Diary for 31st May to 6th June 2007

THURSDAY 31ST MAY - From fa'afafine films to trailblazing talks...

A bumper start to the week for anthropologists about town everywhere. The Pasifika Styles Festival at the Cambridge Arch & Anth museum continues with two days of plays and films from New Zealand. Today, I thought I might go along to the lunchtime screening of the documentary Siva Pasifika (directed by Lisa Taouma) which charts the migration of Pacific dance across Polynesia. The screening takes place on the top floor gallery at 1pm, and entry is free. If I enjoy it, I may well come back for Lisa Taouma's film showing tomorrow about the fa'afafine community - same time, same place.

After that, there should be time to jump on the train down to London for an evening discussion centred around the National Portrait Gallery's latest exhibition 'Between Worlds: Voyagers to Britain 1700-1850'. Panel members, including anthropologist Claude Ardouin (Head of the African Ethnography at the British Museum), will be debating 'What Should Museums Display?'. They will be trying to get to grips with the extent to which cultural institutions are duty-bound to present distressing images from the past, and whether such presentations risk perpetuating the abuse of bygone eras they seek to document. Admission is free and the event starts at 19.00.

Next up, Professor Robin Dunbar, who I mentioned on last week's blog, is giving another interesting talk at Durham University in the Birley Room, Hatfield College at 17:15. Entitled, 'What can evolution tell us about religion?' he will discuss how much evolutionary theory can explain humanity's capacity for religious belief. Professor Dunbar also appeared on Radio 3's Nightwaves programme last Tuesday discussing similar matters. You can listen again by clicking here.


Also, today is your last chance to get reduced rates on tickets for the 10th Ethnographic Film Festival in Manchester, that runs from 27th June until 2nd July. If you needed any more encouragement, it's just been announced that Kevin Macdonald, director of The Last King of Scotland, is giving the festival's flagship Forman lecture. At the moment tickets for the whole weekend are £49 or £29 for students. See www.raifilmfest.org.uk for more details.





FRIDAY 1ST JUNE - Maori theatre in Cambridge

On Friday, I'm back at the Pasifika Styles festival with a hard choice to make between two fascinating theatre productions showing in Cambridge. At the ADC in Park Street, Niu Sila is a play about the friendship that develops between two children of different cultural backgrounds come to live in the same area in 1970s New Zealand. It promises to be "funny and poignant, irreverent yet touching". Alternatively, 'and what remains' at The Playroom, St Edward's Passage is set in the near future of New Zealand (2010) and portrays a New Zealand where all its indigenous Maori population have died or fled. All, that is, bar a young woman called Mary awaiting her flight to leave also. They story uses her personal journey to explore the links between land and people and should be a challenging play.

Whichever one I go for, they both start at 7.45 and cost £7.


SATURDAY 2ND JUNE - Gypsy music, African languages and anthropologists in the Artic.

I've been meaning to go along to 'The 1000 Year Journey' festival of gypsy and Roma music and film at The Barbican in London for some time now. On Saturday, there are two films showing - at 14.00 there's Latcho Drom, a road movie that celebrates gypsy life and culture across Asia and Europe; and then at 16.00 Transylvania, a love story between two strangers. Both films are priced at the reduced rate of £6 if you also have a ticket for the evening concert that starts from 17.00 and stars 'The Destroyers', a gypsy-jazz group from Birmingham and the main event which is a collaboration of some of Greece and Turkey's most renowned musicians. Tickets range from £10 to £20 and you can hear samples of the music on the Barbican website.

Also starting today is the Word from Africa - a London-wide celebration of Africa and its many languages and cultures– in literature, music and arts. The launch event takes place from noon until 20.00 on Saturday at the British Museum. Entry is free, but pre-booking recommended. Make sure to look out for African Poems on the Underground this week too.



Finally, Freeze Frame, a five-week lecture series at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich starts today, in celebration of International Polar Year 2007. It comprises a series of talks by explorers, artists, historians, anthropologists and scientists looking at the environmental threat to climate change. Look out for anthropologist Hugh Brody's contribution later this month on the way indigenous communities are adapting. The talks run on consecutive Saturdays from 15.15 to 17.30 - prices vary depending on many you want to attend!



