J.P. Linstroth, D.Phil.
Assistant
Professor
Department of Conflict
Analysis and Resolution
Nova Southeastern University
Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences
3301 College Avenue
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33314
Phone: (954) 262-3070
Toll Free: 800-262-7978
Fax: (954) 262-3968
Email: linstrot@nsu.nova.edu
J. P. Linstroth received his D.Phil. degree in Social Anthropology from the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (ISCA), University of Oxford, UK (2002). The focus of his D.Phil. research was centered upon Spanish-Basques and provided fresh insight to studies of conflict, gender, history, locality, nationalism, performance, and ritual. Aspects of his research have far reaching implications for the study of disputes, violence, and conflict resolution.
In recent years, his particular focus is and has been on ethnic minorities and their rights in relation to majority-cultures and states. Of particular importance to him is rethinking ideas of violence and peace by providing a new theory for cognitive anthropology through an examination of ethnographic research and its implications for anthropology, psychology, sociology, political science, international relations, and conflict resolution.
Dr. Linstroth was recently awarded a J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholar Grant (2008-2009) to Brazil. While in Brazil, he will be a visiting professor at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM) and he will be conducting research on urban Amerindians in Manaus (a large city in the state of Amazonas). The research for the Fulbright is both original and unique as there are not studies in English about urbanized Amerindians in Brazil, particularly the transformation of the urban-Indian population and their growing numbers in cities along the Amazonian frontier. His proposed research will analyze the growing Amerindian population in Manaus, Brazil and how newer waves of Amerindian groups adapt to urban living or not. The research will be collaborative with colleagues from the Department of Anthropology at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM). Specifically, he wishes to investigate the health conditions, housing conditions, kin networks, language groups, neighborhoods, religious practices, and overall demography of the urban Amerindians living along the environs of Manaus (grant period, March 2009 to July 2009).
Dr. Linstroth has published widely on a variety of issues in relation to his multifaceted research. He believes in an interdisciplinary approach to conflict analysis and resolution with an emphasis upon anthropological perspectives. He has been invited to international conferences in the Basque Country, Spain, Germany, Australia, and to various conferences in the United States to present on his scholarly work.
He is also a co-recipient of an Alexander Von Humboldt Grant for research on ethnicity, identity, and belonging among Cuban, Haitian, and Guatemalan-Maya immigrant groups in South Florida. The results of the project were presented at the International Conference, “Ethnicity, Belonging, Biography, and Belonging” at Georg-August University in Goettingen, Germany and 5 graduate students at DCAR/SHSS/NSU (Patrick Hiller, Denese Edsall, Paloma Ayala Vela, Mamyrah Prosper, and Alison Hall). Other researchers on the project include colleagues from Israel and Germany, respectively, Dr. Julia Chaitin, Professor Gabriele Rosenthal, and Dr. Michaela Koettig. (Student researchers from NSU who work on the project but unable to attend were Robin Cooper and Diana Riviera).
BOOKS:
*(forthcoming) Marching Against Gender Practice: political imaginings in the Basqueland [publishing contract with Lexington Books, a division of Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.]
Book Synopsis: There is a conspicuous gap in the literature demonstrating the significance of commemorative rituals for ethno-nationalist minorities like Basques. Marching Against Gender Practice is a highly ambitious and unique project by providing something new to the analysis of gender, history, and ritual, and thereby adding to the most recent debates in anthropology on these very subjects. The book as suggested by its title, Marching Against Gender Practice, is not only about a feminist group wishing to march and partake equally with men in a historical commemoration-parade, but also about a contrary position advocating new practice for interpreting gender identity. This is the first anthropological study of its kind to examine Basque nationalism in relation to the newest theories of anthropological theory for gender, history, ritual, and tradition. More than this, it is a book to be read to understand separatist-minded ethno-nationalists and the varying roles of gender, history, and ritual have in imaginatively recreating identity, resisting authority, and displaying difference.
Marching Against Gender Practice examines the particularities of Basque nationalism from a variety of viewpoints through an appreciation of history, material culture, gender, media, memory, tradition, and violence. By focusing on these engaging subjects, the focal point of the book is centered on a peculiar controversy of a historical commemoration rite held yearly in the Basque town of Hondarribia known as the Alarde, a mock-military review of troops. Central questions such as: why do the majority of women from a township purposefully ignore and reject a feminist movement and feminist politics? How is commemorative ritual lived out in everyday life and representative of the creation of the person? How does this local and micro-conflict represent Basque nationalism, ethno-nationalist minority identity in general, and the problems associated with the maintenance of traditions? While the focus is upon Basque life and culture, the book’s themes are broadly construed as to provide the reader with a multitude of theoretical ideas relevant to many disciplines within the social sciences.
