The problem set in this project was to study stratification in Port Nolloth society. It was clear from the start that Port Nolloth society was highly stratified, and that the major strata were formed by the White, Coloured and African people in the town. As the study progressed, divisions within the major strata became apparent, and at once a terminological problem was raised: could the major strata be regarded as castes, with their sub-divisions as classes, or were the divisions of the same order, making the stratification system one of class and sub-class? It became apparent, however, that the major strata and their sub-divisions were not of the same order, the main difference being that the former were endogamous groups of a rigid nature, whereas the latter allowed considerable social mobility. This suggested a system of stratification similar to that posited by van den Berghe tor another South African town, where he considered that "the stratification system can be described as a dual hierarchy of closed castes sub-divided into open classes".

The representation of Balinese people and culture within scholarship throughout the 20th century and into the most recent 21st century studies is examined. Important questions are considered, such as: What major themes can be found within the literature?; Which scholars have most influenced the discourse?; How has Bali been presented within undergraduate anthropology textbooks, which scholars have been considered; and how have the Balinese been affected by scholarly representation? Consideration is also given to scholars who are Balinese and doing their own research on Bali, an area that has not received much attention. The results of this study indicate that notions of Balinese culture and identity have been largely constructed by “Outsiders”: 14th-19th century European traders and early theorists; Dutch colonizers; other Indonesians; and first and second wave twentieth century scholars, including, to a large degree, anthropologists. Notions of Balinese culture, and of culture itself, have been vigorously critiqued and deconstructed to such an extent that is difficult to determine whether or not the issue of what it is that constitutes Balinese culture has conclusively been answered.

This dissertation is a work in intellectual history that chronicles racial theories within Western science and medicine. Therein, I address two interrelated questions. Firstly, has Christianity shaped modern scientific perceptions of race? Secondly, is the search for the origin of human life, vis-à-vis theories of race, a purely scientific matter or, a more basic human existential concern? To answer these questions I undertook archival research within the history of European and American racial science, analyzing contemporary scientific work, archival data of primary scientific material, biblical commentaries, literary monthlies, and early maps of the major continents. I argue that Christian ideas about nature, humanity, and history have facilitated modern scientific perceptions of race since the time of the Enlightenment. This is true despite what is believed to be the “Death of Adam” within Western science following the emergence of Darwinian evolution. In defense of my thesis I trace the currency of three ideas derived from Christianity that have shaped the assumptions and reasoning styles of early modern and contemporary scientific theorists of race. These ideas are: common human descent (derived from the Biblical creation narrative), the ontological uniqueness of human life (drawn from Biblical claims about the “image of God” mirrored in “mankind”), and the longevity of racial traits (an idea that has its roots in theological claims about the stability and inherent order of nature). I chart the development of these three Christian concepts across four different historical moments that reveal how religious and scientific perceptions of race share a common foundation in the West. These moment are: Johann Friedrich Blumenbach’s attempt to develop anthropology as a secular science during the end of the eighteenth-century; mid-nineteenth-century debates in the U.S. over common human descent; early twentieth-century theories of race and disease that relied on polygenist assumptions about distinct human ancestry; and finally the recent discovery of Neanderthal DNA exclusively in the descendents of Eurasia. Ultimately, this thesis concludes that religious and scientific ways of viewing race have been interconnected and are animated by irresolvable questions about what it means to be human.

The representation of Balinese people and culture within scholarship throughout the 20th century and into the most recent 21st century studies is examined. Important questions are considered, such as: What major themes can be found within the literature?; Which scholars have most influenced the discourse?; How has Bali been presented within undergraduate anthropology textbooks, which scholars have been considered; and how have the Balinese been affected by scholarly representation? Consideration is also given to scholars who are Balinese and doing their own research on Bali, an area that has not received much attention. The results of this study indicate that notions of Balinese culture and identity have been largely constructed by “Outsiders”: 14th-19th century European traders and early theorists; Dutch colonizers; other Indonesians; and first and second wave twentieth century scholars, including, to a large degree, anthropologists. Notions of Balinese culture, and of culture itself, have been vigorously critiqued and deconstructed to such an extent that is difficult to determine whether or not the issue of what it is that constitutes Balinese culture has conclusively been answered.

