Training for War: Academy Socialization and Warrior Policing

The role of the police in the United States is a topic of contentious debate. Central to this debate is a binary that constructs police officers as fulfilling either a protective, community-serving role, or an aggressive, crime-fighting role. The most recent iteration is reflected in the warrior-guardian construct, which conceptualizes officers as both initiators of, and defenders against, violence. This article examines how the warrior-guardian framework shapes police training, and highlights how this construct is itself gendered and racialized. I draw on one year of ethnographic field work at four police academies and 40 interviews with police officers and cadets to argue that police training is an organized effort to condition officers to conceptualize their relationship with the public as a war. Three components constitute this framing: (1) instructors construct an evil, unpredictable enemy; (2) cadets are taught to identify their enemy in gendered and racialized ways; and (3) cadets are encouraged to adopt a warrior mentality. I show that cadets are taught to view the world in a way that pits them against an enemy, pushes them to conceptualize their enemy as a man of color, and to think about violence as a moral necessity.

Training for War: Academy Socialization and Warrior Policing

The role of the police in the United States is once again the topic of intense debate and contention. Central to this debate is a binary that constructs police officers as fulfilling either a protective, community-serving role, or an aggressive, crime-fighting role. The most recent iteration of this binary is reflected in the warrior-guardian construct, which conceptualizes officers as both initiators of, and defenders against, violence. In this article, I examine how the warrior-guardian framework shapes police training and highlight the way in which this construct is itself gendered and racialized. I draw on one year of ethnographic field work at four police academies and 41 interviews with police officers and cadets to argue that police training is an organized effort to condition officers to conceptualize their relationship with the public as a war. I outline three components that constitute this framing: (1) instructors construct an evil, unpredictable enemy; (2) cadets are taught to identify their enemy in gendered and racialized ways; and (3) cadets are encouraged to adopt a warrior mentality. Ultimately, I show that cadets are taught to view the world in a way that pits them against an enemy, conceptualize their enemy as a man of color, and think about violence as a moral necessity.

De “La Legión contra la droga” a “Todos con la Patria”. Evolución de los 101 km en 24 h de Ronda (From "The Legion Against Drugs" to "All with the Homeland": Evolution of the 101 km in 24 h of Ronda)

Iniciada en 1995, los 101 km en 24 h de Ronda se ha consolidado como una de las más emblemáticas y singulares ultra maratones del territorio español. En este trabajo focalizamos la atención en los relatos emitidos en torno a la prueba, interrogándonos sobre los motivos, valores y sensaciones expresadas por participantes, público y organizadores, a fin de entender las claves de su éxito y la filosofía que la envuelve. A partir de los datos producidos a través del trabajo de campo etnográfico, la experiencia práctica en esta carrera y la información documental, se reflexiona sobre las implicaciones y consecuencias de dos importantes mensajes emblemáticos empleados como consigna del evento, que marcan momentos históricos diferentes: de <<La Legión contra la droga>> del ayer al <<Todos con la Patria>> de hoy. De acuerdo a los resultados obtenidos se hace entendible cómo un acontecimiento así, a través del aparato simbólico que lo envuelve y los intereses económicos, sociales y políticos que genera, sobrepasa la esfera de lo estrictamente deportivo para convertirse en un poderoso vehículo de identidad individual y colectiva que alimenta un peculiar imaginario ideológico. Abstract. Started in 1995, the 101 km in 24 h of Ronda have established as one of the most emblematic and unique ultra-marathons in Spain. In this work we focus our attention on the stories issued around the race, asking about the motives, values ​​and sensations expressed by participants, public and organizers, in order to understand the keys to their success and the philosophy that surrounds it. Based on the data produced through ethnographic field work, the practical experience in this race and documentary information, we reflect on the implications and consequences of two important emblematic messages used as slogan of the event, which mark different historical moments: from <<The Legion (army) against drugs>> of yesterday to <<Everyone with the Homeland>> of today. According to the results obtained, it becomes understandable how such an event, through the symbolic apparatus that surrounds it, and the economic, social and political interests that it generates, goes beyond the strictly sports sphere to become a powerful vehicle of individual and collective identity which it feeds a peculiar ideological imaginary.

