.This year we have two NASA invited sessions and a workshop. We are also co-sponsoring two sessions with other AAA sections. Select a link below to learn about the presenters, their abstracts, and the date and times of the presentations.
Invited Sessions Co-sponsored Sessions Workshop Public Anthropology: Dreams Students Dream
Anthropology and Addiction Mentor Workshop Generation neXt Teaching Archaeology At The Dawn Of The Millennium: Is Anthropology Really Necessary? Invited Sessions:
Public Anthropology: Dreams Students Dream
AAA 2001 Annual Meeting
Saturday, December 1, 2001
8am-11:45amOrganizer: OWEN, Penny (Michigan State)
Chair: HAANSTAD, ERIC (Wisconsin-Madison)
Discussant: QUAN, Adan L.
At the 1999 AAA convention Nancy Scheper-Hughes proposed something that she called public anthropology. Discussion of what 'public' meant ranged from a discourse that was more publicly accessible, i.e. less filled with academic jargon, to a commitment to making anthropology more active in solving societyís problems. In the May, 2000 Anthropology News, Robert Borofsky proposed that one of the goals of public anthropology is to: ìaddress broad critical concerns in ways that others beyond the discipline are able to understand what anthropologists can offer to the reframing and easing - if not always resolving - of present day dilemmas.At the 2000 AAA convention, Borofsky organized a session called Public Anthropology: Dreams Chairs Dream. This year NASA is sponsoring a panel that is a response to that session. In Public Anthropology: Dreams Students Dream, students, both graduate and undergraduate, will discuss: 1] their goals for public anthropology; 2] how departments in anthropology can help students make anthropology more public; and 3] creative ways that students have, or will, make anthropology both more visible publicly, more useful to public concerns, or more interdisciplinary. Papers concerning proposals for anthropology education will focus on the content of anthropology classes, the style in which those classes are taught, and ways the anthropological academy can help students serve public needs.
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OWEN, Penny (Michigan State University)
THE YEAR OF THE PHOENIX: USING ANTHROPOLOGY AS THE CORE IN AN INTERDISCIPLINARY FRESHMEN CLASSThis paper presents an anthropological strategy that addresses ways to develop community in large university freshman-level lecture classes that will: 1] create a sense of belonging for incoming freshmen; 2] improve class attendance; 3] improve grades; 4] create a more solid comprehension of the material presented; and 5] develop passion, and compassionate, commitment to public issues. Using ritual and narrative theory, a simulation was created that allowed 300 students to experience social stratification, gender discrimination, the importance of origin stories and the core values of a culture. The paper also contextualizes this experiment within the realm of public anthropology by showing how it: 1] uses anthropological theory and research creatively to reframe and hopefully resolve problems in American higher education, 2] helps students explore culture through the performance of anthropology; 3] teaches university students field research methods; and 4] frames questions about history, conflict, and social change anthropologically.
Anthropologists need to have more contact with everyday people. Our interdisciplinary, "big picture" approach to problem-solving could be valuable not only in considering issues involving the "exotic other" but also in the whole range of questions and issues affecting the human condition - the environment, health, aging, urban development, ethnic relations, and the quality of everyday life. Could be, but won't be unless we come out of our academic towers and talk with people outside the discipline.
In this paper I propose to discuss ways that anthropologists can become community resources. Drawing on my experiences working in a book store, promoting a cultural festival, and participating in an intergenerational reading group, I would discuss ways anthropologists can share ideas and enter into a dialogue with the larger, non-academic community. I would also explore the role that service learning projects might have in representing, promoting and advocating an appreciation for ethnic diversity in the future.
