Guest post by Barbara Rose Johnston
I received last week copies of two very different publications reporting on outcomes from the scientific assessment of life in a nuclear warzone. These studies consider, first, the health experience of resident populations living in areas contaminated by nuclear weapons fallout, and, second, the health of people as affected [...]
So-called honor killings take the wind out of a form of cultural relativism that I refer to as absolute cultural relativism. According to absolute cultural relativism, anything that goes on in a particular culture, and is justified within that culture, cannot be questioned or changed by insiders or outsiders. For insiders, such questioning is cultural [...]
European colonists came to North America seeking religious freedom and economic opportunity. They destroyed the very same for those who had lived here for centuries.
One person’s liberty often means someone else’s shackles. One group’s success often means another group is in ruins.
The boom and crackle of Independence Day fireworks in the United States are [...]
Guest post by Eben Kirksey
President Obama turned his back on Indonesia recently — canceling his visit there for the second time this year. His mother, Ann Soetoro, was a cultural anthropologist who spent much of her adult life helping economically-marginalized people of Indonesia. If she were still alive, she might well be disappointed in her [...]
Guest post by Laura Wilson
The United State Institute of Peace recently presented the second part of its program on The Other Side of Gender: Masculinity Issues in Violent Conflict. Panelists Elisabeth Wood, Professor of Political Science at Yale University, and Jocelyn Kelly, Research Coordinator with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, drew on their diverse experiences in [...]
If you still think that “all Haitians” are trapped in “voodoo worship” please read Laura Wagner’s description of her experiences in Haiti following the earthquake. Laura is a PhD candidate in anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and she has been in Haiti conducting research on human rights.
Her report doesn’t mention [...]
The following is a message from David Vine, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at American University:
You can immediately assist the Chagossians by signing the petition by Friday, February 12, to support the rights of the Chagossians and protect the environment in the Chagos Archipelago. Click here for the petition: http://www.marineeducationtrust.org/petition/protect-chagos
The British Government is currently considering the [...]
• Cultural anthropologist wins national award in Australia
A book critiquing public policy toward Australia’s aborigines over several decades has won the Manning Clark House Cultural Award 2009. The awardee is Peter Sutton, a cultural anthropologist and linguist and senior research fellow at the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Museum. His book, The Politics [...]
by Barbara Miller
A category of local conflict in Peru is called conflictos mineros, mining conflicts. The existence of this specific term reflects the frequency of such conflicts in Peru following neoliberal economic reforms in the early 1990s. Fabiana Li, now a Newton International Fellow based at the University of Manchester, conducted research for her doctoral [...]
by Barbara Miller
Poet and political activist Irom Chanu Sharmila has been protesting abuses by Indian military forces in Manipur, northeastern India, for ten years. Fasting unto death is her chosen, nonviolent method of protest. Indian law however now rules that fasting unto death is illegal.
Manipur, located in the northeastern region is India’s most war torn [...]
