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Anthropology News • January 2007
54
S E C T I O N N E W S
We found hundreds of intact bottles, plates and dishes from the 1890s–1920s. As we began to sort through the archaeological record, one resident brought us a photograph taken at an Indiana National Guard encampment on this site during World War I. The photo suggested that some materials from the dump (apothecary and pharmaceutical bottles, and turn-of-the-century beer and soda bottles) may have origi-nated in the National Guard camp.
ASC’s survey set in motion a sequence of events. Because of local interest, ASC presented the findings to local historic preservation organi-zations and then agreed to organize an interpre-tive display at a local history museum. The dis-play will tell a story of increased use of locally and regionally produced consumer goods by a rapidly industrializing society. Ultimately, the project did not end with the finding of no impact to a Civil War cemetery. Rather it yielded knowledge of value to the community about their place in the context of broader historic forces.
[Kevin Schwarz is principal investigator for archaeol-ogy at ASC Group Inc, an environmental consulting firm in Columbus, Ohio. He is a recent graduate of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He can be contacted at [email protected].]
Any news, issues or photos of interest to NAPA mem-bers can be sent to Inga Treitler. NAPA welcomes contributions from practicing anthropologists about their work [email protected].
National Association of Student Anthropologists
MELINDA BERNARDO, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
NASA congratulates Robert O’Brian on win-ning the Carrie Hunter-Tate Graduate Student Award.
Anthropology: Epistemology or Nothing but a J-O-B?
By Robert T O’Brien
“This is my job,” except she doesn’t say job, as
in work, she says Job, with a long vowel, as in the guy from the Bible.
—Sherman Alexie, “Why Indian Men Fall in Love With White Women”
I have not followed a traditional path of anthro-pological training or practice. Like other first generation college students, I needed to under-stand what my education was going to “do.” Purely theoretical and intellectual pursuits were—and remain—either points of departure for a more hands-on approach or a privileged respite from the everyday. But they have never constituted the entirety of “anthropology” for me. As anthropologist Leith Mullings argues, we must use this privileged respite to solve real
people’s problems. I would like to thank the members of the Carrie Hunter-Tate Award com-mittee for recognizing the importance of this point by honoring me with this award.
I rarely consider anthropology a “job” or a bur-den. Rather, I claim it as a “worldview” through which I interpret my experience and base my actions. After years as a grassroots organizer, I stepped into my first anthropology class at a community college. I sought a discipline that could help my social justice work by framing the issues and agencies of real people. I found this in anthropology. Perhaps as a result of my working-class and organizing backgrounds, my course work was highly experiential and my par-ticipant observation extremely participatory.
Throughout college and graduate school, I worked with individuals who sought access to social or medical services. I gathered informa-tion, used my social and cultural capital to access what resources I could leverage, and helped people fill out forms without end. Often, I simply sat with folks. I sat through intermi-nable, confusing and often demeaning hours at community-based organizations and social service agencies, through court proceedings, in emergency rooms and at too many funerals.
I taught basic statistical methods to high school students—most of whom had been told they were not college material, but who, none-theless immediately grasped concepts I struggle to communicate to undergraduate classes. I gave injecting drug users clean syringes and helped facilitate referrals to social services. I nursed people through overdoses, “dope sickness” and depression. I cleaned toilets and handed out soap, towels and other toiletries to people wait-ing in line for a “real” shower. I helped prepare nutritious meals, which were then served to poor people in a way that respected their dig-nity. I was a vocal presence at many public and private meetings, working with those involved
in an attempt to address the bureaucratic tangles and outright oppressive practices that make life difficult for so many.
When I could do nothing else, which was most of the time, I listened. I listened because a burden shared is a burden lessened. I listened because no one else would. And I listened because I knew that I would share our burdens with anyone willing to read my work or listen to my presentations.
Rather than approach anthropology as “just a job” or as a task requiring the patience of Job, I approach anthropology as an epistemological position from which one may engage in a par-ticular kind of practice. I have come to believe that we must disembed anthropology from both the academy and from “practicing” contexts. This perspective obviously arises from my expe-rience, but it is also grounded in methodological and “practical” concerns.
