Upcoming film screening

In honor of International Women’s Day, please join us for this upcoming event at the Elliott School of International Affairs:

Poto Mitan:

Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy

a film screening

a panel discussion following the film with:

Mark Schuller
Co-producer and Co-director of Poto Mitan; Assistant Professor of African American Studies and Anthropology,
City University of New York

Julie Meyer
Director, Lambi Fund

Leigh Carter
Executive Director, Fonkoze USA

Monday, March 8, 2010
6:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Reception following

1957 E Street, NW
Harry Harding Auditorium, Room 213

RSVP here

Sponsored by the Global Women’s Forum and the Culture in Global Affairs Program of the Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University

Upcoming event at the Elliott School

For those in the D.C. area, The George Washington University Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting are hosting a fascinating event on Monday. Details below:

Afghanistan: The Human Factor

Monday February 22, 2010
1957 E Street NW, Lindner Family Commons (Room 602)

Introductions:
Sean Aday, Director, Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication, GW

Jon Sawyer, Executive Director, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

Panelists:
Vanessa Gezari, Washington-based writer; forthcoming book assesses the U.S. military’s Human Terrain program, which embeds social scientists and anthropologists with troops in Afghanistan

Jason Motlagh, freelance multimedia journalist; reporting focused on civilian casualties with on-the-scene accounts of the aftermath of coalition attacks in western Afghanistan last summer

Nir Rosen, freelance writer, photographer, and filmmaker; reporting contending the results in Iraq were less than advertised and likely to be worse in Afghanistan

To RSVP, email ipdgc@gwu.edu

The Insecure American: Book Reading and Signing

Please join the Department of Anthropology and the College of Arts and Sciences of American University for the following special event:

The Insecure American: Book Reading and Signing
With co-editor Hugh Gusterson
and authors Susan Hirsch, Roger Lancaster, Janine Wedel, and Brett Williams

Thursday, February 25, 7-9pm
Hughes Formal Lounge
American University Main Campus, Washington, DC
Refreshments will be served

Directions: http://www.american.edu/maps; Questions: 202-885-1830

The Insecure American: How We Got Here and What We Should Do About It:
Americans are feeling insecure. They are retreating to gated communities in record numbers, fearing for their jobs and their 401(k)s, nervous about their health insurance and their debt levels, worrying about terrorist attacks and immigrants. In this innovative volume, editors Hugh Gusterson and Catherine Besteman gather essays from nineteen leading ethnographers to create a unique portrait of an anxious country and to furnish valuable insights into the nation’s possible future. With an incisive foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich, the contributors draw on their deep knowledge of different facets of American life to map the impact of the new economy, the “war on terror,” the “war on drugs,” racial resentments, a fraying safety net, undocumented immigration, a health care system in crisis, and much more. In laying out a range of views on the forces that unsettle us, The Insecure American demonstrates the singular power of an anthropological perspective for grasping the impact of corporate profit on democratic life, charting the links between policy and vulnerability, and envisioning alternatives to life as an insecure American. [University of California Press, 2009]

Go with the flow

Guest post by Laura Wilson

By focusing attention on a single but critical resource, Jessica Barnes sheds light on the complexities of social, economic, and political change in rural Egypt. The resource is water.

Barnes is currently completing her doctorate in Columbia University’s new multidisciplinary Ph.D. program in Sustainable Development. She combines training and perspectives in cultural anthropology, geography, and environmental science to understand the multifaceted world of water in a context where rainfall is extremely scarce and farmers depend on the flow of one river and its tributaries. Her mantra is: follow the water.

In a presentation at the Elliott School of International Affairs on January 27, Barnes described the findings from her research in Egypt on land reclamation from the desert for farming (she focused on the areas around Fayoum). The Egyptian government promotes land reclamation in order to help the country achieve food self-sufficiency and to create agricultural jobs for college graduates who cannot be absorbed by the civil service.

Barnes finds that the new farmers are successful in the “greening” of desert land, and much desert land is now producing food. But such expansion of farming requires water. Reclamation projects are located further from the Nile and its tributaries than the plots of longstanding farmers. Gaining access to irrigation water is difficult, so many new farmers resort to illegal means to obtain water for their farms. Barnes showed a photograph of one farmer’s illegal pipeline.

Long-term farmers said that their lands are no longer productive because the water they normally depend on is being diverted to the reclamation areas. Barnes links this pattern to what David Harvey refers to as “accumulation by dispossession.” The new farmers reclaim land from the desert and earn profits, but they simultaneously deprive long-term farmers of their livelihood. The long-term farmers are forced to abandon their nonproductive land.

Barnes’ ethnographic focus on water, augmented by her use of GIS mapping and long-term multi-level fieldwork, is an excellent example of how a resource-centered approach can yield rich insights of value to international development and environmental policy and programs.

