Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with anthropology

Edmonston B, Measles, Vaccination?

forkisbetter — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 11:43:39 -0800

I just finished reading an article from the New York Times Magazine about controversial anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon. One thing in particular about the article struck me- there is a claim (at least that's how I read it) that measles vaccine caused a breakout of measles in a group of isolated indigenous people that did not have measles exposure or immunity. I'm confused because I'm pretty sure you can't get measles from vaccine. Is there something different about the Edmonston B vaccine? *please do not comment if you are just going to deny the efficacy of vaccines generally. I am interested in scientifically corroborated evidence related to this specific case.

Here's the quote from the article from the New York Times Magazine:

"In his galleys, Tierney speculated that Neel, who died in 2000, hoped to simulate a measles epidemic among the Yanomami as part of a genetics experiment. In the published book, this theory was no longer explicit — Tierney had made last-minute changes — but it was insinuated. “Measles,” Tierney wrote, “was tailor-made for experiments.” Moreover, Neel’s choice of vaccine, Edmonston B, “was a bold decision from a research perspective” because it “provided a model much closer to real measles than other, safer vaccines, in the attempt to resolve the great genetic question of selective adaptation.” Although he quoted a leading measles researcher emphatically denying that measles vaccine can transmit the virus, he nevertheless maintained that it was “unclear whether the Edmonston B became transmissible or not.” (This line was excised from the paperback edition.)"

Have norms surrounding eating chicken changed over time?

codacorolla — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 16:21:54 -0800

Was there ever a period in time before widespread acceptance of germ theory, or, is there a current culture where raw or undercooked chicken is an accepted part of cuisine? As I was making dinner I was wondering what it would be like if we ate chicken with a sear on it instead of fully cooked, much like we eat tuna. This made me think about whether or not the taboo against uncooked chicken is a recent historical invention, or if it's something that's persisted since they were domesticated.

Cultural anthropology: "ur trait" a term for universl beliefs/practices?

paphun123 — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 10:04:55 -0800

Some decades ago I heard the term "Ur trait" (can't be sure of the spelling) in relation to a collection of cultural beliefs or possibly culturally driven practices that are universally distributed in humans around the globe, and which are believed to reach back to the early development of humans, so that they might represent bits of a core of human culture. I'm unsure enough of the concept that I don't want to make up examples which might lead respondents on a wrong path. Googling "ur trait" didn't yield any useful answers. The concept sounds similar, but is not identical to Jung's idea of a collective unconscious, which seems to be related a little more to psychology than cultural anthropology. I'm primarily interested in whether the phrase "ur trait" was ever in use, and secondarily in the concept it represents if not what I've described above.

I am trying so hard not to make a joke about prawns.

TungstenChef — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 10:38:12 -0800

I get to go to South Africa to do field work next summer, hurray! I know very little about South African history and culture beyond what I get from the (US) media. I'd like to read a few books between now and then to try and get caught up. I'll be working on an archaeological dig near Mossel Bay for about a month. I'll be spending a lot of time staring at the back wall of a cave, but I'll have some free time to get out and interact with people on the weekends. In general I'm just looking to get some basic knowledge about the culture and history of the place, but bonus points for stuff written from an anthropological perspective.

Race in Anthropology

a.steele — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:30:46 -0800

Academics and anthropologists: What are the most interesting and important anthropological works on race published in (roughly) the past decade? Pretend you are putting together a reader on the study of race in anthropology from 2000 until the present. What would you include in this collection?

This is an intentionally broad question because I want the largest possible pool of potential selections. The only requirements are the following:

+ Must be from the discipline of anthropology (not just tangentially related)

+ Must be academic (either from a peer-reviewed journal or academic press)

Works may be from any branch of anthropology (biological, cultural, medical, etc). Collections of works are also welcome. Let me know if you need further clarification, and thank you all in advance for your help!

Writings on gentrification

umbú — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 07:33:09 -0800

What are the best articles and books on the complications of urban gentrification? What about the relationship of artists and bohemians to this process? I am gathering nuanced texts on urban gentrification. Right now, I'm digging through academic sources from anthropology, cultural geography, urban studies, sociology, and the like.

High-protein journalism and popular press would be definitely welcome as well. I'm interested in both gentrification as a phenomenon in general, and more specifically the role of artists in this process.

