresos.ntes de las publicaciones algunos agentes denigraban los productos porque no formaban parte de una gran tradición pero ahora realmente se ha formado una nueva “tradicion “

La interrogante que se plantea es si esta prosperidad continuará? Pero por ahora no es posible contestarla pues sabemos que igual influye el gusto y demanda de los compradores como las modas y la competencia. Un problema que plantea y que puede saturar el mercado es que muchas veces reciben pedidos de piezas que sean exactamente iguales , otras veces los mismos artesanos las hacen iguales porque creen que tendrán más demanda pero esto hace que pierdan originalidad.

CLARIDAD: 5
SCARLETT ZAMORA Universidad Iberoamericana ( Marisol Perez.Lizaur )

Chibnik, Michael Popular Journalism and Artistic Styles in Three Oaxacan Wood-Carving Communities. Human Organization Summer 1999 Vol. 58, No. 2:182-191.

In this article Chibnik examines the production and sale of ethnic and tourist art among three communities in Oaxaca, Mexico and the effects that popular journalists, museum personnel, and local and foreign merchants have on the success of certain stylistic and formalistic attributes and individual artisans and their communities. In particular, this article examines the impact the publications by popular journalist Shepard Barbash and photographer Vicki Ragan have had on the sale of Oaxacan wood carvings from the villages of Arrazola, San Martín, and La Unión over time. Chibnik argues that the influence of the authors’ publication in the Smithsonian (1991) and a popular art book entitled Oaxacan Wood Carving: The Magic in the Trees (1993) has authenticated the work of individual Oaxacan artists in the eyes of non-local merchants and patrons and has caused the replication of certain stylistic and formalistic attributes to persist in the production of such art.

Chibnik supports his argument by outlining the history of Oaxacan wood-carving before and after its artistic boom, the ethnographer’s work among the three wood-carving communities, and the reception of the Barbash and Ragan publications in both Oaxaca and the United States. Interspersed amongst these accounts are in-depth descriptions of the lives of artisans Manuel Jiménez of Arrazola, Isidoro Cruz of San Martín, and Martín Santiago of La Unión, as well as, the portrayal of wood-carvers and Oaxacan culture in the Barbash and Ragan publications. After providing an extensive historical background, Chibnik focuses on describing what effects on sales and styles of Oaxacan wood-carving have taken place, including the results from eye-witness interviews with several artists.

In the discussion Chibnik provides a sound interpretation of his results. He explains that the Barbash and Ragan publications had only minor direct effects on the sale of Oaxacan wood-carving and that the activities of art dealers and the fluctuations of the peso were the primary influences. Although Barbash and Ragan’s influence was mildly influential in the short term, their work had a serious long-term effect on the production and sale of Oaxacan wood-carving in foreign markets. “By helping make Oaxacan carvings emblematic of the region rather than a mere short-term fad, Barbash and Ragan have contributed to the development of a new craft ‘tradition’” (188). As a result of the inaccessibility of the English-language in the rural Oaxacan region, Ragan’s photographs were most influential among the carving communities as a vehicle for the successful production and sale of stylistic and formalistic attributes. Although non-local attitudes have affected the sale and production of Oaxacan carvings, competitive conformity among each artistic community has created a consistency in artistic style and form that are indicative of a tradition.

The sale of ethnic art has become increasingly situated within the global market. As a result, what is identified as authentic ethnic art is often dependent upon a combination of indigenous and foreign agency. In the rural wood carving communities of Oaxaca this interrelation of local and non-local interests has invented a new vibrant artistic tradition whose development must be understood from a global and local perspective.

CLARITY RANKING: 5
BRANDON PATTERSON California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Chrisman, Noel J, C. June Strickland, KoLynn Powell, Marian Dick Squeochs, and Martha Yallup. Community Partnership Research with the Yakama Indian Nation. Human Organization. Summer, 1999 Vol 58(2):134-141.

This article details an innovative approach of participatory action research (PAR) for planned social change. The authors provide an overview of community organization or community development theories within the field of applied anthropology citing the works and theoretical basis of several applied anthropologists. The authors combine grounded theory and ethnographic techniques to create a qualitative research methodology founded on open-ended questioning. The article provides an overview of the issues associated with the Yakama Indian Nation’s need to promote health and disease prevention; specifically, the prevalence of cervical cancer in the tribe.

In their research, the authors apply the anthropological principles of (1) working with people’s felt needs; (2) using local human and material resources; (3) working oneself out of a job by preparing for lasting change; and (4) understanding and working within the culture. The authors involved and employed key members of the community in order to provide a solid basis for capacity building (effectively develop, mobilize, and use resources to manage change) and partnership in the research efforts to enhance the tribe’s ability to gather, analyze, and present data. Thus, the Yakama people were provided with the ability to convert research to programs.

The authors claim that direct participation of individuals empowered them with the values of self-reliance and egalitarianism. This could be undesirable in some cultural groups who value hierarchy; especially Native American tribes. The authors remind researchers to recognize variability in cultural values and “adapt the principle to the group with which we work.”

The article clarifies that the participation, methods, and especially the “locality development” of the community contributed to the empowerment of the Yakama people. Locality development occurs when the leaders or consultants in the project are combined with the “energy” of the community members to work together with shared power. The Yakama Reservation, in Western Washington, encompasses 9,000 Yakama as well as 7,000 other Native Americans. Through the use of existing tribal organizations (the Cancer Committee as an Advisory Committee, the Yakama Health Employment and Welfare Committee and Tribal Council), researchers were able to recruit a broader population of women, who were the victims of cervical cancer.

In detailing the four-year, $25,000 project, concepts of community as social relationships, institutions, common values, common goals, and common territory were broadened by the project’s community partnership and community organization process. The article concludes that the participatory action research structured the community organization process by encompassing personal relationships and tribal commitments through joint participation. It further asserts that collaboration implied equality among participants and the pooling of assets of all the partners (university investigators, tribal government, and health center employees). Heavy investment in tribal researchers, data analysis, and presentation culminated in successful synergism between research findings and community change activities.

CLARITY RANKING: 5
ARLENE WARD California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Chrisman Noel J., June Stricklan, KoLyn Powell, Marian Dick Squeochs, and Martha Yallup. Community Partnership Research with the Yakama Indian Nation. Human Organization , Vol 58 No2. 1999: 134-140

El origen de este trabajo se remonta a 1991 en que Martha Yallup, directora del Departamento de Servicios Humanos de la Nación India Yakama en el este del estado de Washington solicitó ayuda para controlar el cáncer cérvico-uterino en la tribu. Dos respetables mujeres mayores habían muerto por esa causa el año anterior y esto la motivó a buscar a Noel Chrisman y June Stricklan solicitándoles ayuda.

El grupo decidió abarcar varias áreas al iniciar el estudio: salud pública, antropología, enfermería y educación para la salud. Por otro lado, parte del proyecto era también acrecentar la capacidad de la tribu para investigar y en un futuro saber hacer detecciones tempranas de dicha enfermedad.

La metodología empleada fue de entrevistas abiertas y observación participante , aunque es importante recalcar que formaba parte del grupo de investigadores un miembro de la tribu, Martha Yallup. Se dio énfasis a la recolección de datos cualitativos para conocer porqué las mujeres de la tribu no aceptaban hacerse con regularidad la prueba del Papanicolau.

Los autores hablan de la importancia acerca de la Investigación de Acción Participativa ( Participatory Action Research : PAR ) definida por Whyte y sus colegas ( 1991 ) como una forma diferente de realizar Antropología Aplicada porque implica colaborar con la comunidad más que dirigir el proceso.Durante los cuatro años que duró la investigación se preocuparon de involucrar a la comunidad en sentido de salud, bienestar y espiritualidad. Se enteraron de sus temores y creencias, compartieron actividades rituales con ellos.

El resultado fue mucho mayor interés por la salud en general, mayor involucramiento de mujeres mayores para enseñar a sus hijas sobre el cuidado de sí mismas, pudieron expresar su desagrado frente a la frialdad de la clínica que hacía el Papanicolau y sólo les enviaba una carta notificando su estado de salud y propusieron que hubiera entrenamiento en la clínica para indios y no indios indistintamente.

CLARITY:5
SCARLETT ZAMORA Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez Lizaur )

DeLind, Laura B. and Anne F. Ferguson. Is This a Women’s Movement? The Relationship of Gender to Community-Supported Agriculture in Michigan. Human Organization. 1999 58(2):190-200.

Community-supported agriculture (CSA) has been a growing phenomenon over the past 10-15 years in the United States. CSAs are a localized, farm-centered group of people in deliberate resistance of the dominant food system. They constitute an economic alternative to small farmers who cannot compete in the larger marketplace and provide a source of high-quality food to local consumers that is minimally processed and packaged.

Embedded in the CSA vision is a sense of community and place. CSAs offer a critique of what constitutes quality of life, but also of unchecked growth, rampant consumerism, and unrelenting economic rationality.

DeLind and Ferguson’s research was spurred by a woman at the Growing in Place Community Farm (GIP) in Michigan, who asked, “Is this a women’s movement?” (190). Noting that the members of GIP were predominately women, the authors set out to explain this gender-based relationship.

DeLind and Ferguson looked to the literature on new social movements to provide context to their research. They compared CSAs to other movements of the 1980s and 1990s that were aimed at democratizing social institutions and opening space for the expression of identity, plurality, and greater autonomy. CSAs were held to have much in common with such movements, in that they are “place-focused, autonomy-seeking, lifestyle oriented” movements (192).

The authors identified four frameworks that may explain women’s differential participation in CSAs. These include: ecofeminist perspectives; gender-role analysis in society; situated knowledge approaches; and empowerment paradigms. These frameworks assisted in the conceptualization of gender differences within the context of the CSA movement.

Econofeminist approaches tend to symbolically relate women and nature. Proponents view women as more innately close to nature than men, due to their biology and psychology. Social role analysis holds that it is not women’s biology that disposes them to care about their environment, but that the roles they are socialized to play guide their actions. The situated knowledge perspective grounds analysis in women’s everyday activities and life experiences instead of in symbolic connections or socially-mandated roles. The empowerment paradigm springs from environmental justice literature. In this politically focused perspective, women are seen to confront toxins, pollutants, and other hazards as part of their caregiving roles. This confrontation leads to empowerment through social and political activism.

Data was collected through a survey, focus group sessions, and an analysis of GIP data, such as membership lists and other organizational records. Findings were centered on four themes: (1) Explanations members gave for participating at GIP. Men generally offered essentialized notions of feminine traits that they hoped to acquire through participation. Women’s responses were much less uniform, and as a group no single explanatory framework offered explanation. (2) The reason members joined. Men listed personal reasons, such as making new friends or personal improvement. Women, on the other hand, viewed the CSA as a tool for building community. (3)Membership characteristics showed that GIP, like most CSAs, attracted a largely white, educated, middle-class population. Men seemed to appreciate what they saw as the homogeneity of the group and viewed it as an asset, while women generally saw diversity as a basis of strength and as a source of new knowledge, connections, and community. (4) Men and women generally saw their membership as being a form of resistance to the faceless agrifood industry and to consumerism run amok.

So is CSA a women’s movement? The authors say yes, in that the GIP was fully consistent with the character of other new social movements, in which a community-based orientation is consistent with the experiences, needs, and capabilities of women.

CLARITY RANKING: 5
FLOYD MEADOWS California State University, Chico (William Loker)

De Lind Laura B. and Anne E. Ferguson. Is This a Women´s Movement?. The Relationship of Gender to Community-Supported Agriculture in Michigan. Human Organization, Summer. 1999 Vol.58 No. 2: 190-200

¿Hasta qué punto es un asunto de género el interés mayoritario de mujeres en la producción de comida en una granja? Es la pregunta que se hacen las autoras.

Buscan estudiar la conducta de mujeres y hombres en el contexto de un sistema alternativo (dónde?). Community-Supported Agriculture ( CSA) es un grupo creado para proporcionar economía alternativa dirigiendo un sistema de producción de comida. Por este medio sus miembros conocen otra forma de interactuar alrededor de actividades ecológicas; comparten riesgos y ganancias de la producción, buscan calidad de vida y construyen relaciones interpersonales basadas en la confianza y sentido de comunidad.

Growing in Place Community Farm ( GIP ) es una CSA que no nació como una asociación de seis ambientalistas (tres hombres y tres mujeres ) que deseaban aprender y trabajar directamente en el campo, lograr producción sustentable de comida y enfatizar sus dimensiones sociales a largo plazo. Cuando inició formalmente tenía casi 80 miembros de los cuales la mitad tenía experiencia en el campo y la mitad eran académicos.

El estudio contiene el resultado de una metodología basada en cuestionarios, mesas de trabajo y entrevistas. A las reuniones de trabajo asistieron primero mayoritariamente hombres pero después básicamente mujeres. Algunas de las respuestas que intentaban responder al por qué de esta actitud son: Si las mujeres tienen relación más directa con la tierra, si les gusta más el trabajo manual, si su tiempo es más flexible, si son más intuitivas y confían más en sus sentidos, si son más cuidadosas. Encontraron respuestas diferentes al preguntar los motivos por los que se encontraban en la comunidad: Los hombres reportaron que GIP les proporcionaba la oportunidad de hacer amigos y aprender nuevas relaciones interpersonales basadas en habilidades de granja, lo que también mencionaban las mujeres pero ellas además encontraban paz, tranquilidad y la posibilidad de construir una comunidad. Las mujeres mencionaron distintas responsabilidades que los hombres, entre ellas

: incrementar la nutrición, promover ligas urbano-rurales, reestablecer sentido de comunidad, hacer decisiones democráticas.

Las autoras llaman a este trabajo como “femenino “ en vez de feminista, sin embargo llegan a la conclusión de que GIP es sólo una organización de acción colectiva totalmente consistente con el carácter de nuevo movimiento social.

CLARITY 5.
SCARLETT ZAMORA Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez Lizaur )

Downum, Christian and Price, Laurie. Applied Archaeology. Human Organization Vol. 58 No.3, 1999: 226-239.

Downum and Price write this article to do away with the misconception that applied anthropology is limited to socio-cultural anthropology. Not only can other anthropological subdisciplines have an applied aspect, archaeology in particular has had an applied component for some time. Furthermore, the authors clear up the misconception that applied archaeology is limited to Cultural Resource Management (CRM). Also, they illustrate the overall importance of applied socio-cultural anthropology in applied archaeology, in what they term the ‘anthropological difference’ in policy making. Downum and Price demonstrate that archaeology has maintained an applied aspect, in that archaeology has been scientifically motivated and politically involved. The authors provide numerous meaningful examples of applied archaeology in action. They provide seven direct examples of such: resource claims, contributions to cultural identity, technological applications, public education, CRM, cultural tourism, and environmental and ecosystem applications.

Downum and Price provide several examples of each of these applied areas to archaeology. For resource claims, they cite the work done by archaeologists to mitigate territorial disputes by Native American tribes, where archaeologists compare claims against the archaeological record. In contributions to cultural identity and representation, Downum and Price indicate that archaeology has helped to illuminate those people who have been traditionally underrepresented by the historical record; specifically, the authors cite the work done with the African Burial Ground in New York City. Downum and Price also suggest that archaeologists have helped to recover ancient technologies for modern applications; they cite the work done in Peru to recover the “raised fields” agriculture, a more productive method of agriculture than is currently used. In the area of public education, Downum and Price have demonstrated archaeology’s contribution to museums and curriculum development in the K-12 grades. In the CRM arena, archaeology’s applied contribution is undeniable. Applied archaeologists act as cultural brokers between living groups and the federal government; specifically in regards to government policies regarding archaeological materials. Downum and Price cite archaeology’s importance to cultural tourism, as an agent both for site preservation and education of the tourists who wish to use these sites. Finally, in the area of environmental and ecosystem applications, archaeologists have participated by exploring the archaeological past of an ecosystem; they cite the introduction of mountain goats to the Olympic National Park, where archaeologists were asked to determine whether mountain goats had historically been in the area.

Downum and Price conclude their article with a summary of methodological tools traditionally used by socio-cultural applied anthropologists, and a brief description as to their usefulness to applied archaeology: methods, concepts of culture, existing social groups, cultural broker roles, qualitative evaluations, and ethical considerations. These tools provide the ‘anthropological difference’ which, according to authors, is the true strength of the applied approach.

The article was clear and concise; with short, meaningful examples that clearly illustrate the practical application of applied archaeology.

Clarity Ranking 5
McCoy, Matthew California State University, Chico. (William Loker)

Downum, Christian E. and Laurie J. Price. Applied Archaeology. Human Organization Fall, 1999. Vol.58 (3):226-239.

Los autores consideran que el estudio del pasado tiene impacto en las sociedades actuales y examinan las nuevas tendencias de la arqueología aplicada que está desarrollándose hacia nuevas áreas; además, cómo está relacionada con la antropología aplicada socio-cultural por los métodos, la atención a comunidades, grupos sociales, roles culturales y evaluaciones cualitativas.

Demuestran primero, como la antropología aplicada y la arqueología en particular, pueden construir puentes entre la academia y la sociedad; y segundo, las diferencias y similitudes entre ambas subdisciplinas.

Downum y Price dicen que la arqueología aplicada requiere, además de los conocimientos tradicionales de la arqueología académica, de análisis de políticas, técnicas de colaboración y métodos etnográficos. Para clarificar su opinión nos brindan siete ejemplos de arqueología aplicada en proyectos de : apoyo en la reclamación de tierras de grupos aborígenes; preservación de identidad cultural y reconocimiento histórico a través de remanentes materiales; rescate de métodos tecnológicos tradicionales para aplicaciones actuales; educación pública para entender el proceso y la diversidad de la existencia humana a través del tiempo; manejo de los recursos culturales para propósitos de desarrollo, recreación y otros usos de la tierra; turismo cultural; y, datos históricos de desastres y cambios en la flora y fauna que ayudan al análisis, la planeación y el manejo del los ecosistemas actuales.

Además, discuten las similitudes y diferencias entre la práctica antropológica socio-cultural y la arqueología en cuanto al método, el concepto de cultura, los contextos locales, los grupos sociales y sus redes, las macro y las micro perspectivas, el rol mediador entre agencias gubernamentales y grupos nativos y las evaluaciones cualitativas de los proyectos.

CLARIDAD:5
SUSANA PEDRAZA-GARRIDO Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Durrenberger, E. Paul, and Erem, Suzan. The Abstract, the Concrete, the Political and the Academic: Anthropology and a Labor Union in the United States. Human Organization. Fall, 1999 Vol. 58 (3): 305-311.

In this article Durrenberger and Erem recount how a study commissioned by the parent or international union of a local Chicago labor union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), on how to become more effective at organizing and recruiting new members, became a study and analysis of an internal power struggle within the union. The new study focused on the political structure and the day- to-day operations of the union in response to administrative sabotage and pseudocompliance that occurred when the original study was attempted. This article suggests the amorphous nature of applied research.

The article initially outlines the original goal of the project as it was conceived by Suzan Erem, Director of Communication for the union, as a response to a four year study on how to increase membership and extend the political influence of the union. The answer was to shift resources into recruiting new members and organizing non-union workplaces. The recommended changes would allow the union to increase the amount and types of services available to its members. The anthropologist, Durrenberger, was charged with showing how this would be beneficial, over time, for the union as a whole. This was critical because members would lose out on some of their services at the beginning stages of these new efforts.

Local unions like the Chicago SEIU are administered by a parent union. At times the ‘international’ would make broad policy changes and reforms at the national level. Often these changes were contrary to what the local labor bosses felt would work or were perceived to be a threat to local leadership. Many local labor leaders were firmly ensconced in there positions and wanted to keep the status quo.

From the beginning the research team ran into trouble. Political infighting and people not wanting to either step on toes or give up hard earned leadership positions blocked attempts to talk to union members. Shop stewards had loyal followings and in turn were loyal to higher-ups in the union administration. They felt as though they had earned their spot and resisted any change in union policy that threatened their tenure. The real stumbling block for the union was the union itself.

Durrenberger collected ethnographic data on the structure and internal politics of the union. The final report was a post-modern critic of the breakdown within the union leadership. Durrenberger realized that the language of his report was as important as the report itself. The final product had to be written for and understood by the individuals that it concerned and not his contemporaries in the academic world.

The final report was submitted to the union president who after a years delay instituted some of the internal reforms Durrenberger had advocated for that were necessary for more effective recruitment practices. This article reminds us all to look for the unexpected and not to be afraid to modify or change the research question as circumstances dictate.

CLARITY RANKING 3
DAVID HEDLEY, CSU Chico (William Loker)

Durrenberger, Paul E. and Suzan Erem. The Abstract, the Concrete, the Political, and the Academic: Anthropology and a Labor Union in the United States. Human Organization. Fall. 1999 Vol. No 3:305-312.

Paul E. Durrenberger expone la experiencia obtenida por él y Susan Erem durante un estudio etnográfico realizado entre los sindicatos de Chicago.

El antecedente es que previo a su estudio hubo otra investigación solicitada por SERVICE EMPLOYER INTERNATIONAL UNION que duró cuatro años, pagaron millones de dólares y el resultado sólo fue político. Durrenberger lo considera etéreo, que no aterrizaba en acciones concretas y sólo enfatizaba la necesidad de que los líderes organicen a los trabajadores (dando por hecho que no están organizados) y que diseñen políticas amigables para el sindicato.