Secularism, Religion, and Identification beyond Binaries: The Transnational Alliances, Rapprochements, and Dissent of German Turks in Germany

This article discusses the ways in which power-based socio-political shifts in Turkey during the AKP (Justice and Development Party) era transnationally influence the relations between and within the Muslim German Turkish communities and their organizations in Germany. Based on ethnographic field work, archival research and reflexive discourse analysis, this article takes DITIB (The Turkish Islamic Union of Religious Affairs) in Germany, which is the affiliate organization of Diyanet (The Presidency of Religious Organization) in Turkey, and analyses its relations with other German Turkish organizations such as Milli Görüş (The Islamic Community of National Vision) and the Gülen Movement in Germany. Such analysis reveals the dynamics of competition between secular and religious, as well as intra-religious, actors and how their members claim their religious and socio-political rights beyond binaries.

Verbal Autopsy Interview Standardization Study

Verbal autopsy is a widely known method used for epidemiological and vital registration purposes by demographic surveillance sites throughout the developing world. While the interview assessing causes of death may be conducted and recorded in local languages, the information collected in survey instruments and used by medical personnel as a starting point for analysis is often in English, or other colonial languages. Given the thus far unexplored role of the fieldworker as an interpreter and cultural mediator, ethnographic field work was conducted in six Health and Demographic Surveillance sites in Sub-Saharan Africa that participate in the Alpha Network, with the aim to understand linguistic, cultural, and survey administration practices during each site’s ongoing Verbal Autopsy interview process. This chapter reports on initial results from the study, including challenges faced by the Verbal Autopsy teams, as well as providing initial solutions applicable to professionals interested in health and language methodology.

Narrating Fear, Tracing Landscape: Memory and Militancy ka Daur in Doda, Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir has been a theatre of conflict for almost three decades now. After the outbreak of militancy in 1989–1990 in the Kashmir valley, Doda belt was the first area outside the valley where armed conflict made inroads and affected lives variedly. Based on ethnographic field work, this paper addresses three interrelated questions about the manifestation of militancy in Doda: first, how did the armed struggle for the control of landscape invoked fear ( dehshat) in people and affect their way of living? Second, how did the violence by both non-state and state actors to seek control and assert power transformed the local landscape itself? Third, how did the locals negotiate with shifting landscapes embedded with fear and memories of violence? I approach these questions through memory ethnography of the times of militancy ( militancy ka daur). Based on conversations, narratives and participant observation, the article shows that militancy and resultant armed conflict sowed fear in people’s lives and altered their relation with space and time in multiple ways. Actors involved in the armed conflict shaped the local landscape by resorting to spatial strategies to control territory and exercise power through fear. As a consequence, locals negotiated with the landscape of fear by conforming to outright commands and through silence. Although militancy ka daur has passed in Doda, the paper argues that it has left deep imprints upon the collective memory of the people.

Teaching and learning about Spanish L2 compliments in short-term study abroad

The case for pragmatics instruction in second language (L2) learning has been evidenced by empirical research, although investigations within the context of study abroad are more limited. The objective of this article is to detail the impact of a pedagogical intervention which included explicit teaching and ethnographic field work on the learning of Spanish compliments and compliment responses during a four-week study abroad program. Despite their restricted exposure to the target language community, the 20 participants in the study demonstrated approximation to native norms in their complimenting behavior. These results support the positive benefits of exploiting exposure to the TL community to aid pragmatics instruction in the classroom.

