anthropology
Archaeology, Education, and American Indian Initiatives Paid Internships at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center Due: March 1st, 2017.
Museum of Anthropology: December 2016
Work on the new gallery has already begun, and it is scheduled to open in June. We’re incredibly excited by this development, and we invite you to learn more about it on our website. You can see a few of the donated objects above, or take a moment to view our Masterworks photo gallery on Flickr.
- December 24: 10 am – 2:30 pm
- December 25: Closed
- December 31: 10 am – 2:30 pm
Fri, Dec 9 / Artist-in-Residence: Visit with Javier Ramirez
Sat, Dec 10 / Workshop: Create Your Own Ceramics
Dec 13-14 / Artist-in-Residence: Visit with Javier Ramirez
Thu, Dec 15 / Presentation: The Tree of Life
Sun, Dec 25 / Closed: Christmas Day
Thu, Jan 5 / Tour: Crocodile Man
Call for Participants – Paths to Sustainability: Creating Connection through Place-based Indigenous Knowledge
Call for Participants
Paths to Sustainability: Creating Connection through Place-based Indigenous Knowledge
Seeking people to participate in a Vancouver-area research project on Indigenous world view, Place-based education and the practice of sustainability. This is for a research study conducted by Celia Brauer, a Graduate Student in Socio-cultural Anthropology at the University of British Columbia.
Participants must be available: Aug 2016 – Nov 2016 for 5, 5 hour Sessions, on weekend afternoons.
Plus: pre-and post-interview sessions of about 2 hours.
Participants must be 19 years or over and able-bodied. They should be interested in the subject matter and follow the whole course of educational sessions, plus all the interviews: approx. 25 hours total.
Contact Information: Co-Investigator: Celia Brauer: celiabrauer@alumni.ubc.ca
Upcoming Doctoral Defenses
Wednesday, 13 April 2016 – 12:30pm – Room 200
Wednesday, 25 May 2016 – 12:30pm – Room 200
Job – Assistant Professor, Sociocultural Anthropology (tenure-track)
A PhD in Anthropology is required by the time of appointment July 1, 2016.
Candidates must have an active, ethnographic research program and demonstrated potential, in the form of publications and other scholarly activity. Candidates must be excellent teachers, willing to work closely with Global Studies graduate students, and prepared to actively contribute to the development of Global Studies.
Applicants should submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, and reference list to: http://unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/83713. Please provide a list of four professional references including the names, titles, email addresses and phone numbers. Application review will begin on November 1, 2015.
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The Wixaritari and the Heart of the World, 7 pm, Sep. 29, 2015
Tuesday, September 29: The Wixaritari and the Heart of the World
Join MOA Director Dr. Anthony Shelton for a special lecture on The Wixaritari (Huichol). The Wixaritari, who live in the mountainous, isolated parts of northwest Mexico, have retained a unique cosmology despite continuous threats to despoil their land and sacred sites. Their homeland was created through the sacrifice of their ancestral deities who became transformed into the land, mountains, seas and plant and animal forms that surround them. This presentation will open a glimpse into this world and describe some of their techniques and philosophy which enables them to see what is invisible to others.
Tuesday, September 29 at 7pm
UBC Museum of Anthropology
Source: The Talking Stick: News and Information from the First Nations Longhouse, September 15, 2015
Indigenous greens in East Africa capturing attention for nutritional and environmental benefits
The rise of Africa’s super vegetables
Long overlooked in parts of Africa, indigenous greens are now capturing attention for their nutritional and environmental benefits.
Rachel Cernansky
09 June 2015
When Abukutsa pursued her PhD in the 1990s, she was told that indigenous vegetables were not important enough to be the focus of a research project. Now, scientists around the world are studying their benefits and Abukutsa mentors several students working on native plants.
One lunchtime in early March, tables at Nairobi’s K’Osewe restaurant are packed. The waiting staff run back and forth from the kitchen, bringing out steaming plates of deep-green African nightshade, vibrant amaranth stew and the sautéed leaves of cowpeas. The restaurant is known as the best place to come for a helping of Kenya’s traditional leafy green vegetables, which are increasingly showing up on menus across the city.
Just a few years ago, many of those plates would have been filled with staples such as collard greens or kale — which were introduced to Africa from Europe a little over a century ago. In Nairobi, indigenous vegetables were once sold almost exclusively at hard-to-find specialized markets; and although these plants have been favoured by some rural populations in Africa, they were largely ignored by seed companies and researchers, so they lagged behind commercial crops in terms of productivity and sometimes quality.
Now, indigenous vegetables are in vogue. They fill shelves at large supermarkets even in Nairobi, and seed companies are breeding more of the traditional varieties every year. Kenyan farmers increased the area planted with such greens by 25% between 2011 and 2013. As people throughout East Africa have recognized the vegetables’ benefits, demand for the crops has boomed.
