{"title":"Structure and Resolution of Systemic Problems","authors":"J. Korn","doi":"10.13189/sa.2020.080305","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13189/sa.2020.080305","url":null,"abstract":"The dichotomy of 'production' and 'product' or the means of progression from one 'equilibrium state' to another is suggested. This phenomenon runs throughout both the natural and artificial words. As shown in Figure 1, nearly all human intellectual endeavour has been concerned with understanding the notion of product which is closer to immediate human interests. Humanity has achieved producing products, physical, intellectual or artefacts, and works of arts of ever-increasing complexity because its ability to construct production systems or structures is innate. Organised approaches to understanding the workings of structures or systems have only been attempted during and after the 2nd WW when control theory was developed followed by more 'general systems thinking' initiated by von Bertalanffy beginning with the 1950's. These approaches, although inspiring and ground breaking, lack the fundamentals of the structural view of the world, fragmented, mostly speculative with superficial effort to help problem solving or design thinking and do not fit into branches of accepted knowledge and teaching schemes. The purpose of this study is to address these issues using the methodology of conventional science with 'systemic content'. The study has produced a generalised structure of problem solving for the resolution of systemic problems which can be expressed in 'testable', operational form through the symbolism of 'linguistic modelling'. The suggested criteria reach out to other symbolisms to filter out those which do not satisfy this condition. The symbolism of linguistic modelling is amenable to computing when software is available, supported by applications and passed the test of debate.","PeriodicalId":21798,"journal":{"name":"Sociology and anthropology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75825980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Frontier: Reflections on the Meaning and Fertility of This Concept in Amazonian Urban Studies","authors":"Antonio di Campli","doi":"10.13189/sa.2020.080302","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13189/sa.2020.080302","url":null,"abstract":"Frontiers are generally defined as sparsely populated peripheral geographic areas compared to the political-economic centers in which demographic or accelerated technological processes are manifested. In Amazonia, the frontier have been characterized as the first wave of modernity to penetrate the coast of unexplored territories. The definitions of frontiers in the Amazon have been linked to colonial, imperial forces and capitalist economies. All have caused the arrival and formation of several social groups that, as a whole, have defined the long-term globalization process. But this region, in any case, does not fall within this definition. Modernity has reached its shores for centuries, and Amazonians have reacted in so many ways that Amazonian space and society is a fragmented skirt of time frames. In this sense, the hypothesis supported by this article, in urban and territorial studies, is that the common characterization of Amazonia as a frontier should be deeply revised. This territory has been part of the capitalist world system for more than five centuries and may be better be conceived and interpreted as a composition of enclave environments, economies and ecologies, whose relationships to external political and socio-economic powers is deeply rooted and far less fragile than the frontier usage implies. Methodologically, the analysis focuses on socio-spatial and territorial planning literature about Amazonia and concerning Amazonian territorial constructions highlighting those many factors that seem to contribute to the continued plausibility of the frontier notion. Principal results are related to the construction of a critique to the sense, value and fertility of the concept of 'frontier' un urban and territorial planning practices in contemporary Amazonian territories.","PeriodicalId":21798,"journal":{"name":"Sociology and anthropology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88860969","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Evolutionary Development of Human Language","authors":"M. Prost","doi":"10.13189/sa.2020.080203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13189/sa.2020.080203","url":null,"abstract":"One of the most intriguing questions of mankind is the question of how human language evolved. Human language is the primary feature that distinguishes humans from animals. How Homo sapiens acquired language is an open, highly disputed question. So far, science hasn't delivered a satisfactory solution. The most important reason for this failure lies in the fact that no physical evidence for the development of the brain – which plays the central role in the rise of humans – is available. The previous assumption that genetic mutations of the brain were responsible for the evolution of language is not convincing because this would have required two simultaneous genetic mutation of Homo sapiens: a genetic mutation of the brain, and subsequently a mutation of the speaking-apparatus. This seems extremely improbable. We will show here that only the genetic mutation of the speaking-apparatus was necessary. Then two factors came together: in addition to a highly developed brain (which all hominids had and have) an adequate speaking-apparatus was the main factor for the development of language. Upright walking also helped as it enabled them to point with their hands. Some phenotypical mutations also occurred when Homo sapiens started to develop language. One was higher myelinization which improved the signal speed in the human brain compared to other animals. The second one was the development of special areas in the cortex that supported language, understanding and thinking: Wernicke's area and Broca's area. We will also show the connection between human language and human thinking, which is based on the second level of abstraction. This connection proves that the Neanderthals didn't have a sophisticated language. Such a language only developed in Homo sapiens.","PeriodicalId":21798,"journal":{"name":"Sociology and