Nandini Gunewardena and Ann Kingsolver won the 2011 Society for the Anthropology of Work Book Prize for their edited volume The Gender of Globalization: Women Navigating Cultural and Economic Marginalities (School for Advanced Research Press, 2008). For more information, cick here http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2012/02/10/february-saw-news/
By Sarah Geegan
UK anthropology Professor Sarah Lyon's recent work was described by the Society for Economic Anthropology (SEA) as the best book in economic anthropology in three years. Her subject: coffee.
While many people believe that drinking fair-trade coffee, purchased directly from the growers, promotes healthier working conditions, environmentally friendly agricultural standards and fair prices, Lyon's work, "Coffee and Community: Maya Farmers and Fair-Trade Markets," analyzes the real implications of fair-trade networks.
Centering on the lives of Maya coffee farmers in Guatemala, the book examines the question: what is the reality for producers, intermediaries
By Sarah Geegan
Archaeology — a profession that often inspires visions of treasure-hunters, the likes of Indiana Jones and Benjamin Gates from National Treasure — seems somewhat out of place in Kentucky. However, the Kentucky Archaeological Survey (KAS), administered by the UK Department of Anthropology, has put itself on the map in terms of archaeological relevance and success.
KAS, an organization also administered by the Kentucky Heritage Council, serves to provide educational and research assistance, as well as community outreach.Working with schools, museums, historical societies and communities through its many research projects, KAS strives to educate the public regarding Kentucky's rich
By Jenny Wells
The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees Tuesday approved University Research Professorships for 2012-13 for four faculty members. The professorships carry a $40,000 award to support research. Funds for these annual awards are provided by the Office of the Vice President for Research.
Now in its 36th year, the University Research Professors program's purpose is to enhance and encourage scholarly research productivity, provide an opportunity for concentrated research effort for selected faculty members, and to recognize outstanding research achievement by members of the faculty.
The University Research Professors are:
Christopher Pool
Pool, a professor in the UK Department of Anthropology in
By Sarah Geegan
The revolutions throughout Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and other nations in the Arab world have inspired earnest debate among experts. Are the ideological underpinnings of the revolutions democratic, religious, liberal or non-ideological? Will these revolutions spearhead an Islamist takeover of the Arab world? Professor Asef Bayat, of the University of Illinois, will address these questions Friday, March 23, in the William T. Young Library auditorium.
The UK College of Arts and Sciences and the Muslim World Working Group will present the symposium titled, "Understanding the Arab Spring." The event will include a lecture from Bayat, "The Arab Spring: Are the Islamists Coming?" as well as commentary from three UK
By Sarah Geegan
The University of Kentucky Asia Center, in the latest installment of its 2012 Spring Speaker Series, will present an exploration of Buddhism and it's place in daily life on Friday, March 23.
The event, which will include two lecturers, will expose students to Buddhism and the social and practical roles it plays in various societies. Professors Ruth Baer from the UK Department of Psychology and Jeffery Samuels from the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Western Kentucky University will present.
Baer,
By Sarah Geegan
Students in professor Randolph Hollingsworth's research seminar expanded the boundaries of a typical history class as they examined the complexities and influences of Kentucky civil rights era women. By participating in digital dialogues, contributing to online databases and engaging in community service, the students experienced history by thinking outside the book.
"We don't have many scholarly books covering the wide-ranging history of women in Kentucky," Hollingsworth said. "One thing that we've found is that women are simply absent in many historical records. Sometimes it's a willful absence, and people choose not to include them. But then other times, it's just neglect."
The course aimed to begin filling this historical void. Students served as history-detectives,
Here is the link to MaryBeth Chrostowsky's featured article on the Committee on Social Theory website: http://socialtheory.as.uky.edu/erasing-disconnect
By Sarah Geegan
The University of Kentucky’s Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies Program will feature a panel discussion about hydraulic fracturing (or “fracing”) as a way of extracting natural gas in Kentucky. The event, part of the Appalachian Forum series, will take place from 7-9 p.m Thursday, Feb. 23, in Room 106 of UK's White Hall Classroom Building.
Panelists at the event will represent a variety of relevant areas of expertise, and after brief introductory remarks by each panelist, Al Cross
By Sarah Geegan
Rich Kirby and John Haywood will present the second lecture in the Appalachian Studies Program’s Place Matters lecture series on Friday, Feb. 17.
The lecture, “Somewheres on the Track: Place, Art and Music in Eastern Kentucky,” will demonstrate Kirby and Haywood's experience with all three – place, art, and music – from Appalachian Kentucky. Their multimedia presentation will take place from 3:30-5 p.m. in the Center Theater, University of Kentucky Student Center.
Rich Kirby is a musician who founded June Appal Recordings in 1974. For over 30 years –
By Sarah Geegan, Guy Spriggs
The American Anthropological Association recently appointed University of Kentucky anthropology Professor Sarah Lyon as editor of the Anthropology of Work Review (AWR).