Erem, quien trabaja para la Unión de Sindicatos en Chicago se lo platicó a Durrenberger y él pensó que era la situación ideal para un estudio antropológico, después de tener reuniones con el presidente del Sindicato Local, éste aceptó que se hiciera la investigación pero sin dar dinero. Durrenberger tuvo que pagar de su bolsa sus viajes de Pennsylvania a Chicago y solicitar ayuda a amigos durante sus estancias.

El autor hace críticas a la postura académica pues dice que muchos antropólogos dictan clases desde la universidad sin conocer de primera mano la opinión de las gentes que estudian, sin observar cómo actúan y sin tener la experiencia diaria de vivir entre ellos, como en este caso, dentro del sindicato.

Dice que le ayudó su trabajo teórico previo que tenía en economía de la casa, campesinos, pescadores, organizaciones de trabajadores que no pertenecen a industrias y estudios sobre movimientos sociales escritos por historiadores y sociólogos.

Concluye que la economía y los cambios políticos son el detonante para el declive de los sindicatos en Estados Unidos.

Relata todos los obstáculos que tuvieron para realizar el trabajo, especialmente de parte de la vicepresidenta del sindicato de Hospitales pues ella había contratado el estudio anterior.

Enmarca su propuesta desde la antropología económica y política e insiste en la necesidad de escuchar a la gente: los trabajadores querían que sus cuotas se usen para mejorar contratos, incrementos significativos en sueldos, mejores beneficios y mayor protección de su trabajo y eso sólo lo pudo saber en su trato diario con ellos y escuchándolos.

CLARITY: 5
SCARLETT ZAMORA. Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur )

Edwards, Diana S. The Social Control of Illegitimacy Through Adoption. Human Organization, 1999 Vol.58(4): 387-396.

Diana S. Edwards’ main concern in this article is to examine adoption from the point of view of the birth mother. Her intent is to draw attention from the perspective of the adopter which is more commonly documented, and bring it to the perspective of the woman putting the child up for adoption. When seen from the adopter’s perspective, adoption is a positive experience, because the family is gaining something. She feels that examining the effects that giving up a child has on the birth mother provides a more realistic analysis of adoption and can help to describe the problems that adopted children may have later in life. Looking at adoption from this perspective, it was determined that many unwed mothers were forced in one way or another, to put their children up for adoption. Edwards argues that “blackmail, lies, coercion, and manipulation” were used by adoption agencies and social workers to force unwed mothers to relinquish their babies (396).

This practice, common since the1940s through the 1980s, is confirmed by numerous case studies of unwed mothers who were given no alternatives to adoption. Due to the policy of sealing adoption records in the United States, Edwards’ study sample consists of any willing volunteers, with the only criteria being that the relinquishment of a child must have occurred at least 15 years ago. (Many women never come forward because of the shame and stigma that goes along with unwed mothers who relinquish a child). Edwards’ uses narratives and letters from these women to illustrate and support her points.

Women who were forced to give children up for adoption feel that adoption was used as a form of “social control and punishment” (396). Unwed mothers were not socially accepted in American culture at the time, so the shame to families and the social stigma that went along with single motherhood persuaded unwed mothers that adoption was the best solution. It was used to keep this “undesirable” portion of society from gaining any sort of recognition. Conversely, adoption was not a positive solution in the eyes of the birth mothers, as it is generally portrayed in society. And it is presumed that adopters were generally unaware of the pressures that these unwed pregnant women were under.

Edwards’ study succeeds in assessing adoption from the point of view of birth mothers. Her aim is to identify and analyze common experiences among women who have relinquished a child by examining: pre-pregnancy life situations, factors that contribute to putting a child up for adoption, and post-relinquishment attitudes. She finds that many birth mothers have a negative perception of adoption, an aspect of the adoptive experience generally ignored. Edwards succeeds in providing a more holistic view of adoption.

CLARITY: 5
ERNEST, ARIELLE California State University, Chico (William Loker).

Edwards, Diana S. The Social Control of Illegitimacy through Adoption. Human Organization. Winter. 1999 Vol.58(4) 1999: 387-396

Diana S. Edwards analiza el fenómeno de la adopción en los Estados Unidos y lo inserta dentro del significado social de la maternidad, planteando que ésta representa una forma de control social.

Tres elementos intervienen en todo proceso de adopción: madres biológicas, padres adoptivos e hijos adoptivos, Edwards se interesa en estudiar solo a las madres biológicas, quienes a partir de un embarazo reprobado socialmente, se ven forzadas a entregar a sus hijos y cuyas experiencias dramáticas son pocas veces escuchadas. Debate el que la adopción represente una solución a problemas como: ilegitimidad, infertilidad o aborto, pues la adopción trae implícitos otros problemas.

El embarazo, la maternidad y el nacimiento de un ser humano constituyen fenómenos que están impregnados de valores y significados sociales y por lo tanto, la aceptación social a estos hechos varía dependiendo de si se ha cumplido o no con reglas y prescripciones culturales tales como: nacimiento dentro de matrimonio o reconocimiento de la paternidad por parte de un hombre. De lo contrario, tanto madres, como hijos son estigmatizados.

Para Diana Edwards, si bien, las mujeres poseen el poder de la maternidad, éste está controlado por otros con más poder que la aceptan o sancionan. A partir de este hecho, Edwards investiga lo que ocurre con madres que presionadas por el rechazo social, entregan a sus hijos en adopción.

Los argumentos presentados están basados en 20 años de observación participante en el estado de Florida, documentando historias personales de madres que fueron forzadas a renunciar a sus hijos. Edwards se enfocó en sus situaciones de vida con anterioridad al embarazo para comprender los factores que contribuyeron a la adopción, y las experiencias comunes con posterioridad a la misma.

El análisis de los datos revela similitudes en las etapas de infancia, embarazo y post-adopción: sentimientos de pérdida por muerte o abandono durante la infancia, y falta de adecuada relación con sus madres. Durante el embarazo permanecieron patrones de pérdida y abandono al desaparecer la pareja o negarse a dar apoyo, falta de comprensión y apoyo de familia y amigos, abandono del hogar y cambio de identidad.

Encontró que ellas percibieron coerción y falta de ética en los métodos usados para forzarlas a renunciar a sus hijos. La adopción representó un castigo a su sexualidad ilícita y una pretendida solución a la ilegitimidad. Afloraron sentimientos de frustración, enojo, culpa, trauma, miedo, pena y castigo, además de fuertes críticas al sistema social para el que ellas ya no son madres.

Para la autora la adopción no es una solución, sino una forma de control social y la sanción a una maternidad reprobada. Propone un análisis crítico de la sociedad basado en relaciones de poder y evidenciar este evento en el ciclo de la vida.

CLARIDAD: 5
MARIA ORELLANA C. Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez Lizaur)

Finlinson, H. Ann, Hector M. Colon, Rafaela R. Robles, Sherry Deren, Mayra Soto Lopez, and Aileen Munoz. Access to Sterile Syringes by Injection Drug Users in Puerto Rico.Human Organization, 1999 Vol.58(2): 201-211.

H. Ann Finlinson and colleagues are concerned with the link between the sharing of syringes and their scarcity. They hypothesize that injection drug users (IDUs) share syringes because there is limited access to sterile syringes. This is a concern because in Puerto Rico, IDUs entering detoxification programs have an HIV infection rate of thirty percent (202). Therefore, researchers used observation and interviews to uncover information about “the sources of sterile syringes: schedule of operation; stability of operation; price of syringes; stability of prices; minimum purchase requirements; forms of payment; origin of syringes; stability of syringe supply; proximity of the syringe source to site of drug selling and drug use; and trust that syringes purchased are new” (202). These factors were researched in order to see how they affect IDUs choices to use clean needles.

The authors determined that “syringe acquisition is part of a larger process” (i.e. raising money, acquiring a syringe, locating a shooting gallery, etc.) that can be influenced by the factors mentioned above (202). Using those factors, Finlinson et al. has a framework for comparing different sources of new syringes which provides a better understanding of the process of buying and using drugs. During their study period (July 1995 to June 1997), Puerto Rico had no drug paraphernalia laws restricting the sale, distribution, or possession of syringes used to inject illicit drugs. The course of action taken was to assess the different sources of sterile syringes in two different Puerto Rican cities, referred to as San Mateo and Monte Verde, by interview, informal conversations, and observation. Researchers got their information from needle suppliers as well as individual IDUs.

Suppliers were generally the same for each city. There were the Needle Exchange Program (NEP), private sellers, and pharmacies. In each city, pros and cons of each syringe supplier were discussed and these vary from city to city. The NEP seems to have a large number of advantages within both cities studied that include: free needles and the assurance that syringes are new. However, the disadvantages were significant enough in both cases to keep IDUs from consistently and solely accessing them, such as limited hours of service and/or a limit on the number of needles that can be exchanged (205, 207). Pharmacies are a trusted source of inexpensive syringes but hardcore drug injectors sometimes encounter difficulties obtaining syringes in pharmacies (209). Private sellers were discovered to meet needs for sterile syringes that were not met by either the NEP or pharmacies (209).

The article concludes that the study “provides a basis for assessing some of the challenges confronting public agencies and private organizations in Puerto Rico that seek to increase IDUs’ access to sterile syringes as a means of limiting the transmission of HIV and other blood-borne pathogens” (208). Police harassment is also identified as an obstacle to IDUs access and acquisition of sterile syringes. In addition, the authors mention that in 1997, Puerto Rico legislature passed a paraphernalia law that makes it legal for the NEP to distribute syringes, but illegal for IDUs to possess them. Each of these factors plays a role in understanding the context of drug use.

CLARITY: 3
ERNEST, ARIELLE California State University, Chico (William Loker).

Finlinson Ann, Colón Héctor, Robles Rafaela, Deren Sherry, Solo Mayra and Muñoz Aileen. Access to Sterile Syringes by Injection Drug Users in Puerto Rico. Human Organization. Summer.1999. Vol. 58 (2): 201-211.

Desde el momento en que el VIH fue identificado como patógeno nacido de la sangre, el uso de agujas hipodérmicas utilizadas por los drogadictos IDUs ha sido objeto de estudio en las investigaciones sobre VIH y abuso de drogas.

Esta investigación se basó en observaciones directas y entrevistas realizadas de julio-1995 a junio 1997 en dos comunidades metropolitanas de San Juan, Puerto Rico, identificados como lugares de altos niveles en el uso de drogas inyectadas. Los autores en enfocaron en: 1) Patrones en el uso de jeringas en los participantes del programa, 2) Participantes solicitados por los servicios médicos y sociales, 3) Normas de intercambio de jeringas usadas por nuevas jeringas, 4) Distribución secundaria de jeringas de NEP, 5) Reacciones de los residentes comunales hacia los servicios de NEP [Programa de Agujas de Intercambio del Programa de Puerto Rico], 6) Respuesta del gobierno para apoyar los servicios de NEP.

Las observaciones se realizaron durante el horario de oficina de NEP.

La edad de los participantes [hombres y mujeres] fue de 20 a 50 años de edad quienes típicamente se inyectaban varias veces cada día y muchos de ellos fumaban crack, algunos se inyectaban cocaína y heroína, ya sea mezcladas o por separado.

Este estudio aporta una descripción detallada acerca de las fuentes para obtener agujas esterilizadas: el NEP, vendedores privados, farmacias.

Los resultados obtenidos cimentan las bases para brindar un desafío a las agencias públicas y las organizaciones privadas en Puerto Rico, las cuales buscan incrementar el acceso de los IDUs a las agujas esterilizadas para limitar la transmisión de VIH y otros patógenos de la sangre.

En septiembre de 1997, la legislatura de Puerto Rico promulgó una ley al respecto, es legal para el personal puertorriqueño del NEP el distribuir jeringas, pero es ilegal para los IDUs poseer jeringas, cualquiera que sea su origen, con la intención de inyectarse substancias ilegales. Sin embargo, el cómo será aplicada esta ley todavía no es claro.

CLARIDAD : 4
LETICIA OSORNIO CASTILLO,, Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Goodenough, Ward. Conmmunicating 10,000 Years Into the Future. Human Organization, 1999.Fall. Vol. 58 (3):221-225.

El artículo es una narración sobre diversas reflexiones efectuadas por un grupo interdisciplinario de expertos: un científico en materiales, un arquitecto, un astrónomo, un lingüista y el autor (un antropólogo). Dicho grupo tuvo el objetivo de plantar diversas sugerencias para advertir a la gente sobre el peligro existente en un basurero de desechos nucleares en Nuevo México. Las condiciones para la advertencia eran que debería estar basado en elementos pasivos (materiales, letreros, etc.) y que debería perdurar por 10,000 años.

Más que una tesis central, el autor describe el procedimiento por medio del cual se proporcionaron las sugerencias. En primer lugar consideraron las características de la misión, para, en segundo término, establecer los supuestos del desarrollo de la humanidad a 10,000 años. En tercer lugar, establecer los escenarios basado en las hipótesis de desarrollo. En cuarto y quinto, se establecen las características del mensaje y la ubicación de los diversos mensajes.

El penúltimo punto establece la perspectiva a futuro del proyecto basado en posteriores lecturas sobre la situación del desecho nuclear.

El mayor problema que encuentran es el transportar los deshechos nucleares de los lugares en los que han sido depositado temporalmente a otros lugares distantes. Consideran que la tecnología puede aportar soluciones al respecto.

Por último, concluye estableciendo que no hay ningún punto teórico que nazca de este proyecto, sino la toma de conciencia de que la ciencia aplicada debiera ser interdisciplinaria.

Para el autor una de las contribuciones de la Antropología Aplicada es la posibilidad de convocar a una amplia gama de especialistas de distintas disciplinas que pueden aportar a este proyecto.

CLARIDAD : 5
LETICIA OSORNIO CASTILLO, México, Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Goodenough, Ward H. Communicating 10,000 Years Into the Future. Human Organization, Fall 1999 Vol. 58(3): 221-225.

Goodenough and his multi-disciplinary team were tasked by the Department of Energy with marking its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, so as to communicate an idea to people 10,000 years in the future. The plant in question was intended for use as a radioactive waste disposal facility. The basic idea that needed to be communicated was that the land and water in this area should not be used because it could cause death, at least until 10,000 years have past from the time when the waste was deposited and enclosed. The EPA had established 10,000 years as being sufficient time for the radioactive levels to fall to normal habitable ranges.

Goodenough and his team had to consider many variables that would change in the 10,000 years time frame. Some variables that were discussed were climate, vegetation, population, science, technology and language. The team also had to consider future scenarios that took in account the conditions under which people may discover this waste facility. In addition this warning system had to work not only in the U.S. but had to be effective at sites in other countries.

The team recommended that each site be marked with one of six listed U.N. languages. Another language, a local language, would also serve to inscribe the markers. These markers would include the widely known radiation symbol. Imagery depicting human faces in agony, horror or terror could also be used since most cultures can relate to these types of images. The team also decided that images and languages would not suffice. Large, uninviting structures that were not easily dismantled were designed as a means of deterrence. These structures and devices included massive berms, concrete spikes protruding from the ground and the use of heavy black slabs of concrete. Every conceivable entrance to the site was considered and obstacles for each were designed.

The messages on the markers needed to convey the basic idea that radioactive material is buried at the site. The markers also had to communicate to the finders, that other markers should be erected with inscriptions of their own language. Also, the information on the markers needed to indicate actual dimensions of the entire facility on and below the ground. The site would also contain a type of map indicating the location of other similar sites. Several markers were to be placed in and around the site on and below surface level.

Goodenough mentions that a different team had worked on this project before and that another team would likely take up the task in the future, as means of cross-checking results and developing other solutions. He also briefly mentions that new technology may be able to deplete radioactivity at an accelerated rate, thus making such studies as communicating 10,000 years into the future, obsolete.

CLARITY RANKING: 5
VEGA, ISAAC V. California State University, Chico (Dr. William Loker)

Grey, Mark A. Inmigrants, Migration, and Worker Tirnover at the Hog Pride Pork Packing Plant. Human Organization, Spring. 1999 Vol. 58 No. 1 : 16-27.

El artículo trata sobre la situación de conflicto cultural que se da entre diversos grupos de personas que trabajan en una planta empacadora de cerdos en EU.

A través de un estudio etnográfico el autor describe las condiciones de trabajo en la planta empacadora, así como las diversas expectativas y estrategias de los diversos grupos a nivel de trabajadores, gerentes y directivos que laboran en la planta.

El argumento que desarrolla el autor consiste en establecer que el conflicto y la rotación se genera por las visiones, expectativas y usos diversos que cada grupo le da al trabajo, y que, a pesar de ello, la situación de trabajo se mantiene y reproduce, debido a los beneficios que obtiene cada grupo por separado, aún cuando sean contradictorios, pues se encuentran ligados o entrelazados estructuralmente.

El método de estudio que emplea es la etnografía, utilizando la observación participante, entrevistas, encuestas y datos estadísticos internos y del entorno, incluyendo naturalmente los del sector industrial y la competencia.

La perspectiva antropológica le permite plantear la situación de trabajo que se da en la planta de manera global, no sólo en términos estrictamente administrativos y monetarios, contando de esta manera con un diagnóstico extra gerencial, más completo y complejo, lo cual le permite hacer sugerencias de cómo modificar las condiciones de trabajo a partir de los trabajadores mediante su capacitación.

CLARITY: 4
JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA CHAGOYÁN Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez Lizaur)

Grey, Mark A. Immigrants, Migration, and Worker Turnover at the Hog Pride Working Plant. Human Organization. 1999 58(1):16-27.

Employee turnover is rampant in industries such as meatpacking that offer low pay, low status, little career advancement, and stressful working conditions. Research indicates that high turnover keeps labor costs low, prevents many workers from receiving health benefits, and keeps employees from being eligible for union representation. Industry representatives vehemently deny that they benefit from high turnover, proclaiming that it is a threat to their bottom line.

Grey conducted ethnographic research at one of the nation’s largest porkpacking plant, which he called Hog Pride, over a 10-month period between September 1997 and June 1998. Managers of the plant had publicly expressed concern about annual turnover in excess of120%, so Grey offered his services. The plant received free research and consultation, and Grey was granted open access to the plant. Two predominant issues ultimately emerged from Grey’s research: ethnic tension and working conditions.

Grey collected data through participant observation, formal and informal interviews, and focus group participation. Informal interviews were conducted with workers and managers. Structured interviews were conducted with supervisors, as well as with union officials and members. Additional data was gathered from corporate databases.

Like most large meat plants, Hog Pride employees a high percentage of immigrants and refugees. Latinos made up more than half of the workforce. Other minority groups included Native Americans, African Americans, refugees from Vietnam and Laos, and a small group of Nuer refugees from the Sudan.

A major point of contention between Anglos and Latinos was the tendency for the latter group to routinely migrate between Iowa and their home countries. It was common for Latinos to quit their jobs after making a certain amount of money, to either rest or migrate back to their homes, and then eventually return to be rehired at the same plant or at other nearby plants. Because of high turnover, workers could leave at will and later return to a job that was virtually guaranteed to be waiting. This was a perfectly rational strategy for Latino workers, but resisted by management that resented seeing plant jobs turned into what was essentially seasonal labor.

Working conditions were the other major factor in turnover. Meatpacking jobs have been deskilled to the point that all that is necessary is for the worker to repeat his/her one task over and over, thousands of times per shift. Such repetitive work results in very few ways for employees to take pride in their work. Gray found that most employees just struggled to keep pace with the machines.

A key aspect of deskilling was to ban workers from caring for their own knives. Previously, caring for work knives was one of the only ways workers were able to control their work lives, but federal restrictions no longer allow for workers to maintain their knives. Employees universally reported that knives were now dull, making their work much more difficult. This action not only removed one area of work in which employees took pride, but it also increased injuries.

Grey ultimately concluded that management’s true attitudes toward turnover contradicted their public stance in which it was held as a severe problem. Because of deskilling, management actually did not perceive turnover as a serious problem, due to the fact that one worker was as good as any other, just so long as their were enough workers to maintain production.

Most importantly, Grey’s research highlighted the industry’s attraction to and dependence upon immigrants, particularly Latinos. This put managers in a precarious spot, for they needed the workers, but were annoyed with aspects of Latino culture that they did not understand. As for the immigrants, Grey identified that the very nature of turnover worked to their advantage. As long as jobs were always available, there was no need to establish roots in Iowa or elsewhere.

Metaphorically speaking, workers adapted a strategy that allowed them to have some of their cake and eat it too, something not unnoticed by management and Anglo workers. Grey concluded that as long as the industry needs immigrant labor and Latino immigrants use this strategy, management would have virtually no control over Latino movement.

CLARITY RANKING: 4
FLOYD MEADOWS California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Griffith, David. Exaggerating Enviromental Health Risk: The Case of the Toxic Dinoflagellate Psiesteria. Human Organization, Summer,1999. Vol. 58 (2):119-127

El autor plantea que frecuentemente los argumento que presentan datos no oficiales son particularmente anecdóticos basados en casos de periódicos o escritores populares que embellecen o especulan. Discute un reciente caso donde un pequeño grupo de científicos reportaron una amenaza de salud pública Dinofagellante conocida como Pfiestria pscicida, dada a conocer el 25 de septiembre de 1997.

