Friends

Okay fellow Anthro Enthusiasts- it is winter break for me and I need some mental stimulation. I'm a senior of Anthro and Classics at the University of South Florida and lean towards archaeology and cultural the most. I already have Patterns of Culture and The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (Benedict) as some reading material, but any other suggestions? What was your favorite ethnography or anthropological work? I'd love to force my anthropological brain to work a bit over this 4 week break, so any suggestions would be most helpful. Thanks so much!

My professor just referred me to the H Net, and it's a pretty neat concept I thought I'd share: http://www.h-net.org/

It's a listserv of scholars with a certain area of interest; you can ask questions, announce research, conferences, and jobs. There are several lists directly pertaining to anthropology and plenty that could be of interest to the group.

taste_buds
Holidays provide a built-in excuse for indulgent entertaining. This all-purpose foodie community covers everything from homemade hangover cures to dinner party menus. Need quick advice? Get five-minute snack suggestions, low-fat ingredient substitutes, and even measurement conversions. Delicious recipes garnished with humorous advice. Yum.

naturesbeauty
Always on the lookout for compelling images, we were delighted to discover this flourishing community of artists who share a love of nature. Honoring the subject with photographs, paintings, sketches, prose, poetry, and other creative works, you'll be simultaneously riveted to your monitor and inspired to run helter skelter towards the nearest wooded dale.

Hi! My name is Macy and I'm a junior in high school. I love the TV show BONES so I decided to actually look into anthropology. You know, just for fun. I discovered that I no longer wanted to study sociology when I got into college, but I want to study anthropology. My questions are:
1) What kind of anthropologist is most easily employed? (i.e. forensic, cultural etc)
2) The school that I want to go to is Utah State university. I can get up to a masters degree in anthropology there. Will a masters do me any good? or would I need to get a PhD to be credible?
3) Are there any common high school classes that would help prepare me for an anthropology major at a university?

Those are my lovely questions. I hope that no one thinks that I'm just some dumb kid that thinks life is like a TV show. That show just made me curious. haha : )

A study done by a consortium of geneticists from 10 Asian countries shows that Indian genetic diversity is the basis of other population in Asia. It says that over 50,000 years ago there was a first single stream entry of humans into India from Africa. From India the human population settled in South-East Asia and from there some of then moved to east and central Asia.

The study tends to refute the age old belief that Aryans as a distinct race who migrated from Central Asia and settled in the plains of north India. If we are believe the origin of humankind in Africa and the first outward stream of humans settling in India and thereafter spreading to other parts of Asia, including Central Asia, then they are same people who might have probably come back and resettled in India from Central Asia However, HUGO has planned to undertake further studies including Central Asia and the Polynesian Islands.

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Contrary to myth, Christianity's concept of marriage has not been set in stone since the days of Christ, but has constantly evolved as a concept and ritual. Prof. John Boswell, the late Chairman of Yale University’s history department, discovered that in addition to heterosexual marriage ceremonies in ancient Christian church liturgical documents, there were also ceremonies called the "Office of Same-Sex Union" (10th and 11th century), and the "Order for Uniting Two Men" (11th and 12th century).

These church rites had all the symbols of a heterosexual marriage: the whole community gathered in a church, a blessing of the couple before the altar was conducted with their right hands joined, holy vows were exchanged, a priest officiatied in the taking of the Eucharist and a wedding feast for the guests was celebrated afterwards. These elements all appear in contemporary illustrations of the holy union of the Byzantine Warrior-Emperor, Basil the First (867-886 CE) and his companion John.

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backpacking
Want to embrace your wanderlust on the cheap? If you're tall on adventurous spirit, but short on funds, this community can help you plan a trip to anywhere. Offering plentiful tips on how to travel light, you can post about bargain hotels and hostels if you're into urban exploration or discuss camping gear and mosquito netting for the great outdoors. Hitch your backpack, pitch your tent, and carpe diem!

Have you ever done something out of custom(culture?) then you realized "Why am I doing this?"

I just realized that in Indonesia, we have to ask permission from other people to eat, if you know them and at the moment they are not eating with you.
We are cultured to say things like "makan dulu, ya" (let me eat first?) or offering it"makan, mba?"(would you like to eat?). We don't really offer it though.