SUNDAY 3RD JUNE - The Elvis of cultural theory

Today I'm planning to catch a new film 'Zizek!' at the ICA in London about the eponymous Slovenian sociologist and cultural philosopher who has been labeled, for better or worse, the 'Elvis' of his field. I think this is more because of his energetic thinking and challenging writing than a penchant for blue suede shoes, but he often pops up in anthropology so it would be good to know more about the man behind the ideas. The screening is at 1pm, and I may well stick around for a documentary later that day about life in a Haitian slum, Ghosts of Cite Soleil. Both films cost £8, or slightly less if you're a member of the ICA



MONDAY 4TH JUNE - Opera-inspired study of marginality

On Monday, I want to make my first trip to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, Newcastle. At the moment, there's an video installation exhibition by Portuguese artist Vasco Araujo produced together with local musicians and community leaders called About Being Different. Inspired by a Benjamin Britten opera about the persecution of a fishermen by his village, it promises to explore ideas of community and marginality in an original and thought-provoking way. The Baltic is open from Monday-Sunday, 10.00-18.00 and entrance is free. About Being Different runs until 28th June.




TUESDAY 5TH JUNE - Native America history and 1st UK Native Spirit Film Festival

At lunchtime today I'm going to the British Museum's temporary exhibition "A New World: England's First View of America" to listen to a free gallery talk by anthropologist Max Carocci. Max's talk is entitled: "Who were the Algonquins?" and begins at 13.15. As well as knowing a lot about Native American history Max recently completed a really interesting PhD at Goldsmiths University called 'Two Spirits: Being Gay and Native American in San Francisco, California.


After looking into some Native American history at the museum, I'm getting a little more contemporary and going along to some of the films in the Native Spirit Film & Video Festival of the Indigenous Peoples of the Three Americas.(4th-10th June, various locations around London).

This festival, organised by the Latin American Association, is really exciting because it's the first festival of its kind in the UK, showcasing some outstanding and innovative films about the indigenous peoples of North, South and Central America. The festival aims to offer the British public a fresh cultural viewpoint and the unique opportunity to learn about some of the world's oldest surviving and most marginalised communities. The film on Tuesday is "Atanarjuat/The Fast Runner (2001)," screening at 7.45pm, Canada House, Free. This a feature film telling an ancient Inuitlegend of survival. It was made by Isuma, Canada's first Inuit production company. You read all about the film, including the production diary and interviews with the actors and Inuit cultural advisers here.



WEDNESDAY 6TH JUNE - Reading religiously

On Wednesday, I want to browse for a few hours around the exhibition 'Sacred' at the British Library. It is a display of religious texts from Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths and examines the differing ways each religion has developed scripturally over their respective histories. Entrance is free, and there are a range of associated talks and events to attend. For more details see the British library website.

Diary for 24th-30th May 2007

THURSDAY 24TH MAY - Clothing exhibition & adventure-anthropology in Oxford

Today I'm strolling on down to Oxford to check out a couple of new exhibitions at the Pitt-Rivers Museum. The first collection, Treasured Textiles, is a display of cloth and clothing (normally stowed away in the museum's reserves) originating from all parts of the globe. It aims to show the way that textile techniques contribute to design, decoration and adornment across different societies. Highlights include vibrantly colourful Guatemalan 1930s women's clothing and Chinese satin robes from the 19th century.


The other exhibition is a slightly maverick collection from the artist Sally Hampton. It charts the life and times of fictional explorer and anthropologist Kitty Lake. Loosely based on the artist's own life experiences, it recounts ethnographic studies of fairies on the west coast of Ireland and expeditions atop a camel through the deserts of Egypt and the mountains of Sinai - using a series of artefacts, journal entries and photographs. Should be an interesting, romantic 'artist's impression' of what being an anthropologist could be like.

The Pitt Rivers Museum is free and open 10-4.30pm Tuesday to Sundays and 12-4.30pm on Mondays. See the listing from the11th March ("My new favourite museum") for more details about the museum.

FRIDAY 25TH MAY - Anthropologist on the radio

On Friday I'm planning to listen to the Making History programme that was broadcast on Radio 4 on the 8th May (you can listen again online). It featured anthropologist Paul Basu, from Sussex University, discussing the history of Scottish emigration.

He was part of a fascinating feature on the accuracy of historical representations of a period in Scottish history called 'The Clearances', when highland clans were forcibly displaced by landowners who wanted to use their land for more productive means. Dr Basu conducted research in Scotland for his PhD





SATURDAY 26TH MAY - Film screening about land disputes in India, London

On Saturday I'm planning to learn more about the dispute highlighted in the film 'This land is Mine' showing at 2.30 over at SOAS (nearest tube Russell Square). The film is followed by a discussion, and explores how citizens of Nandigram, West Bengal are being evicted from their land under a new Government Act that allows corporations to develop previously agricultural land for industry.

