1,721,004 research outputs found
Coffins for wear and consumption: Abebuu adekai as memory makers among the Ga of Ghana.
No full textExploring the reasons for the success and diffusion of the abebuu adekai (literally "receptacles of proverbs") among the Ga, I shall begin by focusing on the importance of the relationship between adeka and clothing. Here I will treat the coffin as an object to be worn, but also as an all-important object of remembrance. In this sense, coffin makers, like photographers and clothing designers, are also image and memory makers. Research has highlighted the importance of "wearing" abebuu adekai in various aspects of social life; thus I will also analyze the close relationship between the use of the coffin and the question of property rights. Finally, I will present the coffin as a living and acting body. The adeka seems to be a "salient object," not only because it focuses memories of the funeral around itself, but also because it has an empathetic effect as a living body in motion. In this way, the final product emerges as the result of a process of interaction between the adeka and its consumers
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Confronting images in motion : abεbuu adekai and funerary practices among the Ga of Ghana
Full text linkThis paper stems from my research on abεbuu adekai, literally, “receptacles of proverbs,” and better known internationally as fantasy coffins. These artifacts constitute a widespread leitmotif within contemporary African art but have yet to be examined from an ethnographical perspective. Such coffin-sarcophagi were first built and employed in Accra in the 1960s, following Ghana’s independence. Their origin is usually attributed to a carpenter named Kane Kwei (1924-1992). The themes chosen for the coffins' shape – cocoa seeds, Mercedes Benz, onions, boats, and many others — represent aspects of everyday life that relate to notions of prestige and well-being. The coffins are brightly colored, varnished, and topped with sumptuous structures. The variety of motifs has steadily increased, and craftsmen are constantly devising new images. My presentation aimed at highlighting certain processes of mise en image or mise en figuration among the Ga of Ghana, focusing particularly on the funerary object-image – the coffin. Rather than dwelling on the question of whether these products can be classified as art, my research stresses inventiveness within the community in order to understand how adekai function in the local context, the ideas embedded in them, and how they communicate to a local audience
Apprendimento integrato. Un caso di studio e ricerca.
No full textCostituire spazi di partecipazione e di valorizzazione di saperi esperienziali costituisce un potenziale significativo e trasformatore atto a favorire sia un processo di apprendimento che il dialogo fra insegnanti e allievi. Il progetto, qui brevemente presentato, avviato da piloti di unità nelle classi primaria e secondaria di primo grado all’interno di una scuola bilingue privata di Milano, interroga il mondo della scuola sulle abilità di decentrare i ruoli, nel contesto di una ricerca-azione che permetta di riconoscere l’‘apprendimento quale esperienza sistemica e ‘multisituata’, costantemente in costruzione. Il presente saggio è un estratto parziale della ricerca, e intende suggerire una proposta di metodo che risponda alla seguente domanda: come, e con quali strumenti, è possibile condurre una ricerca-azione integrata ad un modello di apprendimento collaborativo?
Gli esempi riportati nel testo, in ossequio ad un principio di economia, concernono alcuni casi che considero paradigmatici di come si possa intervenire nella fase di ricerca-azione, diretta a costruire un processo diffuso di apprendimento. La ricerca che qui si presenta ha evidenziato che, malgrado la composizione sociale della classe sia senza eccezioni elevata, ciò non implica automaticamente un più facile accesso a modalità di apprendimento perequato. La ricerca ha inteso quindi cogliere le condizioni e i modi che rendono possibile la realizzazione delle pari opportunità indipendentemente dagli ambiti socio-economici di provenienza dei ragazzi
Absconding in plain sight: The Ghanian Receptacles of Proverbs Revisited.
No full textThis article discusses the art of concealment in abebuu adekai (literally "receptacles of proverbs"), better known internationally as "fantasy coffins," and the way in which it contributes to shaping political thought and
action. Although most literature on abebuu adekai tends to present them as direct symbols of the profession or
the aspirations of the deceased, in reality, as fieldwork has revealed, motivations for their production and use
appear to be much more complex and articulated.
In order to begin to unravel this complexity, in this article I will follow a specific itinerary. First, I will give
a brief historical account of the nineteenth century in Ghana, a time in which the political message conveyed by the coffins became instrumental to the preservation and concealment of local funeral practices. I will then explain the ways in which these practices had to be (and still have to be) kept secret and discuss how fantasy coffins contribute to maintaining a certain degree of secrecy. In section three, I will focus on ethnographic cases in which the rich iconography of adekai plays
a crucial role in the success of these artifacts and the way they operate in a local context. By examining the "process" of the funerary ritual of which they are part, it is possible to see how particular symbols perform a political function. In this process, coffin images are not isolated from their context, and their meanings emerge as representational acts in motion that often involve substitution and contradiction. In section four, I will present the adeka as a "site of transgression" of social norms. In this case, the coffin can challenge traditional hierarchy, invoking and even helping generate power and authority. Finally, in the last section, I will explain how the adeka itself, as a product of negotiation among family members, conveys complex messages that contribute to the transformation of the social identity of the deceased and his family.
