The Oracle

Created by Professor S. Elizabeth Bird as a means of promoting an anthropological perspective in the local community, the pilot broadcast of Anthroscope, a radio call-in show hosted by University of South Florida's Department of Anthropology, was well received, eliciting feedback from several people.

Bird's guests on the program were associate professor Lorena Madrigal and professor Susan Greenbaum. An urban anthropologist, Greenbaum talked about the negative effects of inner-city redevelopment. Madrigal, a biological anthropologist, discussed her views on evolution and creationism.

Bird said the purpose of the radio program is to address anthropological issues that have a direct relation to people's lives. She said later topics might include the obesity epidemic in America and ethical issues regarding the ownership of Native American remains. >> continue

Susan D Blum, U Notre Dame, Anthropology News, American Anthropological Association

Teaching an upper-division undergraduate class on linguistic anthropology, “Doing Things with Words,” at the University of Notre Dame, nothing got my students so excited—not gossip, not gender, maybe accent—as the topic of Instant Messaging

As a team, my eight students (Theresa Davey, Anastasia Envall, Mark Gernerd, Tiffanné Mahomes, Maria Monroe, Jenna Nowak, Matthew Patricoski and Jacob Weiler) and I investigated every aspect of Instant Messaging that we could to assess how it was affecting—if it was affecting—students’ daily experiences. The fact that IMing involves writing but is conceptualized as talk makes it especially germane for linguistic anthropological analysis. >> continue (link updated)

SEE ALSO THEIR PAPER: Instant Messaging: Functions of a New Communicative Tool (pdf) (Link updated)

Kenan Malik, Prospect Magazine

Ten years ago, no one had heard of Islamophobia. Now everyone from Muslim leaders to anti-racist activists to government ministers wants to convince us that Britain is in the grip of a major backlash against Islam. But does Islamophobia exist?

In the course of making my documentary, I asked dozens of ordinary Muslims about their experiences of Islamophobia. Everyone believed that police harassment was common, although no one had been stopped and searched. Everyone insisted that physical attacks were rife, though few had been attacked or knew anyone who had. What is being created here is a culture of victimhood in which "Islamophobia" has become a one-stop explanation for the many problems facing Muslims.

Pretending that Muslims have never had it so bad might bolster community leaders and gain votes for politicians, but it does the rest of us, Muslim or non-Muslim, no favours at all. The more that ordinary Muslims come to believe that they are under constant attack, the more resentful, inward-looking and open to extremism they are likely to become. >> continue

Golublog

A week or so ago I asked the question “what are the most popular ethnographies today that give you a sense of where the field is going, or at least what is popular right now?” With the help of a few friends, some commentors, a very large gin and tonic, and the internet, I came up with a few names I had never (or only vaguely) heard of before. >> continue (Link updated)

Reuters / Yahoo

The U.S. National Institutes of Health urged scientists on Thursday to let the agency publish their studies on the Internet."Scientists have a right to see the results of their work disseminated as quickly and broadly as possible, and NIH is committed to helping our scientists exercise this right", NIH director Dr. Elias Zerhouni said. >> continue

SEE ALSO:

Open Source Anthropology : Are anthropologists serious about sharing knowledge?

antropologi.info-Special: Open Access Anthropology (English, Norwegian, German)

News from the Open Access Movement

IPS News Service

As is the case in much of Africa, cultural and religious factors in Cameroon have proved formidable obstacles to the advancement of women in the workplace. Traditional beliefs dictate that a women’s place is in the home, prompting many parents to take their daughters out of school at an early age – and allow them to be married. Information technology has proving especially useful in showing women a way out of the cultural cul-de-sac they so often find themselves in. >> continue

MORE ON IT AND DEVELOPMENT
Digital Opportunity Channel (oneworld.net / digital divide network)

Scoop, New Zealand

For the first time in its fifteen-year history, the world's most prestigious award in marine conservation has been given to an anthropologist.

Dr. Shankar Aswani, an honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at The University of Auckland, will use his Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation to continue his work with communities in the western Pacific's Solomon Islands. >> continue

SEE ALSO:
Shankar Aswani's homepage with more information on his projects

San Francisco Chronicle

Five years into the millennium, Japan's most visible export isn't economic, but cultural. The jury's still out on whether anime (Japanese animation), manga, toys, gadgets and fashion will sweep across middle America. "This stuff is getting globalized like never before," says Anne Allison, chair of cultural anthropology at Duke University, whose examination of the subject, "Millennium Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination" (University of California Press) will be out in 2006.

"In the last decade, especially in the last five years, Japanese pop culture, particularly youth culture -- anime, manga, Pokemon, kids cards -- has circulated not just in the United States, but in Western Europe, East Asia and South America." >> continue

SEE ALSO:
Interview with anthropologist Anne Allison about her research in Japan (Japan Review)
Book review: Japan Pop!: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture (Japan Review) , see same book reviewed by H-Net Review