This study examines the Sienese contrada, how this system is able to maintain itself in the twenty-first century, and the reasons why such a system persists. What sets it apart from other works is my consideration of the contrade not as artifacts, but rather, as vital forms of social organization that exist in the context of larger spatial, societal, economic, and political structures or constructs. Contradaiolo “sub-culture” is “created and continually recreated by people through their social interaction” (Geertz), however, facets of the contrada-Palio system that are Palio-specific are more resistant to change than the more idiosyncratic culture of the contrada. Contrada culture was immanent in the space of the rione throughout most of the twentieth century, and a built environment laden with personal experience—as well as historic and cultural significance—participated intimately in the generation of a vita contradaiola. Various recent factors have contributed to a reinterpretation of ‘cultural space’ vis-à-vis the contrada; this reinterpretation, abetted by state subsidies, has resulted in a change in the manner in which contrada space is both felt and generated. The role of the società di contrada has been critical, and ‘ contrada identity’ has been impacted. Current changes reflect global-scale/globally imposed values. While the contrada system spawns a culture of fractiousness comparable to ‘ethnic’ subdivision, the situation in Siena is unique because of the archaic Palio, the powerful civic presence of the city (bolstered by such mediating institutions as the corso ), and the fact that there is little other than constructed, territorially-based rivalries to differentiate contradaioli . Does the formalized structure of the contemporary contrada, which succeeded the more phenomenological workings of the old contrada , weaken or strengthen a spirit of ‘civitas,’ and eventually, ‘nation’ in the classical European sense? Certainly, the nature of place-loyalty has changed with time. The imposed post-war structure better resonates with ‘national’ structures: it is more distant from the people than the gemeinschaft organization typical of the old order, and requires greater reliance on symbol. Yet, local identities continue to vie with those of grander scale, and local communities play a crucial role in maintaining a civil lifestyle.

The French debate over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is more than a controversy about genetic science. It is also a conflict between two ways of seeing the world. In the French debate, there is a collision between two competing rationalities, one instrumental, the other, ‘socioethical’. When defined according to an instrumental rationality, actors tend to assess GMOs in terms of environmental and health risk. When defined according to a socioethical rationality, actors evaluate GMOs in relation to issues such as food quality or globalization. While scientists are the primary spokespeople for the instrumental rationality of risk, small paysan farmers are the main spokespeople for the socioethical rationality, invoking forms of cultural expertise to speak critically about GMOs. Drawing from ethnographic data collected in France during 1997–2000, historical sources, and contemporary theory including Foucault and Latour, this dissertation explores the success of paysan farmers such as José Bové from the Confédération Paysanne in shifting the site of discursive authority from scientists to farmers, turning an instrumental debate about ‘science’ into a broader debate about ‘the commodification of life’ and cultural identity in an age of globalization. This transformation of the French GMO debate, however, is implicit. Actors promoting particular rationalities of science and society may be unaware that they are doing so—and thus may be unaware of the broader implications for debates about technoscience. Nevertheless, the Confédération Paysanne's discursive maneuvers have broadened understandings of what may count as expertise for technoscience practice and policy making in the future.

Abstract not available

Abstract not available

Studies of elderly adults in minority groups in the United States have rarely focused on the cultural contents of ethnicity as variables that affect adjustment to old age. This study treats cultural value orientations as central to understanding how minority elders approach growing old and meet the changes associated with aging. It describes the interplay of values and behavior in the social networks and daily lives of older Puerto Rican women and illustrates the cultural continuities that structure the process of aging for them. This analysis is based on data collected during1981-1983 in an ethnographic investigation of the lifeways, value orientations, and support systems of 16 Puerto Rican women, between the ages of 60 and 84, in a city in the northeast United States. The primary research methods used were participant-observation and intensive interviewing which focused on the respondents' expectations, normative behavior and utilization of social networks during everyday life and times of crisis. The women studied exhibit strong similarities in attitudes, behavior and supportive exchanges that are culturally-based. Familial and community networks, as well as social agencies, provide the respondents with viable systems of support. The elderly women have a place in the functional structure of their families and play important roles in providing their families with assistance. Values which emphasize family interdependence, respeto, personalismo, and differential roles of men and women provide a shared framework of meaning that shapes expectations of and behavior in supportive exchanges. The study contributes ethnographic data on older minority women, supports the continuity theory of aging in gerontology, and adds to the anthropological understanding of the dynamics of ethnicity. It also suggests the need for greater sensitivity toward cultural variations and seeing the elderly within the context of family relations in the planning and delivery of services for older adults in the United States.

This ethnographic research study explores the interaction between peer, partner, and provider support and breastfeeding outcomes. And to argue that there exists a mismatch between breastfeeding ideals and realities. Breastfeeding has been proposed as the first choice in infant feeding practices beginning from birth until a minimum of six months, without the inclusion of other nutrient products. While breastfeeding remains the medical standard, rates across the United States have not reached the Healthy People 2020 goals. The purpose of this study was to address the outcome of shared breastfeeding knowledge, in relation to the interaction between chronic individual stress, access to supportive resources, and the immediate stress involved with breastfeeding. Relying on Modified Grounded Theory (mGT), participant observation, surveys and interviews, the original aim of this study was to provide information about the role of social support, stressors and breastfeeding. There ultimately exists a mismatch between the ideals of breastfeeding and application of breastfeeding resources in the United States. For breastfeeding to be successful there needed to be a culture of support from peers, providers, and partners (or family members). This overlap of care results in breastfeeding mothers feeling more capable in handling their individual experiences of stress, as well as stress directly related to their infant.

