from Dr. Robert Borofsky at Center for Public Anthropology, March 24, 2020
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Public Anthropology
c/o 45-045 Kamehameha Hwy., Kaneohe, HI 96744
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
45 years of fieldwork --documenting Japanese rural life in Kyushu since the 1970s
This newly released documentary will interest students of ethnography, not just those keen on life in Japan.
It is the first edition looking back at Joy Hendry's 45 years of anthropology field work in rural Japan (near Fukuoka), recorded during her fall 2019 return there in this documentary (later this year an enhanced version will be released, she sasys); about 45 minutes in length, Here is part of her email message on March 15, 2020 to the East Asia Anthropology listserv, forwarded with her permission. The idea of fieldwork scholars making a recap of their projects and career this way in visual form sets a good example to follow.
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...how we did anthropology in those days, and how things in rural Japan have changed, a film my son made last year when I went to return some family trees and a village chart to the people I worked with in 1975 will give you an idea. The film still has a few glitches, but might be interesting, especially as many of us are virtually housebound at present. https://youtu.be/x7qptoXqnhE "Understanding Japanese Culture - 45 years researching a village in rural Japan"
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
the 100 languages as of 2020
Something like 100 languages have written form to go with them. The other 6800 that remain on Earth are spoken-only.
This visual represenation of the biggest number of language speakers includes some explanation and discussion.
Seeing the reverse - least number of speakers - in visual form wold be good, too!
One of the easily overlooked features of the (English language) Wikipedia is the sidebar at lower left in which a given topic is shown with hotlinks to all the other language-versions of Wikipedia, when that topic is also available there. Some subjects have lots of corresponding articles; others have few. In some cases the biggest number of Wikipedia articles (found in English, Dutch, German) provide outline and some content for the other languages. But in other cases the article is composed from scratch, using supporting documents of that other language, with little or no reference to the English or another source article.
Saturday, June 22, 2019
languages of Australia - last chance, Miriwoong
video story via BBC in June 2019 about the people, places, and language of Miriwoong.
Thursday, May 30, 2019
close-up look at Orangutans of Sumatra
Just 6,000 left on Planet Earth and 97% shared DNA to human DNA, as told in this 11 minute story that makes use of the tiny action cameras for a close-up view, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oir_PSJpbAA
| | The seventh of the GoPro HERO3+ Adventure Series. What we do for orangutans, we do for ourselves. Peter Pratje, of the Frankfurt Zoological Society, introduces us to our orangutan family and reveals how we, as individuals, can help prevent their imminent extinction. Shot 100% on the HD HERO3+® camera from http://GoPro.com. For more information ... www.youtube.com |
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
intersection Mikmaq x English
Canada story on the radio 22 May 2019:
https://youtu.be/99-LoEkAA3w [blackbird sung to showcase indigenous language]
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/05/22/blackbird-mikmaq-indigenous-language
Saturday, May 11, 2019
reporting on pre-college anthropology 5/2019 from AAA
Of interest to future anthropologists and their teachers, as seen in the online bulletin board system, called 'Communities', for dues-paying members of the American Anthropological Association. The report online, is freely viewable, though.
"...Today, we published the third report in the series, Anthropology in the U.S. at Pre-College Level, featuring highlights from our longer report on the same subject."
Saturday, April 27, 2019
roots of literacy, writing systems, society's changes that follow
Here is a modest introduction to the subject matter of writing systems and written languages, http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190426-the-british-librarys-exhibition-of-writing
Saturday, March 30, 2019
since 2012, the "Great Pompeii Project"
The website gives a glimpse of the locations and views open to the public. These days 30 buildings may be seen up close, compared to the 60 back in 1956 and compared to 10 in 2010. The Great Pompeii Project has succeeded in stabilizing the excavated spaces so that visitors may see some of the city buried by volcanic eruption almost 2000 years previously. Perhaps a drone recording will be added to the website to give a virtual visit to distant and nearby people who are curious about the society long ago.
Friday, January 18, 2019
your language shapes what you pay attention to (or you are blind to)
This November 2017 T.E.D. talk about languages and relativity of one's perspective in the world includes many vivid illustrations to show the way that your language shines a light (or casts a shadow) on social interactions and relationship to the environment, too.
After watch the presentation a Russian speaking colleague observes (posted with permission): Of course, each language, in turn, is a product of the history, geography, culture and mentality of that particular ethnic group and thus, reflection thereof. For instance, one of the differences between English and Russian is that in Russian it's very common to use impersonal idioms akin to "it rains," even in situations where there clearly is a traceable responsible source of action or at least, there should be. So, from the language one often gets an impression that something of a personal, political, etc. nature just happened so -- sort of like a natural occurrence. By contrast, in English the indication of who is the action subject is typically much more evident. That definitely reflects the centuries-old collective/communal/totalitarian culture where individual responsibility is neither common, nor encouraged, whereas in the lands of English language the mentality builds around individual rights and responsibilities.
