WAPA program calendar archive

MEMBERSHIP

PRAXIS AWARD

Location: Mie N Yu Restaurant, Venetian Reception Room
3125 M Street, NW., Georgetown
Washington, DC 20007
www.MieNYu.com

Every Fall WAPA gathers at a different Washington DC neighborhood to experience the rich diversity that our great city offers. The WAPA Tribe is gathering once again for the first event of the 2008-2009 season! Join your fellow anthropologists, friends and family in the heart of Georgetown for this annual event!

Indulge your senses with the sights and sounds of "A Silk Road Celebration" at Mie N Yu!
Mie N Yu combines Contemporary American cuisine with flavors from Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. Mie N Yu will have a delicious blend of hors d'oeuvres and appetizers for our reception, as well as themed music for the environment and stunning Belly Dancer performances!

Directions: It's on M St NW in Georgetown between Wisconsin and 31st St., or just see the map.

The strategic importance of the oil-rich Niger Delta -- to global energy markets and to national and regional stability -- is a persistent theme widely discussed in policy and military circles, development agencies, human rights and peace organizations, and the popular media. Dissent surrounding fifty years of oil activity in the region has gained intensity in the past two decades. Violence is now well entrenched, claiming over 1,000 lives annually and posing a threat to local livelihoods and welfare and to the national and global economy and security. Political will inside and outside Nigeria to address the region has been weak, built internally on a stated policy of "carrot and stick." Approaches to peacemaking, strategic planning, and regional development have been largely ineffective and often counterproductive.

The history of Nigeria's delta region shows that the interplay between oil, state, and society accounts for the current downward spiral in social and economic indicators. A common thread in this process has been the influence of ethnic identity on political economy and resource control among three principal stakeholder groups: oil companies, governments, and an ethnically diverse society.

As a basis for discussion, this talk will offer an overview, drawing on specific examples, of ethnic patterns of interaction beginning in the colonial period and continuing through conflicting expectations created in the modern era of oil production. Consideration will be given to issues of reciprocity and exchange, ownership of resources, social inclusion, structures of authority, warfare and territoriality, spiritual life, and use of media and persuasion. Most important is the evolution of ethnic identity as a social, political, and militant force which now shapes the conflict in the region.

Deirdre LaPin holds a Ph.D. in African Studies, with a focus on anthropology and expressive culture, and an MPH in international health. She now works as an international development specialist with longstanding experience across industry, government, multilateral agencies, and academia. For a dozen years she designed and managed programs and projects in social and health development for major donor organizations. She then joined the private sector as a development expert and community advocate, shaping best practice corporate social investments. She is currently a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars pursuing research on the Niger Delta.

In 2007 Dr. LaPin completed a study for the US Institute of Peace on corporate strategies for peace and development in the Delta region. For the International Finance Corporation she has evaluated the institution's stakeholder engagement projects worldwide and designed the first website on community development in extractive industry (www.commdev.org). She also serves as an advisor to the World Bank on its program strategy for the Niger Delta.

Previously, Dr. LaPin served as social investment manager in Oman for a major oil company in 2002-2003. This assignment expanded an earlier role in the Niger Delta where for five years she led the design, staffing, implementation, and evaluation of a $60 million/year sustainable community development program serving the oil producing region. Dr. LaPin also previously managed a worldwide health and population communications project for USAID and held senior UNICEF field positions in planning and implementing the country programs for Somalia and Benin. Dr. LaPin's prior academic experience includes university teaching and research in Nigeria and the United States. For more information see:

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.item&news_id=478897

Location: Harbour Square, 510 N Street, SW, Apt. N527, Washington, DC 20024. Click here for mapquest, or here for a map.
It's a long block from the Waterfront-SEU Metro (Green Line). There is parking on the street and in the Safeway lot at the Metro station. There is also usually parking on Water Street in the big lots used by the tourist boats. Report to the gatehouse for admission to the building and elevator. If you get lost call 202-554-6316.

Members can bring a guest, and visitors are welcome. This will be an open pot luck so bring a dish if you wish: WAPA will provide a light meal including wine and beer.

