Anthropological Niche

I just learned that one of my undergrate professors, Corrine Wood, who I took medical anthropology from at CSU, Fullerton has passed away.  She was an amazing woman.  I still remember my first visit to her office when she offered a bit of the potato that she was eating.  It struck me strange at the time how friendly she was, her being a professor and me being a new student at the university.  She will be missed!

Philippe Bourgois was recently interviewed about what it is like being a public anthropologist.  Here is a part of the abstract from the interview:

Philippe Bourgois' (San Francisco State U) recent book, In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio (Cambridge University Press, 1995), is an engagingly written and candidly honest account of discrimination, education and the underground economy in New York's East Harlem. In addition to an impressive body of work in the venues of academic anthropology, Dr. Bourgois has written articles for The Nation, Harper's Magazine and the New York Times Magazine; and has been featured on the Phil Donahue Show, National Public Radio, Science, People and Fortune Magazine.

While the development of agriculture has had some positive effects on human culture and evolution, some argue that the neolithic revolution did more harm than good for our species.

The Neuroanthropology blog has posted a list of social networking sites that anthropologists are using to connect and share information.

In this news story, Dr. Genevieve Bell describes how anthropology can inform how technology companies create and market their products.

Dr Genevieve Bell says that nowadays, it is common to have anthropologists in telecommunications and technology-based multinationals.