Because of the travel ban to all Turkish academics, I cannot make it to #EASA2016 … An Anthropology roundup…

EASA2016

In a strange turn of events, failed coup attempt’s aftermath begins to affect our daily lives and plans. Turkey Bans Academics From Traveling this morning and I am one of the many victims. My academic trip to EASA 2016 conference would start tomorrow early morning and now after a bit of inquiries, it has become a certain fact. I cannot leave the country. The ban not only includes public university academics, who are classified as civil servants, but also private university academics like me. I was so excited to meet with my colleagues at the Media Anthropology Network…. I was scheduled to talk at Media anthropology’s legacies and concerns [Media Anthropology Network] panel. You can follow the meeting events in general at Twitter hashtag: #EASA2016

Anyway, life goes on, here is an antro roundup:

Anthropology Feels Like Home

This post was submitted by Callie Randall, a high school senior and anthropology student interning with the AAA.

When I was a little girl, I began to realize I was different than a lot of my peers. It was beyond the apparent truth of being the only black kid in gifted or intensified classes and more than feeling like I was the only child that said please and thank you to the lunch ladies. It was something less transparent. My ability to acknowledge the things that made me different set me apart from many others. In the simplest of terms, I was observant. I took in my surroundings everywhere. As I got older, I tried to understand why things were the way they were and why people chose to do certain things or why they chose to not. The world was big and beautiful and mysterious and with wide eyes everything intrigued me. In retrospect, not a whole lot has changed. To me, then and now, there is an abundance of things that make us all different, but also a plethora that make us all the same. So of course, it only makes sense that I crossed paths with anthropology.

A physical copy of the brand new book Digital Keywords (2016) has just arrived through the post. O

Anthropologies #22: Some thoughts on food, animals, and anthropology

This entry is part 1 of 1 in the Anthropologies #22 series.

Here it is: the long-awaited first installment of the anthropologies issue on food. We kick off the issue with a short essay by James Babbitt, who is a graduate student in cultural anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. Babbitt’s main research interests are animal agriculture and affect in the United States. He is currently confused by the complexities of human-livestock worldings. –R.A.

Anthropology: Abandon All Truth Ye Who Enter
Daily Caller
In the decades after WWII, anthropologists carried out ethnographic field research in the Middle East inspired by a scientific spirit to discover the cultures of the region and their dynamics. Among those who produced sound, grounded researc

Educational achievement predicted by DNA

Predicting 9% of educational achievement from DNA is quite good. The authors used genotype arrays, so there’s obvious room for growth in rare variation that is not covered by such arrays.

The Museum of Corruption

During the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine, protestors streamed into the residence of former President Yanukovich at Mezhyhirya reclaimed it. The hat thief who became Head of State is charged with squandering billions of dollars during his years as President. Ukrainians are still asking how to repair the political culture that made it possible to elect this man.

This is the third post in our blog series designed to help you link your teaching with the 2016 Annual Meeting theme, Evidence, Accident, Discovery. The series offers relevant teaching resources to instructors of undergraduate and graduate courses on methods, ethics and theory. Think of it as a week’s course readings in a (virtual) box…

Understanding Mass Killings

Media commentary on Micah Johnson, the African-American who killed five police officers in Dallas on July 7, has focused on his animus against white police and his interest in the Black Lives Matter movement, playing up the racial motivation for this mass shooting. But commentators have largely ignored another important element of Johnson’s identity that he shares in common with many other mass killers: military service.

Anthro in the news 7/18/16

Colonial legacy and racism feed resentment in France

Following the attack in Nice, France. Source: Creative Commons

Participant Outsider?

During my first research trip to northeastern Brazil, an off-duty police officer took me and three local homeless boys to the middle of a sugar cane field and held a loaded gun to each of our heads. He thought we had stolen his wallet, which contained three credit cards, a few bills, and his badge. The boys and I insisted upon our innocence and begged for mercy. In the end, we survived because I was eventually able to help the officer recover his belongings.