There is much debate about whether the Special Economic Zones Act is just a smokescreen for corporate profiteering or than a balanced and beneficial piece of legislation.
In any case, it sounds as though some fascinating issues relating to ownership and grassroots resistance will be raised. The event is free and organised by the South Asia Solidarity group and the 1857 Committee. For more details email:
sasg@southasiasolidarity.org

SUNDAY 27TH MAY - Chitter chatter on the wireless

Today I'm listeing to another anthropologist on the radio. Professor Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary anthropologist and psychologist presided over a debate on Radio 4's 'Men read maps, women gossip' series, about whether men or women are the biggest gossips. Professor Dunbar is perhaps most well-known for his formulation of Dunbar's number - 150 - his theoretical maximum number of individuals with whom a set of people can maintain a social relationship.

Language has long been a key area of anthropological resarch and gossip has been no exception - often cited as a form of 'social grooming' essential for our psychological well-being.


MONDAY 28TH MAY - Yoruba Music next to Buckingham Palace plus an anthropological samba band!!

On Monday, I plan to go and see the percussionist Lekan Babalola at the ICA. He's here as part of the London African Music Festival and in this specially commissioned event he will be performing Yoruba children's songs. The Yoruba are one of the largest linguistic groupings in Africa, with the majority living in Nigeria. If you are inspired by the music you could think about taking one of the evening course SOAS offers in Yoruba language.

On Monday you can also go and check out the University of East London Anthropology department's Samba band: Barking Bateria, who are playing at 6pm, Conway Hall London at the annual Beltane Bash. Barking Bateira was created by University of East London anthropology lecturers Chris Knight and Lionel Sims and is mainly based in the university's anthropology department - although you don't have to be a student to join. Carnival is really interesting area of study for anthropologists (University of East London undergraduate students can join the Samba band plus take an option in the Anthropology of Carnival!). As it says on the Barking Bateria website:

"All and any social, cultural, economic boundary is traversed during carnival, to show how underneath it all we are all humans and all equal. By men becoming women, paupers becoming kings, professionals becoming fools etc we are showing that we are more than the limits society places on us"

TUESDAY 29TH MAY - Learning to hula in Cambridge!

On Tuesday I'm looking forward to attending the activities on offer on Tuesday at the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology in Cambridge.

It's part of the Pasifika Styles festival I mentioned a couple of weeks ago and there are things happening all day from 10.30 until 4.30, ranging from the opportunity to make your own hula skirt, to sessions on dance and interactive storytelling workshops. Watch out next week for details of more films and plays from the festival.

WEDNESDAY 30TH MAY - Studying anthropology in the west

On Wednesday, hopefully sporting my brand new hula skirt, I want to investigate the range of short anthropology courses that have just been announced by Bristol University. Raging from one-off sessions on environmentalism and anthropology to a fortnight on rhythm and the body and 10-week programmes exploring development and globalisation, the courses are open to the general public and a great way to get a feel for the subject. The courses don't start til October, but will book up quickly.





BITS AND PIECES

Some sad news this week. Mary Douglas - one of the most respected and influential anthropologists of the last century - passed away last week at the age of 86. You can read a detailed obituary in the Times here.






If anyone is looking for an adult ed course in anthropology, check out the next taster course offered by he London City Lit academy. This is a day course called "A Taste of Anthropology," designed for people with no experience of anthropology. The next on is on the 30th June and there are still places available.

Diary for 17th-23rd May 2007

THURSDAY 17th MAY - Reading forensic anthropology novels!


Today I thought I would try out one of Kathy Reichs's novels about the work of fictional forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (who is also the lead character in the TV series Bones on Sky One).

The author Kathy Reichs is actually quite a famous forensic anthropologist herself. She works for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale in Quebec and is also Professor of Anthropology at the Univerisity of North Carolina.

I don't know what the books are like yet, but I do know that they are inspired by her own experiences, so the forensic anthropology in them is authentic. Kathy has worked as a forensic anthropologist all round this world - she has testified in Rwanda at the UN Tribunal on Genocide, helped identify individuals from mass graves in Guatemala and done some forensic work at Ground Zero in New York. If you are want to find out more about this kind of anthropology, this might be an interesting way to do it!


