Grad student Tanvi Avasthi Wins Social Sciences Poster Award

Tanvi Avasthi, B.A./M.A. in anthropology (concentration in Medical Anthropology) won first place award for best Graduate Student Poster in the Social Sciences at GW's Research Day 2 (Arts, Engineering, Humanities, Sciences and Other Topics) on April 2. Prof. Barbara D. Miller was her advisor.

Tanvi's research in India during the summer of 2012 was supported by an award from the Anthropology Department's Lewis N. Cotlow Fund. She studied the construction of the modern Indian identity within the discourse of economic progress and traditional revivalism at a hospital in Bangalore, India. Tanvi looked at individual doctors' representations of modernity, tradition, and personal beliefs concerning the validity of non-Western medicine that is deeply integrated into Indian culture.

For more information, see her website: http://sites.google.com/site/indianbiomed.

Professor Frances Norwood Receives 2011 Margaret Mead Award

Congratulations to Dr. Frances Norwood, Assistant Research Professor in the GWU Department of Anthropology, who was recently selected to receive the 2011 Margaret Mead Award for her book, The Maintenance of Life: Preventing Social Death through Euthanasia Talk and End-of-Life Care – Lessons from The Netherlands (2009). The Margaret Mead Award is presented to a younger scholar for a particular accomplishment such as a book, film, monograph, or service, which interprets anthropological data and principles in ways that make them meaningful and accessible to a broadly concerned public – skills for which Margaret Mead was admired widely. Past recipients of the Margaret Mead Award have included Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Alex Stepick, Paul Farmer, Susan Scrimshaw, Philippe Bourgois, and Leo Chavez.

The Maintenance of Life is about what has developed in one present-day society to address social death and modern dying. It is based on a 15-month ethnographic study of home death in The Netherlands with general practitioners, end-of-life patients and their family members. The book develops from two important study findings: (1) that euthanasia in practice is predominantly a discussion, which only rarely culminates in a euthanasia death; and (2) that euthanasia talk in many ways serves a palliative function, staving off social death by providing participants with a venue for processing meaning, giving voice to suffering, and reaffirming social bonds and self-identity at the end of Dutch life. Ironically, those who engage in euthanasia talk often choose not to die by euthanasia and instead live longer lives as active participants engaged in Dutch social networks even at the end of life.

Dr. Norwood weaves her story beautifully, with ethnographic excerpts opening each chapter telling the stories that make up end-of-life from the perspective of patients, families, and their physicians. Using theory from Michel Foucault and Clive Seale, Dr. Norwood illuminates concepts of discourse and social death through ethnography yet weaves an ethnographic story that is accessible to scholars, policy makers, and families alike. Her book takes a critical look at Dutch euthanasia policy and broader end-of-life practices from a cultural perspective in comparison with U.S. end-of-life practices and policies. It is a book that offers those on any side of the end-of-life debate and those from around the world valuable lessons for maintaining life at the end of life.

The book was recently translated into French and is now also available as Mourir un Acte de Vie (2010).

Click here to learn more about Professor Norwood's research.

For more information on the Margaret Mead Award and past winners visit http://www.aaanet.org/about/Prizes-Awards/AAA-Margaret-Mead-Award.cfm

2011 Lewis N. Cotlow Recipients

The Anthropology Department is pleased to announce the 2011 recipients of Lewis N. Cotlow Awards for anthropological research. The following students will conduct research during the coming months and will present highlights of their findings at the annual conference on student research, which is held on the Friday of Colonials Weekend in October 2011:

Tanvi Avasthi (B.A./M.A. Anth): Identity Politics among Progressive Indian Clinicians
Advisor: Barbara Miller

Carrie Benjamin (M.A. Anth): Talibés and Marabouts: Children's Rights, Development, and Local Perspectives in Saint-Louis, Senegal
Advisors: David Gow and Ilana Feldman

Heather Dingwall (B.S. Bio Anth and B.A. Arch): Analysis of Homo erectus Fossil Footprints from Ileret, Kenya, in the Context of Unshod Daasanach Experimental Prints
Advisor: Brian Richmond

Justin Greco (B.S. Bio Sci and B.A. Arch): Determining Site-Status via Analysis of Maya Ceramics from Say Kah, Belize
Advisors: Jeffrey Blomster and Linda Brown

