N E W S L E T T E R I S S U E N O . 8 S U M M E R 2 0 13
I S S U E N O . 9 W I N T E R 2 0 13 / 2 0 14
Welcome
It has been a hugely busy start to the academic year new teaching format inspired by the Oxbridge tutorial
2013/14 for staff and students alike. Our Anthrosociety structure.
has held a successful debate, hosting Dr Jo Cook and Dr
Lucio Vinicius on the topic of Piece of Mind. Staff put the Sadly we had to remove the staff book covers from the
finishing touches on the Research Excellence Framework main stairwell, but thanks to Paul Carter-Bowman in
submission due this November and began to discuss the the office, our master’s student Shweta Barupal, and
directions which research and teaching will take in the recently completed PhD student Aaron Parkhurst, most
Department over the next seven years. With the arrivals of the covers have already been rehung beautifully on the
of the new President & Provost, Professor Michael Arthur, ground floor and in the staff common room, with further
and the new Dean of the Social and Historical Sciences hangings planned on the 2nd floor near the Seminar
(SHS), Professor Mary Fulbrook, the College is abuzz room. Towards the end of this academic year we have
with debate about the vision for UCL reaching forward been promised the start of a huge renovation project for
into the 2020s.
our walls, carpets and common rooms, and I am sure
that this will be welcome news for us all.
The past academic year has seen a consolidation of all of
our activities in the Department, with a now fully staffed Perhaps the greatest credit to the excellent teaching and
administration, thanks to the arrival in April of Jolanta the huge energy invested by our staff in the care and
Skorecka as Undergraduate Administrator. A successful attention to advancing student learning is the repeat of
Internal Teaching Quality Audit delivered much praise the stellar performance of our 3rd year students, which
for our staff and students and the wonderful creative, saw almost half of our students leaving the College
productive and supportive atmosphere that we enjoy in June with a First Class Honours degree, two of our
in our department. The committee’s advice on how to students being put forward to the Dean’s list, and the
tighten some of our internal processes and committee remaining students being awarded good and very good
structure were implemented straight away and staff and Upper Second Class Honours degree results. Four of our
students should see the benefit already this year in a students have left us with PhD studentships at the LSE
smoother flow of information up and down the spine of and Cambridge, and we are very proud to have been able
our command structure. As always, however, changes to fully fund a fifth student with an ESRC studentship to
induced by UCL’s vast engine room are keeping us on stay with us. Three of our PhD students won competitive
our toes and promise to make this academic year far postdoctoral research grants and are supported for 2
from boring.
and 3 year periods by the ESRC, Leverhulme Trust and
Marie Curie. Two of our staff are shortlisted for ERC
The first year BSc students are looking forward again to grants, results pending. And so we are rejoicing in the
their field trip in February, and we are busy with planning success of our students and staff and are looking forward
the implementation of a 2nd year field trip, directed to to the new academic year with confidence and a desire
life skills, as requested by our students. We are awaiting to match or improve upon these results.
the first running of the new compulsory 2nd year course,
‘Being Human’, on which all staff will teach following a I wish you all a very happy and productive year.
Professor Susanne Kuechler, Head of Department
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
SPECIAL THEME: THE INFORMANT’S VIEW OF THE ETHNOGRAPHER
Being a Spy or a Black Shaman in Southern Siberia: Fieldwork Among the Shors, by Charlotte Loris-Rodionoff
Ethnography as Devotion - An insider backstory in the heart of Ethiopia, by Alexandra Antohin
4
6
SPECIAL FEATURE
Now Delhi is Not Far, by Christopher Pinney
8
CURRENT STUDENTS
Stigmatising HIV/AIDS in Malawi, by Hannah Luck
12
FROM OUR ALUMNI
God Bless the Tools, by Aarthi Ajit
13
STAFF PROFILE
An Interview with Joe Calabrese
14
RESEARCH
Hunter-Gatherer Resilience Project
Sniffing out a mate, by Nienke Alberts
16
22
EVENTS
A beginning for LabUK, by Carol Balthazar
Piece of Mind: A Dabate on the Path to Happiness, by Poppy Walter
24
25
DEPARTMENT NEWS
New Appointments and Recently Awarded PhDs
New Books by Staff
26
27
CONTRIBUTORS
Aarthi Ajit, Nienke Alberts, Alexandra Antohin, Carol Balthazar, Joe Calabrese, Paul Carter-Bowman, Nik Chaudhary, Mark Dyble,
Susanne Kuechler, Charlotte Loris-Rodionoff, Hannah Luck , Andrea Migliano, Abigail Page, Christopher Pinney, Alice Rudge,
Chris Russell, Deniz Salali, Daniel Smith, Jed Stevenson, Poppy Walter
EDITORS
Allen Abramson, Paul Carter-Bowman, Lucio Vinicius, Man Yang
ANTHROPOLITAN is published by UCL Anthropology © 2013
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
3
SPECIAL THEME: THE INFORMANT’S VIEW OF THE ETHNOGRAPHER
Being a Spy or a Black
Shaman in Southern
Siberia: Fieldwork
Among the Shors
Charlotte Loris-Rodionoff
MPhil/PhD in Social and Cultural
Anthropology
“Remember the most important thing: shamanism is not
something exotic, and it brought the death of civilisations!
We watched her. You sent us a person who serves the
dark forces. We understand their interests. Do not try to
understand – do not go in this sphere if your life is dear to
you! The dark forces do not know how to have pity or how
to pardon. Stay in your own scientific sphere.”
This SMS – where ‘her’ is ‘me’ - was sent shamans and shamanism in jokes and “still did not choose any religion”, they
to my hosts a few weeks after my arrival talks.
resolved to “teach me shamanism”.
in Gornaya Shorya, a mountainous area
They thus had to unveil things shamanic.
located Kemerovo region in the north Nonetheless, people did not speak However, my position of initiate was
of the Altai-Saian, 3,700 km south of ‘seriously’ about shamanism with me; unstable: after two days spent with
Moscow. I aimed to study shamanism not because of the so-called absence the shamanesses, they sent my hosts
among the Shors, a small Turkic people, of shamans, but because people did not the SMS copied above. I was now “a
who live in mountains covered with see why they should speak about it with person who serves the dark forces”: a
taiga, a dense evergreen forest. But as me - a foreign anthropologist. People black shaman. Yet I was not ‘just’ a black
soon as I arrived after a three-day long started to speak to me about shamanism shaman. A few hours after the SMS was
train trip, Petr confidently announced
that: “there are no shamans left among
the Shors”. Surprisingly, he sent me an
email about a month earlier offering to
introduce me to a shamaness, Anna,
with whom I could work. I was puzzled
sent, the shamaness Anna called my
“A few hours after the SMS
was sent, the shamaness Anna
called my hosts, warning them
against me, saying that I was a
black shaman and a spy.”
to hear that there were actually no
hosts, warning them against me, saying
that I was a black shaman and a spy.
