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Recent scholarship has emphasized professionalization within anthropology specific to forensic anthropology. In these debates, issues of certification, expertise, training, compensation, and job placement have been underscored. As research expands in biological, archaeological, and cultural issues pertinent to forensic anthropological work, the abilities and potential areas of specialization continue to rapidly expand. Yet, in the United States, many medical examiner's offices contract forensic anthropologists or individuals trained in a related field on a part-time basis. Here, this paper draws on existing literature and professional experience to put forth an alternative area of employment specifically for anthropologists - the law enforcement anthropologist. This paper argues for the use of full-time, civilian forensic anthropologists in law enforcement agencies that can collaborate with anthropologists associated with the medical examiner's office. It can be seen that law enforcement agency anthropologist can use anthropological training to increase success in search and recovery operations, securing fragile crime scenes (e.g., fatal fires), processing remains, consider biocultural issues, and assist in the identification process. Having an anthropologist situated within law enforcement not only provides another avenue of professional employment, but streamlines communication between law enforcement and the medical examiner's office, sensitizes law enforcement to the vital contributions of forensic anthropologists, and enhances the identification process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropologists working with marginalised populations in need of legal representation have faced challenges spanning epistemological, methodological and ethical questions. In the provision of evidence to legal-administrative processes, how do we overcome some of the obstacles in solving these problems? In this paper, we discuss our experience working through the case of a transgender asylum seeker from Mexico in the United States and the case of socio-cultural and legal concerns of a transgender youth in Los Angeles. The three partners in this paper are a socio-cultural anthropologist (Ngin), an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles (Yeh) and a community professional who works extensively with undocumented college students (Borjon). In Ngin's preparation of the cultural argument for the asylum case of the transgender person, it was Borjon's network of community contacts that provided the additional evidence for the case. As the case was delayed in the legal process, Attorney Yeh's legal insight explains the best course of action for the petitioner. In the second case of the young transgender youth, we discussed the precarity of the youth's situation and the possibility of socio-legal protection. In our analysis of these two cases, we discussed how we arrived at legally sound concepts with evidence supported by anthropological analytical methods while ensuring transparency of the provenance of evidence to meet ethical principles. Through these consultations in the construction of anthropological expertise, we also hope to decolonise expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on multisited ethnographic case studies, this paper seeks to contrastively compare the demonstration and articulation formats of two social science expert cultures-- economics and anthropology--enrolled 'in the wild' of transnational environmental politics. How, the paper asks, do different social sciences come to be configured within, and do performative work upon, heterogeneous assemblages of global natures? In the first case US economists translate carbon markets into a world of Indian ecoprofessionals, across serious North-South conflicts in climate politics. In the second case a group of anthropologists, mobilized by Japanese bureaucratic elites, deploy their methods to assemble whaling cultures, as part of global biodiversity conflicts. Whereas the first case builds on existing arguments on the 'performativity of economics' (Callón), the second case expands this agenda, noting how the noneconomic social sciences (eg, anthropology) may also be consequential in enacting particular nature-cultures. Theoretically, the paper situates these inquiries at the intersection of science and technology studies (STS) and political anthropology, in addressing the question--important to environmental expertise and politics--of how 'local' (particular) and 'global' (universal) claims are linked in efficacious ways in 'other-than-Western' contexts? Here, the argument will be that, despite their differences, economic and anthropological performances of global natures share certain formal (aesthetic) similarities, related to credible expert demonstrations in transnational environmental contexts. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of this claim for STS self-reflection on its politics of methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this final contribution in the edited volume on anthropologists working in the Veterans Health Administration within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the authors reflect on how developments in recent years have brought us to this moment in time from the 'insider' perspective of VA anthropologists. These collected papers provide ethnographic evidence for the innovative ways in which anthropologists employed in the public sector constitute a public anthropology that is theoretically informed, actionable, and cognizant of its role in the production of authoritative knowledge. The 'afterword' makes connections between the chapters, with their varied topics, and addresses how this volume points to new destinations for engaged and ethical research in the growing field of public sector anthropology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BSTRACT 'Researcher identity' affects global health research in profound and complex ways. Anthropologists in particular have led the way in portraying the multiple, and sometimes tension-generating, identities