This set of images from book 3 in the Memento Mori project shows how it can be surprising to see customs that connect people with their departed; surprising from a distance, but maybe less so when involved in that time and that place and in those relationships.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/9786892899/the-bone-doctor-dr-paul-koudounaris-and-memento-mori

In the online introduction to the book, the author reflects on possible reasons why death has come to be segregated or estranged from most people's daily life; for example, the establishment of germ theory and association of corpse with contagion in some situations. There is also the marketing pressure for what is new, what is current, what is coming next rather than what has come before, with history and on a personal scale, with death.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

shaping skulls by infant wrappings

Illustrated article of the practices in various times and places of shaping skulls into oblong proportions, http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/head-space-artificial-cranial-deformation

Sunday, May 17, 2015

writing for public, general audiences

Anthropology can be bracing stuff, but too often it is read or viewed only be its own denizens.

This blog essay on the methods of New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell points the way to balancing data and drama; (excerpt)

when I use Gladwell with my students, it's as a reminder of the relationship between narrative and argument. Err too much on the side of narrative and you'll weave a captivating tale that might not hold together at the end. However, if you just pile on evidence
without providing a narrative through line, your reader can miss the bigger, brilliant point you are trying to make.

source, https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/05/14/writing-instructor-wonders-if-she-should-encourage-students-gladwell-essay

language localism in USA

from the weekly digest of "most emailed stories" at National Public Radio, npr.org

http://www.npr.org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/05/12/404660475/51-words-the-united-states-of-colloquialisms

Look for the sample words given for each state, below, to see if you recognize any of them still alive today.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

visual culture of Type Font

Among the digest of "most emailed stories" at National Public Radio during the final week of April 2015,

http://www.npr.org/2015/04/28/402736024/for-a-resume-type-font-matters

Monday, April 27, 2015

slang, a short-lived life

excerpt from http://www.npr.org/blogs/npr-history-dept/2015/04/23/401681334/7-lost-american-slang-words

Dingus, 1890s. A nebulous, unspecified object.

Example: Nineteenth century slang may have crescendoed in the 1890s with this report on a new game: Tiddledywinks. "You take a wink, put it on the dingus, press a tiddledy on the wink and make it jump into the winkpot. ... If you succeed, you are entitled to a difficiety and for every wink you jump into the dingpot, from the duwink you count a flictiddledy and you keep on operating the tinkwinkle upon the pollywog until the points so carried equal the sum total of the bogwip multiplied by the putertinktum and added to the contents of the winkpot or words to that effect and you have won the game." From the Tribune in McCook, Neb., on April 24, 1891. And, while writing about operating a coal stove, a Wisconsin person noted this in the Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., on Dec. 28, 1873: "We turned every dingus in the stove that was movable."

Monday, March 2, 2015

wider anthropology - Anthro Day; also - 4 ethnography features

from March 2015 eNewsletter by email to member from E.L. of the American Anthropological Association

A Message from Executive Director, Dr. Edward Liebow

Response to February 19th, the first National Anthropology Day, was nothing short of amazing. A Congressional Proclamation was introduced to recognize the field. More than 80 college campuses, museums and organizations hosted events to participate in the day. Social media was on fire and we congratulate the student anthropology clubs at Minnesota State University - Mankato, El Camino College and Hunter College of the City University of New York, the selfie photo contest winners who each received $100 prizes. We are in conversations with our sister societies in physical, applied, and archeology, as well as the World Council of Anthropological Associations and the IUAES about expanding our horizons for next year. Mark your calendars: February 18, 2016.

from http://writersalmanac.org/ for March 2, 2015, regarding journalist and novel writer, Tom Wolfe:

In an essay published in 2007, Tom Wolfe argued that the newspaper industry would stand a much better chance of survival if newspaper editors encouraged reporters to "provide the emotional reality of the news, for it is the emotions, not the facts, that most engage and excite readers and in the end are the heart of most stories." He said there are exactly four technical devices needed to get to "the emotional core of the story." They are the specific devices, he said, "that give fiction its absorbing or gripping quality, that make the reader feel present in the scene described and even inside the skin of a particular character."

The four: 1) constructing scenes; 2) dialogue — lots of it; 3) carefully noting social status details — "everything from dress and furniture to the infinite status clues of speech, how one talks to superiors or inferiors ... and with what sort of accent and vocabulary"; and 4) point of view, "in the Henry Jamesian sense of putting the reader inside the mind of someone other than the writer."

[perhaps these same elements comprise best practices for ethnographers keen on conveying a multi-sensory experience of "being there"]

Sunday, January 11, 2015

excavating Place Names - what's in a name?

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-dark-history-of-seven-places-branded-by-bloodsheed

Tells stories of sadness connected to locations around the USA.