FRIDAY 18th MAY - Free Native American film screening at the British Museum









The British Museum, as part of it's exhibition "A New World - England's first view of America," is holding a special Native American film screening on Friday, in association with the Royal Anthropological Institute. From 3pm until 6pm they are showing 2 anthropological films: "Techqua Ikacha: Aboriginal Warning" about Indigenous Hopi people resisting oil and mining interests (Director: Alan Georg, 2006)and then "The Spirit of Crazy Horse" about the struggle to reclaim the ancestral homeland of the Sioux, from the battle of Little Big Horn to the 1960s and 70s (Director: James Locker, 1990). The films are free, but booking is advised. See the British Museum's website for details.



After the non-fiction screenings, you can stick around to watch "Smoke Signals" at 6.30pm. This road movie was the first feature film to be written, directed and co-produced by a Native American (Director: Chris Eyre, 1998). Admission £3.










SATURDAY 19th MAY - Exploring ideas about the body in Brighton Museum


On Saturday I'm heading to Brighton to explore the anthropological collections of the Brighton Museum. They have a particularly great gallery called "the Body gallery" (the pictures on the left are of objects from the gallery) which explores, through objects, how we interpret our own and other people's bodies. The museum is open from 10am-5pm on Saturdays. See their website for more info.









SUNDAY 20th MAY - Viva! film festival at the Curzon Mayfair, London

As part of the VIVA film festival, the Curzon Mayfair is showing Un Franco, 14 Pesetas (Crossing Borders) by Director Carlos Iglesias. 2pm, Curzon Mayfair.

This film explores the complexities around migration, a subject often studied by anthropologists. The description on the Curzon website says:

"TV actor Iglesias turns début writer-director to recount this story of his childhood when thousands of Spaniards emigrated to North Europe to escape unemployment and poverty in Franco’s Spain. In 1960, Martín (director Iglesias) and Marcos (Gutiérrez) leave behind their families in Madrid to seek a wage to send home. Switzerland confounds their expectation, with its freedoms and its open, bright spaces. Despite the inevitable cultural misunderstandings, they find work and settle in to enjoy their new lives. But when Martín’s wife and son and Marcos’ girlfriend María suddenly arrive to join them, it becomes apparent that some are better suited to this new life than others."



MONDAY 21st MAY- Free anthropology and film in a London bar!

On Monday, check out the first of several ENCORE! film screenings at London's Roxy Bar and Screen. As an encore to the London International Documentary Film Festival we featured back in March, the organisers are showing some of the festival's films again at Roxy's Bar and Screen a really nice and relaxed place to see a film, get something to eat and chat about the film afterwards with people from lots of different backgrounds, inclduing anthropologists. The first film to be shown is Sargy Man (Director Peter Mann 2006).

Sargy Mann is a successful figurative painter who, despite being registered blind since 1987, has continued to make work about what he sees. In May 2005 Sargy Mann undertook a research trip to Spain with his son, the film's director. As he begun work on a new series of paintings the artist, who has very partial vision in one eye, went completely blind. Despite this, he continues to paint recreating motifs from memory.

This film, directed and shot by the artist’s son, shows how an artist has overcome an apparently insurmountable obstacle, i.e. total blindness. Filmed over a period of more than a year and centred on the making of one painting, it tells a unique story and is a fascinating insight into the creative process. Both Sargy Mann and Peter Mann will be available for a Q and A after the film.

8pm, Roxy Bar and Screen, London. See www.pocketvisions.co.uk for more details.



TUESDAY 22nd MAY - More anthropology of food!

Last week I featured a talk on the anthropology of cooking at Cambridge University and it's the last in the series of these talks this Tuesday. The final talk is called "The Pleistocene journey: humans as the cooking ape" and is taking place from 5-6pm in the Seminar Room in the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies at the university. Directions can be found here.

• The talk by Richard Wrangham, Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University is free and open to the general public.
  

WEDNESDAY 23rd MAY - State Britain: art and protest at the Tate Britain.


Brian Haw became famous for his sustained protest outside the Houses of Parliament against the economic sanction in Iraq which he started in 2001. A year ago today, following the passing of the 'Serious Organised Crime and Police Act' prohibiting unauthorised demonstrations within 1km radius of Parliament Square his protest was removed. Now artist Mark Wallinger has
painstaking recreated the 600 banners, photographs, peace flags and teddy bear used in Brian's protest displays over the years inside the Tate Britain.

