George Washington University with Amazon Watch, Green GW, and GW Roots and Shoots Presents:
TOXIC: AMAZÔNIA
Fighting for the rainforest can still get you killed
When: Wednesday, April 4th 7:00pm – 9:30pm
Where: George Washington University
Marvin Center, Room 309
In the film, Toxic: Amazonia, film-maker and journalist Felipe Milanez, interviews scientists, policy-makers, local activists, and victims of violence to provide a human picture of the factors that threaten the largest remaining tropical rainforest on earth and its inhabitants. The film is a complex view of one moment in history — the brink of Brazil’s consideration of its newly proposed Forest Code — and the social, economic, and political issues that are called into play. The film shows the heroic struggle of José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espírito Santo. These two individuals lived in the Amazon, fought for the Amazon’s protection and were eventually murdered in the Amazon.
This film is being shown in conjunction with Amazon Watch‘s “DC-Brazil Environmental Awareness Week.” There will be a panel discussion after the film, featuring Sabrina McCormick, Dept. of Environmental and Occupational Health, and Andrew Miller, Amazon Watch.
This event if free and open to the public. Invite your friends on Facebook!
Associate Professor and Head, Department of Anthropology, Kannur University, Kerala, Indian & Fulbright Scholar, University of Chicago
When: Mon, Apr 9 | 4:45pm – 6:00pm Where: Room 212
1957 E St, NW
Elliott School of International Affairs
In the late 1990s, India’s Kerala state embarked on a democratic decentralization process. One of the major development initiatives established Kudumbashrees, women’s neighborhood groups, to take up micro initiatives that would lead to empowering poor women and improving their livelihoods. This talk will examine how the Kudumbashrees in Kerala have emerged as a bottom-up attempt to tilting contemporary gender inequalities.
This event is free and open to the public. RSVP here.
The Global Gender Forum and the Sigur Center for Asian Studies present:
Burma After the By-Elections: Taking Gender and Human Security Into Account
Panelists: Christina Fink, Professor of Practice, the Elliott School of International Affairs, GW Tom Malinowski, Washington Director, Human Rights Watch Mark Taylor, Senior Coordinator, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, State Department Wenchi Yu, Senior Advisor, the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, State Department
Moderator: Deepa Ollapally, Associate Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, GW
When: Tuesday, April 3 | 5:30-6:45p Where: The Elliott School of International Affairs, Lindner Family Commons (Room 602)
1957 E St, NW
Democratic parties’ participation in the April 1 by-elections in Burma reflect a partial political opening and the expectation that some of the country’s pressing challenges can be addressed. This panel will highlight human security issues, taking into account the ways in which men and women may be differently affected, and will consider how the US government and US organizations might be able to play a supportive role.
The third annual sustainable Haiti conference and 2012 investment forum
When: April 23 – 25 Where: Miami Beach Convention Center
Sustainatopia and Sustainable Haiti have partnered with the Haitian Diaspora Federation (HDF) to bring a focus on investments to this year’s conferences. The Haitian Diaspora Federation will present the 2012 Investment Forum: Pote Kole Pou Ayiti Dekole – a conversation about the necessity for sustained investments that create jobs.
IV Annual Regina Herzfeld Symposium on the Cultural Heritage of Native Americans:
Recognized, Unrecognized or Inter-Tribal: Conflict in Indian Identity Politics
Joe Watkins
Director, Native American Studies Program,
University of Oklahoma
When: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 | 3:00pm Where: In the Pryzbyla Center, Room 321/323
Department of Anthropology
The Catholic University of America
Washington DC
Whether one identifies as Native American or as American Indian, the contemporary politics of “being” Indian goes beyond ease of definition. Some tribes use a minimum “blood quantum” (percentage of “Indian blood”) while others require only proof of descent from a previously acknowledged member of the group. With the burgeoning of economic development schemes in Indian country, the question of WHO is Indian takes on new meaning and relevance. Using examples from contemporary issues, I will discuss the ways that Indian identity has been manipulated to suit the needs of the individual or group that wants to be “Indian” or that wants to prevent others from being considered so.
This event is at Catholic University. The Edward Pryzbyla Center is near the parking garage. The nearest major intersection is Michigan Avenue and Monroe Street, NE.
Supported by the Regina Flannery Herzfeld Memorial Fund
The Royal Anthropological Institute and the British Museum’s Centre for Anthropology present:
Anthropology in the World
When: June 8-10 Where: British Museum’s Clore Centre
An international conference that explores the relevance and contribution of anthropology outside academia to fields such as health, education, law, media and business.
