Latino Ethnicity and Other Influences on the Immigrants` Rights Movement in the United States

Bradley Tatar 서울대학교 미국학연구소 2008 미국학 Vol.31 No.1

Whale Conservation in Coastal Ecuador: Environmentalism of the Poor or Neoliberal Conservation?

Tatar Bradley 서울대학교 라틴아메리카연구소 2014 이베로아메리카硏究 Vol.25 No.2

In this paper, I examine the interaction between transnational activistnetworks, conservation scientists, government authorities, and artisanalfishing communities in coastal Ecuador. Focusing on the problem of cetaceanbycatch, I employ the concept of the “discourse of nature” to identifycontrasting languages of valuation used by the stakeholders for marine coastalenvironments. NGOs utilize a scientific evaluation to portray artisanal fishingas a hazard to the survival of humpback whales, but this coincides with theattempt by government and development agencies to portray artisanalfisheries as inefficient and ecologically harmful. In contrast, a survey I carriedout in a coastal fishing community shows that local residents contest thisportrayal of fishing as ecologically harmful, drawing upon their discourses oflivelihood, indigenous identity, territorial claims, and social marginality. Focusing on the social conflict surrounding the marine protected area [MPA]of Machalilla National Park, I argue that additional restrictions on fishing tomitigate the incidence of cetacean bycatch will not have adequate socialacceptance by local artisan fishing communities. Hence, the language ofwhale conservation which appears to be a pro-poor environmentalism at themacro (international) level, appears to local actors as a threat to theirlivelihoods. To offset this micro/macro discrepancy, whale conservation NGOsshould support local aspirations to continue fishing as a livelihood, thereby restoring whale conservation to the status of “environmentalism of the poor”.

Place-making, Landscape and Materialities: Whales and Social Practices in Ulsan, Korea

Tatar Bradley 한국문화인류학회 2017 韓國文化人類學 Vol.50 No.2

In the southeastern coastal city of Ulsan in Korea, people continue to defy the global taboo on eating whale meat, which they believe is an important social practice for local identity. The Nam–gu District in the City of Ulsan has created the Special Zone for Whale Culture as a spatial territory in which many divergent social practices related to whales are carried out. In this tourist zone, how are the elements of Ulsan whale culture invented, and how are they attached to a specific place? Using the concept of landscape, I argue that place–making practices are carried out to produce different kinds of whales as material realities. I analyze three of the many kinds of whales that are produced: the natural history whale, the whale as meat, and the whale as object of conservation. I conclude by arguing that these materialized whales are not separate, but relational entities which contribute to local identity through their enactment in the landscape.

Place-making, Landscape and Materialities: Whales and Social Practices in Ulsan, Korea

( Bradley Tatar ) 한국문화인류학회 2017 韓國文化人類學 Vol.50 No.2

한국의 울산에서는 고래 식용에 대한 전지구적 터부를 거부하고 이를 지역의 정체성에 있어서 중요한 사회적 실천으로 간주한다. 구체적으로 울산시 남구에서는 고래문화특구를 공간적 영역으로 구성하여 고래에 관련된 사회적 실천을 수행한다. 본 논문에서는 경관 개념을 활용하여, 울산에서 장소 만들기를 통해 고래를 물적 실체로 구성하는 양상을 고찰하였다. 연구 결과 고래가 다음과 같은 세 가지의 물적 실체로 구분됨을 파악하였다: 과학적 연 구 대상으로서의 고래, 음식으로서의 고래, 그리고 보존의 대상으로서의 고래. 본고에서는 이와 같이 물화된 고래의 다양한 의미가 상호 연관되어 있으며, 이들이 모두 울산의 특정 경관 속에서 지역 정체성으로서 구현됨을 주장한다. In the southeastern coastal city of Ulsan in Korea, people continue to defy the global taboo on eating whale meat, which they believe is an important social practice for local identity. The Nam-gu District in the City of Ulsan has created the Special Zone for Whale Culture as a spatial territory in which many divergent social practices related to whales are carried out. In this tourist zone, how are the elements of Ulsan whale culture invented, and how are they attached to a specific place? Using the concept of landscape, I argue that place-making practices are carried out to produce different kinds of whales as material realities. I analyze three of the many kinds of whales that are produced: the natural history whale, the whale as meat, and the whale as object of conservation. I conclude by arguing that these materialized whales are not separate, but relational entities which contribute to local identity through their enactment in the landscape. * This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Korean Government (MSIP) (No. NRF- 2015R1A5A7037825).

Hombres Bravos, Mujeres Bravas : Gender and Violence in the Mexican Corrido

Bradley Tatar(브래들리 타타르) 한국라틴아메리카학회 2010 라틴아메리카연구 Vol.23 No.4

This article examines the construction of meaning in episodes of violence which have come to dominate Mexican popular music, focusing on the story-telling song called the corrido. Although scholars have considered the multiple meanings of violence in the narrative songs, they have not given adequate attention to the character of the mujer brava, or “tough woman”. I begin by considering gender roles and codes of honor which historically developed in northern Mexico, in the region of the U.S./Mexico border. Next, the expression of machismo and marianismo as cultural patterns in popular corridos is illustrated and explained. Finally, the mujer brava is contrasted with the traditional conception of the submissive woman, as this character is aggressive and defends her honor against threats from men. The argument is developed that the mujer brava is not simply a woman who acts like a man, but who defends her honor with distinctly female forms of destructive power. Finally, I apply these insights to the appearance of the “mujer brava” in several narcocorridos. In these selected narcocorridos, the destructive power of a woman is used as a representation of the serrano or ranchero culture, in which gendered norms of honor and respect are considered to be more important than laws and political institutions. I argue that an understanding of gender norms helps to reveal the meanings of Mexico’s narco-insurgency, especially shedding light on why drug smuggling and drug-related culture are not deemed unethical by the audiences who enjoy narcocorridos.

