Anthropology and history: the revaluation of history in anthropological research

The main premise of this paper is that the accepted view of history based on written documents (historiography) is marked by hierarchical ordering and evaluation implicit in it. The paper examines the context of the negation of history, and the revaluation of history in anthropological research. The lack of written documents concerning particular social groups on the internal plane, but also particular nations (ethnic groups) on the global plane, earned them the name of "nations (groups) without history". This criterion of historicity--the existence of a writing system and written documents--implies the hypothesis about the inferiority of those nations and groups. The attributes of history seen in this way are modernity, linearity and cumulativeness. This system implies ethnocentrism based on a twofold negation: a) the negation history, and b) the negation of otherness. What we must not forget is that the symbolic universes are social products with a history, and in order to understand their meaning, one must understand the history of their production. It is very important to pay close attention to the historical practice of projecting our cultural practices onto others. The question of who determines the history and which views are presented to a particular audience is a matter of power and contest. contemporary history-oriented sociocultural anthropology focuses on the total reconstruction of the way of life and thinking in particular periods of history: on the everyday life. This brought together the intellectual traditions of "new history", ethnology, sociocultural anthropology and the sociology of culture. While modernism stresses the present change versus the static past, postmodernism denies the past ever being static and hypostatises fluidity and change as permanent condition. Postmodernism strives to undermine the old, Euro-centric notion that "we" have a history but "they" do not; it has also lead to social scientists' renewed interest in history.

[Culture, environment and fecal hazards: anthropological observations]

This paper was presented as a tribute to André Dodin, formerly director of the Paris Pasteur Institute's cholera department. It was intended to: - recall representations of what is seen as pure, impure, sullied, dirty ... medical and social interventions depend not only on scientific theories but also on unconscious presuppositions linked to their particular history and culture; - to stress the necessity of reexamining epidemiological chains in fecal peril bearing in mind bodily techniques and the material and symbolic behaviour of the populations concerned; - to insist upon the fact that traditional sanitation techniques do exist and should not be neglected, whether it be to make use of them, avoid or combat them. It is not a question of idealizing local culture, but of becoming acquainted with it so as better to appreciate its role.

An ethnographic, controlled study of the use of a computer-based histology atlas during a laboratory course

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the use and effect of a computer-based histology atlas during required laboratory sessions in a medical school histology course.

DESIGN

Ethnographic observation of students' interactions in a factorial, controlled setting.

MEASUREMENTS

Ethnographer's observations; student and instructor self-report survey after each laboratory session with items rated from 1 (least) to 7 (best); microscope practicum scores at the end of the course.

RESULTS

Between groups assigned the atlas and those not, the ethnographer found qualitative differences in the semantic categories used by students in communicating with each other and with the faculty. Differences were also found in the quality of the interactions and in the learning styles used with and without the computer present in the laboratory. The most interactive learning style was achieved when a pair of students shared a computer and a microscope. Practicum grades did not change with respect to historical controls. Students assigned the atlas, compared with those not assigned, reported higher overall satisfaction (a difference in score of 0.1, P = 0.003) and perceived their fellow students to be more helpful (a difference of 0.11, P = 0.035). They rated the usefulness of the microscope lower (a difference of 0.23, P<0.001).

CONCLUSION

A computer-based histology atlas induces qualitative changes in the histology laboratory environment. Most students and faculty reacted positively. The authors did not measure the impact on learning, but they found that there are aspects of using the atlas that instructors must manipulate to make learning optimal. Ethnographic techniques can be helpful in delineating the context and defining what the interventions might be.

Genetical and geographic studies on isoniazid inactivation

Rapid and slow inactivators of isoniazid are homozygotes, and intermediate inactivators are heterozygotes. There is no dominance between the two alleles. The chasm between Eskimos and Caucasians in isoniazid metabolism is bridged by our investigation of the races in the Far East.

Prior infection with cytomegalovirus is not a major risk factor for angiographically demonstrated coronary artery atherosclerosis

To determine if cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a risk factor for primary coronary artery disease (CAD), the association between CMV infection and CAD (>50% blockage in any coronary artery) was investigated in nearly 900 successive nontransplant patients undergoing coronary angiography. By use of logistic regression, older age (P <.001), white race (P <.001), gender (P <.001), hypercholesterolemia (P = .04), and other established cardiovascular risk factors (P = .003) were identified as significantly associated with CAD, but CMV seropositivity (P = .462), the level of IgG antibodies to CMV whole cell antigen (P = .98), or the levels of IgG antibodies to CMV glycoprotein B (P = .67) were not. These data suggest that CMV infection is not a major risk factor for the development of primary CAD in adults.

Human platelet antigen frequencies of platelet donors in the French population determined by polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers

To prevent human platelet alloimmunization, Blood Transfusion Centres have to develop a strategy close to the erythrocytes' one. The first step of this strategy is to perform the HPA typing of donors with an accurate method. We applied the PCR-SSP to type 800 platelet donors in the HPA-1 and HPA-5 systems and 350 in the HPA-2 and HPA-3 ones. This study reports the human platelet antigen frequencies of four platelet-specific alloantigen systems in the French population. The results are quite similar to those currently published for Caucasian population frequencies. Low prevalences are observed for the HPA-1b, (2%), HPA-2b (0.6%) and HPA-5b (2%) groups. Furthermore, this study confirms the need to type donors and recipients in the HPA-1 system at least, in case of post-transfusion pupura and platelet refractoriness to platelet transfusion therapy.

Troubles in Smurftown: youth gangs and moral visions on Guam

An explosive youth gang problem in U.S. Guam may derive from the changes in island traditionalism wrought by modern society. Island youths sense the erosion of the traditional culture's moral visions, but find modern Western individualism unpalatable as an alternative. Gang membership offers a third option, bestowing on youths a sense of honor, bravery, and solidarity lost from traditional society. Gang members must be viewed not as social deviants but as members of a culture that proposes moral visions and prescribes group behaviors for its membership.