I speak of abebuu adeka as an "object-image," because it is through its own materiality and appearance
that the object is "celui qui fait image. And if, as Georges Didi-Huberman states, there cannot be an image without imagination, then a process of coalescence is at work among the terms in the field. For Didi-Huberman, visual representation has an "underside" in which seemingly intelligible forms lose their clarity and defy rational understanding (2005). The adeka present in funerary ceremonies indirectly refer back to the economic structure, the sociopolitical
history, and the forms of material life of the Ga. These images become essential strategic tools for manipulating life, its codes, and its rules. In many cases they appear to be conditioned more by a popular ideology of death as a means to access productive resources than by the "traditional" and/or Christian religious models with which they are associated
APPRENDIMENTO A KM ZERO. Un caso di ricerca applicata nel terziario avanzato
No full textCome si apprende in un ambiente di lavoro? Come rendere patrimonio comune e diffuso conoscenze e competenze degli operatori in condizione di costante cambiamento?
Il volume, nel rivolgersi a quanti si interessano a vario titolo ai processi apprendimento e al settore più ampio delle risorse umane nel mondo delle organizzazioni, esplora il potenziale di alcune modalità di lavoro copartecipativo in un istituto di credito, vale a dire in un ambiente del settore terziario caratterizzato da un’elevata professionalità. Si tratta di un contesto di indagine alquanto inconsueto per la disciplina antropologica, almeno in Italia, in particolare per l’implicazione e applicazione della ricerca nella realizzazione di una nuova modalità di apprendimento in ambito organizzativo. La ricerca-azione condotta in cinque aree geografiche e in diversi distretti di UniCredit negli anni 2011-2013, ha coinvolto varie comunità di praticanti nel settore retail, con l’intento di giungere a una modalità di lavoro che potesse essere applicata a contesti estremamente differenziati all’interno del Gruppo, non solo per fattori geografici e culturali ma anche per i background formativi delle figure professionali in esso coinvolti.
Il titolo di questo saggio, forme di apprendimento a KM Zero, è rappresentativo dell’intero progetto sia in relazione agli obbiettivi aziendali e ai conseguenti risultati attesi, sia in relazione allo spirito di apprendimento che ha guidato l’approccio antropologico sin dalle sue prime incursioni di campo
Artefact in transit
No full textAbebuu adekai — literally, “receptacles of proverbs,” known worldwide as fantasy coffins—constitute a widespread leitmotif in African art. These coffin-sarcophagi are used for funerals primarily by the Ga people, who live in Accra in southern Ghana, although their use has spread to Ewe, Asante, Adangbe, and Fanti as well. Manufactured in Teshie and Nungua (Accra), with some new workshops emerging in Togo, they began to be used on a large scale in the early 1960s, soon after Ghana became independent. Their origin is usually attributed to a carpenter named Seth Kane Kwei (1922–1992), the grandfather of Eric Adjetey Anang. Abebuu adekai consitute a widespread leitmotif within contemporary African art. Two main factors contributed to the rapid circulation of these artifacts abroad: they were proposed as ready-made artworks in international exhibitions; and they caught the interest of the mass-media.
Several stages of fieldwork have allowed me to examine the re-creation of fantasy coffins and their creators within various social spheres, both in Africa and in the "West," where they circulate not only as a works of art. I did not observe a single object as if it were locked in a glass showcase. On the contrary, I studied the multiple and related spaces that they repeatedly occupy with an eye to the effects produced on them by these interactions
Abitare il vestito. Progetto di formazione-ricerca.
No full textLa pubblicazione è una restituzione ai genitori e insegnanti coinvolti nel progetto di Ricerca-Azione “Abitare il vestito”, condotto nelle scuole materne di Melta e Pergine, Trento (ASIF CHIMELLI e Circolo 6 Scuole dell’Infanzia Provinciali) con l’intento di promuovere l’educazione alla reciprocità e favorire l'inclusione dei genitori nel mondo della scuola e le relazioni umane. La Ricerca è stata sostenuta dalla Fondazione Cassa Rurale di Trento e dal Gioco degli Specchi
El Anatsui al Metropolitan Museum of Art. Un ponte fra tradizione e contemporaneità.
No full textIn the last few years there has been an increasing tendency for institutions generally associated with 'classical' or 'tribal' art to approach contemporary art. This article examines the installation of the contemporary African artwork of El Anatsui - a Ghanaian artist, living in Nigeria - at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The installation highlighted the relation between itself and the museum's permanent exhibition on African Arts. This bridge also allows us to think about (or to reflect on) the idea of tradition, the concept of 'readymade', and the construction of memory as 'human agency' in ethnographical museum
La trappola dell normalità
No full textNel saggio ci si riferisce alla normalità quale costrutto culturale, il più delle volte implicito, che regola le azioni e le interazioni nei mondi della scuola. Le ricerche nel volume rivelano dinamiche di relazione tra il comportamento e/o la persona considerati “normali”, ossia “di norma”, vale a dire in linea con la definizione di normalità data dalla scuola e nella scuola, e il comportamento e/o la persona identificati come diversi e in quanto tali devianti o “fuori norma”, vale a dire declinati, in ragione di tale differenza, sempre in termini di deficit o di problema
The Museum as inhabited object.
No full textTo say that an artifact in a museum plays a different role from the one it held in the culture of production
may appear to be stating the obvious and inevitable. Less obvious, however, is to consider the museum itself as the context in which the "exotic" artifact was produced or where it originated. What this essay intends to emphasize is that every artifact is always placed (neither delocalized nor relocated) within its own context, regardless of the environment it occupies. Museum studies often proceed theoretically, offering a perspective that fails to examine concrete situations. Their interest focuses on various interpretive theories rather than on praxis. This essay, instead, presents a phenomenological reading of the artifact based on a participated ethnography and carried out by sharing with the public some display experiments within an ethnographic museum. It is by accessing concrete situations, tied to local everyday environments, that one can document the effect and the role played by the object placed within its actual context
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