From the New Socialist Person to Global Mental Health: The Psy-ences and Mental Health in East Central Europe and Eurasia April 29–30, 2013, University of Chicago ceeres.uchicago.edu/psy-ences Over the past decades, the professions and disciplines concerned with the human mind, brain and behavior (“the psy-ences”) have undergone significant changes in the countries of East Central Europe and Eurasia. Throughout much of the state-socialist period these professions were closely linked to the party-state’s project of producing the “new socialist person.” Today, these professions bear a more complex relationship to the state as they manage transformations ranging from psychiatric reform and attempts to introduce principles of “global mental health” and harm reduction to the region, to the growing influence of biopsychiatry and pharmaceutical companies in determining definitions of health, to the rising popularity of psychological expertise in the development of human capital. Moreover, the shifts in disciplinary objects of knowledge and intervention – namely, mental illness and addictions – can be linked to the repeated social disruptions individuals, families and populations in all of these countries have experienced. While the most recent disruptions have emerged from the economic contraction and related austerity measures, the social upheaval, economic depression, abrupt cultural change, and in some cases, violent conflict, of the immediate postsocialist period are not necessarily distant memories for many living in the region. This conference brings together scholars from across the health and social sciences and the humanities to conference will examine the psy-ences and their shifting objects of knowledge and intervention in the countries of East Central Europe and Eurasia. Sponsored by CEERES, Dept. of Anthropology, Franke Institute for the Humanities, Center for International Studies Norman Wait Harris Fund, International House Global Voices Program, Dept. of Comparative Human Development, and the Workshop on Self and Subjectivity. Free and open to the public. If you plan to attend please send an email to ceeres@uchicago.edu (or call 773-702-0866). Persons with disabilities who may need assistance should contact the Office of Programs & External Relations in advance of the program at 773-753-2274. Download a pdf of the conference poster here   Conference Program April 29 Location: Gordon Center for Integrative Science  Corner of 57th St. and Drexel (map)   9:00 – 9:15   Welcome and introduction Susan Gal (Anthropology, CEERES, University of Chicago) Eugene Raikhel (Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago) 9:15 – 10:45  Panel 1: Expertise enacted and transformed Benjamin Zajicek (History, Towson University) “Insulin Shock Therapy and the Construction of Therapeutic Effectiveness in Stalin’s Soviet Union.” Kateřina Lišková (Sociology, Masaryk University), “Socialist Person Normalized: Sexological Discourses in Czechoslovakia Between the 1950s and 1980s.” Jessica Robbins (Anthropology, University of Michigan), “Socialist and Postsocialist Dimensions of the Geronto-/Psy-ences in Poland: The Case of Universities of the Third Age.” Discussant: Susanne Cohen (Anthropology, University of Chicago) 10:45 — 11:00 Break 11:00 – 12:30 Panel 2:  Politics and the clinic Rebecca Reich (Russian Literature and Culture, University of Cambridge), “Diagnosis, Dissidence and Self-Definition in the Late Soviet Period.” Shelly Yankovskyy (Anthropology, University of Tennessee), “Political and Economic Transformations in Ukraine: the View from Psychiatry.” Jack R. Friedman, (Anthropology, University of Oklahoma), “The Sad, The Mad, and The Bad: The Romanian Psychiatric Hospital as Neoliberal Assemblage of Pathology.” Discussant: Tomas Matza (Anthropology, Duke University) 12:30 – 2:30 Lunch 2:30 – 4:00 Panel 3: The politics and ethics of addiction and treatment Peter Meylakhs, (Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg, Russia), “The Logic of Symbolic Pollution in the Russian Media Discourse on Drugs.” Jennifer J. Carroll (Anthropology, University of Washington), “For Lack of Wanting: Addiction, Desire, and Personhood in Ukraine.” Vladimir D. Mendelevich (Psychiatry, Kazan State University) “Bioethical Differences Between Drug Addiction Treatment Professionals Inside And Outside The Russian Federation.” Discussant: Eugene Raikhel (Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago) 4:00 – 4:30 Break 4:30 – 6:00 Keynote address: “Trotsky’s Daughter and the Politics of Psy-ence” Alexander Etkind (University of Cambridge) 6:00 – 8:00 Dinner   April 30 Location: Home Room, International House, 1414 East 59th Street (map)   9:00 – 10:30 Panel 4 – Trauma and care Hanna Kienzler, (Social Science, Health and Medicine, King’s College London) “Health-seeking and healing in the aftermath of war.” Peter Locke (Anthropology/Global Health, Princeton University), “Surviving the aftermath: trauma, resilience, and chronic insecurity in postwar Sarajevo.” Namrita S. Singh, (Department of International Health, Social & Behavioral Interventions, Johns Hopkins), “Constructing care-seeking spaces and pathways: identity, integration, and mental illness experiences among protracted internally displaced persons in Georgia.” Discussant: Michael Rasell (Health and Social Sciences, University of Lincoln) 10:30-11:00 Break 11:00 – 12:30 Panel 5 – Subjectivities in transformation Tomas Matza (Anthropology, Duke University), “Psychological Becoming after Socialism.” Sonja Luehrmann,  (Anthropology, Simon Fraser University), “Innocence and Demographic Crisis: Transposing post-Abortion Syndrome into a Russian Orthodox Key.” Grzegorz Sokol, (Anthropology, The New School for Social Research), “Mutuality and Selfhood: Depression, the twelve steps, and civil society in Poland” Discussant: Jack R. Friedman (Anthropology, University of Oklahoma) 12:30-2:00 Lunch 2:00-3:30 Panel 6 – Counter-narratives Hannah Proctor (Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London), “Ahistorical Materialism: ‘Neuromania’ in Light of Lev Vygotsky and Alexander Luria’s Cultural-Historical Psychology.” Eugene Raikhel (Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago), “Fear and coding in St. Petersburg: the affective technologies of addiction treatment.” Khashayar Beigi (Anthropology, University of California at Berkeley) “All the Languages of the Jinn.” Discussant: William Nickell (Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago) 3:30-4:00 Break 4:00 – 5:00 Open discussion

What is an “AnthroGuide” anyway? At its core, the AnthroGuide is the premier directory of anthropological institutions and professionals, including universities, community colleges, government organizations, museums, companies, and non-profits. It cuts across all types of anthropology and offers something for every type of anthropologist: students, professors, practicing anthropologists, anyone you can think of. If you [...]

Director of Nisga'a Museum Position

by Aeleka Schortman and Amy Lasater-Wille Please consider submitting paper abstracts for our proposed panel on Foodways and Urban Change in Latin America and the Caribbean (see full panel description below). While we focus on urbanism, we encourage the submission … Continue reading →

Forget online surveys and dinnertime robo-calls. A consulting firm called ReD is at the forefront of a new trend in market research, treating the everyday lives of consumers as a subject worthy of social-science scrutiny. On behalf of its corporate clients, ReD will uncover your deepest needs, fears, and desires. The Atlantic Monthly on the latest in an old and continuing story. 

