Rahul Oka | University of Notre Dame (original) (raw)
Papers by Rahul Oka
Journal of Refugee Studies
This article draws from curricular analysis and ethnographic methods in school and community spac... more This article draws from curricular analysis and ethnographic methods in school and community spaces where young people live, learn, and work in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp. We describe how formal citizenship education intended for Kenyan citizens is mediated by teachers working in refugee-serving schools. Our analysis shows how these messages, often scarce and decontextualized, orient refugees to project an imagined future of stability, obscuring the skills needed to navigate the uncertainty they will encounter as noncitizens enduring protracted exile. Examining refugee youth transitions after completing their schooling, we document ‘slips’ in the gaps between the civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions promoted in schools and those required within a limited opportunity structure dominated by a relief economy. Beyond school, we examine pathways that young refugees charted through apprenticeships within the informal economy, leveraging their social networks, gaining life skills, an...
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eTopoi. Journal for Ancient Studies, 2020
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American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, Jan 4, 2017
Refugee camps are often assumed to negatively impact local host communities through resource comp... more Refugee camps are often assumed to negatively impact local host communities through resource competition and conflict. We ask instead whether economic resources and trade networks associated with refugees have benefits for host community health and nutrition. To address this question we assess the impacts of Kakuma Refugee Camp in northwest Kenya, comparing anthropometric indicators of nutritional status between Turkana communities in the region. Participants were recruited at four sites in Turkana County (N = 586): Kakuma Town, adjacent to Kakuma Refugee C& Lorugum, an area with sustained economic development; Lokichoggio, formerly host to international NGOs, and now underdeveloped; and Lorengo, an undeveloped, rural community. We evaluated nutritional status using summed skinfold thickness and body mass index (BMI). Structured interviews provided contextual data. Age-controlled multiple regression models reveal two distinct skinfold thickness profiles for both sexes: comparatively...
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Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2017
Data from archaeology and paleoanthropology directly challenge the validity of the basic assumpti... more Data from archaeology and paleoanthropology directly challenge the validity of the basic assumptions of the CLASH model. By not incorporating a “deep time” perspective, the hypothesis lacks the evolutionary baseline the authors seek to infer in validating the model.
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Evolution, medicine, and public health, 2017
Background and objectives: In many settings, partnered, invested fathers have lower testosterone ... more Background and objectives: In many settings, partnered, invested fathers have lower testosterone than single men or fathers who are not involved in caregiving. Reduced testosterone has been identified as a risk factor for multiple chronic diseases, and men's health also commonly varies by life history status. There have been few tests of whether variation in testosterone based on partnering and parenting has implications for men's health. Methodology: We analysed data from a US population-representative sample (NHANES) of young-to-middle aged US men (n = 875; mean age: 29.8 years ± 6.0 [SD]). We tested for life history status differences in testosterone, adiposity levels and biomarkers of cardiovascular disease (CVD)-risk (HDL cholesterol; triglycerides; white blood cell count [WBC]). Results: Partnered men residing with children (RC) had lower testosterone and elevated abdominal adiposity compared to never married men not residing with children. While they did not significa...
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THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF …
201 Among the most resilient of human activities, trader networks operate sustainable, profitable... more 201 Among the most resilient of human activities, trader networks operate sustainable, profitable, and growing commercial ventures in both adverse and beneficial conditions and, throughout history, show continuous adaptation to natural and intentional disasters such as famines ...
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India in Africa, Africa in India: Indian …, 2008
Page 218. 8 Siddi as Mercenary or as African Success Story on the West Coast of India Rahul C. Ok... more Page 218. 8 Siddi as Mercenary or as African Success Story on the West Coast of India Rahul C. Oka and Chapurukha M. Kusimba Introduction In ad 1489, political control over the island of Janjira located off the west coast town ...
