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Jan De Wolf Utrecht University, The Netherlands

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Giulia De Togni University of Edinburgh, UK

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Hynek Becka Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany

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Thomas Bierschenk Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Germany

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Grotti, Vanessa. 2022. Nurturing the Other. First Contacts and the Making of Christian Bodies in Amazonia. New York: Berghahn. 197 pp. Hb.: US$135.00. ISBN: 978-1-80073-458-6.

McConnell-Ginet, Sally. 2020. Words Matter: Meaning and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 320 pp. Hb.: £64.00. ISBN: 9781108427210.

Sokolíčková, Zdenka. 2023. The Paradox of Svalbard Climate Change and Globalisation in the Arctic. London: Pluto Press. 202 pp. Pb.: £24.99. ISBN: 9780745347400.

Sausdal, David. 2023. Globalizing Local Policing. An Ethnography of Change and Concern among Danish Detectives. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 254 pp. Hb.: £39.99. ISBN: 978-3-031-18918-0.

Grotti, Vanessa. 2022. Nurturing the Other. First Contacts and the Making of Christian Bodies in Amazonia. New York: Berghahn. 197 pp. Hb.: US$135.00. ISBN: 978-1-80073-458-6.

This work is a companion volume of The Imbalance of Power (2016) by Vanessa's husband and research partner Marc Brightman. The site of their main fieldwork was Tëpu, an Amerindian village in southern Suriname. At that time (2003–2005) it had 330 inhabitants, the majority of them Trio but also many affinal Wayana. Until the 1950s, the Trio had lived in communities of only 30 to 50 people. Tëpu was founded by American fundamentalist Baptist missionaries, who succeeded in converting the Trio between 1956 and 1986, when they retired. Grotti's interpretation of these changes is indebted to Viveiros de Castro, who invited us to imagine an indigenous Amazonian ontology as ‘multinaturalist’ in contrast to our modern ‘multiculturalist’ ontologies. Soul or spirit is universal, while the objective bodily nature takes an a posteriori, particular and conditional quality. Grotti also adopted his idea that bodily metamorphosis is the Amerindian counterpart to the European theme of spiritual conversion.

In order to analyse this transformation, she uses Lévi-Strauss's idea that Amerindian ontological identity is in perpetual fluctuation between two incompatible halves. This may take different forms, but Trio personhood is seen as oscillating between peacefulness and fierceness (also associated with spirits). The social practices that the missionaries propagated were aimed at the stabilisation of peacefulness because spirits belonged to the realm of the devil. In this way Trio were able to live in large villages with former potential enemies through incorporating alterity necessary for social reproduction. Viveiros de Castro had demonstrated that elsewhere in Amazonia shamanism and cannibalism can serve the same purpose. The acquisition of trade goods and the adoption of new ways of communication by the Trio is interpreted in the same way as incorporating alterity. The common denominator of such processes is the diffusion of social influence, which the author calls ‘nurture’. It is also basic to their communal feasts when people get drunk together to enhance peacefulness. This argumentation is ingenious but not altogether convincing as there is no Trio word for nurture in the way Grotti uses it.

She also pays much attention to the position of the Akuriyo in Tëpu (but we are not told how many there are). They had lived as nomads in voluntary isolation until they were contacted by the missionaries who converted Trio around 1970. When first attempts to settle them as a group met with little success, and no missionary could be found to give them full-time attention while their health rapidly deteriorated, they were brought to Tëpu.

Grotti considers the relationship with the Akuriyo that was forged by the Trio as yet another example of ‘nurture’. At the time of her fieldwork, they were attached to the families of the Trio who had contacted them. They depended on them for food and beer made of manioc, the main Trio staple. In exchange, the Akuriyo provided meat. They were believed to be better hunters than Trio, but were treated condescendingly. They were expected to serve their patrons as if they had to perform bride-service, but without being married to their daughters. One would have liked to hear more about changes in this relationship over time. We know that when Fabiola Jara recorded their traditional way of life in 1985, her main Akuriyo informant headed a family cluster with its own manioc gardens and kitchen.

