John Cady and Ellie Brindle have been nominated, by the Department of Anthropology and the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology (CSDE) respectively, for Distinguished Staff Awards. Best of luck to both!
Assistant Professor Ben Marwick is on research leave with his family in Thailand where he is planning a series of excavations in the incredibly scenic Pang-nga Bay region. He will also be directing an archaeology field school during summer quarter.
Rachel Chapman’s book Family Secrets: Risking Reproduction in Central Mozambique, is hot off the press this winter. The book documents her 18-year relationship with the fast-changing country and its resilient people—stay tuned for news of a reading near you. Chapman’s Royalty Research Grant, “Reducing Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) Loss to Follow-Up from the Clinic to the Community in Central Mozambique,” opens a new chapter in her work and will focus on identifying facility and community-level factors associated with women’s use of AIDS treatment services.
Janelle Taylor presented her research on “standardized patients” (actors who role-play patients in staged clinical encounters with medical students, for purposes of clinical training) at the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University and at the American Anthropological Association meetings in New Orleans. With her other research on issues related to dementia, Taylor co-organized adaylong symposium at UW on "Approaching Dementia: Creativity and Ethics in Caring," presented at the conference "Coming of Age: Dementia in the 21st Century" in London, and gave a keynote address at the conference "Art, Creativity, and Living with Dementia" at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle. Publications on both topics are in the pipeline.
Once again, Miriam Kahn will be taking a group of UW students to French Polynesia in the summer for a study abroad program on “Colonialism in the Pacific.” Her new book, Tahiti Beyond the Postcard: Power, Place and Everyday Life, is available from the UW Press here.
In April-May 2010 Professor Emeritus Charles Keyes presented at a conference in Thailand on “Agrarian Transformations” in Chiang Mai. The timing was fortuitous, as it coincided with a major confrontation between supporters of the "Red Shirts" movement and the government. Since most of the Red Shirts' support comes from northeastern Thailand where Professor Keyes has done long-term field research, he was sought out for interviews with the New York Times and provided an op-ed piece for the Bangkok Post. He has subsequently presented in Sweden, Denmark, Thailand, and at the UW on the topic, and has a forthcoming book on the distinctive political culture of northeastern Thailand.