HILLS, Elaine A. (University at Albany-SUNY)
WELL SUITED, UNIQUE, AND BETTER PREPARED -- BUT FOR WHAT? PREPARING THE DISCIPLINE OF ANTHROPOLOGY FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION.Undergraduate courses in anthropology often lure and capture students via the holistic bio-cultural perspective. As students become professional anthropologists, specialization increases while that first love holism often gets swept under the rug. Despite this, professional reverence for the unique, powerful anthropological toolkit maintains a verbal representation. This is evidenced in justifications for anthropological research claiming that anthropologists are well suited for or in a unique position to or better prepared for an endless number of human issues. But these statements often preface research published in highly specialized anthropological journals distant from one specialty of anthropology to another. The fragmented and specific nature of anthropological research make it clear that anthropologists are not, by and large, putting holism, our most powerful selling point, into practice. Before anthropology can go public we must move beyond talk and into action by uniting our disparate parts through application of the toolkit we so revere.
KAKALIOURAS, Ann M. (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
THE PUBLIC FACE OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: TOWARD A RADICAL PEDAGOGY OF HUMAN BIOCULTURAL EVOLUTIONToo often students (and the public at large) receive an easy, shrink-wrapped, "Discovery Channel" view of the human species through Physical Anthropology. The problematizing of the culture concept in Anthropology must be accompanied by theory and pedagogy in Physical Anthropology that destabilizes a static view of biological identities in the past and in the present. Empirical classroom experiences highlight the necessity for this type of dialogic project. Honest and detailed discussion of creation vs. evolution with a focus on our particular Western imperative to find a single origin for the human species can provide students of varied beliefs common cultural ground. As well, the visibly complex divisiveness of a postcolonial world is as much a biological as a cultural reality. Physical anthropologists should confront the biological effects of present and historical oppressions, yet such behaviors and effects cannot (and should not) be simply explained using evolutionary psychological or strictly Darwinian models
This presentation examines the obstacles facing a public anthropology working inside the confines of a discipline which is evolving but nonetheless restrictive. Is it possible to find anthropology outside of the Academy in order to exercise social change? How different does anthropology itself look from the outside? What might we discover if the Academy is made into the "field site?" Assembled through the observations of a student not yet fully committed to the tradition of academic anthropology, this presentation addresses the limitations inherent in public anthropology which are a result of its connection to the larger institution of anthropology. Furthermore, how might public anthropology be advanced by what Ruth Behar calls "anthropology that breaks your heart?" Examples of "a way out" are taken from the lives of others who have succeeded in going "public" apart from mainstream academic anthropology.
At the broadest level the public is a social arena where inclusive questions regarding basic rights and common good are negotiated. Development contexts present important challenges for anthropologists. Short-term project orientation and politically driven demand for immediate profits require research and education. At the undergraduate level public interest is not of primary concern. Public interest should however, be a driving force in seeking an interdisciplinary approach for future anthropological practice while keeping in sight the strengths of the discipline. Be it advocacy, policy analysis, or decision-making, undergraduate students lack the tools to approach interdisciplinary fieldwork. Current investigation undertaken on mining in Papua New Guinea is exemplary for the need of interdisciplinary training. Given that few undergraduates pursue careers or applied work in the field and that even the professional applied anthropologists have seldom chosen to work with businesses and private companies, this paper will discuss the way applied anthropology in business or industries can bear relevancy to undergraduate training in anthropology.
HEFFERAN, Tara (Michigan State University)
CREATING A PUBLIC ANTHROPOLOGY: SUGGESTIONS FOR GRADUATE DEPARTMENTSGraduate school "disciplines" anthropologists, inculcating a set of beliefs and practices that transform us from lowly students into poised professionals / "experts." We come to recognize the urgency of publishing peer-reviewed articles (and hopefully books), presenting at conferences, and garnering large research grants. Indeed, these are the criterion by which we are measured when seeking funding for graduate work, later when looking for a job, and finally when pursuing tenure. Importantly, this professionalization serves to depoliticize us and our work, relegate our writings to obscurity, and shroud us from public view. By recognizing these processes and practices as constructed and not "natural," we are able to step-back from our situations and imagine an anthropology that extends beyond the academy, that is engaged, that is relevant. This paper does just that, but then goes beyond to suggest ways that graduate departments can encourage students to move beyond "private" anthropology. I begin the paper with an overview of public anthropology, defining what it is and why it is important. Next I discuss how current academic structures actively discipline and professionalize us and our work, ultimately creating a "private" anthropology. Then, through concrete suggestions and practical advice, I focus the bulk of the paper on ways that graduate departments can foster a "public anthropology."
