precollege Anthro curriculum launches in Britain (A-level)

http://anthropologistabouttown.blogspot.com/2009/11/special-announcement-first-anthropology.html

Congratulations colleagues around Britain for leading the way for others to follow!

iron age life in N. Europe

http://www.tollundman.dk/tollundmandens-tid.asp is about the "bog man" (Tollund, Denmark) with text, pictures, video about the time period of 500 BC to 800 AD - overlapping with the Okhotsk society along the north coast of Japan' north island of Hokkaido.

 

In S. Sweden (west of Malmo) there is a village recreation with people volunteering to live in the old ways as an experiement. Imagine this experiment with Okhotsk living, as well.

Here is the website, http://www.foteviken.se/engelsk/index_e.htm

Also on the S. coast of Sweden there is also this large monument, http://ystaddailyphoto.blogspot.com/2007/02/megalithic-ship.html

 

Another village (near Stockholm) was included in the May 2000 documentary about viking society.

maligning the Canis Lupis - language & culture

http://ystaddailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/05/wolf.html -all the English language expressions about wolves seem to be pejorative (against them)
 

underwater archeology - medieval villages/Belgium

...underwater archaeology in Europe.  Today's entry on Belgium highlights past work including submerged medieval fishing villages,
shipwrecks, exhibitions, and an online maritime database: click on the "Maritime Archaeology in Belgium" link at http://www.uri.edu/mua

languages gone

The death of language?
With the number of languages steadily shrinking, what is lost when a language dies?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/today/hi/today/newsid_8311000/8311069.stm
 
see also reading notes from K.David Harris' When Languages Die

lives of Margaret Mead; of Clifford Geertz

Anthropologist About Town

---

Diary for 1st October to 7th October 2009 Anthropologists who made history... In 1923 Margaret Mead set off to Samoa to conduct research on adolescence. Mead became the first anthropologist to explore the realm of anthropology of childhood, and throughout her career she helped to popularise the discipline with her writings. Her work is included as mandatory texts in undergraduate degrees in North America and Europe. In this podcast, Professor Adam Cooper and June Goodfield reflect on Mead's career, the controversies surrounding the personal and professional life, and her impact on the discipline as a whole. If you'd like to know more about Mead's life and her research, the Library of Congress has an excellent online exhibition and an extensive archive collection on Mead. After gaining a his first degree in Philosophy from Antioch College, Clifford Geertz went on to do his PhD in Anthropology at Harvard. Geertz did extensive research in Indonesia and then later in Morocco. Geertz was fascinated with the ways in which culture is expressed through ' a system of meanings embodied in symbols'. He became a founder of interpretive or symbolic anthropology, and his work was extremely influential within the discipline and beyond in other social sciences. In this podcast Byron Good, Professor of medical anthropology at Harvard Medical School, explains the contribution of Geertz's work to the discipline. For a wonderful summary of his life and work take a look a this obituary written in the New York Times.

 

Native American dioramas cause offense at U-Michigan Museum

Michigan to Remove Indian Dioramas from Natural History Museum

Responding to objections from American Indian students and staff members, the University of Michigan will remove a set of dioramas depicting scenes of Native American life from its natural history museum, Indian Country Today reported. Some American Indian professors at Michigan said they found it insulting for them and their culture to be represented as miniaturized dolls amid the museum's dinosaur bones and fossils. "We are living, breathing, contemporary human beings," Margaret Noori, a professor of Ojibwe language and literature at Michigan, told Indian Country Today. A Michigan official confirmed that the dioramas would be removed by January.
[http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/09/15/qt#208267]