Laura Wilson is a candidate for an M.A. degree in International Development Studies at George Washington University with a focus on gender, human rights, and development. She received a B.S. degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 2007. She is currently the program assistant for the International Development Studies program.

Image: “Egyptian stuff BW” from flickr user Richard Messenger, licensed with Creative Commons.

Risk, Suffering, and Response: A Panel on the Haiti Earthquake Crisis

In organizing this panel, I reached out to many people who in turn connected me with yet others. Many of the people I contacted were in Haiti at the time, just returning from Haiti, or on their way there and therefore could not join the panel. Some with close connections to the island have been personally affected by the tragedy and its toll on human life and therefore could not accept the invitation to participate.

My goal is to bring together experts on a range of topics relevant to the earthquake crisis in Haiti who can provide insights for more effective ongoing and future policies, programs and other activities. My hope is to support the people of Haiti in recovering and rebuilding and understanding of the Haitian context, Haitian values, and Haitian priorities.

The panel will be recorded and this will be posted on the Elliott School website next week.

Risk, Suffering, and Response: The Haiti Earthquake Crisis 2010

Monday, January 25, 2010
1957 E Street NW, Lindner Family Commons
12:00 p.m. – 2:00 pm

RSVP: anthropologyworks@gmail.com

Moderator: Barbara D. Miller, associate dean of faculty affairs, professor of anthropology and international affairs, The Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University

Robert Maguire, Randolph Jennings senior fellow, United States Institute for Peace, Associate Professor of International Affairs, Trinity University, “Assessing Damage and Moving Forward”

Erica James, associate professor of anthropology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Dilemmas of Humanitarian Assistance in Haiti and in the Haitian Diaspora”

Julia Frank, associate clinical professor of psychiatry, The George Washington University, “Buffering the Emotional Impact of Disasters: How to Avoid Making Things Worse”

Drexel G. Woodson, associate research anthropologist, School of Anthropology / Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, University of Arizona “Shaky Ground(s): Will the Earthquake Prompt Haitians and Foreigners to Negotiate a Pact for Sustainable Reconstruction?”

Kyrah Daniels, junior curator, National Museum of American History, “Haiti: Spirits Unbroken”

This panel is co-sponsored by the Culture in Global Affairs Program and the International Development Studies Program in the Elliott School of International Affairs and the Department of Global Health in the School of Public Health and Health Policy.

Recent sources on Haitian culture and social change

This list is intended to provide a guide to recent resources on culture and society in Haiti for people who wish to be better informed about the context in which the recent earthquake and its devastation are occurring. With apologies, most of the journal articles are not public access.

Furthermore, we really encourage everyone to visit InterAction’s Haiti response page, which includes a variety of ways to help out.

Benoît, C. 2007. “The politics of vodou: AIDS, access to health care and the use of culture in Haiti”. Anthropology in Action 143, 59-68.

Coreil, J. & Mayard, G. 2006. “Indigenization of illness support groups in Haiti”. Human Organization 652, 128-139.

Curci, S. 2008. “Mapping Haitian history: a photo essay”. Journal of Haitian Studies 142, 120-30.

Farmer, P. 2004. “An anthropology of structural violence.” Current Anthropology 453, 305-325.

Farmer, P. E. 2001. “The consumption of the poor: tuberculosis in the 21st century.” Ethnography 12, 183-216.

Farmer, Paul. 1992. AIDS and Accusation: Haiti and the Geography of Blame. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Farmer, P. E. 2008. “Mother courage and the future of war.” Social Analysis 522, 165-184.

Giafferi, N. 2004. The violence of relations in fieldwork: the Haitian example. Terrain 43, 123-40, 159.

Guilbaud, P., & Preston, M. 2006. “Healthcare assessment study in Les Cayes, Haiti: towards a framework for rural capacity development and analysis”. Journal of Haitian Studies 122, 48-69.

Hastings, A. 2007. “Eradicating global poverty: is it really achievable?” Journal of Haitian Studies 132, 120-134.

James, E. C. 2004. “The political economy of “trauma” in Haiti in the democratic era of insecurity”. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 282, 127-149.

Continue reading “Recent sources on Haitian culture and social change” →

Short term ethnographic consultancies for the U.S. census

From the Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists (WAPA):

The U.S. Census Bureau seeks up to 18 ethnographers to conduct short-term paid contract research for 4-6 months during Census 2010 data collection operations. The study aims to address the issue of persistent differential census miscounts of some race/ethnic subpopulations. Contract ethnographers will receive training at the Census Bureau, then conduct coordinated evaluations of enumeration methods and census coverage in designated race/ethnic communities. The researcher will go to a designated race/ethnic site for 7-9 continuous days during a census data collection operation. He/She will accompany a census interviewer, observe and tape the census interview, then conduct an on-the-spot ad hoc debriefing to resolve any anomalies in who should be counted in the household and/or in household structure.

