The politics of house shape: round vs rectilinear domestic structures in Déla compounds, northern Cameroon

Antiquity ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 70 (268) ◽  
pp. 351-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The Other ◽  
Group Boundaries ◽  
Building Shape ◽  
Northern Cameroon ◽  
Floor Plans ◽  
Building Form

Building floor plans are frequently recovered by archaologists. A common first sorting of the shapes of small domestic buildings is between round houses and rectangular houses. What do these differences mean? Why do social groups change their building form from one to the other? An ethnoarchaeological study from northern Cameroon illustrates how four ethnic groups in a single community use building shape to blur or define group boundaries for political self-interests.

scholarly journals OP0096 EXPOSURE TO DENGUE INFECTION DO NOT RAISE RISK OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: FINDINGS FROM THE MALAYSIAN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS (MYEIRA) CASE-CONTROL STUDY

2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 53.1-53
Author(s):  
L. K. Tan ◽  
C. L. Too ◽  
A. F. Nurul-Aain ◽  
A. A. Siti-Aisyah ◽  
S. Wahinuddin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Antibody Level ◽  
Dengue Infection ◽  
The Other ◽  
Director General ◽  
Igg Antibody ◽  
Ministry Of Health ◽  
Malaysian Population ◽  
Mixed Ethnicity

Background:Dengue infection is associated with joints pain mimicking disease onset symptom of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, there is lack of epidemiological studies on exposure to dengue infection and risk of future RA.Objectives:We investigated the relationship between exposure to dengue infection and risk of developing different subsets of RA, defined by the presence of anti-citrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA) in the multi-ethnic Malaysian population.Methods:Serum samples from 1,235 RA cases (i.e. 516 Malay, 254 Chinese, 405 Indians and 60 others/mixed-ethnicity) and 1,624 epidemiological matched population-based controls (i.e. 1,023 Malay, 208 Chinese, 297 Indians and 96 others/mixed-ethnicity) were assayed for presence of dengue IgG antibody using World Health Organization recommended ELISA kits. Positive results of dengue IgG antibodies indicates previous exposure to dengue infection(s). We performed chi-square and Mann-Whitney U analysis to determine the association of ever-exposed dengue infection with ACPA-positive/ACPA-negative RA and to investigate the antibody frequency and levels among the studied populations.Results:We observed high occurrence of dengue IgG antibody in the overall RA cases (79.7%) and matched controls (77.3%), with no significant differences detected between the ACPA subsets of RA. Ethnicity stratification analysis revealed a decrease risk of developing ACPA-positive RA in the Indian patients with positive dengue IgG antibody (OR=0.59, 95% CI=0.37-0.94, p=0.03), and in particular patients with elevated level of dengue IgG antibody (OR=0.44, 95% CI=0.25-0.78, p<0.05). On the other hand, the significant decrease mean levels of dengue IgG antibody were observed in the ACPA-positive RA subset for all three major ethnic groups (i.e. Malay, p<0.0001, Chinese, p<0.01 and Indian<0.05) (Figure 1). No association was observed between presence of dengue IgG antibody and ACPA-negative RA subset.Figure 1.Comparison of mean dengue IgG antibody level between ever-exposed dengue infection RA cases, stratified by ACPA status. Comparison of median dengue IgG antibody level between the ever-exposed dengue infection ACPA-positive RA and normal controls in the four ethnic groups. The red line indicates the mean level of dengue IgG antibody levelConclusion:Our findings demonstrated that exposure to dengue infection do not increase the risk of developing future RA in the multi-ethnic Malaysian population. The inverse associations observed in the Indian ethnic group are in line with the other studies investigating exposure to viral infection and risk of RA.References:[1]Sherina et al (2017) Low levels of antibodies against common viruses associate with anti-citrullinated protein antibody-positive rheumatoid arthritis; implications for disease aetiology. Arthritis Research & Therapy 2017, 19:2169[2]Gissel García et. al. (2011) Long-term persistence of clinical symptoms in dengue-infected persons and its association with immunological disorders. International Journal of Infectious Diseases 15 (2011) e38–e43Acknowledgements:The authors would like to thank the Director General of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia for supporting this study. The authors are also indebted to participants for their kind participation. This study was financially supported by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia (JPP-IMR 17-025) and the short-term research grant by UniKL RCMP (str16037).Disclosure of Interests:None declared

Political Marriage Alliances at the Shi'i Court of Awadh

1983 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 593-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael H. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Las Vegas ◽  
Mutual Recognition ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The Other ◽  
Shared Identity ◽  
Wedding Ceremony ◽  
Eleanor Of Aquitaine ◽  
The Continuum