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American Anthropologist, 2014
ABSTRACT The relief discourse has long treated refugee camp economies and the resulting black mar... more ABSTRACT The relief discourse has long treated refugee camp economies and the resulting black markets and commercial consumption as detrimental for the relief process and the refugees. The consumption of “luxuries and comforts” is regarded as costly, trivial, unreasonable, and nonessential. However, despite the negative effects and the high costs of consumption, refugees make strenuous efforts to participate in these commercial economies. I analyze refugee commercial consumption at Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya, to argue that, despite its problems, the consumption is important, reasonable, and even essential. Using ethnographic data collected between 2008 and 2011, I suggest that this consumption has tangible benefits beyond the ability to fill relief gaps. It provides a forum whereby refugees can feel “normal” and gain “dignity,” and cope with the long wait and the static transience of refugee life. Attaining normalcy and dignity through consumption may even enable structural stability amid the dangerous and volatile conditions of refugee settlements as well as mitigate the long-term effects of relief-induced agonism. Given these benefits, I stress the importance of further research into the complexities of refugee commerce and consumption for policy makers and relief workers. MUHTASARI Mazungumzo na maandishi yanayohusu uchumi, biashara, magendo, and ufisadi kati kampi za wakimbizi mara nyingi kujadiliwa hadharani. Inaaminika kwamba mambo na vitimbi vinayoendeshwa katika kampi za wakimbizi vikijulikana huenda yakazorotesha hali na maisha ya wakimbizi. Hata hivyo, ni wazi kwamba maisha ya wakimbizi ni ya ghali na mara nyingi imeonelewa kwamba hawana haki kutamani vitu ama vifaa wasivyohitaji. Hata hivyo ukweli ni kwamba wakimbizi ni wanadamu na wana haki ya kutamani vitu kama watu wengine. Makala hii inaripoti matokeo ya utafiti niliofanya katika kampi ya wakimbizi inayoitwa Kakuma kati Jamhuti ya Kenya mnama miaka 2008 hadi 2011. Utafiti huu umedokeza waziwazi kwamba biashara ya aina nyingi inaendeshwa katika kampi ya wakimbizi. Uchumi huo unaotokana na biashara ya vyakula vya wakimbizi umetia fora. Utafiti huu waonyesha ni wazi kwamba maisha ya wakimbizi hawako tofauti na watu wwa kawaida. Pia hali yao ya kimaisha yanaweza kubadilishwa yakawa mema na yenye heshima wakati wanangojea uamuzi wa makazi yao ya kudumu. Kutokana na utafiti huu, ni wazi kwamba biashara inayoendeshwa katika kampi za wakimbizi yaweza kurekebishwa iwapa wakimbizi pamjoa ma wale wanaosimamia kampi hizi watakubali mambo yalivyo na kujaribu kutafuita suluhisho. RESUMEN El discurso sobre asistencia ha tratado por largo tiempo las economías de los campos de refugiados, los mercados negros resultantes y el consumo comercial como nocivo para el proceso de asistencia y los refugiados. El consumo de “lujos y comodidades” es visto como costoso, trivial, irracional, y no-esencial. Sin embargo, a pesar de los efectos negativos y los altos costos de consumo, los refugiados hacen arduos esfuerzos para participar en estas economías comerciales. Analizo el consumo comercial de refugiados en el Campo de Refugiados Kakuma, Kenia, para argumentar que, a pesar de sus problemas, el consumo es importante, razonable y aún esencial. Usando datos etnográficos recopilados entre el 2008 y 2011, sugiero que este consumo tiene beneficios tangibles más allá de la habilidad de llenar los vacíos de la asistencia. Provee un foro donde los refugiados pueden sentirse “normales” y ganar “dignidad” y hacer frente a la larga espera y la transitoriedad estática de la vida de refugiados. Lograr normalidad y dignidad a través del consumo puede posibilitar una estabilidad estructural en medio de unas condiciones peligrosas y volátiles de los asentamientos de refugiados, así como mitigar los efectos de largo plazo de la asistencia—angustia inducida. Dados estos beneficios, enfatizo la importancia de investigación más extensa en las complejidades del comercio y el consumo de los refugiados para los creadores de política y los trabajadores en asistencia.
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Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development, 2011
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Dec 26, 2017
The proportions of individuals involved in intergroup coalitional conflict, measured by war group... more The proportions of individuals involved in intergroup coalitional conflict, measured by war group size (W), conflict casualties (C), and overall group conflict deaths (G), have declined with respect to growing populations, implying that states are less violent than small-scale societies. We argue that these trends are better explained by scaling laws shared by both past and contemporary societies regardless of social organization, where group population (P) directly determines W and indirectly determines C and G. W is shown to be a power law function of P with scaling exponent X [demographic conflict investment (DCI)]. C is shown to be a power law function of W with scaling exponent Y [conflict lethality (CL)]. G is shown to be a power law function of P with scaling exponent Z [group conflict mortality (GCM)]. Results show that, while W/P and G/P decrease as expected with increasing P, C/W increases with growing W. Small-scale societies show higher but more variance in DCI and CL th...
