April 14, 2007
Report on Syllabus Project Meeting 2
Amelia, Limor, Mattias, Alfred, and I met on April 11 to go over the original suggestions for the Anthropology of the Contemporary syllabus. I’ve summarized our discussion in the form of a skeletal syllabus. It was agreed that the syllabus shouldn’t focus on the conceptual issues of the anthropology of the contemporary as a mode of inquiry because that would be more of a graduate level undertaking. Rather, we felt it should focus on “problems.” Part One of the course would introduce the problem as a new approach with more theoretical readings, setting conceptual foundations. Part Two (Contemporary Problems) would focus on specific contemporary problems. Read more »
April 9, 2007
Syllabus Project Meeting Wed @ 10 a.m.
We’ll meet Wednesday at 10. The Gifford Room is booked then so we’ll need to find another venue. Does anyone have suggestions?
Everyone should review the wiki page contributions to date.
April 1, 2007
Syllabus Project Meeting
I’m proposing that we meet Wednesday, April 11, from 10 to 12, to discuss the selections that we’ve been compiling on the wiki. Can everyone come then?
Also, a reminder to add by Friday two potential readings for the syllabus on the syllabus project wiki page. Say why, and provide bibliographic information. Also, please add your schedule restrictions to the group calendar page on the wiki, if you have not already.
February 8, 2007
The new (old) future of anthropology
A Forced Anthropology Merger
In 1998, after years of strife, anthropologists at Stanford split their highly respected department in two, with one department more oriented around science and another around culture. Many anthropologists elsewhere were distressed by the split, fearing it signaled an inability of scholars from different parts of the discipline to work together. People wondered if other departments would also divide.
While there are a few similarly split anthropology programs (Duke University being among the more prominent examples), there was no groundswell to divide. And now Stanford’s two anthropology departments are getting back together again.
(continued at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/02/06/stanford)
February 7, 2007
Follow-up: Pedagogy Meeting of 2/7/07
Kevin, Mary and Paul met on Wednesday afternoon as part of the pedagogy cluster. On the metaphorical table was Kevin’s draft syllabus for Anthropology 3AC: Introduction to American Global Anthropology, but the larger issue at hand was to try to think through the pedagogical issues involved in teaching the “anthropology of the contemporary”. here is a short recap:
Read more »
February 5, 2007
Everyone Blog!
To get our blog going, it was decided at today’s Labinar general meeting that everyone should post a blog about either “the” problem of their ongoing research or “a” problem that is concerning them at the moment, explaining why it is important. Everyone should try to do this within the next week. The entry needn’t be long or especially detailed. A couple of succinct paragraphs will suffice.
The purposes of the Lab Notes blog are:
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1. to develop a space for intellectual conversation outside of the classroom;
2. to allow the group to stay informed about what other members of the group are both thinking and doing;
3. to share information, resources, readings, anecdotes; and
4. ultimately, to discover resonances between domains.
Wordpress (the blogging software we’re using) provides most html codes that you’ll need: for boldface, italic, blockquotes, linking to other websites and photo uploads.
A few tips about blogging (picked up in my I-School class last term):
1. use an effective headline (that captures the point of the post)
2. include links in your post as often as possible. Linking improves traffic to the site and allows others to find your post. Linking is considered the art of blogging, captured in the blogospheric motto: “Link as you think.” Discoveries are a great aspect of blogging: sharing things that people might not otherwise know about or find themselves.
3. write clearly and grammatically — although a blog is relatively informal, the writing should not be sloppy.
Notes from General Labinar Meeting Feb 4
Today Anthony Stavrianakis, Mattias Viktorin, Limor Darash, Amelia Moore, Alfred Montoya, Jerome Whitington, Emily Chua, Paul Rabinow, China Scherz, and I met today to discuss our activities this Spring. Kevin Karpiak, Adrian MacIntyre, and Erin Mahaffey couldn’t make the meeting due to schedule conflicts.
Most importantly we discussed the new blog and the less-new wiki. Anthony has been named the Lab Notes blog administrator, so all concerns among our group should be forwarded to him: stavrianakis@berkeley.edu
Also discussed:
– We decided against having a regularly scheduled face-to-face meeting. On the other hand, we hope to have at least one “event” a month throughout the term.
– Paul reported that he and Gaymon are working on a draft statement on
“contemporary equipment.” Amelia and Mattias will be arranging a event
around it.
– Right now the Lab Notes blog has a glitch that requires anyone commenting to log in first. We are attempting to fix this now so that anyone can comment. Only those logged in will be able to post, but anyone will be able to comment.
– I appointed myself the “wiki gardener” and will keep the “current event” section
of that updated, so that everyone can look there for meeting times, dates,
upcoming events. Just click on: this link. If you have questions about using the wiki, you can direct them to me, but of course everyone should be actively editing and adding to the wiki as he or she likes. People who haven’t put something about themselves on their individual wiki pages, should try to do so, at least their contact info.
January 29, 2007
Time Change: Pedagogy Cluster Meeting
Due to a scheduling problem, the Pedagogy cluster’s first meeting will have to be put back a week–to Wednesday, February 7th. Same Bat time (4:20pm), same Bat channel (311 Kroeber), same Bat agenda… (see the old post.)
January 24, 2007
Draft syllabus now available
The draft syllabus to be discussed for the Pedagogy meeting (Wednesday, January 31st at 4:20pm in 311 Kroeber) is now up and available. You can check it out either at the original blog post, or download it below
January 22, 2007
Take a look at “The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age”
It is the title of an online draft of a MacArthur Foundation Occasional Paper on Digital Media and Learning, posted by Cathy Davidson and David Theo Goldberg. They are requesting comments, but actually going a step farther by presenting it as the start of a piece of collaborative writing. I know them from the intensive seminar on new ways of think about and with technology that I took this summer though UCHRI. I think they are making a very genuine effort to think in new ways, and that what they are doing connects with what we are doing. Anyone can comment individually of course, or we could collaboratively draft some feedback if there’s group interest.