It's a Small World after All: Comparative Analyses of Community Organization in Archaeology

1997 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 609-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Kolb ◽  
James E. Snead
Keyword(s):  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Community Organization ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Small World ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Agricultural Communities ◽  
Cross Cultural Comparison ◽  
Irreducible Elements ◽  
Ideal Framework

Human social systems are constituted at different scales; the local community, while an important organizational unit cross-culturally, has received limited archaeological study. We argue that community-centric studies in archaeology have significant potential in documenting the diversity of small-scale agricultural systems and in promoting comparative study of local societies. Using comparative data from social anthropology, we put forth a definition of community useful for the archaeologist based on three irreducible elements: social reproduction, agricultural production, and self-identification. These elements provide an ideal framework for cross-cultural comparison. We also argue that using a community approach requires certain methodological refinements, such as adopting an appropriate research scale, conducting intensive surface survey, and using analytical strategies such as labor investment and boundary maintenance. We present recently collected data from two prehistoric agricultural communities, Waiohuli in Hawai'i and Tsikwaiye in northern New Mexico, in order to illustrate the strength of this mode of research.

scholarly journals ASSESSING COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-38
Author(s):  
Ella Lesmanawaty Wargadinata
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Community Organization ◽  
Urban Poverty ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Local Participation ◽  
Research Findings

Since 2007 Government of Indonesia implementing mass National Community Empowerment Program, well-known as PNPM which is reaches thirty three provinces. This program has become an important development program for national as well as local and regional level across Indonesia. The program using bottom up approaches since it implemented based on fostering local community participation; strengthening local community organization with the ultimate goals is to reduce poverty at local level. The regulation and technical guidance affirmed by ministry and it is running by local community organization. The study goes to examine the research findings that the Indonesia CDD’s program is effective to enhance local participation.  It also examines the extent to which research findings used to increase higher public participation on this project  since the program focus on small scale infrastructure and mostly it has taken up uniform activity of the program agenda all over the countries. The program basically focus on building basic need infrastructure projects, such as, piping drinking water project, paving small roads at rural or paving narrow ‘labyrinth’ at dense urban area. However, hardly to find innovation program from the local governments since they have no adopted anything remotely near the ‘National Package’. Moreover, the quality of participation is still questionable.  This study concludes with a discussion of the limits to evaluation and recommend stragies for promoting forther practice and methods of The Urban-Poverty Project public participation evaluation. Based on the literature study, this paper try to give contribution on an understanding of the successful of project implementation, in turn could be used to formulate future public partcipation project. Keywords: Empowerment, Poverty Reduction, Local Participation, Community Driven Development

scholarly journals Small world in a seismic network: the California case

2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Jiménez ◽  
K. F. Tiampo ◽  
A. M. Posadas
Keyword(s):  
Complex Networks ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Small World ◽  
Functional Networks ◽  
Topological Properties ◽  
Southern California Region ◽  
Seismic Area ◽  
The Brain

Abstract. Recent work has shown that disparate systems can be described as complex networks i.e. assemblies of nodes and links with nontrivial topological properties. Examples include technological, biological and social systems. Among them, earthquakes have been studied from this perspective. In the present work, we divide the Southern California region into cells of 0.1°, and calculate the correlation of activity between them to create functional networks for that seismic area, in the same way that the brain activity is studied from the complex network perspective. We found that the network shows small world features.

scholarly journals A cross-cultural comparison of music education experiences and ambitions in two Spanish and English primary schools

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elinor Hardcastle ◽  
Stephanie Pitts ◽  
José Luis Aróstegui
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cultural Comparison ◽  
Music Curriculum ◽  
Cross Cultural Comparison

A small-scale comparative study of music education provision in two Spanish and English primary schools was carried out in 2013–14, using questionnaires, interviews and observations. The study investigated the musical experiences of the children in the two schools, their ambitions for their musical futures, and the classroom practices and policy contexts that shaped these encounters with musical learning. Through thematic analysis and comparison of the data from the two schools, we examine music in children’s lives, music in the classroom, and musical ambitions and values, and consider how well the music curriculum serves the children in each setting.