Edith Turner And The Anthropology of Collective Joy
Huffington Post
In cynical moments when I need to ponder the wonders of human existence, I think about the work of Edith Turner, a monumental anthropologist who died on June 18th of this year, one day after her 95th birthday. In all of her work Edie, as her friends

Where Art and Anthropology Meet
CSUF News
The intervention, which explored memory in relation to the swap meet, was the end project of students who chose the art track in Karen Stocker’s Anthropology 350: Culture and Education course. Those who signed up for the class could choose between the

Situational Awareness

This morning I was taking notes on my laptop as an officer from the NYPD counter terrorism department’s SHIELD unit gave a room full of academic staff ‘active shooter’ training. As the first video was rolling, he walked over and stood behind me to see what I was typing and almost inaudibly asked the young man from IT who was sitting behind me what I was up to. “She’s taking notes,” he whispered back, loud enough for me to hear.

Anthropologists find new record of vitamin D deficiency in people who lived hundreds of years ago
News-Medical.net
Researchers at McMaster University have found a rich new record of vitamin D deficiency, one that resides in the teeth of every person and remains viable for hundreds of years or more. The team of anthropologists has determined that looking into the

The Flipside of Counterfeit Goods

Although they are often illegal, counterfeit electronics such as these fake iPhones continue to be manufactured in China and distributed widely due to high demand for inexpensive products. ICHPL Imaginechina/Associated Press

The Double Life of Kale

Kale is cultivated as a reliable food source by many impoverished people in Kenya and Tanzania. This stands in stark contrast to the United States, where kale is seen as a food of the affluent. Peter Steward/Flickr

University of Houston anthropology team searching for treasure at Levi Jordan plantation
Houston Chronicle

BRAZORIA – Cynthia Ericson dangles a cone-shaped piece of stainless steel over a turned up section of dirt where a couple of worn bricks poke through the surface. Ericson, a graduate student working for University of Houston anthropology professor .

 

Kendra Sirak: Combining anthropology and genetics to study ancient DNA
Emory University News and Events
Kendra Sirak, a PhD candidate in anthropology in the Laney Graduate School, is currently working in Ireland, testing the DNA of people ranging from medieval Nubians to an ancient Chinese specimen to an Irish rebel. Originally from the small town of

Full might of Israel lobby ekes out razor-thin win inanthropology vote
The Electronic Intifada (blog)
Following significant outside interference, members of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) narrowly voted down a referendum measure endorsing the boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The resolution lost by just 39 votes, with 2,423
A narrow victory for anthropology: no Israel boycottJewish Advocate
Anthropological Association Boycott of Israeli Institutions Vote: Split Down the MiddleAlterNet
Anthropology group rejects resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutionsInside Higher Ed

Forward –The Times of Israel

Digital Ontologies

Hannah Knox, Department of Anthropology, UCL

Last year, someone made the observation at a workshop I was attending, that no single person knows how a contemporary computer works.

Employment in linguistic anthropology and related fields

A correspondent recently asked what employment opportunities are available for graduates from linguistic anthropology programs. My response might be of interest to other readers as well.

Anthropology and Anti-Semitism
Middle East Forum

One of the core principles of modern anthropology is cultural relativism, the idea that researchers must not make value judgements about the societies they study. Anthropologists think of themselves as setting aside their biases and preferences in .

 

Seven Questions With Biological Anthropologist Debra Martin
Vegas Seven
I was originally interested in women’s health and pediatrics as an undergraduate, [but] a medical-anthropology course just blew my mind. I fell in love with this notion that to really understand people and how they’re doing, you need to understand them .

A narrow victory for anthropology: no Israel boycott
Jewish Advocate
A mere 39 votes – less than 1 percent of the membership – halted a dramatic reshaping of the ethical footing of not onlyanthropology, but the entirety of American higher education. Had the vote passed, then all faculty, administrators, staff and
Anthropological Association Boycott of Israeli Institutions Vote: Split Down the MiddleAlterNet
Anthropology group rejects resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutionsInside Higher Ed
Full might of Israel lobby ekes out razor-thin win in anthropologyvoteThe Electronic Intifada (blog)
Forward

 

all 133 news articles »


Discover more from Erkan's Field Diary

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.