Anthro in the news 8/31

New project to preserve endangered languages

Cambridge University has launched a project to help cultures under threat from globalization record their languages. The project, Oral Literatures, is led by the university’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. It has awarded several grants already to collect myths, poetry and songs, among other aspects of people’s oral literature. The project leader is Dr. Mark Turin, research associate in cultural anthropology. He believes that protecting endangered languages and cultures is an “urgent challenge.”

Anthropologist creates medical knowledge network

Amy Farber had a doctorate in anthropology and was studying for a law degree in 2005 when she learned she had a rare and fatal disease called LAM that destroys young women’s lungs. She dropped out of law school and founded the LAM Treatment Alliance to raise money, connect patients around the globe and promote greater scholarly interchange among scientists worldwide who are working on the disease. Dr. Farber hopes and believes that online communities have the potential to transform medical research and improve patient care. The New York Times ran a fascinating article about her story last week.

Biological anthropologist enters the running shoe debate

Daniel Lieberman, professor of evolutionary biology at Harvard University, has researched the role of running in human evolution. Today, the sale of shoes designed to cushion impact on the feet of contemporary leisure runners is big business. A best-selling book by Christopher MacDougall, Born to Run, argues against running shoes. He presents information about the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico to back up his position. Tarahumara men and women run very long distances with only strips of rubber on their feet. Lieberman is quoted in the New York Times business section as saying “There’s not a lot of evidence that running shoes have made people better off” (p. 7).