I've put this exhibition in the blog because anthropologists are often interested in what is sometimes called the 'politics of representation' and Mark Wallinger's work raises lots of interesting issues about this. You can also watch a clip from an ethnographic film about Brian Haw's protest by Goldsmiths Visual Anthropology student Delphine Gibson on YouTube.

Diary for 10th - 16th May 2007

THURSDAY 10th MAY - Art inspired by anthropology in Manchester

An exhibition called: The Uncertainty of Identity: the Biographies of Things, is currently running at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. The exhibition is inspired by the work of anthropologist Igor Kopytoff and features Jacob Epstein's radical marble figure Genesis. This radical work aroused great controversy - in 1931 it was described as 'unfit to show, a vision of ugliness' by the Daily Telegraph. In 1958 it was bought by Tussaud's Waxworks on Blackpool's Golden Mile to show 'the horrors of modern art'. Since 1999 it has been part of the Gallery's permanent collection. The exhibition explores how the identities and meanings of art objects such as this are not fixed but rather take their meaning from the contexts in which they are exchanged/used/displayed.


FRIDAY 11th May - Opening of the 9TH Festival of World Culture in London




Starting today there's a really exciting festival of world culture going on in several venues around London, including the Institut Francais, the Ritzy Cinema and Greenwich Picturehouse. Mosaiques 2007 is a mixture of documentary and feature film, talks, discussion and even a Balkan music/electronica night. Full details are here.








SATURDAY 12th May - Wales Anthropology Day

On Saturday you might like to book a place at the Wales Anthropology Day, an anthropology taster day held at the University of Wales, Lampeter on the 22nd June. Full details are on their website and workshops will include everything from the anthropology of humour to the Scottish Beltane Fire Society. Staff from the BBC Wales series Tribe will also be there to give a behind the scenes look.




SUNDAY 13th May - Made in Korea: film and Director's Q and A.

As part of the festival mentioned above the Ritzy Cinema is screening "Made in Korea: -A One-Way Ticket Seoul-Amsterdam?" by Documentary maker Soo Radstake who was one of 5,000 Korean children adopted by Dutch families in the 1970s. The film documents his search to reconnect with the other Korean adoptees on board the flight that brought him for Seoul to Amsterdam 26 years earlier and which throws up unexpected discovers that leads him to question his Dutch identity. The screening on Sunday is followed by a Q and A with the director.




MONDAY 14th May - student films on the net

Today, I'm watching some films made by visual anthropology students on the Internet. Goldsmiths, University of London has recently put up a gallery of film clips made by their students on their website. The films are pretty interesting, plus it's a good way to get a taste of visual anthropology.





TUESDAY 15th May - Anthropology and Food!

On Tuesday you can go to a public lecture at the University of Cambridge on the anthropology of cooking! Richard Wrangham, Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University is giving a talk called "The Mind of the Cook: why we eat so nicely." This is part of a special lecture series called "The Natural Cook: a theory of Human Evolution." 5-6pm, Seminar Room, Overwhelm Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, , the Henry Wellcome Building, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge CB2 1QH. For more info see: www.talks.cam.ac.uk





WEDNESDAY 16th May - Girl street gangs in Cairo

Another film from the Mosiaques 2007 festival of world culture. "These Girls" by Tahani Rached follows a band of girls living on the streets of Cairo. Previously shown at the Cannes, Toronto and New York film festivals. Screening at the Roxy Cinema in London. See the Mosiaques website for more details.








COMING UP!

A series of anthropology films are soon to be shown at London's Roxy Bar and Grill, near Borough Market as an encore to the London International Documentary Film Festival held at the British Museum in March. The first one will be on the 21st May. More details coming soon, but for the moment have a look here.

Diary for 3rd-9th May 2007

After being off-line for a few weeks, the diary’s back! Here is the diary of interesting anthropology-related events coming up over the next week and things to look out for in the future!


THURSDAY 3rd MAY - Anthropology Taster Day for students

Today, if you are a Year 12/13 or FE student interested in studying anthropology at university, you should add yourself to the waiting list for a free place at the next London Anthropology Day at the British Museum on the 9th July 2007. It's been incredibly popular so all places are currently booked up, but there is a waiting list you can sign up to. Lecturers from 16 different anthropology university departments will be running workshops on topics from the anthropology of fairy tales to studying wild chimpanzees. Click on the link above to go to the website where you can find out more. If any of you (student or otherwise!) aren’t quite sure what anthropology there’s also a really nice short film about anthropology you can watch on the website, filmed by Ed Owles and Cinizia Roochi.


