Anthropology in a climate of change, war, and internecine environments 2

[In process]
Background*
Part 1**

Part 2*** From a follow-up to the newslist discussion about anthropology and climate change–

Q. “So…what can we do to solve this problem? Can we think like engineers?”

Please, don’t. Not even anthropological engineers. For example, see this —

Anthropology in a climate of change, war, and internecine environments 1

[In process]

Background*
Part 1**
Part 2*** [separate post]

* Background

I think there is a need for anthropological perspective in any issue of human existence.

It is a sad irony that the discipline (science) which is most comprehensive and fundamental (science is a human activity and the basic science of human activity is anthropology) has often seemed through its profession association to be narrowly focussed and consequently irrelevant.

Last month, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) accompanied the chairwoman of the Disaster Recovery subcommittee, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) to another hearing, in Anchorage, about the few places in Alaska designated for US Army Corps of Engineers environmental management [sic].

The anthropologists are about to have their annual conference in Washington DC and will be exercised about the U.S. Army recruiting anthropologists (Human Terrain Systems). On the other hand, Barack Obama is hip to Margaret Mead “Obama demonstrated that he understood the reasons why America for decades (think of the Bay of Pigs invasion) has made gravely serious national security decisions based on laughably inaccurate intelligence.”

Meanwhile, none of our western Alaska or Mississippi deltas is taken seriously. “Rush Limbaugh adds Alaskan to polarizing efforts.”

The best the state of Alaska has done so far is issue an official pass to a non-existent mass disease shelter in the region’s pandemic preparedness exercise this year (flu shot clinic).

I think if Governor Palin actually had a scientific advisor to her environmental sub-cabinet especially from rural Alaska or if Landrieu and Stevens could earmark enough funding out of the millions for the Corps mission in Alaska to pay for scientific support for the Unorganized Borough [over half of Alaska's area, 970,500 km² (374,712 square miles), an area larger than France and Germany combined], this actually would be more effective than the endless photo-op and news stories about polar bears without ice.

How do we bring attention to the need for comprehensive analysis, assessment, and action on environmental change? No one would think of building a levee without an engineer, why are we doing relocation and reconstruction of communities — in Alaska and Louisiana / Mississippi — without a human scientist / human ecologist (anthropologist)?

[This analogy would work better if I didn't already know that someone in DC thought of managing emergencies with a horse show announcer.] At the very least we need to aggregate the existing knowledge that we know full well must be included, whether for a northern or a southern delta.

It may not be a direct plus for NOLA– my records precede Katrina and I read Voices of New Orleans. If all the people and power and money there can’t get trailers that the Feds are allowed to inspect — but I think the imaginative scale in Alaska would be easier to actually test many of these concepts and approaches.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alaska at the national anthropology conference 2007

106th AAA (American Anthropological Association) Annual Meeting Nov 28 – Dec 2, 2007 Washington, DC

The abstracts are not on-line, but it may be possible to do an Internet search on the author’s names to find their contact information.

Governing the Harvest: Law and Subsistence Hunting in Alaska
Session Title: Legal Pluralism and Popular Justice
Start Date:
Session Time: -
Type: Paper
Co-Author(s):

What does it Mean to be a Culturally Responsive Teacher in Alaska
Session Title: Indigenous Educational Equity: Difference or Justice?
Start Date: 11/28/2007
Session Time: 08:00 PM – 09:45 PM
Type: Paper
Author: Melissa Rickey
Co-Author(s):

Food Insecurity Differs by Age Groups in Rural Alaskan Native Communities
Session Title: The Changing Dynamics of Food, Nutrition and Cuisine
Start Date: 11/28/2007
Session Time: 04:00 PM – 05:45 PM
Type: Paper
Author: Janell Smith
Co-Author(s):

On the Road Again: Migration, Kinship and the State
Session Title: The Difference Kinship Makes: Rethinking the Ideologies of Modernity
Start Date: 12/01/2007
Session Time: 01:45 PM – 05:30 PM
Type: Paper
Author: Barbara Bodenhorn
Co-Author(s):

Archaeological Goods as Economic Capital: Heritage Lost or Reframed?
Session Title: HERITAGE ENTREPRENEURS: PRODUCING TRADITION FOR NATIONAL AND GLOBAL MARKETS
Start Date: 11/28/2007
Session Time: 04:00 PM – 05:45 PM
Type: Paper
Author: Julie Hollowell
Co-Author(s):

Is simple technology really so simple? Identity difference and expertise in Native Alaska
Session Title: Gender and Material Culture
Start Date: 11/29/2007
Session Time: 01:45 PM – 05:30 PM
Type: Paper
Author: Lisa Frink
Co-Author(s):