More well known is the Welsh town with the very, very long name of

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch (or Llanfairpwll, or Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, or Llanfair PG, or just Llanfair as it is known by the locals) is on the Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn) in Wales (Cymru). [source page]

or this lake in western Massachusetts,

http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lake-chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

Then there is Keith Basso, "Place Names among the Western Apache," and his book, Wisdom Sits in Places, http://books.google.com/books/about/Wisdom_Sits_in_Places.html?id=NsiEAAAAIAAJ

Thursday, January 8, 2015

big sculpture - the young Mao Zedong

Pictured around 1925, http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mao-nt-rushmore

This cultural meaning differs in some ways to the oversized heads grouped at Mt.Rushmore and to neighboring Plains Indian leader, Crazy Horse.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

entomophagy - Man eats bug

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel-tips-and-articles/the-worlds-best-places-for-extreme-eating?affil=EML_EDITORIALNEWS_97

[above story from travel publisher Lonely Planet]

Much of the world today, and surely even more in the past includes insects as food source - either seasonal find or cultivated supply.
Interestingly of the term itself, Internet declares first use of the word to date to 1975 (while the practice goes back much earlier).

See also visual authoring team of Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluzio 2010 Man Eats Bug, http://menzelphoto.com/books/meb.php

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

author interview, "Lives in Ruins" (archeologists stories)

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2014/11/12/lives-of-archaeologists [radio story with author interview and links]

Essential reading for grad students and others committing to a life in archeology?

Book Excerpt: 'Lives in Ruins'

By Marilyn Johnson, http://www.marilynjohnson.net/new__i_lives_in_ruins__i__123545.htm

Chapter 1 Field School: Context is everything

Field school is a rite of passage. If you are studying archaeology, or even thinking about it, you need to apprentice yourself to an excavation specifically set up to help train field-workers. This usually takes place in a desert or jungle, a hot and often buggy place at the hottest and buggiest time of year. A century ago, field school meant signing on to a dig under the supervision of an archaeologist, who would teach you the fine art of excavating while hired locals did the hard labor. Now the locals work as translators, drivers, guides, or cooks, and the students do the heavy lifting, moving rocks and hauling dirt and slag—for instance, in a foul pit in Jordan that, back in the tenth century b.c., was a copper smelt. "I can't prove it," the lead archaeologist at that site told National Geographic, "but I think that the only people who are going to be working in this rather miserable environment are either slaves . . or undergrads." Students not only work without the prod of a whip, they pay for the privilege. Field schools got that school in their name by charging tuition, quite a lot of it, usually thousands of dollars. Where would archaeology be without these armies of toiling grads and undergrads? Are they the base of a pyramid scheme that keeps excavations going with their labor and fees?

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

eBook at amazon.com, http://www.amazon.com/Lives-Ruins-Archaeologists-Seductive-Rubble-ebook/dp/B00IHZNRQE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

abandoned civilization sites

Nice collection of pictures and brief descriptions, http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2014/09/10-ancient-settlements-abandoned-mysterious-reasons

Saturday, September 13, 2014

annual look at anthropology programs

Each year, the AAA compiles a comprehensive listing of academic programs, museums, government agencies, non-profits, and research firms to assist educators and students at all levels in locating information and resources. Search online now. Alternatively a soft cover copy of the 2014-2015 AnthroGuide can also be purchased for your library or college advising office through the AAA Online Store on AAA's website. Print copies are $70+S/H.

Additionally, we want to hear from you in case you have suggestions for others who might benefit from hearing about the free resource! Please email any suggestions to help us reach parents and students who would like information on this resource. You can reach us at guide@aaanet.org [cross posting from O. Schmid at aaanet.org]

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

cultural heritage (task force), Am.Anthro.Assoc.

created November 2013 at the American Anthropological Association [the following text comes from 2013 Annual Report]

visit its webpage: www.aaanet.org/cmtes/commissions/Task-Force-on-Cultural-Heritage.cfm

AAA Creates CulturalHeritage Task Force

In an effort to respond to threats to both tangible and intangible heritage at both home and abroad (see sidebar), AAA, under the leadership of President Leith Mullings, created a Task Force on Cultural Heritage (TFCH) in November of 2013. The task force aims to offer critical guidelines on the many aspects of heritage management, preservation, and tourism with respect to the role of anthropology and other professionals in this arena, with the ultimate goal of increasing appreciation and understanding of cultural heritage in anthropological and public discourse and to assist the Executive Board in developing effective positions and practices on cultural heritage issues worldwide.

As noted by TFCH co-chair Susan Gillespie (U Florida) cultural heritage issues have become an increasingly important element of the cultural

landscape and loom large in the intellectual and political landscape for anthropology. These issues include continuing debates over preservation

and interpretation of historic materials, the growing heritage and tourism industries, challenges to the intangible heritage and property rights of

living communities and the loss of indigenous languages.

The task force is charged with the following:

Examining what "cultural heritage" means to different constituencies and how it relates to different areas of

anthropological inquiry in order to guide the implementation of AAA positions and practices.