material culture; bodies well & ill; London ethnography

from Sept. 3, 2009 digest of Anthropologist About Town

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The comfort of things new ethnography by professor Daniel Miller called 'The comfort of things'. Daniel Miller is an anthropologist who specialises in teaching and researching material culture at UCL. The book is the result of research he conducted on a single street in London. Dr. Miller and his researchers asked residents of a particular street to discuss the stories, histories and significance of certain objects they hold dear to them in their houses. For anyone interested in material culture this is a fascinating read! If you are interested in learning more about material culture take a look at this website. Exquisite Bodies the Welcome Collection for a look at life size wax figures whose bodies have been cross sectioned in order to see internal organs , and in some cases lifelike representations of what happens to a body when it is attacked by diseases such as tuberculosis, alcohol and drug addiction. The models were used in the 19th century for medical teaching purposes. For more information about events, activities and videos accompanying the exhibit take a look here. The exhibit will run until the 18th of October 2009. anthropological research in London? FiLo presentations by anthropologists Daniel Miller and John Eade is a growing network of anthropologists who are undergoing fieldwork in London... The workshop will include keynote talks by anthropologists John Eade and Daniel Miller, as well as poster presentations by FiLo members, discussion of future Filo projects, and a guided walk of central London. For more information and registration email:filo.network@gmail.com or visit the Filo's website.

online exhibition, first nation

virtual exhibit (British Columbia, Canada), [Doig River First Nation]
Dane Wajich - Dane-zaa Stories and Song: Dreamers and the land,
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Danewajich

hunter-gatherer societies altering their environments

hunter-gatherer societies altering their environments - intentional or not
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112124572
 
August 23, 2009
Archaeologists who study early hunter-gatherer societies are discovering that even the simplest cultures altered their environments, whether they meant to or not.
 
For example, aboriginal people in Australia burned huge areas to change the landscape so they could hunt animals more easily. Perhaps the most famous example is the way mastodons and giant sloth and other ice-age animals were killed off by roving bands of hungry humans...
[National Public Radio, npr.org]
article on coastal exploitation appears in the journal Science

thinking about Ch. Darwin's "Origin of the Species"

http://scienceblogs.com/bloggingtheorigin
[chapter by chapter modern re-reading of Darwin's The Origin of Species;
or see the original text at www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles]

physical anthro; archeology - Exhibition, "Written in Bone"

on display at the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC) until February 2011,
Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17^th Century Chesapeake

and the webcomic presentation, http://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/comic

 

photo preview [13 views]

Indonesian tribe picks Korean alphabet as official writing system

via Korean Studies Discussion List <http://us.mc580.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws> http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2009/08/06/56/0302000000AEN20090806001200315F.HTML [compare to] ...other instances in the past where other cultures attempted to adopt Han'gu(l / Choso(n'gu(l as their written language only to have it be rejected, no? I don't recall as it has been a long time since I read Kim-Renaud, Y-K. (ed) 1997. The Korean Alphabet: Its History and Structure. Anyway, this is a very interesting language development that *gasp* for once doesn't involve romanizations. =-=-=-= follow up: The case of using hangeul by one of Indonesian tribes as a practical systemof writing is funny. It is one more ?success? of local nationalists in theera of globalization, when the state sponsors such "experiments"! Koreanalphabet is excellent only for the Korean language, but is almost unsuitablefor the transmission of sounds, which are absent in the Korean language. Inthe Soviet Union in 1920-30?s attempts were made to create scripts fornationalities, which had no their own script on the basis of the Latinalphabet. This letter alphabet, as well as Cyrillic, is much more suitablethan Korean letter-syllabic alphabet, for transcription of all kinds ofsounds through a combination of letters or diacritics. But the grandioseexperiment failed. It is difficult to believe that the Korean experimentwill last for long. ---Lev Kontsevich [Moscow]

lesson plans - ancient Jordan, ancient Israel

Daily Life in Ancient Times: Archaeology of Israel and Jordan
July 1 - July 24, 2009
 -- directed by Rhonda Root and Gloria London --
sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities
 
http://home.earthlink.net/~galondon/NEH2009/

old bones in Spain (1.2mya)

"In the field of human evolution which is what I'm in, Atapuerca is a world reference site," Quam says. "This is the richest fossil bearing deposits in the world. And every single site in Atapuerca that has been excavated has yielded human remains, which is something that is very unusual."
Last year, the team uncovered a 1.2 million-year-old jawbone fragment from a species known as homo antecessor. It's the oldest hominid fossil ever found in western Europe.
 