Monday, August 6, 2018
online course to see the length and breadth of Cross-cultural Methods
[excerpt of webpage, http://hraf.yale.edu/ccc/] Introducing Cross-Cultural Research
This online course is a brief introduction to the world of ethnography-based cross-cultural research. The course outlines the logic of cross-cultural research and various aspects of the research process from start to finish, including the steps involved in framing a research question, deriving hypotheses from theory, design of measures, coding procedures, sampling, reliability, and the use of statistics to analyze results.
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Looking for Iron Age locations
The dry summer days show off structures ordinarily not visible at ground level, or even like this from the air when all is well watered at other seasons and even during the summer of a typical rainfall year. Here are a few structures in the vicinity of Eire's giant New Grange stone building of millennia ago, https://www.flickr.com/photos/mythicalireland/41635425520/in/explore-2018-07-16/
No doubt these will contribute to the mapped locations and finds across the hilltops through the British Isles around the time that implements and weapons of iron overtook the weaker points of bronze (admixing copper with tin) and before that the artifacts of copper alone.
| I was at the centre of a major archaeological discovery in the Boyne Valley last week. Using a drone, I found a massive crop mark which is believed to be the footprint of a huge late Neolithic henge or enclosure. I was flying with Ken Williams at the time. The markings are only visible because of the prolonged drought in the area. | |
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Wednesday, June 27, 2018
anthro eye in the private sector - seeing what people say & do
The power of empirical, fieldwork-based observation and participant-observation has been recognized in companies big and small, USA and other countries' businesses.
This June 2018 radio story features a conversation with future anthropologists seeking possible careers away from campus settings. The time mark for the Anthropology segment is 4:13 to 7:01
~~from Marketplace featuring Rebekah Park (ReD) and Elizabeth Briody (Cultural Keys).
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/06262018-us-edition
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/06262018-us-edition
Sunday, June 10, 2018
ancient role of grandmothering - radio story, June 2018
Babysitters, tuber-diggers: Studies show the rise of grandmas helped babies thrive — and evolve
For decades, a "man the hunter" theory of early humans prevailed, with the image of societies and interactions revolving around bagging big game. But new research suggests that women likely brought home a lot more food. When grandmothers were added to the mix, babies ate better and may have developed better social skills to manage their multiple caregivers.
"Human children are adapted for cooperation … in ways that apes aren't," says a psychologist.
Thursday, February 15, 2018
thinking like an anthropologist - why? how?
Early February release of "How to Think like an Anthropologists" by Matthew Engelke.
Radio segment discussion by Barbara J. King, http://wuwm.com/post/how-think-anthropologist-and-why-you-should-want
 | wuwm.com Civilization originated in the Fertile Crescent region, including parts of modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Egypt. That's the | |
and screenshot attached from eBook page with cover and blurb.
Thanks to author Engelke for bringing anthro to wider and wider audiences!
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
film - So Long Asleep: bringing some of the 1940s forced laborers' mortal remains back to Korea
---[Pr. David Plath writes, 6/2017]
So Long Asleep (60 minutes) follows an international team of East Asian volunteers as they excavate, preserve and repatriate the remains of Korean men who died doing slave labor in Hokkaido during the Asia-Pacific War. On the 70th anniversary of the end of the war we travel with them as they carry 115 sets of remains on a pilgrimage across Japan and over to Korea for reinterment in the Seoul Municipal Cemetery. Using a dark past to shape a brighter shared future the project offers an upbeat model for remembrance and reconciliation that could be adapted widely.
The film and the repatriation project are featured in a 4-page special segment of the Spring 2017 issue of Education About Asia.
See the DER website to view a trailer. Dialogue is in English, Korean and Japanese; in the DER edition the dialogue carries English subtitles. Separately, project participants have prepared editions with subtitles in Korean and in Japanese. For the Korean version, contact Professor Byung-Ho Chung (bhc0606at gmail) and for Japanese contact Professor Song Ki-Chan (kichans at hotmail).