Cheyenne Lewis (B.S. Bio Anth and B.A. Arch): Use of Dorsal Parturition Pits as a Female Characteristic on the Human Pelvis
Advisor: Douglas Ubelaker

Kate Markham (B.S. Bio Anth): Monitoring Nitrogen and Energy Balance in Wild Bornean Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) in a Peat Swamp
Advisor: Erin Vogel

Alicia O'Brien (B.A. Int Aff): Describing the Gap: The Impact of Identity and Culture for Individuals with Cognitive Disabilities after Transitioning from School
Advisors: Frances Norwood and Barbara Miller

Danielle Pelaez (B.A. Int Aff): 21st Century Pilgrims: Exploring the Transmutation from the Religious Pilgrim to the Secular Adventurer
Advisor: Catherine Allen

Claire Ragozzino (B.A. Intl Aff): West Meets East: The Effects of Western Commodification of Yoga on Indian Yogic Identity and Practice
Advisors: Barbara Miller and Frances Norwood

Rebecca Remis (B.A. Intl Aff): The Chinese Experience in the Organic Movement: A Case Study of Little Donkey Farm
Advisors: Barbara Miller and Robert Shepherd

Tatiana Reyes (B.A. Intl Aff): Working Women: An Ethnography of Tourism and Its Impact on the Women of San Juan del Sur
Advisors: Catherine Timura, Robert Shepherd, Barbara Miller

Kristina Short (M.A. Anth): Materializing Social identity: Ceramic Figurines at Middle and Late Formative Etlatongo
Advisor: Jeffrey Blomster

Since 1990, the Lewis N. Cotlow Field Research Fund has supported over 150 anthropological research projects by GW students in nearly 50 countries. The Fund was created by a $150,000 bequest from the estate of Lewis Cotlow (1898-1987), an explorer, author, and filmmaker who attended GW.

New M.A. concentration in Medical Anthropology approved

The Anthropology Department is pleased to announce that Columbian College has approved a new concentration in Medical Anthropology for our M.A. Program, joining our successful concentrations in Museum Training and International Development. To support this program, we have also created a new graduate course, Anth 255: Topics in Medical Anthropology, to complement the existing medical anthropology seminar (Anth 254). Several courses in Public Health are options within the concentration.

Medical Anthropology will be a 15-credit hour concentration within the 36-hour MA in Anthropology. It will be a very distinct entity within the world of anthropology graduate study, since very few schools have medical anthropology programs and those few seldom offer an M.A. degree. The program is expected to appeal to people who have earned or are working toward graduate degrees in complementary fields, such as Public Health, Public Administration, or Medicine, and who seek to add training in medical anthropology.

The concentration officially becomes available in fall 2011. Interested students should contact Prof. Barbara Miller, barbar@gwu.edu.

Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala presents for the Global HIV/AIDS Program of the World Bank

Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala (MA Anthropology 1985, PhD University of Natal 2000) presented on “AIDS in Southern Africa: A socio-cultural interpretation from USAID's first AIDS anthropologist” at the World Bank on February 2.The presentation discussed some of the potential reasons why HIV prevention programs have not been successful in Southern Africa. Applying an anthropological lens, the presentation examined the common pattern of sexual practices in Southern Africa that makes people especially vulnerable to HIV and suggest ways to improve HIV prevention.

Suzanne is Senior Anthropology Advisor in the Office of HIV/AIDS in the Global Health Bureau of USAID.

Teresa Uczekaj (BS 2009) returns from working with HIV/AIDS hospital in India

Teresa Uczekaj (BS Bio Anth 2009) recently returned from a five-week posting at the Asha Kirana Hospital in Mysore, India.

She reports:

"[The work] was coordinated through a non-profit organization called Pro World Service Corps, the same organization I worked with in Mexico when I led International Alternative Spring Break at GW.

"While I was there I worked on two main projects and several little ones every day. One of the main projects was to collect baseline data on anemia and the progression of HIV/AIDS using in-patient records, and for the other I was asked to write a case study on the challenges facing women living with HIV/AIDS in India. Smaller projects included daily health related activities, demonstrations, and skits for the patients.

"It was an incredible experience on so many levels and I got to meet a lot of extraordinary people!"