In contrast, the integration of the Wayana in Tëpu appears to have been almost complete. If it had been different, Vanessa and Marc would surely have noticed it. Their research assistant was the daughter of a Trio mother and a Wayana father and they themselves had become part of her family. This assimilation observed in Tëpu could be the reason that Grotti repeatedly assumes that the cultural determinants of the response of all Wayana to external influences were similar to that of the Trio. However, if she had been aware of contemporary Dutch sources based on first-hand evidence about other Wayana in Suriname, she should have had second thoughts (Boven 2006). Although they had also been concentrated in large villages where American missionaries had tried to convert them, far fewer people had become church-going Christians. Already in 1981, Peter Rivière, the first anthropologist to have made a thorough study of the Trio, had noted this difference between Trio and Wayana that would require ‘more thorough examination in the future’. We are still waiting for it.

JAN DE WOLF

Utrecht University (The Netherlands)

References

  • Boven, K. M. 2006. Overleven in een grensgebied. Veranderingsprocessen bij de Wayana in Suriname en Frans-Guyana. Amsterdam: IBS, Rozenberg.

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  • Brightman, M. 2016. The imbalance of power. New York: Berghahn Books.

McConnell-Ginet, Sally. 2020. Words Matter: Meaning and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 320 pp. Hb.: £64.00. ISBN: 9781108427210.

‘Words (and meaningful silences) matter enormously’, Sally McConnell-Ginet warns at the beginning of this book, as she invites readers to explore the social and political significance of a wide range of linguistic practices. In this rich volume, McConnell-Ginet includes representative examples of her work since the 1970s, which have been foundational in the fields of sociolinguistics and gender studies. These pieces are enriched by commentaries, in which the author offers insight into how her own views and ways of thinking about language and power have changed over time, considering her own positionality and privileges. Instead of calling for a unified thesis, however, the author offers a number of case studies for reflection that identify particular kinds of linguistic practices and how these are linked to social inequality.

In particular, McConnell-Ginet scrutinises how labelling practices are used to classify and dominate certain groups (Chapter 1); how marking practices are used to distinguish between those with ‘standard’ identities and those with ‘marginalised’ identities (Chapter 2); and how generalising can contribute to reinforcing longstanding stereotypes and prejudices (Chapter 3). The author analyses how addressing some people in certain ways pushes them down the social hierarchy, reinforcing ‘weapons for social oppression’ (Chapter 4, p. 110). She offers specific examples of linguistic practices aimed at ‘putting down people’, such as insults and name-calling (Chapter 5). McConnell-Ginet then looks at reforming/resisting practices in discourses around racism, sexism and gender equality (Chapter 6), and problematises social practices of authorising (or de-authorising) some linguistic practices (Chapter 7, p. 216). The latter include, for instance, political determinations of meanings that can have social and legal implications, such as in the case of the US Supreme Court's determination on the meaning of ‘marriage’ (Chapter 7, pp. 225–231).

McConnell-Ginet engages critically with the topic of meaning and power also in the concluding chapter of this book (Chapter 8), when she refers to the implications of criticising political correctness (PC) as limiting people's freedom of expression and in particular to how the political right in the US has managed, especially under the Trump administration, to present itself as the defenders of free speech. McConnell-Ginet stresses that fake news and narratives of ‘going back’ to a supposedly greater past are far more threatening to free speech and freedom than any excesses of political correctness.

Throughout the text, McConnell-Ginet effectively shows how words cannot be reduced to lifeless symbols, but rather live in the social world and have the power to transform it. Words, McConnell-Ginet stresses, also show their histories, which can be histories of oppression or resistance/emancipation. Through linguistic practices, the author argues, ‘resisters’ can create new words but also, potentially, new worlds (Chapter 8, p. 283). How this can be done in practice, however, is not thoroughly discussed by the author. Although the volume is very rich in case studies, it would have benefited from a more in-depth analysis of linguistic practices of resistance to structural power. The author addresses the issue of structural power throughout the book, for example when she discusses labelling practices and marking and erasing practices. However, McConnell-Ginet does not offer an overview of how this can be resisted through linguistic practices.

McConnell-Ginet explains that her goal with this book is indeed limited to ‘encourage readers who do not immediately understand why some other group of people is bothered by some linguistic practice or is suggesting some linguistic change to try to find out more about the issues involved, the background’ (Chapter 8, p. 251). It is an invitation to inquiry over range or action, she explains. Exposing her own bias, McConnell-Ginet admits that she used to ‘mock’ people over matters of incorrect grammar, pronunciation and spelling, but now no longer does so, recognising the history of how linguistic standards are promulgated as a device to indicate and preserve social hierarchy (p. 279).

