Comments on: Around the Web

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:44:23 +0000

Prudence, I’d be interested to see whether journal publishers prodded by decreased revenues would start cutting titles. That could lead talented academics associated with deceased journals into Open Access or other forms of information distribution.

Anyone notice parallels with the music industry here?

By: Prudence

Prudence — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:15:16 +0000

A question for those who might know: is there anything in the Open Access landscape that might conceivably serve to turn this UC-NPG thing towards formation a broader-based academic labor movement for mobilizing the entire class of content providers against the tyrannies of the Big Media bosses? Can we stand with UC against NPG today, and with the Humanities and Social Sciences against EBSCO Industries tomorrow?

By: Joanna Kirkpatrick

Joanna Kirkpatrick — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:23:17 +0000

Matt says: “Game changer in Afghanistan: …. How about recently discovered mineral deposits worth one trillion dollars! What happens next will be very interesting.”

That’s not all. Here’s an update from The Guardian about Khondhs (once labeled Gonds) in India who’ve been studied off and on by anthropologists such as Verrier Elwin, maybe von Fuerer-Haimendorf, and more recently by American anthropologist Roger Begrich in Jharkand:

Other day the Guardian newspaper published an article by Bianca Jagger on the fight for their lives and culture by the Dongria Khondhs of Orissa. At this point all Indian government agencies except for Forest and Lands have given consent to Vedanta, a global, mostly UK-owned but partly Indian-owned as well, bauxite mining corp., to bulldoze the Khondh’s Niyamgiri Mountain.

Survival International made a short film about these people’s struggle, and updates have appeared on their site:
http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/dongria
Their film, “Mine” can be viewed on this website.

The Guardian link for the Khondh story is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/13/mining-aluminium-tribes-india-jagger

The situation has been complicated by the fact that Maoist Naxal groups have been fighting police and special forces on behalf of the tribals in Orissa, Jharkand and West Bengal (also in MP), as well as counter-insurgency by a government- -supported fake tribal group operating to destroy tribal settlements and people.
The stakes are: huge profits for multinational mining companies. Vedanta is not the only one.

Suggest that anthropologists on this blog who are concerned by the march of global capitalism against the peoples and cultures that we presume to study, who may also be thinking about the recent announcment (not discovery) of huge mineral resources in Afghanistan, should take note of the Orrisa conflict and see if they can help. If you are inclined, check with Survival International on their website–you can donate there.

By: Cali

Cali — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:48:05 +0000

As a recent graduate of the system, STICK IT TO EM UC!!!!

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:40:22 +0000

Aljazeera follows up on the Afghanistan mineral wealth:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/06/2010614125754275336.html

By: Rex

Rex — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 02:33:43 +0000

It’s funny you mentioned Cracked Bell — I’m almost done with it myself. I am a little puzzled by Anthropologywork’s enthusiasm for it (‘startlingly original’? plz). It’s well-turned out in an Oxbridgian way, but not particularly anthropological (occasional mentions of Frederik Barth aside) — in fact it owes more to Tocqueville and a tradition of travel writing than anthropology. It covers the main contours of American life cunningly — the chapter on religion starts with Halloween, for instance — but it is also vaguely presentist (the reader is assumed to want to REALLY know about the effect Obama has on America) and relies heavily on the author’s experience in DC. Its interesting to imagine DC and federal employees as iconic Americans, not the least because of the way it incorporates the south into our national vision. But with so much out there written about American, I’m not sure Riley-Smith would be my first place to go. In comparison Jackson Lears’s new book on gilded age America (or Eric Foner on the American notion of freedom) “Rebirth of a Nation” might be a better place to start — especially if you like venomous screeds against Teddy Rosevelt. But yeah, it is an interesting read and worth taking a look at if you are interested in American culture.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:36:07 +0000

Thanks very much to all my friends who contributed links for this week’s blog.

The next two Monday’s I’ll be on the road with my family. We’re traveling from Virginia to Illinois where I’ll visit with the in-laws, ditch the kids and sneak off to Chicago with my wifey for our ten year wedding anniversary, and reunite my adopted baby with her brother and sister.

Will I be posting Around the Web? In the immortal words of Bart Simpson, “I can’t promise to try, but I’ll try to try.” 🙂