Via Lissie Wahl-Kleiser: Lissie Wahl-Kleiser, Seth D. Hannah, Michael T. Nathan Contextualization is sine que non for anthropological interpretation. Applied industries, in contrast, favor literal interpretation of written and oral communication. Contextualization is notoriously absent from interpreting industry codes of ethics and standards of practice and when mentioned at all, it is given marginal attention. Does anthropology have anything to offer the processes of interpretation outside its own discipline? If so, how, when, and where? Do interpreters and the institutions they work for have flexibility to employ a more contextualized approach to interpretation? Might such questions uncover other struggles and negotiations over meaning? What is the consequence of decontextualized interpretation in diverse situations? What kinds of processes and forces obstruct contextualization? Absolute answers to these questions cannot exist, as cases and contexts vary? We invite anthropologists working with a cultural, social, medical, psychological, linguistic or political economic focus to think about the space given to context when interpreting medical communication in diverse institutional settings. While the organizers of this session have been conducting research on medical interpreting, we welcome those interested in furthering thinking about medical communication in diverse institutional contexts. We invite presenters to compare institutional factors calling for the existence of literal translations and interpretations as opposed to those in which the meaning or sense of a text are additionally arrived at by incorporating context. We want to explore the degrees, circumstances and processes by which institutional forces promote or limit the emergence and incorporation of context in medical communication and the possible consequences of this. We invite participants to analyze the kinds of interaction that are allowed, prohibited or struggled over in a given institutional setting during interpretation, whether formally, informally, or some combination of both. We invite participants to discuss the role of history and power in hindering or promoting the kind of interaction that allows for the contextualization of meaning in medical communication. We ask that presenters use ”field material,” in addition to theory. We request as well that each presenter consider how anthropological insight might enrich those fields of work each has researched. Time will be allotted for comparative discussion. It is our purpose to arrive at concepts, processes, and guidelines that underline the need for context in the process of communication in medical settings and industries.