Anthropological methodology has value. It is also subjective and biased. Structuring, ques-tioning and restructuring one’s questions, ana-lyzing the events of peoples’ lives as data, craft-ing these data into policy papers, articles and books, and submitting this work to the review of peers provides a perspective that memoirs, biography, journalism and everyday experience do not. Acknowledging that the resultant work is still from the anthropologist’s perspective con-tributes to, rather than invalidates, our meth-odologies. At the same time, this acknowledge-ment can foster the use of anthropology as a privileged epistemological position from which to view our responsibilities and relationships in and out of the field. And to find in anthropol-ogy something more than a J-O-B.
Something to say? Please send your comments, questions, suggestions and contributions to Melinda Bernardo at [email protected].
Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges
LLOYD MILLER, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Mark Lewine Receives National AwardThough by now it’s old news, the long-time editor of this column would like to congratulate long-time SACC member and past-president Mark Lewine on being named “2006 US Outstanding
Community Colleges Professor of the Year.” This prestigious award, one of four given annu-ally, is sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and adminis-tered by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). The other three outstanding award cat-
Robert T O’Brien, teaching about gender theory.
Mark Lewine
January 2007 • Anthropology News
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S E C T I O N N E W S
egories are for baccalaureate colleges, doctoral and research universities, and master’s universi-ties and colleges.
“An extraordinary dedication to undergradu-ate teaching” is the main factor in candi-date selection. In their press release, CASE and Carnegie stated that “Lewine’s commitment to promote community college education is evi-dent in his teaching … during the past 35 years, he has worked to dispel stereotypes associated with community colleges and has encouraged graduate students and community college stu-dents to work together on archaeological digs, during which all educational differences disap-pear. Lewine’s teaching style is engaging, acces-sible and demanding—all qualities that drive students to achieve their best work.”
In introducing Mark, a former student, Melanie Allamby, stated, “He truly seems happiest when he helps his students make connections with opportunities and people that can help them grow.” In an email to Mark, AAA Past President Don Brenneis said, “ … your intelligence, engagement, imagination and commitments to community, students and anthropological ways of paying attention to the world really shone through all the materials. And I’m delighted that the award also will help bring both SACC and all our colleagues teaching in community colleges into a well deserved limelight.” Typical of the unsolicited correspondence from strang-ers Mark received was one that remarked, “I was humbled by the article [in the Chronicle online] describing your work with community college students and your willingness to develop innovative means to help these students access research experience.”
In his acceptance speech, Mark stated, “A professor at a community college must love teaching and students; we have so many of them every semester. No one should teach at a community college as a fallback second choice position—our students demand your full enthusiastic attention.” And in another statement reflecting his passion for teaching: “My colleagues tell me that my most notable professional contribution has been the creation of programs that include community-linked education and research within our rather lim-ited two-year college curricula. These programs provide research opportunities for students left out of higher-level academic work. Our great-est success is achieved with student researchers who become interns on our projects, then peer mentors for other students, and then eventually apply their learning toward high-level achieve-ment in graduate school. They become our role models for new students.”
CASE and the Carnegie Foundation have been granting these awards since 1982 and describe this program as “the only national initiative specifically designed to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring.” In addition to $5,000 in cash and a framed certificate of recognition, national winners are offered numerous opportunities during the year for speaking engagements, media interviews, teaching forums and public service announce-
ments, all designed to highlight the importance of teaching.
I’ve worked with Mark in SACC for quite a few years and can testify enthusiastically that he deserves this award. One need only be in Mark’s presence for a short time to feel the dedication and energy he brings to any discus-sion about students, learning and anthropol-ogy. In every measure of excellence the judges considered—impact on undergraduate students, scholarly approach to teaching and learning, contributions to undergraduate education in the institution, community, and profession, and support from colleagues and both current and former undergraduate students—Mark excels. I’m excited for him, proud of him and honored to be associated with him.
