SECTION NEWS May 2003 Anthropology News

Columbia we find 9. In Quebec, as could be been more personal than they have ever done up a carrot she was peeling and said she expected, most of the anthropologists specializ- before. I’m sure that everybody who has taken preferred the company of vegetables. ing in Latin America are Francophones and they the time to read these essays has benefited enor- At first she was a little horrified at her are at universite de Montreal and at universite mously. I know I have! brash and sexually explicit comment, Laval. I would also like to thank the SOLGA program but was immediately relieved when the village It is difficult to draft a table on the areas of spe- chairs, Christa Craven and David Valentine, for women guffawed with laughter and began to cialization of Canadian Anthropologists working all the hard work they‘ve put in this spring so make their own jokes about the size and adequa- on Latin America and the Caribbean. One way to that in November we have a fabulous set of cy of their husbands’ genitalia. go about this is through the key words on the SOLGA sessions and papers at the AAA Annual And on that note, I end the 2002-03 academic websites of each department. If we leave archae- Meeting in Chicago. Well done!! year. I hope you all have had a good year and are ology to the side, and group together Latin In addition to thanks, I also have an announce- looking forward to a relaxing, productive andlor America and the Caribbean, the most salient ment that should be of interest to many adventurous summer. I will be traveling back to themes are immediately evident. In order of SOLGAns. The announcement comes from California from a wonderful year in the field just decreasing frequency, we find: development, the Evelyn Blackwood, who is chairing this year‘s in time to begin teaching again in August. Until analysis of social and economic systems, migra- Kenneth W Payne Student Paper Prize. Submis- then, Barb. tion, health and nutrition, the environment, sions this year are due by July 15,2003. The prize social movements and racism. Within develop is presented each year by SOLGA to a student in To join the SOLGA listserve please send an email With ment and sociopolitical analysis, which are the acknowledgement of outstanding work on a les- Subscribe SOLGA in the body to listserv@American. main themes of Canadian anthropologists’inter- bian, gay, bisexual or transgender topic in anthro- edu. If you have a fieldwork story of your own to tell est in Latin America, the main areas of concen- pology. Submissions in the form of publishable contact me at [email protected]. tration are the following: women, indigenous papers are encouraged from graduate students in peoples (from the angles of identity, symbolism any of the four fields of anthropology. To be eli- and human rights), peasants and the agrarian gible for consideration, work should have been Society for Linguistic question. completed since August 2002. Papers should be Anthropology For a good appreciation of anthropological no longer than 40 pages, double-spaced and research in Latin America by Canadian scholars, typed. Published papers will not be accepted. For MARKALLEN PETEFSON AND JAMS STANLAW, it would be necessary to look at research projects award information and dteria, please consult CONTRIBUTINGEDITORS undertaken by anthropologists with colleagues the SOLGA website at www.SOLGA.org. The prize from other disciplines, be it at research centers includes a cash award of $300. Inquiries and sub- Linguistic Moments in the Movies with a regional or thematic specialization, or missions should be sent to: Professor Evelyn We are again approaching the end of the school within the thematic research projects that, at Blackwood, Department of Sociology and An- year, when the strain of final projects, term pa- least in Quebec, are beginning to coalesce within thropology, Purdue U, West Lafayette, IN 47907; pers and grading brings on exhaustion for profes- and between university departments. In the [email protected]; fax 7651496-14 76. sors and students alike. It’s time to break out the meantime, the older Latin Americanist anthro- Finally, I’d like to end this final column with a montage of movie clips you have cobbled to- pologists are beginning to retire. With the fund- few stories I’ve received during the course of the gether based on last year’s May SLA column, pre- ing crisis that Canadian universities are now fac- past year from readers who have contacted me senting films that feature sublime and ridiculous ing, faculty renovation is not guaranteed. In because they had a fieldwork tale to tell, but representations of human speech. some cases, anthropology departments are taking either did not have time to put their own story What’s that? You’ve already shown those clips? the opportunity to regroup forces around the- down in essay form or did not feel able to “out” Not to worry. The following film and television matic, rather than regional specialization. This themselves in this forum. So I’ve taken the liber- suggestions should meet your needs for some coincides with the new tendencies toward inter- ty here to put words to their experiences. Thank time to come. disciplinary research in general. you to those of you who contacted