From Lawyer to Grad Student?

sallybrown — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 07:30:56 -0800

Can you tell me about legal anthropology? Am I foolish to leave a secure career to pursue it? After two years as a litigator, I have realized law is not the field for me. However, I continue to be fascinated by the way people talk about the law; how the framing of legal questions impacts legal decision-making; and how the way the larger public discusses and interprets legal decisions influences judges and juries.

From some poking around, I see that the relevant field of study appears to be "legal anthropology." I have never taken an anthropology course. (I did major in cultural studies and wrote my thesis on how portrayals of the legal process in media impact U.S. court decisions.) The largest thing giving me pause is that I would have to leave a very high paying job (albeit one I dislike) to return to student loan land, and in a cutthroat field (academia). Another is that the major focus in this field appears to be developing nations and human rights work in other countries, and I am primarily interested in the American legal system. A third is I would be pressing restart on my career in my late twenties and so would be in my mid-thirties by the time I finished a PhD.

Does anyone have experience with this field? How is it regarded within the anthropology community? I plan to read any books I can find on the subject and perhaps ask to audit a related class; should I be doing something else? (I've seen this question, but I'm hoping for additional information.)

Help me find the common thread...

atomicstone — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:21:34 -0800

I want to read more nonfiction. About anything, really. I'm having trouble capturing the way to describe the kind of nonfiction I want to find. Yes, I very much enjoy popular nonfiction in the vein of Bonk, or The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. But I could easily name for you the nonfiction I "enjoyed" the most: Bury Me Standing, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families, Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America. So....readable anthropology??? Can you suggest either specific books in this vein that I might enjoy or better ways of describing what it is these three books have in common so that I might hunt on my own?

Help an semi-autodidact learn to be a multidiscipline participant-observer

Che boludo! — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:37:03 -0800

I’m currently working on my masters in an Industrial/Occupational Psychology program. My main topic of interest will be differences in national, social, and organizational cultures. What sort of anthropological or ethnological resources or books can you recommend regarding learning how to be good participant-observer and the techniques to do so? I’m already familiar with the works on culture from researchers such as Geert Hofestede, Edward Hall, and Fons Trompenaars. If there are any other recommendations regarding relevant resources or texts in related fields that my compliment my studies, please let me know. My interests lie in psychology, sociology, and politics which I believe are applicable. Thanks in advance!

Books about the beginning needed.

vibrotronica — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:23:26 -0800

I saw Cave Of Forgotten Dreams and loved it. Now I want to read more about early human history. Please recommend some good books on the beginnings of human art in particular and the emergence of human society and the beginnings of conciousness in general. I'm not a scientist and I'm not looking for a textbook, but I'm not afraid of a challenging read, either.

Anarchism in North America

gauche — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:44:56 -0800

Book suggestions: Anarchism among Native Americans I'm looking for resources (books, scholarly articles, popular articles) that explore the governance / social contract / property systems of Native Americans through the lens of anarchist political philosophy and ideally in some depth. I have some limited exposure to classical western political philosophy but not a great deal of experience with anarchism* in particular, but am not afraid of doing some work to get up to speed.

* For instance, I have an inkling that it is simplistic to speak of "anarchism" as though it were a single school of thought, but could not make more than educated guesses as to the various strains within the ~~tradition~~.

not quite undergrad, not quite grad, but feeling a research binge

elephantsvanish — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:44:53 -0800

How do I turn my current (quite positive) experience with community work into (a) anthropological research pre-grad or (b) non-fiction writing? Or, how do you conduct research outside of the academy? I've spent the last couple months in the throes of the anthropology grad school application process. It's over, and now I'm returning to focus on my great community service gig. As a compulsive contingency plan designer, however, I'm hard at work figuring out what will happen if I don't get accepted this year.

One thing I've realized, with some reflection, is that there's a great story to tell with the issue on which I'm working. Specifically, the current literature on the issue could benefit from sustained analysis of local communities, interviews with recent immigrants and families, and a closer historical case-study. I could conceivably partner with my program to set up a long-term research project.

I see two possible ways I could design this: (1) as a research project that I could craft into a research paper, ideally for a publication attempt before I try to apply for my phd program again, and (2) as a project that I could attempt to write about as a journalist, or even in book form. This might be getting ahead of myself, but I think there's something there, perhaps. I spoke to my program director and he indicated he would be receptive of some kind of research project.

