Diary for August 2010

Tuesday 3rd August- The Great British Beer Festival

A number of anthropologists have studied pub culture and the important role pubs play in the construction of British socioeconomic culture. Take a look at this interesting article on the anthropology of pubs. One way in which pubs differentiate from one another is through their diverse range of beers. The Great British Beer Festival taking place at Earls Court until the 7th of August offers 450 beers from all over the world. The festival is a great way to introduce yourself to new varieties of ales, stouts, fruit beers and bitters. The festival also offers pub games, quizzes, food, concerts and more. Tickets vary in price. For more information visit the following website.





Wednesday 4th August- Life on Allotments

What do allotments mean for people living in Britain? Artist Emma Wood captures the diversity of life on two local allotments in London. Her photo exhibition is currently displayed at the Horniman Museum in conjunction with a food garden at the museum inspired by these communities. The exhibition is free and runs until the 17th of October.

Sunday 8th August - Celebrate the London Mela

The London Mela is one of the biggest annual events in the city celebrating South Asian culture and creativity. The event takes place in Gunnersbury Park from 1pm- 8:30pm and is expected to attract 70,000 people. The Mela is free and has a diverse range of cultural activities, food and and music including nine zones of urban, classical and experimental music, DJs, circus, dance, visual arts, comedy and a zone especially for kids. To find out more about the festival visit the official website.

Sunday 8th August- Arabian Nights 2010

The V&A museum with the support of the SAID Foundation has initiated a programme of learning and activities focusing on Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Iraq. The programme will run over four years and cover three strands: an annual family festival of Arab culture, an associated network of outreach initiatives, and the development of learning resources. Today is a free art fun festival which incorporates, music lessons, art activities, storytelling and more. The event is free and open to all. For more information of the day's programme visit this website.

Monday 9th August- Festival Brazil

Artists, graphic novelists, musicians, and social scientists are coming together to offer a range of debates, talks, performances and exhibitions to celebrate the diversity and splendour of Brazil. Festival Brazil is brought together by HSBC, the Southbank Centre and London's Brazilian community. 'The festival is a contemporary snapshot of a nation's diverse culture in a vibrant growing economy with some fierce social problems. The Festival reflects what the country is thinking and talking about today'. Take a look at this fantastic video about the Festival and get involved in the free events and activities throughout the summer. The Festival runs until the 5th of September. For more information visit this website.




Tuesday 10th August- The Japan-British Exhibition of 1910

The Museum of Fulham Palace is currently hosting an exposition which documents the story of the Japan- British 1910 exhibition which took place in White City. The exhibition at the time was used to help strengthen the political and economic relations between the two countries. The exhibition on included gardens, temples, tea houses, and water features built by Japanese designers and workmen which ended up making visitors feel like they were in Japan itself. The exposition is free to all and open during the museum's opening hours.

Wednesday 11th August- Rude Britania

What part does visual comedy play in the depiction and creation of British culture? Running until the 5th September at the Tate Britain is an exhibtion entitled: Rude Britania: British Comic Art in London Tate Britain. The exhibition analyses how artists have used humour in various mediums and the wider role visual humour plays in British culture. The exhibition includes drawings, films, photography and sculpture and has a special section devoted to rude humour such as saucy seaside postcard by Donald McGill and works by Sarah Luca, and Aubrey Beardsley. Tickets are £10.00 or £8.50 concession.




Thursday 12th August- Discover the Power of the Akan Drum

The Akan drum is one of the objects featured in the BBC series a History of the World in 100 objects. The drum is the oldest African-American object in the British Museum brought from West Africa to the Colony of Virginia as part of the slave trade around 1735. 'Akan' refers to an ethnic and linguistic group from West Africa which includes the Fante, Asante and Akuapem, and its culture is most apparent today is Ghana. Today marks the opening of a display which follows the journey of the drum relating its story from the transatlantic slave trade to its influence on African-American music. The Akan Drum display is open and free to all in Room 3 at the British Museum and runs until the 10th of October.





Friday 13th August- Edinburgh International Festival

Today marks the beginning of the Edinburgh International Festival. Founded in 1947, the Festival grew after the Second World War with the aim of providing 'a platform for the flowering of the human spirit'. Every year the festival transforms the city with the best classical music, theatre, dance and visual art from around the world. Find out more about ticket prices and the programme through this website.




