Kultur und soziale Praxis – serie

The Yukpa from Sokorhpa in Northwestern Colombia converse with animals, the dead, and deities. Moving beyond influential theories on more-than-human relations from Amazonian anthropology, Anne Goletz introduces the concept of ›common ground‹ to examine a range of distinct communicative strategies. Drawing on detailed analysis of communication situations and narratives, she provides insights into present-day social dynamics in the Serranía del Perijá highlands, and relates the Cariban-speaking Yukpa to the emerging socio-cosmological framework of the Isthmo-Colombian Area. This ethnography thus offers an insightful conceptual perspective on communication beyond the human.

The history of Israel’s kibbutzim is characterised by a series of dilemmas: equality versus efficiency, inclusion versus exclusion, and idealism versus pragmatism. While communities around the world are searching for alternatives to individualistic capitalism, the kibbutz offers something rare: the story of ordinary people building a just society over many generations. Kibbutz member Muki Tsur and sociologist Sibylle Heilbrunn don’t just write about community life, they practice it on paper. Through an open, unresolved, and often uncomfortable dialogue, they engage in a joint thought process devoted to the kibbutzim’s conflicts and dialogues, thus reflecting the kibbutz ethos.