wASHINGTON ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL ANTHROPOLOGISTS

News by and about WAPA Members

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  • 15 May 2013 11:51 AM | Suzanne Heurtin-Roberts (Administrator)

    This announcement came to me by email.  I don't know anything about it more than what's listed... Suzanne Heurtin-Roberts

     

    The Epidemiology Research Branch at NIDA has an opening for a program official position to work on tobacco-related epidemiologic research.  Below is a brief description, as well as links to the position announcement and a description of the PATH study, on which the person would have the opportunity to work.  As is now typical, the turnaround time for submitting an application is brief (closing May 19), so please circulate this to any eligible candidates or appropriate listserves.  If you know of anyone who may be interested or who has questions, they should feel free to contact Dr. Marsha Lopez, whose contact information follows this email.

    INTRODUCTION:

    The incumbent serves as a Health Scientist Administrator with responsibility for providing scientific leadership and guidance to the planning, development, implementation and evaluation of assigned biomedical grants and contracts in the Epidemiology Research Branch, Division of Epidemiology, Services, and Prevention Research, at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

    DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

    The incumbent is responsible for providing technical leadership and guidance in a major subject-matter area including those related to research and policy of tobacco use and dependence. The incumbent will stimulate, plan, advise, direct, and evaluate program activities for a portfolio of research projects, research program and other grants/awards, cooperative agreements, and/or contracts in assigned program area.  The incumbent has overall programmatic responsibility for the assigned program area and serves as the primary liaison and contact point for that program for all interactions within and outside the NIH, including the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

    The ideal candidate will have experience and expertise in both substantive (i.e., tobacco use, dependence, and/or related behaviors/outcomes) and methodological (i.e., qualitative and/or quantitative research methods) areas directly related to research and policy of tobacco use.  Additional expertise in regulatory issues and/or addiction associated biomarkers is desired but not required.  Some travel is anticipated for this position.

    Information on PATH study:

    http://www.drugabuse.gov/news-events/news-releases/2011/10/fda-nih-announce-joint-study-tobacco-use-risk-perceptions

    TO APPLY:

    https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/343592500 - DE Vacancy

    https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/343591400 - MP Vacancy

  • 13 Apr 2013 5:57 PM | WAPA Communications (Administrator)
    Sue Taylor, Ph.D., is the principal investigator in a project, Washington, D.C., Civil War Contraband Ethnography Study (1861-1877), sponsored by the National Parks Service (NPS) and administered as a cooperative agreement through the Chesapeake Watershed Ecosystem Studies Unit and American University.  She is seeking information on African American Civil War refugees (called "contraband") and  the post-Civil War communities surrounding Civil War Defenses managed by the NPS in National Capital Parks East and Rock Creek. This includes Forts Davis, Dupont, Mahan, Battery Kemble, Reno, Slocum, and Bunker Hill.  Anyone with information about the history of these communities should contact suetaylor@verizon.net.
  • 13 Apr 2013 5:52 PM | WAPA Communications (Administrator)
    Ennis Barbery, student representative on the WAPA board was recognized at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology in Denver, CO, March 21, 2013, for her entry in the Tourism and Heritage Topical Interest Group  (TIG) Student Paper Competition. Her paper entitled, "Negotiating Authority, Sharing Heritage Resources, and Increasing Relevance along a National Historic Trail" won first runner-up in the competition.
  • 22 Feb 2013 9:17 PM | Terry Redding
     

    Since 1981, WAPA’s biennial Praxis Award has recognized outstanding achievement in translating anthropological knowledge into action as reflected in a single project or specific, long-term endeavor. Ideal candidates are anthropologists, particularly those working outside of academia, who can demonstrate the value of anthropological theory and methods in work that impacts the public good.  This is not a career or lifetime achievement award, but one that recognizes the value of applying anthropology to everyday problems and issues.

    Award recipients receive a $1000 stipend and will be recognized at the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology (NAPA) business meeting, held during the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in November 2013. 

    Competition entries are due July 1, 2013 and should clearly demonstrate how the applicant used anthropology to effectively address contemporary human problems. The competition for this prestigious award is open to anyone holding an MA or PhD in any subfield of anthropology. WAPA strongly encourages nominations (including self-nominations) from individuals, groups or organizations wherein at least one anthropologist worked on and influenced the designated project. Entries are also encouraged from anthropologists worldwide. All entries will be reviewed according to the same set of criteria by an expert panel of anthropological practitioners.

    Application information is available under the “Praxis Award” link on this website. Nominations must include a cover page and a 5 to 10-page descriptive essay. Entries will be strengthened by supporting letters, public testimonials and media releases from project clients and beneficiaries (not colleagues). 

    To better understand the types of achievements that merit the award, see the Praxis Award Recipients document under the "Praxis Award" link, which lists all prior winners and presents the abstracts of their competition entries.

    Winners may be asked to give a presentation for WAPA, if feasible, and to contribute a chapter to a future edition of Anthropological Practice: Translating Knowledge into Action (Robert M. Wulff and Shirley J. Fiske, Eds.).

