Power and Age

Spencer (1965, 1988, 1993, 2003) theorizes two distinct strands in the life course of a Maasai male. The first strand is the building of a cattle herd and a family, and the second is developing involvement in the age class system. The second…

“This Child Is This Small Only on His Age”

This paper examines the emic concepts pertaining to age in Ngəmba, a language spoken in the Western Region of Cameroon. It explores both the terminological concepts available in the language for talking about age and their usage in everyday …

Seniority in Midwifery in Tanzania

Concepts of seniority and elderhood were important structuring elements in many societies of precolonial Africa and were connected with social status. This changed with the European colonization of Africa, and strongly affected traditional c…

Greyness Is Aged, Bearded Is Adult

I explore how Yoruba people ascertain who is junior, who is senior, and the mark of equality beyond obvious age, as well as the social function of these distinctions in everyday life. The social ranking of people as either senior, junior or …

“Before, we didn’t eat manioc flour”: Historical and social transformations in food techniques among Indigenous Peoples of the Rio Negro basin in the Brazilian Amazon

Manioc flour is currently considered one of the main foods consumed by Indigenous peoples in the Northwest Amazon. It is fundamental both to the traditional diet and to adding an “Indigenous flavor” to urban dishes. This article presents an analysi…

Asian Ethnology

precarity emotions secularization Fukushima Pure Land Buddhism Since the triple disaster of 2011, parents in Fukushima Prefecture have been raising their children under a cloud of uncertainty about possible radiation in their environment. This article …

Asian Ethnology

folklore tricksters horror infanticide adaptation retelling violence The Assamese film Kothanodi (2015) radically demonstrates how film adapts to folklore, rather than the other way around. It actively contributes to the folkloric tradition, notably th…

Asian Ethnology

Taiwan material religion Daoism ritual whip craft cultural improvisation Among the most ubiquitous ritual implements in modern Taiwan, the ritual whip functions to dispel demons and to summon spirit soldiers, the material embodiment of a fearsome serpe…