Generation neXt:
Students on the Cutting Edge of Anthropology in Century 21
Saturday December 1, 2001
1:45pm-3:30pmOrganizer:JOHNS, Lori A.
Chair: GONZALEZ, Jason J.
Discussant: DE MUNCK, Victor C.
Students coming from such varied backgrounds as applied anthropology, archaeology, dance anthropology, and visual anthropology explore the following diverse topics on the cutting edge of research and technology. First, the use of GIS to answer questions of cultural identity and practice is investigated. Second, a pilot project that attempts to automate the lithic refitting process with 3D scanning technologies is discussed. The third presentation examines implications of globalization with reference to the ìplace-themedî casinos of Las Vegas and the potential applications of anthropology. The fourth paper discusses research on HIV in Africa and Florida in relation to the work done with community members to improve access to HIV prevention and care services while raising the public profile of applied anthropology. Fifth, welfare is explored in terms of structural roadblocks to self-sufficiency and the concepts of culture of poverty, power, resistance, and empowerment. The sixth paper will present a brief overview of the Dance Anthropology field and research done to better document footage of the Gallup Ceremonials by identifying tribal groups and dances in six film recordings. It will conclude with a discussion on theory and the importance of understanding cultural dance from an experiential point of view. The last presentation discusses how visual images can communicate culture in ways that reveal agency, resistance and art in everyday life. Such documentation challenges the presentation of cultures as essential, knowable and static.
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In this presentation I use photos to reflect the complexity, problematics and relevance of visual representation by framing my engagement with and the relevance of photosin exploring the larger contexts through which meaning is constructed. This process links art and visual representation to the larger discourses on tourism, art, modernity and development.
Visual images have often served to define authentic representations of culture both within conventional anthropology and popular culture. By presenting photos in different contexts or formats, they provide a different lens to view a culture or communicate issues of concern facing a community. Issues of representation are not solved through shifting their presentation but such formats speak to the complexity of representation and the processes through which knowledge of culture is constructed visually.
I hope to use art making and its social expression to gain access to, and communicate with, larger social and political realities of a community or culture. By giving a different representation of cultures new ways of understanding art and culture can emerge. Visual images can communicate culture in ways that reveal agency, resistance and art in everyday life. Such documentation challenges the presentation of cultures as essential, knowable and static. Instead, such a practice seeks to multiply and fragment interpretation. These images can be useful by not essentializing cultures or their art, but contesting the knowledge construction gained through visual images.
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GONZÁLEZ, Jason J. ( Southern Illinois University, Carbondale)
THE EDGE OF ANTHROPOLOGY: INTEGRATING GIS, CULTURAL IDENTITIES, LANDSCAPE, AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL MODELMany traditionally see the cutting edge of anthropology as the incorporation of new technology in order to achieve more rigorous answers to all of our research questions. This phenomena has been especially true for archaeology where new technologies have allowed us to manipulate large datasets and collect information at greater detail, efficiency, and accuracy. This is especially true with computer driven methods such as database management, statistics, remote sensing, and computer modeling. One of the questions that we should be asking is whether new technology means new knowledge. Do these new collection or analysis techniques mean we are getting better answers to the old questions? Are we using the more advanced methods of analysis with new research questions? In most recent years, the incorporation of Geographic Information Systems, GIS, has filtered into archaeology and has increased our capability of spatial analysis. I hope to demonstrate how one can use GIS to answer anthropological questions that many do not perceive as technologically conducive. In particular, how one can answer questions of cultural identity and practice. I hope to use GIS to develop spatial models demonstrating how cultural identities impact and are impacted by environment and landscape. This method allows me to develop spatial models of past landscapes, but also predictive models of what we could find and hopefully comparative models to be used cross-culturally. Thus, new technology hopefully allows us to begin to ask new questions, not just throwing new techniques at old questions with the same answers.
