Towson University College of Liberal Arts
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Human as double bind: Sylvia Wynter and the genre of “man”
(Pennsylvania State University Press, 2018)Sylvia Wynter's philosophy of sociogenesis is an implicit response to a double bind instituted by conceiving of humanity in what she calls generic terms. Either one is human and measured by a morphology that privileges an ... -
Human rights and the triumph of the individual in world culture
(Sage Publications, 2007-11-01)Despite ongoing attention to the subject, cultural accounts of the globalization of human rights are surprisingly scarce. Most accounts describe this phenomenon either as a function of evolutionary progress or the ... -
Façade diversity: the individualization of cultural difference
(Sage Publications, 2008-07-01)Diversity and multiculturalism are widely embraced principles, championed by many social movements and promoted through the programs and policies of states, businesses, schools and other organizations throughout the world. ... -
The institutional expansion of human rights, 1863–2003: A comprehensive dataset of international instruments
(Sage Publications, 2011-07-28)This article summarizes the results of a recently completed, comprehensive coding of 779 human rights instruments from 1863 to 2003. As such, it offers an extensive portrayal of how, and to what degree, this powerful ... -
World heritage: constructing a universal cultural order
(Elsevier, 2012-06)Since the late 1970s, the formal designation of world heritage sites has grown exponentially. Today, there are over 900 such designations bestowed upon national treasures from every corner of the globe, which are believed ... -
On the body and the human-ecology distinction
(State University of New York Press, 2018)Reading Fanon yields a critique of a concept that he did not himself explicitly criticize, but which his project in effect renders deeply problematic, “the body.” I therefore question this concept in the present as it ... -
The institutionalization of human rights and its discontents: A world cultural perspective
(Sage Publications, 2014-07-16)A recurring theme in the sociology of human rights is the vast decoupling that exists between the formal codification of these rights in principle and their implementation in practice, fueling much debate about the ... -
Diffusion and decoupling in the world heritage movement: exploring global/local tensions in Africa
(Taylor & Francis, 2016-06-16)A common critique of world society theory is that it overemphasises processes of institutional expansion and isomorphism, and underemphasises instances of decoupling and local variation. We address this concern head-on ... -
Tourism and sustainability in the evaluation of World Heritage sites, 1980-2010
(Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2016-03-10)At present, there are myriad concerns about tourism and sustainability at cultural and natural world heritage sites. Based on an analysis of 811 evaluations written between 1980 and 2010 by two official advisory bodies to ... -
World heritage and the scientific consecration of ‘outstanding universal value’
(Sage Publications, 2017-04-25)Since World War II, the world heritage movement generated widespread support for preserving various sites of natural and cultural significance deemed to have outstanding universal value (OUV) for humanity. While the ... -
Rationalized authenticity and the transnational spread of intangible cultural heritage
(Elsevier, 2019-08)The 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was adopted by UNESCO to enshrine and preserve exemplars of the intangible heritage of humanity – practices, traditions, and cultural expressions ... -
Precarity and elemental difference: on Butler’s re-writing of Irigarayan difference
(Sage, 2017-06-01)It is widely accepted that Judith Butler’s work represents a fundamental departure from that of Luce Irigaray. However, in a 2001 essay, Butler suggests that Irigaray’s work plays a formative role in her own, and that the ... -
Singularity in Beauvoir's The ethics of ambiguity
(Wiley Blackwell, 2015-03)Though it has gone unnoticed so far in Beauvoir Studies, the term 'singularity' is a technical one for Simone de Beauvoir. In the first half of the essay I discuss two reasons why this term has been obscured. First, as is ... -
Anthropocene and elemental multiplicity
(Duke University Press, 2017-03-01)Our hope in the present essay is to provide a figure for thought in response to what Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer first named "the Anthropocene." Our interest is not in providing a substitute for this concept, but in ... -
Civic Engagement and Gentrification Issues in Metropolitan Baltimore
(Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, 2009)Since the fall of 2006 a number of Towson University students concentrating in the discipline of anthropology have been part of a civic engagement and service-learning project focusing on an historic African-American ... -
Teaching Baltimore Together: Building Thematic Cooperation Between Classes
(Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, 2017-05-17)One year ago, Baltimore citizens took to the streets to protest not only the death of Freddie Grey, but the structural inequalities and structural violence that systematically limit the opportunities for working-class ... -
Suburban Fear, Media and Gated Communities in Durban, South Africa
(Taylor & Francis, 2009)A disjuncture between the reality of crime and its perception has created a culture of fear within South Africa that bolsters gated community development and an accompanying fear industry that supports media, private ... -
Moral Panics in Suburban Texas
(EASA Media Anthropology Network, 2007-03-06)This paper details portions of an ethnographic study of a moral panic that surrounded the heroin overdose deaths of several teenagers in the American suburb of Plano, Texas. Media ethnography engages numerous individuals ... -
Anthropology By the Wire
(2012)Anthropology by the Wire is a multi-media research project on urban and visual anthropology in Baltimore that is part of a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates grant at Towson University. In ... -
Teaching Somewhat Serious Games
(American Anthropological Association, 2017-11)Durington writes, "I am biased to the awkward moments in ethnography when anthropologists are put into sticky situations and ethical dilemmas. These moments are often the crux of fieldwork and their successful navigation ...
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