Please RSVP by Dec. 4 by sending a message to Shirley at wapapresident@yahoo.com.

Tuesday, January 13 Subject: Use of Anthropological Theory in the Design and Implementation of Programs and Projects

Special WAPA Salon
Sumner School, 7 pm. Dinner at 5:30, Cafe Luna

Please join our discussants, Drs. John Mason, Mark Edberg, and Laurie Krieger, who will each speak briefly about their experiences. We will all then have a chance to ask questions and discuss the topic of the use of anthropological theory. Light snacks and (non-alcoholic) beverages will be served.

The Discussants:

John Mason received his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology and African Studies from Boston University. He has a long and distinguished career primarily in applied but also in academic anthropology. He focuses on international work and has worked in over 40 countries. Dr. Mason has been a project manager, independent consultant, program manager, and faculty member. He has led or served on numerous program and project evaluations and has also specialized in strategic planning and performance monitoring. He is currently an independent consultant.

Mark Edberg holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Virginia and a M.A. in International Relations from the University of California-Los Angeles and an M.A. in Applied Anthropology from The American University. He is an applied and academic anthropologist. He has worked in applied anthropology for almost 20 years in social marketing, communication, program design, and evaluation. Most of his work has been in the United States, but he has also worked in Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently he is Associate Professor in the Department of Prevention and Community Health/School of Public Health and Health Services and in the Anthropology Department at The George Washington University.

Laurie Krieger received her Ph.D. in Anthropology and M.A. in Anthropology and Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been an applied medical anthropologist for over 20 years and has also worked in the academy. Almost all of her work has been international and she has worked in over 20 countries. She has worked primarily in health communication, social change, gender issues, training, policy, and evaluation. She is currently Senior Advisor, Health and Social Science at The Manoff Group.

Several WAPA members will lead discussions and share their expertise on job and career opportunities in the DC area. Ruth Sando and Shirley Buzzard will hold a round-table on consulting and starting your own business. Jenny Masur will discuss employment opportunities and application procedures with the U.S. government. Frances Norwood and Deborah Murphy, WAPA's jobs coordinators, are to discuss networking, informational interviews, and interviewing skills. John Mullen, WAPA's membership coordinator, and principle at WSSI/Thunderbird Archeology, will speak about the job options in contract archaeology and cultural resource management.

The American Anthropological Association is revising the ethics statement that sets guidelines for all anthropologists. Few things are more important than understanding the issues and concluding where you would like to see our association and the profession/discipline stand on major issues. To help us with the discussion will be Damon Dozier, Director of Public Affairs for the AAA. David Vine, assistant professor of anthropology at American U, will be on hand to offer the viewpoint of the Network of Concerned Anthropologists, a group that supports a hard look at the use of anthropologists in the military.

A WAPA Board Meeting will proceed the meeting at 5 p.m., at the Beacon Hotel, 1615 Rhode Island Ave N.W. This will be followed by a pre-meeting dinner with the speakers.

Join us in DC's Columbia Heights neighborhood for happy hour at a favorite local hangout, the Wonderland Ballroom, 1101 Kenyon St NW, Washington, DC 20010, (202) 232-5263. It's about 10 minutes east of the Columbia Heights Metro station (Green Line), at Kenyon and 11th streets NW. See their website for more information: http://www.thewonderlandballroom.com/. From the Columbia Heights metro station, walk 2 blocks east on Irving St., then turn left on 11th and walk one block north to Kenyon. They're on the northwest corner in an extremely unassuming building. There are outdoor picnic tables; weather and crowd permitting you will find WAPA there. If you can't find us, ask. Everyone is welcome; bring a friend!

Speaker: Filmmaker and Public Anthropologist Nina Shapiro-Perl, Public Anthropologist in Residence at American University

A PhD anthropologist, Shapiro-Perl has been working outside the academy for 25 years; as a producer at Maryland Public Television, the Service Employees Union, on the documentary film Through the Eye of the Needle: The Art of Esther Nisenthal Krinitz, and now Unseen & Unheard: Documentary Storytelling in the Other Washington. The discussion may include samples of various films. In the past year, Nina has been introducing film-making techniques to students using very innovative, community-based teaching techniques.