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KING, Georgette, ROMERO-DAZA, Nancy, MCGOVERN, Bridget, and ONJORO, Elizabeth Akinyi (South Florida)
HIV RESEARCH IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT: TURNING DATA INTO APPLIED RECIPROCITYThree years of data collection with HIV positive African American men and women in Tampa, Florida has resulted in reams of qualitative data describing the barriers that hinder access to vital services. More importantly, however, it has also inspired the creation of a growing list of concrete community resource materials that address some of the gaps identified in our research. From the development of multi-agency brochures, a cultural diversity discussion forum for agency participants and providers, to our current work to create a website that consolidates information about previously unlinked regional resources, we are working with community members to improve access to HIV prevention and care services while we raise the public profile of applied anthropology.
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MAJOR, Alexis (The George Washington University)
DANCE ANTHROPOLOGY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY FIELD WORTH EXPLORINGAs a person who will soon be graduating from George Washington University with a degree in a Special Interdisciplinary Major entitled Dance Anthropology, I have an interesting perspective on the subject of this paper. Many people have never heard of the Dance Anthropology field, even scholars from within the field of Anthropology. But we do exist, and the Research In Dance Conference (CORD), the Society for Ethnochoreology and Dance Anthropologists doing field work and publishing papers in Anthropology Departments across the country are living proof of that fact.
This paper will present a brief overview of the Dance Anthropology field. The majority of the paper will focus on my research under the guidance of Adrienne Kaeppler, Curator and Dance Anthropologist in the Anthropology Department of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. The research focuses on film footage from the Human Studies Film Archives of the Smithsonian which document the Gallup Ceremonial, Gallup New Mexico, from 1926 to 1953. The purpose of my research was to better document footage of the Gallup Ceremonials by identifying tribal groups and dances in six film recordings. I will conclude with a discusion on theory and the importance of understanding cultural dance from an experiential point of view. I hope that this research will highlight the type of work that is done in the field and introduce some people in the field of Anthropology to the discipline of Dance Anthropology
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MCINTYRE, M. Kelleen (Scripps)
VIVA LAS VENICE: DO THE "PLACE-THEMED" CASINOS OF LAS VEGAS ACT AS VEHICLES IN U.S. CULTURAL IMPERIALISM? [A CASE STUDY EXAMINING POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF ANTHROPOLOGY, AND ITS METHODS, IN ATTEMPTS TO ANALYZE THE FACETS/IMPLICATIONS OF `GLOBALIZATION'The proliferation of American ideologies, `culture', mass media, consumer goods, etc. has long been criticized as an agent in the watering down and `Americanization' of much of the world. If the exportation of Americana lends to implant and perpetuate U.S. cultural hegemony, then what effects could the selective importation, appropriation, and contextualization of `other' cultures have?
According to Steve Wynn, resort casino owner and resident, of Las Vegas, Nevada, `Las Vegas exists because it is the perfect reflection of America.' As such, Las Vegas resort/casinos such as `Paris-Las Vegas', `New York-New York', and `The Venetian' bring rise to questions of authenticity, appropriation, and power.
Is the commodification of a culture ethical, especially when said culture is without recourse or benefit? What does the very existence of such a trend, let alone its success, say about American culture at large? What could be the effects of such a trend outside U.S. borders?