anthropology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72900778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring the Relationship among Offenders, Victims and Bystanders of Violence: Analysis of Herdsmen Victimization in Nigeria","authors":"Michael Christopher Eraye, C. E. Chijioke","doi":"10.13189/sa.2020.080201","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13189/sa.2020.080201","url":null,"abstract":"This study explored the prevalence of violence orchestrated by herdsmen in Nigeria, with a view to situating the nature of the relationship that exists among the herdsmen, residents and bystanders which triggers further violence. The paper acknowledges that, violence perpetrated by herdsmen has reached an alarming proportion and the government has not marshaled enough political will to address the problem because of the apathy shown towards checkmating the menace. By way of qualitative analysis of secondary sources, the paper posited that violence spearheaded by herdsmen was directly and indirectly encouraged by government and security agents to victimize the vulnerable population by them in actions and body language of government. The paper further observed that violence was exacerbated by the nature of the relationship that exists among the herders, residents and those saddled with constitutional responsibility to protect the residents. The relationship among the herdsmen, victims and bystanders has negative implications on arrest and prosecution of the criminal herdsmen whose activities have jeopardized the futures of many Nigerians. The paper recommended among others that government should hold unto its constitutional responsibility of providing security for all Nigerians, irrespective of ethnic and religious affiliation and community leaders must ensure that indiscriminate and unregulated accommodation of herdsmen in their communities is checkmated. Government should take decisive action by proscribing Miyetti Allah under whose umbrella herdsmen perform their heinous crimes.","PeriodicalId":21798,"journal":{"name":"Sociology and anthropology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77941723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Active Citizenship and Neighborhood Governance; North-Western Literature and Global South Realities","authors":"Aya Elwageeh, M. Ham, R. Kleinhans","doi":"10.13189/sa.2020.080202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13189/sa.2020.080202","url":null,"abstract":"Active citizenship related to neighborhood governance is dependent on the political and governance structures of its context, and is therefore different in the Global North and the Global South. Local active citizenship is often presented from a North-western perspective, with its own active culture of engagement. In contrast, it is often shaped by an unfamiliar culture of engagement in parts of the Global South. This difference questions the applicability of the leading literature in understanding Global South realities. The paper aims to answer this question by reviewing the literature on local activism in both contexts. This review elaborates on the commonality of \"context\"; while highlighting the variation of \"right-based vs. need-based\" and \"state-citizen collaboration vs. selective state-citizen collaboration\" as central dimensions of local activism in both worlds. In result, we conclude that the leading literature on active citizenship in the context of neighborhood governance is limited in its explanation of local activism found in parts of the Global South. Finally, this review paper contributes to inform future empirical research on how to better understand neighborhood activism in contexts of the Global South. In this regard, the deduced commonalities and variations offer a starting point to scholars and offer dimensions which could be investigated to improve our understanding of active resident groups, and eventually contribute to more effective local activism.","PeriodicalId":21798,"journal":{"name":"Sociology and anthropology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84225395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Anthropological Study of Ethno-medicine in Gash Barka Region, Western Eritrea","authors":"Senait Bahta","doi":"10.13189/sa.2020.080102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13189/sa.2020.080102","url":null,"abstract":"The indigenous community of Gash Barka region, Western Eritrea has vast knowledge of their biodiversity. They use plant medicine to treat and prevent ailments. Their traditional therapeutic practices reveal that treatment takes a holistic approach and diseases are preventable. Whenever a person is affected, all community members are treated, with children getting smaller portion of the medicine. Also the focus of treatment is not only biological but also social and psychological. Endowed with rich biodiversity, the community uses plant medicine to treat ailments. The same medicinal plants are used to treat different ailments; different ailments are treated by same plant medicine, thus, ‘it is the cause not the symptom that is treated’. This paper is an anthropological study of traditional medicine among two indigenous Eritrean groups. Using unstructured interview method, qualitative data has been gathered from knowledgeable men and women, the custodians of the knowledge. The community’s perception of health and illness and their knowledge of plant medicine’s application is then described in detail using a descriptive method. It is concluded that traditional medicine is a life-tested knowledge of affordable/available homemade medicine with multiple values including developmental, utilizing local resources, heritage and biodiversity conservation. The significance of documenting and upgrading this time-tested knowledge for a sustainable future should not be overlooked.","PeriodicalId":21798,"journal":{"name":"Sociology and anthropology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79462781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cultural Influences on Leadership: Western-Dominated Leadership and Non-Western Conceptualizations of Leadership","authors":"N.Binh Ly","doi":"10.13189/SA.2020.080101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13189/SA.2020.080101","url":null,"abstract":"While the phenomenon of leadership is widely considered to be universal across