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The artisanal cuisine of Mexico's home cooks

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 14:00:00 -0700

Anthropologist Johan Pottier once wrote that food is "the most powerful instrument for expressing and shaping interactions between humans." We like food documentation of different kinds because it helps us contemplate these human interactions. And as a bonus, the documentation itself can be a straight-out pleasure -- stimulating, exciting, inspiring. Most recently we came across the work of Penny De Los Santos, who says she explores and celebrates culture, history and community through the lens of food. We have created a gallery of De Los Santos' work, lifted from Bright Sky Press' beautiful cookbook Hugo Ortega's Street Food of Mexico. �Buen provecho!

The Juvenile Delinquents

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:00:00 -0700

The Holy Barbarians -- a documentary book about the beatnik scene of Venice West in Los Angeles -- was first published in 1959. Penned by journalist, writer, and beat poet Lawrence Lipton, it put the "hip, cool, frantic generation of new Bohemians" on intriguing display to mainstream USA, and it was a huge commercial success at the time of publication. Although the book contains good chunks of conceited sociology and lengthy theoretical stretches about poetry, it also offers quite a few engaging ethnographic vignettes. As an example we have picked for you a snippet from the chapter where Lipton, in order to clarify the character of the beats, portrays other outcasts who navigate the same social space.

For all you switchblade Daddy-Os -- and for the rest of you, too -- here is Lipton's JUVENILE DELINQUENTS.

Graduate School

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:21:00 +0800

Us good folks here at American Ethnography concern ourselves with scientific descriptions of human customs. We dig on systematic data collection and testable descriptions of the world, and sometimes we'll stumble upon an academic work on human culture so spellbinding it's like a one way ticket to Flipsville.

But you don't have to do much grinding with the social sciences before you see that now and then the scientific method yields not much more than academic jive - some square uptight nowhere drag which only muddles reality, like if somebody is doing a number on someone. That's when it's time to tear it down, soup it up and strip it for speed.

Because it turns out the least factual description can sometimes be the most accurate - in other words there's truth to be found in fiction. Which is why we mentioned to writer Paul Knobloch that we were looking for some good material on ... well, what do you have? Mr. Knobloch is a straight out ding-dong-daddy, so we figured he would know his groceries. "I guess I can fake some action," he mumbled, and sure enough, a few days later he slapped us with a story he's called 'Graduate School.' Set in a depraved and desperate Montreal underworld it's a pitiless and darkly comic expos� of a dope hungry intellectual who educates himself in the art of hustling access to the contents of pharmacy cabinets. We're proud we've been allowed to share with our readers this real gone piece of fictional autoethnography.

The vodun service in Northern Haiti

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:22:00 -0800

Photo: George Eaton Simpson, 1937. From National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution [93-14-1051]

We spilled our best premium rum on the ground. And then, with fire in our heart, we played the bongos till our fingers bled. Offerings, you should know, to Papa Legba - the gatekeeper, the facilitator of communication, the one who greases speech and understanding. A lot of rum and drum went down. But this is what we do for our readers! Ah, yes, this is what we do. Because later, when we dived into the archives, what didn't we find? A long-forgotten 1940 article by George Eaton Simpson, sociologist and anthropologist, describing a voodoo ceremony in Northern Haiti. And the only reason we found this thing down there in them dusty shelves was all that spilling of rum. And the drumming. And the bleeding a bit.

- AH! LEGBA YE!

Now we offer the article to you, dear reader. It's your turn to spill rum. It's your turn to drum. And then, later, perhaps you'll read: The vodun service in Northern Haiti.

The North American Hobo

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:29:00 -0800

Back in the early 1970's, sociologist Douglas Harper jumped freight trains, to get to orchards in the Pacific Northwest so he could do harvest work picking apples. He documented his conversations with the tramps he met and photographed the life he saw. In 1982, then again in 2006, his outstanding piece of ethnographic narrative was published as Good Company: A Tramp Life.

Courtesy of Harper, American Ethnography is privileged to present our readers with an excerpt from the book. Here's Waiting for a Train.

Further Serigraph Price Reduction

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 14:16:00 -0800

The price is now $14.95 (plus shipping). It's unbelieveable! Go buy.

Vodou: Visions and Voices of Haiti

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 14:16:00 -0800

"Life cannot always be planned," writes American photographer Phyllis Galembo in the introduction to her 2005 book Vodou: Visions and Voices of Haiti. She continues: "I never set out to photograph Vodou."