Saturday 14th August- The Invisibles

Leah Gordon is a photographer, film-maker and curator who has been involved in various projects documenting life in Haiti. Her current exhibition at the Riflemaker is called 'The Invisibles'. Leah Gordon describes being drawn to the boundaries between art, religion and anthropology. "These borderlands have a historical, and often uncomfortable, relationship with photography. A suspicion that photography has observed and policed, but never taken part. Photography has rarely been embraced as a form of representation by religions. It is as if photography, with it's indelible relationship to the material, could only serve to disprove the divine, Although when one reflects on its alchemical past it seems rooted in magical process". Find out more about the exhibition through this website.



Sunday 29th August - Notting Hill Carnival

Over the next two days Notting Hill will be converted into a Caribbean festival of food, fun, colour, costumes and wonderful parades. The carnival takes place every August and has now become Europe's largest street festival. The festival is free and includes three miles of food stalls with jerk chicken being a popular favourite and music from steel bands, calypso, soca and of course the amazing parades where children and adults from communities with cultural ties to South America, Africa and Caribbean join in to dance and sing in their beautiful costumes along Notting Hill's streets. To find out more about this year's festival visit this website.




Monday 30th August- Booking Ahead for Wales Anthropology Day

Many of you who were not able to come to this year's London Anthropology Day will be happy to know that there is a sister event happening on the 16th of September in Wales. Every year the University of Wales Lampeter organises a free university taster day of anthropological workshops and films aimed at Year 12, 13, FE students and teachers. To find out more and book your free place visit this website.

ONGOING ACTIVITIES:

Exploring identity in Latin America

Peter Wade's Book 'Race and Ethnicity in Latin America' has now been updated and the second edition will soon be released on September 13th 2010. Bringing the analysis up to date, the second edition of the book looks at the ways in which racial and ethnic systems of classification have developed and work currently in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Guatemala. The discussion focuses particularly on African-descended and Native American groups. Race and ethnicity as analytical concepts are re-examined in order to assess their usefulness. This is an excellent book for anyone interested in learning about identity in Latin America.

London Anthropology Day 2010 Photos now Online!

The London Anthropology Day 2010 is a university taster day for Year 12,13 and FE students, career advisors and teachers. Organised by the Royal Anthropological Institute's Education Programme in collaboration with the British Museum and participating universities the event was held on 8th July. This year's event included 18 universities from England, Ireland and Wales and over 350 participants making it the largest London Anthropology Day to date. Take a look at the this year's photos along with other anthropological events on this website.

Diary for June 2010

TUESDAY 8th JUNE-Call for Films!

Aspekty is a yearly festival of visual anthropology which takes place in Poland and which aims to show the various relationships between phenomena, human interaction and diversity within and amongst cultures through the visual medium. The festival is currently looking for ethnographic or documentary films to be submitted. Films that are submitted must have been completed after 2005. For more information and to download a submission form, visit http://aspektyfestival.pl/en



WEDNESDAY 9th JUNE- The Human Costs of Black Gold

The Environment, Politics & Development Research Group of King's College London will host its Annual Lecture today at Kings College London. Professor Michael Watts (University of California, Berkley) will be delivering a lecture entitled the Permanent Frontier: A Political Ecology of Insurgency. Over the last decade Professor Watt's research activities have focused on the political ecology of oil in West Africa, his most recent book is 'The Curse of the Black Gold: Fifty Years of Oil in the Niger Delta' . The lecture will take place in the Geography Department of Kings College, Room S-2.08 2nd basement, Strand Building, Strand Campus. The lecture will begin at 5:30pm. The event is free and all are welcome. To book your place email: delphine.pejchert@kcl.ac.uk



THURSDAY 10th JUNE-Object-Image-Memory

Today marks the fist day of a three part seminar organised by the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Oxford Academy of Documentary Film aimed at people over 65 who are interested to learn about digital film cameras and would like to capture some of their memories on film. For more information and to book a place you can pick up a form at the information desk or email: alison@oadf.co.uk





THURSDAY 10th JUNE- SKIN

Today marks the first day of the Welcome Collection's exhibition on skin. Skin is the largest organ on the human body, but it wasn't studied as an organ in its own right until the 20th century. The Welcome exhibition looks at the history of skin through medical drawings, paintings and anatomical models. Participants are able to handle skin-flap models used in plastic surgery and try on latex suits. A series of events and a tattoo contest form part of the exhibition. The exhibition is free. Everyone welcome. For more information visit this website.