    WAPA members are encouraged to share information about the Praxis Award with colleagues and contacts, and should feel free to forward this message to various lists and groups as relevant. Members may also refer the names of potential award candidates to the Praxis Committee for direct contact.

    Applications will not be accepted after the July 1, 2013 deadline.

     

    For additional information, contact:

    Terry Redding
    2013 Praxis Award Committee Chair
    Email: terrymredding (at) yahoo.com
    Phone:  202-462-9124

  • 12 Feb 2013 4:08 PM | Suzanne Heurtin-Roberts (Administrator)

    The AAA's Committee on Public Policy (CoPP) launched the  new Anthropology in Public Policy Award  at the November 2012 AAA meeting in San Francisco. The deadline for the award (briefly described below) has been extended to March 15, 2013.  The announcement is in the current issue of Anthropology News online at http://www.anthropology-news.org/

      For details regarding the award and nomination materials please go tothis link:  http://www.aaanet.org/cmtes/ppc/AIPP-award.cfm  Clicking on that link will take you to information about the award and how to apply.  

    The award was established  to honor anthropologists whose work has had a significant, positive influence on the course of government decision-making and action. Public policy is broadly defined to include measures created by any level of government and addressing the full range of contemporary human problems.

    For inquiries, please contact the award committee chair, Merrill Singer, at merrill.singer@uconn.edu.

  • 01 Feb 2013 5:23 PM | Ruth Sando
    WAPA's own Susan Mazur-Stommen was interviewed for a recent article in the New York Times, "What  Does It Mean To Be Comfortable?"  Susan works in D.C. for the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy and will be our guest speaker next May.  Click on the link to read the article, and put May 7th on your calendar to hear her talk about "Ethnographies of Energy."  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/magazine/what-does-it-mean-to-be-comfortable.html?_r=0
  • 13 Aug 2012 8:06 AM | Jennifer Talken-Spaulding

    The vacancy announcement for the supervisory anthropologist position, the lead position of the newly formed Tribal Relations and American Culture Division for the National Park Service, is now open. The position is open to both merit promotion and all sources candidates.  This announcement has an opening date of 08/10/12 and a closing date of 09/10/12.  Please share this announcement widely!

    Link for all sources announcement

    Link for merit promotion (current federal employees)

  • 01 Feb 2012 11:00 PM | Ruth Sando
    Left Coast Press has notified WAPA that its new publication, "Applying Anthropology in the Global Community," has just been published.  It contains chapters by several of our members and one, Mary Odell Butler is also one of the editors.
    If you are trying to keep up with the growing literature about applied anthropology, this book offers a range of experience-based information.  To provide an idea of the contents, here are the chapters:

    Introduction
    Christina Wasson, Mary Odell Butler, Jacqueline Copeland-Carson

    1 Global Localities and the Management of Infectious Disease
    Mary Odell Butler

    2 Engendering Transport: Mapping Women and Men on the Move
    Mari Clarke

    3 Housing Interests: Developing Community in a Globalizing City
    Jacqueline Copeland-Carson

    4 Policy, Applied Feminist Anthropological Practice, and the Traffic in Women
    Susan Dewey

    5 Global Climate Change from the Bottom Up
    Shirley J. Fiske

    6 International Migration and Aging
    Madelyn Iris

    7 Defining Family: Practice and Policy in Child Welfare
    Susan Racine Passmore

    8 Internationalism and Systems Thinking in Community and Public Health
    Eve C. Pinsker

    9 Localizing the Global in Technology Design
    Susan Squires and Christina Wasson

    Conclusion: Toward a Practice-based Ethnography in the Global Village
    Jean J. Schensul and Mary Odell Butler

    The book is available in both hardback and paperback, and can be purchased through the publisher's website: http://www.lcoastpress.com/book.php?id=372
  • 30 Aug 2011 10:24 AM | WAPA Communications (Administrator)

    Congratulations to WAPA member, Dr. Frances Norwood, 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, that 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 include 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) Euthanasia in practice is predominantly a discussion, which only rarely culminates in a euthanasia death; and (2) 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 US 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).


  • 29 Mar 2011 3:55 PM | WAPA Communications (Administrator)

    Commemorating Hell: The Public Memory of Mittelbau-Dora will be the topic of discussion at the Silver Spring Civic Center at One Veterans’ Plaza (corner of Elsworth and Fenton Streets in Silver Spring) on April 17 at 2 PM.  Written by Gretchen Schafft and Gerhard Zeidler, it is the story of the Nazi concentration camp, Mittelbau-Dora in Nordhausen, Germany where V-1 and V-2 rockets were assembled under the direction of Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph, who later were pioneers in the U.S. space program.  The camp held 60,000 prisoners, of whom 20,000 did not survive.  It was later commemorated by the communist government of East Germany and after 1989 by unified Germany.  How these displays of deeply disturbing history affected the towns’ people and how they reconciled with their many memories of WW II lays the groundwork for a socio-cultural analysis of public remembrance under extreme circumstances.

    You are cordially invited to this free talk and to supper following at the Schaffts’ house, 1222 Noyes Drive, Silver Spring, MD 20910 (phone 301-588-6013).  Please RSVP to gschafft@verizon.net only if you are coming for the supper.  We will be delighted to have you!

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