March 12–16, 2006
The New Landscapes of Inequality
Jane L. Collins, Co-Chair
Professor
Department of Rural Sociology
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Micaela D. Leonardo, Co-Chair
Professor
Department of Anthropology
Northwestern University
Brett Williams, Co-Chair
Professor
Department of Anthropology
American University
How is neoliberal globalization reconfiguring inequality in the contemporary U.S.? This is the question addressed by ten scholars who gathered at the School for Advanced Research in March 2006. The goals of the Seminar were to explore shifting stratifications by race, class, gender, nationality, and sexual orientation while considering the evolving cultural formations that articulate, rationalize, and protest these shifts, including the new spatial dynamics of American inequality.
April 30–May 4, 2006
Cultural Perspectives on Cancer: From Metaphor to Advocacy
Juliet McMullin, Co-Chair
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of California, Riverside
Diane Weiner, Co-Chair
California Native American Research Center for Health
From expressions such as “the war on cancer” to “poverty as a cancerous blight,” cancer is steeped in metaphors. Anthropologists have spent the last few decades both creating and explicating these metaphors. Their work has examined cancer symbols and etiologies, concepts of risk, prevention and detection, treatment and healing, communication practices, the role of gender, and science’s ability to progress in finding cancer genes, to name a few.
October 29–November 2, 2006
Soils, Dryland Agriculture, and Social Complexity in Ancient Hawai’i: A Model System for Human Ecodynamics
Patrick V. Kirch, Chair
Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of California, Berkeley
December 3–7, 2006
The Emergence of Leadership: Transitions in Decision Making from Small-Scale to Middle-Range Societies
John Kantner, Co-Chair
Vice President of Academic and Institutional Advancement
School for Advanced Research
Kevin Vaughn, Co-Chair
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
Pacific Lutheran University