Anthropology roundup: “Anthropology Blogosphere 2013, Anatolian DNA and more…

The Afflictions Series: An Interview with Ethnographic Filmmaker Robert Lemelson by Neely Myers

from Somatosphere by Neely Myers

When Robert Lemelson, an anthropologist, filmmaker, and research professor at UCLA, recently visited the George Washington University to speak at a conference on how ethnographic films can help us understand torture, I had to request an interview. I confess?I have long been a fan of Lemelson?s films, which I have seen screened at meetings as large as those of the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Psychological Anthropology, and as small as the Culture, Life Course and Mental Health workshop at the University of Chicago. Lemelson?s films have played at film festivals around the world.  So, here is a first tip for you.

 

Hittite culture survives in Alacahöyük

from Hurriyet Daily News

The ancient site of Alacahöyük in Central Anatolia will be turned into a tourism attraction center with the completion of new facilities.

 

Göbeklitepe ancient site attracts interest of notables

from Hurriyet Daily News

A group of people including parliamentarians, academics and journalists have visited.

 

A psychiatric research scandal and an accidental activist by Carl Elliott

from Somatosphere by Carl Elliott

An earlier version of this article appeared on Pharmalot.

 

Anatolian DNA

from Mavi Boncuk by M.A.M

A Review of the Jared Diamond Reviews

from Ethnography.com by Tony

Jared Diamond has created a lot of heat in the anthropological blogosphere in the last few months.  So much heat in fact, that Rex at Savage Minds is now in a position to write a ?review of the reviews? in an April 2013 post here.   Quite and achievement for a 512 page book published on December 31, 2012!  When do reviewers have time to read such a book, and also come up with a thoughtful review?

Ira Bashkow reviews Jared Diamond in the TLS

from Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology ? A Group Blog by Rex

The Times Literary Supplement recently ran a longish review by Ira Bashkow of Jared Diamond?s The World Until Yesterday. Ira is a very close friend of mine and so I can?t really claim to objective, but I think anyone who reads the review will find that it?s one of the most substantive and anthropological takes on Diamond?s book that has been published.

Anthropology Blogosphere 2013 ? Ecology of Online Anthropology

from Anthropology Report by Jason Antrosio

On the pragmatics and politics of collaborative work between the social and life sciences by Des Fitzgerald

from Somatosphere by Des Fitzgerald

For scholars in the humanities and interpretive social sciences, it sometimes seems like hardly a day goes by without some kind of exhortation towards ?interdisciplinarity? ? a trend that has only become more pronounced during the ongoing realignment of public higher education in many countries. ?The humanities are being driven into defensive positions,? wrote the vice-provost of University College London recently, ?despite isolated counter-actions, they experience marginalisation as martyrdom and tend to look inwards rather than outwards to new possibilities, such as recovering their status and influence through interdisciplinary working? (Worton, 2013). Or as John Brewer, the ex-President of the British Sociological Association, was quoted just this week in a reflection on the values of social science: ?we need to move beyond rather insular profession-oriented courses and introduce courses that have breadth rather than depth?that bring together teachers from a variety of different disciplines? (Reisz, 2013).

 

EU History & Ancient Britain: Creswell Crags Ochre Horse Rib Bone Carving Decipherment Update 2.0

from EU Pundit by Andis Kaulins

This posting is Update 2.0 to my previously posted original decipherment on this topic as also to Update 1 of the Creswell Crags “Ochre Horse” rib bone carving decipherment.

 

Professor emeritus of anthropology and lover of language John Gumperz dies at …

Daily Californian

John Gumperz dedicated his life to language. A UC Berkeley professor emeritus ofanthropology, he died at the age of 91 on Friday in Santa Barbara. Gumperz was an intellectual and adventurer ? a curious, unassuming scholar who studied people and

 

SCSU anthropology professor examines alternative spirituality

New Haven Register

They still believe in God,? said Manzella, an anthropology professor at Southern Connecticut State University. ?What is it they’re seeking? What are they looking for?? Manzella has traveled the highways and byways of alternative spirituality for the

 

The Afflictions Series: an Interview with Ethnographic Filmmaker Robert Lemelson by Neely Myers

from Somatosphere by Neely Myers

When Robert Lemelson, an anthropologist, filmmaker, and research professor at UCLA, recently visited the George Washington University to speak at a conference on how ethnographic films can help us understand torture, I had to request an interview. I confess?I have long been a fan of Lemelson?s films, which I have seen screened at meetings as large as those of the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Psychological Anthropology, and as small as the Clinical Ethnography workshop at the University of Chicago.

 

Another Round of Cultural Anthropology and Population Genetics?

from Ethnography.com by Tony

Last month, there was a spirited exchange on Ethnography.com and Razib Khan?s Gene Expressions blog ?Against the Cultural Anthropologists? about the relationship between cultural anthropology and population genetics.  The ?conversation? started with the assertion by Razib that basically, the cultural anthropologists are a bunch of post-modern political malcontents who do nothing productive, and are anti-scientific.  A cultural anthropologist at Ethnography.com, Michael Scroggins, responded by kindly pointing out that population genetics is a cover for ?hippie bashers? who do not really understand what it means to use ?the gene? as a basic unit of analysis.  Helpfully, a number of evolutionary psychologists jumped into the fray to point out that since geneticists do math, and cultural anthropologists do not, we in the social sciences have lower IQs and therefore our poor little genes are doomed to Darwinian extinction.

 

Survey Finds Sexual Harassment in Anthropology

Science Now

Fieldwork is a rite of passage for anthropologists. It gives the initiate firsthand knowledge of a culture, along with a feeling of camaraderie with colleagues, often in remote and rugged locations. But for women there is also a dark side?a risk of

 

Despite objections from Hopi tribe, Native American masks sold off at auction in France. Protester: ?this is not merchandise, these are sacred beings!? (washingtonpost.com)

 

Syrian War Devastates Ancient Sites: Grave Robbers and War Steal Syria?s History (nytimes.com)

 

Sex in Samoa ? Margaret Mead not so wrong after all? (x-post from r/HistoryofIdeas) (ieet.org)

 

Is there room for activism in anthropology? (self.Anthropology)


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