FRIDAY 11th JUNE- The Morality of Giving and Receiving

Today from 10:30am-12:3pm at LSE's Seligman Library A607 (Old Building), Professor Katy Gardner (University of Sussex) will be giving a lecture entitlted: The Oil Company, 'Partnership' and the morality of giving and receiving. Since 2008 Katy has been working on a project funded by ESRC/Dfid on Mining, Livelihoods and Social Networks in Bangladesh. This has involved returning to her original fieldwork village in Bangladesh, where a multinational company is currently mining natural gas. The project investigates the relationships between transnational migration, global capitalism and resistance, plus multinational policies and practices of 'Corporate Social Responsibility'.





FRIDAY 11th JUNE- Shifting Sands Musical Performance

The Shifting Sands project is a new British Council initiative that aims to explore the musical roots of the United Kingdom and the Middle East as part of an ongoing creative collaboration. Tonight there will be two free performances held at the Southbank Centre from 6pm-8:45pm. Artists include Andy Mellon, Brendan Kelly and Pete Flood from Bellowhead, UK folk's rising star Sam Carter, Middle Eastern music specialist Giles Lewin and one of Scotland's most innovative musicians, Corrina Hewat. For more information visit this website.











FRIDAY 11th JUNE- Human Rights and Visual Culture

The Birkbeck Institute for Social Reserach & Birkbeck Institute for Humanities have come together to provide an event where scholars, campaigners and practitioners can share ideas and experience on the role of visual media in the formation of human rights politics and practices. The event is in collaboration with the Centre for Media, Culture and Creative Practice . It takes place in at Birkbeck in Room B04 from 10:00-5:00pm and is free and open to all. Registration by email is essential. To book your place email Julia Eisner at j.eisner@bbk.ac.uk










SATURDAY12th JUNE- A Day to Learn About Music

Following on from Friday's Shifting Sands concert, is a full day workshop aimed at advanced musicians (aged 16 and over) with an interest in traditional music of all cultures. The day will involve a talk about different music instruments and traditions, followed by a practical workshop session, and as a finale the groups get to perform together in front of 2000 people on the Meltdown band stage in the Southbank Clore Ballroom. For more information and to book your free place email: shiftingsands@southbankcentre.co.uk





MONDAY 14th JUNE- Recycling Textile Technologies

Today at UCL there will be a full day interdisciplinary workshop (9:30am-5pm) exploring the relationships between people and things, raw materials and technologies and the rise of entrepreneurs and innovators in different social contexts. The workshop brings together the work and experience of geographers, anthropologists, historians, designers, waste consultants and consumer researchers. Admission (including refreshments and lunch) is £25 waged and £18 unwaged or student. To book your place email Julie Botticello at ucsajbo@ucl.ac.uk




TUESDAY 15th JUNE- The Creative City after the Crash

Today at the Manchester Museum there will be a CRESC seminar looking at the arts scene and urban cultures of Manchester. An interdisciplinary range of scholars, local policy actors and leading representatives of the arts in the city, will speak about how they envisage the future of cutting edge culture and creativity in the new age of austerity and budget cuts. For more information visit this website. Participation fees are £15, concession £5. To reserve your place email: cresc@manchester.ac.uk




THURSDAY 17th June- The Quest for Perfect Skin

'Since the 17th century, a multimillion-pound industry has developed that feeds on our aesthetic concerns about skin'. As part of its new exhibition on the history of research and visual depictions of skin, the Welcome Trust is hosting a series of lectures. Tonight's lecture will be delivered by Stefania Crowther. She will be speaking about the roots of the cosmetic industry and how it affects individual relationships with health, comparing early modern skincare preparations with today's practices. The talk will be held at the Welcome Collection. Tickets are free and open to everyone. Tickets are given on a first come first serve basis and can be collected from the information desk from 4:30pm onwards on the day.




FRIDAY 18th June-Ecstatic Flow

A new exhibition called Ecstatic Flow is on display at the October Gallery in London. The exhibition shows the magnificent artwork of Algerian artisti Rachid Koraïchi . Koraïchi's work is heavily influenced by his Sufi upbringing and is infused with the ethos and symbolism of Sufi mysticism and numerology. Koraïchi's works include a wide variety of media such as: ceramics, textiles, poetry, calligraphy, and paint. The exhibition is particularly concerned with the Islamic concept of Safar (travel and transcendence), the installation traces the journey of medieval Muslim traveller Jalal Al Din Al Rumi across the Mediterranean to meet the Sufi mystic and poet Ibn El Arabi. The exhibition runs until the 18th of July. For more information and booking details, visit this website.