Griffith realiza un análisis documental para fundamentar que la Pfiesteria representa poco riesgo para los seres humanos, comparado con otros organismos marinos que contaminan los alimentos y tienen resultados fatales.

El autor realiza un análisis de las investigaciones que sustentan el riesgo que representa la pfiesteria, encuentra que: 1) Las investigaciones presentan diferentes fallas, 2) Se basan en evidencia anecdótica publicada por periódicos y/o revistas de difusión popular, 3) Las personas que viven a lo largo de la costa no la reportaron como un riesgo medioambiental.

Por otra parte, considera que las investigaciones epidemiológicas presentan 3 problemas: 1) En ellas se realiza un autoreporte más allá del conocimiento del trabajo clínico, no se realizan pruebas de sangre o hipertensión, se responde subestimando o sobrestimando sus enfermedades, 2) Estos son datos retrospectivos basados en su capacidad para evocar recientes incidentes en los que ellos mismos no realizaron una consulta a un especialista en salud, 3) Los entrevistados anteriormente fueron duramente afectados por enfermedades.

Analiza la importancia de la representación de las concepciones salud/enfermendad, particularmente de la psifiesteria, en donde la posición de los investigadores y/o comunicadores influye en la descripción que realiza la gente.

El análisis que realiza concluye que la Pfiesteria no representa un riesgo tan grave como se había mencionado para la salud.

Destaca que el uso de nuevas metodologías en antropología en ocasiones no están bien planteadas, particularmente en las que se utiliza estadística. Enfatiza la importancia de los reportes etnográficos en el trabajo de los antropólogos.

CLARIDAD : 5
LETICIA OSORNIO CASTILLO, Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Griffith, David Exaggerating Environmental Health Risk: The Case of the Toxic Dinoflagellate Pfiesteria. Human Organization Winter 1999 Vol. 58, No. 2:119-127.

During the summer of 1997, a fish kill along Maryland’s Pocomoke River ignited a spread of panic amongst coastal fisherman and residents concerning a marine dinoflagellate known as Pfiesteria piscicida. On September 25, 1997, the U.S. Congress met in order to assess the possible public health risk the organism represented. Additional funds were allocated to continue laboratory research on the marine irritant. Since its initial discovery in 1991 along the coast of North Carolina, however, fewer than 100 people had been affected among the millions of individuals who visit, live, and harvest coastal resources along Eastern North Carolina and Chesapeake Bay waters (120).

Pfiesteria causes temporary memory loss and mild cognitive impairments among the few who have been affected and has not resulted in any human fatalities. In 1996 David Griffith and associates conducted an epidemiological study of over 1,000 crabbers exposed to fish kills in North Carolina and Chesapeake waters. A Chi-square analysis of the results reported that, “there are no statistical differences in levels of illness between those who fish in areas that have experienced many fish kills and those who fish in areas with few or no fish kills” (122). So why did accusations of a serious public health threat concerning Pfiesteria persist?

Building upon the hypothesis that the Pfiesteria controversy represents a cultural appeal amongst its proponents of exaggerating environmental health risk, Griffith’s argument outlines four reasons for the continued concern exhibited by laboratory scientists, politicians, journalists, and environmentalists for the marine irritant and opposition to parties who hold a contrary opinion,

1) the inherent weakness of survey research; 2) the ways Pfiesteria has been portrayed in the popular and scientific literature, including the privileged position enjoyed by anecdotal evidence in journalism and politics; 3) how individuals along the coast conceptualize environmental risk; and 4) the ethnic and class affiliations, and voting powers, of people who own property along the waterways that experience Pfiesteria- related fish kills [122].

Griffith supports his argument by outlining in depth the effects of the analytical inadequacies, overzealous rhetoric, environmental misconceptions, and power politics that not only caused the wasteful expenditure of millions of taxpayer’s dollars, but also the continued misinformed portrayal of Pfiesteria as a major public health risk.

Griffith concludes that survey research must be validated by sound ethnographic methods and cautions against the reliance upon anecdotal information as a means of representing the attitudes and behaviors of only a few, while failing to represent the distribution of ideas in the larger population. Political and economic biases can also influence the accounts of consultants, further misleading the results of an investigation. Lastly, the use of rhetoric as a means of convincing the public can exaggerate environmental processes that pose little or no danger to public health and cause panic and alarm.

CLARITY RANKING: 5
BRANDON PATTERSON California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Griffith, David. Placing Risk in Context. Human Organization. Winter. 1999 (4). 460-462.

Menciona que una de las tareas de la antropología es mostrar que los humanos, aun con las mejores intenciones, muchas veces se dejan llevar por explicaciones superficiales. El trabajo de los antropólogos en esta línea es contextualizar los hechos y que ése fue su objetivo en la investigación sobre la exageración de daño ambiental con la Pfiesteria.

Centra su respuesta a las críticas a su artículo en el punto que lo considera mas débil, o sea que el diseño de su investigación estuvo mal hecho y que no consultó los mapas relacionados con la muerte de peces y la Pfiesteria.

Alega que sus críticos no entendieron el objetivo de su investigación: Determinar si en condiciones ecológicas normales la Pfiesteria era realmente una amenaza a la salud pública. Como tal con toda intención no consultó los documentos relacionados con las poblaciones expuestas y trabajó con pescadores normales con gran experiencia para enfrentar los problemas. Su investigación mostró que la amenaza, tal como la muestran los científicos de otras disciplinas, no existe.

CLARIDAD 5
MARISOL PÉREZ LIZAUR Universidad Iberoamericana

Hackenberg, Robert A. Advancing Applied Anthropology Globalization: Touchstone Policy Concept or Sucked Orange? Human Organization. Spring, 1999 Vol. 58 (1) 212-215

In his article on Advancing Applied Anthropology, Robert A. Hackenberg advocates for applied anthropology to become more active in how globalization effects local populations. He begins with a discussion of the “black hole” of applied anthropological theory. In the past, theory building in anthropology has been hindered by “appropriating and reworking somebody else’s model.” Hackenberg argues that now is the time for theory to address the impact of globalization on the local level.

Geopolitics are creating economic expansion and political fragmentation. This has contributed to the conflict of some national groups who try to maintain their cultural identity in the face of homogenizing global forces. These situations provide a more urgent need for applied anthropology to study and create policies for cultural groups that are experiencing the effects of globalization.

Hackenberg discusses how globalization itself is a paradox. This is exemplified in the Stanford Anthropology Department’s division between the Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology and the Department of Anthropological Science. Herein lies a paradox: applied anthropology will regroup on the side of Anthropological Science even though globalization is emphasized in Stanford’s Cultural and Social Anthropology department.

According to Hackenberg, globalization appears in two versions. The first finds its root in postpositivist social philosophy, and the second in the empirical observations of the global, political economy. He then presents examples of the social consequences of globalization that are directly relevant to applied anthropology: the replacement of production with information as the primary source of wealth and power, the polarization of the social classes, the displacement of subsistence societies, and an exploited migrant working class.

Hackenberg concludes by advocating for the incorporation of all four sub-disciplines of anthropology in an applied study of globalization. In addition, anthropologists need to take a stand rather than choose lower-risk venues for employment, so that the resulting policy formation does not share the same discarded (sucked orange) fate as previous theories.

CLARITY RANKING: 3
ERIN EARNSHAW and MOLLY BARNARD California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Hackenberg, Robert A. Advancing Applied Anthropology. Globalization: Touchstone Policy Concept or Sucked Orange? Human Organization, Summer, Vol. 58. (2) 1999. 212-214.

Ante la ausencia de modelos teóricos, para alcanzar el objetivo de incidir en la creación de políticas, Hackenberg propone como teoría el paradigma de la globalización.

El paradigma de la globalización presenta una paradoja: puede ser empleado por los antropólogos sociales y culturales como marco para el método interpretativo, o bien por la ciencia antropológica, comprometida con el método científico, que busca a través de la comparación alcanzar generalizaciones válidas que sirvan de base para hacer predicciones. El empleo de este paradigma, al mismo tiempo representa un reto para la realización de buena etnografía, método básico de la antropología científica.

Según Hackenberg son pocos los autores que han logrado dar cuenta en forma empírica de los procesos de globalización. Según él destacan los trabajos de:

Manuel Castells The Information Age (1996); Saskia Sassen (1994), June Nash (1994) y Michael Kearny (1996).

Hackenberg invita a los antropólogos a realizar investigación con base en este paradigma para lo cual considera necesario realizar esfuerzos conjuntos entre colegas antropólogos y no antropólogos.

CLARIDAD 3
MARISOL PÉREZ LIZAUR. Universidad Iberoamericana.

Hackenberg, Robert A. Advancing Applied Anthropology. Strategies and Game Plans. Human Organization. Spring. Vol 58. (1). 1999. 105-107

Hackenberg parte de que una de las desventajas de la aplicación de la Antropología es la competencia que tienen sus proyectos en un ambiente altamente competido. Para enfrentar ese problema, el autor propone una estrategia y una metodología para elaborar proyectos.

Según él los antropólogos aplicados se han dedicado a desarrollar metodologías, pero que ninguna de ellas representa una solución. Como alternativa propone la metodología de evaluación rápida, la cual requiere ser diseñada, probada y standardizada.

Condición importante para el éxito y avance de la disciplina en un entorno competido es el diseño de planes, estrategias y planes de juego. Según él los antropólogos carecemos de relaciones sociales verticales con personas que tengan la posibilidad y el poder para gatillar nuestros proyectos. Una de nuestras estrategias debe ser el desarrollar proyectos que permitan seleccionar, a los responsables de la toma de decisiones, la mejor alternativa. Las estrategias para lograr la aplicación de los proyectos implica que éstos sean: rápidos; concisos; tienen que contener un argumento claro, fundamentado en posiciones valorativas; tener una posición partidaria, favorable al cliente y tener una substancial constituency.

Esta estrategia implica participar en la arena política, lo cual implica una estrategia y un plan de juego. Éste último, si queremos que nuestros proyectos sean aplicados, debe estar enmarcado en el terreno social, así como ser apropiadamente negociado con las partes en cuestión, antes de llegar a las personas que tienen el poder de decisión para ponerlos en práctica.

Finalmente el Hackenberg invita a los antropólogos a enviar para su publicación experiencias positivas que expliciten sus estrategias.

CLARIDAD 3
MARISOL PÉREZ LIZAUR Universidad Iberoamericana.

Hackenberg, Robert A. Setting a Course for “Greater Relevance.” Human Organization. Spring 1999 Vol. 58(1): 105-107

This article represents a new feature of Human Organization, which will address the advancement of applied anthropology. While others have focused on affirming the relevance of the “fifth subdiscipline,” Hackenberg clearly intends to avoid the murky waters of concepts and models. Asserting that the field is awash with “how to” books and passing up methods that have a huge pool of exciting literature and discussion, he seeks to focus on the exception: rapid appraisal

Hackenberg claims that the absence of vertical linkages dooms most applied anthropology to institutional marginality. For the last 40 years his employers have been sets of powerless persons working for underfunded, overworked agencies. As neither the target groups nor administrators held prestige positions, he asserts that applied anthropology is too removed for the eyes of the decision makers and the power elite.

New strategies ought to be devised in order to achieve the advancement of the “fifth subdiscipline.” Hackenberg suggests that we look to issues that have already been defined. Within these areas, where policy options with opposing views and alternative solutions are being debated, we can examine the options and advocate our choice. This “guiding” is a contribution to policy-making as well as to the advancement of applied anthropology. The development of strategies such as this is the purpose of this new feature.

In most cases, these policy issues concern empowerment and priority setting by an impacted group with identification/description of the critical determinants of the situation. Research in Anthropology should aim to reach and influence the power brokers with a knowledgeable argument. Hackenberg writes that our contributions to policy debates must be: 1) timely, 2) concise, 3) present effective arguments supported by like minded experts and references, 4) based on widely supported values, 5) partisan, and 6) supported by existing public constituency. All of this should be done within the limits imposed by professional ethics.

Given this as a strategy Hackenberg turns to a game plan. There are many organizations that have need of guides within policymaking, ranging from the United Nations to town councils; all of these policy makers impact some constituents. Once a strategy is formed, a game plan must be made in the terms of the social terrain that it is employed to successfully reach the decision makers. This may be achieved in several ways, from appealing to representatives or their staff to capturing the eye of a public interest group.

Hackenberg closes with an example of a successful rapid appraisal strategy in Chile that led to broader rethinking of resettlement and environmental impact policies by multilateral agencies. Hackenberg’s article employs a good amount of jargon, which runs counter to his goal of making anthropological literature more accessible and makes this article less than a model of clarity and concision.

CLARITY RANKING: 3
GERAMIAH WEST California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Robert A. Hackenberg Victims of Globalization: Is Economics the Instrument Needed to Provide Them a Share of the Wealth? Human Organization Vol. 58, No. 4 1999 : 439-442.

El articulo trata sobre la convergencia de la economía y la antropología en el contexto de la globalización. A partir de estudios sobre el desplazamiento y reubicación de comunidades a causa de la implementación de proyectos de desarrollo, el autor sostiene que los efectos han sido, en su mayor parte, desastrosos sobre tales poblaciones, ya que en gran medida, nunca se igualan ni restablecen las condiciones de nivel de vida perdido, en parte debido a la utilización de modelos de análisis costo-beneficio inadecuados.

En tal perspectiva, el autor propone la convergencia de la antropología con la economía; la primera para recolectar información de las poblaciones afectadas y la segunda para diseñar el proyecto.

Robert A. Hackenberg muestra algunos ejemplos de métodos de desarrollo participativos en los que el proceso ‘parte desde la base’, orientados a necesidades básicas, utilizando el trabajo intensivo, de pequeña escala, basada en recursos regionales, centrados en la realidad rural y privilegiando el uso de tecnología adecuada, antes que alta tecnología.

Este tipo de métodos ‘desde abajo’ aplica la convergencia de economía y antropología como la forma de hacer una inversión mínima y maximizando la estructura social.

CLARIDAD: 3
JOSE LUIS GARCIA CHAGOYAN (Marisol Perez-Lizaur)

Hackenberg, Robert A. Advancing Applied Anthropology. Victims of Globalization: Is Economics the Instrument Needed to Provide Them a Share of the Wealth? Human Organization. Winter. Vol. 58 (4). !999

A raíz de la publicación del libro The Economics of Involuntary Resettlement (1999) de Michael Cernea por el Banco Mundial, Hackenberg hace un recuento de las dificultades de entendimiento que han tenido la Economía y la Antropología Social, de la necesidad que tienen de trabajar juntas para la solución de problemas específicos, especialmente el de poblaciones desplazadas y hace una invitación para el desarrollo de investigaciones y publicaciones conjuntas.

El libro de Cernea da cuenta de la creciente evidencia sobre los efectos que los procesos de globalización han tenido sobre las poblaciones desplazadas por grandes proyectos de modernización (presas, carreteras, líneas eléctricas, etc.) así como sobre el medio ambiente, los campesinos, artesanos y pequeños y medianos empresarios. La discusión sobre los impactos de la construcción de presas en la población desplazada fue un tema común en la década de 1980, pero muy poco común actualmente. El libro de Cernea vuelve a dicha tradición dando una nueva perspectiva al respecto.

Cernea da cuenta de las posibilidades de realizar una nueva forma de investigación, colaborativa entre antropólogos y economistas. La base para él es acortar el tiempo de la recolección de información y la realización de una planeación participativa.

Hackenberg proporciona como ejemplo de esta planeación participativa en la que colaboran Antropólogos y economista, la monografía realizada por Carolyn Robb Can Poor Influence Policy? (1999) publicada por el Banco Mundial.

Hackenberg propone, en acuerdo con Cernea que lo que es necesario para lograr una buena Antropología Aplicada es desarrolla investigación que de cuenta de experiencias positivas de desarrollo. Menciona como ejemplo de tales los trabajos de Hirschman (1958) sobre América Latina, Hackenberg (1980) sobre Asia, Schmitz y Nadvi (1999) sobre agrupamientos de pequeños artesanos y el de Keare (1999), un economista que trabaja para el Banco Mundial, que compara los conceptos de desarrollo hacia abajo y desarrollo hacia arriba.

CLARIDAD 3
MARISOL PÉREZ LIZAUR Universidad Iberoamericana

Hackenberg, Robert A. Victims of Globalization: Is Economics the Instrument Needed to Provide Them a share of the Wealth? Human Organization, Fall 1999 Vol. 58(4): 439-442.

This article discusses the feasibility of combining the applications of two disciplines; anthropology and economics. The main problem, where these two fields would be applied, is in solving the dilemma of the growing numbers of populations that are being displaced by globalization.

Globalization is treated here as an inescapable fact. Yet, the increasing wealth realized by globalization is possessed by but a few. To increase wealth, resources must be utilized by industry. These resources are frequently taken from those who rely on these materials for subsistence. Thus, the division of wealth is increased.

Where planning is implemented, some populations may be relocated in order to develop sustainable economies for these groups. There is a problem with this approach since this often requires the use and at times depletion of other valuable resources. This may result in a cycle of displacement and resettlement for many populations. Compensation, regardless of type, for loss of land and subsistence, seldom appears to be equitable in the long-term.

Hackenberg suggests the way through this problem is to combine knowledgeable applications in anthropology and economics. How? The approach seems simple. However, one needs to take into consideration the wants and needs of the local community, provided these wants and needs are expressed. By inviting the community to participate in the decision making process, the investors and those affected can engage in an open dialog to discuss goals and problems. Once a plan is devised, local labor, resources and technology should be implemented for the maintenance of sustainable markets, because it is the local population that will ultimately need to sustain it. Hackenberg stresses that people should be placed first in this bottom up process. These concepts are seen as ways investors, laborers and others can benefit. But not all stakeholders will agree on all issues due to a range of interests. Another problem with this approach is that it often results in an increased intensive use of local resources. When resources are depleted, the relocation of local people will again be necessary. Of course, this is in conflict with the idea of long-term sustainability and perpetuates the cycle of dependence on development funding.

CLARITY RATING: 5
VEGA, ISAAC V. California State University, Chico (Dr. William Loker)

Hackenberg, Beverly and Hackenberg, Robert. You CAN Do Something! Forming Policy from Applied Projects, Then and Now. Human Organization. Vol. 58, No 1, 1999: 1-15.

Hackenberg and Hackenberg waste no time in establishing their thesis as complementing that of Paul Bohannan’s 1980 address to the American Anthropological Association (AAA), entitled “You Can’t Do Nothing.” Bohannan’s address suggests that anthropology can not, and must not remain idly by in policy formation, when confronted with inequity. The Hackenbergs complementary point is that not only is it true that anthropology can’t do nothing, but anthropology can do something. In support, the Hackenbergs also cite Bronislaw Malinowski’s view on applied anthropology that it must be scientifically oriented but also politely engaged.

The Hackenbergs state that it is necessary for anthropology to be engaged as contributors in the policy forming process, and has been so for the last half century. The Hackenbergs cite personal experience where each of them has used their anthropological training to help in policy formation. Beverly’s expertise is in the medical field and her examples deal with establishing a viable medical system in the Philippines. Robert’s field of expertise and subsequent examples come from governmental policies for the “Borderlands anti-communities” on the American-Mexican border; specifically the impacts of NAFTA and the North American Development Bank (NADBANK), and its effects on the infrastructure of these Borderlands anti-communities.

Together, the Hackenbergs illustrate that anthropologists are needed now more than ever in the formation of policy the helps to humanize the globalization process. They cite a speech by Fidel Castro, in which he suggests that globalization is an unstoppable force. Because globalization will occur with or without input from anthropology, anthropology can and must formulate culturally sensitive policies that help to mitigate the globalization’s impact on people.

The Hackenberg summarize and conclude their article by restating and expanding their thesis: applied anthropology must pursue science and engage in politics. They suggest that anthropology should maintain a scientific agenda by recognizing the limitation of our knowledge about cultures and societies, especially those on the Borderlands, and pursue that knowledge to expand our understanding. The Hackenbergs suggest that through a scientific approach, anthropology might be able to generate the first comprehensive theoretical perspective on the post-national world.

In regards to political engagement, they again cite Bohannan, in that applied anthropology should provide leadership in policy science. Furthermore, a scientific agenda should provide information to help formulate appropriate policy. The primary importance for the anthropologist is to become involved in the policy making process. According to the Hackenbergs, the global capitalist post-national revolution will go on with or without input from anthropology; but its impact upon people can certainly be positively affected by the work of applied anthropologists.

The article’s overly lengthy examples were a little distracting from the thesis; and the use of jargon tended to obscure the message of the article.

Clarity Ranking 4
MCCOY, MATTHEW California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Hackenberg, Robert A. and Beverly H. Hackenberg. You Can Do Something! Forming Policy from Applied Proyects, Then and Now. Human Organization Spring, 1999. Vol.58 (1):1-15.

Derivado de su experiencia en cuatro proyectos de antropología aplicada, los tres primeros exitosos, los autores proponen replantear los conceptos y los métodos tanto en la investigación como en los experimentos que guían las agendas políticas de los países involucrados y las intervenciones de las agencias no gubernamentales y las instituciones financieras internacionales, ante los problemas que plantean los nuevos niveles de integración sociocultural debido a que, al avanzar la globalización los niveles de integración sociocultural han cambiado de la pequeña comunidad (nivel 1) a ciudades en desarrollo y su periferia (nivel2) para convertirse en agrupamientos marginales no integrados o anti-comunidades (nivel3) en lo que está pasando a ser el mapa postnacional (nivel 4).

