We’ve decided to host something that has not been done before – the first yearly edition of The Best of Anthropology Blogging. An increasing number of anthropologists are blogging about their work and their ideas, sharing how anthropology in all its forms is relevant to the wider world.

We are going to bring that together into one great “Best of” package. It is time to show off what we do! And then get some press for it!!

Here are our submission guidelines. We have two categories, most popular post and a self-selected best post. For the most popular post, please send in the title and link for your most popular post during 2008, as well as a brief reflection (1-2 lines) on why you think this one turned out to be the most popular.

For the self-selected best post, you get to choose what your best post is. For single-authored blogs, you can send in one entry. For multi-authored blogs, feel free to send in two entries. (More than that, and it might get to a really long “best of” post…). Please send in the title, the author, and the link for your best post.

Update: Nominations by blog readers accepted too! If there is some post you loved at an anthropology blog, please send it to me. Include a brief description of why this post is a great one! So this is now our third category, reader-nominated posts. (Or participant-observation posts, to make a really lame joke.)

All submissions should go to Daniel Lende at the email dlende at nd dot edu

Submissions are due December 29th (though earlier would be much appreciated). The “Best of” post will go up on the 31st.

If you have any suggestions or points on how to make the “Best of Anthropology Blogging” better, please feel free to comment below or email us. We welcome ideas that can help turn this into something which will highlight why anthropology blogging deserves an even wider audience than it presently has.

The University of Pennsylvania announces their Neuroscience Boot Camp
August 2-12, 2009.

Why Neuroscience Boot Camp? [Greg: I say, why the hell not?!]

Neuroscience is increasingly relevant to a number of professions and academic disciplines beyond its traditional medical applications. Lawyers, educators, economists and businesspeople, as well as scholars of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, applied ethics and policy, are incorporating the concepts and methods of neuroscience into their work. Indeed, for any field in which it is important to understand, predict or influence human behavior, neuroscience will play an increasing role. The Penn Neuroscience Boot Camp is designed to give participants a basic foundation in cognitive and affective neuroscience and to equip them to be informed consumers of neuroscience research.

What happens at Neuroscience Boot Camp?

Continue reading “It’s neuroscience bootcamp – YES, Drill Sergeant!”

November 2007. Washington DC. The annual American Anthropology Association meetings. Greg Downey and Daniel Lende sit down to talk about creating the Neuroanthropology blog. A few weeks later, on December 11th 2007 Greg sticks up the first posts.

They were The Goals of Neuroanthropology, an initial attempt at describing The Term ‘Neuroanthropology’, and the Prehistory of ‘Neuroanthropology’: Charles Laughlin. (Yes, it’s safe to say that’s the only time Greg has done three posts in one day!)

Daniel follows suit on December 17th, sticking up a post on Keeping Brains Agile. The blogging game is afoot.

Greg provides an introduction, Daniel does his own intro. And then things really start flowing. In the month of December we got 1267 on-site visits!

It did seem like a lot to us then! How things have grown. Last month in November we had a total of 22,744 onsite visits, plus another 16,000 or so reads through subscription feeds.

In the last year, we have delivered 580 total posts. Daniel (alias dlende) has written 389 of those posts, plus posted another 9 with students. Greg (gregdowney) has given us 137 posts.

Paul Mason has delivered 40 posts, including two that Greg got out for him while Paul was doing his field research. Erin Finley gave us two posts, and Marcela, a student of Greg’s, also published two. Agustin Fuentes provided one post early on.

Out of those our Top Ten goes:

(1) Cultural Aspects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Thinking on Meaning and Risk
(2) Synesthesia & Metaphor – I’m Not Feeling It
(3) Poverty Poisons the Brain
(4) Girls Gone Guilty: Evolutionary Psych on Sex #2
(5) About Neuroanthropology (doesn’t really count! so I’m doing the Spinal Tap 11 – our blog is just one louder)
(6) Identical Twins Not… Err… Identical?
(7) Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City
(8) Brain vs. Philosophy? Howard Gardner Gets Us Across!
(9) Brain Doping Poll Results In
(10) Understanding Brain Imaging
(11) Steven Pinker and the Moral Instinct

For our top referrers and search terms, you guessed it, after the fold. Continue reading “Neuroanthropology Turns One!”

