Category: anthro in the news

Anthro in the news 11/17/14

  • A taste for service and adventure

Bloomberg Business News reported on the origins and ongoing success of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders. On a budget of €952 million ($1.2 billion) per year, MSF runs a volunteer collective of 30,000 physicians, nurses, logisticians, and locally recruited staff that functions as an independent ambulance corps and a kind of MASH unit for those in need.

MSF is able to move so swiftly, in large part, because of its decentralized structure, which is more akin to a guerrilla network than a top-down corporation. They go where things are worst, often to care for civilian casualties and refugees of war. They also confront “neglected” diseases, from malaria to HIV/AIDS, to drug-resistant tuberculosis. They are truly global, privately funded, and astonishingly effective, able to treat diseases others won’t touch in places few will go—and where they’re not always welcome. Continue reading “Anthro in the news 11/17/14” →

Anthro in the news 11/10/14

  • Managing the Himalayan Viagra harvest

The International Business Times carried an article about the harvesting of the plant in two isolated Tibetan communities that is the basis for Viagra. The medicinal fungus is fetching big money in the Chinese market. The fungus used as an aphrodisiac, yartsa gunbu (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) results from a fungal infection in ground-burrowing ghost moth caterpillars. Research from Washington University in St. Louis reports on the unique management plan to conserve the natural resource. Most villages in the region earn 80% of their annual income during the caterpillar fungus spring harvest season. Continue reading “Anthro in the news 11/10/14” →

Anthro in the news 11/3/14

  • Ghosts are back!

Tanya Lurhmann, cultural anthropologist at Stanford University, published an op-ed in The New York Times about the changing role of ghosts, vampires, zombies, and the living dead in popular culture. She points to the Harry Potter books, the “Twilight” series, the television show “Grimm.” The Syfy network has produced 16 paranormal reality shows since 2004. A 2013 Harris Poll found that 42 percent of Americans believe in ghosts — but only 24 percent of respondents 68 and older. A trend among youth? She writes:

“Scholars sometimes talk about this supernaturalization as a kind of ‘re-enchantment’ of the world — as a growing awareness that the modern world is not stripped of the magical, as the German sociologist Max Weber and so many others once thought, but is in some ways more fascinated than ever with the idea that there is more than material reality around us. In part, I think, this is because skepticism has made the supernatural safe, even fun. It turns out that while many Americans may think that there are ghosts, they often don’t believe that ghosts can harm them.” Continue reading “Anthro in the news 11/3/14” →

Anthro in the news 10/27/14

  • Viewpoint: Rethinking Ebola death risk

Slate Magazine commented on an article in the London Review of Books by renowned medical anthropologist and physician, Paul Farmer. He argues that:

“An Ebola diagnosis need not be a death sentence. Here’s my assertion as an infectious disease specialist: If patients are promptly diagnosed and receive aggressive supportive care—including fluid resuscitation, electrolyte replacement and blood products—the great majority, as many as 90 percent, should survive.” In other words, the survival rate for the disease in the U.S. and other high income countries with good health systems should be close to that. Continue reading “Anthro in the news 10/27/14” →

Anthro in the news 10/20/14

  • Anthro advice: Don’t panic over Ebola

An article in the Springfield News/Sun (Ohio) on the Ebola epidemic advised against panic in the U.S.  It quoted Simanti Dasgupta, an anthropology professor at the University of Dayton in Ohio. According to Dasgupta, this disease can further the “othering” of Africa as a “wholly dark” place rather than a continent that encompasses deserts, jungles as well as ports and big cities. Continue reading “Anthro in the news 10/20/14” →

Anthro in the news 10/13/14

  • Ebola crisis is worse than statistics say
Aida Benton speaking at Brown University.