This double accusation was followed
by immediate reactions: the doors of
the community closed one after the
other on me, and, apart from my hosts,
shamans left in the region. However, after my place in this communicational no one would speak to me anymore. I
I quickly understood that Petr did not situation changed: I had to be a part no longer enjoyed the “comfortable”
mean that there were no shamans left of this shamanic discourse for me to position of the foreign anthropologist,
at all among the Shors, rather that be told (and taught) about it (Favret- but I was in the uncomfortable one of a
there were no genuine shamans left: Saada 1980). The situation shifted after black shaman/spy.
only “incomplete”, “unauthentic”, “non- two shamanesses decided that I was
traditional” shamans live in Shorya. This not a scientist to keep away from their Indeed, after the accusation spread
absence of “genuine” shamans strongly esoteric knowledge and practices, but in the city, one thing was certain: I
contrasted with the omnipresence of rather a potential initiate. Given that I was working with the dark forces, I
4
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
SPECIAL THEME: THE INFORMANT’S VIEW OF THE ETHNOGRAPHER
was ‘not quite an enemy’. Everybody
was worried about the possibility of
a bad omen, and/or of problems with
the local police, or worse, with the
FSB (Federal Security Service). Even
Makar, a convinced atheist, was not
certain that I was harmless: he kept
mentioning, sarcastically laughing, that
I must be a very good spy, since I did
not look like one. This suspicion was
partly grounded on my fuzzy status,
since there are practically no foreigners
in Shorya, and my identity was unclear,
for I introduced myself as French, but
I also revealed my Russian descent
as it explained my knowledge of the intertwined, and that there is a troubling In short, this experience revealed that
language. But the accusation was also “isomorphism of form” between these even when perceived ‘negatively’ and
cosmological: I was a black shaman. I two spheres in Shorya (Pedersen 2011). suspiciously by one’s informants, one
found myself in a reverse situation to Second, it gave me a better insight into can still do fruitful fieldwork! Although I
Favret-Saada (1980). Whilst she became Shor social relations. The Janus-like was seen as a suspicious person, rather
an intimate friend and an assistant figure of the black shaman/spy made than an anthropologist, and I could not
of a magician in the French Bocage, I clear that suspicion of spies (politics) establish relations other than those
became an intimate enemy of the Shor had a shamanic dimension. And, indeed, based on mistrust and deceit with my
shamanesses of whom I was a potential any outsider, political opponent, rival informants, this fieldwork experience
initiate.
shaman, or Shor with whom another gave me an intimate access to the Shor
Shor is in conflict, is referred to as a society.
This tricky position yet gave me a better black shaman; while any foreigner,
understanding of contemporary Shor anyone having a fuzzy status, is called References
society: first, it made me realise that a spy.
shamanism and politics are intimately
Favret-Saada, Jeanne. 1980. Deadly
Words: Witchcraft in the Bocage.
Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Pedersen, Morten Axel. 2011. Not
Quite Shamans: Spirit Worlds and
Political Life in Northern Mongolia.
London: Cornell University Press.
Left: Map showing the location of Kemerovo
region in the Russian Federation (en.wikinews.
org)
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
5
SPECIAL THEME: THE INFORMANT’S VIEW OF THE ETHNOGRAPHER
Ethnography as Devotion
An insider backstory in the
heart of Ethiopia
Alexandra Antohin
PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology
A priest accepts a donation for the sake of St. Mary: in the background, a trail of buses parked at Gishen.
Having imagined my home for the Whatever privilege the ‘’insider’’ motivation to be closer to the religious
next year and a half on Google Maps, anthropologist role was expected to heritage of my generations past. Both
my doctoral fieldsite was a location afford me, I aimed to exercise a certain my biographical details and Christian
I could not find. Gishen Debre Kirbe versatility of shifting positions due to personhood were constantly recast
w a s a f l at-topped mount ain , it s my claims to roots (Narayan 1993). My in an interactive exchange between
plateau distinguishable as resembling “way in’’ would be as a participant in the ethnographer and her informants
the contours of a cross, where in the an intergenerational rite of promise, (Reitsikas 2008). It was accurate to
church of St. Mary my grandmother representing the newest link in this chain call me an Orthodox Christian, one
was baptised in 1934. A difficult journey by honouring the memory of Gishen, knowledgeable and intimately familiar
on mule and winding dirt roads that how “Mariam listened and protected’’. with its traditions but not a confessing
took nearly a month to complete, This logic would translate well, I one, as I had never taken communion.
brought mother and child to this anticipated, giving the ethnographer Fears of proselytism in the way Blanes
remote place to fulfil a vow. This act context. And, sure enough, when (2004) discusses in his strategising of
broke the misfortune of many failed this backstory disappeared, I became an ‘’unfinished agnosticism” were not a
pregnancies by giving the new-born to a foreigner, causing individuals to be concern, though I did engage in a similar
Gishen Mariam, more specifically to the genuinely mystified at my extended open-ended possibility of the deeper
tabot (ark and altar) of this church. The presence at Gishen.
Christian I might become as a result of
intrigue of not finding its coordinates
this project. My ethnographic activities,
on a map and the draw of the personal To study pilgrimage (lit . ‘spiritual for many of my interlocutors, were
connection spurred my interest to start j o u r n e y ’ i n A m h a r i c) r e q u i r e d about stretching my belief.
with Gishen.
committing oneself to a sort of mission.
