The Amazing Paul Farmer

I just finishd a book for my Health Psychology class called Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. Inside I was introduced to Paul Farmer, a doctor and a medical anthropologist. He had a very interesting childhood, including living in a bus that was a converted TB clinic and then a boat; he had a very transient lifestyle. He [...]

World’s Oldest Marijuana Stash Totally Busted

Happy 420! In the Gobi Desert, archaeologists unearthed the grave of a 2,700 year old man who had 2 pounds of still-green marijuana buried with him.
The researchers believe the individual was a shaman from the Gushi people, who spoke a now-extinct language called Tocharian that was similar to Celtic.
Scientists originally thought the plant material in [...]

The Queen Anne’s Deception

When I went to school at the University of West Florida at Pensacola, FL in the Fall of 2007, one of the classes I took there was a Shipwreck Archaeology class. My professor, a fairly young guy, had worked on some fairly significant projects, including a massive effort made in the early 1990s to excavate [...]

In Dirt and Secret

I tend to pick up most of the articles I post on here via Archaeologica.net, since they post a few of the most interesting archaeology/anthropology related links each day, and this article about “Hush-hush Archaeology” is another winner. I’m sure most people can recall the hullabaloo over the new fence at the Mexican-American border, and [...]

This article from the British publication The Guardian is about the discovery of an ancient Roman “joke book” by a Classical professor, Mary Beard, that dates back to sometime between the third and fourth centuries CE (Common Era). I thought that the article about this discovery makes several points worth considering, [...]

Breastfeeding is not Obscene

Mark Belling is a talk show host on a Milwaukee radio station. He recently caused an uproar with his segment concerning a local breastfeeding bill in which he referred to breastfeeding mothers as “sows”. The radio website has since removed the segment in which he made the statement, but here is a quote from the [...]

Anthro in action

This article is one example of Anthropology in action in that it reveals one scenario that most people would consider totally weird. In fact, I located it in the “wierd  news” section on msn.com. There are a number of cultrual traditions, rites of passage or events that may seem strange to many of us, however [...]

One-Child Policy in China

So what are everyone’s thoughts on this action?  If you are ethnic Han living in urban China you are only allowed one child.  If you have more than one you will be fined an amount determined by the government.  It also seems that in some cases abortion is pressured and sterilization is forced.
The rule has [...]

Congo Action

 
This article about the Congo is one of many attempting to describe the turmoil that dominates the political system in that region of the globe. As I read this article on one of thirty-plus computers in a warm, carpeted, safe, computer lab at UAS I cannot conseptualize what it would be like to live under [...]

Artifact Repatriation

In this article available via the BBC (and elsewhere), the thorny issue of artifact repatriation is in the archaeological spotlight again thanks to new documents written by Ludwig Borchardt, a German archaeologist working in Egypt nearly 100 years ago who uncovered many beautiful and important artifacts in an agreement with the Egyptian government to basically [...]

A Verbal Miscommunication

I let a couple of people read the title of this article , and they were all shocked and confused. It wasnt untill they read the actual article that they laughed and shook their heads. This article clearly shows the way that different cultures can miscommunicate with each other. Even in a country like England, [...]

Sports and Psych Alike

I found this to be a somewhat suitable article just because we have just gotten over Super Bowl Sunday and are now into the season’s of the NBA and NHL. Every season has its own unique sports teams playing. It seems like the cities and stadiums themselves never grow tired of fans flocking to see their [...]

Roe v. Wade

I ran across a fellow WordPress blogger’s post discussing “How to Stump Anti-Abortionists With One Question” and figured the timing is especially appropriate for some reflection on the topic (not the topic of how to stump Anti-Abortionists, silly, the topic of abortion) on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, while the annual Pro-Life Rally is being held on the [...]

Anthropologist Killed in Afghanistan

Lorenz at Social and Cultural Anthropology in the News had an item last week about the case of Paula Loyd, an American anthropologist who recently died of injuries she suffered in a November attack. According to the Associated Press article about her death, Loyd had been “chatting with an Afghan man about fuel prices” [...]