that researchers ascribe to themselves, or have ascribed to them, in their places of research. However, the central importance of researcher identity in the ethical conduct of global health research has yet to be fully appreciated. The capacity of researchers to respond effectively to the ethical tensions surrounding their identities is hampered by lack of conceptual clarity, as to the nature and scope of the issues involved. This paper strives to provide some clarification of these ethical tensions by considering researcher identity from the perspective of (1) Guillemin and Heggen's (2009) key distinction between procedural ethics and ethics in practice, and (2) our own distinction between perceptions of identity that are either symmetrical or asymmetrical, with the potential to shift research relationships toward greater or lesser ethical harmony. Discussion of these concepts is supported with ethnographic examples from relevant literature and from our own (United States (US) Government-funded) research in South Africa. A preliminary set of recommendations is provided in an effort to equip researchers with a greater sense of organization and control over the ethics of researcher identity. The paper concludes that the complex construction of researcher identity needs to be central among the ethical concerns of global health researchers, and that the conceptual tools discussed in the paper are a useful starting point for better organizing and acting on these ethical concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States (U.S.) population structure is currently in a state of flux with one of the most profound changes being the increasing number of people referred to as Hispanic. In the U.S., much of the identification criteria for a biological profile are based on American Black and White individuals from anatomical collections. Using metric data from the Forensic Anthropology Data Bank (FDB), this paper will attempt to explore several issues that forensic anthropologists face when confronted with Hispanic remains. These will involve estimation of sex, height, and ancestry, the initial components of a biological profile. Discriminant function analyses indicate that American White criteria provide poor estimations of sex when applied to Hispanics and that ancestry estimation of Hispanic crania is difficult. Additionally, a new linear regression equation is presented that estimates stature for Hispanic individuals, although population specific criteria are still needed for Hispanic individuals from diverse geographical origins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that Charles Sanders Peirce contributed significantly to the founding of American sociology, doing so at the level of philosophical presuppositions or meta-sociology. I emphasize two of his ideas. One is semiotics, which is virtually the same as the anthropologists' concept of culture. This latter concept in turn was essential to clarifying the sociologists' idea of the social or society. Peirce also created the modern theory of the dialogical self, which explained the symbolic character of human beings and proved foundational for social psychology. Politically Peirce was a right-wing conservative, but his ideas eventually contributed to the egalitarian views of cultures and sub-cultures. In addition his ideas contributed, by way of unanticipated consequences, to the 20th-century human rights revolutions in the American legal system. Thus he was both a founder of sociology and a founder of American political liberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Forensic anthropology in the United States is a specialization within the overall field of anthropology. Forensic anthropologists are specially educated and trained to search, recover, and examine human remains within a medicolegal context. Over time, forensic anthropology has become increasingly specialized and distinct from other specializations within anthropology. As such, we argue that forensic anthropology should be considered its own discipline, with a unique knowledge base, separate from other similar forms of anthropology, such a bioarchaeology. We argue that forensic anthropologists have unique expertise, making them the only type of anthropologist qualified to perform medicolegal examinations of human remains. Finally, we contend that to perform or represent yourself as a forensic anthropologist without the appropriate expertise is ethical misconduct. The value of this paper is that it explains the importance of expertise and knowledge, and how forensic anthropology has diverged from other specializations of anthropology enough to be considered its own discipline. This paper explores the current state of forensic anthropology in the United States as a distinct discipline. Forensic anthropology has become increasingly specialized and the need for strengthened professionalization is becoming paramount. This includes a need for clearly defined qualifications, training, standards of practice, certification processes, and ethical guidelines. Within this discussion, the concept of expertise is explored in relation to professionalization and practice, as both bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology have different areas of specialist knowledge, and therefore unique expertise. As working outside one's area of expertise is an ethical violation, it is important for professional organizations to outline requisite qualifications, develop standards and best practice guidelines, and enforce robust preventive ethical codes in order to serve both their professional members and relevant stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the author's views on a paper related to the abundant sources of imagery in the archaeological record by Rosemary A. Joyce, an American anthropologist. The author appreciates Joyace's paper saying it shows that an archaeology of symbolism can be illuminating when it stimulates interests in establishing types and defining styles. According to the author, Joyce holds that the object of symbolic archeology is the mutual definition of motifs and conventions.