Cotlow awardee Abigail Greenleaf with Peace Corps in Cameroon

Abigail Greenleaf (BS Public Health 2007), awarded a Cotlow Research Grant in 2006 for her project "The Journey of a Culture: The Sudanese Immigrant Community in Iowa City, Iowa," is in Cameroon as a health extension worker with the Peace Corps.

She reports:

"I am really enjoying my time here in Cameroon. It is an anthropological heaven! I am living in a compound with a muslim family. There are three wives and over thirty kids so someone is always explaining something to me. The wives are great and are always inviting me to go to naming ceremonies, funerals, etc. I am learning Fulfulde, the local language and hopefully will be able to speak really well by the end of my two years."

Debra Prince (MA 1999) receives teaching position at Boston University School of Medicine

Alumna Debra A. Prince (MA Anth 1999) is working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the Boston University School of Medicine.

According to the School of Medicine's Website, Prince "will be teaching courses in forensic anthropology and journal club studies. Dr. Prince joins the Forensic Anthropology program after serving as a forensic anthropologist at the Joint/POW MIA Accounting Command’s Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii for the past four and a half years."

Debra is a member of The American Academy of Forensic Sciences: Physical Anthropology Section, the Society of Forensic Anthropologists, the International Association for Identification, and the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.

Her research interests include age changes in the human skeleton, skeletal biology, bone trauma, soft tissue decomposition, bioarchaeology, paleodemography, and dental anthropology."

Prof. Grinker speaks at the Autism Science Foundation

As part of a series of lectures entitled "Science and Sandwiches" Professor Grinker gave a July 29 lecture on the science of autism as a cultural system.

According to the Autism Science Foundation website Dr. Grinker:

"emphasized the importance of culture in understanding how societies view illnesses, and discussed how in a variety of different historical contexts, radical shifts in how illnesses are identified, treated, and counted resulted not from new scientific discoveries but from cultural changes. Grinker then noted that a number of factors produced the global rise in autism awareness, with some being more salient than others depending upon cultural context.

"Despite the increase in awareness, Grinker noted that there is little scientific knowledge about ASD outside of North America and Western Europe. Indeed, there are insufficient data to estimate the prevalence of autism in the Caribbean, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and the entire continent of Africa. Although, he said, most researchers expect that the onset and core symptoms of ASD are consistent across cultures, this remains an assumption. He stated that ASD experts to date know little about how genetic heterogeneity and cultural differences interact to influence the kind and range of impairments that are associated with ASD, its prevalence, course, or familial patterns. He concluded by praising advocates – including his own autistic daughter – for showing that autism can be reconfigured as possibility rather than limitation."

Medical anthropologist Catherine Timura joins the Department

Catherine Timura comes to GW through a post-doctoral research and teaching appointment in the Elliott School of International Affairs. Professor Timura is a medical anthropologist who focuses on cultural change and continuity in Latin America. Her dissertation research at Yale University examined therapeutic decision-making in children's illnesses in highland Ecuador and how communities reflect upon their socioeconomic and political marginality in their explanatory models of illness. Her post-doctoral work at Vanderbilt University examined the distribution of illness beliefs and practices in western and southern Mexico and in Mexican migrant commu­nities in Nashville, Tennessee. She has consulted for Poverty Action and the Ford Foundation on a qualitative assessment of development and microfinance projects in Honduras and Peru and has served as a consultant at the World Health Organization. She will teach a graduate seminar on Health, Healing and Change in the Andes (Anth 222) in the fall semester and the undergraduate course on Health, Illness, and Healing (Anth 154) in the spring semester. Her office will be in 1957 E St., NW.

Katie Rhine (BA 2002) takes post as assistant professor at Kansas

Congratulations to Kathryn (Katie) Rhine (BA Anth 2002), who will be working as Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas at Lawrence in August, following completion of her Ph.D. program at Brown University.

Katie was awarded a Fulbright in 2002 to spend a year in Nigeria collaborating with a study on HIV/AIDS hosted by Harvard University. She graduated from GW with special honors for her thesis on reproductive health issues among Congolese immigrants in the Washington area under the supervision of Barbara Miller, then went on to earn her Master's in the Anthropology-Population Program at Brown.