Department of Anthropology, Economics and Political Science

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Research recast(ed): S1E13 - Video games as artifacts with Dr. Katie Biittner
(2022) Ekelund, Brittany; Cave, Dylan; Biittner, Katie
Today we learn about Archeogaming - the archeology of video games. Here to introduce this emerging field of anthropology is Dr. Katie Biittner, an assistant professor of Anthropology at MacEwan University. Her research focuses broadly on technology, including the stone age and contemporary technologies like basket weaving and videogames! You can find Katie on Twitter and on Instagram at @kbiittner. You can also check out her archeo gaming collaborator, Dr. John Aycock on Twitter at @herrprofdr.
Book review: Edible economics
(2024) Jahangir, Junaid
I googled to find popular books written by him including Kicking Away the Ladder (2002), Bad Samaritans (2008), 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism (2010), and Economics: The User's Guide (2014). These books provide a countervailing narrative to the usual popular books like Freakonomics (2006), The Undercover Economist (2006), Economics in One Lesson (2008), and Excuse Me Professor (2015). Chang's latest book Edible Economics (2022) crystallizes the narrative that he has developed through his popular books over the years. While he uses the imagery of food in this book to reinforce his narrative, I have reviewed the salient ideas as follows in a bid to draw out lessons I could share with my ECON 101 students.
The sincerest form of flattery: large-scale analysis of code re-use in Atari 2600 games
(2022) Aycock, John; Ganesh, Shankar; Biittner, Katie; Newell, Paul Allen; Therrien, Carl
The Atari 2600 was a prominent early video game console that had broad cultural impact, and possessed an extensive catalog of games that undoubtedly helped shape the fledgling game industry. How were these games created? We examine one development practice, code re-use, across a large-scale corpus of 1,984 ROM images using an analysis system we have developed. Our system allows us to study code re-use at whole-corpus granularity in addition to finer grained views of individual developers and companies. We combine this corpus analysis with a case study: one of the co-authors was a third-party developer for Atari 2600 games in the early 1980s, providing insight into why code re-use could occur through both oral history and artifacts preserved for over forty years. Finally, we frame our results about this development practice with an interdisciplinary, bigger-picture archaeological view of humans and technology.
Feeding the land: the importance of paying attention to Sakha language with Traditional Ecological Knowledge
(2023) Sidorova, Evgeniia; Ferguson, Jenanne
Through (auto)ethnographic research in the Amga and Megino-Khangalas uluses (districts) in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), in this article, we discuss the intrinsic importance of paying close attention to Indigenous languages when exploring Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). Here, language refers not only to vocabulary but also to the kinds of communicative practices or speech acts used to transmit or talk about TEK, especially those that reveal the indivisibility of the physical and spiritual elements in many Indigenous ontologies. Through the presentation of narratives of two researchers—one ethnically Sakha, one not—we highlight the centrality of language to maintaining the integrity of TEK and other Indigenous knowledge. We argue that not only must language be centered and documented to reflect the importance of language choice, but terminology should be situated within stories or narratives to best reveal connections of language to ontology, highlighting the interconnectedness of language and knowledge.
Japa, or to flee or to run: Nigerian youth and the urgency of departure
(2023) Liu, Jing Jing
‘Japa’, a Yoruba term for ‘to run’ or ‘to flee’, has become part of the everyday vernacular of Nigerian youth since seizing the national imagination in 2020. While migration has always been a part of Nigerian culture, this paper asks, how did it become charged with such urgency? Casting migration as an act of ‘fleeing’ implies its necessity for survival. Why has this imagery, more readily associated with refugees or asylum seekers, been taken up by middle-class youth to express their desires to leave? Drawing on a series of interviews with Nigerian youth who are planning to leave or have left the country as education migrants, this paper traces the political, economic, and social configurations that weave urgency through the social-cultural phenomenon of japa.
Introduction
(2023) Ziker, John P.; Ferguson, Jenanne; Davydov, Vladimir
This book traverses socio-cultural diversity and human-environment systems across Siberia along six major research themes, each discussed in detail below. Thus, instead of trying to capture each and every corner of this vast social and geographic space, this book is organized along contemporary themes of anthropological research in Siberia, providing rich case studies within each thematic cluster. By focusing on these themes emerging in the current research, we can go beyond a collection of encyclopedic entries in order to learn more about the dynamics of change and perceptions of local peoples. This volume is organized around six research themes: Indigenous language revival and cultural change; land, law, and ecology; co-creation of people and the state; formal and grassroots infrastructure and Siberian mobility; religious mosaics in Siberia; and conceptions of history.