Surely, this anthropology business Several weeks before thousands of
Rather strategically, I also recognised was a guise. In my case, a scholastic travellers would head an additional
that this personal story would be curiosity about the devotional customs 300 km north to the town of Lalibela,
useful with the Orthodox Christian of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians was I decided to visit this famed holy site
communities I planned to work with. interpreted by many as an inner, spiritual early. This experience had all the
6
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
SPECIAL THEME: THE INFORMANT’S VIEW OF THE ETHNOGRAPHER
hallmarks of a typical long-distance
journey in Ethiopia, particularly the
combination of a reckless driver and
fatal or near-fatal accidents along the
road. Despite these known factors, the
trip was an absolute nightmare, directly
life-threatening and inauspicious on
both legs of the journey. One reaction
to these events by my cousin was not life. He looked at me blankly, not Bateson, Gregory, and Mary Catherine
at all surprised that our entrance was comprehending my indignation. “But B ateson. Angels Fear: Towards an
“rejected’’ as he put it. ‘’One doesn’t it’s a miracle. They didn’t die. This is Epistemology of the Sacred. London:
just go to a holy place in a hurry’’ he proof of God’s power and love. That’s Rider Books, 1988.
said. To “get permission’’ is an active, what we are celebrating.’’ This thin line
dialogic negotiation that is based on between tragedies and miracles, rather B lanes , Ruy Ller a . “The At heist
reinforcing ties with God and by giving than demonstrating a much-cited Anthropologist: Believers and Nonofferings to the church. My lack of emphasis on ‘’god-fearing’’ by Ethiopian believers in Anthropological Fieldwork.”
subscribing to a regime made glaring Orthodox Christians, in fact stands for Social Anthropology 14, no. 2 (June 2006):
the importance of making promises to a certain relishing of the unknown. It is 223–234.
reconfirm links, defining belief, through a type of communication that Orthodox
devotional acts, as “the quality of a Christian direct to what they label Narayan, Kirin. “How Native Is a
relationship, that of keeping the faith, as ‘’the sacred’’, as ‘’a way of coping ‘Native’ Anthropologist?” American
having trust” (Ruel 1982: 22).
with certain epistemological problems Anthropologist 95, no. 3 (September 1,
– maybe necessary ones?” (Bateson 1993): 671–686.
Brushes with death on pilgrimage can & Bateson 1988: 86). Belief, rather
also indicate signs of spiritual proximity than a statement of truths we know, Retsikas, Kostas. “Knowledge from
and potency. On one occasion while represents the truths we don’t. It is the Body: Fieldwork, Power, and
descending Gishen, a large bus tipped this confrontation that is being sought the Acquisition of a New Self.” In
over to the side of a road no more after and the work that implicates Knowing How to Know: Fieldwork and
than four meters wide. Fisseha, a individuals to realise this encountering the Ethnographic Present, edited by
fellow pilgrim, prompted me to take between this and the other world. As Halstead, Narmala and Hirsch, Eric and
photographs of the accident. Horrified it was stated to me by one pilgrim to Okely, Judith, (eds.), 110–129. Oxford:
and a bit stern in my response, I Gishen, “the journey to the sacred Berghahn Books, 2008.
refused, and kept silent my opinion that place is always trying and exceedingly
this act glorified tragedy and showed long. The return to the world is short Ruel, Malcolm. “Christians as Believers.”
a flippant reaction to the fragility of and easy.’’
In Religious Organization and Religious
Experience, edited by J. Davis. London:
Academic Press, 1982.
Top left: Pilgrims descending after the
conclusion of the feast day.
Top right: Approaching a monk outside his cell.
Left: Celebration of liturgy and the offerings to
church.
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
7
SPECIAL FEATURE
Now Delhi is Not Far
Christopher Pinney
Professor of Anthropology and Visual Culture
My most recent trip to India (late south by train to Madhya Pradesh for
August through to end September 2013) a few weeks in the town where I’ve
was chiefly to organise a photographic worked intermittently since 1982. The
exhibition in a New Delhi art gallery, exhibition was due to open on 25th
part of Delhi Photo Festival. The September and I was returning to
exhibition was a selection of prints Delhi a few days before to set things
made from negatives dating from the up. Suresh Punjabi, the small-town
late 1970s and early 1980s salvaged photographer would come up very
from a small-town studio’s warehouse early on the day of the opening with his
in central India.
family and stay one night in the New
Delhi bungalow of the local MP before
“Prior to this Suresh had been
rather puzzled about the reason
for the exhibition, assuming that
his workaday portraits would
appeal only to ‘foreigners’
who would be struck by the
‘strangeness’ of Madhya
Pradesh life.”
returning to the continuing work in the
studio.
to “foreigners” who would be struck by
Two days before I returned to Delhi the “strangeness” of Madhya Pradesh
the local media fervour started. Suresh life. He also engaged in his own acts
arranged a series of group interviews of visual translation, deciding that the
w i t h l o c a l re p or t e r s a nd v id e o invitation to the opening which had been
journalists, his planned news conference prepared by the gallery (Art Heritage),
having been cancelled through lack of a while excellent, was inappropriate for
suitable space. Prior to this Suresh had the aesthetics of a small-town. The
The printing was done in London and been rather puzzled about the reason gallery had sent 50 copies for Suresh
I took the images to the framers when for the exhibition, assuming that his to distribute locally but he decided to
I arrived in Delhi before then heading workaday portraits would appeal only print 300 of his self-designed invitation
8
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
SPECIAL FEATURE
because the Delhi-produced one was
zyada hai (“too high”, ie “too high
class”).
In the numerous interviews in the
days before I left it became clear how
important key facts were in defining
what kind of event this should be:
the location of the gallery (its central
position in New Delhi being of great
impor tance), the fact that all the
images in the show were by Suresh
(they were not mixed with and hence
diluted by the work of others), that
the name of Studio Suhag would be
outside the gallery, and that important
photographers would be present
at the opening. Having established
these key elements of the narrative
with reporters from Nai Duniya and
Dainik Bhaskar (the two major Hindi
newspapers), these elements were
then formalised in a press release
which found its way into stories used by
numerous other local Hindi publications
with much smaller circulations. We also
did numerous video interviews for local
cable networks in which I stressed,
with Suresh’s encouragement , the
aesthetic power of his images since he
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
9
SPECIAL FEATURE
had started to understand that it wasn’t Suresh and his family were finally faced
only “foreigners” who would find them with the translation of his studio work
striking and interesting. Suresh also from several decades ago into the white
decided that he would send one of his cube of Art Heritage in the Kala Triveni
videographers, Ankit, to record the Sangam arts complex. Now Delhi was
whole event since he wanted the pura not far (Ab Dilli Dur Nahin was the title of
clip (“whole clip”) of the event.
a famous 1950s Raj Kapoor movie about
migration to the city). My anxieties
I had a midnight train to Delhi and an about the collision of two very different
astonishing late monsoon storm raged worlds faded as Suresh talked amiably
all day. Torrential, lashing rain was with the celebrated performance artist
accompanied by terrifying thunder. Pushpamala N, the World Press Photo
My train, which had departed twelve award winner Pablo Bartholomew,
hours earlier from Mumbai was three and the renowned photographer Ram
minutes late. The day of the opening Rahman who “released” the book
arrived and the show looked great: which accompanied the exhibition
10
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
SPECIAL FEATURE
(Artisan Camera: Studio Photography from were saved from the deluge.
