Book Section
Iracema Dulley
Frederico Santos dos Santos
Frederico Santos dos Santos
To Be Given Names
Displaced Social Positionalities in Senegal and Angola
During fieldwork, anthropologists are given many names that point to their intersectional placement regarding race, class, gender, nationality, and religion. Yet, careful consideration of vernacular forms of designation reveals that such generalizing categories do not always reflect the ways in which people are named and positioned in a given context. While acknowledging the relevance of intersectionality, this paper discusses the relationship between naming and social positionality through a comparative consideration of names employed to designate Dulley in Angola and Santos in Senegal. It explores how these designators, ascribed to the researchers by their interlocutors, contextually identify their positionality. Through concrete examples, it shows how this process of emplacement can both enable and restrict one’s possibilities of action and experience.
Keywords: ethnography; intersectionality; naming; positionality; Angola; Senegal; vernacular expression
| Title |
To Be Given Names
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| Subtitle |
Displaced Social Positionalities in Senegal and Angola
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| Author(s) |
Iracema Dulley
Frederico Santos dos Santos
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| Identifier | |
| Description |
During fieldwork, anthropologists are given many names that point to their intersectional placement regarding race, class, gender, nationality, and religion. Yet, careful consideration of vernacular forms of designation reveals that such generalizing categories do not always reflect the ways in which people are named and positioned in a given context. While acknowledging the relevance of intersectionality, this paper discusses the relationship between naming and social positionality through a comparative consideration of names employed to designate Dulley in Angola and Santos in Senegal. It explores how these designators, ascribed to the researchers by their interlocutors, contextually identify their positionality. Through concrete examples, it shows how this process of emplacement can both enable and restrict one’s possibilities of action and experience.
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| Is Part Of | |
| Place |
Berlin
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| Publisher |
ICI Berlin Press
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| Date |
2 April 2024
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| Subject |
ethnography
intersectionality
naming
positionality
Angola
Senegal
vernacular expression
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| Rights |
© by the author(s)
Except for images or otherwise noted, this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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| Language |
en-GB
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| page start |
93
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| page end |
109
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| Source |
Displacing Theory Through the Global South, ed. by Iracema Dulley and Özgün Eylül İşcen, Cultural Inquiry, 29 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2024), pp. 93–109
|
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Cite as:
Iracema Dulley and Frederico Santos dos Santos, ‘To Be Given Names: Displaced Social Positionalities in Senegal and Angola’, in Displacing Theory Through the Global South, ed. by Iracema Dulley and Özgün Eylül İşcen, Cultural Inquiry, 29 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2024), pp. 93-109 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-29_07>