Chapter 6: Compound urban crises in global environmental politics
(2023) Papin, Marielle; Westman, Linda; Macrorie, Rachel; Azizi, Ahmad Shoaib; Dede, Michael; Greenwalt, Julie; Johnson, Ibinabo; Summers, Barbara
This chapter engages with a unique form of turbulence that the authors term “compound urban crises,” which is comprised of multiple shocks and stresses that co-occur and interact. To date, such interconnected shocks have often been interpreted as singular crises; the authors of this chapter argue that crises should be understood as relationally connected and leading to mutually recursive turbulence. They elaborate on compound urban crises by introducing three boundary concepts: “unsettlement,” “unevenness,” and “unbounding.” Through our analysis, they begin to formulate a research agenda for the study of compound urban crises in the context of global environmental politics. This agenda draws attention to: the interconnections between global dynamics and the politics of urban precarity; the reproduction of structural injustice in cities; and the need for critical interrogation of problem framings of urban governance promoted by international organizations.
Energy demand and the potential role of imported liquefied natural gas (Lng) in Bangladesh
(2023) Islam, Shahidul; Ghosh, Subhadip; Wang, Youke
The rapid economic progress of Bangladesh is associated with a swiftly rising demand and energy consumption. Future economic growth will undoubtedly require a proportionate increase in energy availability within affordable prices. Bangladesh is inherently energy-scarce and heavily dependent on imported energy, primarily fossil fuels. Several approaches and strategies were attempted over time to mitigate the energy shortage. Some of them were reasonably successful, while others failed. In this study, we first examine the historical developments of the energy sector in Bangladesh since its independence and then use three approaches--triple exponential smoothing, vector autoregression, and the Cochrane-Orcutt AR(1) process to forecast the energy demand. Data for this study were taken from various sources, including British Petroleum, International Gas Union, International Energy Agency, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, World Bank, Petrobangla, and Energy Information Agency of the United States. As expected, each model predicts an exponential growth of energy demand in Bangladesh. We then explored the possibilities of mitigating such projected energy demand. Various studies show that Bangladesh has some potential for producing energy from renewable sources, i.e., solar, hydro, wind, wave, and others. However, such possibilities are limited, and many are still in their infancy. Although an increase in renewable energy is desirable from an environmental perspective, it alone will not meet Bangladesh's growing energy demand. At least in the short term, Bangladesh must rely on imported fossil energy. Among the fossil energy sources, LNG is by far the cleanest. With the development of technology, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification, LNG production, transportation, and use are becoming less expensive. Progressively more natural gas-producing countries are joining LNG production and export, contributing to the market's competitiveness. Though historically tied to the oil market, LNG markets are becoming more and more independent because of the increasing number of participants from both the demand and supply sides. Given that both its global price and negative impact on the environment are relatively lower than other fossil fuels, imported LNG should be the fuel of choice for Bangladesh. Government policies should focus on both importing LNG and expanding renewable energy resources.
The usage of Indigenous languages as a tool for meaningful engagement with northern Indigenous communities
(2023) Ferguson, Jenanne; Sidorova, Evgeniia
The Canadian Northern Corridor (CNC) program integrates formal academic research and a strategy of engagement with potentially impacted communities (Fellows et al. 2020). Finding common ground among Indigenous peoples, governments and industry on engagement and consultation practices is imperative to the future of resource development and the Canadian economy, and ultimately to the reconciliation of the relationships between Indigenous Peoples and Canada (Boyd and Lorefice 2018). In this paper, we focus on language, stressing that languages are more than just tools. Rather, all communicative systems also hold both individual and cultural identities, histories and memory, and encode knowledge in specific ways. This article investigates how Indigenous languages can contribute to meaningful engagement particularly within the context of the CNC concept; our recommendations also work toward strengthening existing Indigenous policy initiatives in Canada, uplifting Indigenous worldviews, and potentially supporting the reconciliation process. We draw upon primarily Indigenous scholars in explaining the reasons why using Indigenous languages matters for fostering meaningful engagement during research, consultation, and community engagement activities and address methods by which they can be implemented. After examining some past/ongoing attempts at this incorporation, we identify in our policy recommendations five different ways that the entire process of community engagement can align with the usage of Indigenous languages.