Dear all,I have been a bit busy this week - for all the right and good reasons - and fresh & exciting content will be added very soon! In the meantime, enjoy some great reads!Although there are some great reads on technology, learning and social change featured in this week's review (including a great ethnographic piece on 'performing success' in the context of OLPC) you should definitely check out very interesting reads on new research that suggests that corporations from the unhealthy commodities industry should have no place in policy-making, 'feel-good activism' and the moral complexities between 'inquiry and insult' when participating in an exercise such as the 'Two Dollar Per Day Challenge' (i.e. pretending to be poor when you really aren't...). If you are still curious, do check out a good Bono-bashing piece and the inaugural open access issue of the new Peacebuilding journal!Enjoy!DevelopmentLancet Article Highlights Links between Corporations and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)The report looks at the efforts and effects of the tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed food and drink industries, concluding that: “unhealthy commodity industries should have no role in the formation of national and international NCD policy.” Ultra-processed foods and sugar drinks are associated with the rise in obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease around the world. Major corporations, such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo produce more than half of the world’s sugar beverages. Further, processed food makes up 75% of the world’s food sales, “whose largest manufacturers control more than a third of the market,” including companies like Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, Nestle, Mars, and Kellogg.(...)The article reports several key strategies used by tobacco, asbestos, and pharmaceutical companies that are now being implemented by alcohol and food industries(...)Which (once again) begs the question: does any of this money ever actually reach people in need through philanthropic action or does it just filter back into other transnational corporations? Just as I came across a forthcoming event on the Global Giving Report which will be attended by a 'Who is Who' of players involved in health funding, the article and post confirm my suspicions when it comes to private sector engagement in development (cf. last year's discussion and my commentary Only get an MBA if you are not interested in sustainable development).‘Factivism’ and Other Fairytales from BonoIt’s not just Bono’s own unimaginable riches and his dubious versions of ancient and recent history that make his “equality” talk so sickeningly misdirected. It’s that, whatever the precise facts about extreme-poverty reduction, we know for certain that the recent history of the world is a story of dramatically increasing inequality. Four out of five people live in countries that are becoming more unequal in terms of income. For Bono, “equality” is just another feel-good word, a warm set of syllables to be deployed even to describe its exact opposite.(...)Like so much of his work, Bono’s idea of “good news” is a distraction, deliberate or otherwise, from the sort of radical redistribution of resources that would lead us toward a world where equality, justice and the genuine eradication of poverty were really imminent possibilities.Harry Browne's commentary around Bono's latest TED talk is not simply a leftist rant, but engages in detail with some of the numbers and statistics behind his 'factivism' of what 'works' to eradicate poverty. Why the invasion of Iraq was the single worst foreign policy decision in American historyIn my act of the play, the U.S. spent some $2.2 million dollars to build a huge facility in the boondocks. Ignoring the stark reality that Iraqis had raised and sold chickens locally for some 2,000 years, the U.S. decided to finance the construction of a central processing facility, have the Iraqis running the plant purchase local chickens, pluck them and slice them up with complex machinery brought in from Chicago, package the breasts and wings in plastic wrap, and then truck it all to local grocery stores. Perhaps it was the desert heat, but this made sense at the time, and the plan was supported by the Army, the State Department, and the White House. Elegant in conception, at least to us, it failed to account for a few simple things, like a lack of regular electricity, or logistics systems to bring the chickens to and from the plant, or working capital, or... um... grocery stores. As a result, the gleaming $2.2 million plant processed no chickens. To use a few of the catchwords of that moment, it transformed nothing, empowered no one, stabilized and economically uplifted not a single Iraqi. It just sat there empty, dark, and unused in the middle of the desert. Like the chickens, we were plucked.As the 10th anniversary of the invasion is marked, despite its grandiose headline, the piece from Le Monde Diplomatique is a highly recommended critical read.A humanitarian surge and its demise, 1997 to 2003: a personal accountWhat I hope to achieve, in the course of my lecture this evening, is to describe the very important window of opportunity that arose between the end of the cold war in 1989–90 and the declaration of the War on Terror in 2001–2002, and to try to draw out some lessons from this experience. I do this, not simply to share with you my account of those years, but because reflection on the experience of those years could teach us important lessons about what needs to be done to advance humanitarian values. I want to suggest that humanitarianism is too often perceived as a marginal series of activities – famine relief, development assistance, peacekeeping, emergency humanitarian relief. While these are all worthwhile, they exist alongside the main thrust of foreign and defence policy and too often fail to challenge the central thrust of foreign policy thinking which frequently perpetuates the conditions in which humanitarian emergencies will continue to emerge.Former UK Secretary of State Clare Short reflects on her work and development policy-making from the end of the Cold War to the beginning of the 'War on Terror'. Make sure you also check out other openly accessible articles from the inaugural issue of the new Peacebuilding journal!Inside Malaysia's Shadow StateFor over thirty years, Sarawak has been governed by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, who controls all land classification, forestry and plantation licenses in the state. Under his tenure, Sarawak has experienced some of the most intense rates of logging seen anywhere in the world. The state now has less than five per cent of its forests left in a pristine condition, unaffected by logging or plantations and continues to export more tropical logs than South America and Africa combined. The film reveals for the first time the instruments used by the ruling Taib family and its lawyers to skirt Malaysia’s laws and taxes. It shows how they cream off huge profits at the expense of indigenous people, and hide their dirty money in Singapore.Traditional NGO advocacy is enhanced with approaches known from investigative journalism-a good example of a clear win-win!Can Feel-Good Activism Save the World?What overarching questions were you trying to answer in The Ironic Spectator?There are two main questions. The first was a general question about how we communicate the suffering and vulnerability of others, something the field of development has struggled over for decades. The debate has been there forever – and it is a moral and political rather than just an aesthetic debate – but I thought we weren’t getting very satisfactory responses. I felt we needed to revisit those questions, approaching the topic in a different way or with a fresh perspective.The second question – and the main trigger for the book – was a recent trend in charity campaigns. New forms of campaigning have emerged, which are very advanced in the way they market international humanitarian brands, but in doing so employ a new logic to previous forms of humanitarian communication. I was intrigued by these new campaigns’ clean aesthetic, their sanitisation of the message, their total focus on the consumer, and their suppression of the sufferer in their messages. I theorise this new logic as ‘post-humanitarian’ and wanted to understand what these new manifestations tell us about where we are today in terms of representing vulnerability.Long, interesting interview with author Lilie Chouliaraki about her new book 'The Ironic Spectator'. I am definitely planning to review it, too!Inquiry versus InsultWith those words, my eyes popped open. I was three days into the Two Dollar Challenge. I had been limiting my income to $2 a day, sleeping in a make-shift shelter with my students for the past two nights, and adhering to a number of other rules meant to assist us in gaining a deeper understanding of the economic lives of the poor. (...)“We create a spectacle and then proceed to blog, post and tweet about our experience. We get interviewed. We get our pictures taken. We are built up (by some) as something special.” “I imagine that this can be insulting.” “If you know this,” he jumped back in, “why do you continue to do it?” “All of those things that insult you are the things that non-participants can only observe from the outside. There is so much more.” “Inside the Two Dollar Challenge – as a participant – there is something special happening.”(...)I am still not fully at ease. Is the Two Dollar Challenge appropriate? I do not know. Does it have the ability to insult others? Yes. Does it have the ability to give participants a necessary dose of empathy, humility and doubt? Yes. Maybe, just maybe, being at unease with the Two Dollar Challenge is where I am suppose to be and should always be.The complexities of experiencing, teaching and reflecting on 'poverty' if you are not really poor... AnthropologyTenured RadicalsWhat I have come to notice through this examination will not surprise many readers of this column. The high-minded leftist ideals expressed by many faculty members in public contexts—letters to the editor, rants on the faculty listserv, etc.—are routinely betrayed in everyday practice in the workplace. The colleagues who make waves about marriage equality or another worthwhile issue (while not actually inconveniencing themselves in any way—a far cry from the Civil Rights and Second Wave Feminist movements that I remember) routinely reproduce structures of oppression in the academy.(...)Such obvious examples of bad faith, exploitation of powerless people, hypocrisy, and, I don’t know, general asshole-ishness, are the defining feature of the American academy. The fact that we spend our free time sending radical Facebook posts to one another is simply a curious sideshow.Anthropologist Michael E. Harkinon on why academia is a tough place for reform let alone revolutions of any kind.Performing Success: When mythologies about a technology dominate first impressionsThis vignette problematizes the value of first impressions by illustrating an example of participants’ desire to perform success to visitors, especially high-profile ones. In the process, it shows the value of ethnographies, as more sustained research initiatives which ideally last long after the novelty effect of the visitor and of the (techno-)social interactions they are studying have worn off.(...)Finally, these vignettes demonstrate the benefit of sustained and embedded observations of development projects, as can be provided by ethnographic inquiry, in overcoming these performances. The visitor in the second vignette was able to see more realistic classroom laptop use because he was willing to become a shadow-ethnographer, even though his visit was relatively short. He was also willing to honestly report his findings, good or bad (which are posted here). Careful, critical ethnographies are one of the few ways to overcome performances of success to witness the real benefits – and challenges – of development projects such as OLPC.I just love Ethnography Matters! Also check out the next link on education and technology.AcademiaMagical thinking about technology in educationI certainly saw that with instructional television in the 1960s, desktop computers and labs in the 1980s, 1:1 laptop programs since the mid-1990s and I now see a similar pattern with iPads, other tablets, and smart phones. Magical thinking about transforming teaching and learning–dumping teachers and traditional schools disappearing–is close to make-believe even when children have these powerful devices in their hands. Vendor-driven hype and wishful policy thinking over robots, increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence software, and expanded virtual teaching feed private and public fantasies about replacing teachers and schools. Taking a step back and thinking about what parents, voters, and taxpayers want from schools–the social, economic, political, and individual goals–makes magical thinking more of a curse in the inevitable public disappointment and cynicism that ensue after money is spent, paltry results emerge, and machines become obsolete. Valerie Strauss on technology, teaching and learning - and how new technologies often fail to meet the high expectations of 'transforming learning'. Very relevant for development discussions as well and obviously connected to the previous post on ethnography and performing success! I recently wrote on OLPC (mentioned in the article) and MOOCs and the complexities of learning and development.Why do more women than men in academia engage in the community?So in that spirit, in a quiet, solitary moment, I again asked myself, “Why are more women than men from academia involved in community-based work?” The answer that immediately came to mind was, “We are trying to humanize an inhuman environment. We are resisting the inhumanity of academia.” This answer was a shock. As the words seeped their way into the grooves in my mind, I realized the shock was partly one of recognition. Although I had never thought of my motivations in these terms, it was a valid way to describe why I have been passionate about community engagement. It is true that I have been engaged in acts of resistance to the norms of academia: the dissociation from the body, the erasure of emotion, the competitiveness, and the disconnection from societal issues.(...)If my insight is correct, we who are involved in community-university engagement, both women and men, can be seen as resisting the forces of dehumanization, including traditional patriarchal influences that have shaped so much of academic culture. We are trying to create environments where we can invest our whole humanity in collective effort, spaces where we can laugh and sing and dance and weep as well as talk. Is this something that more women than men are interested in? Apparently it is.Is predominantly female engagement in community efforts a feminist project? Should it be one? Or is there a more mundane reason as more and more female students enter universities and look for community engagement as part of their skill- and CV-building? It's complicated...Training for What? Anya Kamenetz has a thought-provoking piece about the Milwaukee Area Technical College’s agreement to run welding programs for Caterpillar. Caterpillar is expecting a strike, so it wants the local technical college to train its managers and non-unit staff to be able to do union jobs if its welders walk off the job. MATC is responding to employer need, offering training in an employable skill and thereby supporting the local economy. Now the Steelworkers’ union is petitioning MATC to refrain from what it considers pre-emptive strikebusting. It’s an ugly, sticky issue. (...) It reminded me of a discussion I had on my own campus recently. It’s hardly news that Massachusetts is planning to legalize casinos, and that it’s soliciting proposals from various developers for locations. Community colleges in relevant areas are preparing programs to train workers in the various skills for which casinos hire. In conversation last week, a respected professor suggested to me that the college should take a moral position that casinos are bad for communities and simply refuse to participate. For that matter, I think there’s a serious argument to be made that graduate programs in many humanities and social science disciplines should either shrink or be shut down. The employment prospects for their graduates at this point are so poor that the idea of spending taxpayer money to send the next wave of recruits into the wall doesn’t make sense. But there, too, the people being asked to take a moral stand are the people whose livelihoods would be affected if they did. Is it immoral to train non-unionized welders or future casino staff? But the bigger question: Is it immoral to train, say, development workers or anthropologists who may not find suitable jobs? Interesting questions particularly for the aforementioned 'tenured radicals'...