An obituary for American anthropologist Harold C. Conklin is presented.

Disasters, such as hurricanes, often stimulate moral economic sentiments and behaviors in line with those practiced by artisanal fishers, peasant farmers, and others whom economic anthropologists have been interested in for decades. In some cases, these behaviors are not new following a disaster, but merely more visible, as if they lay dormant between crises. Whether or not such behaviors are sustainable for long periods after disasters or stimulate increased public attention to the uneven and unequal impacts of disasters across different segments of populations, depends on a variety of factors, including predatory capitalist behaviors, state responses, cultural values of affected populations, and, in the case of societies experiencing high levels of migration, the involvement of people of diasporas in the crisis. This paper explores these issues in the context of recovery efforts from Hurricanes Irma and María in Puerto Rico, St. Croix, and St. Thomas. Los desastres, como los huracanes, a menudo estimulan sentimientos y comportamientos económicos morales en línea con los practicados por pescadores artesanales, agricultores campesinos y otras personas en las que los antropólogos económicos se han interesado durante décadas. [End Page 3] En algunos casos, estos comportamientos no son nuevos después de un desastre, sino simplemente más visibles, como si permanecieran inactivos entre crisis. Si tales comportamientos son sostenibles o no durante largos períodos después de los desastres, o si estimulan una mayor atención pública a los impactos desiguales de los desastres en diferentes segmentos de la población, depende de una variedad de factores, incluidos los comportamientos capitalistas depredadores, las respuestas estatales, los valores culturales de las poblaciones afectadas y, en el caso de sociedades que experimentan altos niveles de migración, la participación de las personas de la diáspora en la crisis. Este artículo explora estos temas en el contexto de los esfuerzos de recuperación de los huracanes Irma y María en Puerto Rico, St. Croix y St. Thomas. Les catastrophes, telles que les ouragans, stimulent souvent des sentiments et des comportements économiques moraux conformes à ceux pratiqués par les pêcheurs artisanaux, les agriculteurs et autres personnes auxquelles les anthropologues économiques s'intéressent depuis des décennies. Dans certains cas, ces comportements ne sont pas nouveaux après une catastrophe, mais simplement plus visibles, comme s'ils dormaient entre les crises. Que de tels comportements soient durables ou non pendant de longues périodes après les catastrophes, ou s'ils stimulent une plus grande attention du public aux impacts inégaux des catastrophes sur différents segments de la population, dépend d'une variété de facteurs, y compris les comportements capitalistes prédateurs, les réponses de l'État, les valeurs des populations affectées et, dans le cas de sociétés connaissant des niveaux élevés de migration, la participation des personnes de la diaspora à la crise. Cet article explore ces problèmes dans le contexte des efforts de rétablissement après les ouragans Irma et María à Porto Rico, Sainte-Croix et Saint-Thomas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many physical anthropologists and nearly all of those studying primatology today can trace their academic genealogy to Sherwood Lamed Washburn. His New Physical Anthropology, fully articulated in a 1951 paper, proposed that the study of hominid evolution must link understandings of form, function, and behavior along with the environment in order most accurately to reconstruct the evolution of our ancestors. This shift of concentration from strictly analyzing fossil remains to what Washburn termed adaptive complexes challenged not only Washburn's predecessors, but also led Washburn to critique the very system of academia within which he worked. Collaboration across multiple disciplines, linking the four fields of anthropology in order to understand humans and application of our understandings of human evolution to the betterment of society, are the hallmarks of Washburnian anthropology. In this paper I will explore how Washburn's New Physical Anthropology led him to not only change the research direction in physical anthropology, but also to challenge the academia within which he worked. I will conclude by reflecting on the prospects of continuing to practice Washburnian Anthropology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In September 2000, the self-styled 'anthropological journalist' Patrick Tierney began to make public his work claiming that the Yanomamö people of South America had been actively-indeed brutally-harmed by the sociobiological anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon and the geneticist-physician James Neel. Following a florid summary of Tierney's claims by the anthropologists Terence Turner and Leslie Sponsel, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) saw fit to take Tierney's claims seriously by conducting a major investigation into the matter. This paper focuses on the AAA's