McConnell-Ginet does not intend her book to be a text for specialists and, through avoiding jargon and in-depth sociolinguistic analysis, she aims to reach a wider audience of readers interested in the relationship between language and power, and how unfair and discriminating linguistic practices contribute to reinforcing social inequalities. As such, the book is very accessible and will appeal to readers within and beyond academia. It is a useful tool for teaching at a variety of levels, thanks to its very helpful provision of case studies to illustrate key points. It may be used for teaching in various disciplines, including courses in linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, gender and sexuality, and resistance studies.

GIULIA DE TOGNI

University of Edinburgh (UK)

Sokolíčková, Zdenka. 2023. The Paradox of Svalbard Climate Change and Globalisation in the Arctic. London: Pluto Press. 202 pp. Pb.: £24.99. ISBN: 9780745347400.

Svalbard is a climate hotspot, heating up much quicker than the rest of the world. It is a place where all living necessities need to be supplied from the mainland, each shipping trip burning fuel and warming up the Arctic even further. And yet, it is to become a display of Norway's post-carbon future, an example of green transformation (financed by the wealth created by the fossil fuel industry). Except for dwindling coal deposits (and the majestic landscape), there are not that many reasons why people would inhabit this place. But due to its strategic location, it plays a key role in the geopolitics of the North, and thus the Norwegian state insists on a continuous and major Norwegian presence, otherwise some other power could claim these islands. Despite its supposedly Norwegian identity, Svalbard relies on migration and cheap labour (often from East Asian countries) to maintain its growing tourist industry and people of multiple cultures inhabit it.

The paradox of Svalbard is multi-layered, but globalisation and climate change lie at its centre. We could choose, as some Norwegian politicians and representatives of the tourist industry insist, to see Svalbard as a miniature of the world, a simulation of sorts, where the impacts of climate change can be watched, studied and prepared for. However, Zdenka Sokolíčková never allows us to slip into such a simplified understanding and convincingly shows that Longyearbyen, the world's northernmost settlement and her field site, is a particular place (much like the rest of the world) and that this local particularity must not be forgotten, or else there is a danger of reducing the messy lived present to a simplified fairy tale. One such fairy tale would be of green transformation achieved through technological fixes that ultimately obscure important aspects of sustainability, which are left out in an attempt to make Svalbard finally green.

Gradually, Sokolíčková unpacks different layers of the Svalbard paradox. First, she focuses on climate change and the discourses that surround it. Narratives about green transformation lend themselves to various political projects, and many people in Longyearbyen refuse to believe that they are always motivated by true environmental concerns. Climate change does become tangibly present in people's lives, but in a much more complex manner, and even though some of the Longyearbyen inhabitants refer to the impossibility of a fully sustainable life in Svalbard, they struggle to come up with a satisfying solution. Even among growing attempts to study and mitigate climate change in Svalbard, it seems to be always somewhat out of reach.

Further, Sokolíčková argues that despite the abandonment of coal mining, the extractive nature of Svalbard's economy did not change. Instead of coal, it is now scientific data that are now taken from the Arctic landscape. Different practice to be sure, but one that follows the same logic of extraction – seeking out resources ‘out there’ to fuel projects of linear development. Similarly, the tourist industry depends on the exploitation of both the environment and migrant labour. Cleaners, service workers or tourist guides hardly ever reach any level of labour security. The supposedly Norwegian character of the island (despite its deeply multicultural population) is policed not only by the state (lately by limiting foreigner's voting rights) but also by other actors as well. Foreigners in Longyearbyen often experience (more or less) minor acts of exclusion. Svalbard thus emerges as not only supposedly green, but also a deeply national project, and in powerful ethnographic chapters, Sokolíčková shows people who struggle to fit within its bounds, including herself as a foreign anthropologist, as well as difficult attempts to build a more inclusive community despite disempowering systemic obstructions.

The main contribution of The Paradox of Svalbard is the author's ability to present her argument across various scales and yet remain grounded in its local specificity. This is achieved through detailed and meticulous ethnography. Both globalisation and climate change are approached through encounters with various people who live in Longyearbyen: miners, tour guides, migrants and activists. Their stories are layered and, while Svalbard is in no way a miniature of the world, they pose a question familiar to many of us – why do people, despite knowing very well the dangerous and destructive implications of their actions, remain unable to abandon them? Sokolíčková does not attempt to provide a definitive answer, but uses paradox as an analytical tool, through which she can follow the shifting scales of globalisation and climate change without reducing them to simplified narratives or mere vignettes from slowly melting Arctics. This monograph is a rich and detailed ethnography of various attempts to mitigate climate change, of people who navigate issues of race and nationalism, and an important addition to the literature on scale, climate change and globalisation. Given its analytical depth, it might be especially useful for more advanced scholars of anthropology and beyond.