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SCHURMANS, Utsav; RAZDAN, Anshuman; MCCARTNEY, Peter; FARIN Gerald; LIU, Dezhi & BAE, Myungsoo (Arizona State)
PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND OVERSEAS MINING, UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES AND PUBLIC WHININGThe interdisciplinary "Partnership for Research in Stereo Modeling" (PRISM) at Arizona State University conducts 3D research on lithics, ceramics, and bones. One of six pilot projects involves an attempt to (partially) automate the lithic refitting process. The technique of conjoining stone artifacts, first practiced in England over 100 years ago, has proven to be a tremendous tool for prehistorians to reconstruct stone tool technology, study taphonomy, and investigate spatial patterning. The major drawback to lithic refitting is the enormous time investment it requires. Furthermore, due to understandable limitations in the access to lithic collections imposed by the various antiquities departments throughout the world, lithic refitting is often left out of the research agenda altogether. These problems point to a need for automated lithic refitting. We have scanned the products of an experimental lithic collection to serve as test data for creating a refitting program. The results of these tests and prospects for future development will be presented in this paper. Although some significant difficulties remain, we are optimistic that as 3D scanning technologies improve and research within computer "puzzling" applications advance, the initial difficulties will be overcome. Finally, we will briefly examine additional benefits that can be gained from the development of a database structure aimed at making 3D models of these artifacts available online for query.
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TESHOME, Tadesse
STIGMAS AND LABELS ABOUT POVERTY, WELFARE AND WORKFARE: WHAT CAN POOR FAMILIES DO BY THEMSELVES TO BE SELF-SUFFICIENT?Welfare program for the poor in the U.S. was eliminated in 1996 leaving many to suffer from lack of adequate basic ne ed resources. This study, as part of the realm of public anthropology, will examine the conditions of these families in a Mid-Michigan city and its environs to see the impacts of the measure. Welfare assistance responded only to the temporary needs of the poor while it ignored the long-term self-sufficiency aspect. The unsettling conditions observed due to the program and its cut back merit a revisit of the concepts of poverty and welfare. Ely Devons' and Max Gluckman's 'logic of the irrational' as well as the concepts of culture of poverty, power, resistance, empowerment as expounded by Oscar Lewis, Foucault, Gramsci, James Scott and others, will be used to configure and explain the problem. Specific structural roadblocks like transportation, education/training, shortage of living wage jobs, social capital, among others, affecting job seekers wanting to be self-sufficient, will be discussed in light of these theoretical positions.
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Anthropology and Addiction
Saturday December 1, 2001
10:15am-12:pm.
Co-sponsored with the Society for Medical Anthropology
Organizers: LENDE, Daniel (Emory University) & STARK, Claire (Emory University)
Chair: STARK, Claire (Emory University)Given both the long yet under-recognized history of anthropological research on drug use and abuse and the recent upswing in studies of abuse and addiction, the time is appropriate for a formal meeting to discuss how anthropology can build a better understanding of drug abuse and addiction. The session has two goals, first how can anthropology help to explain addiction, and second how anthropology can inform interventions, including prevention, treatment, and policy. For the first goal, presenters will specifically draw on theoretical approaches from the breadth of anthropology coupled to holistic, person-centered research to address fundamental issues involved in drug abuse of individuals, families, or particular groups. For the second goal, presenters will draw on their understanding of what drug abuse is to present ideas derived from anthropology on how to better address the problems related to drug abuse. Throughout the session, there will generally be an emphasis on bringing greater definition and consistency to the anthropological approach to drug abuse.