cultures, how it is operationalized is usually viewed as culturally specific. Conflicting viewpoints exist in the leadership literature concerning the transferability of specific leader behaviors and processes across cultures. This study explored commonalities and differences in effective leadership processes, across - cultures in western – dominated leadership and non-western conceptualization of leadership. GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) is a research program focusing on culture and leadership in 61 nations to provide core attributes of cultural dimensions on cross-culture and evidence for conceptual and measurement equivalence for all six leader behaviors in viewpoints of globalization. Data for the study is drawn principally from analytic literature reviews in leadership theory and its implication on cross-culture perspectives.","PeriodicalId":21798,"journal":{"name":"Sociology and anthropology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79891188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Müsâhiplik: An Anthropological Analysis on Fictive Kinship of Alevis in Turkey","authors":"H. Wakamatsu","doi":"10.13189/SA.2019.070801","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13189/SA.2019.070801","url":null,"abstract":"Musahiplik is the tradition of fictive kinship which has long been practiced within both Turkish and Kurdish Alevi communities in Turkey. Musahip is a special term which means blood brother used in Alevi community. The tradition of Musahiplik may be defined as a religious fraternity between two men who are not relatives. And at the same time, if these two men marry their wives also have relation of Musahip. The fraternity is dedicated to a religious authority called Dede. It is an institution of social characteristic that is proper for originated from nomad or semi-nomad societies and of recent urban settlement. This custom is one of the most important religious practices of Alevis in Turkey. In a ceremony in the presence of a Dede, the two couples make a life-long commitment to care for the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of each other and their children. The ties between couples who have made this commitment are at least as strong as it is for blood relatives. So much so, that Musahiplik is often called spiritual brotherhood (manevi kardeslik). In this article, drawing on my own research data, I shall first discuss how the Musahiplik is practiced in the field in Turkey, and provide a brief outline of their meaning in Alevi theology. I shall then present the current situation of Musahiplik and popular beliefs and discuss the underlying motives of the religious actors involved. Finally, I shall contextualize these cases within a broader theoretical and comparative perspective on fictive kinship from the point of view of Cultural Anthropology.","PeriodicalId":21798,"journal":{"name":"Sociology and anthropology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90992078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Strength of \"Grey Ties\": A Case Study of Self-managed Community Centres for Elderly People in Tuscia District - Italy","authors":"T. Urbani","doi":"10.13189/sa.2019.070802","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13189/sa.2019.070802","url":null,"abstract":"The present work aims to overturn the common belief about elderly people as passive subject benefited by social welfare, showing an unedited vision of active and leading senior citizen in local communities. This qualitative-quantitative research is based on 393 cases divided in 21 social centres in Viterbo district in Italy demonstrate that social capital in specific environment is a flywheel for trust, health and happiness for senior citizen. This study shows that social capital could reduce daily hospitalization and medicines consumption for elderly. The community centres for elderly people managed by ANCeSCAO NGO are case of excellence, where remain critical issues, e.g. communication and conflicts, despite critical issues, they could be also a bridge for new welfare for seniors, an empowering and enabler social welfare, where bottom-up processes are balanced with top-down.","PeriodicalId":21798,"journal":{"name":"Sociology and anthropology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88619336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Use of Mixed Methods to Study Greek and Turkish Cypriot University Students' Attitudes towards the 'Other'","authors":"Andri Neophytou","doi":"10.13189/SA.2019.070701","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13189/SA.2019.070701","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of the current article is to discuss the importance of using mixed methods in social sciences research, by referring to Neophytou [1] methodology and results. Neophytou [1], using qualitative and quantitative research methods in the same research, arguably provided a general picture of the attitudes of Greek and Turkish Cypriot university students towards each other. The results of the quantitative research informed the development of the qualitative research. Some of the results confirmed those of previous research, whereas others where new and noteworthy. For example, the quantitative research revealed that attitudes towards the 'Other' and proximity with the 'Other' are positively correlated, something that was seen in previous research. Additionally, in both cases, Greek and Turkish Cypriot participants were more positive towards their in-groups over their out-groups, but surprisingly, Turkish Cypriots appeared less negative towards their out-group compared with Greek Cypriots. Students' concern about language and religion were obvious, though this was expressed mainly by Greek Cypriots. Turkish Cypriots appeared more eager to meet other cultures (East and West); they had heard, read and lived other cultures more than Greek Cypriot participants. The above and other findings raised new questions that were further analysed with the use of qualitative methods. The proper use of mixed methods gave a holistic view of Greek and Turkish Cypriots conceptions and misconceptions towards the 'Other Cypriot'.","PeriodicalId":21798,"journal":{"name":"Sociology and anthropology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87738223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}