Tag: Anthropology

Anthropology workshops at Victoria University of Wellington

Earlier this year I participated in an online writing group for anthropologists run by Savage Minds. I didn’t achieve all of my writing goals but I did enjoy reading the series of interviews Savage Minds bloggers published with various anthropologists, including one with Kirin Narayan on ethnographic writing. I have long been a fan of Kirin’s work and when I saw that she is now in the School of Culture, History and Language at Australian National University (much closer to New Zealand than the United States) I decided to invite her here to speak about her research. She accepted! Next week she and Ken George will be giving seminars and running workshops/master classes on various aspects of their research at both Massey University in Palmerston North, and Victoria University of Wellington. Details of the Wellington events are below.

KirinNarayan KenGeorge

Anthropology theses published in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2013

Ever wondered what kind of topics graduate students in anthropology work on in ‘the antipodes’ (a term I’ve often heard used to describe where I’m from)? The following is a list of theses (Masters and PhD) published in anthropology departments in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2013.

I compiled the list by searching the New Zealand National Union Catalogue of the National Library of New Zealand, which holds masters theses and doctoral dissertations awarded by New Zealand universities as well as individual university library catalogues. I used the keywords “anthropology” and “thesis” in my search. Some catalogues were more difficult to navigate than others and I had restricted access to several resources, so my apologies to those whose names I have missed.

The theses are listed in alphabetical order according to the surname of the graduate. Congratulations to everyone to everyone who received degrees!

The Political Economy of Monumental Architecture at Nan Madol, Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, by Helen Alycia Alderson.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisor: Mark McCoy
Degree: Master of Arts

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder diagnosis and intervention: An investigation of professional practice in New Zealand, by Kerryn Bagley.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisors: Rugh Fitzgerald and Chrystal Jaye
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

The Sweet Potato Factory – An Archaeological Investigation of the Pouerua Cultivation Landscape, by Alexander Campbell Bell.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisor: Ian Barber
Degree: Master of Arts

The Disrupted and Realigned Self: Exploring the Narratives of New Zealanders with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, by Lara Joyce Milka Bell.
Cultural Anthropology, Victoria University of Wellington
Advisors: Catherine Trundle and Rhonda Shaw
Degree: Master of Arts

Tombs and trade: strontium and mobility at ed-Dur (U.A.E.), by Augusta Violet Bunting.
Anthropology, University of Auckland
Degree: MA Biological Anthropology

Bodies in context: a comparative study of early childhood education in New Zealand and Japan, by Rachael Sarah Burke.
Social Anthropology, Massey University
Advisors: Graeme MacRae (Massey) and Judith Duncan (Canterbury)
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Bronze Age nomadic pastoralism on the Mongolian Steppe, by Brittany Rose Carroll.
Anthropology, University of Auckland
Degree: Master of Arts

Time of Transition: Patterns of Obsidian Exchange and Utilization during the Lapita and Post-Lapita Periods on Watom Island, Papua New Guinea, by Yi-lin Chen.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisor: Glenn Summerhayes
Degree: Master of Arts

Glimpses of Eternity: Sampled Mormon Understandings of Disability, Genetic Testing, and Reproductive Choice in New Zealand, by Kristin Clift.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisor: Ruth Fitzgerald
Degree: Master of Arts

Medicating Miners: The Historical Archaeology of the St Bathans Cottage Hospital, by Jessie Garland.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisor: Ian Smith
Degree: Master of Arts

‘Wrought into being’: An archaeological examination of colonial ideology in Wellington, 1840-1865, by Rose Caroline Geary Nichol.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisor: Ian Smith
Degree: Master of Arts

Dental pathology profile of pre-European Maori and Moriori, by Amanda George.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisors: Richard Walter and Jules Kieser
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Argonauts of Aotearoa: voyages of alternative ageing via the movanner archipelago, by Kim Green.
Social Anthropology, Massey University
Advisors: Graeme MacRae and Kathryn Rountree
Degree: Master of Arts

What’s Cooking? An Archaeological Residue Analysis of Ceramics from Thailand, by Cathleen Hauman.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisors: Charles Higham and Russell Frew
Degree: Master of Arts

Game Balance: Designed structure and consumer agency in an online game, by Elizabeth Haynes
Cultural Anthropology, Victoria University of Wellington
Advisor: Catherine Trundle
Degree: Master of Arts

Himalayan journeys: a mobile ethnography and philosophical anthropology, by Christopher A. Howard.
Social Anthropology, Massey University
Advisors: Kathryn Rountree and Graeme MacRae
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Buying fair: the moral assemblage of Trade Aid and its supporters / Corinna Frances Howland.
Anthropology, University of Auckland
Degree: Master of Arts