Please note:  This is a podcast from a past meeting that is being re-posted as part of our new “Flashback Friday” program.  We hope you  will enjoy this and the many other podcasts from our library which can be found on the Short Cut To Podcasts page. CHAIR: King, Diane and Schuller, Mark PANELISTS: Gardner, Andrew; Ilahiane, Hsain; King, Diane; [...]

LA County Museum Makes 20,000 Artistic Images Available for Free Download from Open Culture by Kate Rix Here is the link: [collections.lacma.org] Harvard Secretly Searched Campus Emails in Internal Investigation from Mashable! by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai   Coursera’s Contractual Elitism   If you wonder why your university hasn’t linked up with Coursera, the massively popular provider of free online classes, it may help to know the company is contractually obliged to turn away the vast majority of American universities. Read more: [www.insidehighered.com] Inside Higher Ed A Master List of 700 Free Courses From Great Universities from Open Culture by Dan Colman   73% of Teachers Use Cellphones for Classroom Activities from Mashable! by Camille Bautista   Evolving History Dissertations Study looks at how the titles have changed, and suggests shifts in research interests of those entering the profession. Seven Tips From William Faulkner on How to Write Fiction from Open Culture by Mike Springer   Will Authors Get Compensated for Used E-Book Sales? from MediaShift On January 29, Amazon Technologies Inc. received a patent pertaining to the “secondary market for digital objects.” According to the patent abstract, the technology will enable Amazon customers to transfer — and presumably sell — e-books, MP3s, and other digital files to other customers. And, Apple too has filed for patentson the transfer of owned digital items. Related posts: An edited volume: “Punakademics” – free to download… An Academic roundup: “Connected Learning” from Henry Jenkins/ 55 free Philosophy Courses/ Netwar 2.0 and more… World music archive/ William Faulkner’s University of Virginia Lectures ETC Free lectures from Michel Foucault; The Art of the Occupy Movement… and more.. Ahahah even FBI Employees seem to download pirated stuff…

The season called the "Chaleur" (the Heat) has descended on the Sahel. Since February 23rd we haven't had a daily high temperature below 102˚F. And it hasn't been below 104˚F since March 2nd. I was planning to reduce the amount of time I spend out in my fieldsites of Weglega and Tama because of the heat. I thought I might rev up my data collection at USAID WA-WASH and Winrock and profit from the air-conditioned offices. I was kidding myself.I'm still feeling the time crunch. It's compounded by the US Embassy, which, as part of my Fulbright Scholarship, would like me to present preliminary data at their cultural centers around the country starting in April as part of their promotion of Environment Month. I'm scrambling to gather as much data as possible to make my talk as interesting (i.e. worthwhile) as possible.With the heat and with the time crunch I began to stress. And then it hit me. I woke up one morning on my cot (it's too hot to use a mattress), damp from the nighttime heat, sweat already forming on my brow, not caring about the heat. I've reached a zen-like acceptance of the heat. What else can one do? That's not to say I don't notice the heat; I notice it all the time. I just don't care about it anymore.But I was still stressing myself out, trying to cram as many interviews into the weeks as possible. My zen-like acceptance facilitated my trips out to my fieldsites. I'd suck down the 3 liters my CamelBak carries by early afternoon, using purification tablets when I refilled it from well water. I was a man on a mission. Until yesterday.The temperature pushed 110˚F yesterday. The wind was like being blown by an industrial hairdryer. The sun burnt my skin immediately. Everyone and everything--Burkinabe, chickens, dogs, cattle, anthropologists--scurried from shade to shade. Chickens panted, holding their wings out, trying to expel body heat. Men and women sat with blank stares, sucking their teeth occasionally to show their disapproval with the sun.Then there was me, trying to run from field to compound to make my day as productive as possible. At midday I met with a key informant to begin an economic decision-making case study. We chatted. I got my information and we chatted some more. I asked to take my leave."I must ask for the road.""It's too hot," he replied, "the sun burns."It's culturally appropriate to refuse to let someone leave. If a host doesn't feign resistance to departure it's a bit like hurrying the guest along, as if you didn't enjoy their company. So I insisted, as is appropriate, telling him I enjoyed his hospitality but that I had programmed some more work."Rest awhile," he insisted. "No one's going anywhere. You can do your work later." He was being more insisting than usual. I get up and creep out from under the shade of the tree."The sun hits!" I exclaim. They laugh. So I retake my place with the family. I call my other interviewees and tell them I'm waiting out the sun and settle into my chair. I end up dozing off to the sounds of kids playing, women quietly chatting, chickens clucking, and the leaves of the neem tree rustled by the hot breeze. I wake up 45min later, refreshed.It's 3:30 and the heat of the day is beginning to pass. I ask to take my leave some time later, the family less resistant, content that I napped and waited out the sun. They tell me it's good to relax, to stop working from time to time. I smile, finally permitting myself to take their advice.My audience and entertainment for the afternoon repose;boys playing "how many can fit on a wooden bench."

