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12th-Jul-2009 11:49 pm - In need ot advice/suggestions
Hi,

I just want to say that I am a womens studies major with a minor in psych and hoping to do a minor in anthro, however something is stopping be from being able to go to grad school for anthropology

I am deaf with bilateral cochlear implants, I talk quite well for a deaf person, even lip read well too

But I'm stuck at not being able to take foreign languages, which are mainly required for almost the major and minors, I am taking foreign language substitute classes right now

I want to focus on medical anthro in grad school, but I'm not even sure if thatll happen

So I was wondering if there is any advice, esp for someone who is deaf
7th-Jul-2009 05:01 pm - Anthropology & Nuclear Waste Storage
Psyche
How to deal with nuclear waste is a serious question that anthropologists are helping to solve. One major issue is the rise and fall of civilizations while the waste remains dangerous (thousands of years).

"Expert Judgment on Markers to Deter Inadvertent Human Intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant" is a document that tries to answer the questions of how to communicate with people in the far future, through language, culture, and civilization changes that will inevitably occur over the next several thousand years. How to communicate that the nuclear waste is dangerous, how to physically and mentally repel intrusions in the waste area, and how to be sure that future peoples don't ignore these warnings like we currently ignore the curses warned of in ancient Egyptian tombs. Take a look, I found the information to be incredibly interesting and creative. Discussion of linguistics and symbolism start on about page 244.

For more information about the project, Wikipedia has a good little description.
28th-Jun-2009 04:21 am - Recommended Reading
deeeeeelicious pie!
Hey everyone! I'm curious if anyone has any recommended reading for economic or business anthropology. Thanks :D
27th-Jun-2009 11:51 am - I'm Curious!
Pirate Deirdre
So, I found out through AOL's mail snippets that they CT-Scanned some mummies, and one that they thought was female turned out to have male bones.  However, AOL was true-to-form in having very skimpy coverage, with no links to any more complete story.  Does anyone out there have a link to more details?  Why did they think it was a woman "for centuries"?  Do the hieroglyphs on the sarcophagus identify the body as such?

Thanks!
 
21st-Jun-2009 01:52 pm(no subject)
stars
Have any of you found that you really wanted to study a particular culture but were too uneasy (for your health or personal safety) to travel to that country to do fieldwork?  Such as having an interest in Darfur or Iraq. 
Studying
(This has been crossposted a few times, my apologies if you’re seeing this several times.)

I’m currently doing research on LJ for my master’s thesis (I'm in applied anthropology). Specifically I'm looking at relations between LJ, Inc. and LJ members; where the relationship breaks down, how one side sees the other, questions of ownership on the site, profitability/ads, etc.

To that end, I have a survey I’d like to have as many LJ-ers take so I can get a good idea of how the userbase feels about these issues. The survey is here, and it should take a maximum of 10 or 15 minutes to fill out. I am posting this to several communities; if you know of a community I should post this in, either comment here and let me know or feel free to repost this message in its entirety to that community (or to your own LJ!).

Thanks so much for your help!!
Beer
Children who look and smell like their father receive more of their support, compared to kids who resemble dad less.

The study of 30 Senegalese families has provided the first direct link between a father's investment in his children and his physical resemblance to them, though other work has hinted at this connection.

For instance, a study conducted at London's Heathrow Airport found that fathers invested extra time and money in children who looked and behaved like them, compared with dads who said their kid's looks and personalities differed from their own.

Such uncharitable behaviour may seem shocking, but evolutionary theory predicts it. Without a DNA test and an appearance on the Jerry Springer Show, a father can never be absolutely certain that a child is his own.

Therefore, it makes evolutionary sense to divvy out limited resources – be they time, food or money – to children more likely to be legitimate.

Original Article or Read more... )
Delphi
NPR news reports:

As many as 150 federal agents, sheriff's deputies and tribal police served arrest and search warrants in Utah, Colorado and New Mexico Wednesday morning, capping a two-year undercover sting aimed at a black market in ancient Indian artifacts.