“Still at nature’s mercy”: human-environmental relations after the Christchurch earthquakes, by Heidi Elisabet Käkelä.
Anthropology, University of Auckland
Degree: Master of Arts

“Nourishing ourselves and helping the planet”: WWOOF, Environmentalism and Ecotopia: Alternative Social Practices between Ideal and Reality, by Elisabeth Kosnik.
Cultural Anthropology, Victoria University of Wellington
Advisors: Brigitte Bönisch-Brednich and Catherine Trundle
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Assessing the temporal foundations of supra-regional models for early to mid-Holocene climate-cultural change, northeast Africa, by  Natasha Phillips.
Anthropology, University of Auckland
Degree: Master of Arts

Shooting and friendship over Japanese prisoners of war: differences between Featherston, New Zealand and Cowra, Australia in Japanese connections, by Yasuhiro Ota.
Social Anthropology, Massey University
Advisor: Graeme MacRae
Degree: Master of Arts

Foreign seasonal workers in New Zealand horticulture: an ethnographic account of the nexus of labour and immigration policies and employment practices, by Jana Prochazkova.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisors: Jacqueline Leckie and Martin Tolich
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Relieve me of the bondage of self: addiction practitioners from three treatment centres in New Zealand discuss the use of community as a method of healing the self, by Derek Ross Quigley.
Social Anthropology, Massey University
Advisors: Eleanor Rimoldi and Kathryn Rountree
Degree: Master of Philosophy

The politics of influence : an anthropological analysis of collective political action in contemporary democracy, by Kathryn Scott.
Anthropology, University of Auckland
Advisors: Julie Park and Cris Shore
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Soldiers’ Foodways: Historical Archaeology of Military Comestibles in the Waikato Campaign of the New Zealand Wars, by Alexandra Lee Simmons.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisors: Ian Smith and Helen Leach
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Neighbours and Social Capital in the wake of the Christchurch Earthquakes, by Kirsten Stallard.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisor: Gregory Edward Rawlings
Degree: Master of Arts

Narratives of Incorporation: An Anthropological Analysis of Same-Sex Civil Unions in New Zealand, by Dionne Steven.
Cultural Anthropology, Victoria University of Wellington
Advisors: Brigitte Bönisch-Brednich and Catherine Trundle
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Understanding the culturally modified tree record and the socio-economy of the Weipa mission in Cape York, Australia, by Eleanor Jeneen Sturrock.
Anthropology, University of Auckland
Degree: Master of Arts

Cheese Machines and Cellos: Technical Craftsmen and Craft Technicians, by Gwenda Dorothy Wanigasekera.
Anthropology Programme, the University of Waikato
Advisors: Michael Goldsmith and Tom Ryan
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Between Gifts and Commodities: “Op Shops” in Dunedin, New Zealand, by Valerie Jane Wilson.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisor: Jacqueline Valerie Leckie
Degree: Master of Arts

Artefacts and Community Transformations: A Material Culture Study of Nineteenth Century North Dunedin, by Naomi Woods.
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
Advisor: Ian Smith
Degree: Master of Arts

Parenting, AAA 2013, and being an anthropologist

Last month I went to the AAA 2013 meeting in Chicago. This was the first time I’d attended an international conference with my family in tow (20-month-old toddler and amazing husband). My husband looked after our daughter during the day but her presence gave me the opportunity to reflect on how being a parent of a young child has changed my experience of conferences, and possibly my future research directions.

I had a great time at the AAA 2013 and live-tweeted from about half of the panels I attended. I didn’t enjoy all of the papers I heard (mainly because I find it boring to listen to people reading articles or excerpts of thesis chapters – there’s an art to this and not everyone has mastered it) but I did appreciate the opportunity to hear some excellent speakers and meet people doing interesting and exciting research.

One of the first things I noticed was the number of children aged three or under with caregivers (mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunties, uncles) at the conference. I’m sure this is due to my heightened sensitivity as a first-time parent but it was great to see toddlers playing on stairs, younger babies in frontpacks, and kids sleeping or just taking it all in from the vantage point of a stroller while their parents gave presentations. What I didn’t see, though, was a parent’s room at the conference venue. Was there one? Could there be in future? What did anthro-parents with toddlers do at changing and feeding times if they didn’t stay at one of the conference hotels (like we did)?