FRIDAY 18th JUNE- Religion in Amazonia

Today from 10:30am-12:3pm at LSE's Seligman Library A607 (Old Building), Professor Mark Harris (University of St. Andrews) will be talking about local religion in Eighteenth-century Brazilian Amazonia. Harris has been conducting research with peasant river dwellers in the Brazilian Amazon since 1992. He has also conducted archival research on the region, focusing on the origins of a massive rebellion in the 1830s.






SATURDAY 19th JUNE- Refuge in Films

Refuge in Films is a group of young people some of whom are refugees and migrants from around the world who come together t0 make documentaries about their lives and experiences. This year's festival will be held at the BFI. Over three days from 11:00am onwards, short films ranging from bike projects for asylum seekers in the UK, to rebuilding communities in Ethiopia after 2007. Visit this website for a detailed programme of the festival. Ticket prices can be found on the BFI website.




FRIDAY 25th JUNE- Suicide in an Indian Town

Today from 10:30am-12:3pm at LSE's Seligman Library A607 (Old Building) Professor Jonathan Parry will be giving a talk on suicide in an Indian steel town. Professor Parry has been doing fieldwork on industrial workers in the central Indian steel town of Bhilai (in the Chhattisgarh region of Madhya Pradesh) which was built on a "green field" site with Soviet collaboration and technology in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The public sector Bhilai Steel Plant is now one of the largest steel plants in Asia, and has served as a magnet for a great deal of private sector industrial development. Part of the fieldwork has focused on on shopfloor organisation, but much of it has been conducted in the ex-villages-cum-labour colonies in which the workers have their homes.




SATURDAY 26th JUNE- Treasures from Trash

Today is the first day of an exhibition at Croydon Clocktower which explores how 'trash' is recycled around the world to make everyday objects. Communities around the world are using their creativity to create eco-products such as hats made out of pop cans, tyre buckets transformed into toys, and stoves made into handbags. These treasures are supporting groups of artists around the world and providing them with an new source of income. The exhibtion is free and open to everyone.













SATURDAY 26th JUNE- Okinawa Day

Today in Spitalfields, from 11:00-7:00pm there will be a celebration of Okinawan culture, music, art, dancing and food. The event is free and everyone is welcome. Take a look at photos and videos from last year's festival on this website.







Monday 28th JUNE- Culture Evolves

As part of this year's See Further:Festival of Science and Arts the Royal Society is hosting a free two day interdisciplinary conference called Culture Evolves aimed at academics/students interested in cultural evolution. 'The capacity of culture is a product of biological evolution-yet culture itself can also evolve, generating cultural phylogenies. The workshop will address new discoveries and controversies illuminating these phenomena, from the roots of culture in the animal kingdom to human, cultural evolutionary trees and the cognitive adaptations shaping our special cultural nature. The event is free but registration is essential. For conference details and registration visit this website.



ONGOING:

Anthropologist Carla Stang has recently published a wonderful accessible ethnography called 'A Walk to the River in Amazonia' . The ethnography follows the everyday realities of the Mehinaku Indians, an Amazonian people by observing various aspects of their experience and by relating how these different facets come to play in a stream of ordinary consciousness, a walk to the river. In this way, abstract schemata such as ‘cosmology,’ ‘sociality,’ ‘gender,’ and the ‘everyday’ are understood as they are actually lived.

Diary for May 2010

SUNDAY 2nd May - Asahi Anime Festival

For the past two days Brighton's Bartholomew Square has been transformed by a street festival combining Japanese music, food, karaoke and Manga. The highlight of the festival is the cosplay competition where Manga fans dress up and compete to win the Final Fantasy hero award! Click here to find out more information. Anthropologists have long been interested in Manga as an art form and means of expression and many interesting ethnographies have been written about the subject. To find out more about the anthropology of Manga, visit the Centre for Anthropology library at the British Museum and peruse through the numerous books.


MONDAY 3rd May- Bookings are now open for London Anthropology Day!

London Anthropology Day is the largest national open day for anthropology in Britain. Organised by the Royal Anthropological Institute in collaboration with the British Museum (BM) and participating universities the event will be held on July 8th at the BM's Education Clore Centre. The LAD is open to Year 12/13 and FE students, teachers and career advisers who want to find out more about anthropology and gain first-hand experience of what it is like to study the subject at university. The LAD 2010 will have 18 universities attending from England, Wales and Ireland, making this year the biggest event to date. The LAD is free but advanced booking is necessary. For more information and to book your free place, please visit: www.londonanthropologyday.co.uk



MONDAY 3rd May- Brighton Festival

The 44th annual Brighton Festival has a full programme of debates, music, dance performances and outdoor events. An anthropological highlight of the festival is the free outdoor event: Bodies in Urban Spaces. Conceived and created by Austrian choreographer Willi Dorner, the idea is for people to meet at a secret location and join in making human sculptures that recreates our urban space. The sculpture is led by 20 'movement artists' (dancers, climbers and athletes) but others can join in as well. Watch the architectural creation in action, and find out how to get involved in this year's festival! The festival runs until the 23rd of May.





