Anthro notes

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[nthroNotes

Volume 27

No. 2 Fall

2006

ANTHROPOLOGY CHANGING THROUGH TIME:

THREE DECADES OF ANTHRONOTES®

by Rjith 0. Selig

Since

¹⁹⁷⁹^theSmithsonian's

Department

of Anthro- pologyhasbroughttheperspectivesandscholar- ship ofleading anthropologists to a wide audi- encethroughtheaward-winningpublicationAnthroNotes®

andtheintroductorytext-readerAnthropology Explored:The BestofSmithsonian AnthroNotes.

By

examiningthreedecades of AnthroNotes®,thedynamicshifts inanthropology

and

theemergence ofpublicscholarship

become

clear,asthe fieldof anthropologyhasbecome:

•

More

involved with

community

andcollaboration;

•

More

involvedwithexaminingsocialissuesandcon-

flicts;and

•

More

self-reflexive (aware of

how

one's

own

cul- tureaffectsone'sview ofanotherculture).

Inaddition,anthropologists

now

are

more

likelyto

•

Apply

theirfindings to therealworld;

•

Use new

technologiestoturnoldassumptions

up

side

down;

and

•

Engage

theirsubjectsin their

work

ascolleaguesand collaborators.

Forexample,

more

professionalanthropologistsarewill- ing

and

even eager to

become

involved in thelives

and

problems facing the people they study as well as in the

social and political issues impacting the

modern

world.

CarolynFleur-Lobban's1999 AnthroNotes®article,"Cul- turalRelativismandUniversal

Human

Rights,"describes herinvolvementwiththe issueoffemale circumcisionin the

Sudan

andthe impact ofparticularlaws

on women's

lives.

Page 6

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AnthroNotes Volume 27

No.

2

Fall

2006

The

examination oftheAnthroNotes®lead articles since

19~9_yields_clues_as_to

why

these fundamentalshiftshave takenplace.

The

analysisalsoindicatesreasons

why

^there

are increasingwavstobridgetheworldsofacademia,edu- cation, public scholarship, and

museums,

asanthropolo-

gists

become

increasinglyengagedintheworldaroundthem.

History

of

AnthroNotes®

Let

me

^begin^with^{a bit}ofhistory.

Almost

30years ago,a

team offour (including myself, AlisonBrooks,

Ann Kaupp

and

JoAnne

^Lanouette)^launched^theAnthroNotes®publi- cationattheSmithsonian.It

was

illustratedwith inkdraw- ings bythelate anthropologistand cartoonist RobertL.

Humphrey

of

George

WashingtonUniversity.Iliketocall

AnthroNotes®"thelittleenginethatcould,"becauseitheaded

up

thehillasasixpagenewsletterfor localparticipantsof theGeorge WashingtonUmversity/SmithsonianInstitution

Anthropology

for Teachers Program, an

NSF-funded

teachertrainingprogram.

Two

teachertrainingprograms,

inWashington(1978-82)and

Wyoming

(1984-85),withtheir core,semester-long coursesbuilt

on

anin-depth

monthly

topic approach,laidthe foundationfor asubsequent 28 year publicationeffort tobringanthropologyandarchae- ologytoawideraudience,particularly inschools.

AnthroNotes®has always

had

the

same

three-part mission:1)disseminateoriginal,recentresearch tohelp read- ers staycurrentin thefield; 2) encourage those teaching anthropologytoutilize

new

materials,approaches,and

com-

munityresources;and3)

more

widely disseminate anthropology,particularlyinschools.

Once

asixpagenewsletter, AnthroNotes®

became

a16-page publication printedthree timesayear andthentransformedagaintoamini-journal oftwenty-pages published twiceayear,containingarticles

on

cutting-edgeresearchauthoredbynationallyandinter- national!}'

known

anthropologists. Today,AnthroNotes®

reaches K-12,college,

and museum

educators

and

non- academicanthropologistsand archaeologists in50states

and50countries.

Almost

allAnthroNotes®articlesaresolic- itedfromanthropologiststhroughout^thecountry orwrit- tenbytheeditors.

The

publicationismailedto9,000read- ers

but

increasingly it is read on-line ₍http://

www.nmnh.si.edu/anthro/outreach/anthnote/

anthback.html₎

In the

mid-1990s

the Smithsonian Press ap- proachedtheAnthroNotes®editorsaboutpublishing a

com- pendium

ofthe publication's leadarticlesasanIntroduc- toryReaderto the entirefieldofanthropology.