scholarly journals Reclaiming Meillassoux for the age of financialization

Focaal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (82) ◽  
pp. 109-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hadas Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Agricultural Communities ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Magnum Opus ◽  
Analytical Tools

My goal in this forum essay is to brush the dust off Claude Meillassoux’s (1981) magnum opus, Maidens, Meal and Money, by demonstrating its relevance for the present day. While Meillassoux wrote primarily about precapitalist agricultural communities, he had sketched on their basis a model of social reproduction that incorporates social investments and powers, and he foregrounded the hierarchical and exploitative reproductive orders by which capitalism sustains accumulation. In the context of a renewed interest by feminist scholars in questions of social reproduction, I argue that the analytical tools developed by Meillassoux are at least as helpful in making sense of the age of financialization.

scholarly journals Stakeholder consultations on small-scale irrigation schemes’ constraints in Zimbabwe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edgar Muhoyi ◽  
Josue Mbonigaba
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Theory Of Constraints ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Key Informant ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Small Scale Irrigation

AbstractSmall-scale irrigation schemes (SSIS) have been considered a solution to viability challenges in drought-stricken farming areas in developing countries. However, the schemes face severe constraints. In this paper, relevant constraints are identified and ranked in terms of how serious the limitations are from the perspective of stakeholders in drought-prone areas of the Chipinge District in Zimbabwe. Information for the study was gained through a questionnaire and focus group discussions with small-scale irrigation farmers as well as key informant interviews with government irrigation officials, irrigation managers and members of the local community leadership. The information was garnered between August and December in 2017 with the analysis conducted using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis, guided by the Theory of Constraints and classified in the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal (PESTEL) framework. Results indicated that SSIS are important in the drought-prone areas of the Chipinge District regarding food security and income generation. However, technical issues bedevilling the schemes are considered to be the most challenging limitations. The most important constraints—ranked in descending order of gravity—are technical, economic, social, environmental, legal and political challenges. Based on these findings, the research strongly recommends modernising small-scale irrigation schemes’ infrastructure, among other issues, as a priority in Zimbabwe's drought-prone areas.

scholarly journals Collaborative configurations of tourism development: a Greenlandic example

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-39
Author(s):  
Daniela Chimirri
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Tourism Development ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Collaborative Activities

Purpose While tourism scholars have increasingly recognized the significance of collaboration as an essential element in tourism development, there is a lack of theoretical and empirical research centering on (trans)local collaboration as a central means for future tourism development in Greenland. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the conceptual and analytic potentials and challenges of collaboration in an explorative case study. Design/methodology/approach The paper applies a case study approach to scrutinize collaboration in the setting of a tourism workshop in South Greenland. This research approach is exploratory in nature and focuses on collaborative activities among participants from different research institutions and countries, from Campus Kujalleq in Qaqortoq, from small-scale enterprises and businesses, managers of destination marketing organizations and local fishermen. Findings Four “collaborative configurations” emerged during the workshop. These inspire and challenge ways of (re)conceptualizing collaborative tourism development in South Greenland and call for the reconsideration of the present approach toward tourism development for shaping new possible future(s) of tourism in the Greenlandic context. Originality/value The relevance of this paper emerges from the crucial significance that tourism actors in Greenland credit collaboration. Moreover, by approaching development issues from within and mutually developing possible practice solutions through collaboration with local tourism actors, the paper aims to give voice to the local community, which currently is lacking in the debate on tourism development in Greenland.

scholarly journals Environmental Surveillance Can Dynamically Track Ecological Changes in Enteroviruses