Full disclosure: Microsoft releases and breaks down government requests for user data the world around from The Next Web by Alex Wilhelm   EFF Joins Coalition Urging White House to Veto CISPA from EFF.org Updates by Adi Kamdar and Adi Kamdar Thirty-seven digital rights groups and businesses have come together this week to urge the White House to defend privacy and promise to veto the dangerous cybersecurity bill CISPA. Such legislation poses a number of privacy risks to individuals, allowing levels of information sharing between companies and the government that supersede existing privacy laws. Privacy advocates aren’t the only ones speaking out against CISPA; online companies like Reddit and Mozilla, as well as web hosts like Gandi and Namecheap, have chosen to stand up for their users’ rights rather than support ill-defined legislation. Don’t Hate CISPA — Let’s Fix It, Because We Need It from Wired Top Stories by Wired Opinion ?Cybersecurity and privacy are not mutually exclusive.? Yet that is the false choice being presented by CISPA?s sponsors. Well I?m not buying what they?re selling — I say we can have both security and privacy. Because let?s face it: We do need better cybersecurity to protect Americans and our economy from harm. In fact, compared to major natural disasters, cyber attacks by a capable adversary could actually affect basic infrastructure like power and water supply for a much more prolonged period and across a much wider geographic area. Google to Congress: Reform Email Privacy Law Now from Mashable! by Alex Fitzpatrick Microsoft, Nokia and others voice complaints about Google’s top-level domain requests from The Next Web by Robin Wauters Reddit, Craigslist and 30,000 Other Websites Oppose CISPA from Mashable! by Alex Fitzpatrick The Consequences of CISPA’s Broad Legal Immunity from EFF.org Updates by Mark M. Jaycox CISPA, the cyberspying bill, is back in Congress and plagued with many of the same problems as last year—vague definitions and the grim government access loophole to name just a few. The bill also grants broad immunity to companies as long as a company acts in “good faith.” One section of the immunity clause even grants immunity for any “decision made” based on information about a perceived threat. The clause opens up a wide door for abuse and is yet another reason why we urge users to stop CISPA. Under CISPA, Who Can Get Your Data? from EFF.org Updates by Rainey Reitman Under CISPA, companies can collect your information in order to “protect the rights and property” of the company, and then share that information with third parties, including the government, so long as it is for “cybersecurity purposes.” Companies aren’t required to strip out personally identifiable information from the data they give to the government, and the government can then use the information for purposes wholly unrelated to cybersecurity – such as “national security,” a term the bill leaves undefined. Is it worth spending half your profits “fighting piracy”? from Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow On TechDirt, Tim Cushing follows up on a WSJ story where filmmaker/indie distributor Kathy Wolfe says that half of her profits, about $30,000, are spent sending out DMCA takedown notices to fight piracy. Wolfe has an admirably successful and long-lived business, and Cushing tries to find out how Wolfe hit on the $30,000 figure as the optimal amount to spend fighting piracy, but it seems that Wolfe’s spending of half her profits are based largely on faith, and unsupported by any data she is willing to share. In-depth explanation of EFF’s courtroom victory over the FBI’s “National Security Letters” from Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow Last week, we brought you the wonderful news that a district court in San Francisco had struck down the law that allowed the FBI to issue its own “National Security Letters” (NSLs) — secret search-warrants with permanent gag orders. Now, Matt Zimmerman, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (who brought the case on behalf of an unnamed telco), explains in depth what EFF asked the court to recognize, how far they got, and what happens next:   The Fight Against Secret Surveillance Law Continues: EFF Asks D.C. Circuit to Order Release of Secret Legal Opinion from EFF.org Updates by Mark Rumold In a brief filed on Friday (PDF), EFF continued its fight against secret surveillance law, asking the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to order the release of a secret opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). Meet Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia Anyone Can Code from Wired Top Stories by Cade Metz It began as the encyclopedia anyone can edit. And now it’s also the encyclopedia anyone can program. Even the CIA is struggling to deal with the volume of real-time social data from Bilişim Hukuku Günlüğü by leyla keser berber Thanks to spy movies and other entertainment fare, we all have our own picture of what the Central Intelligence Agency is like — but the agency’s chief technology officer, Ira “Gus” Hunt, told attendees at GigaOM’s Structure:Data conference that just like any other company, the intelligence division has to somehow find the signal in an ever-increasing volume of noise. And that problem is getting   Reuters’ Matthew Keys indicted for conspiring with Anonymous to compromise the LA Times website from The Next Web by Alex Wilhelm Don’t Download That Bro, You’re Going to Get Busted! from TorrentFreak by Andy Ever since the very first file-sharing lawsuits (or at least threats of them) raised their heads in the last decade, people have wondered if they might become the next victim. Many carried on oblivious and haven’t had a single problem, but others wonder if there is some kind of magic formula to staying out of trouble. Visualizing Google’s Transparency Report, Part 3: What Countries Ask For The Biggest Share of Netizen Data? from EFF.org Updates by Katitza Rodriguez This article has been written by Katitza Rodriguez (EFF) and Olivia Solis (SHARE Defense) Google’s Transparency Report gives country-by-country statistics on the state requests it receives for personal private records. Below, EFF and SHARE Defense ranked the top countries requesting data—not by the total numbers of requests, but by how many accounts are requested relative to the total number of Internet users in each country. We believe this chart is fairer for countries that have a large Internet user population, but who make a smaller percentage of surveillance requests. These results are not a perfect measure, but we can still see the disproportionate activities of some small nations who make relatively relative high numbers of data requests.  Google  statistics refer to user accounts, and not the number of affected  users. One user may have more than one account (see Google Transparecy Report FAQs). Moreover, Google is also less popular in some countries than others, which lowers the  number of requests they receive from a particular jurisdiction. Visualizing Google’s Transparency Report, Part 2: When the State Comes Knocking, How Does Google Reply? from EFF.org Updates by Katitza Rodriguez This post was co-written by Katitza Rodriguez  (EFF) and Olivia Solis (SHARE Defense) Since Google first began releasing its transparency reports three years ago, international user-data requests have snowballed for Google — a trend that shows no sign of abating. How Google has responded to these requests has varied by region. Visualizando el Informe de Transparencia de Google, Parte 1: ¿Qué países están pidiendo a Google los datos de sus usuarios? from EFF.org Updates by Katitza Rodriguez Este articulo ha sido escrito por Katitza Rodriguez – EFF y Olivia Solis – SHARE Defense   Google Takes the Dark Path, Censors AdBlock Plus on Android from EFF.org Updates by Peter Eckersley In a shocking move, Google has recently deleted AdBlock Plus from the Android Play Store. This is hugely disappointing because it demonstrates that Google is willing to censor software and abandon its support for open platforms as soon as there’s an ad-related business reason for doing so. Matthew Keys’ legal defense in face of hacking indictment: He was an undercover journalist from The Next Web by Alex Wilhelm 3 Ways to Start Using Google+ (Before it’s Too Late) from social media vb by FixCourse Google+ isn’t supposed to be Facebook or Twitter. Instead it’s a “social spine”, a virtual identity, that connects you to everything else online Facebook Goes Lukewarm Toward CISPA from Mashable! by Alex Fitzpatrick Companies Buying More Insurance Against Cyberattacks from Mashable! by BusinessNewsDaily   Global Privacy Survey 2013-MEF from Bilişim Hukuku Günlüğü by leyla keser berber Consumer Attitudes To Privacy Around The World   Mobile apps offer consumers fun and functionality via the one device that stays with them throughout the day. The explosion of the apps ecosystem is driven by new business models where many apps are free or heavily discounted which of course consumers love, but where developers monetize the information they collect on their users. The report, Facebook joins Microsoft in dropping support for CISPA, the controversial cybersecurity bill from The Next Web by Alex Wilhelm Aaron Swartz’s Lawyers Accuse Prosecutors of Misconduct; Help the Next Aaron By Reforming the CFAA from EFF.org Updates by Trevor Timm On Wednesday, the Huffington Post reported that lawyers for the late Aaron Swartz have officially accused his prosecutor Steven Heymann of misconduct. Aaron Swartz defense: prosecutor Steve Heymann deliberately withheld exculpatory evidence from Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow According to Aaron Swartz’s defense team, federal prosecutor Steve Heymann (star of Quinn Norton’sextraordinary piece on the prosecution) illegally withheld evidence that would have exculpated Aaron: The Number of Phishing Websites Declines in 2012 from Bilişim Hukuku Günlüğü by leyla keser berber See: Phishing Activity Trends Report, 3rd Quarter 2013   [www.antiphishing.org]   Patent Trolls on the Hot Seat from EFF.org Updates by Daniel Nazer and Daniel Nazer and Julie Samuels Today Congress heard overwhelming evidence about how patent trolls—companies that assert patents as a business model instead of creating products—are abusing the system to stifle innovation. At a hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, witness after witness testified about patent trolls who use the threat of ruinous defense costs to pressure companies into paying settlements on vague and overbroad patents. The Subcommittee also heard testimony about the disturbing trend of patent trolls targeting end-users—such as cafes providing Wi-Fi or businesses using standard office technology like scanners and email.   Pinterest rolls out its site redesign with easier access to boards and related content from a pin page from The Next Web by Nick Summers FTP Basics for Bloggers from About Web Logs What is FTP and why does it matter to bloggers? The vast majority of beginner bloggers don’t know the answer to that question, and believe it or not, many people who. Transatlantic Civil Society Declaration: Leave Copyright and Patent Provisions Out of TAFTA from EFF.org Updates by Maira Sutton Last month, U.S. President Barack Obama announced the launch of a new trade deal between the United States and the European Union. This transatlantic free trade agreement (TAFTA)—or what government leaders are touting as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)—is likely to carry copyright provisions that would pose a serious threat to digital rights. Past and currently negotiated trade agreements have enacted rules that would force ISPs to turn into copyright police, place harsh and disproportionate criminal penalties on file sharers, and seriously impair users’ ability to innovate and access content on the Internet. STUDY: Looking At Old Facebook Posts Makes You Feel Happier from All Facebook by Justin Lafferty Students Confess Their Darkest Secrets on Facebook from Mashable! by Camille Bautista Half of What Online Advertisers Know About You Is Wrong from Mashable! by Quartz Related posts: Cyberculture roundup: Google explains its approach to government requests.. Tribute to Alan Turing, U.S. Still Requests More Google User Data Than Any Other Country and more..A Cyberculture roundup… Cyberculture roundup: New Laws on Privacy issues, Iranian presidential candidate does Reddit AMA, CISPA on the agenda… Cyberculture roundup: CISPA is back, Vote for the Netizen of the Year, Effects of a Patent Troll…. Cyberculture roundup: CISPA threat continues, Stop Cyber Spying Week, Google Drive,