The indictments unsealed Wednesday names 24 people and they're charged with violating federal laws that prohibit the digging and selling of centuries-old pots, sandals, religious items and other artifacts left by ancient Native Americans on what is now federal and tribal land.

Most of those targeted live in southeastern Utah, where generations of families have been involved in both a legal and illegal trade in artifacts. Federal law does not prohibit the digging and removal of artifacts from private land.

This artifacts subculture began in the late 1800s, when rancher Richard Wetherill discovered the cliff dwellings of a lost culture referred to as the "Anasazi." The dwellings eventually were protected with the creation of Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.

Wetherill and his family also found burial sites containing clay pots, reed sandals and religious items. That attracted the interest of collectors and museums. A lucrative trade developed that continues in both legal and black market forms today.

Prosecutors have found it difficult to prosecute thefts from federal and tribal lands because the region is vast and remote. "Pothunters," as they're called, are rarely caught in the act and they claim that the items they sell were found on private land.

The sting revealed Wednesday involved 256 artifacts purchased by undercover agents for $333,685. The indictments allege theft of government property, theft from tribal lands and depredation of government property. Both felony and misdemeanor counts are involved. Penalties upon conviction range up to 10 years in prison.

Most of the arrests took place in Blanding, Utah, which is a center of both legitimate and illegal artifacts markets. Arrests also occurred in Moab and Monticello, Utah, and in neighboring Colorado and New Mexico.

The region is known for thousands of archaeological sites containing dwellings and burial grounds of ancient native people who mysteriously vanished before modern tribes appeared. Some archaeologists consider the area to have the world's greatest concentration of artifacts, graves and cliff paintings and etchings.





7th-Jun-2009 11:50 pm - Medical Anthropology
Kathy Griffin D-List
So I graduated with a major in Anthro and minor in Chinese back in 2005....had a very good gpa from a small private university.  Since then I haven't really done much in relation to anthropology (other than lots of traveling), but am looking into going back to get an MA in Medical Anthropology.  As it is a growing field, I had a couple questions for those who are in the process of applying for an MA, or are getting one:

1. Any schools I should look at in Medical Anthropology??
2. How particular are grad schools about knowing the specifics of what you want to study within anthropology when you apply for an MA?? (i.e. My interests within medical anthropology are varied and it always scares me to have to 'limit' my scope before I am able to truly explore the field.. Anyone else have these feelings when thinking about grad school??)
3. As the bulk of my interests lie in the more psychological and cultural aspects of health/sickness with interest in the pacific islands, the medical anthro program at university of Hawaii is very appealing, anyone have experience with this program??
4. Anything, other than taking the GRE, I should do or get experience in before applying??  
5. Do most people in anthro just go straight thru to the PhD or get an MA first and hten decide where to do the PhD??

I've been out of academia for a few years now so am just interested in getting a scope of the process of applying.  Any help is much appreciated!!
7th-Jun-2009 10:31 pm - Graduate schools
rent stage 525600
So, I got a bachelor's from Florida with a specialization in archaeology and a minor in religion.

My biggest problem in looking into graduate school is that 1) I took 4.5 years, and 2) my GPA is 2.96. Well, it SHOULD be higher. I have three Fs that shouldn't exist, but due to paperwork and medical issues, they still exist on my transcript. I'm still TRYING to get them fixed, but at this point I have to operate on the assumption my GPA is as shows and just be pleasantly surprised if it all works out.

So, I'd love to (believe it or not) specialize in religious archaeology. I have a soft spot for primatology, but I really think it's just a passing fascination, not a career choice. (Unfortunately, I didn't take any biological anthro classes until my last semester so I didn't have a chance to explore this.)

So, where can I go that will look at me with my GPA, and/or has a program in religious archaeology? I haven't taken the GRE yet, but I'm confident my scores will be good... I have a knack for standardized testing. I'm also interested in the possibility of online programs that will let me go at a slower pace so I can still work while I go to school. (I haven't decided yet if I want to go back to being a full time student, or if I want to keep working.)

Oh, and I'm looking to start Fall 2010, I think, so I have some time to do my research and study for/take GRE and such.

