Archaeology in Peru

I had the opportunity to travel to Peru last month to help Dr. Haagen Klaus catalog and photograph some of the findings that have been excavated recently. If you'd like to see some of my photos from the trip, drop by my Flickr photoset.

Documentary film screening September 20, 2011

Entering the Job Market

For many the transition from academic field to the corporate world can be an awkward one, especially when few employers know or value what it means to be an Anthropologist.To help those of you who are making this transition we've attached a link that will (hopefully) make the transition a little easier (especially when it comes to being interviewed).

Interview questions for people with Anthropology degrees

(There is a light at the end of the tunnel)

Good Luck to all of you!

New President

So I'm Michael Booth, the new president of the Anthro Club as Kat mentioned. I'll be spending the next few weeks working with Kat to transition club responsibilities et. I will be joining the online social network type of stuff and will have a profile on facebook and edit that page along with the others who are currently doing so. My facebook account can be found with my email: michaelbooth28@mac.com. Please give me some feedback on what types of activities may interest you and what I can do to get your participation in the club. Thank you and feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Announcement

Due to circumstances beyond my control I will no longer be serving as your club president.  Mike Booth has graciously agreed to step up and replace me.  Mike does not have a facebook account so I will need someone to manage announcements and the club page on facebook.  Could someone please let me know if they would be willing to take over the admin duties on there for me soon as I would like to be able to transition sooner than later?

Mike is a Junior at UVU in the Anth program and is very excited to help build the program.  He is also planning on mentoring next year's president and ensuring the vitality and longevity of our club. I hope that we can plan an activity soon so people can get to know each other and start to renew the activity level of our club.

I am sincerely sorry that I cannot continue to be your president and hope to see many of you at our activities this year.  Please expect contact information and details from Mike in the next week.

Thank you,

Kat

call for books, yikes.

hey guys,

I'm taking ethnographic methods in the fall and was wondering if anyone wanted to sell me their Ethnographers Toolkit (the required text for the class). If interested email me at erik_thor@yahoo.com and name your price. Thanks!

-Erik F.

Theology and Anthropology

Recently, Kat posted a message on Facebook that was proposal to have Father Gustavo Gutierrez come to UVU to speak on Liberation Theology (hereafter referred to as LT). Father Gutierrez played a central role in the genesis and development of LT in Latin America and its subsequent influence throughout the world. LT isn't necessarily something that does not concern anthropologists. Recently, there has been an influx of work by anthropologists that deals with the theoretical issues that are unearth when tackling with Christianity and christian peoples (many of whom are traditionally the subjects of ethnographies). Regardless of wither or not Father Gutierrez is able to come to UVU or Dr. Minch is able to teach a course on LT this year I thought it may be useful to post some links to some material that may be of interest to some of you.

The most prominent books that cover the intersection of theology and social sciences, or anthropology more specifically are: Douglas Davies' Anthropology and Theology and John Milbank's Theology and Social Theory. David Martin's Reflections on Sociology and Theology is also a good collection of essays. Davies is a social anthropologist and theologian from the University of Durham in the UK who has done extensive work on the Anglican Church and Mormons. He also happens to be the advisor for Jason Singh, who taught at sociology UVU several years ago. Milbank is one of the most respected and controversial theologians today. His call for "radical orthodoxy" has profoundly influence the trajectory of a great deal of contemporary theology and social science's perspective on theology. Much of this is do to his virtual assault on the social sciences. Martin was one of the first sociologist to take theorizing about theology seriously and is an incredibly influential figure in both Latin American studies and in the sociology of religion.

Probably the most prominent figure in the anthropological world that deals with theology is Joel Robbins. He is an incredibly talented writer and his work on Christianity is foundational to the discipline today. His article "Anthropology and Theology: An Awkward Relationship" is kind of a rallying cry for anthropologists to pay more attention to not only Christianity, but also to the theological underpinnings of the many of the tenets of Christianity.

John Comaroff has also written an interesting article that is worth looking at. Its called "Reflections on the Rise of Legal Theology." Its not necessarily about LT but it does discuss the development of a kind of theology that LT has butted against throughout the years.

One particularly promising scholar to come on the scene recently is Jon Bialecki. Bialecki's work on the California church of the Vineyard provides a good discussion of the confluence of theology, charisma, and politics. His article "Disjuncture, Continental philosophy's new 'political Paul,' and the question of progressive Christianity in a Southern California Third Wave church"is probably the most poignant for the discussion of LT, although LT isn't really the focus of the article. Instead it is a particular reading of Badiou's interpretation of St. Paul that drives the story behind the ethnographic vignette of the article.

Although it is not really particular to anthropology I thought that because of the surrounding environment of UVU and the demographics of many of its students some of you may appreciate some resources on the discussion of LT within the Mormon community. Currently the most prominent group within the Mormon Community that explores LT is The Mormon Worker, a zine and blog devoted to Mormonism and Anarchism. Dennis Potter, of the philosophy department at UVU, has written a draft for a larger work on LT and the Book of Mormon. However, it is not meant for citation. I'll post it here, just because I can no longer find it on his website. Lastly, Robert McAfee Brown and Warner Woodworth have an interesting dialogue on LT in Mormonism in Dialogue With Contemporary Christian Theologies.