problematic actions in this case but also provides previously unpublished information on Tierney's falsehoods. The work presented is based on a year of research by a historian of medicine and science. The author intends the work to function as a cautionary tale to scholarly associations, which have the challenging duty of protecting scholarship and scholars from baseless and sensationalistic charges in the era of the Internet and twenty-four-hour news cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a discipline, anthropology has increased its public visibility in recent years with its growing focus on engagement. Although the call for engagement has elicited responses in all subfields and around the world, this special issue focuses on engaged anthropology and the dilemmas it raises in U.S. cultural and practicing anthropology. Within this field, the authors distinguish a number of forms of engagement: (1) sharing and support, (2) teaching and public education, (3) social critique, (4) collaboration, (5) advocacy, and (6) activism. They show that engagement takes place during field- work; through applied practice; in institutions such as Cultural Survival, the Institute for Community Research, and the Hispanic Health Council; and as individual activists work in the context of war, terrorism, environmental injustice, human rights, and violence. A close examination of the history of engaged anthropology in the United States also reveals an enduring set of dilemmas, many of which persist in contemporary anthropological practice. These dilemmas were raised by the anthropologists who attended the Wenner-Gren workshop titled "The Anthropologist as Social Critic: Working toward a More Engaged Anthropology," January 22-25, 2008. Their papers, many of which are included in this collection, highlight both the expansion and growth of engaged anthropology and the problems its practitioners face. To introduce this collection of articles, we discuss forms of engaged anthropology, its history, and its ongoing dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most projections of climate change and its regional impacts focus on overall changes in the state of the climate system, useful information can also be found in the evolution of the climate system from one state to another. Here the authors introduce one method for identifying regions in which significant and systematic long-term nonlinear evolutions may be present, even given quasi-linear anthropogenic forcing. Using climate change projections taken from simulations of NCAR’s Community Climate System Model, version 3 (CCSM3), the authors then employ the technique to isolate systematic nonlinear behavior of soil moisture variations over the United States. While the projections presented here only represent the results from one model system, it is argued that such nonlinear behavior is an important characteristic of future climate change that should be considered when discussing both short-term and long-term impacts of anthropogenic climate forcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proficiency in vernacular has long been a methodological ethos pervasive among field researchers and—despite new dynamics of fieldwork—still overshadows discussions related to collaboration with translators and interpreters, which are either marginalized or hidden within the category of a 'research assistant'. The purpose of this study is to take a step beyond anecdotal evidence and explore trends in language proficiency and use of translation services among US based field researchers who had conducted international or domestic studies in an area where a language other than English was present. We conducted the largest-to-date survey on the subject and analyzed 913 responses from faculty at sociology and anthropology programs in the United States. We documented their global fieldwork activity and found only limited proficiency in field languages accompanied by a proliferation of reliance on translators and interpreters, not matching any methodological discussion present in the textbooks and other scholarly sources. We indicate disparities in the use of vernacular and translation services in the post-colonial societies and point out related ethical and methodological concerns. Furthermore, we analyze the researchers' decision-making processes and their general perspectives on the importance of vernacular's knowledge and opinions on the admissibility of translators in the fieldwork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on book publishing in the field of Anthropology in the U.S. The publishing of Anthropological books has been affected by the shrinkage of the market and financial shortage. The current situation of the book publishing in Anthropology can be determined by a study commissioned by the Association of American University Presses in 1988. In the U.S., university presses, academically oriented commercial publishing houses and the textbook divisions of commercial publishers publish Anthropology books. Despite the fragmentation of the field and the lack of anthropologists and students, book publishing in anthropology has remained healthy.