Investigating how other professional associations are dealing with cultural heritage nationally and internationally and incorporate

their best practices in recommendations for new structures or formations that will allow the AAA to become and remain actively

engaged in cultural heritage issues.

Recommending ways to increase training in cultural heritage issues in undergraduate and graduate anthropology curricula and via

continuing education in other venues.

Identify sustainable means for coordinated collaboration among relevant AAA committees and sections as well as with other

professional organizations, trade associations and similar organizations involved with cultural heritage.

Recommending ways for the AAA to become a leading association for national and international dialogue and change regarding

cultural heritage, identifying the special or unique contributions the AAA can make in this regard. A blue-ribbon panel will be organized at

the 2014 AAA meeting in Washington, DC to bring together experts to contribute recommendations.

Helping to draft or coordinate advocacy letters and statements until such time as more permanent entities can carry out that task, and

devise guidelines and protocols for such letters and statements and Recommending initiatives to increase awareness of cultural

heritage issues and to educate the membership and the public about anthropological perspectives on cultural heritage and its

protection. The task force plans to have a regular column in www.anthropology-news.org to disseminate information on cultural

heritage concerns and analysis.

The task force is co-chaired by Susan Gillespie and Teresita Majewski, and other members include Sarah Cowie (U Nevada–Reno), Michael Di Giovine (West Chester U Pennsylvania), T. J. Ferguson (U Arizona), Antoinette Jackson (U South Florida), Rosemary A. Joyce (UC Berkeley), Morag Kersel (DePaul U), Richard Meyers (South Dakota State U), Stephen Nash (Denver Museum of Nature & Science) and Mark Turin (Yale U).

For more information on the TFCH, visit its webpage: www.aaanet.org/cmtes/commissions/Task-Force-on-Cultural-Heritage.cfm.

Friday, July 4, 2014

death & dying, Pet Cemetery edition

Among the well-illustrated, rich subjects for articles at Atlas Obscura is death and dying (mortuary practices around the world).

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/photographing-pet-cemeteries-a-dignified-death-for-our-departed-pets is about handling of dear pets.

But searching by country, language, culture or topic brings lots of food for thought at www.atlasobscura.com, too.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

land grab - Native America

interactive map shows timelapse of lands taken from earliest residents, http://hnn.us/article/156042

ossuary of Brno, CZ (50,000 souls)

Lots of pictures from wikimedia and a 3 min. video from city of Brno,

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/brno-is-the-new-sedlec

This website has an eclectic mix of visual articles from all corners of the world, searchable by topic or location.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

anthro in public - blog of Forensic Anthropology

In today's miscellany of visual stories at www.atlasobscura.com was a story and link to the blog of anthropologist Dolly S. whose "Strange Remains" dwells on forensic subjects. Perhaps it is an example of anthro for wider, public consumption.

http://strangeremains.com/

Saturday, May 3, 2014

powers of Time Lapse photos played back

Motion picture effect is created by recording still images and playing back as a sequence of frames.

Wedding ceremony being rehearsed [seen on 3 May 2014], http://vimeo.com/93689992

The search string, http://vimeo.com/tag:time+lapse will bring up a set of projects that depict the passage of time. Common themes are clouds moving, sun setting or rising, other weather phenomena developing, growth of plants such as flowers blooming. But occasionally something more directly anthropological appears, such as the ritual of wedding (rehearsal).

Sunday, April 13, 2014

material culture - photo project; rubbish from home

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2014/04/12/in-photos-taking-the-lid-off-america-s-trash-cans
is a short intro to the photo & written essays and includes link to project website, http://www.glad.com/trash/waste-in-focus

...photojournalist Peter Menzel and writer Faith D'Aluisio's project called 'Waste in Focus'. The photo series looks at what eight families around the U.S. are recycling, composting and sending to landfill.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

View the world with these 40 surprising maps‏

Visual context for worldview in 40 maps: These visual treats will prompt lots of thinking and talking.
Share with others keen on understanding the world and its people.

http://asheepnomore.net/2013/12/29/40-maps-will-help-make-sense-world/

Writing Systems of the World is one example, below.

Monday, January 13, 2014

lexical distances among European languages

Great graphic,

http://elms.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/lexical-distance-among-languages-of-europe/?utm_content=buffer5b8c8&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer#!

short articles & links to ponder or prompt discussions

as seen in the January 2014 newsletter from www.nextvistalearning.org

Teacher GC explains that words are built from both meaning and structure,
and the importance of history in knowing why words are what they are. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mbuwZK0lr8

...Google maps tool for visualizing changes over time. A new site, Timelapse, takes that tool and identifies a number of the most interesting spots, as well as a field for choosing a new spot to examine. ...click on "Explore the World" at the lower right of the gray area, just before the paragraph describing the tool gets going. The Dubai one is fascinating - zoom out enough to see the palm-frond-looking extensions into the gulf. http://world.time.com/timelapse/

