The Blog
Call for Papers: SfAA Annual Meeting
Call for Papers: SfAA 74th Annual Meeting
Hotel Albuquerque in Old Town
March 18-22, 2014
Destinations
(1) the place to which one is going or directed;
(2) the ultimate purpose for which something is created or intended.
A theme devoted to destinations informs all our work in anthropology and in the associated applied social sciences and humanities.
We are a world on the move. We are increasingly drawn to issues of transience and mobility. The leading question of our time might no longer be who are we but rather where are we going? Where will we live as storms imperial our lives and as sea levels rise, or as fresh water becomes a scarce commodity in many parts of the world? How do we imagine a fair and just world in those places where immigrants face discrimination and hostility and political refugees wait impatiently for someone to respond to their plight? Where do we find safe harbor when some of our most constant fellow travelers are disease and epidemics and where health care professionals struggle to respond to the needs of a diverse and highly transient population? Where do we locate the past and peoples’ heritage in such a great furor of instability and mobility? How and to what effect are peoples’ homes and environments transformed by the ubiquitous demands of a global tourism industry? How far must our food and goods travel to satisfy modern consumer demand? How do our cities and communities respond to the needs of the homeless, the undocumented, and multiple other visitors? How are the diasporas of the past reflected in the contingencies of the present, and how might we anticipate the movements of people in the future?
The 2014 meetings will reflect the Society’s international membership and representation of all the applied social scientists. Proposals for sessions and individual presentations on all topics of interest to this broad constituency are welcome, as well as those more specifically tied to the year’s program theme. Submissions from anthropologists and applied anthropologists who are practicing outside academic settings are most welcome. The program committee encourages the active participation of archaeologists with interests in public engagement and applied archaeological practice.
For meeting information visit http://www.sfaa.net/sfaa2014.html
There is a lot happening at the SMA
Hi SMA members,
There is a lot happening at the SMA, and I would like to bring the following to your attention.
1. The second issue of our new newsletter, Second Opinion, will be sent out to all our members in a few days. I know you will find it very useful and interesting.
2. Our first conference held in Europe is closely approaching. The SMA/EASA-MAN joint conference will be held at the Universitat Rovira I Virgili in Tarragona, Spain from June 12-14. While it is too late to submit a paper, the deadline for submitting a poster or a video is this April 30th. Also, if you plan to attend without a paper, poster, or a video, you can register directly on the website: medical-anthropology-urv.cat . See you in Spain. Don’t miss it!
3. Medical Anthropology Quarterly invites applications for the position of Book Reviews Editor. The ideal candidate would be broadly trained in medical anthropology and committed to meeting publication deadlines.
The Book Reviews Editor’s responsibilities include:
• selecting books for review
• identifying qualified reviewers
• ensuring that reviews are completed in a timely manner
• editing reviews for length, clarity, and style
• working with the main MAQ editorial office at the University of Florida
The position requires approximately 4–6 hours per week, on average. Successful applicants should have support from their home institutions. MAQ is an international journal published by the SMA. The journal publishes research and theory in all areas of medical anthropology. Its goal is to stimulate development of important ideas, methods, and debates in medical anthropology and to explore the links between medical anthropology, the parent discipline of anthropology, and neighboring fields in the health and social sciences. To apply, send a letter of interest and a CV to the Editor, Clarence C. Gravlee, at cgravlee@ufl.edu as soon as possible.
4. I would like to recruit a Chair of our new Friends of the SMA Committee, who would assist in fundraising for the SMA award prizes. This would create a fund specifically designated for our numerous cash awards. The volunteer Chair, who would serve as an ex officio member, should have a Ph.D in anthropology, be an SMA member, and be outgoing. If you would like to be considered, please send me at dfeldman@brockport.edu your CV and cover letter by May 15th.
5. In November, we are planning to hold our first Past Presidents Reception, for our SMA members, to honor our past SMA presidents at the AAA in Chicago. However, neither the AAA nor SMA has kept a record of who our past presidents have been. We know who they are since the late 1990’s, but have a very incomplete listing before then. If you can assist us with the names and e-mail addresses of prior SMApresidents before the late 1990’s, it would be greatly appreciated.
6. We are looking for a Chair or Co-Chairs of the Program Committee for the SfAA/SMA meeting in March 2014 in Albuquerque. This is a volunteer and ex officio position. Chairs should have a Ph.D. in anthropology, be an SMA member, and be detailed-oriented. If you would like to be considered, please send me atdfeldman@brockport.edu your CV and cover letter by May 15th.