HYNEK BECKA

Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (Germany)

Sausdal, David. 2023. Globalizing Local Policing. An Ethnography of Change and Concern among Danish Detectives. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 254 pp. Hb.: £39.99. ISBN: 978-3-031-18918-0.

In this book, the author examines why Danish police officers are becoming increasingly frustrated with their work context, despite growing human, technical and symbolic investments in the police force. David Sausdal explores this question through an ethnographic study, observing and participating in the daily work of two units of Copenhagen criminal investigators (detectives) dealing with pickpocketing and burglaries, mostly committed by gangs from the eastern part of the Baltic Sea region.

Although Sausdal asserts that he does not pursue a uniform theoretical approach, he makes some bold theoretical claims. He posits a ‘difference between the reasonings of the Danish police as a societal institution vis-à-vis the day-to-day thinking and doings of its individual police officers’ and ‘between dominant policing representations and that of everyday police work’. His primary interest lies in ‘the everyday emotive and even existential perspectives of police work’. In true anthropological fashion, he pays attention not only to declarative statements by politicians, police leaders and the detectives themselves, but also to side comments and everyday conversations, without assuming that practices can be directly derived from discourses.

Sausdal's general answer to his research question is that the internationalisation of crime – with the studied units increasingly pursuing foreign criminals – and the associated technologisation of police work frustrate police officers. They complain about the impersonal interactions with their ‘clients’ and the lack of time or opportunity for ‘real’ police work, which they define by the possibility of direct personal contact with their clientele.

The book consists of an introduction, six thematic chapters and a conclusion. The thematic chapters cover topics such as the xenophobia of police officers, the contradiction between the official surveillance and security discourse and its negative evaluation by police officers, the war on terrorism and the law-and-order discourse (with similar findings), and the dominant cynicism of police officers towards their working conditions. Each chapter thoroughly engages with the relevant literature and develops an empirically substantiated position.

In Chapter 2, for example, Sausdal argues that an increasingly xenophobic attitude among police officers aligns with their generally conservative political views; however, it is encouraged by the fact that globalisation and technologisation are making their work less and less interesting for them. Counter-intuitively, ‘more police surveillance did not equal more professional satisfaction’. The police officers rebel more against new forms of work than against foreign criminals themselves. In their eyes, the latter lose their human quality, as it is no longer possible to establish genuine rapport with them, not least because of language barriers. Thus, the xenophobia of the police officers is less a pre-existing mindset that they bring into interactions than an output that develops from their work context; it is ‘an interactional process more than it just being a finished cultural product or political scheme’.

While the volume contains many, if minor, printing errors that the publisher should have addressed, especially given the high price, the main issue considering form is the incomplete index, which omits many cited authors. If the index included all authors cited, there would also not have been a need of duplicating the chapter literature lists with a complete bibliography at the end.

In contrast to the by now well-established anthropology of the police, which often foregrounds public order policing and violence practices from an a priori ‘critical’ standpoint, this book offers a counterpoint by examining everyday police practices as work. In good Malinowskian style, Sausdal takes the agency and reflexivity of his actors seriously. Danish police officers observe and comment self-critically on their own discourses and practices, and they reflect on the society in which they live. Their para-ethnological reflections aim at what police work (and society beyond that) could be – but is no longer under current conditions. Sausdal does not see this as merely romanticising about the good old days of his protagonists, who understand themselves as the ‘last real policemen’. Rather, these complaints express a perceived loss of emotional gratification and vocational worth, which could be the starting point for organisational reforms. The book is not only a contribution to the anthropology of the police but also to the anthropology of work, the state and globalisation.

THOMAS BIERSCHENK

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität (Germany)

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  • Boven, K. M. 2006. Overleven in een grensgebied. Veranderingsprocessen bij de Wayana in Suriname en Frans-Guyana. Amsterdam: IBS, Rozenberg.

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  • Brightman, M. 2016. The imbalance of power. New York: Berghahn Books.

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