me; I hope I Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me In summary, it seems that we face major do justice to your stories and at the same time (1999); Dr. Evil, who has traveled back in time 30 changes in the Canadian anthropology of Latin maintain your privacy. years, uses 1990s slang of African American origin America and the Caribbean. Within this context, The most common fieldwork tale I received (“talkto the hand,” “you ain’t all that,” gansta rap) we may ask whether the anthropology depart- concerned women’s strategies for avoiding or while extorting the president of the US in 1969. ments of Canadian universities are still going to fielding the question that many unmarried an- Enterpis?: “Two Days and Two Nights” (May be the ideal settings for a specialization on Latin thropologists, not just gays and lesbians, get in 15, 2002); On leave, Hoshi %to, the communi- America and the Caribbean in the future, or if the field: “Why aren’t you married?!!” One wo- cations officer (who speaks 40 languages) meets a this situation is now rapidly coming to an end. man purchased a cheap wedding band for herself stranger who shares her passion for language. before heading to the field and carried photo- After 24 hours with Hoshi, the stranger speaks Please send shortpieces and photos that could interest graphs of a male friend to show her informants. impeccable English. Hoshi fails to learn his native our readers to Gabriela Vargas-Cetina, facultad de (This must be a fairly common strategy, as I re- language, though-she asks him to speak a little ciencias antmpologicas, Universidad authoma a’e Yu- ceived similar advice from an established anthro- more slowly and he says that if he spoke more cath. Tel. and fax 999/925-4523.Email: gvcetina@ pologist before I left for my PhD research. I didn’t slowly that would change the meaning. They end tuiiku.uady.mx and gvargasCiebte1mex.net.m. think I’d be able to lie that consistently and up having a one-night stand, thus communicat- decided against it.) Another woman was fortu- ing on a nonverbal level. - nate enough to have had a commitment cere- The Lirney (1999): Terrance Stamp is a British Society of Lesbian and mony with a partner before going to the field and criminal who travels to California to avenge his Gay Anthropologists thus just changed the name and pronoun she daughter’s death. His Cockney is unintelligible to used when speaking of her partner. A final strate- most Americans. At one point, he tries to con- BARBWEST, CONTRIRUTING EDITOH gy communicated to me recently involved turn- vince a California police chief that they are after In this, our final column of the year, I would like ing the marriage question into an opportunity the same thing but from different directions, to take the opportunity to thank everybody who for female bonding. The woman who employed employing some Cockney rhyming slang like has contributed to the series on fieldwork stories. this strategy remembered being asked the mar- “china” for mate (china plate = mate). After his Many people have taken the time to put their riage question while helping the village women speech the chief confesses he couldn‘t under- experiences into print in ways that may have prepare a communal feast. In response, she held stand a word he said.

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NeWrBaenKLWd Please send your contributions, news and announce- ing anthropology award. Sabrina Chase (Rutgers (1999): David Ar- memtosLAGamibutingaditars~bnstmrlaw(strmlaw@ U) and Kari Olsen (U Iowa) are coordinating quette, the cutest ilstu.edu) or Ma& Pm([email protected]). development of the student-mentoring award. boy in school, coins The Society for Linguistic Anthropology electronic list Linda Hunt (Michigan State U) and Paul Farmer a new slang word can be accessed at [email protected]. (HarvardlPartners in Health) are in charge of the and tries to get his practice award. Details of the awards will be avail- friends to use it. able on the SMA website. These scenes offer a Society for Medical good way to illus- Anth6pology Please send your comments, contributions, news and trate the difference announcemen8 to the SMA Contributing Editors Nancy between slang and NANCYVUCKOVIC AND JANELLETAYLOR, Vuckovic ([email protected]) or Jmlle Taylor dialect, which many CONTRIBUTINGEDITORS ([email protected]). students have diffi- culty teasing apart. SMA Awards: Polgar, Hughes, and Rivers Sesame Street Society for Urban, Paper Competitions In Awn 2: SPY There’s a Scene that The SMA announces the year 2003 competition National, and 5hassedMe (‘999). Dr. makes a great dis- Evil, who has traveled back for the Rivers Undergraduate Student Paper Prize, cussion starter on mansnationaVClobaI in time to 1969, uses 1990s the Charles Hughes Graduate Student Paper Prize slang of African American language acquisi’ and the Steven Polgar Paper Prize. The yvers origin. tion in which Fmie -hmpologY Prize will be given for the outstanding paper in tries to teach a baby medical anthropology written by an undergradu- IRENEGLASSER, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR I to say his name, and it does not work. can’t ate student; the Hughes Prize will be awarded for locate the episode number, but the clip is used in