Los autores narran sus experiencias en los cuatro proyectos:

el primero llamado Community Oriented Primary Care (COPC) llevado a cabo por invitación de la Asociación Medica de Filipinas en una ciudad nivel 2, Davao, estaba sustentado en la organización social local y contenía elementos de desarrollo participativo.

A partir de 1970 se llevó a cabo el segundo proyecto, financiado por el Banco Mundial, para dotar de viviendas y servicios a los colonos invasores de la ciudad de Davao. Contó con el apoyo y la participación de los beneficiarios, de una fundación local privada y del gobierno de Filipinas.

El tercer proyecto, a invitación del Departamento de Salud de la Reservación Tohono O’odham, comunidad nivel 1, en el sur de Arizona, E. U., consistió en replicar los principios fundamentales del proyecto COPC, partiendo del principio de que las necesidades básicas son generales y los procedimientos para solucionarlas pueden ser transferibles.

Veinte años después, el cuarto proyecto fue un intento por aplicar los principios básicos de los proyectos anteriores en Nogales, Sonora, México, ciudad con un nivel 3, labor que no resultó posible ante problemas sociales actuales como la desintegración del concepto localidad/residencia y las modificaciones comerciales impuestos por el NAFTA, entre otros. Además, no se contaron con fondos para la investigación de la comunidad y los créditos para vivienda están fuera del alcance de los colonos de Nogales.

Debido a lo anterior, los autores proponen la necesidad actual del empleo de instrumentos políticos en proyectos de antropología aplicada en lugares localizados pero a la vez globalizados, como ocurre en la frontera, que más que un “punto de articulación” la describen como un punto de colisión. Proponen hacer ciencia mediante el uso de métodos comparativos para describir y analizar los elementos y procesos post-nacionales, reduciendo la globalización a una serie de casos estudio en localidades contrastantes que podrían producir teoría de mediano alcance. Además, proponen un compromiso de los antropólogos aplicados con el quehacer y la promoción política para resolver problemas del bienestar humano.

CLARIDAD:3
SUSANA PEDRAZA-GARRIDO Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Haenn, Nora Community Formation in Frontier Mexico: Accepting and Rejecting New Migrants. Human Organization Spring 1999 Vol. 58 No. 1:36-43.

Since the 1960’s, Mexico’s national policy has been to open up tropical environments in the country’s south and southeastern frontiers to agricultural development. Migratory people that settle on the frontier are composed of several different ethnic groups from all over Mexico. The dominant form of governmental social organization is represented by the ejidal system of public land distribution. Under the ejidal process federal lands in southeastern Mexico were given to groups of farmers known as ejidatarios who were then responsible for the parceling out plots of land to incoming migrant groups.

Ejidos are governed internally by a set of ejidatarios who rule on access to land, individual participation in governmental projects, inheritance and village infrastructure. Importantly, ejidatarios also hold the power to revoke access to land, and many ejidatarios face their neighbors with an underlying insecurity in respect to land rights [37].

Yet, as a result of lenient governmental supervision, local village law circumvents federal ejidal law. This allows the domination of certain ethnic and kin groups over others leading to a biased distribution of agricultural lands among migrant farmers. Haenn states that most migration theories emphasize economic factors, yet in this example of federal and public governance in rural frontier Mexico she argues, “that political strife can intersect with economic factors in ways that encourage continued mobility” (36).

Haenn supports her argument by describing several different situations in which political opinions of ejidatarios empowering particular ethnic groups influenced the temporal and spatial settlement of less powerful migrants to ejidal lands. In rural Campeche, in the provinces of Orozco and Tejeda most Mestizo families have interpreted federal law themselves, installing a class-based hierarchy of membership to the local ejido. Non-ejidatarios are federally classified as pobladores; artisans, merchants, or people who do not farm land. Yet, local law classifies this group as individuals who do not “own” farmland and divides them into two groups: sons awaiting land inheritance from their fathers and new migrants to the area (38). The ejidatarios decide whether migrants to their villages may receive farming lands. Kinship ties often outweigh the farming rights of new migrants. As a result, Cholan-speaking indigenous refugees from Chiapas have experienced difficulty obtaining access to and ownership of ejidal lands from Chiapan mestizos because of this ethnic power politicking.

Haenn concludes that the Mexican government needs to reevaluate “democratic” process of the ejida as it is applied among the occupants of rural Campeche. “The disagreements in Orozco and Tejeda should give us pause before asserting universal concepts of ‘community,’ ‘campesino or peasant,’ ‘indigenous,’ and the ‘Mexican Nation’” (41). The occurrence of ethnic factionalism and the application of illegal social rules among dominant ejidatario families have subordinated and displaced many migrant groups to the area and have also escalated acts of violence and fraud. As a result, further anthropological analyses of migratory processes need to incorporate political factors, as well as economic factors, into their research.

CLARITY RANKING: 5
BRANDON PATTERSON California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Haenn, Nora. Formación de Comunidades en la Frontera Mexicana: Aceptando y Rechazando Nuevos Migrantes. Human Organization Spring, 1999. Vol.58 (1):36-43.

Usando el método comparativo entre dos comunidades ejidales en Campeche, México, la autora pretende explicar que la formación de pueblos en la frontera sur se hace a través de la migración permanente intra-rural.

Para ello, analiza como los ejidatarios establecidos emplean prejuicios de etnicidad, conceptos de familia, razonamientos sobre posibles conflictos a futuro, la repartición de tierras ejidales y el alcance de los recursos de programas de desarrollo de los gobiernos estatales y federal, entre otros, para determinar si se aceptan o no a los nuevos migrantes.

Haenn llevó a cabo la investigación etnográfica de las comunidades ejidales de Orozco y Tejeda durante 14 meses de observación participante durante los cuales tuvo la oportunidad de ver como, a pesar del cambio al Artículo 27 para privatizar las tierras incluyendo las de los ejidos, los habitantes de estas comunidades aprovecharon los subsidios a los ejidatarios otorgados por los gobiernos estatales y federal y las inconsistencias legales prevalecientes para determinar la permanencia o no de migrantes en sus comunidades; en el caso de Orozco, comunidad cercana a la Reserva de la Biósfera de Calakmul, a un grupo de Cholan provenientes de Chiapas que llegaron en enero de 1995 y a quienes finalmente dos años después no aceptaron. El caso de Tejeda, comunidad localizada entre Campeche y Quintana Roo, difiere en que hay dos grupos étnicos ya establecidos y no aceptan más inmigrantes. En el primer caso todavía hay tierras por distribuir, en el segundo caso las tierras se habían terminado de distribuir entre ellos mismos, cuatro años antes de la llegada de Haenn.

Aún cuando la situación migratoria difiere, Haenn encuentra que las rivalidades en estas comunidades se asemejan en cuanto a la necesidad del control político y el aseguramiento de los recursos provenientes del exterior de las comunidades, lo cual llevan a cabo por medio del faccionalismo y reglas sociales ilegales.

CLARIDAD:4
SUSANA PEDRAZA-GARRIDO Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Heyman, Josiah McC. United States Surveillance Over Mexican Lives at the Border: Snapshots of an Emerging Regime. Human Organization, Vol.58 No. 4, 1999.

This article addresses the changing technologies and surveillance methods used to monitor “criminal aliens” at the U.S. borders. These developments have been a result of new and more stringent laws regarding illegal activity of border town residents on both the U.S. and Mexican sides. The author addresses that the offenders do not internalize tightened security as their actions are with completely different motive than is popularly believed by American citizens against alien in-migration. In fact, Heyman suggest that stricter laws may in-turn backfire on its purpose and actually create more criminalization in underground organization.

Heyman examines this issue by recounting the personal experience with a 25-year old Mexican male. At a young age, this man was discovered in an attempt to move a relatively small amount of marijuana across the Mexican border. Because of this, he has since been denied a crossing card. The author used this situation as an example of the harsh punishment put upon many border town citizens due to misunderstanding of their initial drive to commit these offenses. Many young males move these drugs as a “payment” to passage through the borders and most are not committed drug traffickers. Very few of these couriers actually abuse the narcotics they are smuggling and are ambitious young men in search of anything better than a dead end factory job, which is usually their only option.

The ideas of Michel Foucault reinforce Heyman’s argument that the new laws and corresponding border efforts are clear illustrations of a moral panic. The border control regimen strongly resembles the picking of “folk devils” or “bad outsiders” to make examples out of a few and to display control of good and bad. Foucault’s idea of “turning apparently technical subjects into social questions” seems to be the inspiration of Heyman’s interest in this issue.

The reigns on immigrants with criminal records were tightened in the 80’s and 90’s with the use of stricter laws and acts. Movements such as the 1990 Immigration Act (IMMACT) and its strict exclusion laws show resemblance to the 1952 McCarran-Walters Act, an act which strengthened exclusions of homosexuals and leftists.

New databases and equipment such as the INS’s Central Index, new fingerprinting methods and advanced surveillance organizations such as EPIC, have been designed to hone in on criminal border activity and to have a more comprehensive and effective resource of criminal records. Although the technologies are innovative, many records were previously written on paper and have since been lost in the transition. Many aliens have been wrongly persecuted due to suspicions and stereotypes because their record is literally lost.

In conclusion, new surveillance technology has been implemented at the borders in order to pacify the fears of isolationist American nationalism and its disciples. The cultures and beliefs of those residents of the border towns of both the U.S. and Mexico are strongly misunderstood and it is Heyman’s suggestion that stricter laws placed on “illegal aliens” is not internalized by these individuals and tend to form other means of crossing that are adapted to the new surveillance. This, Heyman fears, will in-fact increase underground organized crime which is counter productive to the original purpose of newer more efficient technology.

CLARITY RANKING: 4
PAIGE HOLMES: California State University Chico, Dr. William Loker

Heyman Josiah Mc.c. United States Surveillance Over Mexican Lives at the Border: Snapshots of an Emerging Regime. Human Organization,1999 Vol. No 3 : 430-438

Esta investigación fue financiada por HARRY FRANK GUGGENHEIM y WENNER-GREN FOUNDATION FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION.

Inicia su artículo Josiah Heyman con una cita de Juan-Vicente Palerm donde afirma que la antropología, usando métodos tradicionales como el trabajo de campo y observación participante, está en posición de describir nuevas tendencias años antes que sean descritos por otros procedimientos más precisos como las estadísticas o base de datos.

Heyman insiste en que por medio de datos etnográficos el antropólogo percibe, documenta y comunica las tendencias antes que tengan reconocimiento público y pone como ejemplo su investigación en la frontera con México. Lugares donde la mayoría de adultos son inmigrantes del centro de la república, que al no poder establecerse en Estados Unidos, se quedan viviendo en la frontera. Ahí nacen sus hijos que forman la generación de jóvenes con aspiraciones diferentes, pero que siempre pesa sobre ellos la conciencia de que son vigilados por Estados Unidos.

Pone el caso de Ismael ( nombre ficticio ) como ejemplo de lo que piensa es exagerado y contraproducente en la vida de los habitantes de la frontera, pues este joven antes de su encuentro fue sorprendido en posesión de mariguana, tuvo un pequeño arresto y quedó marcado en los archivos de Estados Unidos de manera que no puede cruzar la frontera ni siquiera momentáneamente como es usual para la gente que vive ahí.

El autor conoce a Ismael y su familia y sabe que no es un delincuente, piensa que probablemente lo hizo por una experiencia de aventura como es frecuente en los jóvenes de cualquier parte del mundo, sin embargo ya quedó estigmatizado como “extranjero criminal” en todos los archivos de Estados Unidos. En este caso, ahora está casado, tiene dos hijos y vive transportando fruta pero Heyman piensa que a veces el estigma y saber que no se les dará la oportunidad de repararlo puede provocar que busquen ingresar de verdad a grupos fuertes de contrabandistas a quienes es muy difícil de aprehender.

Otro aspecto importante es que describe la percepción de lo que en México se llama delito comparado con lo que en Estados Unidos llaman crimen pues los habitantes, especialmente los jóvenes, lo internalizan de manera diferente.

Concluye planteando nuevas preguntas para futuras investigaciones e insistiendo en su pregunta inicial ¿realmente es benéfico para los dos países la sobre-vigilancia en la frontera?

CLARITY: 5
SCARLETT ZAMORA. Universidad Iberoamericana —(Marisol Pérez-Lizaur )

Honneland, Geir Co-Management and Communities in the Barents Sea Fisheries. Human Organization Winter, 1999 Vol. 58(4):397-404

This article addresses the management of Common-Pool Resources (CPR’s), the relationship between co-management systems and fishing communities in the Barents Sea fisheries, and two differing theoretical perspectives representative of the situation: the tragedy of the commons and the cooperative action theory. Three groups, the government, user groups (fishermen, markets, the public) and compliance groups (government, law enforcement) comprise the managers of the Barents Sea fisheries. The overarching question is do they user groups of the resources view their participation in management decisions as useful? Data was collected for this research in the form of “…in-depth interviews with fishermen and representatives of fishermen’s organizations” (397).

Based on interview information, user groups of the Barents Sea fisheries view their participation as their right and responsibility. Participation in the decision making process is integrated in the fishermen’s social life. Differing opinions concerning the Sea’s resources do exist, and are often settled within the epistemic (knowledgeable) community, which is comprised of people with differing professional backgrounds, but a shared common interest in the Barents Sea. This community meets periodically to develop reasonable solutions to the Barents Sea’s resource conflicts.

In terms of co-management and compliance the author establishes that “1) there is a high level of user group participation in the management of the Barents Sea fisheries; 2) the management system is largely perceived as legitimate by fishermen; and 3) there is a high degree of compliance with regulations” (402).

The compliance to sanctions placed on user groups appear to be the result of two factors; first, the user groups often view the sanctions as legitimate because fishermen were involved in the decision making process. Secondly the organizations that insure compliance are held in high esteem by the user groups and extend mutual respect to the user groups through a “those at sea” community of shared experiences and beliefs.

Honneland emphasizes the “…overall communitarian approach to politics and society. Participation in politics is not only a means to achieve specific social goals, but contributes to enhance creativity and human knowledge…” (403). Studying communities, in terms of both past and present interaction may provide a vital resource to co-management policies.

CLARITY RANKING: 4
Dalton, Kevin California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Honneland, Geir. Co-Management and Communities in the Barents Sea Fisheries. Human Organization, Fall . 1999 Vol. 58 No. 4 : 397-404.

El artículo trata sobre el problema de gestión entre Noruega y Rusia de bienes marítimos compartidos.

El autor realiza un estudio para conocer las formas de co gestión más eficientes para lograr el cumplimiento de las reglas y acuerdos entre las partes, mediante entrevistas a los actores involucrados de ambas partes que intervienen en los distintos niveles de gestión: pescadores, guarda costas, científicos y gobiernos locales y regionales.

Después de analizar los datos obtenidos, y que dan cuenta de las diferencias de expectativas, roles y funciones de los actores en ambos lados, el autor concluye que la forma de co-gestión (co-management) más eficiente en el cumplimiento de las reglas, es el que se basa en la participación de los grupos de usuarios (user-group), ya que permite contar con un alto grado de legitimidad y, por lo tanto, con un alto grado de aceptabilidad y cumplimiento de las reglamentos y normas.

CLARITY: 4
JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA CHAGOYÁN Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez Lizaur)

Kenny, Mary Lorena. No Visible Means of Support: Child Labor in Urban Northeast Brazil. Human Organization Vol.58. No 4. 1999:375-386

Este artículo es el reporte de una investigación etnográfica realizada por la autora durante un año, de 1994 a 1995 en la ciudad de OLINDA, al noreste de BRASIL.

La autora vivió en una vecindad de Olinda y describe su técnica como “Bola de Nieve” porque después de conocer a sus primeros informantes, éstos la presentaron con otros y ellos a su vez con otros. Desde la Antropología Económica diseñó entrevistas ; algunas fueron informales en el trabajo y en casa, otras fueron formales que también incluían cuestionarios . Se previeron a la hora de la comida o en algún momento en que estuvieran todos los miembros de la familia. Para este estudio se consideraron niños que trabajan y son menores de 12 años. Considera que las familias hacen frente de manera heterogénea a las condiciones de pobreza.

Su interés deriva de las protestas en Estados Unidos y los movimientos que instaban a no comprar productos brasileños porque utilizaban mano de obra infantil. Quería conocer el significado que le daban los propios niños a su trabajo, así como su familia y la comunidad y el efecto del trabajo infantil sobre la división del trabajo. Es difícil la definición de trabajo infantil porque no se han puesto de acuerdo el Estado, los padres, las Naciones Unidas y la International Labor Office.

Las historias de vida muestran como persistente e intergeneracional el trabajo infantil, como lo muestra una madre de 7 niños que relata: “ Cuando yo tenía 8 años, ya trabajaba en la cocina y otras cosas; mi madre había hecho lo mismo y ahora mis hijos están creciendo con la misma rutina”.

Se espera que un niño de más de 9 años sea un contribuyente económico de la familia: “Si yo no trabajo, mi familia tendrá hambre, mi hermana puede enfermar. Tengo que hacerlo, es mi destino” refiere uno de ellos.

Algunos padres dicen que les gustaría que sus hijos no trabajaran o que lo permiten “ sólo temporalmente” mientras ellos consiguen un salario estable. Entrevistó mujeres con 12, 9 o 7 hijos que dicen que tal vez si tuvieran menos hijos no tendrían que salir a trabajar.

El trabajo infantil es de oportunidad e ilegal, pero al mismo tiempo basado en la economía informal. Los niños tienen ocupaciones paralelas a las mismas de adultos en el sector informal. Los niños empiezan con sus vecinos como mandaderos a traer agua o cosas de la tienda y les pagan con comida. Después tienen edad para ir a la calle y vender o hacer pequeños servicios. La educación podría ser una ayuda en su futuro, muchas veces los papás no permiten que vayan todos los días a la escuela porque necesitan el dinero que proveen los niños: “La esclavitud real es el hambre, no el trabajo”. Propone que se creen más trabajos con salarios estables para los adultos y un alto nivel de autoempleo en el sector informal.

CLARITY : 5
SCARLETT ZAMORA. Universidad Iberoamericana. (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur )

Kozan, M. Kamil and Canan Ergin. Third Party Role in Conflict Management in Turkish Organizations. Human Organization. 1999 Vol. 58(4):405-415

The influence of national culture upon conflict management has recently received increased attention. Most contributions to the literature center on either differences in negotiation or styles of those directly involved in interpersonal conflicts. The role played by third parties in handling organizational conflict has received scant study. Kozan and Ergin contend that the role of third parties should receive equal emphasis in conflict management research.

This study reports the results of research on the involvement and effectiveness of third parties in resolving conflict within public and private organizations in Turkey. The authors categorize Turkey as having a “collective” culture. Like other collective cultures, such as those in China, Latin America, and Arab countries, Turkish culture emphasizes the goals of the collectivity rather than of the individual. In these cultures, the individual is a member of a group, such as a clan, family, or work unit, and is dependent upon others as much as others are upon him. Thusly, third party roles in collective cultures are significant for two reasons. First, disputes impact the entire group, not just the two parties alone. Second, third parties help save face for all involved.

There is a body of literature that has emerged on the styles, or roles, of third parties in organizations. Four specific roles have been identified: adjudicative, inquisitorial, mediational, and motivational.

Kozan and Ergin conducted a survey that was guided by a set of expectations with respect to the styles and effectiveness of third parties in Turkish organizations. In collective cultures, conflict is viewed as taking place within a network of relations, of which third parties are a part. Because of this, Kozan and Ergin expected frequent third party involvement, with peers playing as prominent a role as superiors.

The survey sample consisted of 40 public and private firms in Ankara and seven other large cities. Government, medical, manufacturing, and marketing firms were included in the sample. 435 of 480 (91%) questionnaires were returned. Of the final sample, 58% were managers and 42% non-managers.

Respondents were asked to think of recent conflicts to which they were party. They were then asked to write down who the other party was and what the disagreement was over. Respondents were asked next if a third party was involved in mediation, leading then to a set of 34 questions designed to measure the style used by the mediating party. All items had a five-point scale of response with these categories: strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, and completely disagree.

The results of the survey indicated that nearly two-thirds of reported conflicts involved third parties. As expected, peers played the mediating role almost as commonly as did superiors. In larger companies, with over a thousand employees, superiors were more likely to mediate than were peers. In smaller organizations, the situation was reversed.

Kozan and Ergin conclude that the collective tradition of the Turkish culture, with its emphasis of face-saving and harmony-enhancement, explains third party roles as the dominant method of conflict management. However, there may be other aspects of Turkish culture that play a role, such as the tendency to avoid uncertainty. Future studies that compare cultures with contrasting individualism-collectivism and uncertainty-avoidance scores may help to more precisely explain the effects of cultural variables on third party roles.