A study of the effects upon the village community of various areas of social and economic change. Based upon detailed examination of seven villages within the Leicestershire Vale of Belvoir, the thesis considers varied responses to legislative changes. such as those in employment regulation and education, to economic change such as that in agriculture and in the means of transport, and to social pressures for change as in the fields of religious allegiance or public recreation. Census evidence of changing population levels, and of variations in the composition of the population in terms of age, sex, and occupation, is discussed, and causes and effects of such changes suggested. The evidence of migration from and amongst the villages is explored, with an examination of possible motivation for it. Changing class relations are explored; while small-scale land ownership is shown to have been relatively unimportant in creating status or economic stability, the continuing influence of the great landowners, notably the Duke of Rutland, is recognised, but set against evidence of a decline in deferential attitudes and a growing challenge to aristocratic political influence. The village middle class of farmers and tradesmen is shown to have increasingly assumed a leadership role, but it is suggested that the conservatism of the village population helped to preserve elements of traditional village life, and above all, the sense of an integrated community.

Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The earth and her ecology is in crisis, which impacts upon both human and nonhuman communities. Not only due to the blame for ecological destruction that is attributed to humanity (and specifically also to the Christian religion), but also because of the destruction of species, environments and the natural habitat of living beings theology is asked of to step into its public and prophetic role in order to address the challenges in whichever way it can. David Kelsey’s enormous theological anthropology, Eccentric Existence (2009), probably provides opportunities for this, through its theological inquiry and (re)formulation of Christian traditions’ central doctrines and faith formulations. Kelsey’s main thesis is that God relates to all that is not God to create, draw into eschatological consummation, and reconcile. God relates to create the earth and her ecology. God relates to the earth and her ecology creatively (‘living on borrowed breath’) which entails that God relates “to” the earth and her ecology through the medium of address. The ultimate context of the earth and her ecology is therefore that of being directly and indirectly addressed by the triune God, through which it responds to its being called into being. The call that Kelsey describes, and therefore God’s creation of the earth and her ecology, is public and communal, involving both the radical freedom of otherness and the intimate nearness of sameness. God relates to bless the earth and her ecology creatively in God’s life-giving address, by enabling it to be alive and to bring forth life. The earth and her ecology, as particular instances or forms of life, is dynamic, persistent and frail. Creaturely reality involves being and having living bodies, through being created as dying life. The earth and her ecology not only lives, but is enabled to flourish, on borrowed breath. In this way, the earth and her ecology exists eccentrically, finding its reality and worth and being and value outside of itself, in God’s relating to bless it creatively. God relates to draw the earth and her ecology into eschatological consummation. God relates by drawing the earth and her ecology into eschatological consummation (‘living on borrowed time’) which stipulates that God relates “between” the earth and her ecology through the medium of promise. The ultimate context of the earth and her ecology is therefore that of being drawn into God’s own triune life and being called to participate in the glory of God. The earth and her ecology is defined by the absolute promise of eschatological blessing and the implicit promise of transformation in the present and in the future, which is God’s reaching out to all that is not God (also described as the missio Dei). The earth and her ecology, as particular instances or forms of life, stands under both God’s election (or ‘yes’) and God’s judgment (or ‘no’). The earth and her ecology not only lives, but is enabled to flourish, on borrowed time. In this way, the earth and her ecology exists eccentrically, finding its reality and worth and being and value outside of itself, in God’s relating to bless it eschatologically. God reconciles the earth and her ecology to Godself. God relates by reconciling the earth and her ecology through their multiple estrangements (‘living by another’s death’) and entails that God relates “amongst” the earth and her ecology through the medium of exchange. The ultimate context of the earth and her ecology is therefore that of being reconciled to God through its multiple estrangements and being drawn into the divine life of God Godself. Incarnation and what Kelsey calls ‘exchange’ – God incarnated in Jesus exchanging Godself with the earth and her ecology amidst processes of violence and destruction to transform their living death into true life – defines the earth and her ecology in this mode of relating. The earth and her ecology is reconciled with herself and with living beings and all of life through their reconciliation by and in God. God’s reconciliation is liberation and transformation of the earth and her ecology within particular times and places, within its particular contexts. The life of the earth and her ecology is therefore no longer tied to the fulfillment of certain functions or duties (or even vocations) that it may be subjected to or expected of, but lies solely in the worth and value that it finds in living and existing by the life and death of another, of God incarnate, of Jesus the Son. The earth and her ecology not only lives, but is enabled to flourish, by another’s death. In this way, the earth and her ecology exists eccentrically, finding its reality and worth and being and value outside of itself, in God’s relating to reconcile it through its multiple estrangements. God stands in relationship to the earth and her ecology in three ways that sustains and blesses it to flourish as mysterious living being that reflects the glory of the triune God. The appropriate response to this, respectively, is eccentric faith, eccentric hope and eccentric love. The earth and her ecology, like all living beings and all of life, exists eccentrically, through God that relates to it. