Anthropological Perspectives on Technology

Anthropological Perspectives on Technology PDF Author: Michael B. Schiffer
Publisher: UNM Press
ISBN: 9780826323699
Category : Anthropology
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
These fourteen original essays accept a dual premise: technology pervades and is embedded in all human activities. By taking that approach, studies of technology address two questions central in anthropological and archaeological research today-accounting for variability and change. These diverse yet interrelated chapters show that to understand human lives, researchers must deal with the material world that all peoples create and inhabit. Therefore an anthropology of technology is not a separate, discrete inquiry; instead, it is a way to connect how people make and use things to any activity studied, ranging from religion, to enculturation, to communication, to art. Each contributor discusses theories and methods and also offers a substantial case study. These detailed inquiries span human societies from the Paleolithic to the computer age. By moving beyond the usual approach of examining ancient technologies, particularly chipped stone and low-fired ceramics, this volume probes for the construction of meaning in the material world across millennia. The authors of these essays find technology to be an inclusive and flexible topic that merges with studies of everything else in human activity. "A provocative and powerful discussion of the role of technology in human cultures. At a time when archaeology has become less focused on theory, and archaeology and social anthropology seem to fracture farther and farther apart, the book is a breath of fresh air."--Professor John Douglas, University of Montana

Anthropological Perspectives on Technology

Anthropological Perspectives on Technology PDF Author: Michael B. Schiffer
Publisher: UNM Press
ISBN: 9780826323699
Category : Anthropology
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book

Book Description
These fourteen original essays accept a dual premise: technology pervades and is embedded in all human activities. By taking that approach, studies of technology address two questions central in anthropological and archaeological research today-accounting for variability and change. These diverse yet interrelated chapters show that to understand human lives, researchers must deal with the material world that all peoples create and inhabit. Therefore an anthropology of technology is not a separate, discrete inquiry; instead, it is a way to connect how people make and use things to any activity studied, ranging from religion, to enculturation, to communication, to art. Each contributor discusses theories and methods and also offers a substantial case study. These detailed inquiries span human societies from the Paleolithic to the computer age. By moving beyond the usual approach of examining ancient technologies, particularly chipped stone and low-fired ceramics, this volume probes for the construction of meaning in the material world across millennia. The authors of these essays find technology to be an inclusive and flexible topic that merges with studies of everything else in human activity. "A provocative and powerful discussion of the role of technology in human cultures. At a time when archaeology has become less focused on theory, and archaeology and social anthropology seem to fracture farther and farther apart, the book is a breath of fresh air."--Professor John Douglas, University of Montana

Technology, Anthropology, and Dimensions of Responsibility

Technology, Anthropology, and Dimensions of Responsibility PDF Author: Birgit Beck
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3476048969
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
“With great power comes great responsibility.” In today’s world, with our growing technological power and the knowledge about its impact, we are considered to be responsible for many instances that not long ago would have been deemed a matter of fate. At the same time, the looming options of, e.g., genome editing or neuroprosthetics, threaten traditional notions of responsibility if no longer the person but the technology involved is deemed to be responsible for a specific behaviour. The growing ethical debate on the expansion of human responsibility, e.g. when it comes to human-machine-interaction, ambient intelligence, or reproductive technologies, thus intertwines with the challenge to formulate an appropriate understanding of the concept of personal responsibility and our respective anthropological self-understanding in today’s technological world. The volume brings together both perspectives and aims at illuminating crucial dimensions of responsibility in light of technological innovation and our self-understanding as responsible beings.

Rethinking Anthropological Perspectives on Migration

Rethinking Anthropological Perspectives on Migration PDF Author: Graciela S. Cabana
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813065534
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 540

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Book Description
"Cabana and Clark have chosen to base their research into migration on careful study of how real people actually behave over time and space. We are well served by this rugged empiricism and by the multidisciplinary breadth of their approach."—Dean R. Snow, Pennsylvania State University "A thorough survey of the ways in which anthropologists across the four subfields have defined and analyzed human migration."—John H. Relethford, author of Reflections of Our Past: How Human History Is Revealed in Our Genes All too often, anthropologists study specific facets of human migration without guidance from the other subdisciplines (archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistics) that can provide new insights on the topic. The equivocal results of these narrow studies often make the discussion of impact and consequences speculative. In the last decade, however, anthropologists working independently in the four subdisciplines have developed powerful methodologies to detect and assess the scale of past migrations. Yet these advances are known only to a few specialized researchers. Rethinking Anthropological Perspectives on Migration brings together these new methods in one volume and addresses innovative approaches to migration research that emerge from the collective effort of scholars from different intellectual backgrounds. Its contributors present a comprehensive anthropological exploration of the many topics related to human migration throughout the world, ranging from theoretical treatments to specific case studies derived primarily from the Americas prior to European contact. Contributors: | Christopher S. Beekman | Wesley R. Bernardini | Deborah A. Bolnick | Graciela S. Cabana | Alexander F. Christensen | Jeffery J. Clark | J. Andrew Darling | Christopher Ehret | Alan G. Fix | Catherine S. Fowler | Severin M. Fowles | Susan R. Frankenberg | Jane H. Hill | Keith L. Hunley | Kelly J. Knudson | Lyle W. Konigsberg | Scott G. Ortman | Takeyuki (Gaku) Tsuda

Techno-Anthropology in Health Informatics

Techno-Anthropology in Health Informatics PDF Author: L. Botin
Publisher: IOS Press
ISBN: 1614995605
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Techno-Anthropology is an emerging interdisciplinary research field focusing on human/technology interactions and relations, and how these can be understood and facilitated in context. Techno-Anthropology also considers how technological innovation, development and implementation can be made in an appropriate and pragmatic way in relation to understanding work practices. Techno-Anthropology has much to offer the health informatics and eHealth fields, and this book presents the work of experienced international researchers who share here how they have applied Techno-Anthropology methodologies to their research. The book is divided into three sections: ethnographic and anthropological perspectives on methodology; ethical and sociotechnical approaches; and users, participation and human factors. Topics covered include: learning the craft of Techno-Anthropology; anthropological approaches in studying technology induced errors; technology and the ecology of chronic illness in everyday life; Techno-Anthropologists as agents of change; and using rapid ethnography to support the design and implementation of health information technologies, as well as many more. Of interest to researchers and practitioners within the health informatics field as well as students and scholars, the book will inspire researchers and practitioners to examine health informatics from a new perspective.