CLARITY RANKING: 4
FLOYD MEADOWS California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Kozan Kamil M. and Canan Ergin. Third Party Role in Conflict Management in Turkish Organizations. Human Organization. Fall. 1999 Vol. No 3:405-415

La tercera parte ( third-party ) es definida como una persona o grupo de personas que voluntaria o involuntariamente se ven involucrados en la resolución de conflictos entre dos partes con la intención de ayudarles a una resolución.

Los autores aclaran que existen culturas colectivas que ponen énfasis en metas colectivas más que en las individuales y las disputas son vistas como problemas de la colectividad más que un problema entre dos partes, lo cual justifica la presencia de una tercera parte. No se acostumbra la confrontación directa y los involucrados pueden más fácilmente expresar sentimientos negativos con un tercero, quien a su vez los trasmitirá en términos más aceptables al otro.

El conflicto tiene lugar dentro de una red de relaciones, por lo tanto las terceras partes son parte de esa red y se manejan en el conflicto como resultado de complejas relaciones alrededor del mismo.

Turquía es un país en transición, es una cultura colectiva, pero también refleja dualidades creadas por la coexistencia de instituciones occidentales con valores tradicionales.

El propósito de la investigación fue ver la efectividad de las terceras partes en organizaciones turcas.

La metodología del estudio se basa en cuestionarios de psicología organizacional que aplicó Canan Ergin en 40 firmas públicas y privadas. 36 de éstas estaban localizadas en Ankara y las restantes en 7 ciudades diferentes. Los cuestionarios fueron distribuidos por gerentes de Recursos Humanos o por un gerente de sección en una organización. Se les preguntó qué pensaban acerca de un reciente episodio de conflicto del que formaban parte y si era cierto que la tercera parte ayudaba a solucionar el conflicto y a defender sus derechos.

Al evaluar los resultados dividen los estilos gerenciales en: Autocrático, Motivacional, Educacional, Reestructurador, Mediador, Opinador y Mariscal de Procesos. Presentan gráficas con los resultados donde el puntaje más alto es el Opinador seguido casi al mismo nivel por Educacional, Mediador y Autocrítico.

Observan que los estilos gerenciales occidentales son más fácilmente aceptados en empresas grandes y oficinas gubernamentales, mientras empresas pequeñas mantienen sus estilos tradicionales incluyendo la práctica de la tercera parte.

Reportan que hay más rechazo al estilo autocrático por parte de las mujeres y lo atribuyen a que durante su educación son relegadas y concluyen que en culturas no occidentales hay preferencia por la evasión y no confrontación de conflictos.

CLARITY : 5
SCARLETT ZAMORA. Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Levine, Nancy E. Cattle and the Cash Economy: Responses to Change Among Tibetan Nomadic Pastorlists in Sichuan, China. Human Organization Summer, 1999 Vol.58(2):161-172

Levine’s primary objective is to analyze the variables that determine the degree of participation of Tibetan pastoralists in Serthar county Sichuan, China, in the newly reformed state market economy. Results were derived from data collected at three pastoralist tshowa (tribe/village): Yarling, Khanleb, and Serkhog. The tshowa were selected for their variation in size, distance to market and wealth. In 1994 Serthar officials were calling for an eleven percent cutback in the livestock population to ease pressure on pasturelands. Serthar pastoralists showed little interest in participating in this sanction.

The author describes the “cultural ethos” that dictates how these pastoralists manage their cattle herds. The main goal is herd expansion, as larger herds promote greater social standing, more stable subsistence, and increased insurance of herd survival in the face of natural disasters. The pastoralists do not have a profit-orientated agenda, and many are Buddhists who feel it is wrong to take the life of any living creature.

Four variables were defined as contributing factors to participation in the new market economy: access to resources, level of production, distance from markets, and supply and demand. In general households increased production, collection and sale of items which brought the best price at market (e.g. butter, wool, herbs, and dried dung for heating purposes), although some acts such as dung sale were only practiced by tshowa in close proximity to markets for reasons of cost versus return. Meat sales did increase in the tshowa close to town, along with increased wage work in the markets by low ranking members of community. The members of the more distant tshowa concentrated on butter production and herb gathering if accessible, so that their less frequent trips to market would be more profitable. Goods bought at market by all three tshowa were essentially the same: grain (which is subsidized by the government), clothing and a number of utilitarian household goods such as cooking utensils, tin stoves, and occasionally radios and sewing machines.

Capital in animals and immediacy to town seem to be the key determinants of market participation. Levine concludes that the herd management strategies imposed by Serthar officials would “…better suit a modern ranching economy, where profits can be stored in banks and where livestock can readily be bought and sold” (169).

CLARITY RANKING: 5
Dalton, Kevin California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Levine Nancy E. Cattle and the Cash Economy: Responses to Change Among Tibetan Nomadic Pastoralists in Sichuan, China. Human Organization Summer, 1999. Vol.58 (2):161-172.

El artículo muestra que, aunque en los últimos 40 años los pastores tshowa del condado de Serthar al norte de la Provincia de Sichuan, China, han experimentado cambios radicales en su economía (pastoreo de subsistencia -colectivización – privatización), se han integrado a las diferentes formas de mercado excepto en lo que se refiere al manejo y comercialización de su ganado.

Levin demuestra que el rechazo a comercializar el ganado se debe a factores tanto económicos derivados de sus experiencias en la región como culturales y no, como argumentan los agentes de desarrollo gubernamental locales, a una resistencia y falta de aceptación a las nuevas modelos de economía de mercado.

Para lo anterior, realizó una investigación en julio y octubre de 1994 en el condado de Serthar, y basa su artículo en entrevistas personales en 503 casas habitadas por un total de 2033 personas tshowa de las poblaciones Yarlung, Khanleb y Serkhog, adyacentes a la ciudad de Serthar, en relación con sus ingresos y egresos de 1993 y 1994 y, en el caso de personas mayores, historias orales del sistema social y los cambios económicos de los últimos 40 años. Además, realizó entrevistas a funcionarios locales y tuvo acceso a documentos relacionados con su investigación.

Aún cuando menciona la conveniencia de obtener datos económicos para un periodo de tiempo más amplio, con los elementos que obtiene llega a la conclusión que, primero, estos pobladores se han incorporado en lo general a las diferentes economías de mercado sin resistencia y segundo, en lo que se refiere a la comercialización del ganado, los pastores y los agentes externos gubernamentales no van a llegar a ningún acuerdo para sustituir el pastoreo tradicional a menos que cambien las tradiciones culturales y religiosas del Tibet.

CLARIDAD:5
SUSANA PEDRAZA-GARRIDO Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Lewis, David. Revealing, Widening, Deepening? A Rewiew of the Existing and Potential contribution of Anthropological Approaches to “Third-Sector” Research. Human Organization, Spring 1999. Vol. 58 No. 1 : 73-81.

El artículo trata sobre la necesidad de ampliar la comprensión del Tercer Sector en distintas culturas y de cómo la antropología puede aportar mucho en ésa tarea.

El autor hace una somera revisión de los estudios que se han realizado sobre el Tercer Sector, mostrando que se han hecho principalmente desde la perspectiva de la sociología, economía, política, y muy pocos desde la antropología. Por otra parte, revisa estudios antropológicos en los que de manera tangencial se revisan formas de organización equivalentes a un Tercer Sector dentro de diversas culturas y tradiciones.

Lewis nos dice que es preciso revisar el concepto, las definiciones y el método empleados en los estudios sobre el Tercer Sector, ya que implican valores culturales occidentales que no corresponden a las diversas realidades y tradiciones culturales, como son por ejemplo las de países en vías de desarrollo.

Finalmente el autor plantea la necesidad de ampliar los estudios sobre el Tercer Sector investigando los conceptos, formas de organización social y política, gerencia, entre otros, que se dan en distintas tradiciones culturales; asimismo nos dice que la antropología es la indicada para realizar tales estudios, pues tiene el potencial de comprender la diversidad en sus propios términos, de revelar la riqueza del nivel micro en la actividad organizacional, de mostrar la diversidad cultural de las formas organizacionales, de formular retos a las perspectivas occidentales en los estudios sobre las organizaciones no lucrativas, de ampliar las aproximaciones a temas de cultura y cambio organizacional, de vincular la investigación y la acción a nivel de la comunidad o de las políticas.

CLARITY: 4
JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA CHAGOYÁN Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez Lizaur)

Lewis, David. Revealing, Widening, Deepening?: A Review of the Existing and Potential Contribution of Anthropological Approaches to “Third-Sector” Research. Human Organization Vol. 58 No.1 1999

In this article, Lewis addresses a need for anthropological concepts and methodology in “Third-Sector” research. This term, “Third Sector”, refers to research on non-governmental (NGO) or non-profit organizations. In this article, Lewis argues that ethnographic data recorded by anthropologists are valuable in this area yet, unlike some other academic disciplines, few anthropologists belong to major organizations dealing with NGO research.

Lewis divides the paper into three major segments mentioned in the title: revealing, widening and deepening. By revealing, Lewis wishes to draw attention to less recognized organizations such as local and “associational” membership gatherings. Widening refers to research beyond the U.S. and Great Britain and deepening concerns getting a closer look at the organization and policies of these groups.

Lewis states that too much of this research is being focused on larger and more visible non-profit organizations such as the YMCA. He argues that the articulate and detailed nature of anthropological research will help to make smaller groups more visible.

Lewis suggests that current nonprofit research, with few exceptions, is conducted mainly within the U.S. and Great Britain. This research is not currently inclusive of other non-western organizations and the perceptions of volunteerism in other cultures. An anthropological perspective may enhance and promote an understanding of cultural differences existing in organizations across the globe and may include a deeper understanding of non-western history.

Lewis also implies that by deepening the analysis, anthropological input would help in the understanding the organization and policy making in these groups.

In conclusion, Lewis feels that anthropological involvement in third-sector research would contribute to the better understanding of non-government organization. With the inclusion of an anthropological perspective can contribute to third-sector research by providing more detailed accounts of non-western organizations and their activities, reveal and bring forth smaller an unrecognized groups, add an understanding to organizational change across the map and is affects and tie all of the above mentioned to a policy or community level.

CLARITY RANKING: 4
PAIGE HOLMES California State University Chico, Dr. William Loker

Lewitus, Alan J. Parke A. Rublee, Michael A. Mallin y Sandra E. Shumway. “Human Health and Environmental Impacts from Pfiesteria: A Science-Based Rebuttal to Griffith (1999) Human Organization. Winter. 1999 (4). 455-458

Los autores acusan a Griffith de haber minimizado los problemas de salud asociados con la Pfiestria pscicida. Ellos mencionan que el principal problema del artículo de Griffith se encuentra en el diseño de su proyecto de investigación. Y les llama la tención que no haya consultado con Burkholder los mapas que dan cuenta de las zonas de muerte de peces relacionados con el fenómeno.

Según ellos otro gran error fue centrar la investigación sobre salud pública sin consultar a los expertos en los expertos en la enfermedad. Los autores, especialistas en biología marina, se plantean dos preguntas derivadas de su conocimiento como biólogos y dar a entender que el artículo de Griffith no considera la carencia de investigación sobre ciertos temas relacionados con el fenómeno.

Cuestionan la seriedad de los revisores del artículo para su publicación y se preguntan acerca de su falta de ética al no consultar bibliografía publicada al respecto. Y concluyen afirmando la necesidad de que se publiquen resultados de investigaciones evaluadas seriamente por pares debidamente informados.

CLARITY 5
MARISOL PÉREZ-LIZAUR Universidad Iberoamericana

Marlor, Chantelle; Russeel Lawrence Barsh, and Levita Duhaylungsod. Ethnocentric about Ethnoscience; Further comments on Nazarea et. al. Human Organization. 1999 (3), 347

En la crítica de los autores (Human Organization 58:216-219), a Nazarea et. al. no consideran su observación de que no distinguen entre la opinión popular y el conocimiento de los expertos. Los autores insisten en que es difícil suponer que el conocimiento de las estructuras ecológicas esté equitativamente distribuido. Para los autores esta posición refleja un criterio etnocéntrico. Al querer aclarar el empleo que Nazarea et. al. hacen de los TAT, incrementaron las dudas de los autores sobre la representatividad de las pruebas, ya que para ellos las fotografías empleadas implicaron preconcepciones de los investigadores, que indujeron a los entrevistados a contestar desviadamente a favor, del criterio etnocéntrico de los investigadores. Los autores insisten en criticar el método de muestreo de Nazarea et. al., ya que el seleccionar informantes con base en el conocimiento previo de los mismo no corresponde con la técnica del muestreo al azar.

CLARIDAD 4
MARISOL PÉREZ LIZAUR Universidad Iberoamericana

Marlor, Chantelle, Russel Lawrence Barsh and Levita A. Duhaylungsod. Comment on “Defining Indicators Which Make Sense to Local People: Intra-Cultural Variation in Perceptions of Natural Resources” Human Organization . Summer. Vol. 58 (2). 216-219

Los autores fueron encargados por la International Labour Office (ILO) de asesorarla acerca en proyectos de ayuda de la Comunidad Europea y de la misma dependencia, en Filipinas.Su objetivo fue trabajar en el marco de procesos locales de toma de decisiones. Su metodología fue estimular la reflexión y el diálogo, invitando a la gente a contar historias sobre lo que habían escuchado en discusiones de gente perteneciente a tribus en otras regiones. Su trabajo les indicó que trabajar definiendo indicadores de desarrollo sería prematuro ya que tendrían que distinguir entre lo que la comunidad realmente quería y lo que decían querer, influenciados por las agencias de desarrollo.

Ante dicha realidad les llamó la atención lo reportado por Nazarea (1998:160) acerca de la adaptación del Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT) para crear indicadores relacionados con la ecología.

Consideran que las comunidad3es en procesos de cambio social y cultural, debido al mismo no están en posición de definir claramente sus expectativas de desarrollo, y por tal es difícil crear conjuntamente con ellas indicadores reales de desarrollo. Critican a Nazarea de haber inducido, a través de fotografías, a los nativos a decir cosas consecuentes con los intereses de los investigadores, no con sus propias expectativas.

CLARIDAD 4
MARISOL PÉREZ-LIZAUR Universidad Iberoamericana

McDonald, James H. The neoliberal project and governmentality in rural Mexico: Emergent farmer organization in the Michoacan Highlands. Human Organization. Fall, 1999 Vol. 58(3): 274-284.

This article compares the neoliberal ideals of Mexico’s “economic reform” initiated by the Michoacan state and El Paraiso, a medium-scale commercial dairy processor, with the on-the-ground reality and perceptions of small-scale dairy farmers in Michoacan Mexico. The neoliberal ideal is to both rationally and competitively increase the efficiency, productivity and quality of the dairy industry in Michoacan. Neoliberal reforms would require changes in agricultural practices and household economies of dairy farmers.

McDonald uses Foucault’s concept of governmentality, where “the state is constituted by a hierarchical web of state agents and their practices accompanied by some sort of legitimizing discourse,” to help in understanding the relationships between globalization, the state, local processors and local producers.

McDonald provides a brief history of neoliberalism in Mexico, and the effects that NAFTA has had on the market. Neoliberalism has caused Mexican government to curtail social welfare programs and redistribute the risk onto the individual. This was done by removing the “socioeconomic safety net” made up of access to credit, price supports, production subsidies, and tariff barriers.

According to the author, it is virtually impossible for most farmers in Michoacan to organize and adopt new techniques of production under the conditions of the Mexican neoliberal ideal. The farmers are “characterized by a peasant-like form of production, relying on limited and simple forms of technology in conjunction with labor-intensive and land extensive techniques.” The processor was in serious economic trouble following the implementation of NAFTA, and needed to expand beyond the immediate local market. This required increased efficiency, productivity and quality. Without better quality milk, the processor could not compete at a national level. The quality of the milk was poor because farmers had to transport it for as long as an hour before reaching the processor, and the milk would gather acidity and bacteria along the way.

The processor appealed to the state for assistance. The state responded with a program to train farmers in simple techniques that would increase the quality and volume of production, and to organize the farmers. “Once organized, it was presumed, farmers (1) would form interactive mutual-support groups…(2) could receive valuable training in basic production techniques…; and (3) would be able to achieve economies-of-scale.” The state promised used equipment such as a feed-mixer that would allow for production of their own feed at a lower price to decrease costs, bulk-milk refrigerators to provide refrigeration for outlying communities to increase quality, along with researchers and veterinarians to consult and advise the farmers.

The response by the farmers to the reform was mixed, but the majority supported the idea. However the farmers waited for the help from the state before they would begin working on improving milk quality, while the state required the quality rise before offering any help. The processor was stuck in the middle. The processor offered a bonus if the milk met or exceeded the plant’s quality standards. But the farmers faced constraints in terms of infrastructure, technology and economies of scale.

The state failed to provide promised assistance, the farmers were left worse off than before, and the processor was unable to compete in a larger market. This article is packed with information that a brief review can not fully cover. The main focus of the article was on the local farmer, and their interaction with neoliberal ideals of Mexico’s new agrarian policy. The author concludes that farmers were left in almost the same situation that they started; using self-exploitation, unpaid family labor, and underpaid wage labor to survive. However, now the farmers think that the processor is trying to exploit them, and the processor was unable to make the leap to a national market. The state is the villain of this story, failing to deliver on its promises.

CLARITY RANKING: 4
CHAPIN, BROCK California State University, Chico (William Loker)

McDonald, James H. The Neoliberal Project and Governmentality in Rural Mexico: Emergent Farmer Organization in the Michoacán Highlands. Human Organization Fall, 1999. Vol.58 (3):274-284.

McDonald explora la dislocación entre los ideales neoliberales y la realidad en el contexto mexicano a través del caso, en el noroeste de Michoacán, de productores de leche a pequeña escala y su relación con el dueño de una planta mediana procesadora de productos lácteos y los diferentes niveles de agentes del Estado mexicano.

El autor sostiene que difícilmente se puede implementar y operar el neoliberalismo en México debido a las particulares condiciones socioeconómicas e históricas que prevalecen en los sistemas rurales de producción que resultan incongruentes primero, con los objetivos de calidad y productividad exigidos por los mercados internacionales, y segundo, con las políticas económicas del Estado y su instrumentación para lograr esos objetivos.

Para demostrar lo anterior, realiza trabajo de campo en los veranos de 1996 y 1997 en el noroeste de Michoacán en donde visita y entrevista a los diferentes actores del proceso de modernización de esta industria, tanto a nivel local como estatal, comparándola con industrias similares de Jalisco.

Llega a la conclusión de que los nuevos conceptos de producción, asociados con la globalización y las ideas neoliberales, no tendrán éxito sin una base económica y un apoyo coherente entre los diferentes niveles de gobierno, profundizándose cada vez más el espacio entre el discurso y la práctica que podría llevar a la desaparición de esta industria a pequeña escala.

CLARIDAD:5
SUSANA PEDRAZA-GARRIDO Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Mulhare, Hielen M. Mindful of the Future: Strategic Planning Ideology and the Culture of Nonprofit Management. Human Organization. Fall 1999 Vol. 58 No. 3 : 323-330.

La autora trata el problema del la relación entre la herramienta de planeación estratégica y la ideología y valores que implica y por tanto, de la inadecuación de tal recurso para la realidad de las organizaciones no lucrativas en EU.

A partir de una revisión del origen de la planeación estratégica, nos muestra cómo esta herramienta surgió en un contexto particular, para un tipo de organización; con lo cual nos muestra la visión y valores que le son implícitos, como la visión de futuro, de racionalización lineal de medios, la necesaria acción centralizada que requiere, etc. Todo lo cual se da en condiciones que sólo las grandes corporaciones pueden tener.

Sin embargo, en el caso de las organizaciones no lucrativas, la autora constata a partir de la experiencia propia, de estudios de observación, entrevistas, etc., cómo tales implícitos no corresponden a la naturaleza y realidad de tales organizaciones; a pesar de lo cual, también nos explica cómo y por qué la mayoría de ellas han iniciado un proceso de adopción de tales herramientas de planeación y toma de decisiones.

La misma autora examina ese proceso de adopción, nos explica que básicamente está ligado con las expectativas, intereses y valores de las personas que aportan donativos, así como los consejeros provenientes del mundo de las grandes corporaciones, reforzado por la expectativa social, en parte derivado de la creciente competencia, que identifica el uso de la herramienta con un estatus de profesionalismo y buen manejo, por tanto de confianza y credibilidad.

Finalmente, la autora nos propone estudiar y adoptar la diversidad de prácticas de dirección y toma de decisión que nos presenta una perspectiva antropológica a partir de la experiencia de las propias organizaciones no lucrativas.

CLARITY: 4
JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA CHAGOYÁN Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez Lizaur)

Mulhare, Eileen M . Mindful of the future: Strategic Planning Ideology and the Culture of Non-Profit Management. Human Organization; Fall 1999; volume58 (3): 323-330

This article is a review and critique of the managerial techniques used by non-governmental organizations and nonprofit organizations. The author discusses the use of strategic planning (SP) and its use in nonprofit organizations as a technique and a method of designing and implementing policy. Mulhare analyzes SP as a technique that is imbedded in the culture of nonprofit management. SP may be implemented for a variety of reasons, all of which stem from the historical developments of nonprofit management and are explained clearly and thoroughly in the article. For example the first SP users were large-scale manufacturing firms, such as General Electric, who sought new forms of cost-benefit analysis to improve their return investment. Seeing these results in the manufacturing industry, other organizations turned to SP in the hope of improving revenues, cost-efficiency, client satisfaction, employee motivation and public support. The point of contention is whether strategic planning increases an organization’s prospects for success in nongovernmental and noncommercial agencies or if it is better suited only for the profit-earning business sector.