7. The School for Advanced Research is soliciting proposals from medical anthropologists for an applied short seminar at SAR and plenary session at the SfAA. Go to http://sarweb.org/?applied_
8. The SMA encourages submissions for the George Foster Practicing Medical Award. It recognizes those who have made significant contributions to applying theory and methods in medical anthropology. For more information contact the Committee Chair, Robbie Baer at baer@usf.edu .
Best,
Doug
Douglas A. Feldman, Ph.D.
Professor
The College at Brockport,
State University of New York
Department of Anthropology
350 New Campus Drive
Brockport, NY 14420 USA
O: (585) 395-5709
C: (585) 576-7601
dfeldman@brockport.edu
President, Society for Medical Anthropology
April 25, 2013
CFP: Altered Consciousness: 1918-1980
Call for Papers: Altered Consciousness: 1918-1980
Date of event: 16-17 November 2013
Venue: Queen Mary, University of London, E1 4NS
Closing date for submissions: 14 June 2013
Keynote speaker: Jeffrey Kripal (Rice University)
This meeting will explore the theme of altered consciousness in relation to popular culture, psychology, philosophy, religion, medicine and literature during the period 1918-1980.
Many literary and popular authors and performers during the mid twentieth century represented altered states of consciousness in their work, responding to and participating in research relating to such topics as interplanetary contact, ESP, clairvoyance, telepathy, mind-altering drugs, psychic therapies, spiritualisms, shamanism, erotics, conversion, revivals, somnambulism, precognition, distraction, group mind, multiple personality, hypnotism, lucid dreaming, Vedanta, hysteria and automatism.
What was the continuing legacy of nineteenth-century approaches to mind and spirit? How did work at the fringes of psychiatry and psychology intersect with mind sciences that consolidated their authority during the mid-twentieth century? What are the key interactions between European, North American and non-Western sources? How did investigations cross the borders between arts, sciences, religion, education and the military?
Priority will be given to submissions that show potential for sparking discussion across disciplinary boundaries, and are accessible to a non-specialist audience.
We are especially keen to hear from women contributors, and those whose work extends beyond British and North American contexts.
Please send a talk summary of approx 300 words and author bio of approx 50 words to: altconsc@qmul.ac.uk by 14 June 2013.
Speakers accepted onto the programme will have 20 minutes to speak.
This event is generously supported by: the British Society for the History of Science, and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Centre for the History of the Emotions, and the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary, University of London.
Historically Underrepresented Dissertation Fellow – Anthropology
Historically Underrepresented Dissertation Fellow – Anthropology
About SUNY Oneonta:
SUNY Oneonta is a comprehensive, public, liberal arts and sciences college with 6,000 students. The College is ranked as one of the 50 best regional universities in the North by U.S. News & World Report, has been one of Kiplinger’s magazine’s “100 Best Values in Public Colleges” for six years straight, has been named to the Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges and the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll every year since their inception, and has been recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for excellence in community engagement.
Job Description:
The Department of Anthropology at SUNY Oneonta invites applications for a non-tenure track position as a Historically Underrepresented Dissertation Fellow (Visiting Assistant Professor) in cultural and medical anthropology beginning in August 2013. This is a temporary, two year appointment. The Anthropology Department is a four-field department with roughly 90 undergraduate majors, and has a strong reputation for significant achievements in teaching, scholarship, student mentoring, and student research. A recent external review characterized the Department as “one of the best undergraduate Anthropology programs in our country…, [and] a distinguishing characteristic of the SUCO Anthropology Department is the very high quality of its faculty.” To learn more about the College or the Department please visit www.oneonta.edu or www.oneonta.edu/academics/anthro/.
Duties include but not limited to: teaching two courses in each of the fall and spring semesters, including one section of Introduction to Cultural Anthropology each semester and Medical Anthropology at least one semester per year; completing their dissertation; mentoring students; becoming familiar with the service responsibilities of a university faculty member; participating fully in the life of the College and the community; and performing other duties as appropriate to the fellow’s interests and time commitments.
Requirements:
Required Qualifications: Eligible candidates must be members of a historically underrepresented group; in the late stages of completing a doctoral degree in anthropology, needing only to finish a dissertation or equivalent; have a specialization in medical anthropology; capable of teaching introductory cultural anthropology; and considering a college or university teaching career.
Additional Information:
For other employment and regional opportunities, please visit our website at: www.oneonta.edu/employment.
SUNY Oneonta values a diverse college community. Please visit our website on diversity at: www.oneonta.edu/home/diversity.asp. Moreover, the College is an EEO/AA/ADA employer. Women, persons of color, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.