Morality

Morality PDF Author: Jarrett Zigon
Publisher: Berg
ISBN: 1847884601
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
Morality: An Anthropological Perspective provides the first account of anthropological approaches to the question of morality. By considering how morality is viewed and enacted in different cultures, and how it is related to key social institutions such as religion, law, gender, sexuality and medical practice, Morality takes a closer look at some of the most central questions of the morality debates of our time. The book combines theory with practical case studies for student use. Drawing on anthropological, philosophical and general social scientific literature, the book will be useful for both undergraduate students and researchers. Accessibly written, Morality provides a unique and wide-ranging perspective on morality, and will be essential reading for those interested in this important contemporary debate.

What is Techno-anthropology?

What is Techno-anthropology? PDF Author: Tom Børsen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788771121230
Category : Technology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This anthology explores the different approaches to and readings of 'Techno-Anthropology, ' which is a new interdisciplinary research and study area at Aalborg University. Techno-Anthropology is a hybrid that, in different ways, redefines and transcends distinctions, such as humans vs. technologies, or the natural sciences vs. the humanities. Thereby, gaps are bridged between different disciplines and professions working with new technologies, and between technological artifacts and their users. The book will appeal to scientists, anthropologists, engineers, philosophers, designers, sociologists, planners, educators, innovators, and decision makers. Its chapters are concerned with a wide range of issues related to Techno-Anthropology: ethnographic field work in expert and technology cultures * interdisciplinary perspectives on education * collaboration and communication * philosophical analyses and ethical judgments of new and emerging technologies * digital anthropology * anthropology-driven design. (Series: Series in Transformational Studies / Serie om Laerings-, forandrings- og organisationsudviklingsprocesser -- Vol. 3)Ã?Â?

Techniques and people

Techniques and people PDF Author: Steven A. Rosen
Publisher: Editions De Boccard
ISBN: 9782701802695
Category : Industries
Languages : fr
Pages : 278

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Book Description
In techniques and people, Rosen and Roux have assembled a collection of studies documenting the embeddedness of technology in the cultures of the late prehistoric and early historic periods of the southern Levant (with one comparative study from France). Unlike studies focusing on specific technologies, this collection cross-cuts technological realms, includings analyses of a wide range of techniques and materials (ceramics, metallurgy, chipped stone, bone working, lapidary, ground stone) and in this large view traces social and cultural patterns across technologies. Focusing primarily on the basic organizing principle of chaîne opératoire, these analyses demonstrate how the structures of technology and society are integrated. They thus provide insights into structural relations within societies and into the dynamics of social evolutionary change.

Debating Authenticity

Debating Authenticity PDF Author: Thomas Fillitz
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 0857454978
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
The longing for authenticity, on an individual or collective level, connects the search for external expressions to internal orientations. What is largely referred to as production of authenticity is a reformulation of cultural values and norms within the ongoing process of modernity, impacted by globalization and contemporary transnational cultural flows. This collection interrogates the notion of authenticity from an anthropological point of view and considers authenticity in terms of how meaning is produced in and through discourses about authenticity. Incorporating case studies from four continents, the topics reach from art and colonialism to exoticism-primitivism, film, ritual and wilderness. Some contributors emphasise the dichotomy between the academic use of the term and the one deployed in public spaces and political projects. All, however, consider authenticity as something that can only be understood ethnographically, and not as a simple characteristic or category used to distinguish some behaviors, experiences or material things from other less authentic versions.

The Anthropology of Donald Trump

The Anthropology of Donald Trump PDF Author: Jack David Eller
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000468550
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
The Anthropology of Donald Trump is an edited volume of original anthropological essays, composed by some of the leading fgures in the discipline. It applies their concepts, perspectives, and methods to a sustained and diverse understanding of Trump’s supporters, policies, and performance in office.The volume includes ethnographic case studies of "Trump country," examines Trump’s actions in office, and moves beyond Trump as an individual political fgure to consider larger structural and institutional issues. Providing a unique and valuable perspective on the Trump phenomenon, it will be of interest to anthropologists and other social scientists concerned with contemporary American society and politics as well as suitable reading for courses on political anthropology and US culture.

Technology and Culture

Technology and Culture PDF Author: Allen W. Batteau
Publisher: Waveland Press
ISBN: 1478607971
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Technology and Culture provides a comprehensive overview of anthropological and other theories examining the place of technology in culture, and the consequences of technology for cultural evolution. The book develops and contrasts anthropological discourse of technology and culture with humanistic and managerial views. It uses core anthropological concepts, including adaptation, evolution, totemic identity, and collective representations, to locate a broad variety of technologies, ancient and modern, in a context of shared understandings and misunderstandings. The author draws on his own experience as an auto mechanic, computer programmer, ethnographer, and aircraft pilot to demonstrate that technologies are cultural creations, encoding and accelerating the dreams and delusions of the societies that produce them.