SP is an umbrella term for a variety of formal approaches to the development and decision making practices of non-governmental, nonprofit organizations. Mulhare has assembled the article in a way that makes the information easily digestible for individuals who have little to no knowledge of the management hierarchy in large organizations. Mulhare includes a section on “SP Ideology” that provides background on the theories behind this widespread managerial technique. There is also a section on the origins of the SP movement, nonprofit management and professional culture. These are helpful in understanding the context in which these practices are being used and the actual versus the desired effects of SP.

A growing number of nonprofit organizations are reducing their reliance on SP, focusing instead on more diverse and open-ended approaches enabling organizations to reach their goals through determined action. The SP model is based on envisioning the desired future of an organization and how to achieve it. Although the SP model allows for multiple scenarios, the main criticism of SP remains, that it does not allow for enough experiential learning because of its somewhat rigid framework. Mulhare states, “Deliberately planned strategies are mostly ineffectual and even counterproductive. SP tends to inhibit creativity and adaptability and reinforce the status quo” (Mulhare 1999).

Overall the article was well written, concise and clear. Having had no previous exposure to the topic or related issues, this article provided the proper information and enabled me to understand the current nature of the SP process, as well as the origins and recent critiques of SP.

Clarity rating: 4
NINA KAPLAN, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, CHICO (William Loker)

Nazarea, Virginia, Robert Rhoades, Erla Bontoyan and Gabriela Flora. Defining Culturally Relevant Indicators: What Are We Waiting For? Human Organization. Summer. 1999 (2) 219-220

Los autores comentan a Marlor et. Al. E indican que el objetivo de su trabajo fue entender conceptos localmente definidos y estándares, así como el localizar en mapas la variación de perspectivas y prioridades como una función de etnia, género y edad. Es decir documentar el conocimiento común sobre el medio ambiente, no el de expertos.

Agradecen a sus comentaristas la sugerencia de haber invitado a los nativos a priorizar sus indicadores con su propios criterios e invitan a sus críticos a hacerles sugerencias al respecto. También agradecen las críticas relativas al muestreo, aunque comentan que efectivamente sus informante fueron seleccionados al azar entre los informantes disponibles y dispuestos a colaborar, siempre buscando que fuesen representativos de la diversidad de la población.

Consideran que se acercaron a lo que la gente realmente quería y reconocen que es muy difícil y utópico llegar a una total objetividad en cualquier trabajo científico.

CLARIDAD 5
MARISOL PÉREZ –LIZAUR Universidad Iberoamericana

Nadeau, Kathy. “Beyond the Dumping Ground”: A Critique of the Basic Eclesial Community Model as a Strategy for Development in an Urban Site. Human Organization, 1999 Vol. 58 No. 2 : 153-160.

Con base en el estudio etnográfico de una comunidad urbana y marginal de Filipinas, la autora hace una crítica el modelo de comunidades eclesiales de base como forma de desarrollo.

Kathy Nadeau compara el origen y principios teóricos de las comunidades eclesiales de base y del modelo de desarrollo que proponen contra la realidad observada en una comunidad urbana marginal de Filipinas.

En efecto, a través del método etnográfico la autora nos muestra la diferencia de visiones, expectativas y formas de uso del ‘modelo’ de desarrollo, entre las diversas personas y grupos, dentro y fuera, de la comunidad.

Las inconsistencias del modelo, de acuerdo con la autora, se derivan del hecho que el modelo de desarrollo fue creado en y para comunidades campesinas, así como debido a la introyección de los valores de la sociedad capitalista en las personas de la comunidad. Sin embargo no plantea la pregunta de si es posible tal introyección y en su caso, la manera en la que ocurrió.

CLARITY: 3
JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA CHAGOYÁN Universidad Iberoamericana (Dra. Marisol Pérez Lizaur)

Nadeau, Kathy, “Beyond the Dumping Ground”: A Critique of the Basic Ecclesial Community Model as a Strategy for Development in an Urban Site. Human Organization Spring 1999 Vol.58 (2): 153-160.

This article is focused on examining the efficacy of the Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC) in their efforts to promote self-reliance in the Philippine’s Cebu City’s dumpsite scavenger community. While faced with theological noncompliance and capitalistic rationale within the population, the BEC is established in a pattern that is effective in poor rural communities but has had little effect in promoting change in this urban site.

Nadeau explains the BEC’s efforts to undermine capitalistic modes of production and traditional social structures in order to slowly replace them with ecologically self-sustaining communities. Through background information on the BEC movement she shows us the religious, altruistic nature of the organization and its intentions in allowing the people to gain control over their resources and giving them the power to create and maintain sustainable development. She later exemplifies how these efforts towards development are ineffective at Cebu because of the poor land conditions and the competitive wages that the people earn in the scavenging of recyclable goods at the dumpsite.

Using her experience at the Cebu site, interviews and other forms of participant observation, Nadeau shows a clear understanding of the history and economic conditions at the dumpsite. By establishing the financial difficulties of the working poor in Cebu she shows us the wage is significantly higher for the dump scavenger than it is for factory and construction workers. At the dumpsite the scavengers are free from harassment and ridicule faced by street scavengers (156). It is clear that the poor living conditions have not deterred the population who live and raise their children there.

She discusses the BEC’s soap making classes, agricultural efforts, and opportunities provided in offering scholarships for children. These scholarships were offered in return for the parents’ attendance in church, assistance with the running of church related activities and associated bookkeeping. These active strategies were originally designed to help struggling families in rural areas. The urban dumpsite families needs show through when the soap doesn’t make money, the crops fail in the dumps polluted soils, and the scholarships don’t even provide enough money for the transportation of the students. The time, for these people, is most valuable when they, and their children, scavenge for a living.

Nadeau concludes her article by explaining that it is the economic separation between wealthy and poor that has allowed the difficult conditions for the Cebu scavengers to continue. Because of social, economic and educational constraints the efforts by the BEC are not likely to attain success in an urban environment where corruption and bureaucracy are prevalent. She suggests a holistic approach that incorporates government support may be the only way to induce change in solving this level of poverty in this urban setting.

CLARITY RANKING: 4
HUDSON, COLLEEN California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Nazarea D. Virginia, Robert E. Rhoades, Erla Bontoyan, and Gabriela Flora. Catch the Tiger by the Tail: Some Notes on Method. Human Organization. 1999 (3) 349-350.

Los autores están muy complacidos por la discusión que generó su trabajo (Human Organization 57:159-169). Pero consideran que la discusión tendría que centrarse alrededor de algunos puntos teóricos y metodológicos, en lugar de hacerlo alrededor de puntos técnicos. Aclaran que:

1.- Que lo importante de una muestra es que sea estratificada y que refleje la variación interna de la comunidad, pero sobre todo que refleje el patrón intercultural del conocimiento.

2.- La relativa frecuencia de los temas son sus indicadores de la relativa importancia que las distintas categorías de personas de la comunidad le otorgan a diferentes problemáticas. La investigación etnográfica les permitió identificar escenas que tuvieran una mayor posibilidad de evocar una respuesta.

3.-Creen que el método por ellos desarrollado puede ayudar a desarrollar y mejorar la validez interna y externa de indicadores culturales relevantes. Esto tiene limitantes, considerando que los investigadores seleccionaron los temas dominantes y las escalas de evaluación. Las limitantes pueden ser controladas a través de la investigación etnográfica y de la comparación.

CLARIDAD 4
MARISOL PÉREZ LIZAUR Universidad Iberoamericana

Nolan, Justin & Robbins, Michael. Cultural Conservation of Medicinal Plant Use in the Ozarks. Human Organization, Spring, 1999. Vol. 58 (1):67-72.

Realiza un análisis de algunos factores asociados a la preservación de la medicina folk en la comunidad de Ozark, USA. Los autores realizan un análisis estadístico aplicando correlación múltiple y regresión para vincular el uso de plantas medicinales con cinco diferentes variables: 1) cercanía a centros urbanos, 2) Número de médicos en el condado, 3) Actividad comercial (ventas al menudeo), 4) Densidad de población, 5) Cantidad de población mayor de 18 años , 5) Área dedicada a la agricultura, 6) Cantidad de médicos en la comunidad.

Los autores reportan que por orden de importancia sus resultados presentan lo siguiente:

1.- Que el uso de plantas se correlacionó con la distancia a centros urbanos (r=.76, p < .01).

2.- El uso de plantas medicinales con la cantidad de médicos en el condado (r= -.66, p < .0 1). Para los autores este patrón sugiere que la ubicación de las personas en relación a los centros cosmopolitas y servicios, ha contribuido a la continuidad del uso de plantas medicinales.

3.- El uso de plantas medicinales y las ventas al menudeo (r=.66, p < .05), para los autores quiere decir que el pequeño propietario de pensamiento médico tradicional en Ozark, es inversamente proporcional a la actividad comercial y concomitante a los patrones de acceso y adquisición de bondades y servicios cosmopolitas.

4.- El uso de las plantas medicinales con la baja densidad de población en los condados, hace que las clínicas se ubiquen fuera de estos espacios, lo que hace que la medicina folk sea en especial una opción (r= .62, p < .05)

5.-Los autores interpretaron que la relación entre el uso de plantas medicinales con la cantidad de personas mayores de 18 años (r=.57, p < .05), significa que las comunidades habitadas por personas mayores conservan más la creencia en medicina tradicional que las comunidades constituidas por gente joven.

6.- El uso de plantas medicinales y la cantidad de tierra dedicada a la agricultura, presentó una baja correlación (r= -.47, p <01).

CLARIDAD : 4
LETICIA OSORNIO CASTILLO, México, Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Oldach, David. Regarding Pfiesteria. Human Organization. Winter. 199 (4).459-460

El autor es un profesor asociado de medicina en la Universidad de Maryland y ha participado en la investigación sobre los efectos de la Pfiesteria en la salud pública. Como tal menciona que aún existen muchas preguntas que responder acerca de la relación directa entre el fenómeno y la salud pública.

CLARITY 5
MARISOL PÉREZ-LIZAUR Universidad Iberoamericana

Olson, Jan. Are Artesanal Cooperatives in Guatemala Unraveling?. Human Organization. Spring. 1999. Vol. 58 (1):254-266

El autor parte de que las cooperativas artesanales en Guatemala, enfrentan un futuro cuestionable. Las cooperativas artesanales, las economías nacionales y globales comunes hacen a un lado el trabajo manual a favor de la industrialización y la estandarización.

Su propósito fue entender los beneficios económicos y sociales que obtienen las mujeres que participan en cooperativas artesanales locales. Para ello, retoma información de 3 cooperativas textiles de las Tierras Altas de Guatemala., por medio de entrevistas realizadas durante 4 meses a mujeres que formaban parte de las cooperativa, a personal del gobierno, a vendedores, a tejedores que no formaban parte de las cooperativas y con vendedores extranjeros. También retoma datos documentales acerca de la historia de las cooperativas en Guatemala, menciona su organización y estructura.

Concluye que las mujeres no han incrementado su poder social y económico con su participación en el sistema de cooperativas, por lo menos no en la extensión de lo que deseaban. La mujeres del pueblo2, perdieron mucho de su status de mujeres nativas asociado al uso del telar de cintura , cuando sus telares fueron reemplazados por telar de pie. Los miembros del pueblo cinco, sienten estar empleadas por ARTEXCO y que éstos sean los directores, además de que consideran que sus ingresos no son mayores de lo que ganaban trabajando en las maquiladoras. Las mujeres del pueblo cuatro, tienen más poder social y constituyen una excepción en relación con las otras cooperativas, debido a que viven dentro de una comunidad cuya historia conlleva en sí misma una igualdad social y la existencia de su grupo está fuera de la estructura de la federación, aunque otrara fuera de ARTEXCO ha golpeado su desenvolvimiento en la economía internacional de mercado, con el tiempo les ha permitido la oportunidad de producir materiales de alta calidad de los que se sienten orgullosas. En las cooperativas que reporta el autor, el 78% de sus agremiados están insatisfechos con ARTEXCO y sus actividades o, con los efectos de la política federal en el mercado de la artesanía textil. Aún cuando los fondos sean dirigidos a cooperativas individuales y las estrategias de ARTEXCO no son plenamente participativas con las organizaciones, el hecho del empleo y el ingreso asociados a ellas, esta haciendo que muchas cooperativas estén desapareciendo.

CLARIDAD : 5
LETICIA OSORNIO CASTILLO, Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Jan M. Olson. Are Artesanal Cooperatives in Guatemala Unraveling? Human Organization, Spring 1999, Vol. 58(1):54-66.

In this article, the author examines the artenasal co-operative system in Guatemala. Though co-operatives are generally implemented to benefit smaller-scale artisans, often located in rural areas, Olson points out that Guatemala’s co-operative system does not achieve these goals. Through Olson’s analysis of three weaving co-operatives in rural Guatemala, she illustrates clearly the failure of the co-operative federation, ARTEXCO, and the National Institute of Co-operatives, INACOP, to provide improved wages, working conditions, expand markets or improvements in overall quality of life. The author asserts that these problems threaten the future of weaving co-operatives in Guatemala.

Olson begins with a history of co-operative participation in artesanal activities in Guatemala, beginning as a reaction to diminishing markets and profits for individual artisans due to the political and social unrest of the 1980s. Next, she introduces the three co-operatives she focused on, Pueblo Dos , Pueblo Quatro, and Pueblo Cinco. Each co-operative experienced unique problems, from lack of female representation in decision-making in Pueblo Dos, to lack of training opportunities for co-op members, a problem shared by all. Yet most problems, Olson points out, originate with these co-operative organization and management groups. Monetary mismanagement, sexual discrimination, uneven distribution of resources among co-operatives; the author cites numerous interviews and instances of ARTEXCO improprieties, due largely to the mishandling of administration and lack of local participation in decision-making. In particular, Olson cites specific examples of sexual discrimination, not only against the all-female co-operatives in the larger market, but within the co-operative management groups, ARTEXCO and INACOP, as well. Through Olson’s insights and observations, we see that what may have began as an effort to improve the lives of rural Guatemalan artisans may be at the heart of the destruction of the rural artesanal co-operative community.

Olson presents a grim future for the artesanal co-operative in rural Guatemala. Rural cooperatives find it increasingly difficult to keep up with trends such as international market expansion, as well as fluctuations in quantity and style demands. Olson concludes that the weaving co-ops of Guatemala are situated at the base of a complex hierarchy and that grassroots activities, such as the individual co-operative, are key cells within which the preservation of the Guatemalan weaving tradition can be continued.

CLARITY RANKING: 4
TRAVAS HUNTER California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Ortiz, Victor M. Only Time Can Tell If Geography is Still Destiny: Time, Space, and NAFTA in a U.S.-Mexican Border City. Human Organization Summer, 1999 Vol. 58 (2):173-181

In this article, Ortiz discusses the time and space dimensions of globalization in the context of the border city of El Paso. He analyses two local strategies that are both aimed at influencing the economic orientation of the city to deal with problems of globalization. The two divergent strategies are led by individuals with different sociopolitical backgrounds, which affect the strategies they promote. One is a Chicana labor activist from El Paso whose aim is to enlist local government, business, and community in saving El Paso’s garment industry. The other is an Anglo business professor from the Midwest that had hoped to develop a regional industrial base in preparation for the passage of NAFTA. Coordination of the two strategies did not materialize due to discrepancies between local and global capabilities, ethnic, class, and gender dynamics, and the image of the professor’s plan as progress towards the future in contrast to the activist’s plan to save and revive an industry of the past.

Ortiz uses David Harvey’s concept of space/time “compression” to illustrate the dynamic role of temporal and spatial dimensions in globalization. In Harvey’s concept, technological advances in communication and travel lead to a compression of spatial dimensions and temporal distances. The effect of this can be seen in the rapidly changing relation of global production and distribution strategies. For El Paso these changes stem from NAFTA, the maquiladora program, and ongoing shifts of the international garment industry and labor costs. This local to global interplay manifests itself in the divergent strategies of the two leaders, and accounts for the difficulty of the local El Paso community to determine its role in a rapidly globalizing world. Ortiz a native of El Paso based this article on five periods of fieldwork from 1987 to 1997 that included interviews, archival research and attendance at pertinent social gatherings.

The article chronicles the history of El Paso and its twin city across the Mexican border, Ciudad Juarez, as related to economics, labor, border issues, NAFTA, and other aspects of globalization. This history illustrates the boom and bust volatility of the local economy due to its border location, and how this history relates to globalization and the two strategies presented. This is followed by an account of both the labor and entrepreneurial strategies outlined above. Dr. Ortiz details Carmen Rocha’s founding of La Mujer Obrera in 1982 and the creation of The High Fashion Institute in 1994. He first speaks to the success of the program in helping the garment industry stay on its feet and then illustrates the decline of that progress due to the overwhelming forces of globalization. Dr. David Morris’s entrepreneurial strategy is concentrated on reengineering the infrastructure base of El Paso to take into account the global marketplace and possible opportunities offered by NAFTA. He saw a need for the traditional garment industry to be renovated to incorporate technological advances, which he believed would create more jobs. Further he believed that the local industries lacked the capital and technical capabilities to do this, and therefore outside assistance was necessary.

Ortiz’s conclusion refers to David Harvey’s concept of space and place. The entrepreneurial strategy is correlated with a focus on space while the labor strategy is correlated to a focus on place.

Space concerns the outlook of profit-oriented strategies in which geographical demarcations are primarily seen as abstract economic factors, to be reformulated to efficiently serve increasingly integrated networks of competition and accumulation. For the residents of these territorial extensions, however, geographical demarcations have additional meanings, ranging from emotional attachments to material subsistence. The tension between locally and globally oriented developments derives from the fact that residents inhabit places instead of merely using space, as business strategies pretend, Ortiz, (178).

These concepts are illustrated by Morris’s concern with infrastructure and its relation to the global market, while Rocha’s main concern is with the employment and well being of local communities and businesses. According to Ortiz this interplay between globalization and local interests is acting itself out not just in El Paso but across the world. Globalization with its constant reconfiguring of temporal and spatial factors has led to the subordination of El Paso’s economic planning to global factors and interests. Both strategies are attempts to transcend this subordinated role and have had some success. This partial success has had problems stemming from discrepancies between local groups, and between El Paso and the global economy. Ortiz looks to the sociopolitical aspects of these discrepancies to illustrate David Harvey’s theories on the role temporal and spatial factors in globalization.

CLARITY RANKING: 5
ADRIAN ALVAREZ JOHNSON California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Ortiz, Victor. Only Time Can Tell if Geography is Still Destiny: Time, Space, and NAFTA in a U.S.-Mexican Border City. Human Organization Summer, 1999. Vol.58 (2):173-181.

El artículo se enfoca a la acción recíproca entre el tiempo y el espacio de la globalización y las dinámicas socio-políticas y técnicas de El Paso, Texas, derivadas del NAFTA, tomando dos estrategias locales distintas para orientar la economía de la ciudad.

La primera estrategia está encabezada por un académico que, ante los cambios en la economía de El Paso provocados por la globalización, propone nuevas alternativas económicas; y la segunda por una activista laboral que lucha por la permanencia de la industria local del vestido y los derechos de sus trabajadores.

Ortiz muestra que aún cuando a través de las dos estrategias se busca revitalizar la economía local con los consiguientes beneficios para sus habitantes, éstas se enfrentan, por el problema de recursos locales limitados, a capacidades y requerimientos locales y globales diferentes, así como a diferencias en la dinámica de clase, etnicidad, género e ideologías para lograrlo.

Para demostrar éstas diferencias, el autor narra la historia del proceso del cambio en la economía local y el desarrollo de las dos estrategias basándose en cinco periodos de trabajo de campo que llevó a cabo entre el verano de 1987 y marzo de 1997 y 27 entrevistas con activistas laborales, pequeños empresarios y gente del gobierno de El Paso, además de consultar periódicos, archivos oficiales, documentos de los dos grupos y participar en diferentes tipos de reuniones.

Concluye que las diferentes visiones de espacio y lugar, el primero refiriéndose a estrategias de negocios en donde las demarcaciones geográficas son abstractas en términos económicos y el segundo a extensiones territoriales en donde las demarcaciones geográficas y las necesidades derivadas de vivir ahí tienen otro significado, adquieren significados distintos en la frontera, ya que las decisiones a corto y largo plazos están subordinadas a diferencias en los intereses geopolíticos y económicos locales y no locales, independientes a los costos sociales para sus residentes.

CLARIDAD:5
SUSANA PEDRAZA-GARRIDO Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Oestrich Lurie, Nancy. Commentary. Sol Tax and Tribal Sovereignity. Human Organization. Spring. Vol 58 (1). 1999. 108-117

Este comentario es un ejemplo de un proyecto de Antropología Aplicada, socialmente fundamentado y de acuerdo a una estrategia y un claro plan de juego. El recuento de los orígenes, organización, dinámica y resultados a lo largo del tiempo de la American Indian Chicago Conference es también un ejemplo de cómo un antropólogo, con conocimientos sobre el tema a tratar y con conexiones políticas claves, tanto con tomadores de decisiones, como con la población involucrada, puede servir de intermediario para alcanzar objetivos favorables para las comunidades, sujtos de su estudio. En resumidas cuentas es una buena ilustración de lo que debe ser un proyecto de Antropología Aplicada.