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Any investigation into the topics of greed and excess is necessarily hampered by the inability to... more Any investigation into the topics of greed and excess is necessarily hampered by the inability to frame and define these concepts for general application to human behaviors. These terms carry significant moral, social, political, and cultural weight, primarily used either as accusations of sin, vice, and social destruction or justified for their virtues, rewards, and social good. In trying to understand the social and economic underpinnings of the behaviors we may term as greedy and excessive, we recognize the need for also exploring why these topics have almost universally been addressed in religions, philosophies, and social rules across the world, whether in sanction and condemnation, or in tolerance or even encouragement. This article investigates the ways in which major philosophical traditions across the world have viewed greed and excess, their impacts on society, and how the meanings and connotations of these terms have changed through time, since the Bronze Age to the prese...
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In March 2011, the Society of Economic Anthropology held its Annual Meeting Conference, hosted at... more In March 2011, the Society of Economic Anthropology held its Annual Meeting Conference, hosted at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, to discuss the topic: Social Economies of Greed and Excess: Lessons from Recessions Past and Present. Specifically time during the social, economic, and political aftermath of the Great Recession (2007–2009), the articles were chosen to understand “greed” and “excess” as behaviors, ideas, and accusations that have shaped and in turn, been shaped by social processes, across different societies and at different periods in human history. This article (a) contextualizes the conference and the subsequent discussion of greed and excess within the broader narratives of causation and accusation between various actors and groups involved in and affected by the outcomes of differential accumulation and consumption of resources, (b) introduces the various articles raging from archaeology to ethnography and commentaries by noted anthropologists tha...
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Archaeologists use the appearance of differences in material culture and the technical skills inv... more Archaeologists use the appearance of differences in material culture and the technical skills involved in the making and distribution of cultural artifacts as evidence of societal transformations and the rise of inequality (Price and Feinman 1995). Persuasive arguments have been made supporting the notion that ranking goes hand in hand with elite control of basic resources and wealth and legitimization of this control (Fried 1967; Haas 1982; Holl 2003; Johnson and Earle 2000; Kusimba 1999a). The emergence of social complexity in Africa has historically been linked to foreign agents—Asian and European—who, it was claimed, introduced change in incremental packages during the process of migration, expansion assimilation, and colonization (Chittick 1977; Levitzion 1985; Munson 1980). Three generations of scholarship in African history and archaeology used variants of diffusionary, migrationist, and technology transfer models to explain social transformations in Africa. These models shap...
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Social Science & Medicine
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Journal of Refugee Studies
This article draws from curricular analysis and ethnographic methods in school and community spac... more This article draws from curricular analysis and ethnographic methods in school and community spaces where young people live, learn, and work in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp. We describe how formal citizenship education intended for Kenyan citizens is mediated by teachers working in refugee-serving schools. Our analysis shows how these messages, often scarce and decontextualized, orient refugees to project an imagined future of stability, obscuring the skills needed to navigate the uncertainty they will encounter as noncitizens enduring protracted exile. Examining refugee youth transitions after completing their schooling, we document ‘slips’ in the gaps between the civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions promoted in schools and those required within a limited opportunity structure dominated by a relief economy. Beyond school, we examine pathways that young refugees charted through apprenticeships within the informal economy, leveraging their social networks, gaining life skills, an...
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eTopoi. Journal for Ancient Studies, 2020
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American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, Jan 4, 2017
Refugee camps are often assumed to negatively impact local host communities through resource comp... more Refugee camps are often assumed to negatively impact local host communities through resource competition and conflict. We ask instead whether economic resources and trade networks associated with refugees have benefits for host community health and nutrition. To address this question we assess the impacts of Kakuma Refugee Camp in northwest Kenya, comparing anthropometric indicators of nutritional status between Turkana communities in the region. Participants were recruited at four sites in Turkana County (N = 586): Kakuma Town, adjacent to Kakuma Refugee C& Lorugum, an area with sustained economic development; Lokichoggio, formerly host to international NGOs, and now underdeveloped; and Lorengo, an undeveloped, rural community. We evaluated nutritional status using summed skinfold thickness and body mass index (BMI). Structured interviews provided contextual data. Age-controlled multiple regression models reveal two distinct skinfold thickness profiles for both sexes: comparatively...
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Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2017
Data from archaeology and paleoanthropology directly challenge the validity of the basic assumpti... more Data from archaeology and paleoanthropology directly challenge the validity of the basic assumptions of the CLASH model. By not incorporating a “deep time” perspective, the hypothesis lacks the evolutionary baseline the authors seek to infer in validating the model.