Networking was also a different experience this time around. The 19-hour time difference between Wellington (NZ) and Chicago meant my daughter had a hard time settling, which ruled out any evening social events for me. However, explaining why I wasn’t going to be at a dinner did open up a space for people to talk about their own kids and how they handled going to conferences when their children were young. Plus I got to meet some lovely caregivers looking after toddlers whose parents (usually mothers) were giving presentations, people I would not have felt confident introducing myself to at previous meetings.

I noticed a divide in opinion about whether or not I would continue fieldwork in Papua New Guinea now that I’m a parent. This is something I have been thinking seriously about as I start to develop a new research project addressing vulnerable urban spaces in India and PNG. While no-one questions that I will continue to work in India, PNG is a different story (mainly due to reports of crime, security, and violence). Attending the AAA was good for meeting other anthropologists working in Melanesia and discussing the issues involved in taking children/family on fieldwork trips to PNG. Back at home I’ve continued these conversations with other anthropologists. I would love (and plan) to continue to work in PNG but being a mum is likely to shape future research directions.

I’m curious to hear from others about whether/how being a parent affects your future research plans. Have you done fieldwork with family in tow? Left them behind? Decided against a fieldsite due to safety concerns? I would love to hear about your experiences!

Related articles/blogs

The Digital Revolution and Anthropological Film

I enjoyed this post by Jay Ruby. I have a somewhat more optimistic view about the future of anthropological cinema though, based in part on the films produced by our 300-level and Honours students in visual anthropology courses taught by Prof. Brigitte Bönisch-Brednich. In fact I’m going to an ethnographic film screening tonight where two of our Honours students are showing films they created as part of their coursework this year. This post has given me lots of food for thought and it will be interesting to discuss various filmmaking techniques with everyone.

If you’re in Wellington, come along!

Venue: Stout Seminar Room, 12 Waiteata Road, Victoria University of Wellington
Time: 5.30-8pm

ANTH408 ethnographic film screening

Making the most of the 2013 American Anthropological Association meeting

UPDATE: Since I posted this, the AAA has released a mobile app for Android and iPhone/iPad users. The AAA Annual Meeting Mobile App replaces the hard copy version of the programme in an effort to help make the event ‘greener’. I will probably give this a go before heading to Chicago later this month.

I’m excited about the 2013 American Anthropological Meeting in Chicago next month. I am presenting a paper as part of the session The Spatial Politics of Enclosure: Creating Persons and Publics.

The session organisers, Barbara Andersen (New York University) and Tate Lefevre (Franklin & Marshall College) of the Melanesia Interest Group, have done a great job in putting together an interesting panel (not just because my paper is in it!) and lining up discussants. Here are my paper details:

Title: Negotiating Space: Hope, development, and a politics of possibility in Kolkata (India) and Lae (Papua New Guinea)

Abstract: Hope is a prominent theme in discourses of development. Through its focus on social change, development provides a way of engaging with a hoped-for future of social justice and equality that is embedded in, but moves beyond, present social, political, and spatial enclosures. In this paper I explore how women living in bastis and settlements in Kolkata (West Bengal, India) and Lae (Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea) negotiate space for themselves, their families, and the wider communities in which they live by participating in grassroots-level development initiatives. I discuss how the various social and spatial arrangements ­ in particular, physical and societal enclosures facilitated by structural inequalities ­ that shape women’s lives in each of these cities simultaneously constrain and provide a basis for their actions. I argue that whether or not they achieve their objectives, such initiatives foster a sense of possibility and movement within and beyond the social and physical spaces these women inhabit.

How to make the most of the meeting?

AAA Meetings are always well-attended with multiple streams of panels running from 8am-9.45pm most days. Based on past experience I know that good planning is essential in order to make the most of my time at the conference. There are a range of new tools available now to help plan everything, including the AAA’s personal meeting scheduler and of course Google Calendar. Kerim has written a useful blog post on Savage Minds combining these two process into one #AAA2013 Google Calendar.

A quick look at the preliminary schedule suggests it’s going to take me a couple of hours to work through everything. The search function of the preliminary schedule seems a bit clunky – for example, looking at the Melanesia Interest Group in the ‘search by section’ function only shows the group’s annual meeting and does not list the session above as we have been sponsored by the American Ethnological Society. Also, because the schedule is only ‘preliminary’ I can’t read many of the abstracts to get an idea of what the papers will be about.