On Tuesday, April 16, the Worldwatch Institute will release the latest edition of its annual flagship publication, State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible?, in Washington, D.C. The event will feature some of the book’s key contributors, who will share their expertise and ideas on the three main themes of the book, discussing how the term “sustainability” should be measured, how we can attain it, and how we can prepare if we fall short. Speakers will include: Worldwatch President Robert Engelman and Project Co-directors Erik Assadourian and Tom Prugh Contributing authors Jennie Moore of the British Columbia Institute of Technology, Pat Murphy of the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions, and science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson The symposium will take place from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m. on April 16 at 1400 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036. A reception with food and refreshments will follow the event. Space is limited, RSVP here . You can also pre-order a copy of the book here. Email Grant Potter at gpotter@worldwatch.org if you have any questions.

Postdoctoral position in Moral Psychology in Paris The Institute of Cognitive Sciences (Ecole Normale Supérieure) is searching for a postdoc to begin working in September 2013, on a newly awarded grant, “The Evolution of Fairness: An Interdisciplinary Approach” (see summary description below). The successful candidate will be part of a newly created team of evolutionary biologists and experimental psychologists, and will conduct experiments on moral judgments (moral dilemmas, distributive justice, punishment, etc.) in the framework of the theory of fairness and partner choice. Candidates should have substantive expertise in experimental psychology, and a strong interest in evolutionary psychology and moral philosophy. French is not required (the working language at the Institute is English). The precise salary level is still being formulated, but will be in the neighborhood of 2400 €/month (including social security and health insurance). Of note for postdocs with children is that the French system also provides free public schools (from age 3) and financial aid for daycare. Applications should consist of a 2-3 page cover letter, relating the applicant’s training to the project, as well as a full CV, and should be received by April 15, 2013, sent directly to Nicolas Baumard at: nbaumard@gmail.com. Summary of Grant Focus and Activities What makes humans fair? This question can be understood either as a proximate ‘how’ question or as an ultimate ‘why’ question. The ‘how’ question is about the mental mechanisms that produce judgments of fairness, and has been investigated by psychologists and social scientists. The ‘why’ question is about the fitness consequences that explain why humans are endowed with a sense of fairness, and has been discussed by evolutionary biologists and behavioral economists in the context of the evolution of cooperation. Our goal is to contribute to a fruitful articulation of such proximate and ultimate explanations of fairness. Using evolutionary models, we will develop an approach to fairness as an adaptation to an environment in which individuals are in competition to be recruited in mutually advantageous cooperative interactions. In this environment, the best strategy is to share the costs and benefits of cooperation in a fair way. Using experimental methods, we will investigate the patterns of fairness judgments both developmentally and cross-culturally and examine whether they conform to the predictions of evolutionary models.