Application Instructions:
To apply online go to: http://oneonta.interviewexchange.com/candapply.jsp?JOBID=38896. Upload cover letter that specifically addresses historical underrepresentation and ability to complete degree requirements in addition to teaching duties within the two year time frame (two pages maximum), Curriculum Vitae, statements of teaching philosophy (two pages maximum) and research interests (two pages maximum), and scanned copies of graduate transcripts (official transcripts required at time of appointment). Please have three professional references sent or e-mailed to: Dr. Sallie Han, Chair, Search Committee; Department of Anthropology; SUNY College at Oneonta; Oneonta, NY 13820; Sallie.Han@oneonta.edu. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Review of applications will begin immediately.
WordPress Security
Dear Society for Medical Anthropology Blog Visitors,
You may have heard that there is a botnet or brute force attack against WordPress and Joomla sites. In this type of attack a computer program visits WordPress and Joomla sites and attempts to log-in using the default “admin” login name. If you are a member or user of the SMA or Global Directory websites, your login information is safe. As with all login credentials, please ensure that you use a strong password.
WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg has released a statement regarding the current issue:
“If you still use “admin” as a username on your blog, change it, use a strong password, if you’re on WP.com turn on two-factor authentication, and of course make sure you’re up-to-date on the latest version of WordPress. Do this and you’ll be ahead of 99% of sites out there and probably never have a problem. Most other advice isn’t great — supposedly this botnet has over 90,000 IP addresses, so an IP limiting or login throttling plugin isn’t going to be great (they could try from a different IP a second for 24 hours).”
Once again, if you manage your own WordPress site, please take a moment to strengthen your administrator credentials by changing the login name to something other than “admin” and choosing a strong password.
Best regards,
Sean Bruna-Lewis
Webmaster, Society for Medical Anthropology
Nominations for the George Foster Practicing Medical Anthropology Award
George Foster Practicing Medical Anthropology Award
Deadline Aug. 15, 2013, awarded odd numbered years
The Society for Medical Anthropology announces that nominations for the George Foster Practicing Medical Anthropology Award are now being accepted. This award, first given in 2005, recognizes those who have made significant contributions to applying theory and methods in medical anthropology, particularly in diverse contexts, to multidisciplinary audiences, and with some impact on policy.
There are three criteria for this award:
- Contributions to applying theory and methods in diverse contexts. “Diverse contexts” means that the individual has worked on a number of problems in different settings, communities, and/or populations.
- Accessibility/relevance of work to multidisciplinary audiences
- Impact on policy
The following are committee considerations in reviewing nominations: (in no particular order):
- Cumulative body of work
- Publications may not be the best evidence of excellence in practice.
- Types of written work products we regarded as worthy of attention ranged from peer-reviewed publications, books, reports and other grey literature. We looked to evidence of publications directed to audiences beyond anthropologists. We do not stick to the kinds of considerations that a university-wide tenure committee might reward.
- Impact on the field of medical anthropology
- On the one hand, this award is for persons who speak to practice and policy; a deserving candidate might not be regularly involved in annual SMA events or otherwise be visible to academics. On the other hand, a top candidate should show evidence of impact on the discipline in some important way. This could take the form, for instance, of an impact on theory, methodology, visibility of anthropology in the public or policy realm, having designed or influenced curricula, or having trained or been a mentor to students.
- Policy emphasis: “Policy” is interpreted very broadly, including for example policy relevant to organizations (including university-based), communities, programs, NGOs, nations.
Nominations for the award should include:
- a letter of nomination
- an additional supporting letter
- a biographical statement by the nominee, and
- the candidate’s current CV.
Inquiries and nominations should be sent to Robbie Baer,baer@usf.edu, Foster Award Committee Chair,
Please note that nominations for the George Foster Practicing Medical Anthropology Award will be kept for three years for consideration by the award committee.
Medical Anthropology Quarterly Seeks Book Reviews Editor
Medical Anthropology Quarterly invites applications for the position of Book Reviews Editor. The ideal candidate would be broadly trained in medical anthropology and committed to meeting publication deadlines. The Book Reviews Editor’s responsibilities include:
- selecting books for review
- identifying qualified reviewers
- ensuring that reviews are completed in a timely manner
- editing reviews for length, clarity, and style
- working with the main MAQ editorial office at the University of Florida
The position requires approximately 4–6 hours per week, on average. Successful applicants should have support from their home institutions.
MAQ is an international journal published by the Society for Medical Anthropology, a section of the American Anthropological Association. The journal publishes research and theory in all areas of medical anthropology. Its goal is to stimulate development of important ideas, methods, and debates in medical anthropology and to explore the links between medical anthropology, the parent discipline of anthropology, and neighboring fields in the health and social sciences.