The Providence Journal (Rhode Island) reported on a teach-in on Ebola at Brown University.  Speakers included an anthropologist, an epidemiologist, a biostatistician, a community organizer and a representative from the Rhode Island Department of Health. Adia Benton, an assistant professor of anthropology at Brown who specializes in the medical anthropology of sub-Saharan Africa, said the crisis is worse than statistics indicate. According to Benton, health institutions in West Africa have been gutted by war and corruption. Medical services, where they exist, are devoted to diseases such as HIV-AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, and basic supplies are lacking. The solution is to build a health system in those countries, and that takes time. Continue reading “Anthro in the news 10/13/14” →

Anthro in the news 10/6/14


  • Global Politics, Global Health and the Anthropological Moment

Paul Stoller, professor of cultural anthropology at Westchester University, published in article in The Huffington Post about how anthropologists are uniquely positioned to understand the complex multiethnic nuances of 21st century social and political life. He discusses two examples: ISIS and the Ebola epidemic. Continue reading “Anthro in the news 10/6/14” →

Anthro in the news 9/29/14

  • Relevance of cultural anthropology to business

The Huffington Post carried an article describing how concepts in cultural anthropology apply to business models as presented in a new book, Handbook of Anthropology in Business, edited by Rita Denny and Patricia Sunderland. Denny and Sunderland are anthropologists who run a consumer research and strategic consultancy, Practica Group. Their clients include SC Johnson, Whirlpool, Nissan, Pernod Ricard, Target, PepsiCo, Samsung, and Darden Restaurants. This Handbook demonstrates the links between the commercial arena and ethnographic research and cultural analysis. The book presents findings from 60 international scholars. Sections include: Dynamics of Tension, Forces of Change: With “Big Data” coming into the forefront, what is the anthropologist’s role in sorting through, applying reason, making sense, and ultimately turning it to a productive business use?; Boundaries Breached and Blurred: Where does anthropology come into play when we are dealing in a global marketplace? Can interactions with other countries be enhanced with better cultural understandings?; Plying the Trade: Who are the anthropologists that have managed to successfully insert themselves into the business paradigm? How do they co-exist with the number crunchers and old-line sales mentalities?; and The Energy of Memes: How do ideas, products, or behaviors circulate through a culture? Is there a way to enhance the process? Continue reading “Anthro in the news 9/29/14” →

Anthro in the news 9/22/14


  • Paul Farmer in Liberia to address Ebola

All Africa carried an article about the arrival of Paul Farmer, medical anthropologist and Partners in Health (PIH) co-founder, in Liberia, as part of a high level delegation from PIH. They are in Liberia to hold discussions with relevant partners on the outbreak and spread of the deadly Ebola virus disease. The PIH delegation, led by Farmer, is jointly in Liberia with a partner institution, Last Mile Health (LMH). The objective of the team’s visit includes seeking the guidance of the Government on the proposed set of immediate response programs to be implemented by the coalition in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the County Health Teams, including managing an Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) in southeastern Liberia as well as scaling up community-based interventions. The delegation will also discuss strategies for ensuring that the global response works to strengthen national and country-level institutions by building local capacity (public and private, including for community-based care for Ebola and other diseases). Continue reading “Anthro in the news 9/22/14” →

Anthro in the news 9/15/14

Arianna Whiteside leads demonstrators as they confront a wall of police during a protest march to the Ferguson Police Department . Source: UPI/David Broome.
  • In Alabama: Learning from Ferguson

AL.com (Alabama) noted an upcoming town hall event sponsored by the University of Alabama at Birmingham which will bring together representatives from the Birmingham Police Department,   professors from the UAB, and the president of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to discuss police and minority relations, examine the police killing of an unarmed civilian in Ferguson, Missouri, and to develop solutions. The town hall, called “Police and Minority Relations in Birmingham,” is sponsored by the UAB Department of Social Work, along with the university’s African-American Studies Program, the Anthropology Department, and the College of Arts and Sciences. Anthropology department chair, professor Douglas P. Fry, is one of the speakers. Continue reading “Anthro in the news 9/15/14” →