A marriage expresses a mutual recognition of some degree of shared identity. The wedding ceremony confirms these links and creates new ones, although to an extent variable with the culture and the specific case. The affinity can be between individuals acting for themselves, for families, or for larger social or national groups. At one extreme would be the temporary liason, stemming from personal whim or passion, between individuals who share little more than common acceptance of the culture which recognizes the form. A Las Vegas marriage followed by a quickie Mexican divorce, a Hindu Gāndharva marriage consummated without any ceremony, or a Shi'i mut 'ah (marriage of pleasure) of contractually stipulated length might typify this end of the continuum. At the other end would be the purely political marriage that links social groups, parties, or even nations together but which disregards the desires of the principals. Richard II's diplomatic marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, a Kulin Brahmin's ritual marriage with dozens of women, or Asaf al-Daula's apparently unconsummated marriage with Shams al-Nisā' Begum (discussed later) exemplifies this extreme. Between lie a diversity of forms within a variety of cultures.

scholarly journals Content and stylistic peculiarities of non-canonical Orthodox Internet Sermon in modern Russia

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 83-96
Author(s):  
Konstantin S. Sharov
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
The Social ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Goals And Objectives ◽  
Technical Professions

The paper is concerned with a study of the changing content and style of non-canonical Christian religious preaching in the digital age. Special attention is paid to the analysis of modern rhetoric Christian preachers practice in their Internet channels, forums and blogs. It is shown that the content of the Internet sermon is largely determined by the Internet users themselves and the topics of their appeals. The fundamental characteristics of the content of the Internet sermon are: 1) focus on the individual, their private goals and objectives, not just on theological problems; 2) rethinking the phenomenon of the neighbour; 3) a shift from the Hesychast tradition of preaching the importance of inner spiritual concentration to the preaching of religious interactivity. The observed stylistic features of the digital preaching can be summarised as follows: 1) moving away from simple answers to the rhetoric of new questions addressed to the audience; 2) empathy, co-participation with a person in his/her life conflicts and experiences; 3) desire to share religious information, not to impose it; 4) resorting to various rhetorical techniques to reach different audiences; 5) a tendency to use slang, sometimes even irrespective of the audience’s language preferences and expectations. It should be pointed out that the Orthodox Internet sermon in the Russian Internet space has a dual and contradictory nature. On the one hand, this phenomenon can be regarded as positive for the Orthodox preaching in general, since it is a means of spreading Christian ideas in the social groups that do not constitute a core of parishioners of Orthodox churches, for example, schoolchildren, students, representatives of technical professions, etc. On the other hand, the effectiveness of such preaching is still unclear. Lack of reliable statistics as well as the results of the survey related to the Orthodox Internet preaching gives us no opportunity to judge about effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the phenomenon at this stage of its development.

scholarly journals THE SEMIOTICS OF BATAK TOBA SOCIETY MARRIAGE TRADITION

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pininta Veronika Silalahi
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Rites Of Passage ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Charles Sanders Peirce ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cultural Activities ◽  
Marriage Ceremony ◽  
The World ◽  
Triadic Relation

Marriage is one of the culture universals being that it is contracted in every society of the world, but its mode of contract varies from one society to the other. Marriage is one of life’s major passages, one of the most profound rites of passage that a person or a couple can experience. In many cultures, marriage is generally made known to the public through marriage ceremony. This paper unravels the semiotics of a marriage tradition in Batak Toba Society. Batak Toba is one of the ethnic groups of Batak society, which is still doing wedding tradition as one of its cultural activities. The theoretical framework applied is the conception of signs by Charles Sanders Peirce. According to Peirce, ‘meaning’ is a triadic relation between a sign, an object, and an interpretant. There are three types of signs: icon, index and symbol. This work will reveal the meaning of icons, indexes and symbols in the marriage tradition.

Rights of Exit

Legal Theory ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Green
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The State ◽  
Parochial Schools ◽  
Hiring Practices ◽  
Social Clubs ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Conduct Codes

Social groups claim authority to impose restrictions on their members that the state cannot. Churches, ethnic groups, minority nations, universities, social clubs, and families all regulate belief and behavior in ways that would be obviously unjust in the context of a state and its citizens. All religions impose doctrinal requirements; many also enforce sexist practices and customs. Some universities impose stringent speech and conduct codes on their students and faculty. Parochial schools discriminate in their hiring practices. Those who complain about such internal restrictions on the liberties of members might well be told to “love it or leave it.”

Historical Account or Discourse on Identity? A Reexamination of Fulbe Hegemony and Autochthonous Submission in Banyo

1998 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 93-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin Gausset
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Local Populations ◽  
Northern Cameroon ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Military