To apply, send a letter of interest and a CV to the Editor, Clarence C. Gravlee, at cgravlee@ufl.edu by April 15.
Assistant Professor (Spring Part-time Lecturer) Boston University School of Medicine
BOSTON UNIVERSITY Department of Anthropology is seeking a part-time Lecturer to teach a Spring 2014 Introduction to Medical Anthropology course. Renewal in future years is possible. Ph.D. preferred. Please direct inquiries and send CV and letter of application to Dr. Robert Weller, Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology, 232 Bay State Road, #105, Boston, MA 02215 or rpweller@bu.edu. Office Phone: 617-353-2195.
Grad Student Paper Prize in the Anthropology of CAM/IM
The Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and Integrative Medicine (IM) special interest group of the SMA requests submissions for a new Graduate Student Paper Prize in the Anthropology of CAM or IM. The group was organized in 2006 to encourage to anthropological study of CAM and IM as emergent socio-medical phenomena having global ramifications in the 21st century. Our members recognize CAM/IM as a contemporary example of medical pluralism, influenced by processes of globalization and hybridization, scientization and commodification.
Qualifying submissions will be judged by a committee of CAM/IM SIG members. The author of the winning paper will receive a cash award of $100 and her or his name will be announced in Anthropology News and at the Society for Medical Anthropology business meeting at the AAA Annual Meeting in November. Submissions from all anthropological subdisciplines are encouraged.
QUALIFYING CRITERIA
- Primary or first author must be a graduate student at time of submission
- Preferably based on original fieldwork and data, but can be theoretical
- Must have been written in the past 24 months
- May be unpublished or submitted for publication at the time of submission
- Maximum of 8,000 words, not including references
JUDGEMENT CRITERIA
- Link to the CAM/IM SIG statement of purpose (above)
- Originality of fieldwork and data
- Richness of substantive or evidentiary materials
- Clarity of anthropological methods
- Effective use of theory and/or data
- Organization, quality of writing and coherence of argument
SUBMISSION PROCESS
- Please do not include your name or any identifying information in the paper itself
- Provide a separate cover sheet that includes your name, mailing address, email address and school affiliation
- Papers must be double-spaced and in PDF format (please include page numbers)
- References should be formatted in the American Anthropologist style
- Please submit an electronic copy to Sonya Pritzker (spritzker@mednet.ucla.edu)
Submissions must be received by 5:00PM EST, July 1, 2013 for full consideration. Questions may be directed to Sonya Pritzker at the above email address. We look forward to your submissions!
Council on Anthropology and Reproduction Grad Student Paper Competition
The Council on Anthropology and Reproduction (CAR), an interest group of the Society for Medical Anthropology, is pleased to announce its 13th annual award competition for the best graduate student paper on anthropology and reproduction. Submissions from all anthropological subdisciplines are encouraged (deadline: September 1, 2013).
Criteria on which the papers will be judged:
- Ethnographic richness based on original fieldwork
- Anthropological methodology
- Linkage of work to literature in anthropology and reproduction
- Effective use of theory and data
- Originality/Creativity
- Organization, quality of writing, and coherence of argument
Please remove identifying information on the paper itself. Provide a separate cover page that includes your name, mailing address, email address and school affiliation. Papers should be double-spaced, no more than 9,000 words including references, and references should be formatted in American Anthropologist style. Papers already published or accepted for publication at time of submission are not eligible.
The papers will be read by a committee of CAR members. The author of the winning paper will receive a cash award of approximately $250. The winner will be announced in both the CAR Newsletter and Anthropology News, and an abstract will be published in the CAR Newsletter.
Submissions must be emailed or postmarked by September 1, 2013, 11:59pm. Students are encouraged to submit papers at any time before the deadline. Please send electronic copies (and any questions) to the chair of the CAR Graduate Student Paper Competition Committee, Jill Fleuriet, at jill.fleuriet@utsa.edu.
FAQs
- Can the paper be a critical synthetic review of literature? No, the paper needs to be based on original research conducted by the author.
- Can the author graduate in August and still submit in September? Yes, if the paper is submitted prior to graduation.
- Can the author be an undergraduate? No. The author must be a graduate student in anthropology.
- Can the author be a graduate student in another discipline, e.g., medicine? No. The author must be a graduate student in anthropology.
- Can the paper be under review but not accepted? Yes.
- Can the submission be emailed? Email is preferred, but print copies are allowed.
- Can the paper be co-authored? The paper can be co-authored, if the student is the primary author and can attest to at least 50% of the data collection and analysis and at least 75% of the writing.