End of the United States’ “weaponizedanthropology” program Boing Boing by David Pescovitz After eight years, the US army’s $725 million Human Terrain System, a controversial social science program ostensibly established to help the military understand the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, but criticized as a tool for propaganda and psyops, has ended. The US Army’s Human Terrain … Read more
Announcing the 2015 Sapir Prize Entries Society for Linguistic Anthropology by Dave Paulson (SLA Web Assistant) The Edward Sapir Book Prize was established in 2001 and is awarded to a book that makes the most significant contribution to our understanding of language in society, or the ways in which language mediates historical or contemporary sociocultural processes. … Read more
Anonymity, Ethnography, and Alice Goffman: Welcome, journalists Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology I think I’ve written and thrown away three separate posts on the Alice Goffman debatetrying to find something to say that people will find interesting. I personally don’t find the case to be very interesting, or to speak to core issues of what ethnography is … Read more
Anthropology and the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions: Part 1 Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog by Jessica Winegar Savage Minds welcomes guest blogger Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions. We are pleased to present the following two reflections by Mick Taussig and J. Lorand Matory as part of … Read more
2015 Photo Contest Starts! American Anthropological Association by Andrew R The AAA Photo Contest returns again this year, and submission are open to all active AAA members, submit here! “By the End of a Day” from Ming Xue, photo selected for May 2015. If you could define your work in a single picture, what would it … Read more
Dataverse: an open source solution for data sharing Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog by Matt Thompson When you think of scholarship you might think first of publications, articles and books, but that is just the final product. Yes it is polished through countless hours of research, writing, and responding to … Read more
We weaponized anthropology. Why didn’t it work? The Fabius Maximus website (blog) Yesterday’s post recommended Weaponizing Anthropology: Social Science in Service of the Militarized State (2011) by David H. Price (Prof of anthropology at St. Martin’s U; bio here). In this great book he describes one facet of America’s militarization .. View image | gettyimages.com … Read more
2015 AAA Leadership Fellows Program American Anthropological Association The AAA Leadership Fellows Program provides a unique opportunity for anthropologists early in their careers to learn about leadership opportunities within the association. Each year a group of three to five fellows will be paired with a mentor chosen from among AAA leadership. Mentors are available to fellows … Read more
A Global Celebration of Anthropology American Anthropological Association by Joslyn O. On Thursday, February 19, 2015 anthropologists worldwide will celebrate the inaugural National Anthropology Day. This inaugural event, created by the American Anthropological Association, calls public attention to the important work that anthropologists contribute to our daily lives. The Anthropology of the Middle Class Huffington … Read more
The Anthropology A-level, introduced in 2010 in UK schools, is now at risk to be discontinued by the exam board AQA. The curriculum is very VA-based, using films and media for teaching and as learning devices… so perhaps you join by signing the campaign? The campaign to #SaveAnthropologyALevel is gathering pace. Over the weekend the … Read more
2015 AAA Annual Meeting Registration and Refund Details American Anthropological Association While the annual meeting (Denver, CO November 18th this year) is still far away, it is never too early to start planning for the event. After all, the invited/volunteer call for papers deadline is April 15th. This year we are introducing a three tiered … Read more
Why the Super Bowl Matters, Especially to Sociologists Ethnography.com by Marianne Paiva I think I’ve mentioned before, but I really don’t understand the lure of watching sports on TV. Or in person. Or from a skybox in a stadium with 50,000 other people. Generally, I don’t understand watching sports. So when I moved to … Read more
Ethnographers as Writers: Theory and Data – Part II Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog by Kristen Ghodsee So I’m staring at some fieldnotes and trying to sort out the best way to blend my theoretical analysis with my ethnographic data. Where to start? How to find the right balance? Once … Read more
Zora Neale Hurston, The Making of an Anthropologist Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog by Irma McClaurin Little did Zora know that moving to New York from Washington, DC, where she was a student at Howard University, would forever change the trajectory of her life. When Zora landed in Harlem, she … Read more
AAA Statement on Police Practices American Anthropological Association by Joslyn O. AAA President Monica Heller releases public statement on police practices in the United States and calls upon anthropologists to help create equitable policing: In the United States, too many black Americans are killed by officers of the law. As anthropologists, we must speak out whenever … Read more