Pratik). A new circuit of representation
Central India). We were also graced by
and visibility has been created in part
the presence of Ebrahim Alkazi who has Suresh is no longer simply a small-town through anthropological participant
probably had more impact on visual arts photographer but has gained a foothold transformation. The show will go to
and drama in India in the last fifty years in the Indian Artworld and been written Chennai in a few months and then,
than anyone else. After the opening I about in many of the national daily funds permitting, I’ll hire a shop front in
gave a lecture in the adjacent open-air newspapers. Google “Studio Suhag” that town in Madhya Pradesh where we
auditorium. It was raining heavily in to see his responses on Facebook will create its first pop-up art gallery.
most parts of Delhi but somehow we (mediated by his English-speaking son
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
11
CURRENT STUDENTS
Stigmatising HIV/
AIDS in Malawi
Hannah Luck
MSc Medical AnthropologySc
In 2010, after my first year of studying married to a woman as disobedient as
Social Anthropology at the University me (a sentiment I can’t disagree with).
of Manchester, I travelled to Malawi to
work with a community development After returning from Malawi, I became
charity in feeding centres for HIV increasingly interested in the role
orphans in the Southern region. During Pentecostal churches play in the HIV
my time in Malawi, I was able to form epidemic across Southern Africa with
close friendships with a group of 18-20 specific focus on how religious teachings
year old men involved in the local on sexual purity and divine retribution the spread of HIV whilst looking at the
Scout group. I was able to talk frankly have contributed to the stigmatisation efforts of Assembly of God churches in
with them about issues such as their of people living with HIV/AIDS. I Zambia to create a ‘biblical masculinity’
expectations of girlfriends and wives, looked at how the stigmatisation of in response to the epidemic. My time in
church and their religious beliefs. Our seropositive people has directly affected Malawi was the inspiration behind my
conversations were mainly centred on how likely people are to get tested for work throughout my undergraduate
the Malawian men mocking me and HIV. Additionally, I wanted to look into studies and continues to be a source of
proclaiming how awful it would be to be the role of masculinity constructions in interest for me today.
12
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
FROM OUR ALUMNI
God Bless the Tools
Aarthi Ajit
MA Material and Visual Culture (2012)
Surely everyone has a favourite festival version of Ayudha puja around noon. What is interesting is that the cook’s
or holiday. There are so many locally Would we like to see it?
family are Christian, not Hindu, but have
and internationally, it’s near impossible
been celebrating Ayudha puja as a part
not to have at least one. One of my The ritual begins with us removing our of their annual festival repertoire, just
favourite festivals is known as Ayudha shoes and approaching an arrangement as their ancestors (prior to conversion
puja, part of the nine to ten-day series of polished knives, several agricultural to Christianity) would have done. This
of festivals across India generally implements, power tools and a ladder, would explain why there were no
acknowledged as Dasara. I remember which have been decorated with jasmine pictures of Hindu goddesses on the dais,
Ayudha puja also as Saraswati puja flowers and chrysanthemums, mostly a common occurrence elsewhere. I like
from my childhood, where we would yellow in colour, as well as fruits and this festival because it seems to allow
happily give up our schoolbooks for a halved coconut. A suitably decorated for a veneration of gods and objects in a
one entire day, in order to make a bicycle rests to the side. The puja is religious and/or ritualistic way – a more
worthy assemblage of objects for the conducted by the cook’s adult son, inclusive approach for Indians of diverse
puja or ritual, and subsequent blessing first by smearing each of the objects religions to say “thanks for the tools”.
by Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of individually with turmeric, vermillion
wisdom, learning and the arts. We were and sandalwood paste, and then by Aarthi Ajit has a MA in Material and Visual
allowed to bunk off school as well – lighting a piece of camphor, which in Culture (2012), from the Department of
which is why school-going children are turn is used to light a few incense sticks. Anthropology, UCL. She is pursuing a PhD
particularly fond of this festival. Simply The incense envelops the objects; no in Ethnology at Université Paris Ouest
put, Ayudha puja is held to give thanks words are uttered. A chicken is silently Nanterre La Défense and can be reached
for the divine force that keeps safe and sacrificed at the very end of the ritual. at: a.ajit.11@alumni.ucl.ac.uk.
functional the tools and implements In less than ten minutes it is over, and
that enable our professional lives to the objects are left in peace for the rest
run smoothly. Traditionally, the items of the day.
put up for blessing are books, tools,
Below: Household tools being blessed on the
occasion of Ayudha Puja
machines, weapons, motorised vehicles,
even musical instruments. But it’s not
surprising to hear of laptops, juice
blenders and other more contemporary
tools being included in the puja.
This year Ayudha puja was held on
October the 13th. A text message I
received early morning read: “Happy
Ayudha Puja – to all material things!” I
happened to be vacationing with friends
on the banks of the Krishna Raja Sagara
dam/lake, near Mysore, India, and the
guesthouse owner mentioned that
his cook’s family would be doing their
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
13
STAFF PROFILE
An Interview with
Joe Calabrese
Lecturer in Medical Anthropology, His research
focuses on the study of culture and mental health,
ritual healing, traditional medicines, therapeutic
narratives, postcolonial revitalization movements,
and comparative human development.
Joe (right) and Chief Psychiatrist of Bhutan
Chencho Dorji in Traditional Men’s Dress
W h a t a r e y o u c u r r e n t l y d o i n g alternative semiotic/reflexive paradigm at UCL , both anthropologists and
research-wise?
of psychopharmacology. I also recently clinicians. Their projects encompass
co-edited a book called Understanding studies of embodiment, traditional
At this point, I am pondering my dual and Using Experiences of Health and m e d ic i n e , p s yc h o t h e r a py, r ac i a l
identity as an anthropologist and Illness, with colleagues from Oxford, categories as they impact clinical trials,
practitioner psychologist, exploring which reviews various methods used to gender roles as they impact HIV testing,
various concepts and approaches at study health experiences.
medicalization of childbirth, trauma
the interface between anthropology
and social reintegration of African child
and clinical disciplines.
