The Program's lecture series on "Peoples and States: Ethnic Identity and Conflict," co-sponsored by the Center for International Studies (CIS), with funding from the MacArthur Foundation and the Office of the Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Science (SHSS) finished a sixth successful year and has scheduled eight speakers for what promises to be an equally exciting seventh year.
During the year we decided to concentrate solely on social anthropology, and will phase in several new subjects during the next two years with an eye towards emphasizing the growth areas of the field, including race and ethnicity, gender studies, and health care. For example, a new subject in "Medical Anthropology: Culture, Society and Ethics in Disease and Health" is targeted at the 20% of the undergraduate population who are enrolled in pre-med majors. Our two remaining archaeologists, Professor Heather Lechtman and Asociate Professor Dorothy Hosler, moved to the Department of Materials Science. The Humanities Visiting Committee wholeheartedly approved our efforts during their visit in March. Effective July 1, 1995, our name will be "Anthropology Program."
Professor Gusterson's leave was supported by an Old Dominion and a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Grant in the Program on Peace and International Security. He published two chapters on weapons scientists in books and has six items in press. Professor Jackson published two refereed articles and two book chapters, three dealing with indigenous rights mobilizing in Colombia, the fourth focusing on her chronic pain research. She also published a book review and has three book chapters in press. Martin Diskin published a peer-reviewed article on fieldwork in Latin America and has another one in press. Professor Fischer published a chapter dealing with science studies in an edited volume, two entries for an encyclopedia on the modern Islamic world, and has five pieces in press.
Anthropology faculty attended conferences and gave lectures in Atlanta, Irvine, Austin, Santa Fe, New Orleans, Chicago, Ithaca, Los Alamos, Stanford, Panama, Hawaii, Boston, Wellesley, New York City, Stockholm, and Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Professor Jackson joined the editorial board of two journals, American Ethnologist, and Journal of Latin American Anthropology. Professor Howe received a grant from the Provost's fund for his project (also supported by the Plumsock Mesoamerican Foundation and the Whiting Foundation) to rescue an historical archive belonging to the Kuna people of Panama.
Michael Fischer was awarded a Fulbright for Brazil, but decided to make two trips to India during his leave. He is also continuing to organize the joint MIT-Harvard Seminar in the Cultural Studies of the Biosciences and Biotechnologies.
One of our visiting scholars, Niels Braroe, is on his second NIMH fellowship supporting research on Cree Indian identity and Cree responses to the political activism developing among aboriginal peoples of North America. This project is part of a longitudinal study begun in 1963.
Despite our reduced numbers, our enrollments remained strong, and our total number of registered concentrators rose to seventy-six.
As the Anthropology Program we will continue to informally search for potential target of opportunity candidates, in particular in Latin American and Hispanic studies and Gender Studies; one was invited to give a talk in the "Peoples and States" seminar series.
MIT Reports to the President 1994-95