An extended essay by Pr. Chung about the project appears in Asia-Pacific Journal; Japan Focus online magazine, as well, http://apjjf.org/2017/12/Chung.html
 | apjjf.org 1. Excavation. A chance encounter drew me into the work of excavation and repatriation of the remains of Korean forced labor victims in Hokkaido. | |
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Sonic Japan - audio recordings around the society
Sound recordings bring listeners up close to the immediacy of the context and events at hand. The Sonic Japan project has collected a variety of settings to let you explore the many cultural places around the society and language of the Japanese islands. Thanks to the initiative of colleagues in Australia, Japan, and the USA, this project has taken full form. Details of method, funding, contributors and links to follow via Twitter, Facebook, or the collection itself at Soundcloud can be found at http://sonicjapan.clab.org.au/
 | soundcloud.com Sonic Japan is a collection of sound recordings made in Japan that enables listeners to traverse an array of themes pertaining to everyday life through a ... | |
Thursday, January 12, 2017
accents on website, finding yourself
It seems like everyone else has an accent, but from their point of you it is you yourself who sounds *not from around here." The project described here lets users hover across the many languages there.
article source credit, http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/use-interactive-map-hear-accents-around-world/
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There are many websites that exist just to stoke your curiosity. Localingual is one of them.
There are many websites that exist just to stoke your curiosity. Localingual is one of them.
Land on the website and a colorful world map takes up your screen. There is no mention of what exactly this map is for, but let your mouse travel around the map and ratchet up your speakers. Travel to any country in the world and listen to the unique accents of that country!
The website came from the mind of a world traveler. David Ding is a former Microsoft engineer fascinated by dialects and languages. His backpacking trips allow him to experience both. So he took this interest and started the site as an encyclopedia for languages:
My dream for this site is for it to become the Wikipedia of languages and dialects spoken around the world.
...[truncated]
Monday, February 22, 2016
marking languages still vigorous today
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/international-mother-language-day-2016/
This year's day for Mother Languages.
On the other side of the human patrimony ledger is the erosion of spoken languages and environments/livelihoods they derive from; see these notes taken from K. David Harrison's book, When Languages Die, to get a taste of this subject.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
reckoning time - swap from Julian to Gregorian calendar
excerpt from full article, http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-england-was-a-year-behind-belgium-spain-and-italy-for-170-years
...the longer a country waited to shift to the Gregorian calendar, the more days needed to be removed; in 1752, England and its colonies went to sleep on September 2 and rose on September 13, as per the Calendar Act of 1750. Russia didn't change calendars until February 14, 1918 and skipped a whole 13 days, meaning their October Revolution of 1917 actually happened, by today's dating system, in November.
Thursday, January 14, 2016
anthropology articles getting into news media
Upshot from project at the Center for Public Anthropology to track the mentions by anthropologists (cultural, biological, archaeological) in wider circulation or cited or interviewed in mainstream news media [emphasis added]:
A Pattern to Ponder: Perusing the data, readers will note that archeologists and biological anthropologists tend to be cited in the media more than cultural anthropologists. One likely reason derives from the journals the discipline's subfields publish in. Cultural anthropologists tend to publish in a set of sub-field journals. Archeologists and biological anthropologists tend to publish in more interdisciplinary journals leading, in turn, to a wider distribution and more attention paid to their articles. There is no reason why cultural anthropologists could not publish in PlusOne, Science, or Nature. But many prefer publishing in the American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist or Cultural Anthropology thereby attracting limited attention from those beyond their sub-field. Current Anthropology, which crosses the discipline's sub-fields, tends to attract less attention than inter-disciplinary journals', but comparatively more attention than the American Anthropological Associations journals, focused on specific sub-fields.
-source page, http://metrics.publicanthropology.org/collected.php
A Pattern to Ponder: Perusing the data, readers will note that archeologists and biological anthropologists tend to be cited in the media more than cultural anthropologists. One likely reason derives from the journals the discipline's subfields publish in. Cultural anthropologists tend to publish in a set of sub-field journals. Archeologists and biological anthropologists tend to publish in more interdisciplinary journals leading, in turn, to a wider distribution and more attention paid to their articles. There is no reason why cultural anthropologists could not publish in PlusOne, Science, or Nature. But many prefer publishing in the American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist or Cultural Anthropology thereby attracting limited attention from those beyond their sub-field. Current Anthropology, which crosses the discipline's sub-fields, tends to attract less attention than inter-disciplinary journals', but comparatively more attention than the American Anthropological Associations journals, focused on specific sub-fields.
-source page, http://metrics.publicanthropology.org/collected.php
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
context – 6 photographers make 6 different portraits
Experiment: each photographer was given a different story about the
person coming in for a portrait. Results varied widely when told the
subject was fisherman, self-made millionaire, parolee, beach lifeguard,
psychic, and so on.