So, is there any funny thing like this you realized about your culture?
I'd like to know from as many country as possible;)

Boom boom! (I’m here, come to me!)
Krak krak! (Watch out, a leopard!)
Hok hok hok! (Hey, crowned eagle!)

Very good — you have already mastered half the basic vocabulary of the Campbell’s monkey, a fellow primate that lives in the forests of the Tai National Park in Ivory Coast. The adult males have six types of call, each with a specific meaning, but they can string two or more calls together into a message with a different meaning. Having spent months recording the monkeys’ calls in response to both natural and artificial stimuli, a group led by Klaus Zuberbühler of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland argues that the Campbell’s monkeys have a primitive form of syntax.

This is likely to be a controversial claim because despite extensive efforts to teach chimpanzees language, the subjects showed little or no ability to combine the sounds they learned into a sentence with a larger meaning. Syntax, basic to the structure of language, seemed be a uniquely human faculty.
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...and I was wondering what people think of Washington State University's Evolutionary Anthropology degree.

Anyone hear anything about it? Study at WSU?

Climber Renan Ozturk watches a local Tibetan look at an illuminated manuscript found during an August 2008 expedition to remote Himalayan caves in the ancient kingdom of Mustang, today part of Nepal. The folio is part of a treasure trove of 15th-century Tibetan art and manuscripts that could be linked to the real-world inspiration for Shangri-La, a fictional paradise described by British writer James Hilton in his popular 1930s novel Lost Horizon.

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Hello all,

I'm graduating with a BA in Anthropology next Fall and currently I'm looking to find a graduate school with a good medical anthropology program. My main interest in the field is pre- and post-natal care available to women and infants from different cultural backgrounds. My gpa is currently just over 3.0, I'm not graduating with distinction, and I'm certified in human subject research.

Could any of you recommend a few schools that I might be able to apply to?

Thank you for your help! :)

**FINAL EDIT Thu Dec 10 02:15:47 UTC 2009**

So there is the final update... Over the past day we have processed around 11 million jobs out of the 12 million that were in queue at that time. Please bear in mind that over this past day, more jobs for notifications are also created. So while the queue has been dropping, we are still not fully caught up at this point, due to backlog and new jobs. We have roughly 3 million jobs still pending that involve the notification system in some manner. We had hoped we could have fully cleared the queue in a day, but unfortunately we can't clear it too quickly, since we need the rest of the site to operate normally. From our current perspective on the amount of jobs that are left in queue, and how many it has processed thus far, we believe it will take around another 8 - 12 hours to process everything.

And finally some answers to some questions:

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freeskiers
While some of us long to escape the cold, dark stretch of winter for hot tropical beaches, for others, there's nothing quite like whoooooshing down those shimmering sugar alps. If you're fond of freestyle skiing, get ready to slide down the slippery slopes in good company. This passionate, international community shares travel/gear tips, anecdotes, photos, and videos for those who can't get enough of the sweet stuff.

seasonal_icons
Need some extra twinkle to decorate your place? Check out these dazzling holiday-themed icons. If you're an artist, you can post your own creations, provided you abide by the simple rules (which is to say, all cheer and no politicking). Be sure to comment and give credit if you wish to borrow a little spirit (no direct links, please). If you're feeling a touch of humbug this season, this is an instant shot of festivity.

handmade_gifts
High on creativity, but low on cash? You'll find tons of brilliant suggestions for do-it-yourself crafts sure to please everyone on your holiday gift list. Offering detailed instructions, photos, budgets, timelines, and active support, you'll soon turn spare remnants of fabric and time into cherished keepsakes. Be sure to search entries and read user guidelines before you post for help!

Men carry the seeds of their own destruction in the genes present in their sperm, research suggests. Scientists working on mice have highlighted a specific gene that, although carried by both sexes, appears to be active only in males. They believe it allows males to grow bigger bodies - but at the expense of their longevity. The study, by Tokyo University of Agriculture, appears in the journal Human Reproduction.
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Hello all! I'm currently taking a Forensic Anthropology class and we're getting close to finals. I'm working on a paper in which I did research on a human skeleton that the art department at my college owns for use in the life drawing classes. This skeleton happens to be from India (as most are), so I want to do the other bit of my paper on the India skeleton trade and the ban on the trade in 1985. The problem I can't find any literature on it, besides brief mention that the ban happened. Does anyone have any deeper information they can share? It would be really helpful. Thanks!