• Regime change is not enough
In an article in the Huffington Post, cultural anthropologist Paul Stoller of West Chester University argues that entrenched poverty in North Africa is the underlying reason for the recent popular protests in several countries and revolution/civil war in Libya. In Egypt, 40 percent of the population live on less than two dollars a day. The same is true, he points out, in other North African and sub-Saharan countries. Stoller says: “When present and future leaders in North and sub-Saharan Africa begin to listen to the poor…when they understand what it means to live on less than two dollars a day, then and only then will the poor begin to see their lives improve.”

• Send UN peacekeepers to Libya
William Beeman, chair of the anthropology department of the University of Minnesota, says that the UN should send peacekeeping forces to Libya to monitor the situation. The presence of UN forces would make US military intervention in Libya unnecessary.

• Another stroll to Tally’s Corner, DC
WaPo readers responded to last Sunday’s “Answer Man” article on the location of Tally’s Corner, the field site of cultural anthropologist Elliot Liebow‘s pioneering study of some low-income, African American men’s street corner life. Local details continue to emerge.

• Is Facebook good for friendship?
The Times (London) carried a yes/no “fight” between Cameron Marlow, data science manager at Facebook, and Robin Dunbar, professor of evolutionary anthropology at Oxford University. Marlow says yes. Dunbar, adhering to Dunbar’s Law, says no.

• Egypt’s antiquities chief to resign
Zahi Hawass, longtime head of antiquities in Egypt, says he will resign. Hawass asserts that his resignation has to do with the looting of Egyptian archaeological sites. The current security of sites and collections is unclear as is their fate if Hawass resigns.

• PNeolithic sauna in Wiltshire, England
Remains of a 4500-year-old sauna have been excavated at Marden Henge close to the river Avon. English Heritage’s Jim O’Leary said that the building brings to mind sweat lodges of American Indians.

• Awesome in life and death
The Irish Times covered a new exhibit at the National Museum of Ireland of 100 objects associated with the great passage tombs. Archaeologist Alison Sheridan argues that the tombs were designed to be awe-inspiring status statements. Inclusion of beautifully carved mace heads and other objects added to the message of power and conspicuous consumption.

• Ochre mine makes Australia’s National Heritage List
Wilgie Mia, dated to 27,000 years ago, is one of the world’s oldest mines. It has long been a source of high quality ochre that is highly prized by Aboriginal Australians. The region also has the highest known density of pictographic rock art in Southern Western Australia and many sacred sites. The new Heritage site includes the mine, sacred territory, archaeological material, and thousands of examples of rock art.

Continue reading “Anthro in the news 3/7/11” →

• Plaque it: Tally’s Corner, DC
Elliot Liebow bucked the tide in the late 1960s when he decided to do his cultural anthropology dissertation research in a US city. Moreover, he chose to do participant observation with a group of low-income African American men. During his research, Liebow hung out around a street corner in Washington, DC. Forty-four years later, a reader sends this question to Answer Man, aka John Kelly of the Washington Post:  “Where exactly was the street corner that he [Liebow] wrote about?” Kelly got in touch with Harriet Liebow, Elliot’s wife, who survives him. She revealed the heretofore unknown location of Tally’s Corner: it’s the corner of  11th and M streets. Blogger’s note: Tally’s corner should have a cultural heritage plaque, and it should be included in DC tours.

• Here’s looking at anthropology
“National anthropology” in Australia is the study by Australian anthropologists (mainly White) of indigenous/Aboriginal peoples. It is now under attack, from within anthropology itself. Melinda Hickson, senior lecturer in anthropology at the Australian National University, has brought the issues together in an edited book, Culture Crisis: Anthropology and Politics in Aboriginal Australia. She refers to the  “demise of anthropological authority.”

• McDonalds at the sacred-secular divide
Sean Carey of Roehampton University provides an update on the McDonalds controversy in Mauritius.

• Let’s not say goodbye
The Guardian carried an article about disappearing languages and the work of Cambridge University’s World Oral Literature Project led by Mark Turin. The database provides information about endangered languages and audio clips

• American treasures (not)
Kirk French of Penn State University and Jason De León of the University of Michigan are archaeo professors now starring in a new show on the Discovery Channel. French and De León take viewers on the road in America to discover “treasures” (not their preferred word for the title of the show).

• If you dig it…
An amateur archaeologist in Collinstown, Ireland, unearthed human and other remains dating back more than 4,000 years ago when constructing a shed in the back of his house and bad weather created a landslide.

• What child is this?
Announcement of the discovery of the oldest human remains, those of a cremated child, in Alaska, attracted widespread media attention. The child was cremated in the cooking pit of a house which was then abandoned. Ben Potter of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and several colleagues lead the excavation and study. The Washington Post quoted Potter: “This is a child people loved, took care of…the fact that the house was abandoned speaks to that.”

Continue reading “Anthro in the news 2/28/11” →