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die aarde en haar ekologie is tans in krisis, wat impakteer op beide menslike en nie-menslike gemeenskappe. Nie net weens die skuld vir ekologiese verwoesting wat aan mense (en spesifiek ook aan die Christelike geloof) toegeskryf word nie, maar ook weens die verwoesting van spesies, omgewings en die natuurlike habitat van lewende wesens word daar van teologie gevra om in dié se publieke en profetiese rol in te tree en die uitdagings aan te spreek op welke manier dit ook al kan. David Kelsey se enorme teologiese antropologie, Eccentric Existence (2009), bied waarskynlik geleenthede hiervoor, deur die in-diepte teologiese ondersoek en (her)besinning van Christelike tradisies se sentrale doktrines en geloofstellinge waarmee dit besig is. Kelsey se hooftese is dat God in verhouding tree tot alles wat nie God is om te skep, in eskatologiese vervulling te bring, en te versoen. God tree in verhouding tot die aarde en haar ekologie deur dit te skep (waardeur dit op geleende asem leef), wat behels dat God ‘tot’ die aarde en haar ekologie in verhouding tree deur die medium van aanspraak. Die uiteindelike konteks van die aarde en haar ekologie is daarom dié wat direk en indirek aangespreek word deur die drie-enige God, deurdat dit reageer daarop dat dit geroep is tot bestaan. Die oproep wat Kelsey beskryf, en daarom God se skepping van die aarde en haar ekologie, is publiek en gemeenskaplik, en behels beide die radikale vryheid van andersheid en die intieme nabyheid van eendersheid. God seën die aarde en haar ekologie kreatief in God se lewegewende aanspraak, deur dit in staat te stel om te lewe en om lewe voort te bring. Die aarde en haar ekologie, as spesifieke lewensvorme, is dinamies, voortdurend en weerloos. Geskape realiteit behels beide om lewende liggame te hê en te wees. Die aarde en haar ekologie leef nie alleen nie, maar word in staat gestel om te floreer, op geleende asem. Op hierdie manier bestaan die aarde en haar ekologie eksentries, en vind dit die realiteit en waarde en wese buite ditself, in God wat in verhouding daartoe tree om dit kreatief te seën. God tree in verhouding tot die aarde en haar ekologie om dit in te bring in eskatologiese vervulling. God tree in verhouding tot die aarde en haar ekologie (waardeur dit op geleende tyd leef) wat bepaal dat God in verhouding staan ‘tussen’ die aarde en haar ekologie, deur die medium van belofte. Die uiteindelike konteks van die aarde en haar ekologie is daarom dié wat gebring word in God se eie drie-enige lewe en wat geroep word om deel te neem aan die glorie van God. Die aarde en haar ekologie word gedefinieer deur die absolute belofte van eskatologiese seën en die implisiete belofte van transformasie in die hede en in die toekoms, wat God se uitreiking na alles wat nie God is nie is (ook beskryf deur die missio Dei). Die aarde en haar ekologie, as spesifieke lewensvorme, staan onder beide God se verkiesing (God se ‘ja) en God se oordeel (God se ‘nee’). Die aarde en haar ekologie leef nie net nie, maar word in staat gestel om te floreer, op geleende asem. Op hierdie manier bestaan die aarde en haar ekologie eksentries, en vind dit die realiteit en waarde en wese buite ditself, in God wat in verhouding daartoe tree om dit eskatologies te seën. God versoen die aarde en haar ekologie tot Godself. God tree in verhouding tot die aarde en haar ekologie deur dit te versoen (waardeur dit leef deur ‘n ander se dood) en behels dat God ‘tussen’ die aarde en haar ekologie in verhouding tree deur die medium van vervanging. Die uiteindelike konteks van die aarde en haar ekologie is daarom die wat versoen is tot God deur hul veelvoudige vervreemdinge en wat ingebring word in die goddelike lewe van Godself. Inkarnasie en wat Kelsey noem ‘vervanging’ – God wat mens word in Jesus vervang Godself met die aarde en haar ekologie te midde prosesse van geweld en verwoesting om hul lewende dood te transformeer in ware lewe – definieer die aarde en haar ekologie in hierdie modus van verhouding. Die aarde en haar ekologie word versoen met haarself en met lewende wesens en die hele lewe deur hul versoening deur en in God. God se versoening is bevryding en transformasie van die aarde en haar ekologie binne spesifieke tye en plekke, binne hul spesifieke kontekste. Die lewe van die aarde en haar ekologie is daarom nie meer gebonde tot die vervulling van spesifieke funksies of pligte (of selfs roepinge) wat daarvan verwag word nie, maar lê alleen in die waarde wat dit vind daarin om te leef en bestaan deur die lewe van ‘n ander, van God-wat-mens-geword-het, van Jesus die Seun. Die aarde en haar ekologie leef nie alleen nie, maar word in staat gestel om te floreer, deur ‘n ander se dood. Op hierdie manier bestaan die aarde en haar ekologie eksentries, en vind dit haar realiteit en waarde en wese buite haarself, in God wat dit versoen deur veelvoudige vervreemdinge. God staan in verhouding tot die aarde en haar ekologie op drie maniere wat dit onderhou en dit seën om te floreer as geheimsinnige lewende wese wat die glorie van die drie-enige God reflekteer. Die gepaste reaksie hierop is, respektiewelik, eksentriese geloof, eksentriese hoop en eksentriese liefde. Die aarde en haar ekologie, soos alle lewende wense en die hele lewe, bestaan eksentries deur God wat in verhouding daarmee tree. / jme2012