Any advice would be appreciated... and this will likely be cross-posted.
AVALogo

If you're interested in various subcultural or community studies, the Vampirism & Energy Work Research Study (VEWRS/AVEWRS), sanguinarian and/or psychic vampirism, or the vampire community in general you will want to purchase a copy of this book.  There hasn't been anything quite like this published before... a very different kind of text/approach than that of Ramsland, Guiley, Guinn, and others.

The academic and sociological significance of this work can't be underscored enough.  Laycock offers a sweeping scholarly examination of the vampire community and the process of self-identification as a vampire.  He counters many of the negative stereotypes of the vampire community and posits thought-provoking arguments regarding ontological diversity.  

For More Information See Below Cut )

Additional Notes:  The author holds a Masters of Divinity from Harvard University, a recipient of a grant from the Pluralism Project, and currently enrolled in the Division of Religious and Theological Studies at Boston University where he's working on his PhD.  He has presented on the topic of vampirism at the American Academy of Religion Conference in San Diego where he argued that "vampirism" should not be classified as a new religious movement (NRM) and to faculty at the University of Michigan and other institutional bodies on the sociological and emergent scientific aspects of vampirism.  He will be delivering a paper on Otherkin in August (2009) at the Association for the Sociology of Religion's annual conference in San Francisco, CA.  Laycock is well versed in the structure of the vampire community, has interviewed many individuals from diverse paths, and attended multiple gatherings.

Psyche
WRITING is one of the greatest inventions in human history. Perhaps the greatest, since it made history possible. Without writing, there could be no accumulation of knowledge, no historical record, no science - and of course no books, newspapers or internet.

The first true writing we know of is Sumerian cuneiform - consisting mainly of wedge-shaped impressions on clay tablets - which was used more than 5000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Soon afterwards writing appeared in Egypt, and much later in Europe, China and Central America. Civilisations have invented hundreds of different writing systems. Some, such as the one you are reading now, have remained in use, but most have fallen into disuse.

These dead scripts tantalise us. We can see that they are writing, but what do they say?
Original Article Link or Read more... )
2nd-Jun-2009 03:24 pm - What to do with my life
I have a BA in anthropology (focus on cultural).  I've been out of school for a couple years trying to decide what to study in graduate school.  I think i want to pursue a PhD in cultural anthropology, but I have some issues holding me back.

(A) I don't speak a foreign language and (B) I'm not that interested in studying a culture that speaks a foreign language.  While I'm of course interested in certain areas of the world, what I'd really like to pursue in grad school is something along the lines of women's health/birth practices within the United States.  I know a lot of schools have language requirements, so I'm worried about that. 

(C) I'm worried I won't be able to find a job, whether in academia or museums or wherever.

(D) I'm worried it will take FOREVER (more than four or five years).  Is this something I just have to accept?

Any advice for the undecided?  Thanks!
Psyche
One of Canada's top Arctic archeologists says the remnants of a stone- and-sod wall unearthed on southern Baffin Island may be traces of a shelter built more than 700 years ago by Norse seafarers - a stunning find that would be just the second location in the New World with evidence of a Viking-built structure. The tantalizing signs of a possible medieval Norse presence in Nunavut were found at the previously examined Nanook archeological site, about 200 km southwest of Iqaluit, where people of the now-extinct Dorset culture once occupied a stretch of Hudson Strait shoreline.

A UNESCO World Heritage site at northern Newfoundland's L'Anse aux Meadows - about 1,500 km southeast of the Nanook dig - is the only confirmed location of a Viking settlement in North America. There, about 1,000 years ago, it's believed a party of Norse voyagers from Greenland led by Leif Eiriksson built several sod-and-wood dwellings before abandoning their colonization attempt under threat from hostile natives they called ``Skraelings.''

But over the past 10 years, research teams led by the Canadian Museum of Civilization's chief of Arctic archeology, Pat Sutherland, have compiled evidence from field studies and archived collections that strongly suggests the Norse presence in northern Canada didn't end with Eiriksson's retreat from Newfoundland.

Read Original Article or Read more... )
26th-May-2009 11:34 pm - Anthro-nerd amusement
what the what
Will The Real Pliocene Hominin Please Stand Up?