the best paper written by a graduate student. Students of SUNTA “Acquiring the Human Language: Playing the Both prizes carry a $250 cash award, and the This month we are featuring the profiles for Language Game,” the second volume of PBS pro- Medical Anthropology Quarterly will have the right SUNTA student members Torin Monahan (Rens- gram The Human Language, now available as a of first refusal on winning manuscripts. selaer Polytechnic Institute) and Hilary del video series. Five copies of entries for the Rivers and Hughes Campo (U of Chicago). Star Trek “Metamorphosis” (Nov 10, 1967): prizes must be postmarked by June 15, 2003. Torin Monahan is a doctoral candidate in the This episode introduced the concept of the “uni- They should not exceed 20 double-spaced pages, Science & Technology Studies department at versal translator.” This handy device renders lin- excluding bibliography. Details about the author, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has recently guists unnecessary, as it automatically translates including social security number, should be completed dissertation research on the global every nuance of language on the basis of a set of included in a cover letter, not in the manuscripts dimensions of technological change in the Los universal concepts (one of which is the distinc- themselves. Winners will be announced at the Angeles Unified School District, based on a year- tion between male and female, which even sapi- 2003 SMA annual business meeting in Chicago. long ethnography in Los Angeles, and he is cur- ent energy clouds share). The Steven Polgar Prize is awarded to a profes- rently writing up that material. A review essay by Star Trek: The Next Generation: “Darmok” sional (postgraduate) medical anthropologist for Torin on “Los Angeles Studies” appears in the (Sept. 30, 1991): The universal translators don? the best paper published in the SMA’s journal December 2002 issue of City & society. Courses work on the Tamarians in this episode, which is Medical Anthropology Quarterly during the most that Torin has taught at RPI include Information built entirely around an effort to communicate. It recent complete volume year. -The prize carries a Technology Policy & Law, Introduction to tums out the Tamarians communicate entirely $500 cash award. No nominations are needed. AU Science & Technology Studies, IT Revolution: by metaphors that refer to their own myth cycles. articles published in MAQ by eligible recipients Myth or Reality?, Politics & Economics of IT, and The Tamarian captain Darmok teaches Enterprise will automatically be considered for this prize. American Government: Founding Principles to Captain Picard this language of metaphor Send submissions and inquiries to:. SMA Prize Glob- Practices. His articles and course syl- through the interesting pedagogical technique of Committee Chair Vincanne Adams, Department labi are available at www.torinmonahan.com. kidnapping him and forcing him to ritually act of Anthropology History and Social Medicine, PO Other research interests are urban studies and out one of the myths (unfortunately, it is one in Box 0850,3333 California Street, U of California, global aties, postmodem pedagogy, and synthe- which two heroes become friends by defeating a San Francisco, CA 94143-0850. ses of technology, art and music. monstrous beast with just their knives). Once Hilary del Camp (MA Social Sciences, U of picard gets the hang of it, he teaches the alien the PLEASE NO7E: If you have received a Rivers, Hughes Chicago) is interested in ecological/environmen- myth of Enkidu and Gilgamesh. or Polgar Award in the past, please send your name tal anthropology with an emphasis on political What Planet Are You Fm?(2000): This film and the year you received the award to Mark Nichter ecology, human-environment interactions and about an alien from an all-male planet coming to at h4NichW.arizona.edu. The SMA Board is recon- environmental justice. She has conducted ethno- earth to attempt to impregnate an earth woman structing a complete list of all award holdms and may not be top-notch comedy but it includes a needs to check names against its working list. number of great scenes about male-female lan- guage differences. There is a scene of alien men Eileen Basker Memorial Prize being trained in how to pretend to be listening to The Eileen Basker Memorial Prize promotes excel- earth women. Later in the film is a scene in lence in research on gender and health. The which a revised course (based on fieldwork) is Basker Prize is awarded annually to scholars from presented. The film also includes several scenes of any discipline or nation for a speafic book, article, the alien on earth applying compliments in inap film or exceptional PhD thesis produced within propriate contexts. the preceding three years. See this month’s Thanks to William 0 Beeman (Brown U), Carol Awards Alert column for more information. Hayman (Austin Community C), April Leininger (UCLA), and Leslie C Moore (UCLA) for sugges- New SMA Awards tions. If you have a media moment to add, send The SMA Board is developing two new awards: a me a line at [email protected]. graduate student-mentoring award and a practic- Torin Monahan in Delphi, Greece.

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