AWR is the journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Work, a section of the American Anthropological Association.
“(AWR) is a journal that looks at the variety of work and all of its forms,” said Lyon. “It looks at labor and work around the world and across time from an anthropological point of view.”
The role of AWR editor seems tailor-made for Lyon, who specializes in economic anthropology with a focus on the intersections of culture and economy.
Allison Harnish has recieved the Dissertation Year Fellowship Award. Allison Harnish works in a frontier farming region outside one of Africa’s largest national parks, and in her dissertation she investigates how gender- and age-based differences in household labor roles prompt men, women, boys, and girls to differently experience declines in natural resources.
To listen to a podcast where she discusses her research on displacement and resettlement in Southern Province, Zambia, click here.
Ryan Anderson has received the Dissertation Enhancement Award. His dissertation research focuses on the politics and conflicts surrounding a large-scale tourism development project on the Baja California peninsula.
Donald Handshoe, a senior and a double major in Classics and Anthropology, divides his time between his studies and his work, both of which as it turns out have to do with archaeology, his passion. His recent studies have included Latin, Greek, and Italian, but also courses in ancient geography, the history of the Roman Empire, and masterpieces of classical literature. All of this is impressive enough, but what is especially noteworthy is his contribution to the excavations directed by UK professor Paolo Visonà at Monte Palazzi in southern Italy.
Because only 10% of the site had been excavated, Professor Visonà contacted the University of Kentucky's Archaeological Research Facility to inquire about geophysical testing, and in the summer of 2010 Donald traveled to the site to conduct electrical resistance and fluxgate gradiometry testing. The
By Kathy Johnson
The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center, Appalachian Studies and the Graduate Appalachian Research Community are making a call for papers for the 2012 UK Appalachian Research Symposium and Arts Showcase. The topic of the work must be related to Appalachia, original, and produced in the last three years.
The deadline for submitting an abstract of work online is midnight Dec. 15. The submission can be made by going to the GARC tab on www.
By Erin Holaday Ziegler
The University of Kentucky's Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies Program will give the campus and Lexington community a realistic look at Appalachia through film in the center's first Appalachian Forum series event this week.
Young people from the Appalachian Media Institute (AMI) will showcase three films produced by AMI filmmakers from 3:30-5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, at the William T. Young Library Auditorium. The short films will be followed by a question and answer session.
The film presentation will cover a wide range
By Erin Holaday Ziegler
University of Kentucky Confucius Institute Director Huajing Maske rarely takes a moment to reflect. With a passion for spreading Chinese language and culture to the Commonwealth that aligns with the UKCI's gateway mission, Maske and her small staff have made quite an impact on UK, Central Kentucky schools and the community in their first year of work.
"When I sit down and think about it, we've achieved a lot," Maske said laughing. "It's amazing to see such an improvement in such a short time."
The Confucius Institute's goals are to provide leadership, support and coordination for Chinese language and programs in K-12 schools as well as on the UK campus; assist in establishing and maintaining faculty and student
By Whitney Hale
The University of Kentucky Special Collections Library invites the public to an exhibition and symposium celebrating the opening of the papers of Appalachian author Harriette Simpson Arnow. The event will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, in the Great Hall, of the Margaret I. King Building. The exhibition of work will run through February 2012.
Harriette Arnow’s papers at UK Libraries provide a broad look at a writer’s life and work. Included are materials that document her writing process, from first-draft manuscripts on dime store tablets, through various iterations and drafts, to printer page proofs. Also included are correspondence with family, editors, publishers and literary agents. Researchers will find mail from
By Erin Holaday Ziegler
The University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences will host a trailblazing American diplomat next week to continue the college's Year of China initiative.
Former U.S. Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch will speak on “Leadership and Education in a Globalizing World: China’s Challenge” at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, in Room 118 of the White Hall Classroom Building on UK's campus.
Bloch’s talk, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the "Passport to China: Global Issues & Local Understanding" course taught by UK sociology Professor Keiko Tanaka.
Ambassador Bloch, the first Asian-American ambassador in American history, has had a broad career in U.S. government service. She is currently president of the U.S.-China Education Trust, a nonprofit
By Erin Holaday Ziegler, Arielle Parker
A University of Kentucky club is bringing anthropology to life and giving students hands-on experience with a prehistoric weapon whose popularity peaked 30,000 years ago.
Since its founding last year, the CATLATL Club at UK has introduced many students to the atlatl: a long-range, spear-throwing weapon that resembles a bow and arrow and ball thrower.
The atlatl, which employs basic physics to launch a dart at a designated target, is a spear-like device with three main parts: the handle (grip), the shaft and the peg. The dart is located at the rear of the atlatl and then launched by snapping the wrist. The atlatl launches a dart with more force and speed than when thrown by hand. And