Recipes for African super vegetables
This is welcome news for agricultural researchers and nutritional experts, who argue that indigenous vegetables have a host of desirable traits: many of them are richer in protein, vitamins, iron and other nutrients than popular non-native crops such as kale, and they are better able to endure droughts and pests. This makes the traditional varieties a potent weapon against dietary deficiencies. “In Africa, malnutrition is such a problem. We want to see indigenous vegetables play a role,” says Mary Abukutsa-Onyango, a horticultural researcher at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Juja, Kenya, who is a major proponent of the crops.
Scientists in Africa and elsewhere are now ramping up studies of indigenous vegetables to tap their health benefits and improve them through breeding experiments. The hope is that such efforts can make traditional varieties even more popular with farmers and consumers. But that carries its own risk: as indigenous vegetables become more widespread, researchers seeking faster-growing crops may inadvertently breed out disease resistance or some of the other beneficial traits that made these plants so desirable in the first place.
“It is important that when we promote a specific crop, that we try to come up with different varieties,” says Andreas Ebert, gene-bank manager at the World Vegetable Center (AVRDC), an agricultural-research organization based in Shanhua, Taiwan. If the increasing popularity of these vegetables limits choices, he says, “the major benefits we are currently seeing will be lost”.
Protein from plants
For Abukutsa, indigenous vegetables bring back memories of her childhood. Cow’s milk, eggs and some fish made her ill, so doctors advised her to avoid all animal protein. Instead, the women in her family made tasty dishes out of the green vegetables that grew like weeds around her house. Her mother often cooked the teardrop-shaped leaves of African nightshade (Solanum scabrum), as well as dishes of slimy jute mallow (Corchorus olitorius) and the greens of cowpeas, known elsewhere as black-eyed peas (Vigna unguiculata). One grandmother always cooked pumpkin leaves (Cucurbita moschata) with peanut or sesame paste. Abukutsa relished them all and ate the greens with ugali, a polenta-like dish common in East Africa.
She chose to pursue a career in agriculture because she wanted to “unravel the potential hidden in African indigenous vegetables”, she says. Now, she is considered a leader across Africa, and increasingly around the world, in a robust, rapidly growing field. “She’s almost like the mother of indigenous vegetables in Kenya,” says Jane Ambuko, head of horticulture at the University of Nairobi.
Abukutsa started out in the early 1990s, surveying and collecting Kenya’s indigenous plants to investigate the viability of the seeds that farmers were using. In the decades since, she has come to focus mainly on the vegetables’ nutritional properties.
Today, she is far from alone. The AVRDC has a dedicated research and breeding programme at its office in Arusha, Tanzania, and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization in Nairobi does similar work. Other health and agriculture organizations in both East and West Africa focus on boosting consumer use and improving the viability and yield of these crops. That fits into a global trend emphasizing bioregional foods — using crops that are well adapted for a given climate and environment, rather than foreign plants that tend to be less nutritious and require extra water or fertilizers.
Most of the indigenous vegetables being studied in East Africa are leafy greens, almost all deep green in colour and often fairly bitter. Kenyans especially love African nightshade and amaranth leaves (Amaranthus sp.). Spider plant (Cleome gynandra), one of Abukutsa’s favourites for its sour taste, grows wild in East Africa as well as South Asia. Jute mallow has a texture that people love or hate. It turns slimy when cooked — much like okra. Ebert says that moringa (Moringa oleifera) is not only one of the most healthful of the indigenous vegetables — both nutritionally and medicinally — but it is also common in many countries around the world.
Research by Abukutsa and others shows that amaranth greens, spider plant and African nightshade pack substantial amounts of protein and iron — in many cases, more than kale and cabbage1. These vegetables are generally rich in calcium and folate as well as vitamins A, C and E (ref. 2).
In recent years, Abukutsa has been studying how to maximize nutritional benefits using different cooking methods. Compared with raw vegetables, boiled and fried greens contain much more usable iron3 and could help to combat the high rates of anaemia in parts of East Africa. They can also be important sources of protein, she says. “Some people just live on vegetables, and they cannot maybe afford meat.”
Abukutsa is currently studying the antioxidant activity of indigenous vegetables, as well as how resilient they are to the effects of climate change. Most of the traditional varieties are ready for harvest much faster than non-native crops, so they could be promising options if the rainy seasons become more erratic — one of the predicted outcomes of global warming. Slenderleaf (Crotolaria sp.) is particularly hardy during drought because it quickly establishes its taproot. “If we have a short rain because of climate change, it can survive,” she says. She is working with other research partners to select vegetables with increased tolerance for variations in rainfall and temperature. Read More…
Job – Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Tenure Track Due: Jan 9, 2015
Carleton University – Department of Sociology and Anthropology (Anthropology) – Assistant Professor (Applications Closing Date: January 9, 2015)
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology invites applications from qualified candidates for a preliminary tenure-track appointment in Anthropology at the rank of Assistant Professor, to commence July 1, 2015.