Send communications and contributions to Lloyd Miller, [email protected].
Society for the Anthropology of Europe
ANDREA SMITH, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Jean-Louis Fabiani Lectures on Marseilles as 2006 SAE Douglass Lecturer
By Mark Ingram (Goucher C) and Andrea Smith (Lafayette C)
On Saturday evening, November 18, the Society for the Anthropology of Europe held its annual William Douglass Distinguished Lecture. This year’s presenter was Jean-Louis Fabiani, of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and currently guest professor at the Institut für Europaïsche Ethnologie, Humboldt University, Berlin. His talk was entitled “Marseilles, ‘A City Beyond Distinction.’”
When riots rocked the peripheral regions of French cities last year, why was Marseilles, of all cities, relatively quiet? This city of immigrants, known for its large North African and other immi-grant populations, defied expectations. Rather than erupting in flames, it remained calm, as reflected in the low incidence of violence and car burnings there. And yet, Marseilles has often been viewed as the embodiment of danger, “Southern” backwardness and incorrigible clientelism. Drawing on urban history and cultural anthropol-ogy, Fabiani unpacked several paradoxical facets of the “Marseilles exception.” Seen as both a weak link in the French national system as well as a utopian site, far from the influence of centralizing state powers, it also escapes Bourdieu’s model of distinction, as he argued Saturday night.
Marseilles’ geography, situated between moun-tain and sea, is sometimes seen as a source of its dissimilarity from other large French cities: the city is surrounded by either ocean or steep, rocky cliffs, and thus does not have the ring of banlieus that are found in other large French cities. Perhaps as a result, there is an unusually strong sense of belonging in this cosmopolitan
city, a sense of everyone belonging to a common community. This geography has shaped Marseilles’ history as well, he explained for physical barriers pre-vented it from ever becoming a regional capital, unlike Aix-en-Provence to its north.
Instead, Marseilles has long stood as an exam-ple of cultural resistance and social resilience, where immigrants can achieve collective rec-ognition in ways not possible elsewhere. It has thus been seen as a “rebellious” city, defying the tyranny of the center, resisting both Paris and Provençalization. The city has endured a bad reputation for centuries, a reputation even cel-ebrated by Marseillais, and made famous by such “bad boys” of cinema as Yves Montand.
At the same time, Marseilles has been the focus of many utopian visions that ultimately failed, such as a large Haussman urban renewal program, the Fosse-sur-mer planned commu-nity, and more recently, the city’s bid to host the America’s Cup. Marseilles, Fabiani explained, is an “undistinguished” city, and a key site for reassessing the place of “non-legitimate” culture within France.
Jean-Louis Fabiani’s scholarship in the sociology of culture and his work on the history of French philosophy have received favorable critical atten-tion in France. After receiving his Agrégation de philosophie in 1974, he went on to a PhD in soci-ology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. His early work was strongly influenced by Pierre Bourdieu, under whom he studied. Since the 1990s, he has developed a critical approach to Bourdieu’s theory of cultural distinction. A collec-tion of essays on that topic is due to come out in early 2007 (Après la culture légitime).
Fabiani has published a study of the influence of philosophy in late 19th-century France (Les Philosophes de la République, 1987), an ethno-graphic study of reading in jail (Lire en prison, 1995), and is currently at work on a book entitled “Le sujet et le concept. Une sociologie historique de la philosophie française,” to be published in 2007. Recent publications include Beautés du Sud. La Provence à l’épreuve des jugements de goût (2006), and, with Frank Pourcel, La Petite Mer des Oubliés. Etang de Berre, Paradoxe Méditerranéen (2006).
Andrea Smith can be reached at [email protected].
Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition
JANET CHRZAN, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Networks and Diet Change Among New Americans
By Crystal Patil (U South Florida/U Toronto) and Craig Hadley (Emory U/U Michigan)
As a companion piece to last month’s issue, where we laid out a framework for understand-ing how social networks might influence dietary