BING, John (Emory)
SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND TREATMENT ON THE NORTHERN CHEYENNE RESERVATIONCONNORS, Margaret (Independent Consultant)
DRUG USERS' MAKING CHOICES AMIDST THE "WAR ON DRUGS"LENDE, Daniel H (Emory)
THE PARADOX OF COLOMBIA AND THE PREVENTION OF DRUG USE AND ABUSEO'BRIEN, Moira (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
BRAINS, BEHAVIOR, AND CULTURE: INTEGRATING PERSPECTIVES ON DRUG ABUSE AND ADDICTION IN A NATIONAL RESEARCH PROGRAMSMITH, Euclid O. (Emory)
ADDICTION, THE SISYPHEAN STRUGGLE FOR A PARADIGM, AND EVOLUTIONARY HILL CLIMBINGSTERK, Claire (Emory)
UNDERSTANDING ADDICTION: ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONSTROTTER, Robert T. II (Northern Arizona)
RARE ANTHROPOLOGY: RAPID ASSESSMENT WITHIN A COMMUNITY RESEARCH CONTEXT OF ADDICTION PROBLEMS AND HIV POLICY
Teaching Archaeology At The Dawn Of The Millennium: Is Anthropology Really Necessary?
Saturday December 1, 2001
1:45pm-3:30pm.
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Co-sponsored with Archaeology
Organizers: SCHULDERREIN, Joseph and GILLESPIE, Susan
Chair: SCHULDERREIN, Joseph
Discussant: PYBURN, K. AnneArchaeology has composed one of the four subfields of anthropology since the beginning of the discipline, but this relationship has often been uneasy and at times, hotly contested. In recent years, a major new factor has emerged that is straining this fragile relationship beyond the usual conceptual or theoretical squabbles. The growth of public and private sector archeology in the United States and elsewhere has created the demand for skills that is simply not being provided in traditional anthropology departments. This development is a product of the steady growth of the Cultural Resource Management industry, which currently accounts for nearly 80% of archeological employment. The imbalance between the training supplied by academic institutions and that demanded by real world employers has polarized the archeological community for more than a decade. It demands resolution now. Academic archaeology of the past century is no longer sufficient for the realities of the new millennium.
The Society for American Archaeology and concerned practitioners in both academic and the public and private sectors are attempting to deal with this crisis by proposing major revisions to the archaeological curricula at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Their purpose is to provide this training to future practitioners as well as to educate the non-archaeology-major student clientele served by anthropology courses in such significant issues as preservation, stewardship, and recognition of multiple stake-holders in the past. These proposals do not in themselves call for a removal of archaeological training from anthropology departments and programs. However, it is not yet clear how successful these revisions can be if they are not part of a comprehensive overhaul of the entire anthropology curriculum, requiring the dedication and cooperation of academic anthropologists who are not archaeologists.
On the other hand, in other parts of the world archaeology has long been considered a separate discipline in academic institutions, and thus better able to react to changes in archaeological practice. In the U.S. the emerging commercial archeology sector is now exploring alternative training contexts that will allow archeology students to learn the skills and acquire the knowledge that will enable them to gain employment immediately out of graduate school. Are anthropology departments willing to adapt to the needs of the changing work force and restructure their curricula? Or should archeologists begin to seek a new academic structure for obtaining their training? This session explores the various aspects of this critical issue, engaging participants drawn from both the academic and non-academic sectors of archaeology who represent different opinions as to how we should best proceed. The objective is to go beyond such well-known platitudes as "archaeology is anthropology or it is nothing" and seek substantive solutions having to do with curricular and other educational changes in response to this profound transformation in our discipline. This session is just the begining of a much-needed dialogue among academic and non-academic archaologists and other anthropologists to decide the future of our century-old relationship.
AAA and NASA Mentor-Student Special Workshop
Friday November 30, 2001
7:00 pm-9:00 pmCo-sponsored with the American Anthropological Association
National Association of Student Anthropologists section of AAA will host the "MENTOR-STUDENT SPECIAL WORKSHOP EVENT" this autumn at AAA's Annual Meetings. The two-hour, evening workshop (NASA Members $20.00; non-NASA $40.00) aims to provide STUDENTS one-on-one CONSULTATION TIME with ONE of several prominent academic Professors/Practitioners of anthropology. Ideal for Undergrads/Grads to develop STUDENT NETWORKS and MENTORSHIP CONTACTS.
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