Saturday, November 30, 2013

Where Does Your Food Come From?



In March of 2013 Dylan Gordon was selected as one of the Top 25 Storytellers in the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)’s “Storytellers: Research for a Better Life” contest. Dylan is a PhD candidate in Anthropology here at U of T, and I sat down with Dylan to record his 3-minute story on the Canadian wild food trade and to hear more about the Canadian wild food industry and how it works.

I confess, I had never heard of ‘wild food’ before. I have bought corn by the side of the road, purchased baskets of blueberries from kids emerging from the forest with blue stained fingertips and grubby clothes, and gawked at the price of fiddleheads during their short season at the grocery store. But the fact that there is an entire industry and movement surrounding the production of food that is ‘more organic than organic’ had never really occurred to me. I was not aware that foraged mushrooms from Canadian forests were being exported to places as far away as Japan.

Over the hour I spent with Dylan, we talked about the pickers and producers of the wild food industry, perceptions of wild food in popular media, and the global impact that wild food is having on the way we think about where our food comes from. Dylan spoke eloquently about some of the obstacles wild food producers are facing, from environmental pressures to economic ones.  You can listen to the full audio here on the blog, and please watch Dylan’s 3 minute story, “A Treasure Trove in the Canadian Wilderness” – its pure poetry and some great story telling. 

To hear my chat with Dylan, you can check out the audio file from this link!
Dylan Gordon on Wild Food

Friday, November 15, 2013

Futures of Anthropology Panel


So, how do I..... Find a job? Get into grad school? Get work postgrad?

Today I was at the Futures of Anthropology event! The panel included a number of grads and post-grad members of the Anthropology Department speaking about their experiences in the job world, both inside and outside the world of academia. Speakers from all areas of anthropology had come to talk about their experiences in the job market. It was then that I realised - I have no idea how to get a job in the field of Anthropology - no clue where to look, where to start - even what kinds of jobs are out there. So, over the next few weeks I'm going to try to find out. I'll be combing the resources here at U of T, looking to compile them into a series of handy guides - How to apply to grad school, how to find a job if you're an undergraduate, and how to find a job in a grad or post-grad position. On that note - If anyone knows of a resource or wants to submit a website, give an interview, or offer advice - please contact me! It would be great to turn this into a place where we can all come to offer our perspectives on what to do with our anthropology degrees.

What did I learn at the Futures of Anthropology discussion, you may ask? Well, a lot.

To start with, the job market might not be as bleak as it sometimes seems. According to the US Department of Labour, jobs in fields such as Anthropology and Archaeology are going to increase between 22 and 28 percent over the next few years.

So what are some of the options available? One of the more common ones is Cultural Resource Management (CRM). In Canada every development needs salvage archaeology done before building can go ahead - in order to preserve the past. Yes, there are ethical issues - developers want to develop, and it isn't necessarily the hallowed theoretical process we are all trained towards in university. There's also the divide between academia and contract archaeology, though hopefully that will narrow in future years. We have to realise that all archaeologists are equal, no matter what work they do - we are all looking for our origins.

Work for anthropologists can come from a variety of sources - health systems, intervention and community outreach, lab work, etc. Where you work is usually less important than the skills you use in the pursuit of Anthropology. Sometimes its more a matter of presenting oneself. Anthropologists have a great skill set that can be used in many capacities. Interpersonal skills through interviewing and ethnographic work, data collection, collation, and interpretation, critical thinking and analysis - these are all part of an Anthropologists toolkit. It might just be a matter of brushing up one's resume!

So maybe its not hopeless! Here I'll try my best to find the resources that are going to help us all find gainful employment, if only so we can keep doing what we love!

Keep reading,
j.

Monday, November 11, 2013

'Are Tattoos, Piercings and other Body Modifications Natural?' - MA/MSc Candidate Daniel Dick speaks at Got anthropology U of T

On October 23, Daniel Dick (Ma MSc Candidate) gave an exciting presentation for the first Got Anthropology? event at U of T. Got Anthropology? is a speaker series with the goal of bringing anthropological research to the greater community here at U of T.  They will select speakers representing different facets of anthropology to give talks on the 2nd last Wednesday of select months from October to April, making anthropology more accessible!

The subject of Daniel's talk was the many body modifications found in human society, both today and in the archaeological record. His presentation was structured around several key questions: Are body modifications natural? How diverse are they? What are body modifications? How old are they? Where do they come from? and finally, what do they mean?

Scarification
via janeenscharms.com
Throughout the course of the evening Daniel discussed piercings, tattoos, scarification, sub dermal implants, and extreme cases of body modification. Personally, I was enthralled. Beyond having simple ear lobe piercings, I have never considered alternate forms of body modification. However, I do know friends with elaborate piercings or personal tattoos. Sometimes its fun to fantasize about what kind of tattoo or piercing I would get - where would I put it? What would it be of? What part of my life would it represent? The anthropological significance is even more fascinating - Daniel brought issues of cultural appropriation to the forefront of his discussion, questioning whether or not the blending of traditional and religious styles of body modification that have great significance with mainstream culture is acceptable or not.

Pazyryk Ice Maiden
via elizabethtwist.blogspot.com
Some Interesting Facts About Body Modification:
  • Bone, stone, glass, ivory, ceramic, and metal can all be used for piercings
  • The oldies piercings date to 2500 BC and were found at the ancient site of Ur, near modern day Iraq
  • Piercings show up in the archaeological record via their placement - if a metal ring lies next to the head of skeletal remains, there is a good chance it represents a pierced ear
  • The modern tattoo pen was invented by Thomas Edison, while he was creating the Electric Pen
  • The most famous example of ancient tattooing comes from the Pazyryck mummies found in Siberia. One of the most famous, the Ice Maiden, has tattoos dating from 2600 years ago.
  • The Irezumi tattoo style is traditionally Japanese, and has become so associated with the Yakuza that many places of business ban customers with tattoos
  • "Hakuna Matata"
    via fosterrachel.tumblr.com


  • The tattoo commonly referred to as the symbol for 'Hakuna Matata' from Disney's The Lion King actually doesn't mean hakuna matata - Swahili is written in the Latin alphabet, like English. The symbol comes from the Korean comedy movie, 200 Pounds Beauty




Well - that's all for me today. Check back soon for our next post! I've included a link to the Go anthropology? Facebook page below!
got anthropology?