...comparisons and simple research on countries around the world using the World Data Atlas, a free app from the Chrome Web Store. The data choices include GDP, unemployment, birth, death, and fertility rates, and much more. You'll have to use Chrome as your browser to get it, of course. http://goo.gl/6pOYcP

This video (~14 minutes) is a promotional piece for the service organization Rotary International, and speaks of the dust storms from the Gobi Desert and the economic future of Mongolia. http://vimeo.com/21202577

Video by a girl telling about potatoes, sprouts, and chemicals that inhibit sprouts. It may well make you think about organic produce in a new way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exBEFCiWyW0

About approaching historical levels of inequality that could breed violent class conflict. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM

For those who advocate for really high standards of testing subjects in school, consider where author Robert A. Heinlein set the bar.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

life on 24th July 2010 - collage documentary

Executive producer Ridley Scott of movie making fame lent his talents to this project the took in video clips from 192 countries, totaling 4500 hours of recording with contributors answering a few simple questions. The resulting 94 minutes gives a glimpse of life on the planet as told by its peoples.

http://www.youtube.com/movie/life-in-a-day

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Fwd: Daily digest for August 3, 2013

Teaching Materials Exchange

Looking for new ideas and materials for fall term? Check out AAA's new Teaching Materials Exchange. Search by course, syllabus, keyword or even instructor. Or browse through the database of more than 90 syllabi and teaching tools.

Don't forget to submit your materials to share as well.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

languages & power in R.South Africa

http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/university-venus/power-language-or-language-power

excerpt

...Although South Africa's Constitution recognises eleven national languages, English – spoken as a home language by only 9.6% of South Africans – has become the language of power; it is the language of government, business, the media, and academia. African languages do not share the same status as English and, to a lesser extent, Afrikaans, which still retains some prominence partly because of its privileged status under apartheid. A degree or course in English at university will help a graduate in accountancy to find a job. Proficiency in isiXhosa (spoken by 16% of South Africans) or Sepedi (9.1%) probably will not.
....

Saturday, July 27, 2013

regional USA - Michigan language & map sense

http://melbel.hubpages.com/hub/Michigan-Accent [local accents around the state of Michigan]

http://melbel.hubpages.com/_mas/hub/You-Know-Youre-From-Michigan-When [USA areas seen from Michigan-centric viewpoint]

see the included illustration,

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

scenes from London Anthropology Day 2013

photos online at flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/raieducation/with/9308899412/

Since 2005 this national event has welcomed recent college students, those about to enter college and those recently graduated to discover some of the fields and tasks of anthropology as it is offered at the departments around the U.K.
See Also, L.A.D. on Facebook; as well as the Youtube channel for RAI, including the 5 minute overview of the recent A-Level exam for precollege courses in anthropology offered in the U.K., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR6kJk8n1DA

Here the pages from the new brochure about the A-Level programme.

Write the education officer for further details, education [at]therai.org.uk

Thursday, June 6, 2013

google maps for tribal stories (Memory Places)

Not just for U.S.A. Civil War conflict sites, but also in the people of the Amazon to annotate the online maps with "les lieux de memoires" (memory places that Pierre Nora first described in 1993):

minute 23:20 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMBJ2Hu0NLw

Thursday, May 23, 2013

San Francisco, CA (underwater) archeology - Whaling Ship

Breaking the Candace: The 300 Spear Street Project
The Candace was a whaler built in Boston in 1818 that was discovered buried beneath San Francisco that was excavated by Dr. Jim Allan and
archaeologists from William Self Associates, Fresh from a voyage to the Arctic, the Candace limped into San Francisco leaking badly. It was
condemned and never sailed again.
The archaeological investigation revealed not only the Candace but also a ship breaking yard where Chinese laborers dismantled vessels and recycled
their component parts. All these aspects of 19th century life in San Francisco are covered in the three galleries that comprise the online exhibit. Breaking the Candace features a video introduction by Dr. Allan, slideshows, an interactive poster, site plans, a PDF version of the report, and video footage of the wreck being lifted from the site.

Tour the exhibit by clicking the link at the MUA, http://www.themua.org/

Thursday, March 7, 2013

online "Saving 10,000 lives" at YouTube

On March 6, 2013 the director, Dr. Rene Duignan, presented his 51 minute movie about the high rate of suicide in Japan to members of the news media & the National Diet. He documents the problem, the causes, the solutions, and the social consequences. Mental health professionals, researchers, teachers, friends and family members may benefit from this open discussion of a difficult topic.

http://tinyurl.com/saving10000 [full movie just uploaded], http://www.saving10000.com [website, including trailer for movie]

Friday, March 1, 2013

New short film: The Huala of China's Sanchuan Region

See the huala (trance mediums/ shamans) among the Mangghuer people of the Sanchuan Region, on the northeast Tibetan Plateau. The movie is intended for a general, rather than an academic, audience, so please feel free to share the link with your students, neighbors, grandmas, etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUjLwtix2_U

The Gods Incarnate - The Huala of China's Sanchuan Region

This film is about ordinary people who incarnate deities. These people are called huala in the Mangghuer language. Huala are found in the Sanchuan Region, on the northeastern Plateau, in China

[G. Roche]

Monday, December 17, 2012

rock song of USA, Japan cliches

Here is a highly polished, context-free, series of icons and stereotypes presented in the form of a music video from USA expat in Japan, A. York.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcAscMMScc4

The presentation includes a playful, self-aware, ironic or parodic dimension.

