Category: updates and publications

California series in public anthropology: International competition in 2013

The California Series in Public Anthropology is continuing its International Competition in 2013. It seeks proposals for short books oriented toward undergraduates that focus on how social scientists are facilitating social change. We are looking for accessible, grounded accounts that present compelling stories, stories that inspire others.

The proposals should describe a book that will be relatively short – around 100 pages – with a personal touch that captures the lives of people. The core of the book should involve stories of one or more social scientists as change agents, as making a difference in the world.

The University of California Press in association with the Center for a Public Anthropology will award publishing contracts for up to three such book proposals independent of whether the manuscripts themselves have been completed. The proposals can describe work the author wishes to undertake in the near future.

Interested individuals should submit a 3-4,000 word overview of their proposed manuscript – detailing (a) the problem addressed as well as (b) a summary of what each chapter covers. The proposal should be written in a manner that non-academic readers find interesting and thought-provoking.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS MARCH 1, 2013

Submissions should be emailed to:bookseries@publicanthropology.org with the relevant material enclosed as attachments.

Naomi Schneider and Rob Borofsky,
Co-Editors, California Series in Public Anthropology

Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge

Location of Arunachal Pradesh in India.

The current issue of the Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge contains 31 articles on food sources and livelihood. For example, Singh, Singh and Bhardwaj write about a particular plant food and its relationship to the livelihood security of Adi women in Arunachal Pradesh, in eastern India.

The Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge is open access.

 

 

 

 

Anthropological Summer School project in Malta, Europe for July 2013

Don’t have plans for this summer? Here’s one possibility:

Anthropological Summer School project in Malta, Europe for July 2013

Here is a quick tour to some pages that are of interest to get a basic view on the project:

You will find two attachments included for easy dissemination amongst students:
  • a single page flyer concerning the scholarships
  • the full brochure (5 pages)

GW Department of Anthropology
Hortense Amsterdam House
2110 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052Jonathan Higman, Office Supervisor
Kristina Short, Executive Aide

Killing with kindness: readings in the NYC area

Mark Schuller, assistant professor of Anthropology and NGO Leadership Development at Northern Illinois University and affiliate at the Faculté d’Ethnologie, l’Université d’État d’Haïti, is the author, most recently, of Killing With Kindness: Haiti, International Aid, and NGOs (Rutgers, 2012). He will be doing readings from his book at the following locations in early November:

  • Sunday, November 4, 2012 – 5:00pm – Grenadier Books / Haïti Liberté, 1583 Albany Avenue, Brooklyn

2013 Methods Mall: Training for cultural anthropologists

The 2013 Anthropology Methods Mall is online. This site has info about six, NSF-supported opportunities for methods training in cultural anthropology.

  1. SCRM (Short Courses on Research Methods. For those with the Ph.D.)
  2. SIRD (Summer Institute on Research Design. For graduate students)
  3. EFS (Ethnographic Field School. For graduate students)
  4. SIMA (Smithsonian Institution Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology. For graduate students)
  5. WRMA (Conference Workshops on Research Methods in Anthropology. For all anthropologists)
  6. DCRM (Distance Courses in Research Methods in Anthropology)

1. Now in its ninth year, the SCRM (Short Courses on Research Methods) program is for cultural anthropologists who already have the Ph.D. Two   five-day courses are offered during summer 2013 at the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, North Carolina.

Behavioral Observation in Ethnographic Research (Instructors: Raymond Hames and Michael Paolisso) July 15-19, 2013

Methods of Ethnoecology (Instructors: J. Richard Stepp and Justin Nolan) July 29-August 2, 2013

APPLY TO THE SHORT COURSES ON RESEARCH METHODS HERE. DEADLINE FEB. 15, 2013.

2. Now in its 18th year, the SIRD (Summer Institute on Research Design) is an intensive, three-week course for graduate students in cultural anthropology who are preparing their doctoral research proposals. The 2013 course runs from July 14-August 3, 2013 at the Duke University Marine Laboratory. Instructors: Jeffrey Johnson, Susan Weller, Amber Wutich, and H. Russell Bernard.