Time and Sentience: Methodological Considerations for Arctic Change Research
Session Title: Witnessing, Communicating, Acting: Substantiating Anthropology’s Role in Confronting Global Climate Change
Start Date: 11/30/2007
Session Time: 08:00 AM – 11:45 AM
Type: Paper
Author: David Natcher
Co-Author(s):

GLOBALIZING THE (IN)EQUALITIES OF MODERNIZATION: OBESITY AND DIABETES MELLITUS
Session Title: INEQUALITIES, CHRONIC ILLNESS AND CHRONICITY: Dedicated to the memory of Gay Becker
Start Date: 12/01/2007
Session Time: 10:15 AM – 12:00 PM
Type: Paper
Author: Dennis Wiedman
Co-Author(s):

MISSIONARIES, HUMANITARIAN AID, AND ACCOMPANYING IDEOLOGIES: THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF MISSIONARY ACTIVITY IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST
Session Title: NEW RELIGIONS, HETEROGENEOUS TRADITIONS AND COMPETING STRATEGIES FOR SOCIAL POWER AND JUSTICE IN THE RUSSIAN NORTH
Start Date: 11/30/2007
Session Time: 10:15 AM – 12:00 PM
Type: Paper
Author: Patty Gray
Co-Author(s):

Inhabiting the Brand: Heritage, cultural tourism, and emergent personhood in Alaska and Bali
Session Title: Beyond individual and society: Mass mediated forms of personhood
Start Date: 11/29/2007
Session Time: 08:00 AM – 11:45 AM
Type: Paper
Author: Hannah Voorhees
Co-Author(s):

The Quest for Quality: Reworking Nature and Labor in Bristol Bay, Alaska
Session Title: Rappaport Prize Panel
Start Date: 11/28/2007
Session Time: 08:00 PM – 09:45 PM
Type: Paper
Author: Karen Hebert
Co-Author(s):

“Strange Things Happen to Non-Christian People”: Human-Animal Transformation among the Inupiaq of Arctic Alaska
Session Title: Anthropological Portrayals of Human and Non Human Relationships and Intimate Environmentalisms
Start Date: 12/01/2007
Session Time: 04:00 PM – 05:45 PM
Type: Paper
Author: Joslyn Cassady
Co-Author(s):

Co-Management in Natural vs. Cultural Resource Economies: Lessons from Alaska
Session Title: Compromise or Compromised? Reconsidering Indigenous and Local Participation in Natural Resource Governance
Start Date: 11/29/2007
Session Time: 08:00 AM – 11:45 AM
Type: Paper
Author: Thomas Thornton
Co-Author(s):

Engaging Communities: Graduate Mentoring in Alaska Native Language Education
Session Title: Indigenous Educational Equity: Difference or Justice?
Start Date: 11/28/2007
Session Time: 08:00 PM – 09:45 PM
Type: Paper
Author: Patrick Marlow
Co-Author(s):

Traditional Knowledge: A Blueprint for Survival in the Face of Type 2 Diabetes
Session Title: Living Different Landscapes: Intersections and Inequalities in Biodiversity, Local Knowledge and Health
Start Date: 12/01/2007
Session Time: 01:45 PM – 05:30 PM
Type: Paper
Author: dawn satterfield
Co-Author(s):

Daily Negotiation of Traditions in a Single Denominational Russian Orthodox Village in Alaska
Session Title: Traveling Religions
Start Date: 12/02/2007
Session Time: 10:15 AM – 12:00 PM
Type: Paper
Author: Medea Csoba DeHass
Co-Author(s):

DISTANT BOOMS AND LOCAL ECHOES: CULTURAL RESPONSES TO THE INEQUALITIES OF BOOM-BUST CYCLES IN A FISHERY AND NATURAL RESOURCE DEPENDENT COMMUNITIES
Session Title: : IMPACTS AND EQUITY: APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY AND FISHERIES MANAGEMENT
Start Date: 11/28/2007
Session Time: 12:00 PM – 01:45 PM
Type: Paper
Author: Karma Norman
Co-Author(s):

Surveilling wildlife: privileging satellite knowledge over local knowledge.
Session Title: Technologies of Surveillance: Fear, Faith and Expertise
Start Date: 12/02/2007
Session Time: 10:15 AM – 02:00 PM
Type: Paper
Author: Sandhya Ganapathy
Co-Author(s):

Finding Words: Discourse, Power, and Climate Change in Northwestern Alaska
Session Title: Witnessing, Communicating, Acting: Substantiating Anthropology’s Role in Confronting Global Climate Change
Start Date: 11/30/2007
Session Time: 08:00 AM – 11:45 AM
Type: Paper
Author: Elizabeth Marino
Co-Author(s):

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