But as an example of a Cultural Production, it is heavily laden with popular, commercial or commoditized meanings.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Mayan calendar talk, end of 2012 viewpoint

compact discussion, http://www.insidehighered.com/audio/2012/12/03/mayan-calendar

Friday, November 30, 2012

small town photo albums online - social analysis & visual anthro fodder?

http://miserybay.usanethosting.com/wordpress/category/features/album/

Comes from the weekly online newspaper, The St. Johns Independent, or sjindy.

Citizen reporters supply some of the photo sets.

And while there is little context or captioning, still there is some social & cultural information that can be extracted from these sources.

To locate this county seat in middle Michigan, USA, map search by postal (Z.I.P.) code 48879.

The population is about 7,000 and in 2006 it celebrated 150 years since its foundation in 1856.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Egyptian Archaeology, podcast 'academic minute'

In today's Academic Minute, the University of Toronto's Mary-Ann Pouls Wegner describes some recent finds from an archaeological excavation in Abydos, Egypt. Wegner is assistant professor of Egyptian archaeology in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at Toronto. She also serves at Project Director for the North Abydos Votive Zone Project. Find out more about her here. A transcript of this podcast can be found here.

File:

5-21-12 Toronto - Egyptian Archaeology.mp3

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/audio/2012/05/21/egyptian-archaeology
Inside Higher Ed

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

archeology from satellites

In today's Academic Minute, Jason Ur of Harvard University explains how archaeologists are using declassified satellite images to locate previously unknown ancient sites. Learn more about the Academic Minute here.

link: http://www.insidehighered.com/audio/2012/05/15/satellite-archaeology

Friday, March 30, 2012

languages live and die

Recent feature stories on (Internet audio & transcripts) Radio:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/03/19/147809425/digital-technologies-give-dying-languages-new-life

There are some 7,000 spoken languages in the world, and linguists project that as many as half may disappear by the end of the century. That works out to one language going extinct about every two weeks. Now, digital technology is coming to the rescue of some of those ancient tongues.

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/14/135402002/dying-language-speakers-wont-talk-to-each-other [4/2011]
Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquez are the only two people in the world who still speak Ayapaneco. This centuries-old language of Mexico is in danger of becoming extinct, and yet, the two aren't talking. An anthropologist working on a dictionary with the two aging men described Segovia as a "little prickly" and Velazquez as "more stoic."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106783656 [7/2009]

Shoshone is one of many American Indian languages that is in danger of becoming extinct. But 10 Shoshone high school students from rural Idaho, Utah and Nevada hope to become future guardians of the language. This summer, they're spending six weeks at the University of Utah for the Shoshone Youth Language Apprenticeship Program.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14537549 [9/2007]

A study based supported by the National Geographic Society and the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages identifies regions around the world where languages are dying. We hear some words from these disappearing languages.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

music class - bringing in diverse human experiences

While visiting a high school choir class, the anthropologist in me found ways to introduce vocal art to illustrate some of the variety of music expression. Surely there are more or better references to sample, but these came first to mind:

-(Japan) Noh theater solos
-(Polynesia? Micronesia?) hymn in quarter tones
-(Swiss; USA) yodeling
-(USA) work songs to synchronize group exertions
-(USA) Sacred Harp (shape note singing) in hollow square
-(USA) rapping (cf. Bobby McFerrin vocal percussion)
-(USA) vocal jazz 'scat singing'
-(Scotland) mouth music (imitating instruments)
-(ancient Britain) slaves brought to Imperial Rome: novelty of singing in 3rds
-(Bulgaria) women's chorus singing in 9ths and 7ths
-(Central Asia) Tuva "throat singing"
-song circles for healing
-(India) mantra repetitions

These could be extra-credit assignments for students to report to the class (or in writing to the teacher), for the teacher to playback samples (Wikipedia; Wikimedia), to demonstrate and challenge students to produce each of these.

Why don’t other animals produce or consume such things as dance, music, visual art...

Humans feel motivated to create and consume many artistic forms. Why don't other animals produce or consume such things as dance, music, visual art, verbal arts of story and lyric and declamation?

