Wrap-Up Threads, December 4

• Age-Sets
• Colonialism
• Conceptions
• Diversity
• Ethnography
• Exoticism
• Fluidity
• Gender
• Globalization
• Identity
• Kinship
• Politics
• Religion
• Social Organization
• Social support systems
• Tradition
• Tribalism

Wrap-Up Threads

• Conceptions (Misconceptions, portrayals, anthropological perspectives)
  
• Choice of words, impact of word choice
• Worldviews
  
• Romanticism, Western imagination, noble savage
• Enlightenment, mechanization, industrial revolution
  
• Colonialism
• Popular culture
• Groups (Constructs, not bounded)
• Multiplicity of identities: language, rural/urban, traditional/modern
• Tribalism (Ambiguity/stereotypes, connotations, nationalism)
• Kinship
• Gender roles in social contexts

Ethnomathematics in Africa

TED | Talks | Ron Eglash: African fractals, in buildings and braids (video)

I know Brian Eno says there's not enough Africa in computers but , you know, I don't think there's enough African history in Brian Eno (13:55-14:01)

Eglash's attitude is quite representative of cultural awareness and an anthropological interest in diversity.
A math friend of mine tells me that Eglash is mostly describing recursion, and recursion is at the centre of a large body of research in cognitive sciences, these days. Fascinating that one could bridge disciplinary gaps between cultural anthropology, African studies, cognitive sciences, and mathematics.