Ciclos da Sulanca: temporalidades e territorialidades do trabalho com vestuário em Caruaru-PE-BR

Resumo: O artigo traz um fragmento do universo social de trabalhadoras e trabalhadores do setor de vestuário em Caruaru, Pernambuco, Brasil. Realizei trabalho de campo etnográfico, entre os anos de 2009 e 2013, tendo feito uma revista em 2019. Apresento aqui temporalidades e territorialidades produzidas pelo trabalho. Trata-se de pensar de forma articulada duas escalas distintas de temporalização dos ciclos da sulanca (este termo nativo abrangente referido à produção e circulação de roupas e outros objetos, no Agreste de Pernambuco). Dois níveis da organização temporal do trabalho que coincidem em parte com o calendário anual dos "grandes eventos" da cidade, por um lado, e com a periodicidade da feira da sulanca, por outro. Tais temporalidades se relacionam com configurações do espaço, plasmando territórios por onde circulam objetos e nos quais pessoas e grupos se relacionam. Pretende-se demonstrar de que maneira estas temporalidades e territorialidades condicionam o ritmo e a intensidade da produção, como de resto, a vida mesma dos trabalhadores.Palavras chave: Sulanca. Tempo. Território. Trabalho. Feira SULANCA CYCLES: temporalities and territorialities of clothing work in Caruaru-PE-BRAbstract: The article brings a fragment of the social universe of clothing workers in Caruaru (Pernambuco, Brazil). I did ethnographic field work, between 2009 and 2013, having made a revisit in 2019. I present here temporalities and territorialities produced by the work. It is a question of articulating two distinct scales of temporalization of the sulanca cycles (this broad native term referring to the production and circulation of clothing and other objects in the Pernambuco Agreste). These two levels of the temporal organization of work coincide in part with the annual calendar of the city's "big events", on the one hand, and the periodicity of the sulanca's marketplace, on the other. Such temporalities relate to configurations of space, shaping territories through which objects circulate and in which people and groups relate. It is intended to demonstrate how these temporalities and territorialities condition the rhythm and intensity of production, as indeed the workers' lives.Keywords: Sulanca. Time. Territory. Work. Marketplace

A Salvage Linguistic Anthropological Study of the Endangered Māṅgtā Language of West Bengal, India

The present paper is a salvage Linguistic Anthropology, in which attempt has been made to document a nearly-extinct language known as māṅgtā bhāsā, and to suggest appropriate measures for saving it from complete extinction. The word māṅgtā is said to have been derived from māṅā, which means ‘to ask for’ or ‘to beg’. The language is spoken by a few groups of the Bedia, which is a Scheduled Tribe (ST) in India with a population of 88,772 as per Census of India, 2011(Risley [1891]1981; Bandyopadhyay 2012, 2016, 2017). Bedia is a generic name for a number of vagrant gypsy like groups which Risley has divided into seven types. They live by a number of professions such as snake-charming, selling of medicinal herbs, showing chameleon art or multi-forming. Almost all of them have become speakers of more than one language for interacting with speakers of different languages in the neighbourhood for the sake of their survival. Even the present generation has almost forgotten their native speech, and their unawareness of the language becoming extinct is of concern to us. Elders still remember it and use it sometimes in conversations with the fellow members of their community. The ability to speak this language is construed with regard to the origin of this particular group of Bedia. In fact, the language had given them the identity of a separate tribal community while they demanded the status of ST in the recent past. Thus, socio-historically, the māṅgtā language has a special significance. In spite of being a distinct speech, there has been almost no study conducted on this language. This is one of the major motives for taking up the present endeavour. This project conducts morphological, phonological, syntactical and semantic studies on the māṅgtā language. Sociolinguistic aspects of this language have also been considered. The language has its roots in the Indo-European language family with affinity to the Austro-Asiatic family. The paper interrogates whether māṅgtā can be called language or speech. The study required ethnographic field work, audio-visual archiving, and revitalization, along with sustainable livelihood protection of speakers of the language.

Ideology and Postvernacularity in 21st Century Yiddish Pedagogy

In this paper, based on five weeks of ethnographic field work in a Yiddish classroom in Poland, I describe how Yiddish language ideologies were realized and enacted within the classroom by language learners and teachers alike. This paper connects these language ideologies and classroom practices to larger historical negotiations of the Jewish past occurring within contemporary Poland, negotiations that center around memory and space. I argue that Yiddish can be understood as an object in cultural flux, discursively framed by multiple intersecting and, at times, contradictory narratives. Focusing on Yiddish language classrooms in contemporary Poland in particular, I demonstrate how Yiddish is embedded in non-Jewish Polish narratives and historical negotiations, as well those of diaspora Jewry.