Recognizing patterns and relationships, then applying ones known by experience to new material is something that characterizes human minds and hearts. In abstract terms this search for meaning is an extension from the core motivation in spoken (and thus also written) language. For some reason a given musical phrase, movement sequence, or choice of words stands out in a person's mind. It "means" something or resonates with a feeling or concept in one's own mind, as yet perhaps not articulated into a definite form. The artist answers a specific itch by producing sequences of pattern and meaning. The audience may dwell on a novel piece of work to grasp it, or in dim recognition of knowing it from another place or medium. Alternatively the audience may be actively seeking something to touch the itch they feel, and therefore browse rapidly through the works until they find something partly or fully connected to the meaning they are seeking. In the case of visual arts, the elements of composition, light, texture, narrative (intertexuality) or context could spark the feeling of recognition and personal meaning attached to the work. In other words the meaning can be perceived indirectly, incidentally and thus unintentionally.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

radio on Fridays, "Science Friday" each week

The list of topics discussed is at http://www.sciencefriday.com/topics/

Among these are
ARCHEOLOGY, http://www.sciencefriday.com/topics/c130400/
ANTHROPOLOGY, http://www.sciencefriday.com/topics/c130200/
MUSEUMS, http://www.sciencefriday.com/topics/c050300/

Sunday, December 18, 2011

"the Indians" and "the colonists" in 1750s N. America

Discussion of interaction between colonists in North America and the native peoples, as written in Fur and Fortune: in Part III (after the French and Indian wars of 1750s-60s) the narrator (of the audio book version) refers to "The Indians." And yet this catch-all phrase sweeps together groups big and small, ones friendly and hostile to "The Europeans" or to "The English Speakers." Elsewhere there are some smaller categories such as Five Nations or Algonkian tribes. But it would probably be more true to experience of those on the ground at the time to refer to themselves not as categories of some abstract Nation (which is the label we organize citizens by today) but according to their location, local leader or some other term of limited scale. For the author perhaps the analytical goal of grouping anonymous souls into competing interests is useful, but probably this corresponds little to the local experience that motivated and guided the people being so labeled. Forever there is a tension between analytical abstraction and anonymity on the one hand and names and faces of individual lives and significance on the other hand.

[reference, Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America]

Friday, December 9, 2011

grouping the colors according to one's language/culture

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

underwater cultural resources (conference reports)

The Inaugural Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage begins next week in Manila, Philippines (http://www.apconf.org/).
The Museum of Underwater Archeology will post the proceedings online (over 80 presentations and posters) at the MUA's new research tool website in the coming weeks, http://www.themua.org

Saturday, October 29, 2011

underwater archeology - diver's photos

The MUA is excited to announce a new research tool based on experimental crowd-sourced image collecting. In an effort to capture the changes over
time on an in situ shipwreck, sport divers and archaeologists have contributed photographs of a single wreck over the span of several years.
Our goal is to recruit additional images from divers who have visited the site. As the image collection grows so too will the opportunity to study
site formation processes over time.

Our inaugural shipwreck subject is the SS Yongala, submerged in Australian waters. Some of the submissions received so far lack detailed information
regarding the specific area of the wreck pictured. We strongly encourage anyone with additional knowledge of individual photos, the wreck in
general, or further images to contribute to contact us at research@themua.org . We will also consider creating additional galleries
to highlight other appropriate wrecks if there are a sufficient number of submissions.

This is an experimental project for the MUA; we will continue to refine the look and feel of the tool based on the level of public participation.
The gallery can be viewed by clicking on the link on the home page here: http://www.themua.org

Monday, October 17, 2011

what is anthropology about?

October 2011 the department of anthropology at University of South Florida was threatend with closure, so graduate students there created a beautiful response to answer the question, "what is anthropology for? [relevance]: http://prezi.com/vmvomt3sj3fd/this-is-anthropology/

Monday, August 22, 2011

amazon basin & archeology sites world-wide (Google "street view")

Using the well tested array of cameras facing in multiple directions, Google Streetview goes to the Amazon ecozone as well as to cultural heritage sites worldwide,

http://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/google-offers-stay-at-home-adventurers-street-view-images-of-the-amazon/

APPLIED ethnography of the libraries in Illinois

Here is an example of using anthropology to answer some basic questions of the Taken-for-granted contexts that we find ourselves immersed in unreflectively.

[excerpt] The ERIAL (Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries) project -- a series of studies conducted at Illinois Wesleyan, DePaul University, and Northeastern Illinois University, and the University of Illinois's Chicago and Springfield campuses -- was a meta-exercise for the librarians in practicing the sort of deep research they champion. Instead of relying on surveys, the libraries enlisted two anthropologists, along with their own staff members, to collect data using open-ended interviews and direct observation, among other methods.

full URL, http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/08/22/erial_study_of_student_research_habits_at_illinois_university_libraries_reveals_alarmingly_poor_information_literacy_and_skills

Thursday, August 18, 2011

radio story from the annual Crow Fair (5-day festival in S.E. Montana)

2011-08-10 096 Crow Fair I: Gathering the Tribes

A century ago the six Crow Reservation Districts came together for a cultural gathering with other Great Plains tribes. The Crow Fair honors that tradition with a "giant family reunion under the Big Sky." Every third weekend of August the Apsaalooke Nation puts on a five-day festival in southeastern Montana, with a parade, Pow Wow, rodeo, and traditional and fancy dancing. In 1977 a team of NPR producers and recordists spent a week collecting sounds and interviewing people at this annual event. This early ambient sound-portrait breathes with the arts and activities of the Crow people.