The May WAPA Happy Hour, starting anytime after 5:30 p.m., will be at Bar Louis, near the Gallery Place Metro. Bar Louis is part of the Verizon Center complex and is only a few blocks from Metro Center. The address is 701 7th Street (between G and H). They have an outdoor patio and we will be there if weather permits. Please RSVP to wapapresident@yahoo.com if you plan to attend, so we can save enough space for everyone. The Bar Louis phone is (202) 638-2460. An area map can be found online. Remember to bring an anthropologist who is not a WAPA member.

A salon on Anthropologists as Managers with Adam Koons (IRD), Mari Clark (recently retired from the World Bank), and Phil Herr (GAO) (light refreshments provided).

A special lunch is scheduled at the Cactus Cantina, 3300 Wisconsin Avenue, NW. WAPA will cover food costs but requests a $5 contribution each; participants will also pay for their own drinks.

This special workshop will include discussions and break-out sessions on building successful resumes and curriculum vitas, presenting yourself in an interview, and successful networking strategies within and outside of anthropology. Speakers will include Anna Litman and Marie Spaulding, Career Advisors with American University, and Michelle Carnes, Public Health Analyst, SAMHSA. We can accommodate up to 50 attendees; everyone is welcome to attend. Refreshments will be served.

Anna Litman, MA, Career Advisor, Career Center at American University
Anna advises CAS students on a variety of career topics, such as choosing a major or career path, identifying and evaluating job or internship opportunities, and writing an effective resume or cover letter. She also helps students to develop networking skills, practice interviewing, and better understand their interests, skills, and work values through career related self-assessments, including the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Strong Interest Inventory.

In her advising, Anna draws on her prior career counseling experience with community organizations, as well as on many years of professional work as a language instructor, translator/interpre ter, educator, and researcher. Her professional background also includes 10 years at the World Bank as a consultant for projects in education, health, and social safety nets in European and Central Asian countries.

Degrees:
MA, Higher Education Administration, George Washington University
MA, equivalent in Language Instruction, The National Pedagogical University ( Moscow , Russia )

Marie Spaulding, MA, Career Advisor, Career Center at American University
Marie, who joined the Career Center in 1987, advises students in the College of Arts and Sciences. She helps students, whose majors range from anthropology to women’s and gender studies, to find challenging internship positions that qualify for academic credit. She also advises on career planning, job search strategies, resume design, interview techniques, and networking. Additionally, Marie interprets the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, an instrument that can help students identify majors and careers that suit their personality traits and interests.

In addition to advising, Marie tracks trends and tools in new media to monitor their value for job searching, networking, and education. Her passions also extend beyond advising - she loves all art forms and is even a licensed pilot for single-engine planes. Her diverse life experiences include her work at AU, as well as in teaching, social work, city planning, arts administration, and fundraising.

Degrees
MA, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 1977
BA, Political Science, Brown University, 1968

Michelle Carnes, PhD, Public Health Analyst, SAMHSA
Michelle M. Carnes earned her doctorate in Public Anthropology in Spring of 2009 in the Race Gender and Social Justice track at American University. Her dissertation focuses on Black working class women's same-sex desiring erotic parties in Washington , D.C. where Black women find acceptance, affirmation, and encouragement to be positively sexual and to receive culturally-competent health information in a nurturing, judgment-free environment.

Michelle is dedicated to supporting, promoting and creating grassroots health promotion efforts to increase linguistically and culturally comprehensive health access, health literacy and health empowerment for all people. Following her passion for public health as an essential human right, she now works as a Public Health Analyst and Federal Project Officer at the Center for Abuse Prevention at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Michelle works closely with community grantees to develop culturally competent prevention programming, core competencies and trainings to reduce abuse among women, racial/ethnic minorities and LBGTQ communities. She is an active WAPA member.

