While I was busy and mostly stressed in the pre-defense days, I totally missed the release of this new book. I now have a signed copy from Prof. Faubion who kindly gave me as a gift after my defense:) I will be busy with revisions of my dissertation in the next days and maybe weeks, so I may only start reading it in the plane back to Istanbul…
A tribute to Professor Claude Levi-Strauss born 28th November 1908
Daniel Miller, UCL
Few of us are not entranced by tales of discovery. The magical feeling when something which previously existed but, but we were entirely unaware of, become known. Humanity is given a new consciousness that once we have gained seems impossible that we should ever lose it again. It’s easier to think about such discoveries in terms of natural science, such as the discovery of the atom or of penicillin. But we have been equally transformed over the last century by a series of discoveries in social science. It’s now hard to explain to people what it meant and what it was really like to live before feminism, that things that seem totally obvious afterwards, were previously simply not available to be thought about. In my memory the most profound, most long lasting, extraordinary and singular moment of discovery came when I was a student in anthropology at Cambridge. When Edmund Leach, who acted as John the Baptist, to this French Messiah, gave us a lecture about Levi-Strauss, and I knew, instantly, that I would never see the world again in the same way.
three face of Levi-Strauss VIA
20 November 2008
The discipline of anthropology has split firmly into two factions – social anthropologists and evolutionary anthropologists. Hannah Fearn asks whether or not the warring sides can be reconciled
Renowned anthropologist Eric Wolf once described his discipline as "the most scientific of the humanities and the most humanistic of the sciences".
Perhaps he was attempting to capture the uniqueness of a subject that can talk to both academic camps but, by the time he died in 1999, his words articulated the growing split within the discipline.
There is a good compilation of Anthropology blogs here. In fact, not all of them are blogs but in the end it is the best collection of Anthro sites and blogs. Have a look.
SAN FRANCISCO – At the American Anthropological Association’s annual meeting, which ended Sunday, the official theme was “Inclusion, Collaboration and Engagement.” That final word – “engagement” – inspired lively and at times prickly debates and discussions, with sessions and meetings focused on the Human Terrain System and other controversial forms of collaboration with the U.S. military, secret research, and a planned comprehensive review of the association’s decade-old Code of Ethics.
Other forms of engagement discussed were less controversial and included the need for anthropologists to apply their talents in real-world settings and to better interact with the publics that support their research.
Among these discussions and others, questions of what it means to be a public intellectual, what it means to be an engaged scholar – and which forms of “engagement” are to be encouraged and which might be flat-out unethical – dominated………….
I am missing again. But I have a good excuse:)
AAA Annual Meeting
The 107th AAA Annual Meeting is presently being held at the San Francisco Hilton and Towers, to continue from November 19 through November 23.
SAN FRANCISCO – The American Anthropological Association’s annual business meeting was far less fiery this year than last, although issues of militarization and secret research, and tensions between anthropologists who work in academe and those who work in business or government settings, remained at the forefront Thursday night.
The association has been embroiled in debates over the ethics of secret research, such as when research findings are shared with sponsors but not with subjects or the public at large. The current debate is rooted in concerns about the Pentagon’s use of social scientists, most notably through the Human Terrain System, which embeds anthropologists with the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, while the debate on secrecy is rooted in military matters, it has broader implications for proprietary uses of anthropology research, such as for anthropologists employed by corporations.
Voting happens here.
The voting has begun – the winners will be announced at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association.
Erkan’s Field Diary happens to be one of seven blogs that were nominated for the Most Excellent Anthropology Blog category (currently number three in results).
There are two more categories in this competition which is organized by Savage Minds. More info here: http://savageminds.org/2008/11/14/teh-savage-minds-awards-ceremony/
More Anthro news:
Lorenz talks to Prof. Marcus who is a major member of my dissertation committee. The post includes links to Marcus’ recent activities…
George Marcus: "Journals? Who cares?"
When George Marcus, one of the most influential anthropologists, was in Oslo recently, I asked him what he thinks about Open access. His answer surprised me. He said: “Journals? Who cares?” There is little original thinking in journals, no longer exciting debates, he told me. “Maybe it’s because I’m getting older. I don’t care.” He explained that “journals are meant to establish people". They are more important for one’s career.
George Marcus offered similar pessimistic views in an interview he gave for the journal Cultural Anthropology (subscription needed) in spring. Among other things, he said, that there are no new ideas in anthropology………….
Savage Minds, the most significant multi-authored anthropology blog starts anthropology blog awards! The First Annual Savage Minds Awarding of teh Excellents almost has a full slate of candidates (only a couple of nominations came in by email). I’m shooting for 6 nominees in each category. We need a few more before we can move on … Read more
I have installed a new bulletin board for job announcements and call for papers. Announcements are now easier accessible.
Gorgous is right word for these four posters made by Favianna for CODEPINK. found in CODEPINK: Make Out Not War
The headline on Monday’s announcement seemed impressive: “AAA Creates ‘Open Access’ to Anthropological Research.”
The announcement starts off by calling the new policy of the American Anthropological Association “a groundbreaking move” that would provide “greater access for the global social science and anthropological communities to 86 years of classic, historic research articles.” The problem, critics say, is that the emphasis should have been on the word “historic,” because those 86 years worth of articles aren’t the most recent 86 years. Rather the association will apply its new policy for its flagship journal, American Anthropologist, only 35 years after material was published. The association has created open access to the scholarship of the ’50s and ’60s.
Bill Maurer, of Mutual Life, Limited fame will lead a new institute at University of California, Irvine called the The Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion which has been funded in part by a $1.7 million grant from the Gates foundation. A recent workshop launched the whole thing, with lots of interesting looking panels, and some papers and pointers to more resources. For those interested in the anthropology of money,
Marc Quinn: SIREN 2008 (detail)
Statuephilia: Exhibition by Contemporary Sculptors Opens Today at the British Museum
Marc Quinn’s golden sculpture of Kate Moss has finally been made public at the British Museum as part of its Statuefilia exhibition. As expected, Quinn’s statue of Moss is in a similar pose as his bronze sculpture of the British model titled Sphinx. Apparently the golden version of Kate Moss was to be titled Siren, but has been renamed Aphrodite. According to the museum the piece is the largest gold sculpture to be made since the days of ancient Egypt. Quinn created the sculpture with over two millions dollars worth of gold. It has been suggested that the piece will earn six times that once sold.
The AAA Public Affairs blog has a long post by AAA president Setha Low on proposed changes to the AAA code of ethics that deals with the hue and cry raised at the AAA meetings last year. Why not give the AAA blogs some love, head over, and comment over there?
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:
Today was the fifth and last day of the 10th Biennial Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) in Ljubljana, Slovenia. There are no news stories yet, but anthropology students at the University of Ljubljana have already written an impressive number of reports on workshops, plenaries and poster sessions.
The students have done a real great job and I hope they will inspire other conference organizers. There are exciting things being told and discussed at conferences. But until now, these stories have stayed inside a small community of scholars. Things are changing: The Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) has started podcasting from their annual meetings.