Shawn Parkhurst - Anthropologist - Douro Valley

[Mario Ferreira]

I learn about Mr Shawn Parkhurst when I was reading a story on him published in a portuguese newspaper a couple years ago. For me it was quite interesting to learn about a American Anthropologist from Louisville University, Kentucky, that did 15 months ethnographic fieldwork in Portugal for dissertation on the Douro Valley Region.
Today I decided to make a search on the Internet and found several links with plenty of information on Mr Parkhurst. Below there's one of those texts that I've just copied from the Internet.
/Mario Ferreira.
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URL: http://www.louisville.edu/a-s/anthro/re ... khurst.htm

Shawn Parkhurst

As an anthropologist, my main analytic preoccupations revolve around questions of how culture and concrete geographical space inform one another. I received my Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2000 for a dissertation that analyzes the ecological, political and cultural relations through which the Alto Douro region of northern Portugal (the home of port wine) is produced in the everyday lives of its denizens.

The dissertation is based on 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork. In it I argue that the dominant model of regions and regional cultures as formed top-down and inside-out by elites is incomplete (at best), and try to develop an alternative analysis focused on gender relations, class relations, inter-village and inter-regional relations as these play out in a pair of small neighboring villages.

In recent and current work I continue to grapple with problems of culture and geographical space. Portugal remains the proving ground. Recent work includes examinations of Portugal’s problematic regional connections with the so-called Mediterranean culture area, and the role played in these connections by locally varying gender relations. My current work has two foci: the historical image of “Moors” in everyday Portuguese discourse (especially as connected with local notions of “the Mediterranean”), and Portuguese ethnologists as cultural translators working at the exchange point between the political economic core of the world system and its peripheries.

I am also the new Director of the University of Louisville’s Programs in Portugal. In the past these programs have been focused in archaeological field schools located in the Alentejo region of Portugal.

The Programs in Portugal are in the course of expanding into other areas that provide opportunities for students interested in a study-abroad experience that combines formal academic work, practical professional experience and intensive involvement in Portuguese society and culture.

Portugal is one of the world’s most fascinating points of intersection of various global and regional forces. The European nation-state with the oldest enduring borders and the first modern empire, Portugal serves as a cultural bridge between South America, Africa, and Europe. The country’s diminutive size gives its culture a noteworthy intimacy. At the same time, it is incredibly open to the outside world, and has increasingly become the permanent home of thousands of North Americans and Northern Europeans, as well as Africans and South Americans. Students interested in these questions and in Portugal in general should consider applying for summer study in Portugal.

[Roy Hersh]

Mario,

Thanks for posting this very informative piece. An excellent read!