FRIDAY 4th MAY - Anthropology and reality TV!

On Friday I’m staying in and checking out the BBC programme Castaway (BBC3 7-8pm). I’ve discovered they have a resident anthropologist, Mary-Anne Ochota who has been commenting on their website on things like conflict and community building among the Castaway contestants. Mary-Anne has a degree from Cambridge University in Anthropology and was chosen as one of the expert commentators on the programme. I’m intrigued! Click on her name above to see a short video about her and read her blogs on the BBC Castaway website.


SATURDAY 5th MAY- Contemporary art, anthropology and the Pacific!

I’m heading to Cambridge on Saturday afternoon to explore the Pasifika Styles Exhibition at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge (free and open from 2-4.30pm on Saturdays).

This is an exhibition celebrating contemporary art work inspired by Maori and Pacific Island culture and unites a new wave of contemporary Pacific art with the museum’s historic anthropology collections. These pictures are taken from the exhibition. Far left: Wise Men, Grey Semu. Near left: Polynisation,Niki Hastings.

Also watch out for the Pasifika Styles Festival at the end of May (29th May -1st June) when there will be loads of activities and events from short films, to theatre, to an activity day. at the museum. Full details www.pasifikastyles.org.uk


SUNDAY 6th MAY - An intriguing museum and a free Voices of Slavery concert

Another anthropology museum, but this time in London! The Hornimam Museum in Forest Hill has a fantastic anthropology collection and is open for exploration daily from 10.30-5.30pm. They’ve recently opened up the Centenary gallery to explore 100 years of collecting. You can look at how the ways in which anthropologists collect objects has changed over time. Full details about the museum are on www.horniman.ac.uk

Plus, if you go this Sunday, you can also catch the free Voices of Slavery Concert (3-4.30pm in the Conservatory), which is part of the museum’s Bicentenary events. The concert features music by former slaves Ignatius Sancho, ‘Blind Tom’ Bethune and arrangements of spirituals and plantation songs by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, HT Burleigh and other distinguished Black composers of the early 20th century. Booking is not required but as places are limited you might be wise to arrive early.


MONDAY 7th MAY- An anthropologist in charge of the Young Vic!

Okay, so I know this is probably a tenuous anthropology connection, but on Monday I’m going to see a play called Vernon God Little at the Young Vic in London. The reason this has made it onto Anthropologist About Town is that David Lan, the Artistic Director of the Young Vic, is actually a rather famous anthropologist who wrote a book called “Guns and Rain: Guerrillas and Spirit Mediums in Zimbabwe (1985) that is on nearly every undergraduate anthropology reading list in the country (you can buy it on Amazon).

You can read an archival 2005 interview with David Lan in the Guardian about how an anthropologist ended up as a theatre director here.





TUESDAY 8th MAY - film screening in Kent about elephant handlers in Nepal

On Tuesday I’m going to Canterbury to the University of Kent to a special film screening. Piers Locke, who has recently completed a PhD in the department, will be introducing and showing his ethnographic film Servants of Ganesh about the handlers of the Khorsor Elephant Breeding Center in Chitwan, Nepal, and the training of a juvenile elephant called Paras Gaj. As part of his PhD Piers trained to become an elephant handler in Nepal.

The film screening will be at 4.30pm in the DICE Room (Marlowe Building). Directions to the university can be found at www.kent.ac.uk and you can find out more about the film on www.oneworldfilms.com. Members of the general public welcome. Any queries contact Piers on pl21@kent.ac.uk


WEDNESDAY 9th MAY - Anthropology on the Radio

On Wednesday I’ll be tuning in to Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed with Laurie Taylor from 4-4.30pm. Laurie often has anthropologists on the show, which discusses the latest social science research. They haven’t posted the topic for next week yet, but if there’s no anthropology you can always listen to old shows on the website.

The one from the 14th Feb 2007 is particularly interesting with anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes talking about the controversy over late broadcaster Alistair Cooke’s remains.



BITS AND PIECES

There has been lots of anthropology in the news recently as Bob Geldof unvield his plans to work with the BBC on the Dictionary of Man project and The Human Planet TV series. Google Bob Geldof, Dictionary of Man and anthropology to find out more!