Open Access Journal Publishing in Anthropology
Writing elsewhere on some related details concerning open access journal publishing in anthropology, I made the point that the phenomenon is largely not a North American one, even if in North American anthropology we might think that we have cornered the market in both the ideology and technology of open access. As I suggested in that other post, so far there has been more smoke than fire on the North American front. Let me give some examples using the database of journals listed at DOAJ, listing the countries in order of the number of open access anthropology journals, with a total of 53 journals currently listed:
Two anthropological approaches to networks
In my spare time I’m working on an article on personal networks and social fields among grassroots leaders in a suburb of Kuala Lumpur. I’ve been reading recent work on networks (since 2000) by anthropologists and am beginning to think that a useful distinction may be one between (a) those anthropologists who ‘found’ networks in the field, so to speak (e.g. when working with network-oriented transnational activists or technocrats, see Edelman 2005, Green et al 2005, Juris 2008, Knox et al 2006, Riles 2000) and (b) those anthropologists who wish to rethink this problematic notion of ‘network’ even though it is not a key folk notion in their own field sites (e.g. Amit 2007, Hinkelbein forthcoming, Horst and Miller 2006, Moeran 2003).
Jack Goody: "The West has never been superior"
Are democracy, capitalism, freedom and the concept of romantic love unique inventions of the West? No. In his new book, anthropologist Jack Goody shows that the superiority of the West is largely unreal, even if we look to the recent past.
In “The Theft of History”, Goody criticizes both Western historical writing and his own discipline anthropology, professor Alfredo Ascanio writes in a review at OhMyNews:
The Ultimate Public, Applied Anthropologist
When it comes to application and publicity, anthropologists are in a bit of a bind. On the one hand they want to be ‘applied’ (typically: implement their left-populist agenda) and ‘public’ (be found fascinating by a wide readership). At the same time, they fear collaboration with sources of power (curtailing implementation options) and don’t want their work to be considered exotic, titillating, or otherwise interesting to the public. Walking the line between accessibility and exoticism, engagement and cooptation, can be tricky.
The “Culture” Virus: The Human Terrain System spreads to Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean
The intention of the links and extracts to follow is to show the spread of the U.S. military’s intention to build on the Human Terrain System in penetrating local cultures and intervening in local societies across the planet. Of course anthropology is singled out for “special mention,” now that in the minds of the state and military “we” have reverted to being a tool of imperialism (not serving imperialism is routinely called “retreating from the world” by some).
Project Minerva combines anthropology with the military
The Flat Hat – Williamsburg,VA,USA
Many academic anthropologists, including some at the College of William and Mary, oppose working with the military. Along with the Network of Concerned
The need for serious philosophical anthropology
By Kleiner
If he thinks that human sexuality and its meaning is central to an adequate anthropology and an adequate theology, then he concurs with JPII. The the central thesis of JPII’s ‘Theology of the Body’ is that man can only understand
How to Protect Yourself from an Anthropologist: A Code of Ethics from the Bottom Up
This document is meant to be the start of a decolonized code of ethics, ethics as seen not from the point of view of the foreign anthropologist, but from the vantage point of the community “receiving” that anthropologist. The history behind this document is quite long, dating at least to Vine Deloria Jr’s Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, to several methodological texts on research with American Indians (to be reviewed in future posts), my course on Decolonizing Anthropological Epistemology, Methodology, and Theory, and, my own experience in drafting a similar document in collaboration with and on behalf of the leadership of the Santa Rosa Carib Community in Trinidad in 2003. The concerns of the Carib Community took shape in light of several conflicts with foreign researchers, including disagreements with myself, and the growing number of foreign researchers contacting them and entering their community since the time that my research became public.
Learning Evolution
The internet is full of really great resources for learning about the processes of evolution, um like the above youtube clip… err… maybe not. Try the following list instead… It is not comprehensive, but it has a few golden sites. I really hope people can suggest some more sights by leaving a comment.
