Since the publication of Decolonizing Methodologies by Linda Tuhiwai Smith in 1999, a deconstructing discussion around the role and character of indigenous research in Western academia has gained momentum. This paper provides a general overview of an indigenous research paradigm which is an umbrella term for various theoretical and methodological approaches privileging indigenous worldviews in scholarship. While recognizing a possibility to define foundational assumptions for indigenous studies, many scholars notice an inherent risk of essentialization that comes with such attempts. The development of Diné (Navajo) studies provides a specific example of how indigenous scholars construct culturally-relevant theoretical frameworks, implement culturally-appropriate methods, and negotiate their identities as members of academia and of their respective communities. The paper concludes with a brief discussion about the relations between indigenous studies and anthropology, the use of indigenous research methods in anthropology, and questions about future collaborations. 

The dominant imagination regarding heritage conservation conventionally validates a state produced idealisation of the past which often obscures the question of whose past is being represented (or not) through the state sanctioned discourse. To find the answer of why this erasure of a certain section of the past takes place, this paper has looked into the question of violence and different forms in which it reshapes the discourse of representation.

Engaging with the population of the Indo-Chinese community in Kolkata, this paper will see how violence has been produced and constituted, spatially and socially by the state which has forced them to leave the country. The focus of this study is the oldest Chinese neighbourhood in Kolkata, popularly known as Chinepada near Tirettia Bazar of central Kolkata. Chinese population who have migrated to India more than 200 years back have considered the city as home and contributed immensely to the cultural landscape of the city. At present, the once vibrant China Town, with its schools, temples, clubs and restaurants has degraded into a dilapidated shanty town with residents fighting hard to claim the right to the city. By connecting violence and injustice with the notion of politics of heritage conservation, this paper seeks to ask two questions. It questions how uneven geographies of power dictate the fates of communities and how state-produced violence reshapes public imagination regarding the constituents of heritage.

In the 21st century, the time of globalisation, capitalism and rising populations, resources are running low and for many rural communities, natural resource exploitations and therefore insecurities become a real danger. Due to the groundwater exploitation in Pakistan, dwells in small villages dry out or become inaccessible to the local inhabitants, which forces them to drink polluted surface water in order to survive. Having to drink polluted surface water results in rising number of diseases in these areas. With the help of Critical Discourse Analysis, this essay aims to analyse the power relations and interconnectedness of the different discourse partakers’ lines of argumentations on the privatisation of natural resources by applying Foucauldian Perspective to the given context. The lines of argumentation will be explored on behalf of the example of Nestle’s drinking water privatisation practices in Pakistan. Firstly, it will provide a short introduction of the anthropological perspective on resource insecurities. To adequately analyse the discourse, following questions will be taken into consideration: Can water be considered as a human right? What is an anthropological perspective on resource insecurities? How is the current drinking water situation in Pakistan? How is Nestle privatising ground water in Pakistan and what are the consequences for the native inhabitants? How are CEO’s, NGO’s, activists, locals and governments reacting to this situation? How can power relations between these actors be uncovered and how do different partakers position themselves in a social context? Conclusively, this essay will take an outlook on possible solutions that are being proposed by different respective actors, such as environmental activists, governments and corporations. It is hoped that this essay will give readers a general overview on the current situation and practices of resource privatisation seen from both an anthropological and an analytical perspective.

This paper is based on data collected during field surveys conducted between 2014 and 2016 in Burma. The study was conducted in Yangon, the most cosmopolitan city in Burma, which is not only financially but also the musical center of the country where youth culture thrives. The main research method was participant observation, supplemented with interviews and text analysis. In this paper I would like to explain how punk rock expresses and interprets Burmese identity situated within the broader context of a continuum of Burmese identities. I would also like to raise the question of an inter relationship between music, politics and identity, using the example of Yangon punk rock scene. I will also try to explain how expressive forms of art, in this case punk rock, are used to construct national cultures, bring political change and engage their fans to become politically active.

This article discusses ethnographic research conditions in “sensitive” or “dangerous” field sites especially in areas of conflict and violence, drawing on recent short fieldworks in Western Sahara. The reflection considers the different situations that cause discomfort for the researcher in these field sites, as well as the heuristic opportunities that this discomfort generates for the ethnographer, obliging him to renew his approaches, to reconsider his objects, and rethink his relationship with the field and his interlocutors.

The presented article concerns a change in the function and importance of the material elements of traditional folk culture in Polish Spisz (southern Poland). Older, usually wooden handicrafts related to farming (carts, cart wheels, ploughs, harrows, troughs, benches, etc.) have already lost their original functions in the highly modernised environment and are now used as aesthetic historical objects, hung on the walls of new buildings or placed in one’s garden by the house. At the same time, they become part of a wider project of garden aesthetics by being placed alongside popular elements such as flower beds, water features, plastic or plaster garden gnomes and farm animals, which serve as mementos of a bygone culture. The museum-like expositions of these remainders also suggest that the nature of cultural memory has changed from “true memory” (unreflective, authoritative) into “historical memory” (reflective, discoursive). They become part of displays of memory and cultural heritage that expresses the transvaluation of the obsolete. As unique material mythemes, they form a tale connecting the cultural past with the present, a narration that is understandable for its inheritors, and quality objects that are included in cultural change and thus uphold a feeling of homefulness. This makes the entire process of cultural modernisation, from which the discussed material elements of traditional folk culture have not been totally removed, relatively gentle and gradual. 

The aim of the article is to show the changes that are currently taking place in the border areas of the selected twin cities. Rivers that are passing through those cities, according to the current pro-European integration trends, become their symbolic places. They support creating twin cities spaces of the new quality and organizing common plays and celebrations. Taking part in those events in the ethnically mixed groups encourages renewing contacts and establishing new ones between people on both sides of the border.

The paper will be illustrated by some examples of the activities that take place at border bridges and twin town river. Contemporary events and projects that weaken the role of the state border as a barrier will be also discussed. I will describe actions and initiatives that cause that border areas periodically function as the city centre and become a special area of ​​intercultural relations.