This dual I am interested in clarifying the best soldiers, traditional hospitality and
identity leads me to practice a different uses of modern medical/psychiatric hosting practices in Bhutan, and many
mode of ethnography and a different approaches and the best uses of other fascinating topics.
mode of clinical practice.
In my traditional ritual-based approaches. In
current fieldwork in the Kingdom of A Different Medicine, I argue that ritual What is next?
Bhutan, I am again employing a clinical interventions are the most appropriate
ethnography approach, embedding and clinically useful approaches to Bhutan is my main field site going
myself as a member of the clinical team alcoholism and many other behavioural forward. I am studying the lives of
at the country’s main referral hospital disorders among the Navajos. For many Bhutanese people with mental illness,
during the last three summers. This has problems, modern medical approaches the effectiveness of modern psychiatric
stimulated reflection on the best uses of remain the most useful approaches. treatments in this context, and the role
clinical ethnography, both for improving However, we need to “decolonize” of ritual healing, traditional medicine,
healthcare and for the development of clinical knowledge, becoming aware and Buddhism. I am also trying to
anthropological understanding.
of the European and Euro-American support the medical system in Bhutan
cultural values embedded in it like through training and research that
I’ve just published a monograph on individualism, materialist focus on informs policy and practice. They
my earlier work with the Navajos, biological reductionism, capitalist focus are trying to establish a University of
called A Different Medicine: Postcolonial on healthcare as a commodity rather Medical Sciences and I have been invited
Healing in the Native American Church, than a basic human right.
to become a Visiting Lecturer (during
and I continue to explore concepts
my breaks from UCL). I plan to develop
developed in that work, including What current projects are your students curricula in Medical Anthropology and
cultur ally embedded ther apeutic involved in at the moment?
mental health.
emplotment, clinical paradigm clash,
the dynamics of postcolonial healing, I really enjoy working with students and How did you become an anthropologist?
the multiplicity of the normal, and an have had so many wonderful students Tell us a bit about your career so far?
14
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
STAFF PROFILE
It has been a long and twisty path. the University of Illinois and entered a Byron and Mary-Jo Good and Arthur
During my undergraduate education, doctoral programme at the University Kleinman. There I collaborated on
which was in a School of Music, I became of Chicago. Chicago is known for its an ethnographic study of the Harvard
interested in ethnomusicology. I had interdisciplinary committees and I teaching hospitals that was published
connections to the Haitian community entered the Committee on Human in the book Shattering Cultures. After
in Chicago, where I grew up, and spent Development, which allowed me to a time as the first Cannon Fellow in
a summer in Haiti, living with a Haitian be trained in both anthropology and Patient Experiences and Health Policy
family and attending Vodou ceremonies clinical psychology. My supervisor at Green Templeton College, Oxford,
each weekend (I had been impressed was Ray Fogelson, who was a student which resulted in some publications on
by recordings of the polyrhythmic of Hallowell and Wallace and an health experiences in the UK, I settled
drumming of these rituals). This first ethnographer of the Cherokee. One into my current position at UCL.
experience of fieldwork changed me in of the co-founders of the Committee
many ways. For one thing, I observed on Human Development was Carl Are you only an anthropologist?
incredible poverty, which stimulated an Rogers, so my clinical training was
interest in postcolonial populations and very humanistic with a strong dose That’s a bit complicated. I see myself
inequality. In addition, I had been raised of cultur al psycholog y (though I primarily as an anthropologist ... and
in a Catholic family and the prevailing also took medical courses such as I see this not as a profession but as a
image of Vodou in Catholicism, and in n e u r o p s y c h o p h a r m a c o l o g y a n d basic orientation to life. I am also a
American society generally, was that it development al biopsycholog y).
I practicing clinician and I feel that this
was evil Devil worship. But I found the completed two years of fieldwork on clinical involvement makes me a better
people at Vodou temples to be normal the NAC. In my Navajo fieldwork, I anthropologist. It’s like one side of
people going about the religion in which combined anthropological immersion my brain is an anthropologist and the
they were raised, which, of course, was in Navajo communities with a year- other half is a clinician. I continually
very different from the religion in which long clinical placement at a Navajo subject the anthropological half to
I was raised. I was welcomed and fed treatment program that incorporated clinical critiques and the clinician
(those “evil” Vodou sacrifices end up as traditional healing rituals into the half to anthropological critiques. So
a tasty chicken and rice dish). The men treatment process in response to the hopefully no idea goes unchallenged.
shared their rum with me and the old local demand for culturally appropriate My basic philosophy is dialectical, so
women tried their best to teach me the healthcare.
I tend to believe that truth is a more
complicated Vodou dances (at which I
encompassing perspective getting
utterly failed). I became fascinated by After Chicago, I went on to complete beyond the initial dichotomy. And I am
the non-pathological spirit possessions my training in Clinical Psychology with still a musician, currently obsessed with
I obser ved, which drew me into a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard the 24 string baroque lute (though I play
psychological anthropology and away Medical School, during which I treated primarily for therapeutic purposes).
from ethnomusicology. I also became adult psychiatric patient s at the
sick in Haiti and was cured by a horrible Cambridge Hospital. I focused on mind/
tasting leaf tea, which drew me into the body approaches, including hypnosis,
study of traditional medicines.
biofeedback, and mindfulness, though
Below: A Vodou Ceremony in Haiti 1989
I had super vision
Soon after this, I became aware of a from psychodynamic
Native American postcolonial healing a n d
cognitive
tradition that was under attack in orientations as well.
a Supreme Court case: the Native I then completed
American Church (NAC). Members t h e
Medical
of this tradition use the psychoactive A n t h r o p o l o g y
peyote cactus as a sacred medicine. Research Fellowship
As I got into fieldwork on the NAC, I a t
Harvard,
completed an MA in Anthropology at w o r k i n g
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
with
15
RESEARCH
Hunter-Gatherer Resilience Project
Hunting and gathering have been the hunter-gatherers live in some of the The project is a 5 -year research
major occupations of humans since world’s most important biodiversity programme funded by the Leverhulme
homo sapiens emerged (20 0,0 0 0 hotspots this project will explore the Trust, led by Dr Andrea Migliano in
years ago). Although it has been the relationships between these key areas collaboration with Dr Jerome Lewis,
longest and most diverse bio-cultural of diversity for humanity’s general Prof. Ruth Mace (UCL, Anthropology)
adaptation in humanity’s existence, resilience in a period of rapid natural, a n d P ro f . M a r k T h o m a s ( U C L ,
we know very little about the ways in social and technological change.
