News

Graduate Colloquium: Family Farms, Soil Conservation, and Environmental Policies in the Brazil Caatinga

Desertification means land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid and it is a global crisis that affects more than 100 countries in the world, not only in the poorest countries but also in developing countries and rich ones. Desertification is produced by a combination of climate, our own mistakes, ignorance, and actions and it is triggered mainly by the overuse of land and unsustainable agricultural practices (overcropping, overgrazing, poor irrigation, and deforestation) which lead to a loss of natural vegetation and healthy soil leading to silted bodies of water. The United Nations show that every year about 6 million hectares of land become unproductive. However, we can mitigate this process with practical solutions to desertification and political will. This presentation is about a multidisciplinary team who has worked with family farmers with agroecological actions to prevent erosion in order to recover Caatinga biome and its rational uses, to conserve natural resources and Caatinga preservation. Also, this collaborative work has led to a proposal of policies for governments to help family farmers to keep these activities in order, and ultimately, to mitigate climate change.

Magda Maria Guilhermino

Associate Professor at The Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, BRAZIL

Staff Undergraduate Advising Not Available

Drop-in advising is not available while we recruit for a new staff member. Urgent matters can be sent to undergradadvise@anth.ucsb.edu or you may contact the Faculty Undergraduate Advisor, Prof. Aaron Blackwell.

Pizza Talk: "Applied Medical Anthropology Inside/Outside the Academy"

"Applied Medical Anthropology Inside/Outside the Academy"

Hillary Haldane, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Quinnipiac University

In this talk, Hillary Haldane (PhD alumna 2007) discusses the importance of applied medical anthropology as a field inside the university context, particularly in the undergraduate curriculum, and beyond, in the world of non-governmental organizations, government institutions, and widespread policy application. Dr. Haldane will discuss the importance for students to build and maintain collaborative networks, transdisciplinary knowledge, and ability to translate arcane anthropological ideas into digestible units. Dr. Haldane will highlight the work she has done for various governments in her capacity as an applied medical anthropologist, and how her work at an undergraduate focused university taught her the importance of teaching anthropology in the general education.

Hillary Haldane is an internationally recognized expert of gender-based violence, Indigenous rights, and the political-economy of the culture concept. She became interested in anthropology, and specifically the cultures of the South Pacific, when her family moved to Aotearoa New Zealand from California in 1982. Since 1997 she has conducted research in Dunedin, Auckland and Christchurch, examining the bicultural and multicultural provisioning of services to survivors of violence, with a theoretical focus on the culture concept. Aotearoa means the "land of the long white cloud" and Maori share a linguistic history with peoples in the Eastern Pacific stretching far north to the islands of Hawai'i.In 2017 Dr. Haldane carried out comparative research in Australia during her time as a Fulbright Senior Scholar. Dr. Haldane studied anthropology at San Diego State University, University of California Santa Barbara, University of Texas at Austin, University of Sussex (England), and University of Otago (Aotearoa New Zealand). Dr. Haldane has published two influential volumes with her long-time collaborator and colleague, Dr. Jennifer Wies, numerous journal articles and book chapters, policy papers, and advocacy reports in her areas of expertise. Dr. Haldane and Dr. Wies co-edit the book series Cross-Cultural Studies in Gender-Based Violence with Lexington. Dr. Haldane teaches courses on cultural anthropology, gender/sex/sexuality, gender-based violence, medical anthropology, development, ethnographic methods, and campus rape.

Prof. Emerita Barbara Voorhies Publishes Book on Prehistoric Indian Games

Prehistoric Games of North American Indians is a collection of studies on the ancient games of indigenous peoples of North America. The authors, all archaeologists, muster evidence from artifacts, archaeological features, ethnography, ethnohistory, and to a lesser extent linguistics and folklore.