An obituary for anthropologist and ethnographer Ernest S. "Tiger" Burch, Jr. is presented.

This paper explores a broad range of ways in which anthropological research was linked to military and intelligence agencies during the Cold War, and it examines evidence and implications of the l976 findings by the US. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (chaired by Senator Frank Church) that during the 1950s and 1960s "massive ". amounts of international research were covertly funded by the CIA. The reasons anthropologists did not more critically consider why or how their work aligned with the interests of the CIA and Pentagon are considered, and the implications of post--World War II disciplinary decisions to ignore political dimensions of research in favor of ethical considerations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identity in American Indian communities has continually been a subject of contentious debate among legal scholars, federal policy-makers, anthropologists, historians, and even within Native American society itself. As American Indians have a unique relationship with the United States, their identity has continually been redefined and reconstructed over the last century and a half. This has placed a substantial burden on definitions for legal purposes and tribal affiliation and on American Indians trying to self-identify within multiple cultural contexts. Is there an appropriate means to recognize and define just who is an American Indian? One approach has been to define identity through the use of blood quantum, a metaphorical construction for tracing individual and group ancestry. This paper will review the utility of blood quantum by examining the cultural, social, biological, and legal implications inherent in using such group membership and, further, how American Indian identity is being affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that anthropologists have long noted that rituals associated with death are central to understanding a culture's worldview, studies of capital punishment have not examined its ritualistic elements. The purpose of this paper is to address this shortcoming by examining news media portrayals of capital cases as emergent ritual dramas of death. We used narrative and content analysis methods to examine 524 newspaper reports of 100 executions that occurred between January 1, 1990 and April 30, 2005. We sought to determine the types of information reported, the structure of the reports, and their functionality in the dramaturgy of executions. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for future research suggested by our analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the historical and political background concerning the work of anthropology and its role toward the study of September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. Peculiarity of life in contemporary geo-politics; Works of anthropologists; Appropriations of emotions in the remaking of public discourses.

A foreword to "Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association" is presented.

Copyright of Central Asian Journal of Art Studies is the property of Central Asian Journal of Art Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article focuses on the life and works of Edward Sapir, linguist and anthropologist in the U.S. Sapir was regarded as one of the greatest linguists and anthropologists of the 20th century, with his seminal contributions. In addition to his scholarly contributions, Sapir was a poet, a pianist and a composer. Also, Sapir was among the founders of the Conference on Jewish Social Studies Inc., which in 1939 launched the publication of Jewish Social Studies.

Examines the interactions between anthropologists and the United States (U.S.) National Security State during the Cold War. Background on the Cold War; Information on the funding fronts of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency; Importance of lessons from the past.

This article contrasts the use of ethnographic research procedures in the study of schools in Great Britain and the U.S. It also reflects on differences between the anthropology and the sociology of education. In the course of this exploration the authors also hope to draw together much of the literature from the respective countries and disciplinary fields. There is an obvious and striking difference between British and U.S. school ethnography. Whereas the U.S. research on schools and classrooms has been conducted primarily by applied anthropologists, that in Great Britain has been done overwhelmingly by researchers who see themselves as sociologists. It is noticeable that several researchers working as sociologists were trained as anthropologists or began work in anthropology departments. Where British research has looked to North America it has been to U.S. sociology in genera--especially symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology. The article also attempts to establish that the Atlantic really does divide school ethnographers into differing traditions. It establishes the truth of the authors' claim that school and classroom ethnography in the U.S. and Canada is predominantly anthropological in orientation, while that in Great Britain is more sociological.