Depar tment of Genetics, Ecolog y
which hunter-gatherers have adapted
and Evolution). We are a team of 20
to pressures and maintained their The Resilience Project studies hunter- researchers, including postdoctoral
resilience. While the number of hunter- gatherers in Congo (Mbendjele), re se a rc h e r s a n d P h D s t u d e n t s ,
gatherers that have disappeared is Malaysia (Batek), Thailand (Maniq) and interested in understanding the current
unknown, the consequences of their the Philippines (Agta), using behavioural pressures and points of resilience of
extinction are evident in humanity’s ecology, life history theory, theories of these populations, and the important
current low genetic diversity, and in the cooperation, cultural transmission and adaptations for hunter-gatherers’
uneven distribution of languages, where genetics to explore how variation in survival.
95% of the world’s languages are spoken life history traits, kin selection, mating
by only 6% of the world’s population. systems, and cooperative behaviour
Diminishing genetic and linguistic differentially contribute to hunterdiversity is matched by diminishing gatherer resilience in the past and
biodiversit y. Since the remaining present .
16
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
RESEARCH
Mapping Hunter-Gatherers
Human cultural diversity is concentrated in the remaining areas of global
biodiversity. The Hunter-Gatherer World Map seeks to catalogue this
remarkable overlap.
Substantial progress has been achieved in hunter-gatherer
and biodiversity research over the past century. However,
our understanding of the global variability, resilience and
dynamic connections between hunter-gatherer societies
and their environment remains fragmented. The goal of our
project is to address this gap through spatial and temporal
analyses of hunter-gatherer cultures across the world.
The Hunter-Gatherer World Map Project (HG.map) consists
of an international team of scholars with expertise in
anthropology, ethnography, geography, physical and social
modelling and environmental analysis. Together, we aim
to catalogue hunter-gatherer distribution and status
across the globe, and understand their present and future
environmental context. We employ a suite of methods
(including anthropological studies, geospatial analyses
and distribution modelling) to understand the factors
that impact the long-term survival of hunter-gatherer
societies. The ultimate question is not only why areas of
high biodiversity also tend to be culturally diverse, but also
how these areas of high biological diversity, which are of
great importance to hunter-gatherers, can be maintained.
Our project will:
- Generate a global map of the locations of hunter-gatherer
societies.
- Better understand the environmental, political and social
factors that correlate with current favourable areas for
hunter-gatherer societies.
- Assess future trajectories and potential pressures on the
cultural, biological, and ecological settings that huntergatherer societies may face (including climate change).
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
17
RESEARCH
Research Topics
Food sharing and cooperation
are at the centre of hunter-gatherers’
lifestyle. No other apes share food or
cooperate to the extent that humans
do. A complex network of sharing and
cooperation exist within camps and
between camps in different huntergatherer groups, regulated by social
rules, friendship ties, food taboos,
kinship and supernatural believes.
Sharing is a crucial adaptation and one
that is believed to be central for the
evolution of mankind.
Rituals, Music
and oral
traditions are at the centre of huntergatherers’ cultural resilience. Great
similarities in vocal polyphonic singing
styles among African Pygmies and
similar taboos around reproduction
and food suggest ancient relationships
between these cultural traits. Our
project is studying the importance of
these traditions for the cultural and
biological resilience of different huntergatherer groups.
Genetics is used to investigate
hunter-gatherer demographic history,
key phenotypic traits and adaptation
history. We are investigating changes
in hunter-gatherer population size
through time (before/after the spread of
agriculture started); levels of admixture
with neighbouring populations ; and
population-specific genetic adaptations,
such as adaptations associated with
diet, climate, and pathogens.
18
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
RESEARCH
Field Work
The Agta
of the Northern Luzon, Philippines,
live as mobile or semi mobile hunter-gatherers in
the mountain and coast of Northern Sierra Madre,
Isabela. Like many Hunter-gatherers in the Philippines,
deforestation associated with the expansion of
Agriculture and growing Philippine population has had a
significant impact on the distribution and demography of
the Agta population. Currently there are between 1,500
and 2,000 Agta living in this area of Northern Sierra
Madre, where they continue to live in small semi-mobile
groups, depending on forest hunting and gathering as
well as marine resources for their subsistence.
The Agta speak Austronesian languages that are thought
to have been acquired after contact with agriculturalists
over the last few thousand years, and they are related
to other hunter-gatherers in the Philippines such as the
Aeta and the Batak. In spite of the language shift, many
of the Agta groups display remarkable resilience in their
way of life; while others are slowly shifting towards
more integrated markets.
The Mbendjele or BaYaka live in the western
Congo basin, in the northernmost regions of the Republic
of Congo. Some fifteen to twenty thousand Mbendjele
are estimated to live as hunter-gatherers in the rainforest
bordering Cameroon and the Central African Republic. Like
other Pygmy groups of central Africa, they have long-term
relations with sedentary farming communities, and speak a
Bantu language.
Also in common with other Pygmies, they have sophisticated
traditions of choral music, myth and ritual, and a deep
knowledge of the forest and its inhabitants. Although
increasingly under pressure from logging and conservation
interests to abandon their hunting and gathering lifestyle,
they maintain great pride in their way of life.
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
19
RESEARCH
Students Perspectives: Africa
Bala bala bala / Konga konga konga universe. A universe which,
/ Eliki konga!… So sing the kids, along with the joyful forest
clapping their hands joyfully and inviting people and beautiful animals,
us to join them. Every day kids are has hundreds of stingless
around us, dancing, shouting, climbing bees that land on your head
trees and making toy dolls, mimicking and lick your sweat during
hunters and forest spirits. At nights, the day; and angry storms
women sit on the plain ground screaming that make you stay awake all
the songs their ancestors have been night worrying which of the
singing for thousands of years. They are trees above your head will
calling for the forest spirits. Soon the fall first. As the pile of my
infected flies. This is a parallel universe
spirits come: the men covered in forest dirty clothes gets bigger, I wonder what that I am in – a universe which is full of
leaves, dancing in trance. I look at the time of day will be the best to go to tough beauties.
Deniz Salali
sky; the stars blink at me, I’m in another the river for washing while avoiding the
It is difficult to encapsulate possess - they are magnificent singers
all the laughs, bonding and and clappers, making music completely
difficulties we experienced different to anything you’ve heard; and
over our 10 weeks in the they climb trees 40m high to collect
rainforest.
honey.
