Open Access Published since July 30, 2018

Open Anthropological Research

ISSN: 2657-4233

Editor-in-chief: John R. Campbell

About this journal

Open Anthropological Research was an international, open access, peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to the publication of original research in all fields of anthropology.

Published Special Issues:

Abstracting and Indexing

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Volume 2 Issue 1

January 2022

Open Access May 29, 2022

“Tales from the Trail”: Oratory and Affect among Alaska Dog Mushers

Robin A. Shoaps, Patrick Plattet

Page range: 1-18

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Abstract

This paper draws from linguistic anthropological and ethnographic fieldwork to illustrate the role of award ceremonies in maintaining and creating affective orientations toward rivalry among Alaska dog mushers. It focuses on award speeches given by dog mushers and others involved in the Alaska dog mushing community and reveals a “need for narrative” that has characterized sled dog racing since its origin as an (inter)national sport. Mushing “stories” are constitutive of public talk about wins and losses in the sport, as well as about race events that take place far from view on distant trails. Specifically, “accounts,” a humorous narrative genre that pivots upon unpredictable “instinct-driven” characteristics of canine athletes, serve as an important idiom for evoking chance in describing wins and losses. The performance and appreciation of these narratives constitute the intangible heritage of Alaska dog mushers, and accounts emerge as a semiotic resource for negotiating and downplaying rivalry through orchestration of embodied intersubjective sentiments, i.e. affect.

Open Access October 27, 2022

The New Girls’ Clubs: Candidate Training Programs and the Women Changing the Face of United States Politics

Sarah A. Carson

Page range: 59-75

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Abstract

Hundreds of training and support programs for women political candidates have emerged in the United States as increasing numbers of women run for elected office. Drawing on two years of ethnographic research with Republican and Democratic programs, I outline how the groups not only provide skills training but also function as supportive social networks that propel women into leadership, toeing the line between rethinking what leadership looks like and encouraging participants to adopt entrenched practices that reflect existing gendered norms. A qualitative investigation shows that the “sisterhood” created through training is a crucial support system for alumnae, less robust but perhaps particularly important for Republican women whose party leaders and institutions are less willing to support women as an identity group. Training networks vary in the amount of support and resources they can provide, but program alumnae across the board seek to help each other socially, emotionally, and materially with advising, mentorship, volunteering, and fundraising. By helping participants band together to propel each other into elected office, women’s candidate training organizations can serve as substitutes for elite traditional fundraising and mentorship “boys’ club” networks. They are an increasingly important mechanism through which members of historically excluded communities can gain power.

Policy Forum

Open Access August 2, 2022

Social Anthropology in the UK: An Update

Simone Abram

Page range: 19-26

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Abstract

Social Anthropology has a long and familiar history in the UK, but what is the state of play today? This essay reflects from the perspective of the chair of the ASA on two years of pandemic upheaval and a crisis of funding and working conditions, institutional challenges and responses from social anthropology.

Forensic and Cultural Expertise in Anthropology

Open Access September 2, 2022

Forensic and Expert Social Anthropology

James W. W. Rose

Page range: 27-37

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Abstract

Social anthropologists have acted as expert witnesses in legal proceedings for many decades, however there has persisted a tension between social anthropologists’ readiness to accept the assignation of ‘expertise’, and the typical manner in which courts and legally empowered bodies characterise such expertise as the forensic specialization of an established scientific field. This paper presents a model for the distinction between forensic social anthropology and expert social anthropology, both of which play important probative roles in a range of legal processes. The key variable in this proposed distinction is the relative degree of independent causal modelling permitted to social anthropologists engaged by courts and other legally empowered bodies. In forensic applications, social anthropologists are called upon to independently detect and explain causal processes that link culturally specific ideas to real-world instances human social interaction. By contrast, in expert applications, social anthropologists are called upon to advise on whether causal models defined by the terms of a given legal process have been substantiated. This distinction brings forensic and expert social anthropology into line with similar distinctions made between forensic and expert applications of physical anthropology in legal proceedings, and offers a useful contribution to the reconciliation of social and physical anthropology as two fields of a single parent discipline.

Open Access October 18, 2022

Forensic and Expert Social Anthropology: A Short Comment

Soren Blau

Page range: 38-40

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Abstract

As the issue of accreditation of anthropologists who work in forensic science and/or who provide expert evidence in legal proceedings is of increasing importance, Rose (2022) provides an interesting perspective on the role of social anthropology within the legal system. This piece provides a short comment on Rose’s publication.

Open Access October 18, 2022

An Anthropologist as Expert Witness

Murray J Leaf

Page range: 41-58

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Abstract

A substantial literature in anthropology claims that there are inherent epistemological and ethical conflicts for anthropologists serving as expert witnesses. James Rose’s article rightly connects this to a “postmodern turn”. He contrasts it with the anthropology of “greater formal and empirical maturity” represented by my work with Dwight Read and a few others. Rose argues that expert testimony based on the latter type of social anthropology has greater legal probity. I have been an expert witness in forty-one cases. I agree. The bulk of his article seeks to characterize this type of anthropology. He proposes a general distinction between “forensic” and “expert”. I argue that it is better to recognize that the two streams are part of a much wider conflict between science based on experimental demonstration and the long and consistently fruitless debate over idealism versus materialism. My approach is part of the former. The conflict between Postmodernism and Positivism is part of the latter. In this article I recall the main intellectual positions that mark the two streams, including landmarks in the anthropology of law. I then address the issues Rose discusses in general terms. I then describe my activities in three specific cases. I conclude with recommendations regarding certification.

Open Access November 17, 2022

Comment on Rose: ‘Forensic and Expert Social Anthropology’

Anthony Good

Page range: 76-79

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Abstract

This comment considers the applicability of Rose’s model of forensic social anthropology to a range of legal contexts, in particular to immigration and asylum appeals in the United Kingdom.

Volume 2 (2022)

Issue 1

Volume 1 (2021)

Issue 1

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Editorial

Publisher
DE GRUYTER Poland
Bogumiła Zuga 32A Str.
01-811 Warsaw, Poland
T: +48 22 701 50 15

Editorial Contact
Katarzyna Inga Michalak
Katarzyna.Michalak@degruyter.com

(Deutsch)

Type: Journal
Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Open Access
First published: July 30, 2018
Publication Frequency: 1 Issue per Year