However a couple of sessions run by the Association for Political and Legal Anthropology stand out, this one in particular:

Special Event: Genres of public writing in political and legal anthropology: Addressing Multiple Audiences
Participants: Thomas Hylland Eriksen (,University of Oslo); Ghassan Hage (University of Melbourne); Susan Hirsch (George Mason University); Linda Layne (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
Date: Thursday 21 November 2013
Time: 12.15pm
Venue: Chicago Hilton, conference room 4E

I haven’t started planning my time yet and might end up doing so the old-fashioned way with pen and paper on the longhaul flight from NZ to the USA (although this might not be practical with a 20-month in tow). I am keen to hear from others about conference planning – what tools or apps work well, and which should I avoid? If you are going to the AAA 2013 Meeting, how are you planning your time?

How I use social media in teaching Part I: Twitter

In an earlier post I discussed why I use social media in teaching: as a pedagogical tool, and for my own professional development. In this post (the first in a series on how I use social media in teaching) I focus on how I use Twitter.

Until recently, I have not had much luck in using Twitter as a teaching tool within the classroom. In 2011 I experimented with Twitter as a backchannel for students in a small 300-level (third year) anthropology class. I set up a class account, which I used, and embedded the Twitter stream in Blackboard for everyone to see. I tweeted during lectures to show them the difference between thick and thin tweets (as David Silver describes it) and encouraged them to set up their own Twitter accounts. I designed in-class activities that involved composing 140-character questions and tweeting them to the authors of the films and articles we were watching and reading at the time. (The authors were all anthropologists I followed on Twitter, and I checked with them beforehand to make sure they were happy to receive and respond to student tweets.) I also monitored the class account and class hashtag during and outside lectures so I could respond to any student queries or comments.

Despite my efforts, it did not take off. The students just weren’t into it. As one student put it, they felt that Twitter was for “old people” like me.

Today I still embed my Twitter stream in Blackboard (using my own account rather than a class account) but I don’t encourage students to set up their own accounts or tweet questions to me during class. Instead, I talk about Twitter during lectures and draw their attention to my Twitter stream to model how I use this form of social media as an anthropologist. Most of the time they are astonished to find that I follow hundreds of anthropologists on Twitter and that we tweet about things other than what we had for lunch.

I have had more success with Twitter at Honours level. As I mentioned in a recent post, students live-tweeted from our recent Anthropology and Agency Honours Student Conference. They seemed to enjoy the experience and the interested generated within the wider academic community about their research (which they are keen to collate into a journal and make publicly available later this year).

For me, Twitter is most useful as a way to find out about current research, to engage in conversations about teaching practice, and to source new lecture material. In future I might try using Twitter to “co-construct” lecture content (an approach described by Daniela Retelny, Jeremy Birnholtz and Jeffrey Hancock), but based on my past experiences I think this would be best suited to a smaller, 300-level or above class.

There is quite a bit of information available on teaching with Twitter (e.g., Teaching with Twitter by Stephanie Hedge on Inside Higher Ed, and this guide on Web 2.0/3.0 Teaching from Dartmouth College Library). I am keen to hear how others – especially students – use Twitter in a university setting. What has worked for you? What hasn’t worked?

Related articles

Live-tweeting at academic conferences

With the Anthropology and Agency Honours Student Conference taking place at Victoria University this Monday, I have been thinking about how we could use Twitter. I crowdsourced a hashtag for the conference on Twitter (#AAHSC thanks to @prancingpapio) and in last week’s class mentioned that they would be welcome to use it to tweet from the conference. I like making anthropology public and this seemed like a good way for me and my students to share research findings, get the hang of live-tweeting, and practice presenting anthropology to a wider audience on Twitter as well as at the conference.

After class finished I remembered last year’s #Twittergate. I’m not sure what sparked it but in September and October 2012 academics used this hashtag to debate the ethics and etiquette of tweeting and blogging live from academic conferences (journalist Steve Kolowish from Inside Higher Ed summarises the debate which led The Guardian’s Ernesto Priego to list 10 rules for live-tweeting from academic conferences). Issues raised during the debate included privacy, control over ‘publishing’ unpolished ideas and research findings, accuracy of information, and respect (‘academic assholes’ use Twitter too).

Having followed some conferences from afar through hashtags on Twitter, I can appreciate why some don’t like live-tweeting. There is a real skill to summarising someone’s research ideas clearly, concisely, respectfully, and in a way that makes sense to those not at the conference. This is a skill I want to develop myself and in my students.

I want to encourage good live-tweeting habits at #AAHSC – basically all of the ‘do’s’ on Vanessa Varin’s excellent crowdsourced article on live-tweeting etiquette. When I open the conference I will inivte the audience to tweet using #AAHSC and briefly go over Varin’s list (which includes clearly identifying speakers, using Twitter handles, and careful listening). I plan to use Storify to collate the tweets after the event.

What ethics and practices do you follow when live-tweeting from conferences?