Afrol News

- The landmark court case against Botswana's government by evicted communities of the San people is to recommence next week. The case was adjourned in July. The San communities are fighting for their right to return to their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

While authorities in Gaborone quote the need to protect the environment and to develop the San people, activists claim that the real reason behind the eviction is the reserve's potential for diamond mining and safari tourism. During the July hearings, the court was told by anthropologist George Silberbauer that the San indeed were the indigenous inhabitants of the extensive Central Kalahari Game Reserve >> continue

Alex Golub, who recently interviewed Marshall Sahlins on the future of academic publishing on the internet for Creative Commons (see here) , discusses alternative licencing on his own blog:

"I’m firmly convinced that alternative licensing and electronic distribution of texts is the future of academic publishing, and I’m truly gratified to see Prickly Paradigm and Creative Commons are working together to move us into a world where academic ideals of the free flow of information are reflected not just in the practice of research and debate, but in the realities of publishing and distribution."

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You can even download his essay "Copyright and taboo" and all the other articles in Anthropology Quarterly's issue on "Culture's Open Sources". >> continue

Myra Appel and Brita Servaes, Anthropology News (AAA)

Recently libraries have begun to assume another role, that of publisher, and to provide new opportunities for scholars to disseminate their research freely, inexpensively and fairly.

In response to the growing crisis of unsustainable access to scholarly content, the California Digital Library (CDL) developed the eScholarship Repository that offers free access and permanent electronic archiving for working papers and peer-reviewed articles alike. Other institutions, such as Cornell University or Indiana University with its Digital Library of the Commons, have developed similar venues.

Anthropologists have the opportunity to take part in shaping a new culture of sustainable access to scholarly information. In fact, anthropologists with their cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary interests are especially well-poised to take a significant role in charting the directions for change in the systems of scholarly communication. >> continue

SEE ALSO:

The Campaign Create Change: Supporting faculty and librarian action in scholarly communication

Marshall Sahlins wants to make the Internet the new medium for pamphleteering: "I truly lament the various forms of copyrights and patents"

Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Anthropology News, AAA

What is an anthropologist-expert to do in this highly charged international political situation where an anthropologist’s understanding of realities conflicts with the major media and political analysis of events?

A Darfur Task Force was initiated by UCLA anthropologist Sondra Hale at this year’s Sudan Studies Association annual meeting. This task force has drafted resolutions calling for consideration of the complexities and advocating an African solution lead by the African Union. >> continue

TechnoTaste

I have come back around finally to the reason I came to School of Information Management Systems in the first place: a belief that the tools and perspectives of anthropology are useful and needed.

In the face of all the new technologies and applications today it’s easy to forget that behavior drives technology. If culture drives behavior, at least to some degree, then it ought to be essential, not only to the way we understand the uses and contexts of technology, but to its design.

It’s not useful to take for granted that there is something fundamentally new about the informational, technical world in which we live. I have a sneaking suspicion that a great deal more is the same than is different. Culture is too important - too pervasive and immutable - to respond on a whim to the development of new technologies, even if they fundamentally change the way we live. >> continue

Utusan Malaysia Online

Women dressed in bright yellow and green swirling skirts joined men in straw hats and colourful cummerbunds, while musicians playing instruments made from bamboo and goatskins led a procession through Victoria.

``The Creoles are a tiny population worldwide, making up only a few million people,'' said Jean Claude Mahoune, an anthropologist and expert on Creole culture at Seychelles' ministry of culture. ``With globalisation and strong western influences, our culture and our language is endangered, if we don't do something to keep everything that is Creole alive,'' he said. >> continue

Arabnews

Depending on the societies they live in, when unmarried girls reach a certain age which differs from society to society, people begin to refer to them as “old maids” or “spinsters”. Especially in Arab countries, people still look upon a young unmarried girl as though she were to blame for her state. The girl soon becomes the butt of ridicule, accusations, and meddling by those around her and even those closest to her.

Dr. Bakr Bagader, an anthropology professor at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, said: “People differ in the age at which a woman is considered an ‘old maid’. We often see today that the marriageable age is linked to the stages in education because of the responsibilities of making a living and supporting a family. Completing education is thus seen as important and delays marriage for girls. Women no longer feel that their worth or status is dependent upon their husband.” >> continue

Los Angeles Times / Yahoo

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia — School principal Baast chose the name "Nomad" in keeping with his wandering spirit. Defense Minister Gurragchaa — the only Mongolian to venture into space — settled on "Cosmos." And anthropology student Vanchigdash picked the Mongolian word for wisdom. "It makes me feel rather wise," he said. "I'm very proud of my new name."

Mongolians, long used to using only first names, are reshaping their identities under a government-led initiative to add surnames. First names worked reasonably well in an isolated, nomadic culture. But officials say surnames are now needed to avoid confusion in a more modern society, to help uncover long-buried roots as people delve into their clan histories and to prevent the inbreeding that occurs when you're not sure to whom you're related.

Choosing second names — including the mad dash to name themselves after Genghis — is also helping Mongolians reconnect with their history and rekindle national pride after decades of relative isolation. "A man who doesn't know his ancestors is like a monk lost in the woods" is a popular proverb here. >> continue