I am not at all ashamed to admit I watched this three times in a row and laughed til I cried each time.
inhumane
Jared Diamond (not trained as an anthropologist but author of pseudo/pop-anthropology books Collapse and Guns, Germs, and Steel) has been criticized by anthropologists before. But never has he been this resoundingly lambasted. From Science magazine:
‘Vengeance’ Bites Back At Jared Diamond
Michael Balter

On 20 April, well-known biologist and author Jared Diamond was sued in the Supreme Court of the State of New York for allegedly defaming two tribesmen from Papua New Guinea whom he described in The New Yorker as having engaged in a violent "revenge war." The lawsuit, which also names as a defendant Advance Publications Inc., the owner of The New Yorker, demands at least $10 million in damages. It follows a yearlong investigation led by artist Rhonda Roland Shearer, the widow of evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould, who directs a journalism ethics program that publishes a Web site called Stinkyjournalism.org.


The abstract of the original New Yorker article is HERE, Savageminds.org has a list of posts about Jared Diamond HERE, and the latest in Stinkyjournalism.com's "Pig in a Garden" series on Diamond's article is HERE.

ETA: A better summary of the debacle from Stinkyjournalism.com, with updates about the suit, analysis of Diamond's article, investigation of his factual errors, and a critique of Diamond's ethics surrounding the article from a journalistic standpoint, HERE.
20th-May-2009 09:19 pm - Ancient Clay has Internal Clock
Psyche
A new way of dating archaeological objects has been found, using water to unlock their "internal clocks".

Fired clay ceramics start to react chemically with atmospheric moisture as soon as it is removed from the kiln. Researchers believe they can pinpoint the precise age of materials like brick, tile and pottery by calculating how much its weight has changed. The team from Edinburgh and Manchester universities hope the method will prove as significant as radiocarbon dating.
Read at the BBC or Read more... )
20th-May-2009 07:59 am - heh
piglol
check out the google icon for today.
19th-May-2009 04:37 am - Zoo Research
Lucy

Hi guys! I work in education at a zoo and am hoping to do my senior thesis project there. I was wondering if any of you have done your thesis work at a zoo, and if so what was it on? I’m mainly interested in physical anthropology, so I was thinking of doing something in primatology or comparative osteology (we have an extensive primate skeletal collection), but I’m interested in hearing about anything you’ve done at a zoo. Thanks!
 

17th-May-2009 08:09 pm(no subject)
Animals: Chimp think
"In what could prove to be a landmark discovery, a leading paleontologist said scientists have dug up the 47 million-year-old fossil of an ancient primate whose features suggest it could be the common ancestor of all later monkeys, apes and humans."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124235632936122739.html
15th-May-2009 06:35 pm(no subject)
josie laurence whose line icon queen
Hi. Not an anthropologist or even an anthropology student, but I love this community, and I'd thought I'd ask a few questions.

Does anyone know if Neanderthals suffered from anything resembling albinism, or when the gene for human albinism appeared?

Also, does anyone know of any good books or articles about the Cro-Magnon/Neanderthal interbreeding hypothesis?

Thanks!
12th-May-2009 11:56 pm - sex / gender
fair face
working late on a paper...shot in the dark here...

(edited)

Does anyone know when using the word "sex" as a biological category was first differentiated from using the word "gender" as a social category?

OED just gets me modern, especially feminist usage... I think that's pretty obvious, but I'd love to have something more solid.
9th-May-2009 07:02 pm - living traditions
dance
http://www.timraabnorthern.com/ciaw07/

I'm admittedly biased as someone who considers herself a member of this subculture, but do you think this project is at all valuable from an anthro perspective? Or is it just something that's nice? Is there anybody out there in visual anthro or ethnomusicology who would be interested in it?
8th-May-2009 10:08 pm - Possible?
default pix
Hi. I'm not an anthropologist, but I have a question. Is it possible that one or more sub-species of Homo Sapien could have existed in the last, say, 250,000 years - and no evidence has been found yet? One more question: has any significant research been done, to your knowledge, in the Jammu and Kashmir area?
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