How might I go about proposing and designing this kind of research project? I know, for example, that I could find an independent IRB. I have close contacts from my school's anthropology department that would at least review my materials, if not flat-out advise an alum. I could apply for grant funding, or simply do some project design and wait until I'm accepted? This brand of research is a little bit of a departure from what I just applied to schools with (not wholly dissimilar but a different focus for sure) -- however, I like the idea of letting some new energy carry me through a project like this, and just kind of going with whatever results from it.

Any thoughts about this project would be wonderful! Thank you

What are some good "official" programs, websites and journals on [any form of] anthropology?

enroute888 — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:25:31 -0800

What are some good "official" programs, websites and journals on [any form of] anthropology? I've always been interested in learning anthropology, however it isn't offered at my university as a discipline. What are some programs (notable study abroad programs, research centers, think tanks, internships, or fellowships, etc.) that are related to any form of anthropology?

Alternatively, what are some good anthropology websites or journals to learn from?

The culture of big business, minus sensation

Bleusman — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:31:46 -0800

Are there any ethnographies of corporate culture that are primarily academic? I've always found the one-sided discourse about big-business leaders to be overly simplistic: they can't really all be people that are only out for profit and have no compassion at all. There has to be a cultural element to it, I've thought: one that leads them to sometimes make destructive decisions and justify it. But most of what I've read in that area is pretty biased - it's either vilification, or an explanation that's just way too simple. Have there been any academic books on the corporate culture of big business? I'd be interested in reading something like that.

I can haz owtsidez?

_paegan_ — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 11:27:07 -0800

Please help me win my FaceBook debate (or, at least, learn something new): MUST dogs be walked? Is it truly better for cats to be only indoors? Are cats less domesticated than dogs? I'd like fact-based support, not ASPCA party line. Gimme Science! While I don't necessarily want want only evidence for my opinions, maybe stating it will help the research parameters. For the most part, I *think* my views are supported by science, but I don't always recall everything I've read in science news or learned in college anthropology after all these years - and some of that remembered science may have been discounted over time.

- dog must be allowed outdoors, even if just to be walked, for maximum physical and mental health.

- cats should be allowed the option to go outdoors (maybe not so much if declawed) if being indoors creates a stressed kitty.

- feline species is not as tied to human species as canines.

Riled up commenter is a good friend who I believe has a temporary case of the internetz pissing her off. Help me back myself, or back down as the case may be, while staying classy.

What I actually said: "I do not consider cats as domesticated as dogs. Even dogs can't be kept inside all day, they must be walked." All other statements I made were personal experiencial anecdata about being accused of cruelty for letting certain cats outdoors and how indoor/outdoor is currently handled with pet X.

Cite when appropriate, please, even if I'm wrong.

Extra points for the angry commenter's "each opinion has value" (isn't this an opinion?) - used to accuse me of attacking others with my judgementalism by stating the above opinions. I'm totally failing to see the attack on others in my statements.

Know any good spots for social network analysis methods advice?

col_pogo — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 05:09:58 -0800

Where can a fellow (who has access to online academic resources but is 1000mi+ from a quality academic library) get some hands-on advice for gathering data for social network analysis? Bonus substantive questions inside. I'm off on an extended period of ethnographic fieldwork and would like to use some basic social network analysis to round out my picture of the various institutions I'm researching. SNA is not my primary research method--I want to use it as a heuristic, pointing my interviews and participant observation in unexpected directions, or allowing me to check conclusions from more purely qualitative work.

I figured I could pick this stuff up pretty quickly, which may have been a mistake. What I would like is a good place to 1) learn some practical basics with software (UCINET has been recommended to me, and I will be going through their tutorial) and 2) get a grip on how I should collect my data. I figured there might be an appropriate forum or listserv out there whose archives and hivebrain I could rummage through, but googling hasn't helped me much.

Two substantive questions:
1. It was suggested to me that I could get a good handle on the connections between individuals in the scattering of institutions that I'm interested in by requesting CVs. I could then easily see where people had overlapped at different times in their work histories. Sounds good, but I haven't happened across examples (or better yet, tutorials) of how to go about this. I don't want to reinvent the wheel if I don't have to.
2. I gather it's also a standard method to elicit networks from interview respondents ("Please tell me who you've been in touch with in the past two weeks" etc). Also sounds good to me, and easy to incorporate into my interview schedules--but how do I turn this into a network visualization?