Bu yazı T24 için yazılmıştı ama orada hala yayınlanmadığı için buradan yayına sokuyorum;) Transmedya’yı eğitime uyarlama denemesi Transmedya kavramını ilk olarak Henry Jenkins’in artık başucu kitabı olmak üzere olan  “Convergence Culture” kitabında farkettim. Kavram ilk olarak orada kullanılmıyor ama kavramın yeni medya çalışmalarında yaygınlaşmasına en çok katkıda bulunan eserlerden birisi bu olsa gerek.   Kavram daha çok “transmedia storytelling” [transmedya hikaye anlatımı] şeklinde kullanılıyor. TV sektöründe ve (özellikle) Türkiye’de reklam ve pazarlama alanında daha yaygın olarak telaffuz edilmeye başlanıyor. Bir tanımlama denemesine gelince: Transmedya, anlatılacak şeyi eldeki dijital teknolojileri kullanarak çeşitli platformlar ve biçimler üzerinden ve bunlar boyunca anlatmaktır. Eski medya düzeninde anlatılacak şey bir medya üzerinden anlatılır ve diğer medyalar üzerinden tekrarlanır- genişletilir- zenginleştirilirken, transmedya pratiğinde anlatılacak şey ancak çoklu bir medya ortamının birlikte kullanılmasıyla mümkün olabilir. Hikaye- ya da daha da genişleteyim: “anlatılacak şey”- artık tek bir medya üzerinden anlatılamaz haldedir. Hikayenin iletilebilmesi ancak çoklu medya ortamının deneyimlenmesiyle mümkün olabilecektir.   Transmedyayı anlamaya çalışırken başka tür kavramsallaştırmalarla karıştırma riski yüksek gözüküyor. Örneğin medya tüketicileriyle daha derinlikli ve çok katmanlı bir interaktivite kurmak transmedyanın sonuçlarından biri olsa da onu tanımlamak için yeterli olmayabilir. Aynı şekilde yukarıda da tanımlamaya çalıştığım üzere çoklu platform/medya kullanımı da tek başına yeterli değildir transmedyayı anlamada. Yoksa bazı şeylerin anlatımında çoklu medya çoktandır vardır zaten. Burada önemli olan anlatılan şeyi anlamak için bu medyaların hepsini deneyimlememiz gerektiği, yoksa hikayenin eksik kalacağıdır.   Hikaye eksik kalacak derken, aslında transmedyayla belki de başı sonu belli bir anlatının da sonuna geliniyor denebilir. Eskiden bir filmi ya da bir diziyi ya da bir TV reklamını izler ve konusuna hakim olurduk. Şimdi çoklu platformlarda hikayeleri kovalarken bir taraftadan da bileceğiz ki her yeni platform hikaye için yeni bir açı, yeni bir evrimleşme olabilir…   Okurlar yorum kısmında transmedya örnekleri verebilir ve bir tartışma başlatabiliriz. Bense yazının geri kalanında bir dersimde gerçekleşen transmedya deneyiminden bahsedeceğim. Bilgi Üniversitesi Halkla İlişkiler Bölümünde bahar dönemleri verdiğim Dijital Kültürler dersinde geçen yıl da bazı denemeler yapmıştık, ama bu yıl çıtayı yükseltiyoruz. İçeriği doğrudan yeni medya meseleleri olan bu dersle ilgili bir yazı kaleme alacağım. Bu ilk yazıda transmedyayı vurgulamak istiyorum.   Dersimiz bir tarafıyla geleneksel ders sistemi içinde. Yaklaşık 270 öğrenci 2 ayrı günde 3er saatlik derse giriyor. Ders konuları buradan görülebilir, bu konular da haftalar ilerledikçe yeniden şekillenebiliyor. Geleneksel ders sistemin biraz farklı olarak. Ancak sınıfa gelmiş olmak dersi takip edebilmek için yeterli değil. Kapalı devre Facebook grubumuz dersle ilgili notların paylaşıldığı, tartışıldığı, duyuruların yapıldığı iletişim mecrası. Derse gelmeyip Facebook grubuyla yetinmek de mümkün olmuyor, çünkü gruba aktif olarak katkıda bulunmak kısmen derse gelmekle mümkün. Ders dışına da açık olan Twitter etiketimiz dersle ilgili Twitlerin atıldığı, bazen bir ders konusunun tartışılmaya devam edildiği (#TwitterKullanıyorumÇünkü),  bazen ne derste ne de Facebook grubunda ilan edilmemiş bazı duyuruların yapıldığı bir mecra olarak işlev görüyor. Buraya ders dışından da katılım mümkün. Dersin hikayesinin başka bir mecrası ise Reddit’teki sayfamız. Türkiyeli kullanıcıların biraz yabancı olduğu bu mecra Facebook/Twitter öncesi bir dönemden kaldığı için ilk etapta yeni kullanıcı için itici gelebiliyor ama alıştıktan sonra farklı bir deneyim sunuyor. Dersin konusu ya da Türkiye gündemiyle ilgili internette bulunabilecek her link burada paylaşılıyor. Ayrıca süregiden tartışmalar başlayabiliyor. Ders anlatımında burada öne çıkan linkler ya da tartışmalara değiniyoruz ama her seferinde açıp göstermiyoruz. Reddit sayfamızı takip etmeyen arkadaşlar orada meydana gelen gelişmeleri kaçırmış oluyorlar bu durumda. Burada altını çizeyim. Çevrimiçi mecralar derslikte anlatılanın zenginleştirilmesi için kullanılmıyor yalnızca. Bizzat dersin parçası haline geliyor. Dersin içeriği ancak tüm mecralarda yaşanarak alınabiliyor. Önümüzdeki günler ve haftalarda çevrimiçi deneyimlemeleri derslik dışındaki mekanlarla entegre ederek dersin “hikayesini” daha da büyüteceğiz. Bunları da yeri geldikçe anlatacağım.   Sosyal medya araçlarının yoğun kullanımı dersi kolaylaştırmıyor, bence zorlaştırmıyor da ama yeni yükler yüklüyor dersi deneyimleyenlerin üstüne. Bu yükün bir kısmı “oyunsallaştırma” (gamification) süreçleriyle hafifliyor. Bu da bir başka yazının konusu. Dijital Kültürler dersi transmedya kadar oyunsallaştırmaya da dayanıyor.   Yeni Medya ve Eğitim etkileşimlerine önümüzdeki yazılarda da devam etmek azmindeyim.     Related posts: Erkan Saka ve Hıdır Geviş ile Yurttaş Gazeteciliği #medyaokulu #pub204 @benimadimhizir #yurttasgazeteci Bilgi’de @BilgiPRclub Erkan Saka ve Ercüment Büyükşener’le #yenimedya söyleşisi yaptı… T24 yazısı: Erkan Saka: Çocuklar için asıl tehlike sosyal medya mı yoksa otoriteler mi? Erkan Saka: Gilles Deleuze için uzun bir dipnot [milli istirahat eskileri] #pub204 sınavının ardından…

Desert Foods and Food Deserts: Scarcity, Survival and Imagination International Conference 19 – 21 November 2013  Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel The terms “Desert” and “Food” seem irreconcilable: deserts are associated with aridity, scarcity, and the struggle to survive in inhospitable environments, … Continue reading →