Near the railway trench, another site yielded human remains of 28 individuals, dating back at least half a million years. The Spanish paleontologist believes it's a mass grave.
 
"This was a collective act, something a group did with its dead," Arsuaga says.
full story; or mp3 download
--from NPR.org Morning Edition 3 Aug. 2009

underwater archeology project (Florida, USA)

[July 23, 2009] The underwater archaeology field school in Florida continues with two new posts.  The entries cover new discoveries on the 16th century wreck, Emanuel Point II while other teams search for a third wreck from the same period.  http://www.uri.edu/artsci/his/mua/project_journals/wf09/wf09_week7.shtml 2009-07-02 intro to anthro (2004) OpenCourse online point of reference when organizing a course to introduce anthro:   http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Anthropology/21A-100Fall-2004/CourseHome/ 2009-06-28 Endangered Cultures - digital sources Pacific And Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) ****************************** From: Reviews of Internet resources for Asian Studies <asia-www-monitor@anu.edu.au> PARADISEC, c/o The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia Self-description: "PARADISEC (Pacific And Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures) offers a facility for digital conservation and access for endangered materials from the Pacific region, defined broadly to include Oceania and East and Southeast Asia. Our research group has developed models to ensure that the archive can provide access to interested communities, and conforms with emerging international standards for digital archiving. Our research group is composed of investigators from the four participating institutions PARADISEC collaborates with other groups to promote good practice in field documentation and digital archiving of endangered languages: Resource Network for Linguistic Diversity (RNLD) [http://www.linguistics.unimelb.edu.au/thieberger/RNLD/ RNLDmailing.html], the Open Language Archives Community (OLAC) [http://www.language- archives.org], the Digital Endangered Languages and Musics Network (DELAMAN) [http://www.delaman.org/] and the Electronic Metastructure for Endangered Languages Data project (E-MELD) [http://www.emeld.org/index.cfm]. At September 2008 PARADISEC's collection contains 2051 hours of digital audio and video files on 3.65 TB of disk space. A catalogue of this material is available at the link given in the right hand frame of this page. 614 languages from 60 countries are represented in PARADISEC's collection." 2009-06-12 Talking with Non-Native English Speakers This looks like a handy summary and skills list for anybody working in our mobile world of languages and societies today! 1) Be sensitive and respectful to individuals who have invested the time to learn English.  Learning a new language is a large undertaking.  They have sacrificed many years to learn English. To help you with this, try learning and using several phrases of another language. It's quite humbling.   2) Be aware of the factors that can enhance miscommunication. For example: Is the miscommunication a language misunderstanding? Is it based on differences in gender, age, national culture, or corporate culture? Is the miscommunication linked to technology malfunctions? Is it caused by more implicit variables, such as non-verbal components, context of message, or relationships based on hierarchy? By understanding the nature of the quandary, you can find more efficient solutions.   3) Pause. Native English speakers will often ask a question and not allow enough time for the listener to process the words, think about an answer, find the appropriate wording (based on their relationship to the speaker), and then execute a grammatically correct sentence. If it's information you are seeking, then pausing can work wonders!   4) When conducting meetings and conference calls, provide an outline or overview ahead of time. Give clear and simple statements of what is to be expected and define the length of discussion points.   5) Avoid slang, professional jargon, and acronyms at all costs. A statement like this can be confusing to non-native English speakers: "Please send the RFP by COB on hump day. Are we all on board?" Rephrasing can be advantageous: "Please send the Request for Proposal by 5 pm on Wednesday. Is that agreeable?"   6) Communicate with story. Often times bullet points and lists of information lack the ability to show the elusive. Example vignettes from your experiences or someone else's (including personal stories, folktales, and historical tales) can provide clarity, and at the same time, keep respect and honor for all members by not pointing out the flaws in others.   7) Have listeners rephrase what they think they heard you say. This is much better than asking, "Do you all understand?" and eventually receiving unsatisfactory outcomes.   