The Devoted Actor Atran, Scott
Current anthropology,
06/2016, Volume:
57, Issue:
S13
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Uncompromising wars, revolution, rights movements, and today’s global terrorism are in part driven by “devoted actors” who adhere to sacred, transcendent values that generate actions dissociated from ...rationally expected risks and rewards. Studies in real-world conflicts show ways that devoted actors, who are unconditionally committed to sacred causes and whose personal identities are fused within a unique collective identity, willingly make costly sacrifices. This enables low-power groups to endure and often prevail against materially stronger foes. Explaining how devoted actors come to sacrifice for cause and comrades not only is a scientific goal but a practical imperative to address intergroup disputes that can spiral out of control in a rapidly interconnecting world of collapsing and conflicting cultural traditions. From the recent massive media-driven global political awakening, horizontal peer-to-peer transcultural niches, geographically disconnected, are emerging to replace vertical generation-to-generation territorial traditions. Devoted actors of the global jihadi archipelago militate within such a novel transcultural niche, which is socially tight, ideationally narrow, and globe spanning. Nevertheless, its evolutionary maintenance depends on costly commitments to transcendental values, rituals and sacrifices, and parochial altruism, which may have deep roots even in the earliest and most traditional human societies. Fieldwork results from the Kurdish battlefront with the Islamic State are highlighted.
During the long years of historical development, the people of Mongolia have created many beautiful works that are a unique example of spirituality along with material wealth. As diplomatic relations ...expanded during the Chinggis khaan conquests, ambassadorships became increasingly specialized. The message to be delivered by the messenger was arranged in the form of short poems and sent to the messenger by heart. This is mentioned quite a few times in the “The Secret History of the Mongols”. Although the study of “The Secret History of the Mongols” has been translated into many languages, researches and translations have been carried out, but there is no study of small-form writings and genres in it. It seems that there are many things that have not been noticed in this text, which is the basis for studying the origin and development of mongolian poems and poetry. Therefore, in the future, it is necessary to deeply study the small form of writing and genre in this writing.
The role of tradition in developing innovations in the hospitality industry is examined within the context of a new and emerging form of accommodation called Albergo Diffuso. We describe and discuss ...the different impacts of tangible and intangible sources of tradition on the development and unique positioning of this emerging form of accommodation. The data used are based on a qualitative analysis of 100 Albergo Diffuso websites and in-depth interviews with eleven owner/operators. The findings indicate that identifying and combining tangible and intangible attributes of tradition from various time periods may improve the value of an innovation, especially when it is perceived to enhance the authenticity of the experience for guests. Tradition-based strategies are shown to have multiple possible paths leading to innovation and development - a result that is relevant both for scholars and practitioners.
•Albergo Diffuso is an example of innovation developed through the leveraging and recombining of traditional resources.•Innovation is generated by different sources of tradition.•Tradition can be of a tangible or intangible form.•Effective use of tradition to strategically innovate requires a recombination of more than one tradition.•Non-technological innovations are particularly relevant for the competitiveness of the hospitality industry.
Pesantren has a distinctive Islamic scientific tradition, namely the kitab kuning tradition. However, now a phenomenon exists where kitab kuning is no longer used. This study aimed to explore changes ...in the habit of Islamic studies at Pesantren Assalaam. This research used a case study qualitative research at Pesantren Assalaam, Sukoharjo, Indonesia. There were 18 respondents consisting of 10 teachers, 4 pesantren administrators and 4 employees. Observations, interviews, and documentation are used to collect data. The main findings of this study revealed that modernization led to a change in the tradition of Islamic studies, which was marked by the absence of kitab kuning in the pesantren curriculum as a learning reference authority. The white book references were used as the typical tradition of developed Islamic studies at Pesantren Assalaam. The white book summarized several kitab kuning that can be evaluated each semester, printed on white paper.
Becupin tradition is a Malay ethnic cultural heritage from Kapuas Hulu, namely an entertainment program that is held at the first wedding of the Malay ethnic Kapuas Hulu. In its development, this ...tradition has begun to be forgotten by the community, because it is no longer attractive, people prefer entertainment events by hiring local singers or artists. more modern both the music and the singer. The purpose of this study is to describe the becupin tradition which has begun to be eroded by the times, and the efforts of the younger generation to maintain the becupin tradition as part of the Kapuas Hulu Malay ethnic culture. The method used in this study is a descriptive qualitative method, providing an overview of the processes, implementation, and efforts made by the young generation to maintain the existence of local cultural traditions by collecting observations and reinforced by interviews with informants who have been determined by the researcher. The results of this study are the process of performing the becupin tradition with the staging that has been prepared by the wedding event committee, then the implementation is carried out at the reception and the evening after the reception event, while the value contained in this becupin tradition is to provide advice to the bride and groom so that they can maintain their marriage until the end of their lives, as well as the efforts made by the Malay community of Kapuas Hulu is to provide flexibility for the younger generation to become committee members and become actors in this tradition so that they can survive amidst the flow of modernization. This research is one of the studies that is still lacking in exploring Malay ethnic cultural traditions, especially in riverside communities in Kapuas Hulu.