Israel PM apologised to Turkey PM over flotilla deaths from Hurriyet Daily News Official sources from the Turkish Prime Ministry has confirmed that Israel has apologized..   Israel PM apologised to Turkey PM over flotilla deaths: US official from Hurriyet Daily News Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan spoke by telephone   Turkey ‘s PM stands by Zionism remarks from Yahoo news ISTANBUL, Turkey , March 20 (UPI) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he stands by his statement last month that Zionism was a crime against humanity.   Book Review: ‘Turkey and the European Union: Processes of Europeanisation’ (by Dr Beken Saatcioglu) from Changing Turkey in a Changing World by Changing Turkey Çiğdem Nas and Yonca Özer (eds.), Turkey and the European Union: Processes of Europeanisation, (England: Ashgate, 2012, 286 pages). This book studies Europeanization in Turkey since 1999 when the country earned official European Union (EU) candidacy status at the EU’s Helsinki Summit. The contributors seek to identify and explore the extent, pace, nature, direction and impact of Europeanization in wide-ranging issues and policy areas. The specific purpose is to evaluate Turkey’s EU accession process by testing the principal theoretical models of Europeanization in the individual case studies: the external incentives model, social learning and lesson-drawing models. The Turkey, Russia, Iran Nexus: Driving Forces and Strategies by Acturca Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) March 20, 2013 Abbreviated Edition By Stephen Flanagan, Bulent Aliriza, Jon B. Alterman, Andrew C. Kuchins This report presents the key findings of an 18-month CSIS project to assess the forces and interests shaping relations among Turkey, Russia, and Iran; the strategies that these governments are pursuing to Not everyone is enamored by Erdoğan from Hurriyet Daily News Remarks about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attributed to Jordanian King Abdullah II.. Involve Turkey in US free trade: EU official from Hurriyet Daily News A Dutch Member of European Parliament has asked the European trade commissioner to consider the impact of the Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement.   Turkey will help EU’s growth from Yahoo news Turkey will contribute to the growth of EU if it joins the union, Turkish EU Minister Egemen Bagis said on Tuesday. Erdoğan criticizes Rutte over same-sex foster care of Turkish kids from Hurriyet Daily News Homosexuality, which is labeled as a “sexual choice,” is contrary to the culture of Islam, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Related posts: Turkey vs. Israel today: “Turkey says flotilla raid was ’cause for war’ -but they intend to start a war… Turkey vs. Israel. A fresh new round with Erdoğan’s statements on Zionism… A FP roundup… Turkey vs. Israel today: Erdoğan to go Egypt. Lieberman to make things worse for Israel… Turkey vs. Israel today. Naval diplomacy. Another roundup A FP roundup: “Israel, Turkey in first defense deal since ties frozen

Here at the AAA office, I field calls from producers looking for anthropologists. From popular television shows like Jeopardy to channels like NatGeo, producers are looking for experts to answer their latest questions or provide accuracy to their newest series. A couple of weeks ago, a woman from the History Channel’s hit show American Pickers [...]

For Al Jazeera English, I reflected on what we lost when we lost the Iraq War: “Without evidence, confidence cannot arise,” Hans Blix declared to the United Nations in the run up to the war. He was wrong: confidence, like evidence, could … Continue reading →

PUB 204 dersinin Twitter etiketi Reddit sayfası Dersle ilgili yazılar Related posts: #PUB204 öğrencileri açıklıyor #TwitterKullanıyorumÇünkü #pub204 (@bilgi_pr) finalinin 2. sorusuna da cevaplar geldi. hepsi burada: Statüko’nun hedefi üniversite öğrencileri… /Status quo targets in university students… Pinleyen, anayasa yazan, tanıtım filmi çeken @bilgi_pr #pub204 öğrencileri şimdi kolektif hikaye yazıyor: #pub204 sınavının ardından…

I receive ever more messages from students doing advanced degrees. Almost invariably they request that I answer their personal questions – usually fundamental, 101-level questions I have written about many times and that one could probably find the answer to by googling (including my name if the question is what would I say). The messages sent me also tell where writers have been on my website before arriving at the contact form, and most often they haven’t been anywhere at all. I used to reply by pointing them to the various kinds of resources on my website: Publications (different sorts, many with bibliographies) Interviews (where a lot of the basic questions are posed and answered) Reviews of Sex at the Margins (a lot can be learned from some reviews) Tag cloud (with up-to-date tags for 50 specific topics covered in the blog) List of all blog posts (570 with descriptive titles) But I have grown tired of sending such obvious messages; this website is clear and easy to navigate. Someone suggested I write a FAQ, and I was once asked for a list of bullet points summarising my knowledge. I will never provide either of those. Not on principle, no, but because pretty much the whole thrust of what I do is refuse to reduce complex questions to easy summaries or snappy slogans. What would bullet points say, anyway? The average age of entry into prostitution is not 13. There are not 27 million slaves in the world. Some people like selling sex, some dislike it and some don’t mind much. Poorer people are also capable of deciding what to do with their own lives. You see? Ridiculous. I’ve heard numerous theories about what this need for spoon-feeding means: the Internet makes it too easy to write and ask, these are elitist kids with a huge sense of entitlement, people think it’s part of an academic’s job to help all students, reading is dead, helicopter-parenting teaches students to expect continual mentoring, people think women are born to serve, kids are just arrogant or impolite, it’s a type of intellectual exploitation or plagiarism, they think answering questions is part of every activist’s job. Since I’m not an academic and work freelance, I’m specially bothered when it’s assumed I should take time to do unpaid work on their behalf (for example, and I’m not kidding, act as their supervisor during their phd). Suggestions of how to handle these queries include delete instantly, send a standard reply, give a price for the consultation. Here is the delightful form-letter author Robert Heinlein sent out 35 years ago. Like Heinlein, I do engage with people who show they have been reading me, who express gratitude and who offer an interesting insight – even one in question-form. In an attempt to fend off the usual ‘Talk with me about trafficking’ messages, I recently placed this notice on the form for contacting me on this website: Laura Agustín regrets that she cannot help students with papers or theses or act as a sounding-board for ideas and doubts, no matter how interesting they may be. If your enquiry relates to migration, labour markets, trafficking or sex work then use this website and you’ll find answers. That was before I went to bed; when I awoke and opened my mail the next day alas, there was a fresh message someone had just written directly underneath the disclaimer. l am a graduate student at… I am studying trafficking and the sex industry. I realize you are busy, but would you answer my questions about sex work? I could really use some help in making sense of it. Conclusion? Some people don’t read. This would be banal except that they are supposed to be reading for a living, as (post)graduate students, teaching assistants, would-be professors. I suppose a lot of them have no sense of vocation but hope doing a degree will facilitate getting a good job (. . . ). The contradiction here is that if I do send an answer they have to read it. Perhaps they are more willing to if they have been spoon-fed. Anyway I’ve decided: I won’t worry about and will now delete questions of this kind. Thanks to all others, including students, who write to me with interesting tit-bits, suggestions, encouragement and even the occasional job. I love getting mail. –Laura Agustín, the Naked Anthropologist