As we approach the start of a new academic year, HRAF is preparing our new betaversion of eHRAF World Culturesand new materials to support it. We anticipate rolling this out in the coming months and will look forward to receiving your feedback through a member survey. HRAF team members Carol Ember, Ian Skoggard, Teferi Adem, and Matthew Longcore plan to attend the joint conference of the American Anthropological Association and the Canadian Anthropology Society in Vancouver, British Columbia. We hope to see you there!
HRAF is pleased to welcome Ryan Begleyas our new Education, Media, and Outreach Specialist. Ryan creates educational, promotional, and social media materials for HRAF to facilitate cross-cultural research. In addition to working part-time for HRAF, he also works as a Postdoctoral Scholar for the Shenk Research Group at Pennsylvania State University and as a Lecturer for the Department of History and Anthropology at Juniata College.
Ryan earned his doctorate in Anthropology from the University of Missouri in 2015. He conducts fieldwork in rural Bangladesh and is making an ethnographic filmon economic and social change in the region. His most recent scholarship investigated the frequencies and causes of transitions to and from matrilineal kinship systems across societies in the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample.
Our recent post The Social Life of Cheese by Fran Barone takes an anthropological look at one of humankind's favorite food staples. This scholarly but whimsical post explores the history and archaeological origins of cheese, ethnographies of cheese, and the place of artisanal cheese in the modern work of globalization and mass production.
Drawing on research fromeHRAF Archaeologyand eHRAF World Cultures, as well as several other fascinating sources, the post demonstrates how cheese has played a varied cultural and symbolic role in human societies – from being a prized piece of local and national heritage to being wielded as a political tool or economic commodity.
So grab a slice of your favorite cheese and enjoy this educational and entertaining post.
As a member of the SAS executive board, he will continue efforts to promote science within anthropology and anthropology within the broader scientific community. Ian will be attending the SASci/SfAA spring meetings in Albuquerque, New Mexico from March 17-21, 2020. Here is the call for papers.
Ian encourages other scholars to attend the event and submit abstracts. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Ian Skoggard at ian.skoggard.yale.edu.
Check out our open access (free!) collection of sample teaching materials and course syllabi on topics ranging from kinship to nomadism to bizarre foods.
Download and adapt the teaching exercises for your classroom needs. Make the best use of these resources with a full eHRAF membership.