En esta tesis se reinterpreta la idea de “tecnología” partiendo de los ejemplos etnográficos de varias comunidades ribereñas del Bajo Amazonas. La situación híbrida de estos ribereños, que mantienen las técnicas tradicionales indígenas y a la vez se acomodan al influjo de la modernidad, permite establecer un eje de simetría entre la tecnología amazónica y la occidental. El objetivo teórico es demostrar que la idea de “tecnología” se ha definido desde Occidente en términos etnocéntricos, esto es, identificándola con las máquinas y artefactos que han generado el desarrollo industrial a base de dominar un entorno natural opuesto simbólicamente a la cultura humana. La tecnología de los ribereños, sin embargo, no se cifra en esos parámetros, sino que debe rastrearse en sus modos de utilizar el cuerpo, en el conocimiento implícito y en las circunstancias (más sociales que técnicas) de la modernización y la política agraria brasileña. Partiendo de estas cuatro dimensiones sociotécnicas, se verá cómo la perspectiva antropológica puede proporcionar un cuadro interpretativo de la tecnología que la llevaría más allá de su caracterización occidental. Si el pensamiento moderno la ha presentado como el instrumento con el que la sociedad logra emanciparse de la naturaleza, aquí se van a invertir dichos términos, para definirla como una estrategia de relación con el entorno por la que precisamente se refuerza la mímesis entre lo “social” y lo “natural”. / This thesis develops a reinterpretation of the idea of “technology” by focusing on the ethnographical examples of several Lower Amazon riverine communities. The hybrid situation of the riverines, who still maintain the indigenous traditional techniques and at the same time are influenced by modernity, allows us to establish an axis of symmetry between native and western technologies. The theoretical objective is to show that technology has been defined by the West in ethnocentric terms, this is, identifying it with the machines and artefacts that generated the industrial development by dominating a natural environment that is symbolically opposed to human culture. Riverines technology, however, can’t be understood through these parameters, but rather through their body uses, their implicit knowledge and the circumstances (more social than technical) of modernization and the Brazilian agrarian politics. Regarding to these four sociotechnical dimensions, it will be seen how anthropology provides an interpretative frame that leads technology beyond its Western characterisation. While modern thought has represented it as the instrument with which society becomes emancipated form nature, here these terms will be reversed, aiming to define technology as a strategy of relation with the environment that precisely reinforces the mimesis between the “social” and the “natural”.