Part one of two. Listen…

Thursday, July 28, 2011

bronze age - so many dolmens on the SW Korean peninsula

www.dolmen.com has an option for English and Japanese, too. The site dates to 2001, so there is not a lot of video, blog feedback or panoramic views and maps, but it does introduce this wealth of ancient society, quoting that 19,000 of the world's known 55,000 dolmens are located in the Jeollanam-do (sw province) of South Korea.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

socio-linguistics, American English: Getting on well, thanks

** American English: Getting on well, thanks ** http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/world-us-canada-14285853

The debate over the use of Americanisms has divided readers of these pages in recent weeks. Here, American lexicographer and broadcaster Grant Barrett offers an American perspective.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Politicization and Archaeology

Fears About Politicization of Israeli Archaeology

The heads of four major archaeological institutes at Israeli universities have written to Limor Livnat, the country's culture minister, to ask that she withdraw proposed changes to the Antiquities Authority Law, Haaretz reported. Currently the chair of the Antiquities Authority Council must be a scientist who is a member of the Israel's National Academy of Sciences. Livnat has argued that the pool of candidates isn't large enough, and she wants to be able to select someone after consulting with the National Academy of Sciences, but not necessarily from that body. The academic institute leaders argue that this shift is an attempt to put a right-leaning scholar in charge of the council and its work.

[from Inside Higher Ed.com, http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/07/22/qt#265849 ]

Monday, July 18, 2011

crossing Neanderthals and H.Sapiens Sapiens 35,000 years ago?

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/07/neanderthal-human-mating/
emerging details continue to surface

Thursday, July 7, 2011

naming a baby - what does it mean or indicate?

Naming Trends And How Parents-To-Be Face 'Baby-Name Hostility'

[excerpt] from radio, www.npr.org
When people find out they're expecting, choosing a name for their baby can be one of their most stressful tasks.
Part of that stress is because there has been a "baby-naming revolution" over the last half-century, says Laura Wattenberg, who wrote The Baby Name Wizard: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

archeology; graffiti; Israel

Archaeologists Unscramble Ancient Graffiti In Israel

June 19, 2011 Tomb graffiti is "a spontaneous verbal outburst" that can help archaeologists learn more about ancient communities. The history sleuths decipher the messages and learn about the personal and private lives of ancient Jews.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

London Anthro Days 2011; also at U.Manchester

University of Manchester School of Social Sciences
'Discover Social Anthropology': 30th June 2011

http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/disciplines/socialanthropology/undergraduate/discover/
This is a departmental open day to enable teachers and 6th form students to discover what social anthropology and its new A-level is all about and can mean for their teaching/studies.

[L.A.D. 2011 DETAILS TO FOLLOW]

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

linguistics quirk, "foreign accent syndrome"

wherein a damage suffered to a specific spot in the language processing region results in systematic shifts in vocal production so that the person gives the impression of speaking with a foreign accent:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/06/01/136824428/a-curious-case-of-foreign-accent-syndrome

[excerpt]
When Karen Butler went in for dental surgery, she left with more than numb gums: She also picked up a pronounced foreign accent. It wasn't a fluke, or a joke — she'd developed a rare condition called foreign accent syndrome that's usually caused by an injury to the part of the brain that controls speech.

Butler was born in Bloomington, Ill., and moved to Oregon when she was a baby. She's never traveled to Europe or lived in a foreign country — she's an American, she says, "born and bred."

Monday, May 9, 2011

online journals of anthropology around the world

...web listings for most of the anthropological journals in the world. This information has been placed on the World Council of Anthropological Associations webpage
http://www.wcaanet.org/
The journals are listed under "Publications," with some 500 journals in all, a proportion of which offer free access to all of their articles on-line.

Monday, April 25, 2011

local identity - Cornwall in England

via radio on April 25, 2011:

In England, Cornwall Pays No Mind To Royal Wedding
Prince William, who's second in line to the British throne, is marrying Kate Middleton on Friday. The images and voices that will fill the airwaves that day will portray a kingdom full of loyal and joyous subjects. But in Cornwall, where the map says it is part of England, they don't feel very English.