Links to fora, listservs, academic papers, websites, online tutorials and so forth are very welcome. Books, too, but I might have trouble getting my hands on them. While I retain my home institution online access, there are no good physical libraries anywhere near me.

Name-that-story-filter

tigrrrlily — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 02:43:32 -0800

Name-that-story-filter: Anthropologist mother with her daughter (and son?) on a planet separated from the rest of civilization by years of sub-light space travel. Mom maintains scientific detachment, but daughter is assimilated into peculiar local culture with taboos against social interaction, driving mother and daughter apart. Inspired by this AskMe. One possible snippet I remember from the story is "Be Aware", a sort of mantra describing the philosophy of the locals. Also, unless I'm mixing in something else, the males on the planet were ostracized from the tribe similarly to what happens to male elephants (?), preventing the scientist's son from integrating. Not sure about this last part.

I want to make the most out of the choices given to me in my future career.

mind2body — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:03:33 -0800

I have a dream of becoming an anthropologist someday. The problem is I don't know what I should focus on. Hi,

I'm a future undergraduate and budding anthropologist who needs some help...

I'm going to be graduating from university with a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology in the fall. I don't have a very firm grasp on what I want to study since I have so many interests including the peoples of Polynesia, Asia, religion, medical, visual and applied anthropology. I may even find more interests in the future.

Obviously, the best advice right now would to not go to graduate school until I have a firm grasp on what I want to do. The thing is...HOW do you find a focus? I'm been researching and consulting the university career center with out much luck because I have been given MORE CHOICES!!

I want to make the best use of my choices. The biggest goal I have is to go abroad after I graduate. The various things I could do is work and teach abroad. I could also find an internship abroad but which one? I could also volunteer abroad. I could also study a second language. I am attempting to teach myself French but I don't even know how useful that will be. I am interested in teaching English aboard in Japan. How in the world does one get published? Can a recent graduate go to ethnography field school?

The goal is to get experience so that I could look good on a future application and as a benefit to my future career. How do I make the best appropriate decisions for my future? How do you find focus in such a broad field?

Thanks

Undergraduate research grants for Japanese travel and research?

bubukaba — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 11:45:04 -0800

My sister is looking for undergraduate research funding to support some field work in Japan for her BA thesis project. She's especially interested in questions about gender and sexuality. Any advice on grant-giving organizations she might look into? She is an anthropology major, has already traveled to Japan multiple times and has many friends there, and is fluent enough in Japanese to carry on conversations and correspondence, understand TV dialog, and translate things.

She writes,

"I am a fourth year at The University of Wisconsin embarking on my BA thesis project. Ideally, part of the research project will involve traveling to Japan for a short time to do some field work, so naturally I have been trying to scrounge up some small grant money. But alas! It seems that no matter whether I search in terms of anthropology, japanese, travel, or etc, I am coming up empty handed for undergraduate research funding! Of course there are plenty of private universities that have money available for such endeavors, but my womping big public university can't afford to be so generous. Can anyone recommend a foundation/organization/person that gives grants to lowly scholars such as myself?"

Thanks so much for helping me help her!

Need to find cases of state-sanctioned development projects against local consent, especially if by private for-profit companies

jb — Fri, 13 May 2011 12:34:25 -0800

I am looking for good examples to cite for a brief section of paper that looks at contemporary debates over development -- specifically examples of economic development projects which have gone ahead against the consent of local people on the grounds that the benefit to the larger society outweighed any detriment to the local people - especially if the development itself was/is carried out by a for-profit company. The specific example I have of this is the case of Kelo versus the City of New London, where eminent domain was used to seize property against the will of the local people for the benefit of a private development.

I was hoping that mefites who work in the areas of development/popular politics might have other good cases which I can look up which have similar circumstances: state action used to seize property/evict people/subsidize some development which local people protested against, on the grounds that the overall effects on GDP would outweigh detriment to the local people. If these examples are in the context of rural development, that would be great - as I mentioned, I have New London as one example, but I would like to broaden it. I am specifically interested in projects which are aimed at economic development - I am less interested, for example, in the draining of the Iraqi marshes (which was supposedly for security reasons), though if there are other wetlands recently drained to expand agriculture against the will of the local people, I'd love the references (I really should know them, but my head's stuck 400 years ago - I know about the Mississippi delta in the 19th cent, but politics there quite different).