And so it was only by way of life's intricate coincidences that Galembo ended up joining a team who were preparing for the Fowler Museum exhibition Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. In the summer of 1993 she made her first trip to Haiti, and she has returned almost every year since then. With her camera equipment she has gained access to the world of Haitian Vodou, in a process which often involves putting down the camera in order to participate in the ongoing ceremonies. The result is that she has, she writes, "generously been allowed to photograph in the most intimate and sacred of settings."

Portraits from a country where "90% of the population is Catholic and 100% of the population is Vodou," her photos reveal what she herself calls "the hidden vitality of the Haitian Vodou tradition." We are proud to present to our readers this gallery of pictures from Galembo's book.

Crazy Serigraph Sale

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 23:02:00 -0800

We're cleaning out the closet, and found a few leftover serigraphs from the Car Customizing & Outlaw Aesthetics series. These beauties should be out in the world – not in our closet – shouldn't they? We think they should. So we are now practically giving them away for the price of $24 (plus shipping).

The prints are one color (black) hand printed (by us) on a 15" x 32" (38cm x 81cm) sheet of Arches 88. Arches 88 is a heavyweight (140 lb) 100% cotton fiber paper. It's acid-free, neutral pH, and buffered.

If you hurry you can still grab one in our online store.

Posada's Calaveras

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:30:25 -0700

Mexican engraver José Guadalupe Posada was largely forgotten by the end of his life, and died in poverty. He was, however, soon to be quoted as a crucial inspiration for the muralist movement in his country, and as his work continued to grew in importance, his images became touchstones of national identity for Mexicans everywhere.

Throughout his career, Posada regularly provided artwork for more than 20 different periodical publications. His engravings also ended up in broadsides, chapbooks, posters, programs, books, brochures, and advertisement. In 1890 he started working for the publishing house of Don Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, and continued this cooperation until right before his death in 1913. His most famous work stems from this period.

During a recent visit to the Library of Congress, we dug out some of our favorite Posada prints, and from that we offer a gallery we've called Posada's Calaveras: From the A. Vanegas Arroyo broadsides.

Masks from North America: From the Edward S. Curtis Collection

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:40:25 -0700

By the time of Edward S. Curtis' death in 1952, his documentation of North American Indians had fallen into obscurity. We're grateful that this amazing body of ethnographic work shortly thereafter returned into public awareness. Nowadays a lot of Curtis work is freely available online, through The Edward S. Curtis Collection at the Library of Congress, an archive which consists of more than 2,400 silver-gelatin photographic prints.

We have spent some time looking through the collection, and picked out a few photos which are currently our favorites. From these we have selected the ones showing different examples of masks, because -- as William Butler Yeats pointed out in 1910 -- mask are just so damn cool:

It was the mask engaged your mind,
And after set your heart to beat,
Not what's behind.

These are wonderful, captivating images. Enjoy a stroll through our gallery, and see for yourself.

Hot Rod Kulture Culture: Pinhole Polaroids, 2003 - 2010

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:40:25 -0700

"A good thing about Polaroids," artist and photographer Jack Butler says, "is that you take the picture and it's ready right away, so you can use the photo to initiate a conversation with your subjects."

Butler has photographed the hot rod culture of Southern California since 2003 using a Polaroid loaded pinhole camera. We have put together a gallery with selections from this unique documentation project. Click here to check it out.

Abstract Leanings: The Hot Rod World of Robt. Williams

Tue, 04 May 2010 04:03:25 -0700

Through courtesy of the artist, and as part of our research on "Car Customizing & Outlaw Aesthetics," we've put together a little gallery of some of Robt. Williams' automobile related oil paintings. With a distinct bouquet of gasoline fumes and burnt rubber, these images will chase you down like ethnographic hallucinations, vibrantly artistic, generously fantastic. We think you might dig!

Southern California lowriders

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:37:25 -0700

Back in 2005, while doing fieldwork among lowriders in the southwestern states of USA, American Ethnography's owner and editor Martin Hoyem photographed the people he met and their cars. Now, as part of our ongoing research on "Car Customizing and Outlaw Aesthetics" we give you a gallery of photos from that fieldwork.

Bajito y Suavecito

Mon, 5 Apr 2010 23:54:46 -0700

As we rev up the engine, getting ready for a long haul of automobile related material, the first item off the "Car Customizing & Outlaw Aesthetics" desk is a gallery of New Mexico lowriders by photographer Jack Parsons. Jack is the grandson of pioneering anthropologist Elsie Clews Parsons, and says he has "a soft spot for cultural anthropology."

American Ethnography remodeled

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:58:24 -0700

We have launched the remodeled version of American Ethnography, now a Quasimonthly: You can click here to go see it!