- 613 Shelby Street
Montevallo, AL 35115 - (435) 704-1524
James H McDonald
University of Montevallo, Behavioral and Social Sciences, Faculty Member
- Ecole de Gouvernance et d'Economie, Fulbright Senior Specialist, Department Memberadd
- Anthropology, Applied Anthropology, Political and Economic Anthropology, Rural Development, Global Governance, Ethnographic Methods, and 13 moreResearch Design, Mexico (Anthropology), Guatemala, Human Security, Governance and State Capacity, Migration, Poverty Reduction Strategies, International Economic Relations, Impact of Social Sciences and Humanities, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Governance, Political Anthropology, and Anthropology of Higher Educationedit
- James H. McDonald is an applied cultural anthropologist. He is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Monteva... moreJames H. McDonald is an applied cultural anthropologist. He is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Montevallo, Alabama's public liberal arts university, where he also served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. From 2008-2017 he was Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at Southern Utah University. Prior to that, he was a long-time faculty member and administrator at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Over the course of thirteen years at UTSA, he served administratively as the chair of anthropology, associate dean of sciences, and associate vice provost for academic and faculty support. He has over 30 years of research experience analyzing the political economy of inequality in Mexico and Guatemala. In Mexico he explored how NAFTA, and related policy changes, effected domestic food production, the politics of rural development, and the livelihood of family farmers. This work culminated with an exploration of the effects of an aggressively evolving narcoeconomy on rural culture. Most recently he collaborated on a research project in the Western Highlands of Guatemala studying the political and legal dynamics of indigenous communities under conditions of a faltering state governance system and endemic insecurity. He has published two books and over 30 articles. He also served as senior editor of the American Anthropological Association journal, Culture & Agriculture, from 1998-2007. He received his PhD in Anthropology from Arizona State University in 1991.edit
"The possibility of violence beneath a thin veneer of civil society is a fact of daily life for twenty-first-century Guatemalans, from field laborers to the president of the country. Crisis of Governance in Maya Guatemala explores the... more
"The possibility of violence beneath a thin veneer of civil society is a fact of daily life for twenty-first-century Guatemalans, from field laborers to the president of the country. Crisis of Governance in Maya Guatemala explores the causes and consequences of governmental failure by focusing on life in two K’iche’ Maya communities in the country’s western highlands. The contributors to this volume, who lived among the villagers for some time, include both undergraduate students and distinguished scholars. They describe the ways Mayas struggle to survive and make sense of their lives, both within their communities and in relation to the politico-economic institutions of the nation and the world.
Since Guatemala’s thirty-six-year civil war ended in 1996, the state has been dysfunctional, the country’s economy precarious, and physical safety uncertain. The intrusion of Mexican cartels led the U.S. State Department to declare Guatemala “the epicenter of the drug threat” in Central America. Rapid cultural change, weak state governance, organized crime, pervasive corruption, and ethnic exclusion provide the backdrop for the studies in this volume.
Seven nuanced ethnographies collected here reveal the complexities of indigenous life and describe physical and cultural conflicts within and between villages, between insiders and outsiders, and between local and federal governments. Many of these essays point to a tragic irony:the communities seem largely forgotten by the government until the state seeks to capture their resources—timber, minerals, votes. Other chapters portray villages responding to criminal activity through lynch mobs and by labeling nonconformist youth as gang members. In focusing on the internal dynamics of poor, marginal communities in Guatemala, this book explores the realities of life for indigenous people on all continents who are faced with the social changes brought about by war and globalization."
Since Guatemala’s thirty-six-year civil war ended in 1996, the state has been dysfunctional, the country’s economy precarious, and physical safety uncertain. The intrusion of Mexican cartels led the U.S. State Department to declare Guatemala “the epicenter of the drug threat” in Central America. Rapid cultural change, weak state governance, organized crime, pervasive corruption, and ethnic exclusion provide the backdrop for the studies in this volume.
Seven nuanced ethnographies collected here reveal the complexities of indigenous life and describe physical and cultural conflicts within and between villages, between insiders and outsiders, and between local and federal governments. Many of these essays point to a tragic irony:the communities seem largely forgotten by the government until the state seeks to capture their resources—timber, minerals, votes. Other chapters portray villages responding to criminal activity through lynch mobs and by labeling nonconformist youth as gang members. In focusing on the internal dynamics of poor, marginal communities in Guatemala, this book explores the realities of life for indigenous people on all continents who are faced with the social changes brought about by war and globalization."
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The book offers a collection of articles focusing on practicing anthropology at a time when readers are increasingly looking for ways to apply their anthropology degrees to their professional lives. This book gives a broad overview of the... more
The book offers a collection of articles focusing on practicing anthropology at a time when readers are increasingly looking for ways to apply their anthropology degrees to their professional lives. This book gives a broad overview of the applied cultural anthropology field through contextualizing case studies that cover important issues (roles, ethics, methods, policy) as well as domains of practice (urban, medical, development, the environment, education, and business). The first half of the reader highlights key issues: The role of applied anthropology in society, ethical dilemmas, special research methods, and public policy implications for applied anthropology. The second half of the reader covers different applied career domains or specialization within applied anthropology including urban, medical, developmental, educational, and corporate career options. For those interested in anthropology.