We seek a broadly trained scholar whose research engages Indigenous people in North America. The candidate’s work should be grounded in socio-cultural anthropology and social theory, and address both Indigenous practices and colonial regimes. Specific themes addressed in the candidate’s research might include (but are not limited to) urban indigeneity; community; identity and expressive culture; environmental stewardship and land-based activism; cultural, artistic, and linguistic revival; cultural property rights; livelihood practices; Indigenous and comparative political ontologies; kinship and relatedness; sovereignty, treaty rights and land claims processes; and trauma, healing and reconciliation. We are especially interested in candidates who work with First Nations in Canada.
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology offers programs in the two disciplines at the Bachelor, Master and Doctoral levels. Our anthropology faculty members specialize in sociocultural anthropology, and study all dimensions of social and cultural life, including cross-cultural interactions, responses to political-economic conditions and globalization, and culture change.
The successful applicant should have a Ph.D. in hand by the time of appointment and an active research profile oriented towards significant peer-reviewed publications. This candidate must also demonstrate teaching excellence, have a scholarly and teaching background sufficient to immediately assume core teaching duties in Anthropology at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and contribute effectively to graduate supervision and academic life in the Department. The preferred candidate will also complement existing expertise in the Department.
Applications should be submitted electronically in three separate PDF files including: 1) a C.V. and covering letter; 2) writing samples; and 3) evidence of teaching effectiveness. Applicants should also arrange for the arrival of three letters of reference
by January 9, 2015, when review of applications will begin, and continue until the position is filled. Applications should be sent to Karen.Tucker@carleton.ca and letters of reference should be addressed to: Neil Gerlach, Chair (attn: Anthropology position), Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive,
Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6.
Please indicate in your application if you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada.
PDF of full description: CarletonAnthropologyPosition
Job – Repatriation Coordinator, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Job Description
The University of Massachusetts Amherst seeks a Repatriation Coordinator to oversee compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and to enhance the campus¹s program in Native American Studies. The position is a three year 12 month lectureship in the Department of Anthropology. Starting salary is commensurate with experience.
The Repatriation Coordinator directs a small part-time staff and teaches two courses a year that complement the offerings of the Anthropology Department and the program in Native American Indian Studies.
Please submit a cover letter discussing qualifications, a cv/resume, and the names of three referees to http://umass.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdetails.jsp?JOBID=54202&CNTRNO=0&TSTMP=1414007048550. Inquiries about the position can be addressed to
Dr. Robert Paynter, Chair, Search Committee at rpaynter@anthro.umass.edu. Review of applications begins on November 21, 2014 and continues until the position is filled. Letters and additional materials from selected candidates will be due within 2 weeks of receiving such a request. Our negotiable ideal starting date is Feb. 1, 2015.
Job – Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Due Jan. 9, 2015
Department of Sociology and Anthropology (Anthropology) – Assistant Professor (Applications Closing
Date: January 9, 2015)
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University, invites applications from qualified
candidates for a preliminary tenure‐track appointment in Anthropology at the rank of Assistant
Professor, to commence July 1, 2015.
We seek a broadly trained scholar whose research engages Indigenous people in North America. The
candidate’s work should be grounded in socio‐cultural anthropology and social theory, and address both
Indigenous practices and colonial regimes. Specific themes addressed in the candidate’s research might
include (but are not limited to) urban indigeneity; community; identity and expressive culture;
environmental stewardship and land‐based activism; cultural, artistic, and linguistic revival; cultural
property rights; livelihood practices; Indigenous and comparative political ontologies; kinship and
relatedness; sovereignty, treaty rights and land claims processes; and trauma, healing and reconciliation.
We are especially interested in candidates who work with First Nations in Canada.
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology offers programs in the two disciplines at the Bachelor,
Master and Doctoral levels. Our anthropology faculty members specialize in sociocultural anthropology,
and study all dimensions of social and cultural life, including cross‐cultural interactions, responses to
political‐economic conditions and globalization, and culture change.
The successful applicant should have a Ph.D. in hand by the time of appointment and an active research
profile oriented towards significant peer‐reviewed publications. This candidate must also demonstrate
teaching excellence, have a scholarly and teaching background sufficient to immediately assume core
teaching duties in Anthropology at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and contribute
effectively to graduate supervision and academic life in the Department. The preferred candidate will
also complement existing expertise in the Department.
Applications should be submitted electronically in three separate PDF files including: 1) a C.V. and
covering letter; 2) writing samples; and 3) evidence of teaching effectiveness. Applicants should also
arrange for the arrival of three letters of reference by January 9, 2015, when review of applications will
begin, and continue until the position is filled. Applications should be sent to Karen.Tucker@carleton.ca
and letters of reference should be addressed to: Neil Gerlach, Chair (attn: Anthropology position),
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa,
Ontario, K1S 5B6.
Please indicate in your application if you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada.