"Anthropologists on the Front Lines
Anthropologists on the Front Lines
TIME
Academic conferences tend to be fairly sedate affairs, at least to the uninitiated, and the American Anthropological Association's (AAA) annual meetings are usually no exception. But this year's, held recently in Washington, D.C., was a downright raucous gathering, certainly the liveliest and most intemperate since the divisive days of the Vietnam War, when some anthropologists were attacked for willingly or unwittingly abetting violent counter-insurgencies. There was some serious name-calling ("torture-deniers," even "war criminals") as well as threats to name names, censure or expel certain colleagues..............
Riposte to Imperial Anthropology in Iraq: On the Civility of US Forces
by Maximilian Forte
France’s Imperial Leader Explains Africa to Itself
by Maximilian Forte
From James McDougall’s article, “Sarkozy and Africa: big white chief’s bad memory,” 7 December, 2007, openDemocracy:
The headline event of Sarkozy’s first (and brief) tour of sub-Saharan Africa was a speech, written by special advisor Henri Guaino, delivered “to the élite of Africa’s young people” on 26 July at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal. The tone and content of the forty-five-minute address were poorly chosen - or deliberately injurious - for the context: a leading African university named for one of the continent’s major intellectuals, whose work, however debatable in some of its conclusions, laid much of the ground for subsequent academic work on pre-colonial African history.
The state of Open Access Anthro
by ckelty
(also at Open Access Anthro)
In response to a request from Jason Cross, anthropologist and lawyer in training at Duke University, I’ve been examining more carefully the available open access resources in and around anthropology. The aim is twofold. First I simply want to draw attention to how much action there has already been in making research open access, both old and new, primary (archival) and secondary. There isn’t a lot, actually, compared to a discipline like economics; but there is a growing array:
The new ASA blog
by Rex
This has been noted at other places but it bears mentioning here as well—the ASA has a very promising new blog. The Brits have always been great at producing interesting, readable, and timely work—Anthropology Today is lively and interesting whereas—I kid you not—the only thing I find worth reading in Anthropology News is the obituaries.
An anthropologist between "banlieues" and globalized world
by Monique Selim
In the 1970s, taboos on acknowledging working-class racism hindered urban research. Today, both academic and media discourse has become ethnicized; this can have both positive and negative consequences, says Monique Selim.New media and anthropology - AAA meeting part III
by Lorenz
"The insecure American needs help by anthropologists" - AAA-meeting part II
by Lorenz
Inertia
by alberto
Just over a week blogging and our Globalog depicts clearly our academic inertias. To date, our website reproduces the standard political-economic geography of Anglo-Saxon anthropology. Our site meter information (you are welcomed to click on the link on the left side bar) says it clearly: those who visit the webpage, who post comments (two thus far) and who blog, belong, for the most part, to the Euro-American academic world.
The new philosophy
by Kerim
The New York Times has an article about how philosophers are suddenly going out and doing empirical research.
It’s part of a recent movement known as “experimental philosophy,” which has rudely challenged the way professional philosophers like to think of themselves. Not only are philosophers unaccustomed to gathering data; many have also come to define themselves by their disinclination to do so.
Tasers are proven to be dangerous tools
Evening Observer - Dunkirk,NY,USA
Dr. Richard D. Reddy is a professor of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work and Criminal Justice at SUNY Fredonia.
Evidence of TB Found in 500000-Year-Old Fossil
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
Vitamin D deficiencies are implicated in hypertension, multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular disease and cancer," John Kappelman, a professor of anthropology ...
Equal treatment of sexes: Is our society ready to give up the ...
KanglaOnline - Kangla,Manipur,India
But it is not the same for a woman," said Prof MC Arun of Manipur University`s Anthropology department. If a male family member is alcoholic or dependent on ...
Already lots of publications in the open access anthropology repository Mana'o
by Lorenz
MANAO - new Open Access repository for anthropology was announced for the first time not more than two months ago. Now, already 82 publications can be read and downloaded - both theses, conference papers, monographs and book chapters - including the papers Alex Golub gave at AAA-meeting and other publications by Savage Minds bloggers.
Anthropologist Biehl wins major book award
Princeton University - Princeton,NJ,USA
João Biehl, associate professor of anthropology, has won the 2007 Margaret Mead Award, one of the most prestigious honors for anthropological books. ...
Visual Anthropology Symposium to be held at University of Tehran
MehrNews.com - Tehran,Iran
10 (MNA) -- The first edition of the Visual Anthropology Symposium will be held at the Sociology Faculty of the University of Tehran from December 17 to 19. ...
Shared Abodes, Disparate Visions: Japanese Anthropology during the ...
By Katsumi, N.
The first of these anthropologists, Herbert Passin, hired a number of young Japanese survey assistants trained in the fields of anthropology, sociology, folklore studies and law. They conducted field surveys in farming and fishing ...
Humans now evolving 100 times faster
Women's Backs Designed for Pregnancy
The Associated Press -
"That's a big load that's pulling you forward," said Liza Shapiro, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas and the only one of the study's ...
Circumcision: "Harmful practice claim has been exaggerated" - AAA meeting part IV
by Lorenz
Is female circumcision violence against women or a feminist act? Are critics of this practice guilty of cultural imperialism? Those questions were debated at the American Anthropological Association’s annual meeting in Washington - among others by African anthropologists who have undergone the procedure themselves.
New York Times blogger John Tierney has written two interesting posts on the debate incl links to books and papers, among others by Fuambai Ahmadu. She has argued that the critics of circumcision exaggerate the medical dangers, misunderstand the effect on sexual pleasure, and mistakenly view the removal of parts of the clitoris as a practice that oppresses women. Ahmadu writes that her Westernized “feminist sisters insist on denying us this critical aspect of becoming a woman in accordance with our unique and powerful cultural heritage.”
Study: Why pregnant women don't topple
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science WriterWith all that growing weight up front, how is it that pregnant women don't lose their balance and topple over? Scientists think they've found the answer: There's are slight differences between women and men in one lower back vertebrae and a joint in the hip, which allow women to adjust their center of gravity.