MONDAY 3rd May- Tomorrow: a Film Instillation by Fiona Tan

As part of the 2010 Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art, the city's Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) presents a video instillation entitled Tomorrow by internationally renowned artist Fiona Tan. The instillation challenges assumptions about identity, race and ethnicity by exploring the intimate lives of a group of schoolchildren in Sweden. Tan lives and works in Amsterdam and is best known for her film and photography work on human representation. You and read an interview with the artist and her instillation Tomorrow in the Herald Scotland. The exhibition is free and runs until the 27th September.




WEDNESDAY 5th May- Right to the City Workshop

The Urban Rights Group at the University of Manchester's Institute for Development Policy and Management is hosting a free workshop for early career/doctoral researchers with an interest in the Right to the City. 'The aim of the workshop is to discuss the Right to the City as it relates to theory and practice in global Southern cities, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and with regard to diverse human issues, including poverty and land tenure'. The event is free but spaces are limited. To book your free place contact: gemma.sou@manchester.ac.uk





THURSDAY 6th May-REWIND: A Cantana for Voice, Tape and Testimony

Tonight at 7:30pm at the Royal Festival Hall a fantastic performance of music and digital art called Rewind will take place. Rewind is a composition which 'celebrates the human spirit that rose above the horror of South African apartheid'. Philip Miller mixes traditional and operatic South African music styles. The music is complemented by Gerhard Marx's animated projections of photographs and text of testimonies of victims and perpetrators. For more information and ticket prices, visit this website.





FRIDAY 7th May- Wall Paintings of Shekhawati, Rajastan

Ilay Cooper is a writer, photographer and art historian who has lectured at the British Museum, the V&A and the Courtauld Institute. Ilay has spent some 10 years exploring Shekhawati and the surrounding region, documenting its famous painted buildings. The murals decorate mansions, temples and caravanserais. They embrace Hindu mythology, folk tales, history, everyday life, animals, plants erotica, foreigners and a wealth of decorative designs. Join Ilay as he talks about his adventures and his book 'The Painted Towns of Shekhawati'. The event is held at the Ebenezer Chapel, in Somerset. Tickets include a glass of wine and curry supper. Call 07860 480035 to reserve your place.




FRIDAY 7th May- Ethnography Beyond Ethnos

The Anthropological Association of Ireland's Annual Conference is taking place over the next two day at Trinity College in Dublin. The keynote lecture " Framing Conflict: measurement, objectification and comparison in studies of violence and practices for its amelioration' will be given by Dr. Yael Navarro-Yashin from Cambridge University. On-site registration for non-members is 15 pounds. For more information and to download a full programme visit www.anthropologyireland.org






FRIDAY 7th May - Real Food Festival

If you are a fan of going to Borough market chatting to local producers and tasting artisan food, then you may be interested in attending the Real Food Festival. Running from the 7th-10th of May,the festival is held every year at London's Earl Court. The festival showcases organic and artisan food made from farmers in England and all over Europe, as well as cooking demonstrations and workshops and much more. For more information and ticket prices check out the Real Food Festival website.






SATURDAY 8th May- RAI's International Meaning of Water Photo Contest Now Online!

The Royal Anthropological Institute's Education Programme launched a photo contest called The Meaning of Water which ran alongside their ESRC 2010 outreach events. The photo contest focused on the human relationship to water in the context of: livelihoods and sustainability; religion and spirituality; trade and transport and management and access. The contest was an amazing success with over 200 submissions from all over the world. The panel of judges included Professor Elizabeth Edwards, Dr. Chris Wright, Amanda Vinson, Guven Witteveen and contest organiser Nafisa Fera. The panel were amazed at the quality of the photographs submitted and decided to make two short-lists (Runner-Ups and Finalists) for each category. The short-listed photos are going online today! Take a look at the photos on our Flickr Gallery and the Discover Anthropology website.