All the world’s a stage. Political geography often adopts theatrical terms such as “actors” and “performance” into its jargon. Using theatrical terms to spotlight the Tibetan government in exile, at a presentation sponsored by the CIGA Seminar Series at the George Washington University, Fiona McConnell delivered a presentation entitled, “Rehearsing the State: The Governance Practices of the Tibetan Government in Exile.” McConnell is a Junior Research Fellow at Trinity College, the University of Cambridge.
Tibetan flag
Using the performance analogy, McConnell conceptualizes the long waiting period of the Tibetan government in exile as rehearsal, the Dalai Lama as playwright, and receptive countries as audience. She explores questions of the nature of state and statecraft and what the state-like Tibetan government in exile reflects about conventional statehood.
Addressing the nature of state and statecraft, she pointed to how the Tibetan government in exile, the Central Tibetan Administration, exercises a degree of sovereignty without having sovereignty. The government in exile is unrecognized and lacks authority. Yet, the Central Tibetan Administration has government headquarters, a network of schools and hospitals, eleven “pseudo-embassies” which organize the Dalai Lama’s official visits, and passport-like official documents.
McConnell discussed the roles and functions of states in the imagination and in reality and the fundamentality of the idea and ideal to understanding polity. She asserted that rather than trying to pin down what a political entity is, it is more productive to ask what it does.
Fiona McConnell speaks at GW. March 2012.
She then turned to the geography of temporality and explained how, in the drama of the Tibetan government in exile, its waiting period before returning to Tibet can be seen as a rehearsal. If statecraft is a set of practices to be performed and perfected, then this rehearsal time presents an anticipatory opportunity to practice and perfect state practices. While in India, the state controls immigration cards and taxes, the Central Tibetan Administration runs foreign visas and day-to-day operations. Tibetan settlements in India are economically sufficient communities which foster nationalism in exile and a pan-Tibetan identity which did not exist in pre-1959 homeland Tibet. Thus, the Central Tibetan Administration has developed state-like practices to ensure uniformity of practices across scattered, diasporic communities.
According to McConnell, exiled communities are defined by a timeline to return. They are shaped by the necessity to deal with both the immediate needs of exile as well as the contested future of its path to statehood. The Tibetan government in exile has been in rehearsal in Dharamshala, India, since 1959. Rehearsal depends on participation, presenting the challenge of how to keep people engaged. It also depends on belief in the script, in the playwright, and in the eventuality of a final performance. Continue reading “Rehearsing the state: Governance without sovereignty among Tibetans in exile”→
This international conference is open to anyone and explores the relevance and contribution of anthropology outside academia to fields such as development, health, education, law, media and business.
The event offers:
an interface between scholarship, applied anthropology and the wider workplace
a platform for public engagement with the discipline
a forum for social scientists, professionals, organisations and students to share their visions, experiences and expertise
an opportunity to network with publishers, businesses and NGOs
a selection of ethnographic films, photographic exhibitions and displays.
Anthropology in the World provides an opportunity to take part in workshops, panels and discussions on key debates addressing the impact of social science on issues such as land claims, cultural heritage, sustainable development, public health and forensic research.
Rehearsing the State: The Governance Practices of the Tibetan Government in Exile
by Dr Fiona McConnell, Junior Research Fellow, Trinity College, University of Cambridge
When: Friday, March 2 | 12:00 – 1:30 pm Where: The Elliott School of International Affairs, Suite 501 Conference Room
1957 E St, NW
Fiona McConnell’s research engages with political geography around issues of sovereignty, state practices and the (re)pluralising of political space, with a particular interest in how communities officially excluded from formal state politics are nevertheless engaging with aspects of statecraft. Her doctoral research focused on the sovereign practices of the exile Tibetan government based in India and she has ongoing interests around issues of legitimacy, diplomacy and geographies of peace.
Anthropological Contributions to Designing a Conflict Zone Livelihood Recovery Project in Afghanistan
When: Feb 7 Where:
Dinner: 5:30pm | Beacon Bar and Grill
Meeting: 7:00pm | Charles Sumner School, Rotating Gallery G-4 (ground floor)
In 2008 an anthropologist working for an international NGO co-designed a $60 million one year emergency agricultural recovery program for northern Afghanistan in response to drought and increasing food insecurity. At conclusion it had assisted 341,301 small farms (1.7 million individuals) to regain their own food security. Through cultural sensitivity and local knowledge, consultation and community involvement, the program maintained local dignity, self-determination, and participant ownership, while enhancing local productive relationships. This was the largest program of its kind ever implemented by the US government. Project success led to national expansion and time extensions that continue to 2011.
anthropologyworks 