December 10th marks the 60th anniversay of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UN is celebrating, with an entire website dedicated to the anniversary and the declaration itself.

My Notre Dame colleague Deb Rotman sent me the “Simplified Version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” So here it is:

Summary of Preamble
The General Assembly recognizes that the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, human rights should be protected by the rule of law, friendly relations between nations must be fostered, the peoples of the UN have affirmed their faith in human rights, the dignity and the worth of the human person, the equal rights of men and women and are determined to promote social progress, better standards of life and larger freedom and have promised to promote human rights and a common understanding of these rights.

A summary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

1. Everyone is free and we should all be treated in the same way.
2. Everyone is equal despite differences in skin colour, sex, religion, language for example.
3. Everyone has the right to life and to live in freedom and safety.
4. No one has the right to treat you as a slave nor should you make anyone your slave.
5. No one has the right to hurt you or to torture you.
6. Everyone has the right to be treated equally by the law.
7. The law is the same for everyone, it should be applied in the same way to all.
8. Everyone has the right to ask for legal help when their rights are not respected.
9. No one has the right to imprison you unjustly or expel you from your own country.
10. Everyone has the right to a fair and public trial.
11. Everyone should be considered innocent until guilt is proved.
12. Every one has the right to ask for help if someone tries to harm you, but no-one can enter your home, open your letters or bother you or your family without a good reason.
13. Everyone has the right to travel as they wish.
14. Everyone has the right to go to another country and ask for protection if they are being persecuted or are in danger of being persecuted.
15. Everyone has the right to belong to a country. No one has the right to prevent you from belonging to another country if you wish to.
16. Everyone has the right to marry and have a family.
17. Everyone has the right to own property and possessions.
18. Everyone has the right to practise and observe all aspects of their own religion and change their religion if they want to.
19. Everyone has the right to say what they think and to give and receive information.
20. Everyone has the right to take part in meetings and to join associations in a peaceful way.
21. Everyone has the right to help choose and take part in the government of their country.
22. Everyone has the right to social security and to opportunities to develop their skills.
23. Everyone has the right to work for a fair wage in a safe environment and to join a trade union.
24. Everyone has the right to rest and leisure.
25. Everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living and medical help if they are ill.
26. Everyone has the right to go to school.
27. Everyone has the right to share in their community’s cultural life.
28. Everyone must respect the ‘social order’ that is necessary for all these rights to be available.
29. Everyone must respect the rights of others, the community and public property.
30. No one has the right to take away any of the rights in this declaration.

You can more about the universal declaration here, at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The question of What is neuroanthropology? arose for me in thinking about the Encultured Brain session. This query harkens back to Naomi Quinn’s comment that we lack a common language. I think a common language will come; at this point I am more focused on agreement about the endeavor itself. So what is it?

Is neuroanthropology the consideration of neurobiological mechanisms, within a biocultural framework, as Ryan Brown approaches his work?

Is it the critical take on neuroscience, a frequent theme on this blog? Or going further, and building frameworks through evolution or culture to provide critical input to the human sciences?

Is it somewhere more in the middle, the synthesis of neuroscience and anthropology while examining problems like balance and autism, as reflected in the work of Greg Downey and Rachel Brezis?

Is it the focus on questions like theory of mind, intersubjectivity and dissociation, psychological phenomenon that can be illuminated through the combination of neuroscience and anthropology?

Is it work like Peter Stromberg and Cameron Hay’s that focus on experiential and behavioral phenomena through interdisciplinary ethnography?

Continue reading “The Encultured Brain – Part Two on the San Francisco AAA Conference”