As the Obama Administration’s new “Big Data Research and Development Initiative” has made clear, the “big data” era is officially upon us. The term – “big data” has been used in multiple ways, but most generally refers to the avalanche of “raw data” generated by the internet and other new kinds of data-capturing sensor and digital technologies. Or, as one big data guru more pithily put it, it is “all the stuff we do online” – and more.…
Higher Education Expands Worldwide, but Contracts in California?
During the last nine years, I squeezed guest teaching gigs in Tanzania, Germany, and China in-between my duties at Chico State. Each time I do this, I am impressed by the vibrancy of growing university systems abroad and the rapid expansion of higher education opportunities. Each country is pushing more of their students into post-secondary institutions. Indeed, there is a Europe-wide goal of having at least 40% of all 30-34 year olds graduating at the level of a US Bachelor’s degree by 2020 (The US and California have been stuck at 25-30% since about 1970).…
Why I chose not to get a PhD
I got to spend some time with a friend recently that decided some time ago to restart her PhD work. She is already ABD, but is starting the dissertation over from scratch. My question was “Why?” She is a well-respected professional, and within the her field a PhD will likely be of limited benefit professionally compared to the mountain of work ahead of her, not to mention the expense involved.
In the course of the conversation I was reflecting on my own choice to not get a PhD and thinking that it might provide food for thought for a larger audience.…
American Anthropological Association Reassures Worried Nation faced with Mayan Apocalypse
1 APRIL 2012 (Ethnography.com Newswire) Washington, DC – American Anthropological Association Reassures Worried Nation faced with Mayan Apocalypse
In light of the coming end of the world, The American Anthropological Association (AAA) has announced its official Continuity Plan to insure the nations vital resource of cultural anthropologists remains intact during the cannibalistic orgy of violence immediately following the end of days on December 21, 2012.
According to AAA President Charles Gusmallian “Cultural Anthropology is uniquely positioned to explain the coming Apocalypse. …
Applying Rolling Cohort Analysis to Unstable countries
A few year ago, I was working at Kodak and friend and I were talking about the idea of Rolling Segmentation. More recently, we have been talking about how it relates to how that thinking can be applied to issues of instability and insurgency.
I have not given the idea much thought for the last few years, and on rethinking about rolling segmentations/cohorts now, I have more questions than answers. …
When do IEDs quit being IEDs? Why are we still treating insurgent munitions as folk arts?
I started as a university student, I was studying folklore and material culture, and IED’s certainly qualify as material culture that has the potential to tell you something beyond basic forensics. In this entry I am looking at IEDs using the language of business, innovation and ___________ ? The idea is to see what insights can be gained from thinking about IEDs outside of the military language.
We still read about IED’s in the popular media as if they are a folk art or the equal of some kind of primitive booby-trap.…
Another year, another round of blogging…
It is no surprise to anyone that has read this blog in the past that am an applied anthropologist, particularly work that I consider directly applied. By that I mean the use of anthropological theory and method as a tool to move the goals of an organization further. Applied anthropology that focuses on studying the culture of organizations or focuses on assessments I think of as indirectly applied anthropology. The primary difference being that with indirect applied work, the primary goal is to create what could be considered an academic product or publication.…
Now Avaliable: Anthropologists in the SecurityScape: Ethics, Practice, and Professional Identity
It has landed for all your holiday needs. I have a chapter in the new book “Anthropologists in the SecurityScape” now available from Amazon.
Description
As the military and intelligence communities re-tool for the 21st century, the long and contentious debate about the role of social scientists in national security environments is dividing the disciplines with renewed passion. Yet, research shows that most scholars have a weak understanding of what today’s security institutions actually are and what working in them entails.…
Position Announcement: Senior Research Associate with Ethnographic Research Experience at Vera Institute of Justice
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE AT VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE
Center on Youth Justice
The Vera Institute of Justice, founded in 1961, is an independent, non-partisan, nonprofit organization that combines expertise in research, technical assistance, and demonstration projects to assist leaders in government and civil society, examine justice policy and practice, and improve the systems people rely on for justice and safety. Vera has offices in New York City, Washington, DC, and New Orleans, and its projects and reform initiatives, typically conducted in partnership with local, state, or national officials, are located across the United States and around the world.…
Love, Duty, and Marriage in a Classic Thai Novel
In summer 2011, I had the pleasure of co-teaching a Sociology/English class for American students in Thailand. One of the real pleasures was using novels to illustrate sociological principles. It was kind of like profession (sociology) meets hobby (reading novels). I hope that the students liked it—I certainly did, and this blog is about what was my favorite Thai novel of the summer, Behind the Painting. It proved to be ideal for discussing a wide range of subjects stretching across both sociology and literature, particularly the meaning of duty and love in structuring Thai and American society.…
Which Thumb is on Top? Questions about Culture from a Mlabri Village in Thailand
Explaining why people do things, even when it doesn’t seem reasonable to an American undergraduate is what I do for a living. I’ve explained why people don’t agree with their political views, the persistence of “irrational habits,” why most people don’t want to move to America, why poverty persists in a world of abundance, and a whole bunch of things that the many undergraduates do not want to believe. And after I’m done they undergraduates still don’t generally understand how people could have such persistent beliefs and practices which to them are just not logical.…
Where have you gone Robert Redford?
I lived in Thailand as a young Peace Corps Volunteer in the early 1980s. To learn Thai, I would go into small local restaurants where I would sit at a table. As a lone single foreigner, my presence raised curiosity of the people working at the restaurants, or other patrons. Oftentimes is was a 30 or 40 year old woman who owned the stall, and made their living selling bowls of noodle soup. …