The interplay of interest rates and debt-financed government spending
(2023) Dahlby, Bev; Ferede, Ergete
Proponents focus on the average fiscal cost of program spending when the interest rate on government debt is less than the economy’s growth rate. They ignore the potentially large marginal fiscal cost of deficit-financed increases in spending that arise when a higher public debt increases interest rates on government debt and lowers growth rates.
Success of the garment industry and its impact on gender equality in Bangladesh
(2023) Podder, Mohua; Ghosh, Subhadip; Islam, Shahidul
Bangladesh has been successful in transforming itself from one of the poorest counties in the world to a lower-middle-income country in 50 years. The readymade garment sector has been a major driving force behind its growth and development. It has contributed to higher per-capita income and catalyzed social and economic development, structural transformation, and gender empowerment. Using exploratory data analysis and literature survey, this paper intends to investigate the reasons behind the rapid growth of the readymade garment sector in Bangladesh and its importance in promoting gender equality in Bangladesh.
The middle and later stone age of the Iringa region southern Tanzania: an introduction
(2007) Biittner, Katie; Bushozi, Pastory M.; Willoughby, Pamela R.
is well known for the richness of its Stone Age past. But what we know about its early history comes from a limited number of northern sites such as Olduvai Gorge, as well as Nasera rockshelter and Mumba Cave near Lake Eyasi. The Iringa Region in the south, however, also contains a long Stone Age record. It begins with the Acheulean at Isimila Korongo and Mgongo, both located just outside of the modern regional capital of Iringa. But the Stone Age past continues in a series of granite rockshelters and caves. Pamela Willoughby first saw these sites in 2005, and directed brief test excavations of two of them in 2006. It became clear immediately that they may contain the entire post-Acheulean cultural record. This paper introduces three rockshelters from which archaeological material was recovered in July and August 2006. This research was done to test models of the emergence of modern humans in this part of Africa (Willoughby 2007). This article introduces new sites and presents preliminary results from the initial fieldwork. Pamela Willoughby describes the sites, the general framework of this research project, and the cultural history of Iringa. Her two PhD students, Katie Biittner and Pastory Bushozi, discuss their own research.
Voices unheard: exploring the lived experiences and perspectives of straight white male students in higher education
(2023) Jahangir, Junaid; Atkinson, Benjamin; Tuz-Atkinson, Michaelle
Straight White males do not perceive themselves to be privileged because of their economic circumstances, lack of family support, and the stressors they face to cope with Western masculine norms. We conducted quantitative and detailed qualitative data analyses based on a survey of 32 male students at MacEwan University. Although our quantitative analysis did not reflect significant results, our qualitative data found that straight White males have a lower sense of belonging on campus, self-censor on campus, perceive being negatively depicted, and are impeded by unhealthy Western norms on masculinity to deal with the stressors of life. We conclude that support systems are required to instill a healthy sense of self-esteem within straight White male students and to validate them by role models and mentors.
Wisdom of the elders: Canadian reconciliatory experience as an insight on the present
(2019) Soroski, John
Canada’s first two large historical encounters of recognition and work-in-progress accommodation of previously marginalized and alienated groups involved French Canada and newcomer Canadians. The third such engagement is now underway in response to the Indigenous peoples of Canada. While this endeavour is long overdue, there is reason for concern that the laudable enthusiasm of many for this project of reconciliation may be authorizing some policies, practices and discourses that conflict with and potentially undermine the values that informed and came out of previous inclusionary encounters. Three areas of concern arise. The first is the embrace of state deference in some instances to unlawful and sometimes violent forms of Aboriginal protest and resistance, undercutting the idea of the rule of law and of the value of the peaceful resolution of disputes. The second is the propensity to under critically over-authorize Indigenous cultural communities as sources of moral valuation, in ways that may undermine individuals’ dignity and well-being, as well as doing harm to the good of intra-cultural inclusiveness. The third is the related tendency to over-valorise Indigenous cultures and claims in ways that suggest symbolically and in practical terms the idea of the existence of morally first-class and morally second-class Canadians.
Racialization of city spaces through moral monitoring in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
(2022) Long, Jennifer
The city of Rotterdam has had some of the strictest policing and security policies in the Netherlands. In public spaces, enforcement tactics have included such practices as preventative searches, as well as fines for individuals for hanging around in groups of three or more. This article explores the tactics used to enforce certain behaviours in public spaces that racialize city spaces. Further the author examines how other local urban occupants reinforce the ethnic and racial hierarchy of belonging in the Netherlands. The author uses situational analysis and in-situ ethnographic interviews as methods to engage difficult-to-access populations in situations of policing and security.