This is in aid of supporting a 1-2 paragraph discussion in a paper on seventeenth century development projects; I was just hoping to find contemporary situations/debates around this question: "is economic growth, even one which benefits a private investor or disproportionately benefits an elite, still such an overall good that it justifies going against the consent of those most directly affected?" to support my point that it's still an unanswered question, or at least not a simply answered question.

Any references for discussion papers on this issue would also be very welcome; I can always use secondary discussion instead of specific examples.

So I want to be a social studies textbook editor...

AnOrigamiLife — Thu, 12 May 2011 10:59:39 -0800

A few years ago I landed on this idea of what I think may really be the perfect fun-and-interesting job for me: a textbook editor. But even more so with social studies content. How do I do it? How can I make it happen? What can I do for myself NOW to target that specific kind of work in a couple of years?

My situation: I have degrees in geography and journalism, and most of my work experience draws heavily on writing and copyediting skills, though frequently ventures elsewhere (e.g., nonprofit operations, marketing, incinerating deceased house pets, tutoring, graphic design). I have been a B2B editor, a grant writer, a copyeditor of test banks, a freelance magazine writer, a copywriter. Always, the most interesting part for me is the copyediting process. My knowledge of AP is intact but rusty and my CMOS requires attention. I am for a while quite rural and remote, but that won't be forever.

If I want to poise myself for this dream job, what can I do in the meantime? What educational publishers should I investigate? What style do most use? Would a specific certification be of value to them? Something I can get with an accredited online course? (if so, where would I take such a course?). How do I get my foot in the door on small related projects? In general, how do I make the connections I need? Is there a website for the textbook-editor crowd? And finally, if I wish to remain mobile, is it realistic for me to think I can do this work remotely? Your answers, resources, suggestions are all welcome and appreciated!

Inappropriate Anthropologist Love Story...DVD or Book?

Quisp Lover — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 12:34:14 -0800

An anthropologist studying some primitive society fell in love with one of the women he was studying, and, against all professional decorum, married her and brought her home. The ensuing events were apparently pretty interesting. The person who told me about it can't remember if it was a book, a film, or what. Or which country...or which anthropologist. Can anyone help?

Does a living body reveal the story of its life?

yesster — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 22:40:41 -0800

Are there ever any reliable inferences to be drawn about a person's work or lifestyle from physical characteristics? Sometimes this is a trope done the detective genre, and I'm wondering if there's any validity to it. For example, (roughly) "Watson, that man across the street is obviously a blacksmith; his right arm is bigger than his left, his shoes have cinder burns, and his face is ruddy from the forge."

Sometimes it happens in everyday life. Maybe someone says, "Look at that guy. Clothes ... face...teeth..behavior. Must be a crackhead."

I've also had a lingering urge to do some kind of artistic exploration (writing? poetry? sculpture? glass? dunno) of the way that work and life can shape bodies, so this is related to that. So are there "truckdriver" bodies or "farmer" bodies or anything like that.

Stories/observations either confirming/disproving welcome.

A picture "of" something?

phrontist — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 17:20:36 -0800

In Oliver Sacks' The Minds Eye he references "primitive cultures" in which people do not recognize photographs as representational. Where can I read more about that?

The Anthropology Of Love

Sara C. — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:21:37 -0800

Dating around the world. How does it work? Apropos of some of the answers to this question, this article from the Guardian, my anthro major past, and the new Israeli in my life, I'm curious about how people outside the USA do the early phases of relationships.

Obviously I'm talking about places where people do this sort of thing. For instance I know that dating is marginal if not taboo in a lot of South Asia. I'd be interested to know about what people in Sub-Saharan Africa, rural Southeast Asia, Polynesia, etc. are into, but honestly I'm mainly talking about urban/affluent industrialized parts of the world. The sorts of people your average American young single person is vaguely likely to run into.

So, guys, how do y'all do it? And what do you think "it" even is? Do you go on dates, per se? How long do you go out before you have sex? Before you'd use the term boyfriend/girlfriend? Do you have some other term for this that is common in your culture?

I don't want this to be too chatfiltery, but personal anecdotes are totally up my alley.