This thesis examines the role of social capital in Australian regional development. It does so though a case study of one of the most socio-economically disadvantaged regions in Australia, the City of Playford, (perhaps best known as the former City of Elizabeth and home of South Australian Manufacturing). The approach taken involves an examination of the historical roots, more recent academic and political debates, along with the structural political and economic conditions which have inspired the rise of social capital. This is accompanied by an exploration of the application and implications of the social capital approach to development in the City of Playford. Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in social capital theory. Of particular interest to policy makers has been the suggestion that there is a link between social capital and economic development. This argument has lent support to the idea that inequality in regional economic development can be tackled by building social capital in disadvantaged regions. In this thesis I take a critical approach to both the concept ‘social capital’ and the link between social capital and economic development. I suggest that the popularity of social capital may be due more to the political and academic environment in which the concept was spawned, than its ability to address issues of inequality in regional development. The results of the case study in the City of Playford highlight the continuing importance of issues of class and structural inequality in Australian regional development. I argue that contemporary applications of social capital in regional development are not only unable to adequately address such issues, but may also be contributing to their exacerbation. Having drawn attention to the inherently problematic nature of the concept, I then discuss the implications of the research findings for the future of social capital in both policy and social theory. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1345130 / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 2008

This thesis examines the role of social capital in Australian regional development. It does so though a case study of one of the most socio-economically disadvantaged regions in Australia, the City of Playford, (perhaps best known as the former City of Elizabeth and home of South Australian Manufacturing). The approach taken involves an examination of the historical roots, more recent academic and political debates, along with the structural political and economic conditions which have inspired the rise of social capital. This is accompanied by an exploration of the application and implications of the social capital approach to development in the City of Playford. Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in social capital theory. Of particular interest to policy makers has been the suggestion that there is a link between social capital and economic development. This argument has lent support to the idea that inequality in regional economic development can be tackled by building social capital in disadvantaged regions. In this thesis I take a critical approach to both the concept ‘social capital’ and the link between social capital and economic development. I suggest that the popularity of social capital may be due more to the political and academic environment in which the concept was spawned, than its ability to address issues of inequality in regional development. The results of the case study in the City of Playford highlight the continuing importance of issues of class and structural inequality in Australian regional development. I argue that contemporary applications of social capital in regional development are not only unable to adequately address such issues, but may also be contributing to their exacerbation. Having drawn attention to the inherently problematic nature of the concept, I then discuss the implications of the research findings for the future of social capital in both policy and social theory. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1345130 / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 2008

Héritières des années 1970 les communautés intentionnelles ont pour objectif de remettre en cause les pratiques et liens sociaux propres à la société contemporaine. Par l’association du travail et de la vie domestique elles forment un type d’organisation sociale tournée vers le vivre ensemble et le travail du commun. Cette thèse démontre à partir du cadre théorique de la résistance ordinaire, que les communautés intentionnelles mettent en pratique une manière d’être au monde qui leur est spécifique. Par le retour à la terre et le détour par la nature, elles inscrivent leur action dans une temporalité et une spatialité nourries d’une projection utopique puisant ses sources dans les représentations d’un passé mythifié. Celui-ci sert la mise en action dans le présent de ce monde et l’expérimentation d’un monde à faire advenir. Ces communautés développent, des visions et un agir guidés par ce que je propose d’appeler une rétrospection utopique. Ce faisant, elles investissent des espaces publics interstitiels et oppositionnels en juxtaposant des imaginaires et des pratiques qui font correspondre à trois logiques sociales (le mythe, le retour, l’utopie) trois registres d’historicité (conservation, rétrospection, progression). Elles organisent le ralentissement de la machine technobureaucratique et capitaliste et convoquent les racines agraires des sociétés antérieures pour préfigurer l’avènement d’une société nouvelle, agraire et politique. / Recipients of the 1970’s legacy, intentional communities aim at reconsidering the practices and social relations specific to contemporary society. Through the association of work and domestic life they form a kind of social organization turned towards «living together » and « working the common ». Using the theoretical framework of common resistance as a basis, this thesis demonstrates that intentional communities put into practice a peculiar manner of being-in-the-world. By way of a return to the land and of a detour via nature, their action is inscribed in a temporality and a spatiality fueled by utopian projection, which draws on representations of a mythologized past. That past serves the present-time actualisation of this world, and the experimentation of a world-to-be-brought-about. These communities develop visions and ways of doing guided by what I suggest we call utopian retrospection. In doing so, they invest intersitial and oppositional public spaces by juxtaposing imaginaries and practices that correlate three social logics (myth, return, utopia) with three registers of historicity (conservation, retrospection, progression). They organise the slowing down of the techno-bureaucratic and capitalistic machine and summon the agrarian roots of earlier societies to prefigure the advent of a new society, both agrarian and political.