Anthropomorphism as Social Action: The Politics of Animals on Display

Tatar Bradley 한국문화인류학회 2021 韓國文化人類學 Vol.54 No.3

The article presents a case study from the city of Ulsan, where dolphins have been displayed in an aquarium as “immigrants” who became naturalized as Koreans. This use of anthropomorphism seems to have no useful function when analyzed as a representation, because it does not compel belief, nor does it endow actors with the capacity for meaningful action. To explain the existence of the “dolphin-as-immigrant” discourse, two different theoretical perspectives are compared, one which derives from mainstream anthropology and another from ontological anthropology. The two perspectives provide contrasting strategies for describing capacities for agency and social action, by problematizing the relationship between knowledge and action with differing sets of assumptions. In mainstream anthropology, the “dolphin-as-immigrant” is merely a representation, but ontological anthropology opposes the portrayal of culture as representation. Ontological anthropology provides an alternative account of agency, by moving beyond human knowledge and cultural representation, focusing instead on the ways that nonhumans and humans are related in political configurations. The goal of the comparison of mainstream anthropology and ontological anthropology is not to show which perspective is more useful, but to highlight the ways in which anthropomorphism can create meaningful political relationships between humans and nonhuman animals. In conclusion, it is argued that ontological anthropology is compatible with the goals and aims of anthropology, in that both specify the relationships between the knowledge of human actors and the possibilities of social action.

포스트소셜 인식방법: 울산의 관광과 고래잡이

브래들리타타르 ( Bradley Tatar ) 울산과학기술원 인문연구소 2022 포스트휴먼의 조건: 다학제적 탐색 Vol.1 No.0

본 챕터에서는 한반도의 동남부에 위치한 해안도시 울산의 무형문화유산인 고래잡이의 발전과정을 살펴보고자 한다. 울산의 고래 문화는 1986년 상업포경 금지에 따른 대응방안으로 시작되었다. 지역 내 고래 관련 활동의 핵심 인물들은 새로운 형태의 고래문화를 발전시켰는데, 이들은 대중이 고래를 만나는 새로운 방법들을 고안해 냄으로서 자신들의 정체성 또한 지속적으로 모색하였다. 본 논문은 울산의 고래 문화는 인식방법(epistemic practice)의 한 유형이라고 주장한다. 즉, 울산의 고래 문화는 전문가들이 고래라는 대상을 인간 사회성(human sociality)의 주요 유형으로 설계하고 창조해내는 인식방법(epistemic practice)인 것이다. 이 지적활동은 근대산업사회가 후기자본주의시대의 포스트소셜 방식(the postsocial mode of late-modern capitalism)으로 전환되는 과정의 일환으로, 대상 중심의 지식 형태와 상호작용이 기존의 인간 중심의 사회성(sociality)과 겨루고 곧 이를 대신하게 된다. 울산의 인식 문화(epistemic culture)는 지역주민들이 그들만의 중요한 무언가를 빼앗겼고 고래와의 상호작용을 통해서만 이 빼앗긴 것을 되찾을 수 있다는 생각이 지역 내 지배적이었던 가운데 형성되었다. 자력으로 전문가로 성장해 현재 활발히 활동 중인 울산 고래문화 전문가들은 욕망이 지식생산의 강력한 동기가 될 수 있음을 보여주는 한 예시가 된다. 이 전문가들의 지식생산 활동 또한 두 가지 현상의 예시가 되는데, 하나는 고래라는 대상이 지식생산주체인 인간이 갖는 욕망의 구조를 보여준다는 것이고 다른 하나는 고래라는 대상의 완전한 물질적 재현이 불가능하다는 것이다. 따라서 울산의 고래문화는 역동적이고 다양한 면모들을 보여주며 지속적으로 변화하는 속성을 가진, 대상 중심의 인식방법의 보고(寶庫)이며 이것은 또한 자아발견의 인식은 충족되지 않은 욕망에서 비롯됨을 입증해준다. This chapter examines the development of whale culture as intangible heritage in the southeastern coastal city of Ulsan. Starting out as a reaction against the prohibition of whale hunting in Korea after 1986, the concept of whale culture was developed by a local cadre of Ulsan residents who sought to explore their identity by creating new ways for members of the public to experience an encounter with whales. Here it is argued that whale culture in Ulsan is a mode of epistemic practice, in which experts design and create objects as the central mode of human sociality. This process is part of the historical transformation of modern industrial society to the postsocial mode of late-modern capitalism, in which object-centered forms of knowledge and interaction compete with and displace human-centered forms of sociality. The epistemic culture of Ulsan was built around the idea that something valuable has been taken away, which can only be restored through interaction with whales. The activities of the self-made whale culture experts of Ulsan are illustrative of desire-driven knowledge production, through which objects impart the structure of desire, but also become incomplete material representations of the object. As a result, Ulsan’s whale culture is a dynamic, unfolding and continuously changing repertoire of object-centered practice, which validates an episteme of self-discovery built upon the unfulfilled desires.