Traditional accounts of the nineteenth-century Fulbe conquest in northern Cameroon tell roughly the same story: following the example of Usman Dan Fodio in Nigeria, the Fulbe of Cameroon organized in the beginning of the nineteenth century a “jihad” or a “holy war” against the local pagan populations to convert them to Islam and create an Islamic state. The divisions among the local populations and the military superiority of the Fulbe allowed them to conquer almost all northern Cameroon. They forced those who submitted to give an annual tribute of goods and servants, and they raided the other groups. In these traditional accounts the Fulbe are presented as unchallenged masters, while the local populations are depicted as slaves who were powerless over their fate; their role in the conquest of the region and in the administration of the new political order is supposed to have been insignificant.I will show that, on the contrary, in the area of Banyo the Wawa and Bute played a crucial role in the conquest of the sultanate and in its administration. I will then re-examine the cliche that all members of the local populations were the slaves of the Fulbe by distinguishing the fate of the Wawa and Bute on one side from that of the Kwanja and Mambila on the other, and by showing the importance of the Fulbe's identity in shaping the definition of slavery. Finally I will argue that, if the historical accounts found in the scientific literature invariably insist on Fulbe hegemony and minimize the role played by the local populations, it is because those accounts are often based on Fulbe traditions, and because these traditions are remodeled by the Fulbe in order to correspond to their discourse on identity.

Knowledge Claims and Landscape: Alternative Views of the Fuelwood—Degradation Nexus in Northern Nigeria

1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reginald Cline-Cole
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
The Other ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Northern Nigeria ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Virtual Realities ◽  
Technologies Of Representation ◽  
The One ◽  
Knowledge Claims

The existence of competing or contradictory orthodoxies in Nigerian forestry is a long recognised, if little explored research problem. Far from being the product of a monolithic culture, regional forestry, or, more inclusively agrosilvipastoral landscapes and fuelscapes, are social products which have been described as often construed in a plurality of ways and invested with diverse if not antithetical meanings by different individuals and social groups. They represent sites of contestation and cooperation for human agents and state agencies engaged in constructing, maintaining and modifying woodfuel and other forestry-related discourses. The author juxtaposes several such contests, their meanings, and the discourses of which they are a part. He does so with particular reference to perceived linkages between fuelwood use and production, on the one hand, and vegetation and degradation and other environmental change, on the other. The geographical focus is dryland Nigeria, in particular its regional forestry spaces and landscapes. In the conceptual framework empirical theorisation is combined with discourse and landscape analyses. The author concludes that the juxtaposition of forestry discourses, which he attempts, creates spaces for different landscape visions to be seen as virtual realities, which are shaped and sustained by social forces and (technologies of) representation.

German Eugenics and the Wider World: Beyond the Racial State

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Weindling
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Urban Growth ◽  
The Other ◽  
Racial Hygiene ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Rapid Industrialization ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Size And Structure

This article discusses German eugenics as being incorporated of two strands, one racially oriented and the other welfare oriented. Eugenics in Germany was also characterized by its intention to reach out to a wider world of German colonies and German ethnic groups beyond the frontiers of the state. Key issues such as rapid industrialization and urban growth and associated changes in morbidity, family size and structure, and sexuality are addressed. The article outlines a system of public health in which eugenically-trained physicians served the race and nation rather than merely the individual. It provides an understanding of racial hygiene within the context of German imperialism, but the postwar loss of colonies, of territories to the new Polish state, creates a shift of focus within the new welfare state.

The Birth of New Russian Meanings (the 10th – Beginning of the 13th Centuries)

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 381-410
Author(s):  
Sergey V. Perevezentsev
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
The Other ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

The article examines the development of Christian truths by ancient Russian thinkers in the first centuries after the Baptism of Russia – from the end of the 10th to the 13th centuries. On the one hand, it shows the contradictory process of Christianization of different social groups of ancient Russian society. On the other hand, Russian spiritual and political thought of this period is analyzed, and the semantic content of the first Russian Christian writings is revealed, from the “Words on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion of Kiev to Vladimir Monomakh’s “Teachings” and Daniel Zatochnik’s “Word”. The research allows us to say that in the course of understanding the main Christian dogmas, Russian spiritual and political thinkers substantiated new and eternal meanings of historical and posthumous existence.

Positive regard for difference without identity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Nicholas
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The Other ◽  
Contact Theory ◽  
Contact Hypothesis ◽  
Trans People ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Cis And Trans

The contact hypothesis has been the go-to social psychology concept for promoting better relations between unequal social groups since its inception in the context of ‘racial’ de-segregation in the USA. The idea that contact between groups reduces prejudice has been applied to a range of dominant / subordinate social groups such as ethnic groups, homo/heterosexuals, cis and trans people. This chapter will question whether the aims and premises of contact theory are still useful in the context of increasingly subtle and systemic biases and inequalities, and whether and how it might be usefully extended to relations between more complex identities than simple pre-defined oppositional ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups.  To do so, it considers some examples of intergroup othering using case studies pertaining to backlashes against gender, sexual and ethnic diversity in the contemporary Australian context. This chapter proposes the fruitful combination of queer ethics, post-tolerance political theory and the social psychology concept of ‘allophilia’ (love for the other) to move towards fostering ‘positive regard’ as an alternative way to tackle prejudice. It suggests that queer ethics can lend a convincing strategy here, which I call ‘reading queerly’, that is, being able to approach an other with an openness that neither homogenises nor subordinates difference.

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