Attribution and contestation: Relations between elites and other social groups

Salverda, Tijo; Skovgaard-Smith, Irene

doi:10.1177/0308275x18775202

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…between (elite) groups than it is on specific qualifications. This echoes the view of Salverda and Skovgaard‐Smith’s recent article (2018) that the status of elites are both contested and attributed by people they interact with and relate to. Third, Lisu practice exemplifies how ‘the elites … are adapted and altered under the influence of social changes’ (Salverda and Abbink 2013: 10), as new leadership emerged out of religious authority.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Traditional culture as a vehicle for Christian future‐making: ethnic minority elites pioneering self‐representations in northern Myanmar

Diao

2021

Soc Anthropol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper explores the pioneering work for future‐making by one of Myanmar’s non‐dominant ethnic groups. Specifically, it examines how the Christian Lisu elite strategically, and somewhat opportunistically, use ‘traditional culture’ to perform ethnicity against the background of their ‘double‐minority’ status vis‐à‐vis the dominant populations of the (Kachin) state and (Myanmar) nation. It analyses heterogeneous social actors and conditions that have influenced a Christian elite’s renewed interest in their pre‐Christian litpix traditions, as well as the challenges involved in translating the singularity of its abstraction into various embodied forms. Central to this process is the selection, revision and standardisation of previously marginalised artefacts and practices, placing them in the litpix domain independent of religion (Christianity). These embodied forms are readily tagged as ethnically Lisu whenever assertion of difference is needed. I argue that the emerging litpix space has become a significant discursive site relating to Lisu self‐representations of modern selves and relations. It is also crucial in the Christian elite’s efforts to gain competitive political, economic and cultural resources for the future development of the Burmese Lisu (especially the younger generation) while maintaining the church’s important influence on public and private life in the Lisu Christian community.

show abstract

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Traditional culture as a vehicle for Christian future‐making: ethnic minority elites pioneering self‐representations in northern Myanmar

Diao

2021

Soc Anthropol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“… 4 Salverda and Skovgaard-Smith (2018) make a similar argument in their study of Franco-Mauritian management consultants.…”

mentioning

confidence: 74%

Power and precariousness in the expert hierarchies of the US hydrocarbon industry

Field

2021

Critique of Anthropology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Drawing on ethnographic research in Houston, Texas, I explore how oil and gas experts negotiate social power and precariousness within the US hydrocarbon sector. In an industry long associated with corporate power, the careers of experts are precariously balanced on rising and falling hydrocarbon prices. This makes the social power these experts wield as fluid as the commodities they are premised on. I show that informal social networks solidified by industry associations can buffer this precariousness by opening new employment opportunities and allowing them to maintain their connection to elite industry circles through periods of unemployment and uncertainty. For many working in the industry, precariousness defines the US hydrocarbon sector as much as the wealth that it is known to generate. Precariousness, I argue, is not just experienced by specific groups of people but rather is a general characteristic of capitalism that touches all but a select few.

show abstract

“…So in some ways pastors and church leaders like Seng are unique 'figures of modernity' (Barker et al 2014), harbingers of change in their communities. On the other hand, an anthropological perspective of elites must also account for the agency of non-elites in consciously or unconsciously attributing power to elites (Salverda and Skovgaard-Smith 2018). Seng is conscious of this dynamic and makes a point of photographically documenting and publicising his role in social outreach programmes and meetings with prestigious foreign missionaries on social media.…”

Section: H a R A C T E R I S T I C S A N D D Y N A M I C S O F H I G H L A N D E L I T E Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Hmong Christian elites as political and development brokers: competition, cooperation and mimesis in Vietnam’s highlands

Rumsby

2021

Soc Anthropol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article focuses on the role of new Hmong religious leaders – predominantly young men – who have played an important role in spreading Protestant Christianity across Vietnam’s highlands over the past 30 years. These pastors and evangelists have directly challenged the authority of previously established Hmong local elites, whose legitimacy rested on traditional religious authority and/or state patronage, causing significant social conflict along the way. Some new Christian pioneers have gained local elite status as political and development brokers for their community, enjoying a potent combination of spiritual authority, strong external networks and financial success. As such, international religious networks can function as alternative patrons to the state for well‐placed Hmong Christian elites to tap into and redistribute to their communities – to varying degrees. Contextualising such leadership dynamics within wider anthropological scholarship of upland Southeast Asia affirms the ‘pioneering ethos’ of local elites in challenging, complying with or mimicking state forms of governance in their attempts to draw in and channel external potency. This highlights the degree of political manoeuvring space available to non‐state actors in a supposedly authoritarian state, as well as ongoing tensions and controversies facing pastors who negotiate ambiguous relationships with powerful external forces.

show abstract

Attribution and contestation: Relations between elites and other social groups

Cited by 7 publications

References 42 publications

Traditional culture as a vehicle for Christian future‐making: ethnic minority elites pioneering self‐representations in northern Myanmar

Traditional culture as a vehicle for Christian future‐making: ethnic minority elites pioneering self‐representations in northern Myanmar

Power and precariousness in the expert hierarchies of the US hydrocarbon industry

Hmong Christian elites as political and development brokers: competition, cooperation and mimesis in Vietnam’s highlands

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About