The researcher will observe/tape/debrief in 35 households, prepare transcripts and case studies, and write a site report identifying types and sources of coverage error, which types of households and persons are at coverage error risk, and other factors affecting enumeration as well as assessing the extent to which coverage errors vary among race/ethnic groups. We seek experienced qualitative researchers who have done or are currently doing research in the U.S. in one or more of the following race/ethnic communities: American Indian (reservation), Alaska Native, African American, Asian, Hispanic/Latino, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, and non-Hispanic white. To be considered, each researcher must be a U.S. citizen, send in all application materials, and must commit in writing to do the research in his/her designated research site for 7-9 days during one of these three time periods: March 29-April 9 (Indian reservation), May 5-22 (the other sites), or August 30-September 30 (all sites).

For more information on the study and how to apply, please send an e-mail with “Request for Information on 2010 Census Evaluation Contracts” in the subject line to all three of the following: Laurel.K.Schwede@census.gov, Rodney.Terry@census.gov, and Matthew.Clifton@census.gov. The deadlines for sending in complete applications are February 1 (for the Indian reservation in March) and February 10 for the Indian reservation in August and for all other sites from March to August.

Call for papers on women and men

From the official website of the Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology, published by the University of Bucharest Departments of Sociology and Social Work:

The Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology invites articles, research notes, and book reviews for its first issue, “Women and Men.” Submitted articles and research notes should explore differences and similarities in experiences and perspectives of women and men around the globe, in various historical and cultural contexts. Papers that illustrate, explain and discuss the gendered construction of social institutions and individual life trajectories are welcome.

Deadline for submission is January 21, 2010. Send to: journal.compaso@gmail.com

This issue aims to explore:

What patterns of alikeness and dissimilarity between women and men can be found in social research data?
How can these patterns be explained?
What methods and techniques are best suited to investigate gender differences and gender effects? What are the methodological pitfalls in quantitative and qualitative comparisons of men and women?
How should gender be understood and studied in sociological and anthropological research?

International Perspectives on Cultural Competence in Psychiatry: Conference in April 2010

From the Somatosphere blog:

Each year for the past ten years or so McGill’s Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry has hosted an Advanced Study Institute in Cultural Psychiatry. The Institute includes a series of month-long courses on cultural psychiatry, methods in health research, culture in clinical contexts, global mental health research and other topics, taught by members of the Division. The Institute is usually preceded by a series of workshops and a public conference on a particular theme.

The title for next year’s conference, which will be held on April 29 and 30, 2010 in Montreal is: “Rethinking Cultural Competence from International Perspectives.” The conference will also be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, which will run from April 29 to May 1, 2010. You can download the preliminary announcement for the Institute here. And here is the description of the conference:

In recent years, cultural competence has become a popular term for strategies to address cultural diversity in mental health services. Alternative constructs that have been proposed include cultural safety, humility, sensitivity, responsiveness and appropriateness. Each of these metaphors draws attention to certain dimensions of intercultural work while downplaying or obscuring others. Each perspective is rooted in particular constructions of cultural identity and difference that have social origins. Approaches to cultural competence have been dominated by work in the U.S., which configures cultural difference in specific ways that reflect its history, demography, and politics. In New Zealand, cultural safety has been promoted as a term that draws attention to issues of power and vulnerability resulting from the history of colonization. Work in other countries has favoured other models and metaphors to address diversity. This conference will bring together an international group of clinicians, researchers and educators to critically assess notions of culture competence in clinical care. Sessions will be devoted to a conceptual analysis and critique of cultural competence, strategies for addressing cultural diversity in primary care, the relevance of culture in global mental health, the cultural adaptation of psychotherapy and other clinical interventions, pedagogical approaches to professional training, and ways to improve the cultural responsiveness and appropriateness of clinical services. The conference will conclude with a debate on the future of culture in mental health services.

Download the preliminary Announcement for 2010 ASI.

Upcoming anthro student conference at University of Maryland-College Park

The Practicing Anthropologist Student Association at the University of Maryland, College Park is excited to present an upcoming conference!

“Anthroplus: Collaborative Endeavors and Emerging Trends” will be held Saturday, March 06, 2010 at the Adele H. Stamp Student Union at the University of Maryland-College Park.

Anthroplus is a conference by graduate students for students in the field of anthropology and kin disciplines. Submissions of paper and poster abstracts about original research, ideas and projects are now welcome, through January 15, 2010. Preference will be given to graduate students, but all are welcome to submit! Please limit abstracts to 250 words and include a title, three keywords and your email address.

This event will be open to the public.