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Evolution, medicine, and public health, 2017
Background and objectives: In many settings, partnered, invested fathers have lower testosterone ... more Background and objectives: In many settings, partnered, invested fathers have lower testosterone than single men or fathers who are not involved in caregiving. Reduced testosterone has been identified as a risk factor for multiple chronic diseases, and men's health also commonly varies by life history status. There have been few tests of whether variation in testosterone based on partnering and parenting has implications for men's health. Methodology: We analysed data from a US population-representative sample (NHANES) of young-to-middle aged US men (n = 875; mean age: 29.8 years ± 6.0 [SD]). We tested for life history status differences in testosterone, adiposity levels and biomarkers of cardiovascular disease (CVD)-risk (HDL cholesterol; triglycerides; white blood cell count [WBC]). Results: Partnered men residing with children (RC) had lower testosterone and elevated abdominal adiposity compared to never married men not residing with children. While they did not significa...
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THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF …
201 Among the most resilient of human activities, trader networks operate sustainable, profitable... more 201 Among the most resilient of human activities, trader networks operate sustainable, profitable, and growing commercial ventures in both adverse and beneficial conditions and, throughout history, show continuous adaptation to natural and intentional disasters such as famines ...
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India in Africa, Africa in India: Indian …, 2008
Page 218. 8 Siddi as Mercenary or as African Success Story on the West Coast of India Rahul C. Ok... more Page 218. 8 Siddi as Mercenary or as African Success Story on the West Coast of India Rahul C. Oka and Chapurukha M. Kusimba Introduction In ad 1489, political control over the island of Janjira located off the west coast town ...
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American Anthropologist, 2014
ABSTRACT The relief discourse has long treated refugee camp economies and the resulting black mar... more ABSTRACT The relief discourse has long treated refugee camp economies and the resulting black markets and commercial consumption as detrimental for the relief process and the refugees. The consumption of “luxuries and comforts” is regarded as costly, trivial, unreasonable, and nonessential. However, despite the negative effects and the high costs of consumption, refugees make strenuous efforts to participate in these commercial economies. I analyze refugee commercial consumption at Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya, to argue that, despite its problems, the consumption is important, reasonable, and even essential. Using ethnographic data collected between 2008 and 2011, I suggest that this consumption has tangible benefits beyond the ability to fill relief gaps. It provides a forum whereby refugees can feel “normal” and gain “dignity,” and cope with the long wait and the static transience of refugee life. Attaining normalcy and dignity through consumption may even enable structural stability amid the dangerous and volatile conditions of refugee settlements as well as mitigate the long-term effects of relief-induced agonism. Given these benefits, I stress the importance of further research into the complexities of refugee commerce and consumption for policy makers and relief workers. MUHTASARI Mazungumzo na maandishi yanayohusu uchumi, biashara, magendo, and ufisadi kati kampi za wakimbizi mara nyingi kujadiliwa hadharani. Inaaminika kwamba mambo na vitimbi vinayoendeshwa katika kampi za wakimbizi vikijulikana huenda yakazorotesha hali na maisha ya wakimbizi. Hata hivyo, ni wazi kwamba maisha ya wakimbizi ni ya ghali na mara nyingi imeonelewa kwamba hawana haki kutamani vitu ama vifaa wasivyohitaji. Hata hivyo ukweli ni kwamba wakimbizi ni wanadamu na wana haki ya kutamani vitu kama watu wengine. Makala hii inaripoti matokeo ya utafiti niliofanya katika kampi ya wakimbizi inayoitwa Kakuma kati Jamhuti ya Kenya mnama miaka 2008 hadi 2011. Utafiti huu umedokeza waziwazi kwamba biashara ya aina nyingi inaendeshwa katika kampi ya wakimbizi. Uchumi huo unaotokana na biashara ya vyakula vya wakimbizi umetia fora. Utafiti huu waonyesha ni wazi kwamba maisha ya wakimbizi hawako tofauti na watu wwa kawaida. Pia hali yao ya kimaisha yanaweza kubadilishwa yakawa mema na yenye heshima wakati wanangojea uamuzi wa makazi yao ya kudumu. Kutokana na utafiti huu, ni wazi kwamba biashara inayoendeshwa katika kampi za wakimbizi yaweza kurekebishwa iwapa wakimbizi pamjoa ma wale wanaosimamia kampi hizi watakubali mambo yalivyo na kujaribu kutafuita suluhisho. RESUMEN El discurso sobre asistencia ha tratado por largo tiempo las economías de los campos de refugiados, los mercados negros resultantes y el consumo comercial como nocivo para el proceso de asistencia y los refugiados. El consumo de “lujos y comodidades” es visto como costoso, trivial, irracional, y no-esencial. Sin embargo, a pesar de los efectos negativos y los altos costos de consumo, los refugiados hacen arduos esfuerzos para participar en estas economías comerciales. Analizo el consumo comercial de refugiados en el Campo de Refugiados Kakuma, Kenia, para argumentar que, a pesar de sus problemas, el consumo es importante, razonable y aún esencial. Usando datos etnográficos recopilados entre el 2008 y 2011, sugiero que este consumo tiene beneficios tangibles más allá de la habilidad de llenar los vacíos de la asistencia. Provee un foro donde los refugiados pueden sentirse “normales” y ganar “dignidad” y hacer frente a la larga espera y la transitoriedad estática de la vida de refugiados. Lograr normalidad y dignidad a través del consumo puede posibilitar una estabilidad estructural en medio de unas condiciones peligrosas y volátiles de los asentamientos de refugiados, así como mitigar los efectos de largo plazo de la asistencia—angustia inducida. Dados estos beneficios, enfatizo la importancia de investigación más extensa en las complejidades del comercio y el consumo de los refugiados para los creadores de política y los trabajadores en asistencia.