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/25/135697378/in-england-cornwall-pays-no-mind-to-royal-wedding

Monday, April 11, 2011

toys and gender and language

Gender stereotypes woven into language of toy ads

(word cloud to visually represent which words are most often used to market/package toys)

Friday, April 8, 2011

linguistic fun. FW: LOL

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12893416

LOL around the world

mdr (and derivatives)

French version, from the initials of "mort de rire" which roughly translated means "dying of laughter"

חחח‎/ההה

Hebrew version. The letter ח is pronounced 'kh' and ה is pronounced 'h'. Putting them together makes "khakhakha"

555

Thai variation of LOL. "5" in Thai is pronounced "ha", three of them being "hahaha"

asg

Swedish abbreviation of the term Asgarv, meaning intense laughter

mkm

Afghan abbreviation of the Dari phrase "ma khanda mikonom", which means "I am laughing"

Thursday, April 7, 2011

mapping Online Dating word choices

Visualizations of online dating language, http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/05/visualizations-of-on.html

R. Luke DuBois... became fascinated with the language used in the profiles. So he overlaid data from 19 million online dating profiles onto US maps.

[interview with Turnstyle magazine] ...In addition to color-coded maps by gender, he also scanned a Rand-McNally Road Atlas into his computer and replaced the city names with unique words. "Not the word people used the most [in their dating profiles] – but the word that was used uniquely in that place – the word that shows up there more than anywhere else," said DuBois. The atlas maps are labelled with 20,000 unique words. He rattled off some combinations:

Dallas – "rich" Houston – "symphony" Santa Cruz – "liberal"
Atlanta – "God," "company," "coca," "jazz," "protestant"

GIS and underwater archeology - example from Florida

David Conklin, a recent graduate of the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, describes his work at Little Salt Spring in Florida. David used GIS and videography to produce a photomosaic image that could be used for recording context within an excavation level.

Clicking the link on the home page of the Museum of Underwater Archeology, http://www.themua.org

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

pronunciation and identity - British Regions

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12619718

[excerpt] ...This is because US audiences tend to identify the British accent with notions of social standing and refinement rather than geographical location, according to London-based film critic Ray Bennett of the Hollywood Reporter magazine, who spent 30 years living in North America.

"I'm from Kent, and people would ask me if I knew the Beatles," he says. "They think a British accent is like that of Alistair Cook. They aren't particularly conscious of regional differences.

"To them, an English accent is, basically, one that connotes class."

Saturday, February 19, 2011

about endangered languages (UNESCO Redbook project)

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/themes/languages-and-multilingualism/endangered-languages/faq-on-endangered-languages/

sample entry for VULNERABLE level of endangerment within the boundaries of Peru (62 languages endangered; 10 of these at the vulnerable level; example - the Quechua spoken in and around Cusco)

Saturday, February 12, 2011

qualitative methods (ethnography) book

via the Council for Anthropology and Education (Am.Anthro.Assoc section):

Subject: [CAE_listserv] RE: Book for Qualitative Methods

...At the risk of being immodest, I would recommend the second edition of "Designing and Conducting Ethnographic Research," which is book one of the seven volume, exhaustive, Ethnographer's Toolkit. Book One is designed to be a comprehensive overview of qualitative and ethnographic research, from when it's appropriate through how to collect AND analyze data to issues of interpretation and ethics specific to such data. Jean J. Schensul and I have authored the entire series, minus book four, which is an edited volume of chapters describing cutting edge supplementary ethnographic methods, written by various authors who are experts in the use of those specific techniques.

The first edition of the entire Toolkit (1999) is available from Altamira Press, which is a division of Rowman and Littlefield. They also are publishing the second edition of the Toolkit; Book One is done and available for purchase; Books 2-5 (conceptual frameworks (2), essential data collection techniques (3: interviewing, observing, participant observation, and confirmatory ethnographic surveys), complementary data collection techniques and issues (4), and data analysis and interpretation (5)) will be available in early summer, and the final two books, Ethics and Relationships in the Field, and Team Research and Research Partnerships, will be available in fall. The latter two books are entirely new for the second edition, as are a number of the chapters in book 4.

Take a look at Book One; I think that it's what you would want for your course; I've used it myself for the same purpose and students loved the profuse examples and the reading level. We attempted to keep the content at a very high level, but make the text itself quite accessible. So while it's a "primer", we didn't dumb it down

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

big archeology in Indiana

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/03/132412112/the-prehistoric-treasure-in-the-fields-of-indiana

It's 1988. Workers building a road in Mt. Vernon, Ind. damage an ancient burial mound, causing a treasure trove of silver and copper to pour from the ground. A bulldozer operator decides to grab some of the treasure. He ends up in prison for looting.

It sounds like the plot of an Indiana Jones film, only it's not a movie. The treasure belonged to a mysterious and advanced culture that flourished in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. nearly 2,000 years ago. Because it predates the written record, this prehistoric culture doesn't have a Native American name but in the 1800s, archaeologists dubbed it the Hopewell Tradition.

An exhibit of artifacts from the Hopewell site, curated by the Indiana State Museum and on display at the Angel Mounds State Historic Site in Evansville, Ind. through Jan. 14, is raising some fresh questions about these ancient Americans.

[opening excerpt from radio on Jan. 3, 2011]

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Thursday, July 9, 2015

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Sunday, July 5, 2015

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Thursday, June 4, 2015

Sunday, May 31, 2015