Dept. of ethnologica, MarcMurschhauser, November 29, 2002 at 2:57:54 PM CET

indianer.de

The German webpage indianer.de is a general overview about the Indians of North America. Historical themes, Mythology, Technology, Problems of nowadays, etc. are included. Created in a popular style it is not academically scientific in all aspects, but still with valuable information and further links to updated pages in the web regarding aboriginal people in North America. Unfortunately just in German so far.

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Dept. of ethnologica, kerlone, November 29, 2002 at 9:04:14 AM CET
Yesterday I was at a lecture at the Völkerkundemuesum München about the use of phonographs at fieldwork in the early 20th Century. And it was quite interesting, as i am lover of all kinds of audio recordings. The process of digitalizing of the huge collection of wax and galvano cylinders at the Berlin Phonogramm Archive is still going on, and only because of that I will excuse, that the recordings are not available in the internet. In future they really should, otherwise the use of the recordings will be limited to people who are able and willing to travel to the berlin archive. Until this we can hear some fascinating recordings from the archive at a website of the UNESCO. More information about the archive is available from the german National Geographic.

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Dept. of ethnologica, zephyrin, November 28, 2002 at 12:34:51 PM CET

Trickster in cyberspace

Peter "I'm not a Fool, but I play one on the Internet" Michaels maintains "a webpage dedicated to exploring the complex mythic/archetypal figure of Trickster" called Fool's Paradise. The page starts with a quote out of genius Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary:

Fool, n. A person who pervades the domain of intellectual speculation and diffuses himself through the channels of moral activity. He is omnific, omniform, omnipercipient, omniscient, omnipotent. He it was who invented letters, printing, the railroad, the steamboat, the telegraph, the platitude, and the circle of the sciences. He created patriotism and taught nations war--founded theology, philosophy, law, medicine, and Chicago. He established monarchical and republican government. He is from everlasting to everlasting--such as creation's dawn beheld he fooleth now. In the morning of time he sang upon primitive hills, and in the noonday of existance headed the procession of being. His grandmotherly hand has warmly tucked-in the set sun of civilization, and in the twilight he prepares Man's evening meal of milk-and-morality and turns down the covers of the universal grave. And after the rest of us shall have retired for the night of eternal oblivion he will sit up to write a history of human civilization.

Besides an absolutely encompassing, comprehensive and commented link-collection on the trickster, the site hosts an ever growing bibliography of trickster-related printed matter. Also included is a section on 'tricksters in real-life', which on the one hand reminds me of the Culture Jammer's Encyclopedia and on the other hand of my still not yet published dissertation ... (c;

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Dept. of ethnologica, kerlone, November 28, 2002 at 12:29:19 PM CET

Favelas: Violence, Glamour and Apocalypse

A cinema in Berlin shows a line of movies about the favelas in the megacities of brasil. Telepolis reports in german with a lot of interesting, additional information about culture and history of the favelas.

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Dept. of ethnologica, kerlone, November 27, 2002 at 8:35:33 PM CET

South Pacifics Ritual Bungee Jumping

National Geographic reports about the Naghol Land Diving Ritual in Pentecost Island. Via Anthropology in the News

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Dept. of ethnologica, fabulous, November 26, 2002 at 11:57:43 PM CET

Languages of the world

On this webpage you can find a lot information about the worlds languages. Ethnologue.com is a place where you can conveniently find many resources to help you with your research of the world's languages.

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Dept. of ethnologica, kerlone, November 26, 2002 at 10:17:28 AM CET

The Database of the Culture's Ethic Ideas

Now, this is some kind of strange idea, so don't read on, if you are in a hurry: Darryl Macer, a New Zealand Professor, researching in Japan, want's to build a database of the ideas of the world. Of ALL ideas, to note. "By understanding which ideas are specific to certain cultures and which ones are universal, policy-makers can make more informed decisions about such agreements, Macer said.[...] For example, while most fundamentalist Christians in the United States oppose all forms of cloning, some Hindus in India might believe cloning research is perfectly ethical. Macer believes that creating a database of the ideas that form the basis of these beliefs will help international policy-makers understand the complex mix of viewpoints at hand.", writes Wired.

Now, taken this idea seriously, this would at least mean full employment for all cultural anthropologists in the world :-)

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Dept. of ethnologica, kerlone, November 24, 2002 at 10:21:14 PM CET

The Fabrication of Aboriginal History

I found an interesting article about a serie of books from australia. The historian Keith Windschuttle want's to take a deeper look at the deadly confrontations between australian aborigines and the white imigrants. The first book, "The Fabrication of Aboriginal History", now has been published. It's goal is to disprove the thesis of the genocide of aborigines by the white man. This seems to be a new fashion. Recently some scientists showed, that the indigenous population of America was already ill and declining, shortly before columbus came. Is there anyone knowing more about australia who can classify this article/book?

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Dept. of , MarcMurschhauser, November 23, 2002 at 12:21:22 PM CET

MAPUDUNGUN

The Mapuche Language Page presented by Jennifer E. Arnold from Standford University provides all-around information about the MAPUDUNGUN - the indigineous language spoken by approximately one million Mapuche in Chile and Argentina today. Provides features as Overview, Mapuche Names, Toponomía Indígena, Glosario Mapudungun - Espanol, Linguistic Bibliography and the Stanford Mapuche Bibliography.

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Dept. of ethnologica, kerlone, November 22, 2002 at 1:39:25 PM CET

Villages Near Laos Go Online With Pedal Powered Linux PCs

BBC.co.uk reports about some small villages in Vietnam, which get special, rugged internet PCs which are powered by a car battery which is loaded by pedals. And the best quote: "And when the work is done, the villagers hope to have some fun. " That's after all the most important!

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Dept. of ethnologica, kerlone, November 20, 2002 at 9:02:37 PM CET

Black Representation in Advertising

BBC.co.uk shows some interesting pictures of advertisements with black people. They illustrate the ongoing change of it's image in the industrial world. Unfortunately only very few examples - but this would be a great idea for a detailed study! The pictures are from the Black Cultural Archive and Museum in Brixton/London.

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Dept. of ethnologica, kerlone, November 20, 2002 at 4:58:40 PM CET

Science: Ancient Afghanistan

The last Science Science Magazine (2002 298 - only accessible for subscribers and some universities) has a long special issue about ancient cultures and archaeology in Afghanistan. It's also about the current situation of science in afghanistan.

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