APPLY TO THE SUMMER INSTITUTE ON RESEARCH DESIGN HERE. DEADLINE March 1, 2013.

3. Now in its second year, the  EFS (Ethnographic Field School) in Tallahassee, Florida is a five-week field school in ethnographic methods and community-based participatory research. The program is open to graduate students in cultural anthropology. The 2013 field school runs from July 7-August 10, 2013 and is coordinated by Clarence (Lance) Gravlee. Guest faculty include Sarah Szurek, Tony Whitehead, and Stephen Schensul.

APPLY TO THE TALLAHASSEE FIELD SCHOOL HERE. DEADLINE FEB. 15, 2013.

4. Now in its fifth year, the SIMA (Smithsonian Institution Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology) is open to graduate students in cultural anthropology and related, interdisciplinary programs (Indigenous Studies, Folklore, etc.) who are interested in using museum collections as a data source and who are preparing for research careers. The course runs from June 24-July 19, 2013. Instructors: Candace Greene, Nancy Parezo, Mary Jo Arnoldi, Joshua Bell, and Gwyneira Isaac, plus visiting lecturers.

APPLY TO THE SUMMER INSTITUTE IN MUSEUM ANTHOPOLOGY HERE. DEADLINE March 1, 2013.

5. Now in its ninth year, the WRMA (Workshops in Research Methods in Anthropology) program offers one-day workshops in conjunction with national meetings of anthropologists. Click HERE for information about the next workshops at the meetings of the American Anthropological Association in San Franciso, California,November 14-18, 2013 and the Society for Applied Anthropology in Denver, Colorado, March 19-23, 2013.

6. Now in its second year, the DCRM (Distance Courses in Research Methods in Anthropology) is open to upper division undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals. Four courses are offered in summer 2013: Text Analysis, Geospatial Analysis, Network Analysis, and Video Analysis.  The development of these fee-based courses is supported by the National Science Foundation. Enfollment is limited to 18 participants.

Indian Anthropological Congress 2013

The Indian National Confederation and Academy of Anthropologists (INCAA) under the auspices of the Department of Anthropology, Kannur University, are organizing the Indian Anthropological Congress 2013 during February 14-16, 2013. at the Mangattuparamba Campus of Kannur University, Kerala. The theme isAnthropology and the Future of Humankind. For details, please go to: http://www.incaa.net/bulletins.html.

 

Toward applied neuroanthropology

Annals of Anthropological Practice

Neely Myers, visiting assistant professor in anthropology and international affairs at GW, published an article in the Annals of Anthropological Practice in a special Issue on Neuroanthropology and Its Applications.
Volume 36, Issue 1, pages 113–130, 2012

Here is an abstract of her article:

Psychotic disorders emerge from the interplay between culture, brains, and experience. Understanding psychotic disorders and intervening effectively to prevent them or alleviate their effects requires a rich understanding of all three, which may best be captured by the transdisciplinary methods and theory of an applied neuroanthropology. Neuroanthropology investigates the ways that cultural context interacts with vulnerable people’s brains to both encourage and inhibit the neurodevelopmental processes that lead to a psychotic disorder like schizophrenia. Culturally grounded investigations enable us to investigate the ways a person’s lived experiences perpetuate neural changes in the brain that may shape the onset and course of psychotic disorders. This article presents an ethnographic case study of a young man diagnosed with a psychotic disorder after spending 80 days in solitary confinement. Building on his narrative, this article explores his development of a psychotic disorder from an ethnographic and neuroscience perspective. Future transdisciplinary, neuroanthropological studies could rigorously investigate issues that his narrative highlights, including the seemingly inhumane use of solitary confinement and the paucity of meaning-making efforts in biomedical treatment for psychotic disorders. Applied neuroanthropological research on the interplay of culture, brains, and experience in psychotic disorders can contribute to clinical and policy recommendations that improve the lives of people diagnosed with a psychotic disorder around the globe in ways that are locally meaningful for them.

Several other articles are included in the special issue; for the table of contents, click here.