Perhaps the same contextual framing and predisposition affects
documentary projects, archival work, ethnographic field studies, or
transposing a biographical sketch from one language to another for
readers of a different culture or era. In other words, if the lens can
stand for a perceptual grasp of a subject, then the same assumptions
that these photographers baked into their choice of composition and
lighting and shutter release also may reveal how one goes about engaging
with the world in general: we prejudge people and settings, we view the
world as half-empty instead of half-full, for example; or at the time
of middle age we feel that so many opportunities remain, rather than
feeling that so few days are left before extinction.
And while this portrait experiment misled the photographers who were doing their very best creative work to interpret the man, based on the sparse backstory provided, the end result of this decoy experiment powerfully demonstrates to journalists, archaeologists and other scientists (predisposed with the working theories or hypotheses they bake into their research design and deployment of available methods), philosophers and novelists, as well as social observers of all stripes that assumptions and prior knowledge frame one’s boundaries and the placement of one’s subject within that context.
By extension the frame we paint for our selves (presentation of self; self-image; concept of self) is colored by the assumptions we adopt, discover, aspire to, or have been given by others we know and have been labeled by society more generally.
see the experiment, https://youtu.be/F-TyPfYMDK8 or jump to the time mark showing the resulting portraits
Blurb: A photograph is shaped more by the person behind the camera than by what’s in front of it. To prove this we invited six photographers to a portrait session with a twist. ‘Decoy’ is one of six experiments from The Lab, designed to shift creative thinking behind the lens. [November 2015]
six different backstories led 6 photographers to make differing portraits
And while this portrait experiment misled the photographers who were doing their very best creative work to interpret the man, based on the sparse backstory provided, the end result of this decoy experiment powerfully demonstrates to journalists, archaeologists and other scientists (predisposed with the working theories or hypotheses they bake into their research design and deployment of available methods), philosophers and novelists, as well as social observers of all stripes that assumptions and prior knowledge frame one’s boundaries and the placement of one’s subject within that context.
By extension the frame we paint for our selves (presentation of self; self-image; concept of self) is colored by the assumptions we adopt, discover, aspire to, or have been given by others we know and have been labeled by society more generally.
see the experiment, https://youtu.be/F-TyPfYMDK8 or jump to the time mark showing the resulting portraits
Blurb: A photograph is shaped more by the person behind the camera than by what’s in front of it. To prove this we invited six photographers to a portrait session with a twist. ‘Decoy’ is one of six experiments from The Lab, designed to shift creative thinking behind the lens. [November 2015]
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.
without providing a narrative through line, your reader can miss the bigger, brilliant point you are trying to make.
language localism in USA
from the weekly digest of "most emailed stories" at National Public Radio, npr.org
Look for the sample words given for each state, below, to see if you recognize any of them still alive today.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
research abstracts on video!
[cross-post from blog.aaanet.org on Oct. 30, 2013]
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.
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:
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-(
-(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.
Friday, November 11, 2011
some cultural anthro - Gifted & Talented
via e-newsletter at Michigan State University, Office of Gifted and Talented
Myth, Self, and Religion (3 MSU Honors Credits)
This course will enable students to explore the mythic quest for meaning, identity, value, and transcendence as seen through religious biography and literary narrative. They will study myth in relation to religious symbols and life-cycle rituals. The course will emphasize a cross-cultural perspective on religious world views and the interpretation of myth as sacred narrative.
For more information on this course, visit the wide-ranging wikispace created by a former REL205 class: http://rel205.wikispaces.com.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
2010 anthro-day (London, July; Wales, September)
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| Monday 30th August- Booking Ahead for Wales Anthropology Day
 Many of you who were not able to come to this year's London Anthropology Day will be happy to know that there is a sister event happening on the 16th of September in Wales. Every year the University of Wales Lampeter organises a free university taster day of anthropological workshops and films aimed at Year 12, 13, FE students and teachers. To find out more and book your free place visit this website. London Anthropology Day 2010 Photos now Online!  The London Anthropology Day 2010 is a university taster day for Year 12,13 and FE students, career advisors and teachers. Organised by the Royal Anthropological Institute's Education Programme in collaboration with the British Museum and participating universities the event was held on 8th July. This year's event included 18 universities from England, Ireland and Wales and over 350 participants making it the largest London Anthropology Day to date. Take a look at the this year's photos along with other anthropological events on this website.Saturday, January 9, 2010teaching anthro at US Marine Corps Universityhttp://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]
Thursday, July 2, 2009intro to anthro (2004) OpenCourse onlinepoint of reference when organizing a course to introduce anthro: Wednesday, June 3, 2009the 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. Thursday, May 28, 2009What is Anthropology for?
Tuesday, July 1, 2008video 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.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008Friday, January 4, 2008bbc2 "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 papersExamples of topics today by (U.K.) Goldsmiths > Dept Anthropology Friday, December 7, 2007sniper 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. Friday, August 24, 2007language 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]
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