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Book review: How American Hospitals Shape the End of Life

Published on April 28, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, books, culture traditions, fieldwork / methods, medical anthropology / ethnobothany, Northern America

USA Today

Medical anthropologist and University of California-San Francisco professor Sharon Kaufman, relies on extensive research and two years of firsthand observations in three hospitals. Kaufman’s book wrestles with death and dying. She describes how 27 people pass their final days and hours. In the epilogue, she notes that she had not expected to spend half her time in intensive-care units. >> continue

USA Today

Korean Artist a Fan of an Ancient Craft

Published on April 13, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, art, Asia, culture traditions

Photojournalist Nayan Sthankiya, OhmyNews

Very little attention in today’s fast-paced society is paid to the history and dedication involved in the production of traditional Korean fans. However, one man in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, continues to keep the art alive in much the same way it was practiced hundreds of years ago. >> continue

Photojournalist Nayan Sthankiya, OhmyNews

Very little attention in today's fast-paced society is paid to the history and dedication involved in the production of traditional Korean fans. However, one man in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, continues to keep the art alive in…

Indigenous Russians Unite Against Oil and Gas Development

Published on April 13, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Asia, culture traditions, development empowerment, ecology nature, indigenous people / minorities

ZNet

Despite their small numbers, the Sakhalin aborigines are standing up to multinational energy companies that are developing oil and gas deposits on the island. On March 25-26, representatives of the Nivkh, Orok, Evenk, and Nanai peoples of Sakhalin held a congress in the town of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Roughly 3,000 indigenous people make up about 0.5 percent of the island’s total population.

The indigenous congress created a council which will represent the island’s indigenous population in negotiations with the oil companies and Russian government authorities. The council will advocate for an ethnographic study to assess the cultural impact of the oil and gas projects on indigenous peoples.

The new Shell pipeline is being constructed over a sacred Nivkh burial ground. The noise from the construction has impacted the caribou population and driven herders away from their traditional grazing grounds. The new Shell drilling platform and the pipeline connecting it to the shore is due to be constructed near the key feeding area of the endangered western pacific gray whale. >> continue

SEE ALSO:
Peoples of the Russian North and Far East (Arctic Circle)

ZNet

Shattering shaman myths: New book explores female roots of shamanism

Published on April 8, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, gender, persons and theories, religion cosmology

University of Buffalo Reporter

In a new book published last month by Random House, Barbara Tedlock, professor of anthropology, challenges the historical hegemony of the male shamanic tradition, restores women to their essential place in the history of spirituality and celebrates their continuing role in the worldwide resurgence of shamanism.

Tedlock’s book, “The Woman in a Shaman’s Body”, also presents empirical studies that find common shamanic practices to be very effective in medical terms and discusses why this is the case. Women shamans, she says, have often practiced in the fields of healing, birthing children, gathering and growing food, keeping communities in balance, presiding over ceremonies and rites of passage, maintaining relations with the dead, teaching, ministering to those in need, communing with nature to learn her secrets, preserving the wisdom traditions, divining the future and dancing with gods and goddesses. >> continue

University of Buffalo Reporter

Book review: Political Competition and State-Society Relations In Mount Hagen

Published on April 7, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, books, culture traditions, Pacific Oceania, politics

Edward P. Wolfers, The National (Papua New Guinea)

The book “The Name Must Not Go Down: Political Competition and State-Society Relations In Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea” by Dr Joseph Ketan is primarily a study of political competition in the area around Mount Hagen. It began as a PhD thesis, and as a work of scholarly analysis, it is a mega-success.

The award of his PhD and publication of his book make Dr Ketan, himself a member of a local group, the Kawelka, in the Mount Hagen area, afully-fledged member of the academic community. As a member of one of the groups of whom he writes, Dr Ketan, is in the unusual position for a student of anthropology of being, at least in linguistic and many cultural terms, an insider from the community about which he writes. >> continue

Edward P. Wolfers, The National (Papua New Guinea)

The book "The Name Must Not Go Down: Political Competition and State-Society Relations In Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea" by Dr Joseph Ketan is primarily a study of political competition in the area…