8) Speak clearly and enunciate properly. Pausing before and after significant words can help improve communication, too. If the points above seem superfluous or unessential, then spend some time trying to make sense of the following:   Hvis du har noen spørsmål om dette emnet eller andre relaterte emner, ta kontakt med Cultural Awareness International. (Tip: You might want to use a Norwegian dictionary.)   In conclusion, the energy and time it takes to understand just one sentence may bring about feelings of frustration and confusion. However, by obtaining this point of view you will unearth the empathy needed to communicate effectively with all of your colleagues and clients worldwide.    Other helpful tips that will also enhance communication:   • Trust begins with openness and authenticity. Presenting an image of yourself with flaws and weaknesses can often times be beneficial to you. • View the world from someone else's eyes by shifting your paradigm. This can give you an advantageous viewpoint on a particular situation or problem. • Don't see the world by what's right or wrong. See what's beneficial or ineffectual. Go from there. • See the good that every individual or situation brings to your world. It is often in this place that we find satisfaction with ourselves, with others, and the communication between. Written by Gene Edgerton, Edited by Rebecca Garza and Kayla Kluempke June 2009, www.CulturalAwareness.com 2009-06-03 the Open Anthropology Cooperative - constellation sets of interest groups on the Ning platform (one sign-up allows multiple Ning memberships) http://openanthcoop.ning.com/ As of June 3, there are groups for Visual anthro, Anthro of Japan, Anthro of Brazil, Physical/forensic, and a Forum on general policy of this Cooperative intersection of groupings. 2009-05-28 What is Anthropology for? Anthropologist About Town Diary for 28th May to 3rd June 2009 Anthropologists find work in a variety of different fields ranging from working in museums, to working as business consultants, or in development and tourist agencies. Often the word 'anthropologist' does not appear in their job title, but anthropologists use the skills they have learned from their degrees, such as undertaking ethnographic research, analysing cross cultural data, doing interviews and apply these skills to their current roles. Veronica Strang, professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Auckland has written a new book called What do Anthropologists do? The book takes a close look at why anthropologists are in demand for certain roles, and the job opportunities that are open to people studying the degree. It's written in an accessible manner and is a very useful resource for people beginning their exploration of anthropology and those already studying it at university. 2009-05-09 maritime archeology - public education on the road (UK example) Archaeologists at Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology are excited to announce they have received over a third of a million pounds to promote greater public involvement in maritime archaeology. This exciting three year project will focus around the creation of a community outreach van which will be furnished with interactive displays, information and hands on activities to make learning about maritime heritage possible for all the community. For more information contact: http://www.hwtma.org.uk/education/ 2009-05-08 anthropology day (May -Wales; July -London) www.walesanthropologyday.co.uk www.londonanthropologyday.co.uk (see earlier YouTube synopsis linked there) 2009-05-05 indigenous video online http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/2009/05/01/beyond-broadcast-launching-nitv-and-isuma-tv http://www.isuma.tv/ showcases work from Inuit life along the north of Canada; 20' story of the change from living in igloos to wood houses, http://www.isuma.tv/?site/displayFilm/id/856 2009-03-26 culture of surnames- "Balls and Bottoms give way to Wangs in name game" REUTERS.COM Thu Mar 26, 2009 LONDON (Reuters) - The number of people in Britain with surnames like Cockshott, Balls, Death and Shufflebottom -- likely the source of schoolroom laughter -- has declined by up to 75 percent in the last century. A study found the number of people with the name Cock shrank to 785 last year from 3,211 in 1881, those called Balls fell to 1,299 from 2,904 and the number of Deaths were reduced to 605 from 1,133. People named Smellie decreased by 70 percent, Dafts by 51 percent, Gotobeds by 42 percent, Shufflebottoms by 40 percent, and Cockshotts by 34 percent, said Richard Webber, visiting professor of geography at King's College, London. ...full text, http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idUSTRE52O5IN20090326?sp=true 2009-02-15 Physical connections - Neanderthal 1st draft of DNA sequence http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100648070   [opening text] Morning Edition, February 13, 2009 · Scientists in Germany say they have drawn up a map of about 60 percent of the genetic "letters" in the genome of Neanderthals. The map is expected to shed light not only on what kind of creatures they were, but also what genetic differences allowed humans to leave Neanderthals in the evolutionary dust.   