anthropology in the news | antropologi.info

Democrats outnumber Republicans in all academic fields, esp. in anthropology

Published on November 19, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, politics

The Cavalier Daily

The survey found that Democrats outnumber Republicans in all academic fields. The field of anthropology had the highest ratio, with one Republican professor to every 30.2 Democrats. Sociology came in second with a ratio of 28 to one. Overall, the survey’s lowest estimation of liberals to conservatives in humanities departments is one Republican to every seven Democrats.

The study was conducted by Daniel Klein, associate professor of economics at Santa Clara University and Charlotta Stern of the Institute for Social Research at Stolkholm University. The study, distributed to more than 1,000 university professors around the country, posed 57 questions about 18 policy issues, voting behavior and background variables. >> continue

The Cavalier Daily

AnthroSource – huge anthropological archive online – but useless for non-members

Published on November 18, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, Open Access Anthropology and Knowledge Sharing

I signed up for a free account at AnthroSource. The self-description sounds good. They encourage you top sign up, but if you’re not paying member, you don’t have access to any articles. There are no individual subscriptions to AnthroSource. Interested individuals must join the American Anthropological Association.

“Developed by the American Anthropological Association (AAA), AnthroSource brings 100 years of anthropological material online to scholars and the public, including:

* A complete electronic archive of all AAA journals through 2003
* Seamless access to archival content housed at JSTOR for key AAA publications including American Anthropologist (for AAA members and subscribing institutions)
* Current issues for 11 of the AAA’s most critical peer-reviewed publications” >> continue to AnthroSource

I signed up for a free account at AnthroSource. The self-description sounds good. They encourage you top sign up, but if you're not paying member, you don't have access to any articles. There are no individual subscriptions to AnthroSource. Interested…

How far have we come since anthropologists began to think about magic & religion?

Published on November 18, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, persons and theories, religion cosmology

Hugh Gusterson, associate professor of anthropology at MIT, Anthropology News (AAA) November

When anthropology was established as a discipline in the early 20th century the relationship between magic, science and religion was one of its central preoccupations. If anthropologists have backstaged these issues in recent decades, today they are more than ripe for revisiting and reworking.

If Malinowski and Evans-Pritchard were alive today, they would surely be intrigued to find that, while Americans often construe their global dominance in terms of their superior science and technology, they also have a president who lists Jesus as his favorite thinker and regards evangelicals as his most important voting bloc.

As an anthropologist of science I am increasingly struck by the way that magic and science, far from being opposites, are increasingly fused at the hip. Technology itself has an aura of infallibility that makes it an instrument of magic. The stakes are bigger and the interventions more expensive, but have we really traveled so far from the complex mixture of paranoia, logic and magic that characterized Evans-Pritchard’s Azande? >> continue

Hugh Gusterson, associate professor of anthropology at MIT, Anthropology News (AAA) November

AnthroCommons now Launched! A Virtual Community for the 2004 AAA Annual Meeting

Published on November 17, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Open Access Anthropology and Knowledge Sharing

American Anthropological Association

AAA’s Annual Meeting is the largest single community gathering of anthropologists each year where anthropologists network, exchange ideas, and develop ways to further our profession.

Now operational, the basic idea of AnthroCommons, is to provide: (1) a single place where Section Presidents can post announcements and information related to the Annual Meeting; and (2) a place where Session Organizers can post papers and related scholarly content; and (3) a place for an ongoing digital discussion forum among members to follow discussion threads on the scholarly program, as well as to allow comments by others. The option for contributors to select “open” Creative Commons copyright licenses can further open doors for information sharing in and beyond our community. >> continue

>> go directly to AnthroCommons

American Anthropological Association

AAA's Annual Meeting is the largest single community gathering of anthropologists each year where anthropologists network, exchange ideas, and develop ways to further our profession.

Now operational, the basic idea of AnthroCommons, is to provide: (1) a single place…

“Anthropological customer research has become popular for a good reason”

Published on November 16, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, applied anthropology, corporate & business anthropology, design anthropology

Ross Teague, Manager of Design Reseach and Senior Human Factors, Local Tech Wire

The use of anthropological principles in conducting product and customer research has become very popular of late, and for good reason. Anthropologists can be viewed as the first market researchers, and their discoveries can provide truly actionable learning.

Researchers have typically focused on the method of contextual research – that is, getting out into the customer environments to see how they really work and to interview them in their environments. A method that is often overlooked that can provide valuable insight is key informant interviewing. >> continue (updated link)

Ross Teague, Manager of Design Reseach and Senior Human Factors, Local Tech Wire

The use of anthropological principles in conducting product and customer research has become very popular of late, and for good reason. Anthropologists can be viewed as the first…