ANTHRO: Culture Wars in anthropology

Marshall Sahlins

Napoleon Chagnon

Marshall Sahlins, one of the most eminent cultural anthropologists alive, through down the gauntlet when Napoleon Chagnon, one of the most notorious cultural anthropologists alive, was admitted to the National Academy of Sciences.


Naploeon Chagnon in the mid 1960s

The war within anthropology between nature and nurture has been recast as a debate about the respective importance of genes and environment.  At a more philosophical level, the discipline has been split for decades between the positivist, empiricist scientific tribe, and the literary, interpretive humanistic tribe.

From time to time there is detante, but when memoirs get published or there are elections in the American Anthropological Association, the barbs get sharpened, the drums start beating and the natives get restless.

The endless cycle of warfare returns to the valley.

Here's a New York Times article about how Chagnon became the center of a controversy that spans all of anthropology:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/magazine/napoleon-chagnon-americas-most-controversial-anthropologist.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Here's another article about the controversy:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/02/25/prominent-anthropologist-resigns-protest-national-academy-sciences

If that's not enough, try these from Nicholas Wade:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/science/national-academy-of-sciences-scholar-resigns-over-napoleon-chagnons-admission.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/science/napoleon-chagnons-war-stories-in-the-amazon-and-at-home.html

NPR chimes in:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2013/02/26/172951757/the-napoleon-chagnon-wars-flare-up-again-in-anthropology

GEO: The most friendless people in the world

A few years ago though I read an associated press news item about a gropup in Burma known as the "Rohingya."  They were described as "The most friendless people in the world."  U had never heard of them before, and Until recently I never heard of them again.  Now they are back in the news.

The Rohingya are a persecuted minority living under a brutal regime that is unfriendly even to its citizens, and these were people who, while they had been living in the country for centuries, were not considered citizens and had no rights under the law.  Furthermore, there is no place for them to go, because they have no other home country and no country seems all that thrilled about taking them in.

Even undocumented immigrants in the United States, the Palestinians and other stateless ethnic minorities have advocacy groups and friends in governments around the world.  The Rohingya have virtually nobody troubling themselves on their behalf.

This article in Time Magazine rbought them back to my attention:

Horror at Sea: Adrift for Months, Starving Asylum Seekers Threw 98 Bodies Overboard

Upon further searching it seems the Rohingya have quietly crept back into the news cycle, although they are hardly front page, above the fold.  The term "genocide" is being used now, and like Rwanda, like Sudan, the major media outlets have been largely silent.  That will probably change when the calamity escalates.  I shudder to think of how bad ethnic violence has to get before it gets noticed.





 

 

GEO: Horse: It's what's for dinner- globalization and food supply concerns

This has been in the news a lot recently despite the fast news cycle (after all, it takes a lot to knock the Grammy's the Oscars, Superbowl, Downton Abbey and the Walking Dead off the front page).

From Reuters, via the Huffington Post.

Horsemeat Scandal Raises Concerns Over Europe's Food Quality Control

 

CHINA: Rare Earth Elements, Global Trade and China

Interesting look at the global trade in rare Earth elements (REEs) and China's impact on the industry.

Understanding China's Rare Earth Metals Market: What Changing Regulations Could Mean

Read more: http://www.minyanville.com/trading-and-investing/commodities/articles/Understanding-China2527s-Rare-Earth-Metals-Market/2/8/2013/id/48000#ixzz2KQrx7aoC

ANTHRO: Pandering To The Sensationalist Masses

Time magazine has some interesting articles, but this one just seems beyond the pale with its blan=tent pandering to the Discovery Channell/TLC/History Channel crowd.  Cryotozologists, Sasquwatchers, astronuts and other conspiracy theorists will love this outrageous treatment of what is an uncommon but neverthless fairly well-document practice uncovered by bioarcheologists the world over:  head-wrapping.

 

Ancient Conehead-like ‘Alien’ Skulls Unearthed in Mexico

 

ANTHRO: Food Shopping, Grocery Stores, and The Culture Of Consumption

Grocery stores fascinate me for many reasons.  Here is an academic treatment of grocery shopping by some obscure little university  reasearch lab:

Grocery Shopping Psychology
http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/research/grocery-shopping-psychology.html

The Cornell Food & Brand Lab

In addition, some less academic, more "popular" treatments:

How Grocery Stores Use Psychology to Manipulate Consumers
http://voices.yahoo.com/how-grocery-stores-psychology-manipulate-consumers-6693388.html?cat=46

How Grocery Stores Get You To Spend Your Money Even When You Think You Are Being Thrifty!
http://www.moneymatters101.com/savemoney/gstore.asp

GEO: Immigration reform bill likely in the Senate. What will the House do?

This from "politico":

Senate group reaches immigration deal

Illinois senior senator and co-sponor of the DREAM act Dick Durbin (top- second from left) is among the so-called "gang of 8".
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/senate-group-reaches-immigration-deal-86793
 

And from the New York Times (some multimedia here as well):

Senators Offer a Bipartisan Blueprint for Immigration

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/us/politics/senators-agree-on-blueprint-for-immigration.html?_r=0

 

GEO: Citizenship exam- Are you smarter than an immigrant?

Take the us Citizenship test at the Christian Science Monitor:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0104/Could-you-pass-a-US-citizenship-test/Who-signs-bills?cmpid=prc:ctzn:d&nav=448128-csm_quiz-rcPromo

You must get 58 out of 96 questions correct in order to pass.
92% of immigrants seeking citizen pass the test, although they are given an oral exam where they must answer 6 out of 10 questions correctly to pass.

INDIA: The largest Single Gathering of People on the Planet is a Hindu Ritual

The World of the Kumbh Mela: Inside the Largest Single Gathering of Humanity

Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/01/15/the-kumbh-mela-inside-the-worlds-single-largest-gathering-of-humanity/#ixzz2I9IMtbVA

Update:  (Feb. 10, 2013)

 

 

Pilgrims Killed in Crush to Get Home from Indian Festival

Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/02/10/pilgrims-killed-in-crush-to-get-home-from-indian-festival/#ixzz2KifccrMu

GEO: General Government Debt as Percent of GDP by Country

Really cool site with lots of.... wait for it.... charts and maps!  Woo Hoo!

Can't vouch for the accuracy though- caveat emptor.

Check this one out on Government debt as a percentage of GDP:  On the website, you can roll over countries for more info.  AWESOME!  Also some cool links to check out for other data sources.

http://chartsbin.com/view/2108