Book review: Jin, Keyu (2023): The new China playbook
(2023) Jahangir, Junaid
Keyu Jin is an academic who has worked with the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the IMF, and the World Bank. She provides an analysis as someone who is intimately familiar with both a state-regulated China and Western neoliberal institutions that prize free markets. I have found her book to be an important read in understanding the Chinese miracle that traverses the binary between socialism and capitalism. Her book shows that economic development does not necessarily depend on the prescriptions of neoclassical economics of free markets, unfettered trade, minimal government, and private enterprise.
Lost in translation: overcoming distinctions in worldviews in environmental impact assessments in Canada and Russia
(2023) Sidorova, Evgeniia; Ferguson, Jenanne
How would the usage of Indigenous languages contribute to overcoming the epistemological gap between Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Environmental Impact Assessments? This article examines incommensurabilities that arise in Sakha-Russian and Cree-English translations of EIA through the translations of the most common words in samples. Without being embedded in Indigenous languages, TEK and other knowledges are easily decontextualized, and results in the loss of layers of meaning. This study adopted a linguistic anthropological approach to language combined with content analysis and guided by a poststructuralist mode of analysis. We argue policies around EIA/EAs must be shifted to center Indigenous languages as the source of TEK and ensure that there is space for these languages to be used in the consultation processes.
The spectrum of intersectionality in the Arctic: from discrimination to diversity and inclusion
(2023) Ferguson, Jenanne; Abdel-Fattah, Dina; Friedrich, Doris; Lee, Olivia Lee; Nikolaeva, Sardana
This first special issue of 2023 began with a call for papers that highlighted a key facet of the population often overlooked by outsiders to the Arctic—despite its relatively sparse overall numbers and low population density, the region is full of human diversity. This diversity exists within the inhabitants, both Indigenous and (im)migrant (whether temporary or permanent), rural and urban, and by sexual orientation, gender roles, class, and ethnicity, on multiple parameters. For this issue, we go beyond the borders of Siberia to examine some of those key factors and their impacts on the lives of neighboring circumpolar peoples in North America, Greenland, and Scandinavia as well, in order to better understand commonalities as well as divergences in the experiences of those living in northern regions.
How provincial governments respond to fiscal shocks and federal transfers
(2023) Ferede, Ergete; Dahlby, Bev
In this study, we investigate how Canadian provincial governments have responded to fiscal shocks, including changes in federal transfers, based on annual data spanning over half a century. We find that provincial governments have responded to a $1.00 increase in their per-capita budget deficits by cutting program spending by $0.18 and increasing own-source revenues by $0.09 the following year. As these responses only partially offset the deficit, provincial debt levels increase, and debt service costs rise. Thus, provinces that face adverse fiscal shocks and/or rising budget deficits in a given period inevitably respond by reducing program spending and/or hiking own-source revenues in future periods. This undermines the arguments advanced by some politicians and policy analysts who believe provinces can run ongoing deficits without having to “face the fiscal music” in the future.
Stress testing the federal fiscal anchor
(2023) Dahlby, Bev; Ferede, Ergete
In order to provide a realistic assessment of the federal government’s multi-year fiscal plan, we use a Monte Carlo simulation model to investigate how the federal government’s debt ratio might evolve if the Canadian economy is subject to random growth rate shocks similar to those experienced over the last 40 years. The model generates 1,000 episodes of the evolution of the federal net-debt ratio over a 20-year time horizon when the economy is subject to annual growth-rate shocks. It indicates that there is a 30% chance that the federal debt-to-GDP ratio will be higher over a 10-year time horizon and a 53% chance that it will be higher over a 20-year time horizon. The likelihood of no recessions occurring over a 20-year time horizon is only 15%. This means that it is very unlikely that the federal projected debt ratios will be realized. In other words, taking the federal government’s projected primary surpluses at face value, but with random shocks to the growth rate that mimic past experience, the federal fiscal anchor will most likely be violated. The probabilities of one, two, and three or more recessions over a 20-year time horizon are 32%, 28%, and 25%, respectively. When two recessions occur, there is a 60% chance that the debt ratio will increase.

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