La propuesta de la American Indian Chicago Conference, en la década de lo 1950, fue una respuesta de Sol Tax a la amenaza de la soberanía tribal. Ante la problemática de la desunión de los grupos indígenas americanos y la amenaza política de su soberanía, planteó una propuesta, basada en su concepto de antropología-acción. Como un antropólogo activista, promovió y consiguió los recursos necesarios para organizar un encuentro de los distintos grupos indígenas americanos en la universidad de Chicago. Formó un comité organizador, en el que participó un antropólogo indígena, para convocar a las tribus y desarrollar un documento base para discusión. Durante la conferencia, en julio de 1961, los representantes de los distintos grupos discutieron, de acuerdo con su particular modo de discusión, las reglas de participación, organización y discusión. Organizados con base en ellas, lograron establecer relaciones y acuerdos intertribales así como la elaboración de una Declaración de las intenciones indias, que fue entregado formalmente al Presidente Kennedy, a través del comisionado para asuntos indígenas de su gobierno, Philleo Nash, amigo de Sol Tax.

Esta conferencia y la declaración han servido de base para la acción económica y el posicionamiento de los grupos indígenas norteamericanos hasta el día de hoy, fue la base para hacerlos artífices de su propio desarrollo y capaces de pelear y explotar sus recursos.

CLARIDAD 4
MARISOL PÉREZ LIZAUR Universidad Iberoamericana.

Paolisso, Michael, Sarah Gammage and Linda Casey. Gender and household-level responses to soil degradation in Honduras. Human Organization. Fall, 1999 Vol. 58(3): 261-273.

This article assesses the widespread degradation of natural resources in Honduras, combined with response to the devastation of Hurricane Mitch, to determine how and why responses to natural resource decline may be gender-differentiated within households based on the division of labor by sex.

According to the authors, natural resource degradation in Honduras is the result of “decades of entrenched poverty, population pressure, and inadequate policies and programs,” which has resulted in “extensive use of unsuitable agricultural practices, commercial tree cutting, forest fires, cattle ranching, and unequal land distribution” that all degrade the natural resources. As good agricultural land becomes scarce, people are increasingly cultivating hillsides and other marginal land. These agricultural practices combined with critical levels of deforestation cause serious soil erosion and threaten the future of Honduras.

Using hypotheses, theories and bodies of empirical work, the article explores why there would be differences in response natural resource degradation by gender. There hypotheses include: (1) women have greater motivation to manage local natural resources to ensure that households meet their daily food and health needs, (2) ecofeminist theory that argues “women are ‘naturally’ more in touch with environmental concerns due to biological and maternal drives,” but “powerless and marginalized from environmental decisions.” Empirical work “has documented how women’s responses to natural resource degradation is not only successful in combating environmental degradation, but also instrumental in reconstructing gender relations within the household.”

Fieldwork was located Yuscaran, Honduras, due to its similarities to the rest of Central America, based on “small farm size; emphasis on subsistence production of corn and beans; some cash cropping and off-farm work to meet income needs; and a degrading resource base that limits the access to high-quality soils, water, and forest products.” Methods used included rapid survey, interviews, and observations in the field, a household survey questionnaire, and community workshops. Information was collected on “local environmental and agricultural conditions and practices, health, population, migration, family planning, socioeconomic conditions, and the productive and reproductive activities of men, women, and children.” “The research team returned to each community after the completion of data analysis to discuss the findings with community members.”

The data collected pointed to gender differences in response to natural resource degradation. The article concludes that “Status of soils directly affects household economic and nutritional well-being,” (and) “the soils in Yuscaran are only marginally suited for sustained agricultural use” with “most of the land being farmed on hilly or steep terrain.” Through the use of fertilizers and methods of soil conservation, farmers can combat the effects of soil erosion and depletion, however they would rather start on fresh soil than try to regenerate tired soils. If the men do not succeed in producing crops, then the burden may fall on the women to compensate for the loss. Women tend to stay closer to the household, and must use the land available around them regardless of soil quality. Whereas men may allocate less time to land with poor soil quality, soil quality does not effect a woman’s allocation of time. The age of the female and the number of adult in the household are more liable to effect a woman’s allocation of time to crops.

Women’s agricultural work does not “increase in response to declining soil quality, nor does male off-farm work. Rather, women’s response to natural resource degradation is constrained by the demographic structure of the household and the burden of caring for infants and young children.” “The regional results indicate that men’s time in corn production is influenced positively by soil quality and negatively by whether the plot is prone to erosion. Women’s agricultural work is not affected by differences in soil quality, but by household demographic structures and the associated reproductive duties of child care.”

The article provides a clear account of the gendered responses to natural resource decline, but the discussion on solutions for the problem are not so clear. Managing responsibilities like child care keeps women from traveling too far from home to practice agriculture, and separates land usage by gender. With women using the land that is accessible within their immediate vicinity, and not according the environment, the question of whether the difference was determined by environmental concerns proved to be false.

CLARITY RANKING: 5
CHAPIN, BROCK California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Paolisso Michael, Sarah Gammage, and Linda Casey. Gender and Household-Level Responses to Soil Degradation in Honduras. Human Organization. Fall. 1999 Vol. No 3:261-273

Los autores tienen como pregunta central si la calidad del suelo afecta el tiempo que pasan en labores agrícolas hombres y mujeres.

El estudio se hace con base en trabajo etnográfico realizado durante 2 años, de 1994 a 1996 en el municipio de YUSCARAN al sudeste de Honduras, aproximadamente a 80 km. de Tegucigalpa, la capital. Se estudiaron cuatro comunidades que son: LA CIDRA, RANCHO EL OBISPO, EL ZARZAL y TABLA GRANDE. Todas pertenecen a Yuscarán. Son pequeñas y estructuradas como economías de subsistencia. Tienen desarrollo similar , así como demografía y características económicas similares. En las cuatro hay alta migración permanente y poca migración temporal.

La investigación se hace en colaboración con WORLD NEIGHBORS/ HONDURAS así como INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN (ICRW ).

W.N había estado antes en las mismas comunidades y esto facilitó el acceso a ellas; habían emprendido un proyecto para promover prácticas de agricultura de bajo costo junto con ICRW para reducir la erosión del suelo, proveer fertilidad al mismo , proveer servicios de educación básica y ofrecer planeación familiar y salud materno infantil.

Recaban información cualitativa y cuantitativa.. La metodología incluyó entrevistas iniciales con informantes claves hombres y mujeres. Con base en esto se diseñó un estudio sobre la degradación del suelo, que recolectaba información sobre condiciones de desarrollo local agrícola, prácticas de salud, población, migración, planeación familiar, condiciones socioeconómicas , actividades productivas y reproductivas de hombres , mujeres y niños.

Una parte fue diseñado para la mujer principal de cada familia, otra para el hombre principal y una más para cualquier adulto miembro del grupo doméstico. Hubo varios talleres (workshops ) enfocados a hablar sobre problemas de la comunidad.

Presentan tablas con datos comparativos del tiempo que invierten hombres y mujeres en labores domésticas y agrícolas.

El resultado indica que el tiempo que invierten hombres en la producción del maíz es influenciado positivamente por la calidad del suelo y negativamente cuando es erosionado. El trabajo de mujeres es afectado por diferencias en la calidad del suelo pero por estructuras demográficas y asociado a deberes reproductivos y cuidado de los niños.

La presión social y cultural en Yuscarán es que la agricultura es trabajo de hombres pero debido a la alta migración masculina esto tiende a cambiar especialmente después de la devastación provocada por el huracán Mitch.

CLARITY : 5
SCARLETT ZAMORA. Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Quandt, Sara A. and Pamela Rao. Hunger and Food Security Among Older Adults in a Rural Community. Human Organization Spring, 1999. Vol.58 (1):28-34.

El artículo muestra los problemas relacionados con el hambre o la inseguridad para obtener comida que enfrentan las personas mayores de 65 años o más en las comunidades rurales, así como las alternativas que éstos tienen para solucionarlos incluyendo diferentes programas gubernamentales.

En lo particular, demuestran las debilidades de las políticas públicas para este sector rural de bajos niveles de ingresos que no toman en consideración elementos como lo aislado de algunas viviendas, la falta de transporte de éstas hacia los centros de distribución de comida, los antecedentes de vida laboral que les aseguran o no un ingreso regular, la desintegración de sus redes sociales cuando las personas más jóvenes deben salir a buscar trabajo fuera de la comunidad debido a la falta de oportunidades en éstas, o enfermedades.

El estudio es parte de una investigación llevada a cabo en 16 comunidades en Estados Unidos, y el artículo está basado en los datos de una de esas comunidades. Fue llevado a cabo durante un mes entre 192 residentes del Condado de Perry en la región de Appalachia mediante cuestionarios estructurados aplicados en entrevistas personales, que consideran las barreras materiales, sociales y de salud que tienen para asegurar una alimentación nutritiva y regular, tomando en consideración factores de género, ingreso, edad, datos varios de vivienda y condiciones de salud. Los resultados se ajustaron dando un peso determinado al censo de 1990.

Aunque concluyen que es necesaria una mayor participación de fondos del gobierno en programas de nutrición para gente mayor que tomen en cuenta los factores mencionados anteriormente, también consideran que es necesario validar los resultados obtenidos en una muestra más amplia.

CLARIDAD:3
SUSANA PEDRAZA-GARRIDO Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Ryan, G. Measuring the Typicality of Text: Using Multiple Coder for More Than Just Reability and Malidity Cheks.. Human Organization. Fall. 1999. Vol. 58 (3):313-321.

El artículo describe paso a paso la metodología de medición del discurso basada en codificadores múltiples.

Durante el año de 1996 el autor junto con el D Weisner de la escuela de medicina de UCLA, como parte del curso, puso a los alumnos a realizar un análisis cualitativo de manera sistemática, analizando su experiencia con la gripe y el resfriado. Fueron respuestas proporcionadas a un cuestionario de preguntas abiertas. De lo anterior, se retomaron respuestas proporcionadas por 23 médicos [23 pequeños párrafos de respuestas], el reporte de su última experiencia con el resfriado o gripe, este material fue analizado en la clase. De esta discusión, ellos decidieron entrarse entres aspectos: 1) percepción de signos y síntomas, 2) descripción de cómo la enfermedad interrumpe sus actividades diarias, 3) el criterio que ellos seleccionaron para usar un tratamiento. Con los datos obtenidos realizan una matriz.

El objetivo de este método es lograr que el instrumento sea capaz de describir y medir un concepto abstracto en los reportes de una población específica.

El autor sostiene que dicho método ofrece mayores ventajas que la simple medición de la validez y la confiabilidad. Argumenta que: 1) el método propuesto contiene muchas opciones de delimitar claramente los distintos niveles de significado de temas específicos, 2) esta metodología permite mostrar estudios de correlación entre variables aparentemente positivas.

Concluye sugiriendo dos caminos para el uso de códigos múltiples: 1) puede ser usado para describir sistemáticamente rango, tendencia central y, distribución de respuestas. 2) Particularmente nos sirve para identificar grados de diferencia de la periferia con respecto a la respuesta típica de los informantes

CLARIDAD: 4
LETICIA OSORNIO CASTILLO, Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Ryan, Gery W. Measuring the typicality of the text: Using multiple coders for more than just reliability and validity checks. Human Organization. Fall 1999 Vol. 53(3): 313-322

In this article, Ryan examines the use of multiple coders in analytic processes to determine how they impact reliability and validity of the investigator’s conclusions. Because readers often question the evidence presented in ethnographic accounts, he demonstrates that multiple coders can be used “to better link abstract concepts with empirical data.” Ryan asserts that “agreement and disagreement among coders can be used to measure core and peripheral features of abstract constructs and themes,” as well as to identify “exemplary examples” that can be pulled from a text by measuring agreement among multiple coders.

During the summer of 1996, Ryan co-taught a course on qualitative data analysis at the UCLA medical school. Clinicians in the class were asked to describe in a couple short paragraphs “the last time you had a cold or the flu.” The 23 descriptions were then complied and distributed to the class for discussion and analysis. Three themes were identified: signs and symptoms, ways the illness interrupted their lives, and treatment criteria. Each clinician then coded the illness descriptions for the 3 themes.

In order to analyze the coders’ data, Ryan created a matrix, which “allows for comparisons across words, sentences, themes, questions, domains, informants, ethnic groups, and coders” while avoiding investigator interpretation. This allowed him to clearly identify agreement and disagreement among coders. Agreement indicates “core features of a theme” while disagreement reveals “the theme’s peripheral features.” By comparing the coders first in pairs he was able to identify specific coders’ tendencies.

Based on the assumption that words and phrases documented by more coders indicated better representation, Ryan “formatted the output based on the intercoder word frequencies.” He created a mirror image of the typicality output as well in order to juxtapose periphery concepts with core concepts. He also wanted to report on general patterns within the text and to “identify words that are pertinent to a theme but that may have low frequencies.” Ryan found agreement among informants about physiological indicators and severity of symptoms. Even though the informants did not all choose the same words, they followed this pattern in their selections.

In his discussion, Ryan identifies the significance of multicoder agreement as an indication of reliability and validity. Agreement is important in recognizing reliability of coders when the data will be used in statistical analysis, and researchers will find it particularly helpful in text retrieval tasks. He explains that utilizing informants as coders can increase validity of analysis because the research is based on their own understandings of the information they reported rather than the researcher’s interpretations.

Ryan suggests that his findings can be applied to larger research projects. He recommends identifying 10-12 categories or themes to code for. Subordinate categories can be examined when more detail is needed. He also advises that the text to be coded should be reduced to only those sections that are relevant and can be “scanned” for particular themes. Paragraphs containing the themes can be pulled from the document and stored together for coding. The number of coders to used should depend on the frequency of a theme’s occurrence and the levels of distinctions that an investigator wants to make. For themes that are not easily identifiable, the researcher will most likely want to utilize more coders. The researcher will also want to include more coders when identifying core and peripheral structures. By increasing the number of coders the researcher increases the likelihood of distinctions that will be reported. Ultimately, he asserts that investigators should identify for themselves whether to utilize single or multiple coders, depending on the results that they are looking for.

CLARITY RATING: 4
GERAMIAH WEST California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Scheffel, David Z. The Untouchables of Svinia. Human Organization. Spring, 1999 Vo.58:44-58.

David Z. Scheffel’s article “The Untouchables of Svinia,” describes the plight of the Roma, a marginalized and disenfranchised population in Slovakia. The author details the atrocious living conditions of the Roma in Svinia (a village just outside the district capital), using these conditions as the backdrop for his argument for action. Little is known about the Slovakian Roma despite their large concentration. He provides ethnographic details about the social identity of contemporary Slovak Roma that reveal what factors have prevented the Roma from full integration into society. Ultimately, Scheffel hopes this information will gain the attention of North American humanitarian organizations and persuade them to take action.

Scheffel reveals the social forces at work that have hindered the Roma prospect for economic stability. The Roma are loathed and feared by ethnic Slovak. Svinia territory is divided into Roma “blacks,” and ethnic Slovak “whites.” Ethnic Slovaks created these terms and use them as oppressive labels to mark a racial divide between the two groups. The Roma are not allowed to live among the ethnic Slovaks, intermarry, or have any form of durable bond.

Scheffel states that the government is partly responsible for the marginalized existence of the Roma. After WWII, the fascist Slovak state enacted many discriminatory measures that drove the Roma into further isolation, including discriminating in employment and housing. This was the beginning of several different measures that force the Roma into ramshackle settlements making the Roma a truly landless people (current laws prevent many Roma from claiming rights to land).

Using his ethnographic data, Scheffel discusses challenges the Roma face. A pressing issue is the lack of jobs for the Roma; the unemployment rate is 100% because no permanent work is available. Other issues are housing and security, followed by challenges with illiteracy and poor health.

Scheffel describes his current effort to bring governmental attention to the Roma’s plight. The government recognizes the current problems faced by the Roma, but has done little to make any permanent changes. Scheffel has presented pictures, reports, and pleading letters to many foreign aid organizations and private charities, eventually gaining the interest of the European branch of Habitat for Humanity International, the world’s leading NGO that assists people who cannot afford to build and finance homes. With HHI backing the project, Scheffel was able to gain the support of several other organizations, including Heifer Project International, the Trickle Up Program in New York, and the Canadian International Development Agency.

He designed programs along with the Romani community such as building new houses and marketing swine and chickens, to create economic and social opportunities for them. Svinia’s municipal council approved these projects; however the land they allotted for housing development was poor, and the location separate from ethnic Slovaks. This reflects that little has changed in their attitude toward Romani. Roma also still face the problem of income, especially in finding enough long-term jobs to satisfy everyone’s needs. The Svinia Project, lead by Scheffel, is currently in the process of assisting the Roma in creating a more economically stable society.

CLARITY RANKING: 4
MOLLY BARNARD California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Scheffel, D. The Untouchables of Svinia. Human Organization. Spring. 1999. Vol. 58 (1):44-53

El autor aborda la problemática de la población Eslovaca, que se autodenomina Rumana, dentro del poblado de Svinia.

La tesis principal del autor se centra en el aislamiento social y económico de los rumanos respecto de la población en general. Menciona que dicho aislamiento produce que las condiciones de vida para ambos de vean mermadas, particularmente para los rumanos, quienes viven en condiciones “deplorables”.

Scheffel, pretende con este trabajo contribuir a que se de solución a este problema. Realiza trabajo etnográfico, de manera intermitentemente durante 5 años. Retoma datos demográficos y documentales. Su trabajo se ubica en un asentamiento gitano-rumano denominado Osada.

Considera que Osada asume algunas características de los campos de concentración.

El artículo es una denuncia de las condiciones en las que viven los que se autodenominan gitanos rumanos e invita a las autoridades e instituciones a tomar cartas en este asunto.

CLARIDAD: 4
LETICIA OSORNIO CASTILLO, Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Scudder, T. The Emering Global Crisis and Development Anthropology: Can We Have an Impact. Human Organization, Winter.1999. Vol. 58 (4):251-264

El autor envió cuestionarios a 89 antropólogos que han relatando experiencias en cuando a desarrollo en diferentes partes del mundo. Los dividió en siete categorías pertenecientes a seis regiones: Norte América, América Latina , Europa, Medio Oriente, Africa y Asia. Preguntó a una lista de 10 personas que fueran naturalizadas o nacidas en cada región. Las siete categorías fueron para gente de diferentes nacionalidades trabajando para agencias de desarrollo internacional. Particularmente quienes trabajaban para el Banco Mundial. Se les preguntó sobre 3 aspectos: 1) Las consecuencias del medio ambiente que consideren tendrá más graves problemas en el siglo XXI, 2) Mencionar tres problemas sociales, 3) Mencionar tres posibilidades que los antropólogos consideraran para beneficio para el género humano, viviendo en los estándares de la modernidad del nuevo siglo.

Recibió 13 respuestas de Norteamérica, 9 de Africa, 8 de Bancos de Desarrollo Internacional, 4 de Latinoamérica y Oriente Medio, 7 de Europa, 53 le regresaron y 17 fueron respondidos por mujeres.

Encontró que en cuanto al medio ambiente, algunos relacionaron este tema a incremento de conflictos, otros a la pobreza.;16 de 22 antropólogos manifestaron que se debe llegar a una compresión más extensa para describir el contexto cultural en el cual el agua es vista por las naciones indígenas y otros grupos de interés en los estados modernos.

También mencionaron la pobreza, referida al pobre como el más vulnerable, especialmente en cuestiones económicas o en la contienda política y en relación con la degradación del medio ambiente y la contaminación.

La segunda cuestión mencionada fue la globalización, algunos dijeron que el crecimiento de la hegemonía neoliberal y su ideología son privilegios de intereses privados que acumulan en poco tiempo ganancias que deprimen con sus corporaciones transnacionales la economía nacional.

En la tercera parte del cuestionario, mencionaron en orden de importancia: 1) mejorar las condiciones de pobreza (55%), nuevos paradigmas (38%), acceso equitativo a la educación (26%), seguir un orden de desarrollo sustentable (45%), acceso a los medios de información (23). Las cinco siguientes más importantes fueron en ese orden: Biotecnología, incrementar los mecanismos internacionales, democratización, derechos humanos básicos y diversidad social y cultural.

El autor sugiere: 1) Identificar mejor qué es lo que considera el antropólogo que son los problemas clave en donde es experto y tomar responsabilidad, dentro de la educación pública, formulación de políticas e investigaciones, 2) Integrar mejor el desarrollo aplicado de la antropología en el curriculum de los departamentos de antropología, 3) Tenemos que dejar claramente asentado que somos antropólogos socio-culturales, 4) Como una disciplina que tenemos que repensar, reflexionar en nuestra agenda de investigación la cual debe de dirigirse a una problemática más global y sus lazos intrínsecos, 5) Como individuos, debemos trabajar conjuntamente con los ecologistas no solo para aportarles nuestro conocimiento, sino para juntos investigar y trabajar en la educación pública e influir local, nacional e internacionalmente en las políticas públicas.