The best part of fieldwork One of the hardest things about forest
is the children: Before life is not having the food you want -arriving there is always after a few days I was already fantasizing
When we arrived in Longa, the first
apprehension about how about Domino’s pizza. But I quickly
Mbendjele camp we visited, the children you will be received, but the children became accustomed to bathing in the
ran after our truck to greet us. Seeing are just as excited to see, play with and lake, pissing in the forest, and sleeping
hunter-gatherer camps and people learn about you, as you are with them in a tent . It’s definitely the most
right in front of me, rather than on a – they are what I miss the most. The memorable thing I’ve done.
documentary, was definitely one of the other highlights were getting to see
most exhilarating moments of my life.
20
the unimaginable talents these people Nik Chaudhary
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
RESEARCH
Students Perspectives: Asia
however, cultures that have not had the direct experience
of literacy training are more likely to see music, language,
gesture, and dance as part of the same process of message
communication. Music - or rather the process of ‘musicking’
- can potentially tell us as much about the beliefs of such a
community as language.
As the Batek hunt and gather for their subsistence, an
intimate knowledge of and relationship to the forest is
essential to their survival. Deep care for the forest means
that the destruction of rainforests, for them, is equivalent
Batek: As an indigenous hunter-gatherer society in an to the destruction of the world. The Batek are therefore
increasingly urban world, the Batek’s way of life is currently convinced of the urgent need to inform the world of the
under threat from government pressure, deforestation, and dangers of losing the forests, not only for them, but for all of
tourism. I hope that through appreciation of their musical us. They communicate their stories of warning through surat
practices, more can be understood about what is at the root – oral letters passed down through generations. In looking
of their resilience in the face of these threats. Many cultures at the ways the Batek ‘music’, and how they communicate
differentiate music and language as separate methods of more broadly, I hope to gain an understanding of these surat,
communication, usually prioritising language as the most and thus how the destruction of the forest is affecting their
effective and direct means of communication. Often, world. Alice Rudge
Agta: As many people learned in the aftermath of typhoon
Haiyan, the Philippines, an archipelago of some 7,000 islands,
has thousands of small and isolated communities, accessible
only by boat or light aircraft. Communities in north-eastern
Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines and home to the
urban sprawl of Manila, are, however, isolated not by ocean
but by the Sierra Madre mountain range, which runs down
the eastern spine of the island and cuts down steeply to the
Pacific. This region is inaccessible by road and isolated to
such an extent that its inhabitants refer to the rest of the
islan d as the ‘mainland’.
finally met a group of Agta women and children, and suddenly
the reality hit us that these were not some mystical, strange
As well as a modest population of farmers, the region is individuals but a groups of mothers, fathers, brothers and
home to the Agta, one of the few remaining populations sisters trying to get along in their environment and ecology.
of ‘indigenous’ Filipinos who still have a largely hunter- Even so, fieldwork remained exciting and challenging (if a bit
gatherer economy. For us, three PhD students who had hot and sweaty at times). We are looking forward to going
never conducted anthropological fieldwork before, the boat back next year and learning more about the Agta’s unique
journey to Palanan was very exciting. We were desperate to adaptations to life.
see Agta camped along the beach as we went past, individuals
we had come so far to see. When we landed in Palanan we
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
Abigail Page, Daniel Smith & Mark Dyble
21
RESEARCH
Sniffing
out a
mate
Dr Nienke Alberts
What makes people fall in love? A good or complementary, MHCs gives their T h e f i r s t -ye a r s t u d e n t s o n t h e
sense of humour? Similar interests? offspring immunity to a wider range of ‘ I n t r o d u c t i o n t o M e t h o d s a n d
A physical attraction? When people diseases, and therefore those offspring Techniques in Biological Anthropology’
say that ‘there just was a chemistry are at an advantage. Women are able set out to test if both men and women
between us’ they may actually be on to to make very fine-grained choices as it use their noses to find a mate. To this
something. According to evolutionary has been shown that they are able to end, each student wore a plain white
anthropologists, smell may be an
T-shirt for three nights in a row, and
important factor in human mate choice,
brought the T-shirts to class in a sealed
which helps to increase individuals’
reproductive success. Experiments
have shown that women are more
attracted to the smell of men that differ
in a set of genes that are important for
the immune system, also known as
the major histocompatibility complex
“According to evolutionary
anthropologists, smell may
be an important factor in
human mate choice, which
helps to increase individuals’ reproductive success.”
plastic bag. Students then sniffed and
ranked each T-shir t according to
the pleasantness of its smell. These
data were then analysed using Social
Network Analysis. Two networks
were created, a ‘like’ network, and
a ‘dislike’ net work , in which the
(or MHC). The MHC helps the body
relationships between individuals were
to decide if an antigen it encounters
given by how they rated each other’s
belongs to the body, or is an invader. The discriminate between the smells of men smell. Within these networks, the
combination of two peoples’ different, that just differ in a few genes.
22
percentage of reciprocal relationships
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
RESEARCH
where calculated, in other words,
reciprocity. Firstly, it may be that the
per fumes, eating, or smoking
the proportion of total relationships
contraceptive pill influenced some of
whilst wearing the T-shirts for the
in which both individuals liked (or
the results, as previous studies have
experiment , would eliminate this
disliked) each other’s smell. If smell is an
shown that the hormones in the pill
possible interference of other smells.
important part of human mate choice,
can interfere with the preference for
By collecting additional information
we would expect a high proportion
odours in both males and females.
on the use of the contraceptive pill,
of relationships to be reciprocal, as
Secondly, it may be that smells other
we would further be able to control
people with complementary MHCs
than body odour were used in ranking
for hormonal interference in odour
should rate each other’s odours highly.
the T-shir t s. Some T-shir t s had
preferences. Together, this would give
remnants of perfume or body wash on
a more robust test of whether humans
them, which made them very popular.
follow their noses to find their perfect
Other T-shirts had last nights curry all
partner.
These were however, not the results
we found . In t he like net work ,
only 11-14% of relationships were
reciprocal, and this was 8-13% in the
dislike network. There were several
explanations for this low proportion of
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
down the front of it. And that never
helps with finding a mate.
