New Peace Program at UAB!

In honor of September's Peace Day and a new program in Peace, Social Justice and the Environment at UAB, I have listed some web resources below which are related to these themes.

Buddhas at Bayon, Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Photo by S.Jones

 First, check out our ANTHRO-TEACH post on Peace.

For UAB's May-term I will offer a Study Away program to India, focused on "A Culture of Peace." Students and I will be working with ANEC (the Active Nonviolence Education Center) in Dharamsala, India to provide training and volunteer work focused on nonviolence, environmental issues, peace, and social action. Contact me if you are interested (sharynj@uab.edu). Students can receive up to 6 credit hours at UAB for this three week course. This study away will fulfill the requirements for a minor in Peace, Social Justice and Environment. 

A street scene in Delhi, India. Photo by S. Jones

Thich Nhat Hanh, perhaps one of the best living representatives for peace and peaceful living just visited the region for a retreat at the Magnolia Grove Monastery in Mississippi. Here is a link to some of his poems on peace.

Finally, Les Sponsel's of the Anthropology Department at University of Hawai'i has a wonderful website that deals with issues of Historical Ecology, Region, Peace, and Anthropology. The website for Peaceful Societies also provides information on cross cultural alternatives to violence and war.

New books by Cormier and Jones

Lori Cormier and Sharyn Jones have written two new books on Cultural Anthropology, which are especially relevant to students in Introductory Cultural Anthropology courses. The first is a text book: Introductory Cultural Anthropology: An Interactive Approach, published by National Social Science Press (2010).

This book incorporates interactive videos, imagery, and hyperlinks to web-based materials. It was developed for use in the authors' Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (ANTH 101) classes at UAB, and is available for purchase downloading online.  Proceeds from royalties for both books will be donated to an ANTHRO-TEACH scholarship fund to support anthropology undergraduates at UAB.

The second book was designed to supplement the textbook with a broad array of theoretical and ethnographic essays and articles in the discipline. Humankind: An Introductory Reader for Cultural Anthropology (2010) was published by Cognella. We selected papers that are engaging and relevant, yet accessible for undergraduates in introductory-level cultural anthropology courses. This text represents a diverse range of cultural contexts and includes papers that speak to important contemporary debates in anthropology. The section and chapter themes are consistent with those typically covered in Introductory Cultural Anthropology courses, including issues of anthropology's subject, religious and symbolic behaviors, language, social identity, kinship, family, and economics. This reader also includes a section exploring the future of culture, culture survival and change, and the ethical responsibilities of anthropologists to the people we study.

the SAA Archaeological Record special issue on Ethnoarchaeology

The Society for American Archaeology's Magazine, the SAA Archaeological Record published its November 2009 special issue on Ethnoarchaeology (available at this link above). Sharyn Jones contributed and co-edited this and the December issue. The cover photo, above features a picture of women and children on Lakeba collecting inshore fish using the traditional vono method, and a picture of "dinner," including green papaya, Empororfish, and a porcupinefish. Cover photos by Sharyn Jones.