El autor concluye con una cita de Corson (1994:207), “un futuro sustentable requiere valores personales, creencias, actitudes y metas, una alteración sustancial de la economía y de las prácticas sociales y políticas”.

CLARIDAD : 5
LETICIA OSORNIO CASTILLO, Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Scudder, Thayer. The Emerging Global Crisis and Development Anthropology: Can We Have an Impact? Human Organization; Fall 1999 vol.58 no.4 351-362

Thayer Scudder is the only professor of Anthropology at the California Institute of Technology and the founding director of the Institute for Developmental Anthropology. He has served on a number of panels for projects with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank regarding natural resource management and conservation all over the world including Africa, Egypt, Europe, the Middle East and South America. This article serves as a comparison of views between 53 anthropologists from all over the world, and those held by Knight Kiplinger in his book World Boom Ahead: Why Business and Consumers Will Prosper (1998). These two views contrast with each other significantly; World Boom finds support for its ideas in corporations such as the National Association of Manufacturers and former secretary of defense William Perry. Kiplinger, and those who support his ideas, are what Scudder calls “optimistic optimists” while Scudder refers to himself as an “optimistic pessimist.” The difference between these two types is that Scudder believes he is more realistic and aware of the reality of the world situation and accuses Kiplinger and crew of being blissfully unaware of realistic circumstances.

The main idea in World Boom is that, “the world stands on the threshold of a long, strong surge in economic growth and living standards, unprecedented in world history. Over the next few decades, “this boom will bring several billion more people–now toiling in local economies–into a fully integrated world marketplace” (p.1). “The primary beneficiaries will be the worlds poorest nations…but not all of them…only those whose leaders choose to create and maintain economic systems hospitable to both homegrown entreprenuership and foreign investment” (p.2). Scudder gives Kiplinger credit for the most well thought and consistent technology and business based scenario he is aware of and states that World Boom would outline a feasible plan of action if the major constraints identified by the 53 anthropologists were expeditiously addressed.

The major issues addressed by the 53 anthropologists are environmental concerns and social issues namely poverty and globalization. The major body of the paper is dedicated to these topics and discusses the concerns expressed by the 53 anthropologists, enhanced by Scudder’s personal experience. Out of the responses to a questionnaire Scudder circulated to the 53 anthropologists, environmental concerns of water availability and pollution came to the forefront to reinforce the importance of natural resource management globally. The author added a lot of his personal experience with water management and purity issues. Social issues that were identified as the most important were poverty and globalization. Both of these two phenomenon occur simultaneously and are multi-faceted making them hard issues to address. Other social issues that are deemed important include community unraveling, population pressures, marginalization, and fundamentalism. In a global context these issues can seem overwhelming at times. The players at this level are nongovernmental organizations, governmental organizations (both domestic and abroad) and global powers such as the World Bank, IMF, United Nations Development Programme, and other organizations on that level.

Scudder offers corrective methods for these problems and urges anthropologists to get to work on some of the global issues. He had five main suggestions for anthropologists. First, we must better identify what we as anthropologists believe to be the key problems we have the expertise and responsibility to address. Increased involvement with the Society for Applied Anthropology, and implementation of programs formulated from anthropological theory in regards to public education, policy formulation, implementation and evaluation as well as further research. Second, to better integrate applied/developmental anthropology into the curriculum of anthropology departments. Third, more awareness of our expertise, and how our field can contribute to development bringing positive suggestions to the attention of the public as well as policy makers. Fourth, we should rethink our research to include more generic research that better addresses global problems and the linkages between them. Lastly, as individuals and, as an association, we should join hands with ecologists and their professional societies to work together in public education and in influencing local, national and international policy makers.

This article was well written and informative. It not only outlined the problems, but it offered solutions. There are many relevant points in the article that serve as a call for anthropologists interested in global issues. Scudder proposes that anthropologists in the applied/developmental realms become aware of these problems and determine how they can be understood domestically as well as on the global front.

Clarity rating: 5
NINA KAPLAN, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, CHICO (William Loker)

Stoffle, Richard W., Halmo, David B., and Evans, Michael J. Puchuxwavaats Uapi (To Know About Plants): Traditional Knowledge and the Cultural Significance of Southern Paiute Plants. Human Organization Winter 1999 Vol. 58, No.4:416-429.

This article focuses on the cultural significance of plants among the Southern Paiute of Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. During periods of contact with European settlers, Southern Paiute populations were nearly decimated by successive waves of violence and disease. The survivors were territorially marginalized: pushed to the fringes of the culture landscapes they had once inhabited. As a result, remaining populations were denied access to many of the most environmentally productive areas their ancestors had once utilized.

This study is an assessment of what ethnobotanical knowledge still exists among members of the Southern Paiute, how it is distributed among individuals of different age, sex, and gender, and what factors may account for any variation amongst these different social groups. The authors wish to further test the theory that, ” plant knowledge very likely comprises a core value,… because of its centrality to so many aspects of their (Southern Paiute) culture,… (and the) view (that) plant knowledge (is) a clearly bounded cultural domain” (416). The objective in “Indian cultural-resource-assessment studies” is to, “integrate the economic-utilitarian and the cognitive-cultural aspects of ethnobiological investigation” (417).

Stoffle and colleagues use qualitative and quantitative data from emic and etic perspectives to calibrate scores within an Index of Cultural Significance (ICS) for each recorded plant. The ICS score is calculated using the following formula:

ICS= p/u x i x e x c where the ICS is equal to the total number of uses and parts used for a specific purpose (p/u), …multiplied by the intensity of use value (i), the excluvisity of use value (e), and the contemporary use value (c) [419].

Four ethnobotanical studies were undertaken during the Yucca Mountain Project, the Nevada Test Site American Indian Religious Freedom Act Compliance Program, the Southern Paiute Colorado River Corridor Ethnographic Assessment study , and the Utah Test and Training Range study. An ethnobotanical interview form was developed so that identical questions could be asked of tribal consultants about each plant pertaining to its traditional, current, and personal uses amongst each ethnic group (419). Over forty individual plant species were recorded as culturally significant and scored using the ICS formula, and variances among ICS scores were analyzed “in terms of absolute variance (plant-to-plant) and relative variance (quartile ranking)” (421). Statistical, cultural, and environmental factors in ICS variation were analyzed dependent upon numbers of interviews conducted, elder status, gender, as well as, knowledge and cultural transmission, ecozone location, plants as components of cultural landscapes, availability and access, and plants as persistent identity symbols (425-426).

Stoffle and colleagues conclude that:

1. Southern Paiute people as an ethnic group retain vast funds of knowledge regarding traditional plants, even though this knowledge is dispersed and unevenly distributed among individuals;

2. that female elders appear to be “keystone” individuals who possess greater funds of knowledge regarding plants and their uses ;

3. that multiple interviews (up to 18 in our case) with a wide range of ethnic group members may be required to fully articulate the cultural significance of a particular plant at the ethnic group level; and

4. that project-specific ICS scores for a specific plant can be analyzed comparatively to determine a composite value that approximates the ethnic perception of the cultural significance of that plant [426].

Thus, it is important that the knowledge of all ages and sexes of people from a tribal group is assessed so the “calculated cultural significance of plants will more closely approximate the actual significance of plants as percieved by Indian people themselves” (427). In order to give a valid emic perspective, ethnobotanical studies should employ an interdisciplinary strategy by studying archaeology, rock art, oral histories, and ethnographies relevant to the project area because it, “can help identify, integrate, and illuminate the cultural significance of components of American Indian cultural landscapes in a culturally appropriate manner for land managers and policy makers who are charged with their protection” (427).

CLARITY RANKING: 5
BRANDON PATTERSON California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Stoffle Richard W., Halmo David B. and Evans Michael J. Puchuxwavaats Uapi ( To Know About Plants) Traditional Knowledge and The Cultural Significance of Southern Paiute Plants. Human Organization. Winter. Vol. 58 No.4 1999: 416-427.

El objetivo de esta investigación fue documentar el significado cultural que un grupo étnico, en este caso Southern Paiute , le da a las plantas y aclaran que este objetivo difiere de una investigación básicamente etnobiológica en sus categorizaciones y su clasificación.

Aclaran que sus datos los integran bajo perspectivas Emic y Etic pero con énfasis en Emic.

La metodología empleada fue una entrevista diseñada específicamente para esto; por medio de ella encuentran que la información sobre las plantas no la tiene una sola persona sino varias. Le asignaron un valor numérico a cada planta y a los usos que mencionaba la persona acerca de ella usando un sistema desarrollado por Nancy Turner. Por ejemplo, si una planta es usada para comida, medicina, ritual y construcción, el total de número de usos es 4..

Con este sistema calcularon el significado cultural de las plantas derivado de informantes dispersos en 12 reservaciones localizadas en Arizona, California, Nevada y UTHA.

También crearon una fórmula para calcular el significado cultural : número total de usos, partes de la planta usadas para un propósito específico y calidad del uso multiplicado por la intensidad del valor de uso, exclusividad del valor de uso y valor contemporáneo.

Afirman que la localización de la ECOZONA puede influir en el significado cultural de las plantas y aunque no se coseche mucho no baja su significado. Los etnobotánicos han argumentado que las plantas nativas pueden ser símbolo de identidad étnica ya que también son usadas en ritos de paso familiares, de la comunidad y tribales.

También toman en cuenta la ecología cultural para concluir:

-Que el conocimiento acerca de las plantas no se concentra en una persona.

-Que las mujeres, especialmente mayores, son “piedra de toque” en el conocimiento y uso de las plantas.

-Por medio de la entrevista con muchos miembros del grupo pueden detectar el significado cultural de una planta en un grupo étnico.

– Este proyecto específico puede realizarse comparativamente para conocer los valores de la misma planta en otra percepción étnica.

UNKNOWN México, Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Thomson, Delamie, Smith Ann, Hallom, Terry and Durrenberger, Paul. Power, Thretoric, and Partnership: Primary Health Care and Pie in the Sky. Human Organization, 1999. Vol. 58 (1): 94-104.

Este artículo es una reflexión de un equipo de trabajo (el administrador de la enfermería de la Clínica de Chicago, el profesor de la universidad y un antropólogo), sobre el Centro de Enfermería de Chicago, que se ha caracterizado por guardar distancia entre el personal biomédico y la interdependencia comunitaria, la confusión de roles, objetivos y estándares. Estas distancias han sido generadas por las diferencias entre la retórica de la participación y las realidades de la práctica.

El proyecto tuvo 2 propósitos, promover servicios de salud y al mismo tiempo, proporcionar experiencia práctica a los estudiantes de medicina de la facultad.

Para rescatar las impresiones de los que participaron dentro de este proyecto, se recurrió a cuestionarios, en los que cada persona plasmó su propia historia de lo que ocurrió, se recopilaron datos históricos sobre la comunidad, se realizó investigación documental, se revisaron las notas que se fueron recopilando durante los 3 años que operó el proyecto.

En este artículo el autor integra diversos sistemas entre los cuales considera: El sistema local de Chicago, la historia del Centro, la enfermería familiar, el vecindario urbano, una agencia federal, una universidad. Otros sistemas relacionados incluyen la Agenda Nacional de Salud, las prácticas de Enfermería del Estado, la historia del centro de enfermería.

Dentro de la reflexión que hacen sobre el trabajo ya realizado, concluyen que mientras los objetivos de los estudiantes fueron alcanzados, el objetivo de promover la salud a la comunidad no.

En la palabras de director de la universidad, “La universidad es blanca, está en una zona blanca y queremos que permanezca de esta forma”….”Los estudiantes no vienen a adquirir experiencia comunitaria,….ellos no quieren tener formación comunitaria, solamente educación técnica”.

Para los autores la realidad económica, los conflictos y las diferentes percepciones dentro y entre profesionales de la salud y, los no profesionales (promotores de salud voluntario, originarios de esta comunidad), hace que la participación en los servicios de salud de esta comunidad se manifestaran como un serio problema.

Finalmente, consideran que la Antropología puede facilitar la participación comunitaria, planeando en un campo real.

CLARIDAD : 4
LETICIA OSORNIO CASTILLO, México, Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Thompson, Delamie; Smith, Ana; Hallom, Terry; Durrenberger E. Paul. Power, Rhetoric, and Partnership: Primary Health Care and Pie in the Sky. Human Organization 1999 Vol.58(1):94-104.

This article discusses several different components of a health care delivery system that overlapped and intersected within one single community-based site. The Family Nursing Center (FNC) has been established to provide community based health services for local residents in Chicago’s West Side and community-level experiences for nursing students and faculty. This center employs community members as Community Health Advocates, (CHAs), to help to make the center’s services and activities more understandable and accessible to local residents.

In the article the rhetoric of community involvement was explored. Data collection strategies include: interviews with neighbors, workers’ written narratives, community assessment, bibliographic research, as well as the notes kept during the three years of the project. The goal of the project and data collection was to represent the various points of view, including the perspective that an anthropologist could bring.

The Family Nursing Center is where different systems with their own dynamics intersect. Some of them are: an urban neighborhood, the nursing profession, a university, a school system, and a federal agency. Nursing education, community participation, and health services are three conflicting goals of the nursing center. The university faculty is the dominant decision making body for the nursing system and center. Their perspective is shaped by the standards of quality education of future nurses, created within the system. According to the article, “the differentials of power and control among the various components mean that while the educational goals for the students of the university were met, the project’s rhetorical goal of providing health care in partnership with the community was not attained” (1999:95). This creates conflicts between the community articulated needs vs. medical expertise. Among the conflicts and contradiction generated by the FNC’s dual mission of nurse training and community health care are: people’s race, class, hierarchy vs. participation, individual autonomy vs. cultural constraints, bureaucracy vs. social goals, profit vs. access to health care, community needs vs. university, nursing standards, impersonal health care vs. community outreach.

The university, as one of the components, serves as a training ground for those students who choose to go into nursing, where nursing is a very competent field. “The nursing school maintains standards which uphold the virtues of professionalism and state-approved and enforced concepts of health and health promotion” (103). According to the article, these concepts are aimed at keeping aggregates healthy – preventing the greatest number of people from becoming ill. The goals of the FNC were to increase physical examination and immunization compliance.

The next system, which is similar to the university system is the elementary school system, which is guided by state mandates. Both of these systems, the university and elementary school, supported the community’s involvement in their programs, and the need of health services laid the groundwork for the joint project: to prevent illnesses and promote more examinations and immunization. The involvement of the community in this project is called “community partnership”, which suited the rhetoric of both programs, according to the article. Further, the connection between the parents and neighbors, and the systems may not always “share the state’s concept of health nor the concept of sacrificing individual attention for promoting the health of large number of people. ‘Health’ and health services such as ‘nursing’ have different meanings for professionals and neighbors” (103).

Community Health Advocate (CHA) represented the community. They were also co-authors of the article. The CHAs do not have the power of decision making, determining which services are offered or how they would be provided. The professional standard for the nurses is held and expected by the nurse-managers. The responsibility of the nurses is to adopt the core values of the programs. Nurses and CHAs need to act as partners to be effective. FNC has been staffed by a Community Nurse Specialist, that works with the CHAs to provide “culturally appropriate” services. CHAs sometimes find themselves caught between program and community agendas.

One of the interesting innovations of the article is that it gives divert voice to the Community Nurse Specialist and the CHAs. Co-author Thompson is a Nurse Specialist and Smith and Hallom are CHAs. Each co-author has her own section of the article where each articulates their perspectives and concerns regarding the project. While valuable, this approach detracted somewhat from the organizational clarity of the article.

CLARITY RANKING: 2.
ANA C. VRNOGA, California State University, Chico (William Loker)

Waters, Tony. Assessing the Impact of the Rwandan Refugee Crisis on Development Planning in Rural Tanzania, 1994-1996. Human Organization Summer, 1999. Vol.58 (2):142-152.

Derivado de su experiencia como sociólogo en campos de refugiados en Tanzania de 1984 a 1987 y de 1994 a 1996, Waters plantea la importancia de continuar con la política de ayuda internacional anterior a la crisis de refugiados de Ruanda en Tanzania en 1994-1996, que consistía en apoyar la situación de emergencia a refugiados y simultáneamente implementar programas de desarrollo en la región anfitriona.

Lo anterior, ya que los efectos colaterales para las poblaciones que ven su vida trastocada con nuevas rutinas, hábitos alimenticios, valores y estilos de vida, ocasionados por un flujo repentino de un gran número de gente tanto de refugiados como del personal de organismos internacionales, que llevan otras costumbres, otras necesidades y, sobre todo, atraen enormes cantidades de dinero empleados en programas e infraestructuras semipermanentes para resolver la situación del momento pero que, una vez resuelta la crisis, no representan un beneficio para el desarrollo de las comunidades receptoras que ya no podrán volver a su vida anterior, por lo considera necesario la aportación y la intervención sociológica para ligar otra vez los programas de ayuda a refugiados con los de desarrollo.

Para demostrar lo anterior, Waters relata lo sucedido a los Wahangaza de Ngara, Tanzania, comunidad que en 1992 tenía 192,000 habitantes, basándose en evidencias que tuvo como observador-participante desde el inicio del problema, de datos aparentemente incompletos a los que llama “anécdotas”, que explica fueron necesarios para tomar decisiones políticas dada la dinámica de la emergencia, y mediante documentos relacionados con el caso.

Narra la historia oral de los Wahangaza de Ngara, su economía de subsistencia y la infraestructura existente hasta antes del arribo de los ruandeses. Relata brevemente el primer éxodo de refugiados a Ngara: 30,000-40,000 burundis que ingresaron a finales de 1993 y regresaron a Burundi en marzo de 1994 debido a la falta de apoyo internacional para, posteriormente, describir el segundo éxodo de refugiados: el ingreso en abril de 1994 de los primeros 70,000 refugiados ruandeses, que para fines de 1994 sumaban 400,000.

Rebasadas los recursos nacionales, en junio de 1994 la administración de la población de refugiados fue dada a la UNHCR, quien contó con el apoyo de instituciones y organismos internacionales que aportaron varios millones de dólares en programas temporales pero no dejaron instrumentado un programa de desarrollo para la población nativa, cambiada para siempre por las circunstancias, cuando los refugiados regresaron a Ruanda a finales de 1996 y se retiraron los organismos e instituciones extranjeras.

Waters se pregunta ¿qué hubiera pasado si el dinero se hubiera empleado pensando en metas de desarrollo? ¿Cómo se afectó la estructura social de los Wahangaza? ¿Qué tanto se puede considerar exitosa la intervención extranjera medida en yardas sociológicas? Citando la definición de Max Weber (1948 [1958]:173) acerca de la identidad de un grupo étnico ¿qué memorias comunes de su destino político y nociones de descendencia común tendrán los bebés nacidos en 1995? Por todo esto considera más responsable llevar fondos de ayuda con metas de desarrollo en mente.

CLARIDAD:5
SUSANA PEDRAZA-GARRIDO Universidad Iberoamericana (Marisol Pérez-Lizaur)

Waters, Tony. Assessing the Impact of the Rwandan Refugee Crisis on Development Planning in Rural Tanzania, 1994-1996. Human Organization, Vol. 58(2): 142-152.

In this article Waters addresses the “relief only” policies used in the funding of the Rwandan Refugee Crisis in Ngara, Tanzania. He explains the role of the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in spending over $100 million in emergency funds on maintaining temporary status of the location. Funding allotted was so focused on temporary relief that self-sufficiency, education, and agricultural development was discouraged and little attention was paid to the life changing exposure of the native populations to modern lifestyles of outsiders.

While outlining the historical environment of both cultural background and unrest in neighboring areas, establishing the Ngara site as suitable for refugee relief, Waters provides insight as to how the Rwandans were escaping the genocide of their own country. The relief efforts were quick and well funded. The temporary nature of the relief efforts provided good paying jobs for the Tanzanian population who resettled to the area seeking the financial benefits found in foreign relief efforts. It was the Western influences that were drawn in to study and assist the people that quickly exhibited a standard of living that the people of this area had never seen before. Waters explains that all of the 400,000 refugees were successfully returned to Rwanda (143), but the environmental and cultural effects of the large amount of money spent in Ngara have created irreversible changes to both the Tanzanian and Rwandan cultures.

Waters does not exclude himself as having been part of this social and economic influence of the people at the Ngara site. It was during his two-year stay at the site that he accumulated the information and experience he has used for this article. He admits having a security guard at the best tent in the settlement, and later having improved to a nice middle class home with hot water. His research based on participatory observation, and frequent interviews, provided rich information. The argument as to the socio-cultural effects of the international intervention was developed out of questioning the aftereffects of crisis.

In his conclusion Waters shows the landscape of change in the area of the Ngara site. He reflects on the money spent and the organizations responsible for having provided the dramatic change to the region. Waters challenges the limitations and future consequences relief only projects. He notes the dramatic changes in the lifestyles of the relocated Tanzanians as a direct result of efforts to keep the Rwandan people temporary. If the measure of success was in returning the Rwandan refugees, the goal was accomplished. Development was certainly not the goal in Ngara, but it occurred as a result of Tanzanians providing services within the temporary settlement. Waters demonstrates that development is an inevitable effect of global intervention. In realizing that development will occur as a result of relief efforts, finances aimed at temporary relief should be spent with quality development in mind.

CLARITY RANKING: 5
HUDSON, COLLEEN California State University, Chico (William Loker)