A stricter protocol on not wearing
23
EVENTS
A beginning for
LabUK
Carol Balthazar
PhD in Social and Cutural Anthropology
LabUK is a research platform created the discussions allowed the comparison
by the UCL Anthropology Department between ethnographies of the UK
to bring awareness to the strong body but also encouraged the theoretical
of anthropological research produced proble m at iz at ion of n at ion al or
among those of us who are researching geographical boundaries in the discipline as the medical system and law.
topics in the UK. At the beginning of of Anthropology. In this sense, the
the 2013/14 Academic year, LabUK workshop was a good opportunity All the workshop information, papers
officially started its activities with a for the discussion of categories such and recorded presentations will soon
one-day workshop.
as “home” and “other” and other be available on the platform website.
potentially problematic traditional The intention is that all members of
At the workshop, Masters students, anthropological dualities such as “us- the department have access to this
PhD’s and lecturers had the opportunity other”, “western-non western”. Are content and may profit and contribute
to present their work and explore we always some kind of “other”, even in to the platform. Future events will help
potential synergies. The eleven pre- our own country? Is the ethnographer’s to shape the platform’s ambition; and
circulated papers were presented in task, to reinforce the existence of UCL members are encouraged to join
four different sessions: “Otherness otherness or is it the exact opposite, the group, suggest activities and help to
to continually strive to become “one define what is the LabUK.
of them”? Can per formance and
play generate relevant tools for the For more information, please see the
understanding of contemporary social platform website http://www.ucl.ac.uk/
relations? And, what might be the labuk or contact LabUK coordinator
contribution of ethnography of Britain Joanna Cook.
– and other traditionally ‘less-noble’
ethnographic research objectives – to
an Anthropology that
within Britain”, “Play, Otherness and seeks alternatives for the
Anthropology”, “LabUK, Why?” and future? Those were some
“Ethnography of Britain and Applied of the questions raised
Anthropology”. They included talks and discussed during the
on hospices and Facebook; UK gold- event. Inevitably the day
workers trade, climbing walls, climate finished with thoughts on
change activist camps, fieldwork in the potential of applied
places for which there are no maps A n t h r o p o l o g y, a n d
(sic!) and several other subjects.
how anthropology may
contribute to mediation
As the name of the platform suggests, in different grounds such
24
“Cheering for Britain”, 2012
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
EVENTS
Piece of Mind: A Debate
on the Path to Happiness
Jo Cook and Lucio Vinicius met for the
first time at Anthro Soc’s first event of the
year
On Wednesday 23rd October, Anthro counterproductive as your brain starts
Soc held their first event of the year, a to function as if it were the first time you
debate on brain, mind, and meditative have ever made that movement, so your
therapies. Jo and Lucio both work on ‘auto-pilot’ function is momentarily
the mind, but approach it from very lost. The intersections of Jo and Lucio’s
different perspectives. Lucio is an viewpoints were interesting because
evolutionary anthropologist, whose although they are part of traditionally
research interest lies in discovering contrasting disciplines, they had similar
what makes the human mind and brain ideas about the interrelatedness of
distinct from the brains and minds of the mind and the body. Cartesian
other animals. Jo Cook is a medical Dualism, the idea that the mind is the
anthropologist and has done fieldwork active subject presiding over the passive
in Thailand in Buddhist monasteries, object of the body, has been pervasive
and now works on the implementation throughout the history of medicine,
of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy but both our speakers want to move
(MBCT) as a treatment of depression past that and explore the complexity
in Exeter.
of the mind-body system. The results
of our poll were that the audience
Asking the questions were Henry mostly thought that mental and physical
and Ali, members of Anthro Soc. The illnesses should be treated differently debate opened with a set of quick-fire but is this reflective of a subscription to
questions, where we learnt that if Lucio Cartesian Dualism? This led to issues
were to be born again, he would like of treatment of depression – how can
to be Aristotle, and that surprisingly, meditative and chemical treatments be
both our speakers knew to the day how compared? Prescription medication can
long they have been in working in the be used during depressive episodes,
department.
but can be very addictive, and cannot
guarantee the prevention of recurrence
Then we got on to the serious matter of depressive episodes, whereas MBCT
of the debate. First up for discussion is very effective at preventing relapse,
were the benefits and drawbacks of has no side effects but on the downside
awareness of routine actions. Whilst it cannot be used as a treatment during
awareness of one’s own body and it’s depressive episodes, and currently the
audience members to make a mark on
an image of the human body indicating
what they believed to be the location
of the human mind. The majority
of people circled the human brain.
Others, who seemed to be students
of Lucio’s ‘Human Brain, Cognition and
Language’ course, circled specifically
the prefrontal cortex – an area at the
anterior of the brain associated with
high level cognition. Other suggestions
were the whole body, the groin area, the
radical ‘it doesn’t exist’, and in language
– a suggestion by a PhD student and
seconded by a visiting speech sciences
student.
It was a thought-provoking debate,
which led to the inevitable conclusion
that nobody can say where the mind is,
as there will always be multiple answers
that are equally legitimate. Jo and Lucio
will have to keep asking themselves, and
each other: Where is my mind?
Poppy Walter
3rd Year BSc Anthropology
movements is vital for Mindfulness treatment has limited availability in the
training, in high pressure situations, UK.
such as a crucial tennis serve for
match point, a heightened awareness Complementing t he poll w as an
of your well practiced serve is actually inter ac tive poster which invited
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
25
DEPARTMENT NEWS
New
Appointments
Recently
Awarded PhDs
Dr Nienke Alberts - Teaching Fellow
in Biological Anthropology
Ellie Reynolds – Substance, embodiment and
Nienke Alberts’ main interest is the dynamics
Razvan Nicolescu – Boredom and social
of groups in human and non-human primates.
alignment in rural Romania
domination in an orgasmic community
She uses modelling techniques, such as social
network analysis and agent-based modelling, to
Shu-Li Wang – The politics of China’s cultural
answer questions about the factors that influence
heritage on display - Yinxu Archaeological Park in
social behaviours, social relationships, and the
the making
structure of social groups. She researched the
grouping patterns of olive baboons in Nigeria for
Peter Oakley – The creation and destruction of
her PhD, and more recently has investigated the
gold jewellery
group structure of Cape Mountain Zebra in South
Africa. She has also worked with free-ranging
Matan Shapiro – Invisibility as ethics: affect,
chimpanzees, and has done research on the
play and intimicy in Maranhão, Northeast Brazil
spacing of Hanuman langur reproductive cycles.
Before joining UCL, Nienke held posts at the
University of Roehampton, and Manchester
University, and was nominated as a council
member of the Primate Society of Great Britain.
In the field with Fadi, Kaiye, Ann & new infant
26
ANTHROPOLITAN WINTER 2013/2014
New Books by Staff
/UCLAnthropology
Cover Photo Courtesy of Christopher Pinney
www..ucl.ac.uk/anthropology