Stephen David Siemens, Ph.D.
Cultural anthropologist, Africanist
Photo by Wendy Rader
Field research with the Azande of Southern Sudan
Siemens spent 19 months doing participant-observation in 24 months of
fieldwork in Southern Sudan 1983-1985.
Azande live in the Southwestern Sudan and neighboring countries
Map from Reining 1966.
Siemens Observes Azande Vengeance Magic
Azande seek magical revenge for deaths caused by magic.
Photo by Wendy Rader
Siemens' research concerns Azande women's knowledge
and areas of authority
Mourners and Babies
Sister of dead Azande man leads widow.
Azande Girl carries baby sister.
Photo by Stephen Siemens
Photo by Wendy Rader
Mourners and babies undergo 'rites of passage' to reach a normal condition
in Azande society. Women officiate at these rituals.
Mathematical models help explain the analogy Azande see between mourners
and babies
.
Mourners and babies recover from trauma and move toward a normal
condition through stages.
Transitions between stages are analogous.
Bereavement is a loss for the mourner and birth is a loss for the
baby.
At first mourners and babies are in danger and their abilities
are limited
Rituals move mourners and babies into less dangerous conditions.
A longer period is necessary before a normal condition.
A ritual completes the transition to normality.
The stages and transitions are modeled in an axiomatic deductive
theory of analogy.
Courses Offered (varies by semester)
Dr. Siemens teaches about the Azande (and others) in "Introduction to
Cultural Anthropology" (102) and "Traditional Cultures of the World"
(104).
Dr. Siemens teaches "Women in Cross-Cultural Perspective" (332) which
draws on his study of Azande women.
Dr. Siemens teaches Language and Culture (300) which includes examples
from the Azande language.
Link to class web site for CSUN's similar course "Language in Culture"
(310) taught by Dr. Siemens
Dr. Siemens teaching biological anthropology Photo
by Graham Holt
Dr. Siemens teaches Introduction to Biological Anthropology (101) with
an emphasis on population genetics.
Publications
1993 Access to Women's Knowledge: The Azande Experience.
In The Other Fifty Percent: Multicultural Perspectives on Gender
Relations. M. Womack & J. Marti, eds. Pp.91-98. Prospect Heights, Illinois:
Waveland Press.
1993 Formal Models of Cultural Analogy: Zande
Social Transitions. Journal of Quantitative Anthropology 4:123-141.
1992 Reply to S. Klein. Journal of Quantitative
Anthropology 3:365-8.
1991 Three Formal Theories of Cultural Analogy. Journal
of Quantitative Anthropology 3:229-250.
1990 Comment On Almeida's "Symmetry and Entropy: Mathematical
Metaphors in the Work of Lévi-Strauss." Current Anthropology 31:381-382.
1988 On Klein's "Analogy and Mysticism and the Structure
of Culture" Current Anthropology 29:471-478.
Link to Anthropology 104 Flier (pdf)