Northern America | antropologi.info

Anthropologist shoots down stereotypes about gun enthusiasts (Book review)

Published on February 18, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, books, culture traditions, Northern America

Reason / Find articles

Shooters: Myths and Realities of America’s Gun Cultures, by Abigail A. Kohn, New Fork: Oxford University Press, 224 pages, $29.95

Abigail A. Kohn calls Shooters an ethnography, an anthropological study conducted from within a culture to gain the “natives’ point of view.” Rather than studying gun enthusiasts though literature and statistics, or from behind a duck blind to ensure “objectivity,” Kohn spent time with enthusiasts, interviewing them, taking classes with them, and shooting with them.

The result is a fascinating look into the world(s) of gun enthusiasm that puts real, human faces on a gun debate dominated by antiseptic statistics and abstract principles. After reading Shooters, you’ll wonder why no one has done such a study before. The omission may stem from the typical attitude toward guns among academics, which Kohn addresses in her preface. >> continue

>> read the Introduction at amazon

Reason / Find articles

Shooters: Myths and Realities of America's Gun Cultures, by Abigail A. Kohn, New Fork: Oxford University Press, 224 pages, $29.95

Abigail A. Kohn calls Shooters an ethnography, an anthropological study conducted from within a culture to gain the…

U.S. exposure to foreign literature promotes tolerance in multicultural world

Published on January 31, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, globalisation, Northern America, Us and Them

The Soth End Newspaper

It seems every aspect of American life is undergoing a “Globalization” except one — our literary culture. Explanations for this phenomenon vary, from lack of interest to lack of availability, but one thing is certain: A majority of Americans have a profound disinterest in the literary and cultural works of other countries. >> continue

The Soth End Newspaper

Urban anthropology Inc. shares stories of Milwaukee’s homeless people

Published on January 19, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, fieldwork / methods, Northern America, Us and Them

Greater Milwaukee Today

Over a three-year period of time from 2000-2003, Urban Anthropology Inc., a Milwaukee nonprofit organization, deployed a handful of anthropologists, anthropology interns and former homeless individuals to document 109 stories of homelessness. The subjects, who were paid $5 and agreed to be tape recorded described life before being homeless, the path that led to their homelessness, life as homeless and, where applicable, how they got off the streets.

Dr. Jill Florence Lackey, Urban Anthropology executive director, says the homeless study fits into her organization’s mission of preventing and abolishing racism/ethnocentrism and creating bridges among cultural groups >> continue

Greater Milwaukee Today

Minorities in Canada : Closer contact has eased tensions

Published on January 6, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, indigenous people / minorities, Northern America, Us and Them

The Economist

Traditionally, the English-speaking minority in Quebec kept itself pretty much to itself. If this was once accurate, it is no longer so. Now more than two-thirds of Quebec’s 750,000 English-speakers can also speak French—double the proportion of the 1970s. Even in those rich ghettos in western Montreal, French is spoken almost as much as English.

A recent government report on Quebec’s English-speakers noted other signs of integration. As Anglos learn to speak French younger and better, frequently choosing to study in French schools, there has been a surge in marriage (or at least coupling) outside the community. Closer contact has eased tensions between what were once known as “the two solitudes” who share Quebec.

With linguistic tension much reduced, the sovereignty movement will need a new cause around which to rally, says Deirdre Meintel, an anthropologist at the University of Montreal who specialises in minorities. “You can be Québécois now without having spoken French all your life,” she says. >> continue

The Economist

Traditionally, the English-speaking minority in Quebec kept itself pretty much to itself. If this was once accurate, it is no longer so. Now more than two-thirds of Quebec's 750,000 English-speakers can also speak French—double the proportion of the 1970s.…

Study says USA wastes nearly half its food

Published on November 24, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, food and drink, Northern America

Science Blog / University of Arizona

Timothy W. Jones, an anthropologist at the UA Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, has spent the last 10 years measuring food loss, including the last eight under a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Jones started in the farms and orchards, went on through the warehouses, retail outlets and dining rooms, and to landfills.

What he found was that not only is edible food discarded that could feed people who need it, but the rate of loss, even partially corrected, could save U.S. consumers and corporations tens of billions of dollars each year. Jones’ research evolved from and builds on earlier work done at the University of Arizona. Archaeologists there began measuring garbage in the 1970s to see what was being thrown away and discovered that people were not fully aware of what they were using and discarding.

Those earlier studies evolved into more sophisticated research using contemporary archaeology and ethnography to understand not only the path food travels from farms and orchards to landfills, but also the culture and psychology behind the process. >> continue

Science Blog / University of Arizona