*(forthcoming in preparation): Violence and Peace Re-Imagined: a new interdisciplinary theory for cognitive anthropology [publishing contract with Brill Academic Publishers]
Book Synopsis: In recent years, much has been written about the cognition of religion in anthropology but little attention has been paid to associating these new findings with social aspects of violence and peace. Indeed, there are no studies to date from political anthropology or conflict resolution, which address the theoretical concerns of cognitive anthropology for broadening and inspiring new interpretation. To close this gap, Violence and Peace Re-Imagined poses a unique challenge by examining ideas from cognitive studies—from anthropology, linguistics, neurophysiology, philosophy, and psychology—and by formulating a new theory for anthropology why some peoples continually perpetuate violence and why others choose to live in harmony. Where the potentiality of human brutality or calm exists, as the author argues, begins with the imagination, those mental worlds for carrying out violent acts, and/or those mental worlds for living in a peaceful state. The book, Violence and Peace Re-Imagined, focuses upon those ‘mental models’, ideas stimulating social action, which are embedded in concepts of ritual, kinship, gender, memory, trauma, materiality, politics, religion, and space. Particularly significant to the examination of these cognitive modes is the differentiation of indigenous belief systems with those ideological formulations of post-industrialized societies. The highly ambitious and interdisciplinary project, Violence and Peace Re-Imagined, is likely to be polemical as a completely original study of the anthropology of violence and peace, bringing together the subfields of cognitive anthropology and political anthropology with the discipline of conflict resolution and by comparing a plethora of examples from the ethnographic literature.
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RESEARCH:
• Social Change of Urban Amerindians, Brazil – This research will focus on urban Amerindians living in the environs of Manaus, Brazil. Of particular importance, is to understand the social changes of Amerindians because of their living proximity to urbanized populations and what this means for their cultural and religious beliefs and material changes to their lives in terms of consumption and housing arrangements. By examining the social transformations of this diverse population of Amerindians, there are several implications for the study of conflict of indigenous groups and the state, health, education, and development issues for indigenous peoples in countries like Brazil. The research for this project will be funded by a Fulbright Scholar Grant (2008-2009).
• Ethnicity, Belonging, Biography and Ethnography among Immigrant Groups in Florida and Germany (2005-2007) – this is an ongoing research project between colleagues at NSU and Georg-August University of Goettingen, Germany. For the NSU researchers (myself and graduate students), we are examining the role of immigration of Cubans, Guatemalans, and Haitians and in particular biographical narratives and life histories in relation to ethnicity, ethno-nationalism, and identity. This is an interdisciplinary and international biographical and ethnographic study which brings together and draws upon the disciplines of sociology, psychology, anthropology, and conflict resolution. The project is funded by grants from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the President Faculty Research and Development Grant (PFRDG), and a Dean’s Travel Grant. The project will result in several scholarly articles and an edited book.
• Basque Identity and the Peace Process Crisis – since the Basque terrorist group, ETA, declared a ceasefire in late March (2006) and the collapse of the peace process June (2007), I have been writing about the role of peacebuilding and conflict resolution through anthropological interpretation. My forthcoming book, Violence and Peace Re-Imagined, is one aspect of this research. Furthermore, I have been interested in building links between anthropology and political theory in relation to Basque nationalism, particularly through philosophical notions of “deliberative democracy”. Important questions are: what lessons can be learned from the Basque peace process and its subsequent collapse? What will the future of the Basque conflict be? And when will a viable peace be formulated to transcend the violence?
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CULTURE & CONFLICT GROUP (CCG)
• Dr. Linstroth is the Chair and Founder of the Culture & Conflict Group (CCG).
• CCG allows a forum for graduate students and faculty members to present papers on a variety of topics related to “Culture and Conflict” of their choosing. The idea is to provide a locus for graduate students to be able to debate and discuss important international issues in relation to culture and conflict. Possible topics to explore are: Social Movements and Minority Rights, Ethno-nationalist Movements, Issues of Protracted Conflict, Immigration and Identity, and Indiginous Conflicts. Possible areas to discuss are: Amerindian conflicts with Latin American countries, Native American/US conflicts, Palestinian/Israeli conflict, Basque conflict, Zapatista movement, the Balkans, Chechnya, Iraq War, Fijian conflict, Nepal, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, etc.
For those interested in Dr. Linstroth’s research and in joining the Culture & Conflict Group, see the website below:
www.culture-conflict.org
Latin American & Caribbean Forum (LACF)
•Dr. Linstroth is also the Chair and Founder of the Latin American and Caribbean Forum (LACF).
•LACF is also a graduate student run organization whereby graduate students, faculty members, and invited guests will present on a variety of topics in relation to problems associated with Latin America and the Caribbean. Possible topics which will be explored will include but are not limited to: indigenous issues of acculturation and assimilation; poverty in Latin America; violence in the Caribbean; government and indigenous relations in Brazil; indigenous movements in Latin America; ethnicity and belonging among immigrant groups in South Florida (especially, Cubans, Guatemala/Maya, and Haitians) and any other topic deemed important to the members of the forum.
•For any of those interested in Dr. Linstroth’s research in this area and would like to join, see the website: www.lacforum.org
Dr. Linstroth is especially grateful to Patrick Hiller his Graduate Assistant for his help in setting up the CCG website. He is also grateful for all of his other graduate students who make his job worthwhile.