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroki Ozawa ◽  
Hiromu Yoshida ◽  
Shuzo Usuku
Keyword(s):  
Multidimensional Scaling ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Amino Acid Sequences ◽  
Time Dependent ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Environmental Surveillance ◽  
Ecological Changes ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACT Environmental surveillance can be used to trace enteroviruses shed from human stool using a sewer network that is independent of symptomatic or asymptomatic infection. In this study, the local transmission of enteroviruses was analyzed using two wastewater treatment plants, which were relatively close to each other (15 km), designated as sentinels. Influent was collected at both sentinels once a month from 2013 to 2016, and viruses were isolated. Using neutralizing tests with type-specific polyclonal antisera and molecular typing, 933 isolates were identified as enteroviruses. Our results showed that the frequency of virus isolation varied for each serotype at the two sentinels in a time-dependent manner. Because echovirus 11 (Echo11) and coxsackievirus B5 isolates showed a high frequency and were difficult to distinguish, they were further grouped into various lineages based on the VP1 amino acid sequences. The prevalence of each lineage was visualized using multidimensional scaling. The results showed that Echo11 isolates of the same lineage were isolated continuously, similar to coxsackievirus B5 isolates of three lineages. Conversely, Echo1, Echo13, Echo18, Echo19, Echo20, Echo29, and Echo33 were isolated only once each. Our findings suggested that if an enterovirus is imported into the population, it may result in small-scale transmission, whereas if there are initially many infected individuals, it may be possible for the virus to spread to a wide area, beyond the local community, over time. In addition, our findings could provide insights into risk assessment of transmission for importation of poliovirus in polio-free countries and regions. IMPORTANCE In this study, we showed that environmental enterovirus surveillance can be used to monitor the propagation of nonpolio enteroviruses in addition to poliovirus detection. Since epidemiological studies of virus transmission based on the past were performed using specimens from humans, there were limitations to research design, such as specimen collection for implementation on a large-scale target population. However, environmental monitoring can dynamically track the ecological changes in enteroviruses in the region by monitoring viruses in chronological order and targeting the population within the area by monitoring viruses over time. We observed differences in the transmission of echovirus 11 and coxsackievirus B5 in the region according to lineage in a time-dependent manner and with a multidimensional scaling pattern.

scholarly journals Gene–culture coevolution in whales and dolphins

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (30) ◽  
pp. 7814-7821 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hal Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Bottlenose Dolphins ◽  
Sperm Whale ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Killer Whales ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Cetacean Species ◽  
Low Diversity

Whales and dolphins (Cetacea) have excellent social learning skills as well as a long and strong mother–calf bond. These features produce stable cultures, and, in some species, sympatric groups with different cultures. There is evidence and speculation that this cultural transmission of behavior has affected gene distributions. Culture seems to have driven killer whales into distinct ecotypes, which may be incipient species or subspecies. There are ecotype-specific signals of selection in functional genes that correspond to cultural foraging behavior and habitat use by the different ecotypes. The five species of whale with matrilineal social systems have remarkably low diversity of mtDNA. Cultural hitchhiking, the transmission of functionally neutral genes in parallel with selective cultural traits, is a plausible hypothesis for this low diversity, especially in sperm whales. In killer whales the ecotype divisions, together with founding bottlenecks, selection, and cultural hitchhiking, likely explain the low mtDNA diversity. Several cetacean species show habitat-specific distributions of mtDNA haplotypes, probably the result of mother–offspring cultural transmission of migration routes or destinations. In bottlenose dolphins, remarkable small-scale differences in haplotype distribution result from maternal cultural transmission of foraging methods, and large-scale redistributions of sperm whale cultural clans in the Pacific have likely changed mitochondrial genetic geography. With the acceleration of genomics new results should come fast, but understanding gene–culture coevolution will be hampered by the measured pace of research on the socio-cultural side of cetacean biology.

scholarly journals Social Interaction and the City: The Effect of Space on the Reduction of Entropy

Complexity ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinicius M. Netto ◽  
Joao Meirelles ◽  
Fabiano L. Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Coherent Systems ◽  
Elementary Processes ◽  
Vital Part ◽  
Spatial Systems ◽  
Individual Actions ◽  
The City

How can individual acts amount to coherent systems of interaction? In this paper, we attempt to answer this key question by suggesting that there is a place for cities in the way we coordinate seemingly chaotic decisions. We look into the elementary processes of social interaction exploring a particular concept, “social entropy,” or how social systems deal with uncertainty and unpredictability in the transition from individual actions to systems of interaction. Examining possibilities that (i) actions rely on informational differences latent in their environments and that (ii) the city itself is an information environment to actions, we propose that (iii) space becomes a form of creating differences in the probabilities of interaction. We investigate this process through simulations of distinct material scenarios, to find that space is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the reduction of entropy. Finally, we suggest that states and fluctuations of entropy are a vital part of social reproduction and reveal a deep connection between social, informational, and spatial systems.

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