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Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development, 2011
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Dec 26, 2017
The proportions of individuals involved in intergroup coalitional conflict, measured by war group... more The proportions of individuals involved in intergroup coalitional conflict, measured by war group size (W), conflict casualties (C), and overall group conflict deaths (G), have declined with respect to growing populations, implying that states are less violent than small-scale societies. We argue that these trends are better explained by scaling laws shared by both past and contemporary societies regardless of social organization, where group population (P) directly determines W and indirectly determines C and G. W is shown to be a power law function of P with scaling exponent X [demographic conflict investment (DCI)]. C is shown to be a power law function of W with scaling exponent Y [conflict lethality (CL)]. G is shown to be a power law function of P with scaling exponent Z [group conflict mortality (GCM)]. Results show that, while W/P and G/P decrease as expected with increasing P, C/W increases with growing W. Small-scale societies show higher but more variance in DCI and CL th...
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Any investigation into the topics of greed and excess is necessarily hampered by the inability to... more Any investigation into the topics of greed and excess is necessarily hampered by the inability to frame and define these concepts for general application to human behaviors. These terms carry significant moral, social, political, and cultural weight, primarily used either as accusations of sin, vice, and social destruction or justified for their virtues, rewards, and social good. In trying to understand the social and economic underpinnings of the behaviors we may term as greedy and excessive, we recognize the need for also exploring why these topics have almost universally been addressed in religions, philosophies, and social rules across the world, whether in sanction and condemnation, or in tolerance or even encouragement. This article investigates the ways in which major philosophical traditions across the world have viewed greed and excess, their impacts on society, and how the meanings and connotations of these terms have changed through time, since the Bronze Age to the prese...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
In March 2011, the Society of Economic Anthropology held its Annual Meeting Conference, hosted at... more In March 2011, the Society of Economic Anthropology held its Annual Meeting Conference, hosted at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, to discuss the topic: Social Economies of Greed and Excess: Lessons from Recessions Past and Present. Specifically time during the social, economic, and political aftermath of the Great Recession (2007–2009), the articles were chosen to understand “greed” and “excess” as behaviors, ideas, and accusations that have shaped and in turn, been shaped by social processes, across different societies and at different periods in human history. This article (a) contextualizes the conference and the subsequent discussion of greed and excess within the broader narratives of causation and accusation between various actors and groups involved in and affected by the outcomes of differential accumulation and consumption of resources, (b) introduces the various articles raging from archaeology to ethnography and commentaries by noted anthropologists tha...
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Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Archaeologists use the appearance of differences in material culture and the technical skills inv... more Archaeologists use the appearance of differences in material culture and the technical skills involved in the making and distribution of cultural artifacts as evidence of societal transformations and the rise of inequality (Price and Feinman 1995). Persuasive arguments have been made supporting the notion that ranking goes hand in hand with elite control of basic resources and wealth and legitimization of this control (Fried 1967; Haas 1982; Holl 2003; Johnson and Earle 2000; Kusimba 1999a). The emergence of social complexity in Africa has historically been linked to foreign agents—Asian and European—who, it was claimed, introduced change in incremental packages during the process of migration, expansion assimilation, and colonization (Chittick 1977; Levitzion 1985; Munson 1980). Three generations of scholarship in African history and archaeology used variants of diffusionary, migrationist, and technology transfer models to explain social transformations in Africa. These models shap...
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Social Science & Medicine
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