This dissertation examines the recent proliferation of Buddhist youth programs and of youth participation in Buddhism in contemporary Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Drawing on twenty months of ethnographic fieldwork from 2016 to 2019, as well as in-depth interviews with Buddhist monastics, lay Buddhist youth, and educators, the dissertation investigates the collaborative endeavors between monastics and youth to develop a new modernist and youth-oriented Buddhism in response to young people’s social and emotional needs under the influence of urbanization, late-socialist economic growth, and cultural globalization. The dissertation provides a case study of the Temple of Wisdom (a pseudonym), one of the most prominent Buddhist temples that has pioneered the creation of Buddhist youth programs. The dissertation is divided into three key ethnographic chapters that examine the central components of the youth-oriented Buddhism: the creation of a new lay Buddhist educational curriculum with the incorporation of innovative media technology and pedagogies; the popularization of mindfulness meditation; and the construction of ethical citizenship through Buddhist volunteering activities. In developing these programs, monastics and lay youth are constructing an emerging, middle-class Vietnamese Buddhist public. The study shows that participants in this Buddhist public reformulate what constitutes “Vietnamese” Buddhist piety and community by fashioning a new generation of self-reflexive, (aspirational) middle-class lay Buddhists who actively contribute to the growing influence of Buddhist practices and discourses in Vietnam’s emergent public ethics. In approaching the crafting of the Buddhist public as a collaboration between monastics and youth, my dissertation reconsiders the dichotomy between modernist/institutional and devotional/popular Buddhism in Vietnam. It contributes to scholarly conversations on public religion and secularism in late-socialist contexts by illuminating how Buddhist actors navigate the complex entanglements between Buddhist ethics and market socialism. The dissertation shows that such processes of ethical coordination not only reshape the role of Buddhism in public ideals of social well-being and national culture, but also impact Buddhist youth’s endeavors at ethical self-cultivation. By highlighting youth experiences, it demonstrates that religion is playing an increasingly important role in the lives of Vietnamese youth, as young Vietnamese draw on religious ethics in their striving towards socio-economic mobility and well-being.

Sufi communities have long been a vital part of life in Afghanistan and Muslim societies. This dissertation contextualizes the ways in which they have retained, renewed and recreated their place both in the past and present by resourcefully managing the threats and opportunities that have ensured their survival through periods of persecution. It focuses particularly on how Sufi communities have resolved questions of leadership, authority, and legitimacy over the past fifty years in an environment characterized by perpetual change and insecurity. The thesis is based on twenty-two months of participant observation ethnographic field research and interviews conducted in six urban Sufi communities in Kabul and Herat between 2016 and 2019. They represented all of the major Sufi orders in Afghanistan as well as several Sufi poetry teaching circles and new Sufi civil society organizations. Employing social navigation as an analytical framework, the thesis argues that Sufi communities in Afghanistan have weathered periods of instability by employing creative and context-specific strategies. Despite decades of war and civil unrest, Sufi groups survived and even thrived by instituting innovative changes in their organizational structures, finding allies within changing regimes, and projecting themselves and their teachings as an integral part of Afghanistan’s religious and literary heritage. The dissertation uses case studies to document the contextual production of Sufi leadership during periods of succession, liminal periods of transition during which contestation over what constitutes legitimate authority, the means of selection, and whether an outcome will produce unity or schism, lay bare an organization’s usually hidden fault lines. It describes in detail how individuals and groups employ a variety of religio-cultural tools to legitimize their claims of authority, including Sufi poetry, publishing as service, investigation of the Self as an exploration of God and dream divination. It documents how these tools have been adapted to deal with both internal leadership contestations as well as a community’s interactions with the outside world that have included a communist government in the 1980s and a Taliban Islamist government in the 1990s, as well as ongoing disputes with Mujahidin and Salafist religious attacks of Sufi practices as un-Islamic. / 2028-02-29T00:00:00Z

Unequal, gendered power relations drive gendered violence, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. A paucity of research compares knowledge produced by people who experience gendered violence to their technocratic representations. An analysis of fieldwork data collected virtually through a community-based advocacy program and semi-structured interviews (n=23), shows that survivors and service providers utilize and contest gendered discourses, like constructions of victimhood and survivorship, and policies ostensibly designed to facilitate care in conjoined and distinct ways. I also demonstrate how care systems structure the lives and subjectivities of people who travel through them, producing forms of contested and moralized citizenship. However, people actively resist these forces by creating their own care systems outside the context of managed care. Adopting harm reduction strategies (e.g., affirming people as the primary agents of their care), addressing structural factors underlying gendered violence, and increasing inter-agency communication will create inclusivity and streamline care pathways.

No description available.