The

first edition of Anthropology Explored: TheBest of Smithsonian AnthroNotes® appearedin 1998(editedby

Ruth

O.Selig andMarilynR.London),andin2004,asecond,

much

ex-

panded

edition

was

published(withP.

Ann Kaupp

joining as editor),andafree,on-lineInstructorsGuide

was

prepared and

made

availableelectronically(http://www.nrnnh.si.edu/

anthro/ outreach/anthropology_explored.htm₎

AnthroNotes Changing Through Time

To

analyzethechangesreflectedinAnthroNotes®,Ibegan withasimplelistingofthe approximately50leadarticles

from two

specific 10 yearperiods: 1981-1991 and 1995- 2005.

1981-1991

Duringthefirsttenyearperiod, therewere 26leadarticles, eight

on

physicalanthropology, ten

on

archaeology, and eight

on

^culturalanthropology, includinglinguistics.

The ma-

jorityofthearticleswere concernedwiththe culturesof theAmericas (NorthandSouth),withanemphasis

on new

ways of viewing the past,

shown by

both

new

research findings

/methods

andrelevancyto socialconcerns.

The

editorscommissionedarticlesthatemphasized

new

meth- odologies

and

relevancy,always trying to reflectcurrent trendsinthe anthropologicalliteratureofthe time.

Leadarticlesofthisperiodthatreflected

new

approaches focused

on

topics, such as

New Gender

Per- spectives; Multidisciplinary

Approaches

as seen in Ethnoarchaeology,Ethnohistory

and Taphonomy; New

Research Findingsin

Human

EvolutionandtheSettlement oftheAmericas;

Ape

LanguageStudies;

New

FossilFinds;

and

Chimpanzee

Studies,includingfield studiesandlan-

guagestudiesinlaboratorysettings.

Examples

ofother lead article topics that ad- dressedsocietalrelevancyorsocialconcerns included Refu- gee Childrenin School,School

Age

Pregnancy, Applied

Linguistics,Creationism,

Ape

Conservation,StudentField-

work

inthe

Community,

and

Aging

inVariousCultures.

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[nthroNotes

Volume 27

No. 2 Fall

2006

Some

ofthebestand

most

satiric

Humphrey

car- toons

come from

this 1980s period.

The

cartoon

below

accompaniedAlisonBrooks'articleabout

Ape

Conserva- tioninAfrica.

sualLanguage:Tattoos

and

Piercing.

Humphrey

reflected thisshiftof emphasisin his illustrationof RobertSussman's

article,'Are

Humans

InherendyViolent?"

1995-2005

The

second group ofAnthroNotes®leadarticlesreflecta slow,steady,butdefiniteshiftinemphasisandapproach.

The

articles

became more

globalandenvironmentalintopic;

more

issue-oriented and conflict-focused; and

many

^ar-

ticlesreflectedcollaborationwith indigenous communities.

As

might beexpected,therewerefewerarchaeologicaland

more

cultural articlesduring1995-2005.

Many

ofthese articles reflected a concern with currentand sometimescontentiousissues.Articlescovered suchtopicsasCulturalRelativism andUniversal

Human

Rights; Linguistic Survival

Among

the Mava; Refugees:

Worldwide

Displacement

and

International Response;

CollaborativeEthnography;Diseasein

Human

Evolution;

AggressionandViolencein

Humans;

and

Body

ArtasVi-

mm* n

Conclusion

AutbroNotes® notsurprisingly offersusa reflectionofthe changesthatanthropologyhas

gone

throughoverthepast 30years.

One

canseeagrowing concernwith relevance, social issues,collaboration,andworkingcloselywith

com-

munities, as well as

more

involvementofanthropologists inthesocialandinternational issuesoftheday.It

may

be, infact,thatanthropologyis enteringa

new

phaseof the discipline, looking ahead with

renewed

confidence

and

willingness toaccept

new

^viewsof

what

doinganthropol- ogy means.

From

ahistory that

grew

outof colonialism, anthropologytodayisadisciplinewith

new

agendas,

new

data,

new

technologies,and

new

frameworks.

At

the

same

time, acore four-field approach stillremains atthe heart ofthediscipline.Itislikelythatthetrendsdiscussedin this

paperwillcontinue into the future, along with

new

con- cernsreflectingthecontemporaryworld.

Riitb SeligisaneditorofAntbroNotes®.

[This article

grew

out ofa paperpresented at the 2006

American

Anthropological Association

Annual

Meetingin

SanJose,CA.]

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