See how Windows Mobile brings your life together—at home, work, or on the go. See Now 2009-02-02 your skin color from National Public Radio, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100057939 [excerpt]... look at the patch of skin on the inside of your upper arm, the part of you that almost never sees the sun. Whatever color you see there is what experts call your basic skin color, according to professor Nina Jablonski, head of the Penn State Department of Anthropology.   And that color, the one you have now, says Jablonski, is very probably not the color your ancient ancestors had — even if you think your family has been the same color for a long, long time. 2009-01-28 links treasure trove for anthro from the blog, Anthropologist About Town [London-based, weekly]  Diary for 29th January to 5th February 2009 The other day on the internet, I came across this wonderful website: http:www.anthropologie.net . This website has an incredible amount of links for those interested in anthropology. There is a vast array of links from museums, research institutions, and university departments around the world, anthropology in the news sites, and a lot more! 2009-01-15 Darwin 200; YouTube content for anthro Anthropologist About Town Diary for 15th January to 21st January 2009 Evolutionary thinking Last week I mentioned the series of Radio 4 programmes on Charles Darwin, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth. Today, I'll be checking out the specially constructed Darwin 200 website, which is full of resources and information about his work, as well as listing many exhibitions and events taking place around the country all year. For example, there is currently an extensive presentation of his work at The Natural History Museum in London - 'Darwin, Big Ideas' - but you can read about his impact in other parts of the country here, as well as search for other events taking place in your home town. And then you can have an animated discussion with someone about whether nature trumps nurture... Where no man has been before? Youtube has a massive amount of material related to anthropology available - watch out in coming weeks for more links - so today I'll be checking out the BBC series from last year that has been uploaded called 'First Contact'. It sought to document the phenomenon of 'ethnotourism' and investigate how and why travel companies are selling experiences for tourists where they are able to visit 'uncontacted' tribes. Some of the commentators in the programme are anthropologists who debate the ethical problems with the commercialisation of 'remoteness'. Of course the very making of the BBC film itself could be considered to be caught up in the dilemma it critiques - by filming the 'first contact' does the director become implicated himself....? 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Europe maligning the Canis Lupis - language & culture ►  October (3) underwater archeology - medieval villages/Belgium languages gone lives of Margaret Mead; of Clifford Geertz ►  September (2) Native American dioramas cause offense at U-Michig... material culture; bodies well & ill; London ethnog... ►  August (7) online exhibition, first nation hunter-gatherer societies altering their environments thinking about Ch. Darwin's "Origin of the Species" physical anthro; archeology - Exhibition, "Written... Indonesian tribe picks Korean alphabet as official... lesson plans - ancient Jordan, ancient Israel old bones in Spain (1.2mya) ►  July (2) underwater archeology project (Florida, USA) intro to anthro (2004) OpenCourse online ►  June (3) Endangered Cultures - digital sources Talking with Non-Native English Speakers the Open Anthropology Cooperative - constellation ►  May (4) What is Anthropology for? maritime archeology - public education on the road... anthropology day (May -Wales; July -London) indigenous video online ►  March (1) culture of surnames- "Balls and Bottoms give way t... ►  February (2) Physical connections - Neanderthal 1st draft of DN... your skin color ►  January (2) links treasure trove for anthro Darwin 200; YouTube content for anthro ►  2008 (42) ►  December (6) ►  November (2) ►  October (6) ►  September (2) ►  August (2) ►  July (5) ►  June (2) ►  April (6) ►  March (3) ►  February (3) ►  January (5) ►  2007 (50) ►  December (2) ►  November (3) ►  October (3) ►  September (3) ►  June (1) ►  May (8) ►  April (9) ►  March (10) ►  February (11)