Applied anthropology in the United States emerged as a mixture of New Deal humanitarian liberalism and progressive industrial management ideology and in Britain as a humanitarian advisory function for colonial administration in Africa. In both countries applied practitioners were subjected to considerable ideological criticism during the 1960s and '70s. In the U.S. case, one manifestation of this critical approach was Sol Tax's populist-inspired action anthropology, which renounced the employment of practitioners by government or any large organization in favor of voluntary academic projects engaging in intensive intervention in the problems and needs of local communities. The approach did not prevail, but its ideas continue to stimulate interest. Meanwhile, applied anthropology was undergoing attenuation as cultural anthropology proliferated into ‘institutional anthropologies.’ The significance of these subfields (e.g., educational anthropology) was that they replicated the approach of sociology and economics: social scientific intervention as a normal part of the institutional activities of modem society. The basic problem in fitting anthropology for practical application was the preoccupation of the discipline with tribal (not contemporary urban-industrial) society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conference reviewed in this article: 102nd Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, 19–23 November 2003, Chicago [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades the field of anthropology has been characterized as sharply divided between proscience and antiscience factions. The aim of this study is to empirically evaluate that characterization. We survey anthropologists in graduate programs in the United States regarding their views of science and advocacy, moral and epistemic relativism, and the merits of evolutionary biological explanations. We examine anthropologists' views in concert with their varying appraisals of major controversies in the discipline (Chagnon/Tierney, Mead/Freeman, and Menchú/Stoll). We find that disciplinary specialization and especially gender and political orientation are significant predictors of anthropologists' views. We interpret our findings through the lens of an intuitionist social psychology that helps explain the dynamics of such controversies as well as ongoing ideological divisions in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a commentary on a paper by Paul Kay in a previous issue of The American Sociologist which addressed the growing number of unemployed and underemployed doctor of philosophy degree holders in the U.S. Kay's argument has several parts. The commenter agrees that there is indeed a PhD glut in the U.S. According to him, the evidence is obvious that the number of doctor of philosophy degree holders being produced cannot be absorbed in higher education. However, the absorption rate varies by discipline. Second, Kay suggests that there is a widespread belief among anthropologists that stressing nonacademic employment will help solve the problem. Third, Kay argues that a finite labor force means that any expansion in employment for anthropologists comes out of the opportunity pool for other professionals. Kay confuses finite with fixed, the problem is relative growth rates, not absolute size and, in any event, it is fruitless to argue about a tiny section of the job market in terms of the characteristics of the total market. The commenter puts aside as untested at best Kay's fourth proposition that the rise of the fourth false ideology of nonacademic employment is a by-product of the tenured faculty's desperate attempt to keep graduate students.

This article presents a commentary on a paper by Paul Kay in a previous issue of The American Sociologist which analyzed the growth of a mythical enthusiasm for nonacademic employment in anthropology and other disciplines in the U.S. Kay proposes three tests for labeling this as an ideology, that it is demonstrably false and it serves to maintain the status quo. According to the commenter, he has seen very little evidence that the field of sociology is suffused with a growing enthusiasm about prospects for jobs outside academia. The American Sociological Association's (ASA) Expanding Employment Opportunities Committee's attempts to define the problem and to suggest useful steps to be taken to deal with it have hardly struck fire either at the grays roots or at the ASA Council level. Skepticism has been expressed as to whether the problem of a declining academic job market is not simply temporary, and thus not deserving of curriculum revision, recruiting cutbacks or some other organized response. Kay defends his second point, that the belief is false, mainly by referring to the competitive disadvantage of anthropologists in seeking to supplant others now holding nonacademic jobs or when offering their services at the same time as others displaced by the same market forces.