Second Life, anthropologically
Here’s my review of Tom Boellstorff’s new book on Second Life. It appeared in the pages of the Times Higher Education Review a couple of days ago.
ANTH 201 creates controversy
The Rice Thresher – Houston,TX,USA
Last week, plans for an anthropology assignment had college presidents and masters in discussions with the professor about students’ privacy issues
Anthropology 100 tutorials
By Arts Information Services
This one-hour tutorial is for all ANTHRO 100 students to help with the essay Assignment Two. The tutorial will cover keyword searching in Voyager and an introduction to databases. Please book online for your regular tutorial time
Everything is connected
Can reading stories and listening to music make people less destructive? Gregory Bateson thought so. Tim Parks on an anthropologist who believed the arts could diminish our desire to control the world
Fact and fiction
Author Nigel Barley tells Rosie Milne why he likes to use fiction to try to answer anthropological questions.
Nigel Barley: "Fiction gives better answers than anthropology"
“Fiction’s more fun. It lets you look inside people’s heads in a way you wouldn’t dare to do if you stuck to anthropology", anthropologist Nigel Barley says in an interview with the Telegraph:
“As an anthropologist you’re always asking questions such as: How different can different peoples be? Are we all reducible to a common humanity? And if so: what is it? Nobody can answer these questions. But I like to use fiction to try to answer anthropological questions. And fiction, I find, gives better answers.”
His book The Duke of Puddledock records Nigel’s travels, literal and figurative. It is part biography, part autobiography, part natural history, part anthropology, and part travelogue.
NCCA – Theological anthropology
By stepheng
It’sa collection of papers on theological anthropology prepared by Faith and Unity Commissioners of the National Council of Churches in Australia back in 2004/2005. I’ll have a peruse of it on the train this week sometime.
Ancient Righting: Archaeologists & Copyright
From 6-8 June, I was lucky enough to be able to attend a scholarly symposium at UCLA in sunny Southern California: the UCLA/Getty Storage Symposium. Preservation and Access to Archaeological Materials. I live blogged it on the IW&A Blog. Of course, the papers were very specialized and/or technical, and normally only interesting for archaeologists and conservators. However, one issue that reoccurred several times was how to deal with copyright inside a very specialized, niche academic discipline.
Guest post: Review of the Moving Anthropology Student Network conference
What is it like being at a conference with anthropology students from many different countries? Daren Williams from Macquarie University in Sydney has written a review for antropologi.info about the 6th conference of the Moving Anthropology Student Network (Masn) in Sela pri Osilnici, a village at the Croatian – Slovenian border.
Iraq, occupation, culture and the military: brief roundup
There has been a fantastic discussion going on here on Culture Matters that I wanted to draw attention to, for those who don’t meticulously follow the stream of comments on older posts. After I ate humble pie over my simplistic and error-filled rendering of Steve Featherstone’s recent article on the Human Terrain System in Harpers, I have stepped back and enjoyed a really interesting dialogue between Steve and a couple of commentators: Gonzo, who supports collaboration with the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Joneilortiz, who fiercely opposes it.
From activist networks (1990s) to social network sites (2000s)
In an earlier post I mentioned a number of anthropologists who in the 1990s ‘found’ networks in the field when working with transnational activists, NGO workers or technocrats who were enthusiastic about networks (e.g. Edelman 2005, Green et al 2005, Juris 2008, Knox et al 2006, Riles 2000). After all it was in the 1990s that the network metaphor took off around the globe, especially in domains such as development, governance, and activism.
Media anthropology … (5): sexual practices
Another central arena of social intercourse sidelined to date by media anthropologists is sex. We need to do something about this, for the implications of this neglect are not only academic, they also have fundamental practical ramifications, not least for the ongoing efforts worldwide against the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. I haven’t done a Google Book search for this term through key media anthropological texts but my guess is that it wouldn’t throw up too many instances. One exception that springs to mind is the fascinating preliminary work by Bart Barendregdt (2006) and colleagues at Leiden on mobile phone porn in Indonesia (pornoaksi).
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