THURSDAY 13th May- Frazer Strikes Back from the Armchair

Tonight from 6-7pm at LSE's Old Theatre, Dr. Rane Willerslev will argue that 'the Malinowskian recourse to empirical evidence as the ultimate criterion for anthropological knowledge is misguided'. Do we always have to undertake ethnographic fieldwork as Malinowski did in order that our research be validated as anthropologists? Dr. Willerslev argues that some phenomena such as the 'soul' and 'ritual blood sacrifice' are beyond empirical experience. The event is free and open to all. Entry is on a first come first serve basis. For more information email j.f.stone@lse.ac.uk









SATURDAY 15th May - The Emperor's Secret Garden

The Oxford Ethnographic Film Society presents the The Emperor's Secret Garden, a new film by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Andre Singer. The one-hour documentary explores the restoration undertaken over 5 years of the Private Lodge of Retirement in the 18th Century Qianlong Garden Complex in Beijing's Forbidden City. The restoration has been involved the collaboration between The Palace Museum, The World Monuments Fund, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation and The Prince's Charities Foundation (China). The screening will take place at 11:00am at the Pitt Rivers Museum. The event is free and open to everyone.










WEDNESDAY 19th May- Revisiting Dead Birds & Dani Sweet Potatoes

This afternoon at 2:00pm at the Pitt Rivers Museum, acclaimed anthropologist and filmmaker Professor Karl Heider (University of South Carolina) presents a variety of films spanning the length of his career including his work with the Dani of Papua New Guinea. Professor Heider has concentrated on psychological and visual anthropology in particular, his work focuses on emotions and sexuality. Take a look here to find out more about his research. The event is free and open to everyone.





WEDNESDAY 19th May-Barbara E. Ward Commemorative Lecture

Today at 5pm in the Nissan Lecture Theatre at St. Antony's College Oxford, Dr. Hausner will be giving the International Gender Studies Centre's Ward Commemorative Lecture. Dr. Hausner's lecture will focus on her current research on Nepali migrant religion in Britain and America as well as her book 'Wandering with Sadhus: Ascetics in the Hindu Himalayas'. For more information and booking details email: maria.jaschok@qeh.ox.ac.uk









THURSDAY 20th May- Forest Ecosystems

How can we restore forests the have been severely damaged by illegal logging and uncontrolled conversion to farmland? Dr. Mark Huxham and Dr. Glen Reynolds share their insights and the results of their pioneering research into the restoration of rainforests in Borneo and mangrove forests in Kenya. Join both Earthwatch scientists in this public lecture taking place at 7:00pm at the Royal Geographical Society. Tickets are free but donations are welcome. To find out more information visit this website.






FRIDAY May 21st- Art.Public. Tourism.

The Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change is hosting a one-day workshop in Leeds, exploring the exchange between artists, art managers the general public and tourism promoters. The workshop addresses questions such as: is what is good for art also good for tourism? What kind of publics do art and tourism produce? For a detailed programme and information about registration fees go to this website.












TUESDAY 25th May - Virtual Ethnography

Tonight at 6:30pm at the October Gallery in London, anthropologist Damien De Barra tells participants of his virtual ethnographic research spanning the length of 12 years looking specifically at 9/11 conspiracy theories. De Barra's research looks at the processes by which conspiracy theorists, their detractors, and the media have been engaged in cyber conversations of meaning-making brought about by the rise of social media. Both the conspiracy theorists and their debunkers claim to be telling 'the truth'. How do we know who is telling the truth? In what ways is the phrase being constructed and used by these various groups? Are these conversations just acts of speculation or is something bigger, deeper and more sinister at play? To RSVP email: rentals@octobergallery.co.uk Tickets are 7 pounds or 5 pounds concession.




ONGOING

A new book by anthropologist Annu Jalais called 'Forest of Tigers:People, Politics and Environment in the Sundarbans' has recently been published. The mangrove islands that comprise the Sundarbans area of the Bengal delta have unique ecosystems and are home to the Royal Bengal Tigers. One of the key questions the author addresses in this ethnography is what do tigers mean for the islanders of the Sundarbans? The author argues that far more than through caste, tribe or religion, the Sundarbans islanders articulate their social locations and interactions by reference to the non-human world- the forest and its terrifying protagonist, the man-eating tiger.




Another book that has recently been published is by Dr. Jens Kjaerulff called 'Internet and Change: An Anthropology of Knowledge and Flexible Work' . Undertaking research amongst 'teleworkers', people working via internet from their homes in rural Denmark, Kjaerullf's work analyzes the question of how internet use may be related to social and cultural change.