teaching anthro at US Marine Corps University

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122362543 [Jan 9, 2010 Nat'l Public Radio, Weekend Edition-Saturday]

In Class, Marines Learn Cultural Cost Of Conflict, mp3 audio download

The students in front of Paula Holmes-Eber wear camouflage and have close-cropped hair. Most of them are Marine officers, and many of them have already been to war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They're here to learn the consequences of their actions.

"Should we change another culture?" she asks the class. "The reality is, the second you land on the ground with 100,000 troops eating and using the materials of the area, you've changed the economy; you've changed the environment."

"It's not should we," she tells them, "it's what are we doing — and is that what we want to be doing?"

An anthropologist, Holmes-Eber trains American warriors to be sensitive to other cultures. She teaches operational culture at Marine Corps University in Quantico, Va. It's her job to get soldiers to think through how every move they make on the battlefield has a consequence — not just for enemy forces, but for ordinary people.

[elipsis]

intro to anthro (2004) OpenCourse online

point of reference when organizing a course to introduce anthro:

 

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Anthropology/21A-100Fall-2004/CourseHome/

the Open Anthropology Cooperative - constellation

sets of interest groups on the Ning platform (one sign-up allows multiple Ning memberships)

http://openanthcoop.ning.com/
As of June 3, there are groups for Visual anthro, Anthro of Japan, Anthro of Brazil, Physical/forensic, and a Forum on general policy of this Cooperative intersection of groupings.

What is Anthropology for?

Anthropologist About Town

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Diary for 28th May to 3rd June 2009 Anthropologists find work in a variety of different fields ranging from working in museums, to working as business consultants, or in development and tourist agencies. Often the word 'anthropologist' does not appear in their job title, but anthropologists use the skills they have learned from their degrees, such as undertaking ethnographic research, analysing cross cultural data, doing interviews and apply these skills to their current roles. Veronica Strang, professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Auckland has written a new book called What do Anthropologists do? The book takes a close look at why anthropologists are in demand for certain roles, and the job opportunities that are open to people studying the degree. It's written in an accessible manner and is a very useful resource for people beginning their exploration of anthropology and those already studying it at university.

video online, Doing Anthropology

Mass. Inst. of Technology's Video Productions has created a new video called Doing Anthropology, to promote greater public understanding about cultural anthropology and the process of fieldwork. The video, which is housed on MIT TechTV (http://techtv.mit.edu/file/663/), is streamable and can be embedded into your personal blog or website.

Not-so-lost Tribe (Brazil-Peru border)

http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/91536/the-not-so-lost-tribe

bbc2 "Tribe" series 1-2-3

[opening snippet] "What is Tribe to me?
"Tribe has been my whole world for the last four years and is the most important thing in my life right now. It's a series about people and culture, our culture as well as others. We hope it's entertaining, because we want people to watch and enjoy, especially people who wouldn't normally tune into this type of programme, but we also hope we can communicate something important about the world." [continues, http://www.bbc.co.uk/tribe/bruce/index.shtml]

titles & links to anthro research papers

Examples of topics today by (U.K.) Goldsmiths > Dept Anthropology 

0. Gorer's Gaze: aspects of the inauguration of audience studies in British Television. Gareth Stanton
   
0. Perilous Ideas: anthropological debates in cross-cultural arts projects. Eleanor Jupp
   
0. Identity, Resettlement and Perceptions of Change: The Vasava Bhils of Gujarat, India. Roxanne Hakim
   
0. The Virile Nation: gender and ethnicity in the construction of Argentinian Pasts. Victoria Goddard
   
0. Enabling Fictions: Politics, Representation, and the Environment in Maluku, Indonesia. Nicola Frost
   
0. The 'politics of the everyday': populism, gender and the media in La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia. Sian Lazar
   
0. Life Down Under: Water and Identity in an Aboriginal Cultural Landscape. Veronica Strang
   
0. 'Sit anywhere you like, we're all friends together': reflections on bingo culture. Katherine Mann
   
0. Studying world society as a vocation. Keith Hart
   
0. Negotiating Autonomy: girls and parental authority in multi-ethnic Norway. Hilde Liden
   
0. Anthropology and Anarchy: their elective affinity. Brian Morris

sniper story ties Michigan to Iraq

While traveling recently I overheard the brief exchange between jet passengers waiting to de-plane. One middle-aged man perceived the younger man to be a member of the U.S. military who was on leave from his assignment. The older man said, "thanks for serving" and the younger man acknowledged this, then added, "we don't get that [recognition] enough." The older one asked whether the soldier was visiting family members, and indeed that was the case. The soldier volunteered that he was to be deployed to Iraq in early 2008 for a 13 month assignment and further said that at least his job was a "good job." He went on to say he was a sniper who was prepared to shoot a person 2000 meters away!

Later at the airport curbside I recognized him leaving with a small older woman who could have been his mother or aunt. The contrast between his casual comment about killing and now the comforts of him going home with (perhaps) his family gave me a mild shock. Come early 2008, when this service member is settled in to do his job, there may be someone there today whose life will end at that date when an order is given and the young man pulls his trigger. Of course, in armed conflicts, though, things can go the other way, too: by accident or according to the enemy's plan.

language links 24 august 2007

wwww.june29.com/HLP =Human Languages Page >Languages and Literature
www.sil.org/ethnologue [6703 languages...]
http://sorrel.humboldt.edu/nasp/lang.html [Native American languages]
www.cs.washington.edu/homes/kgolden/wordbot.html [machine translation, word-for-word]