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In this essay, we explore the relationship between human value and everyday experience as they operate in Guatemala. Following Graeber’s Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value, the process of defining human value(s) is always... more
In this essay, we explore the relationship between human value and everyday experience as they operate in Guatemala. Following Graeber’s Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value, the process of defining human value(s) is always refracted against the larger social system within which it is operative. Graeber anchors the cognitive dimension of value by associating it with desire, and he then makes value a dialectical process by associating it with social action. Value exists in a synergistic and productive flow of thought, action, and materialization realized in that action. But he leaves this mode of realization rather vague. We suggest that the concept of cost be added to that of desire to determine value. Cost grounds the concept of value in an empirical reality, and links thought to action. We arrive at cost because it allows for the exploration of how systems of governance and security are produced. In Guatemala, the background which frames human value is one of chronic personal insecurity, risk, and danger, coupled with a failing security and governance system. We link this endemic anarchy with the manner in which neoliberal policies have eroded governance and security in Guatemala, a situation that has resulted in a perilous loss of human value.
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En este ensayo exploramos la relación entre el valor humano y la vida cotidiana como se practican en Guatemala. De acuerdo con Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value de David Graeber, el proceso para definir valor(es) humano(s) es... more
En este ensayo exploramos la relación entre el valor humano y la vida cotidiana como se practican en Guatemala. De acuerdo con Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value de David Graeber, el proceso para definir valor(es) humano(s) es siempre refractario al sistema social más amplio en el que se desarrolla. Graeber afianza la dimensión cognitiva del valor al asociarla al deseo y luego convierte el valor en un proceso dialéctico al relacionarlo con la acción social. El valor fluye en una corriente sinérgica y productiva de pensamiento, acción y materialización que se hace realidad en la acción. Pero deja más bien impreciso ese modo de realización. Proponemos que el concepto de costo se agregue al de deseo para determinar el valor. El costo fundamenta el concepto de valor en una realidad empírica y vincula el pensamiento a la acción. Llegamos al costo porque permite explorar cómo se crean los sistemas de gobernanza y seguridad. En Guatemala, el valor humano se enmarca en un contexto de inseguridad personal crónica, riesgo y peligro aunado a un sistema fallido de seguridad y gobernanza. Relacionamos esta anarquía endémica con la manera como las políticas han erosionado la gobernanza y la seguridad en Guatemala, una situación que ha provocado la pérdida peligrosa de valores humanos.
In this essay, we explore the relationship between human value and everyday experience as they operate in Guatemala. Following David Graeber's Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value, the process of defining human value(s) is always refracted against the larger social system within which it is operative. Graeber anchors the cognitive dimension of value by associating it with desire, and he then makes value a dialectical process by associating it with social action. Value exists in a synergistic and productive flow of thought, action, and materialization realized in that action. But he leaves this mode of realization rather vague. We suggest that the concept of cost be added to that of desire to determine value.
In this essay, we explore the relationship between human value and everyday experience as they operate in Guatemala. Following David Graeber's Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value, the process of defining human value(s) is always refracted against the larger social system within which it is operative. Graeber anchors the cognitive dimension of value by associating it with desire, and he then makes value a dialectical process by associating it with social action. Value exists in a synergistic and productive flow of thought, action, and materialization realized in that action. But he leaves this mode of realization rather vague. We suggest that the concept of cost be added to that of desire to determine value.
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Based upon experience at 3 regionally diverse universities, each took on the guise of the larger political culture in which it was embedded. This approach is informed by the work of F.G. Bailey and Andrew M. Jones, among others, who... more
Based upon experience at 3 regionally diverse universities, each took on the guise of the larger political culture in which it was embedded. This approach is informed by the work of F.G. Bailey and Andrew M. Jones, among others, who explore universities and corporations as deeply situated in their local-regional cultural milieu. Both scholars, furthermore, illuminate how leadership style must be attentive and adaptive to the local scene, or depart from it at great potential peril. In my role as a university administrator, I find that my anthropological background is useful on virtually a daily basis to understand and address a wide variety of institutional challenges.
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Utah’s Latino population is the state’s boom demographic. Latino small business arguably led the state out of the 2008 depression. Between 2000 and 2010, Latino entrepreneurs grew by 71.5% while the remainder of the state’s... more
Utah’s Latino population is the state’s boom demographic. Latino small business arguably led the state out of the 2008 depression. Between 2000 and 2010, Latino entrepreneurs grew by 71.5% while the remainder of the state’s entrepreneurial ranks shrank. SUU seeks to invert the common notion of the engaged university (student-centered service learning, community as lab) by placing community first in support of Latino—a sector little understood by traditional business that is dynamic but often highly underfunded with all the challenges therein. Lack of understanding ties directly to the entrepreneur’s status as cultural outsider. This paper explores the challenges facing Latino small-business entrepreneurs and outlines a plan of action.
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This essay describes the cultural effects of drug trafficking on a town in rural Mexico. A variety of ethnographic scenes reveal the rapidly changing social imagination as new forms of consumption create new opportunities for identity... more
This essay describes the cultural effects of drug trafficking on a town in rural Mexico. A variety of ethnographic scenes reveal the rapidly changing social imagination as new forms of consumption create new opportunities for identity formation. However, because these new consumer forms are expensive, and therefore inaccessible to the majority of community members, a type of cultural exclusion is at work. In this ordinary town, there are extraordinary forms of consumption: large, lavish houses; high-stakes gambling at local cockfights; a new urban-oriented consumer culture; and new farmer entrepreneurs. All were underwritten by narco-activities. These new forms of consumption challenge and subvert older, stable forms of hierarchy and status. Individuals with access to these forms of consumption have new types of economic, cultural and social capital privilege, and such access legitimizes their status and power. The article closes by considering the implications of the rising levels of violence in Mexico’s interior and the potential that we are seeing the initial stages of a civil war.