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” →

Good news: Chixoy dam reparations

Cultural anthropologist Barbara Rose Johnston offers an inside view on Counter Punch of a commitment from the Government of Guatemala to make reparations related to the Chixoy dam.

She has worked long and hard to push for this:

“The Government of Guatemala has finalized a legally-binding commitment to repair the human rights damages associated with forced displacement, violence, and related abuses accompanying the construction and operation of the internationally-financed Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam. This historic action provides the legal means and financial commitment to launch the first-ever formal reparation mechanism that explicitly addresses the varied injuries and immense impoverishment resulting from internationally financed hydroelectric dam development.”

Johnston is an environmental anthropologist and Senior Fellow at the Center for Political Ecology, an independent environment, health and human rights research institute based in Santa Cruz, California.

Update: Panel 1 of Emergency Initiatives on the Ebola Outbreaks conference posted to YouTube

Emergency Initiatives on the Ebola Outbreaks

The American Anthropological Association / World Council of Anthropological Associations/ Wenner-Gren Foundation Emergency Initiative on the Ebola Outbreak, brought together anthropologists from around the world with expertise in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria, other Ebola-affected regions, and in infectious disease management for a workshop to address critical issues in the current Ebola outbreak.

Watch panel 1 of the event here.

DC event: Conducting Short Term Research: What Can We Learn?

The GWU Organization of International Development Presents A Panel Event

Conducting Short Term Research: What Can We Learn?

Featuring

Scott Freeman: Ph.D. in anthropology, Columbia University, IGIS visiting scholar

Brian Theide: Ph.D. in development sociology, Cornell University, IGIS visiting scholar

Interested in conducting field research? Preparing for your capstone research next spring? Join us for a panel event with IGIS visiting scholars as they discuss their short term summer research experiences in Ethiopia and the Dominican Republic. Former IDS Program Director, Dr. David Gow will moderate this panel.

When: Thursday, November 13th, 2014
6:30-8:00 pm

Where: Elliott School of International Affairs
Room 505

Please RSVP: go.gwu.edu/shorttermresearch

Email oid@gwu.edu with questions.

DC event at GW on China’s Tibet Policy

Multilevel Governance as a Framework for Regionalization and the Question of Tibet: Recent Developments and New Prospects for China’s Tibet Policy

When: Monday, November 17th, 12-1pm

Where: Elliott School of International Affairs, 1957 E Street NW, conference room 501,
Washington, DC, 20052

Tash Rabgey is a Research Professor in the Institute of Global and International Affairs and Director of its Tibet Governance Project. Rabgey, the first Tibetan Rhodes scholar, has two law degrees and a doctorate in social anthropology from Harvard University.

RSVP here!

Sponsored by The Institute for Global and International Studies (IGIS). Co-sponsored by the Tibet Governance Project and Culture in Global Affairs Program of IGIS.

Kudos to Seth Holmes for Margaret Mead Award

UC San Francisco’s Seth Holmes, MD, PhD, won the Margaret Mead Award, which is presented to a younger scholar for a particular accomplishment, such as a book, film, monograph, or service, which interprets anthropological data and principles in ways that make them meaningful to a broadly concerned public.

The award, offered jointly by the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA), is designed to recognize a person clearly and integrally associated with research and/or practice in anthropology. The awardee’s activity will exemplify skills in broadening the impact of anthropology — skills for which Margaret Mead was admired widely. Continue reading “Kudos to Seth Holmes for Margaret Mead Award” →

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” →

DC event at GW on Ebola and anthropological insights

Anthropologists Offer Insights and Solutions to the Ebola Crisis

When: Friday, November 7, 2014; 3:00-5pm
Where: George Washington University, Media and Public Affairs Building, Room MPA B07, 805 21st St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20052*

Leading anthropologists will address the general public in an open forum discussing their insights and recommendations on how to solve the Ebola crisis. Continue reading “DC event at GW on Ebola and anthropological insights” →

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” →

DC event: Society for International Development honors Ambassador Melanne Verveer

When: Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Where: Washington Hilton Hotel, 1919 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

Cocktail Reception: 5:30 – 6:30 PM
Dinner Program: 6:50 – 9:00 PM

On Wednesday evening, December 17, 2014, the Washington, DC Chapter of the Society for International Development (SID-Washington) will hold its annual Gala Dinner. This year, Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, will receive the SID-Washington Award for Leadership in Development for her considerable achievements in international development. Continue reading “DC event: Society for International Development honors Ambassador Melanne Verveer” →