The article announces that the Wenner-Gren Foundation will start a new biannual series of supplements to publish papers resulting from Wenner-Gren sponsored symposia in the U.S. on October 2010. The Foundation believes that open-access publication in "Current Anthropology" is the best way of nurturing new approaches in anthropology and the highest-quality research in the field. It encourages anthropologists to share their ideas at any stage of development.

This article summarizes my experience at Baltimore AlienCon in 2018. The programme offered a curious blend of themes explored in Ancient Aliens and similar programming, alongside other domains of 'pseudoscience', 'rogue' archaeology, and conspiracy theory, with an added touch of science-fiction fandom and marketing for Prometheus Entertainment. Framed by the event, this article considers aliens, heritage, and belonging in the United States at a moment of unprecedented misinformation campaigns and historical racial reckoning. It explores how archaeological expertise is implicated, invoked, and rejected in such forums and their associated media; and questions how anthropologists and archaeologists might reckon with the often-troubling widespread public uptake of their knowledge into influential conspiracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay seeks to explain how Ashley Montagu, the American anthropologist, could have been both a cultural relativist and a biological determinist, two stances that seem to be opposites. The essay argues that the seeming contradiction can be resolved by placing Montagu in his historical contexts and by understanding what he meant by "biological determinism." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of American Anthropologist is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of American Anthropologist is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of American Anthropologist is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the larger context of overwhelming student loans and the decline of tenure, universities are now commonly dealing with racial protests. Beyond contributing service to what Sara Ahmed describes as the 'non-performativity' of diversity statements, scholars are expected to follow the precedent set by university administration, which is usually one of silence and denial punctuated by vociferous apology through targeted resignations post-incident. Although race has long been a dominant research theme, anthropologists are rarely asked by administration to facilitate debate on the role of the academic setting in creating social and political change. This article explores the responses of universities coupled with the purposeful exclusion of anthropologists and other social scientists from administrative committees and policy decisions. Assuming Louis Althusser's theory of the ideological state apparatus, we examine the ways university bureaucracies have propagated neoliberal ideas and strategies for achieving racial equality and how the strategies utilized by the university are dictated by its funding needs. Specific examples draw from the experiences and observations of the authors-an assistant professor of anthropology and a community organizer-graduate student-juxtaposing the responses of two local university administrations to protests in Ferguson, as well as detailing nonproductive attempts of these campus communities to engage structural racism and the Ferguson community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peter Mandler’s Return from the Natives examines Margaret Mead mid-career when she devoted much energy to promoting anthropology and anthropologists to government and industry and positioned herself as a prominent social commentator. By the time she returned to the field after an interlude of 14 years, something had happened to her professionally: she was treated as a bit of an embarrassment, no longer a scientific heavyweight, and much of this stems from the rather hare-brained “culture cracking” she engaged in during the war. So while honors and kudos enhanced her official image, behind the scenes, she complained of being neglected and shunted aside. Her discipline became radicalized, and her balanced and accommodating approach was rejected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Industrial meat" is produced by many actors--from growers to eaters, from processors to retailers, from multinational corporations to unauthorized immigrant workers. It epitomizes what Joseph Schumpeter called capitalism's "creative destruction," as companies rise and fall, all the while providing meat to an ever expanding population. For three decades, the author has critically examined the social, economic, and environmental consequences of the meat and poultry industry for livestock producers, processing workers, and host communities in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Kentucky. His research has taken him not only to farms and ranches, but also to the killfloors of massive meatpacking plants. He has worked with local governments and community groups as well as union and industry representatives to apply knowledge gained from his research, and he is actively involved with advocacy groups to resist and reverse the negative consequences of the corporate concentration and vertical integration that define industrial meat and poultry production. From experience-distant research on the industry to experience-near fieldwork for the industry, the author has employed long-term, multisited ethnography to build an ethnology of the modern meat and poultry industry, and the food factories that produce and process its products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]