Beacon Hotel, Rhode Island & 17th Streets NW, just one block from Sumner School, Dupont Circle metro.

Location: The Reef, http://www.thereefdc.com/
2nd Level (The Reef Level)
2446 18th Street, NW, Adams Morgan

Cost: FREE (A tip jar will be on hand to offset costs; $5 is suggested)
Open to all WAPA members, friends, and guests.

This first event of the year for WAPA will prove to be one of the best ever! Many activities are planned, including historical presentations about the Adams Morgan neighborhood. We will have a wonderful hors d'oeuvres light buffet highlighting the Reef's specialties. Guests can also order meals and drinks. Welcome back your friends and make new acquaintances.

A live Flamenco/Gypsy style acoustic guitar performance is also planned. A WAPA board meeting will precede the party at 2 p.m.

The event will be held on the famous "Reef" level of the restaurant, which features MANY very large salt water fish tanks with species from all over the globe. You can sit back and relax while viewing their exotic collection of fish, making you wish you were diving the reefs of Belize. The flame-stained copper bars and water-tank bar ceiling are also eye-catchers. The rooftop offers perfect views of the Adams Morgan neighborhood where you can enjoy cocktails and conversation.

The Reef specializes in unique and interesting beers and they're more than happy to tell you all about them and let you sample. Their kitchen provides dishes with only the highest quality organic produce and free-range meats, all provided by local farmers. The menus are planned with organically grown seasonal vegetables, free-range poultry and meats, fair-catch seafood, honest flavors and satisfying meals, at fair prices.

Directions:
Metro Red Line to Woodly Park/Zoo. From there you can take the Adams Morgan U Street Connection Bus (free with metro transfer) directly to 18th Street (pull the stop cord when you pass Columbia Road). The Reef is about 50 meters down 18th street from the bus stop, between Columbia Road and Belmont Street on 18th Street, NW.

Join the members of WAPA for an open discussion on the roles of anthropologists in times of war. Two discussion leaders will help explore topics such as the historical role of anthropologists actively engaging the government and military in use of anthropological knowledge assisting US and other governments in war campaigns, as well as current issues of the disciplines role in Human Terrain Systems (HTS) in the "War on Terror". We will also discuss the "Pledge of Non-participation in Counter-insurgency". To prepare for participation, please review the information on the link at: http://concerned.anthropologists.googlepages.com/home

The two scheduled discussion leaders are Dr. Andrew Bickford from George Mason University and Dr. David Vine from American University. This meeting will start a half hour earlier than normal to allow for sufficient presentations, discussion, and questions and answers.

The meeting will begin at 6:30 pm. The informal pre-meeting dinner will begin at 5 pm at Cafe Luna (near the corner of 17th and P streets, NW ).

The debate and discussions around this issue are topical, very wide and expanding rapidly. WAPA would like to present this discussion in a very neutral way, allowing both sides of the argument to be explored in an open and honest forum. To help prepare, please see the web links below as well as other sources to become familiar with the discussion:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBZ/is_4_85/ai_n15674581
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/07/when-anthropolo.html
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/12/18/061218fa_fact2
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/29/CMGHQP19VD1.DTL
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/world/asia/05afghan.html?_r=1&ei=5070&en=43b7c2fc6edcd8fe&ex=1192248000&emc=eta1&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin
http://www.army.mil/professionalwriting/volumes/volume4/december_2006/12_06_2.html
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1190886475101&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
http://www.antropologi.info/blog/anthropology/anthropology.php?p=1635&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
http://cacreview.blogspot.com/2007/10/anthropologys-dirty-little-colonial.html
http://chronicle.com/news/article/3189/anthropologists-win-plaudits-from-us-military-in-afghanistan-but-pans-from-some-colleagues-at-home

Andrew Bickford received his B.A. in Anthropology from George Mason University in 1993, an M.A. in Anthropology from Columbia University in 1995, and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Rutgers University in 2002. His dissertation field work, conducted in Germany from 1998-2000, investigated the relationship between militarization, masculinity, and the state in the German Democratic Republic and post unification Germany through interviews with former East German army officers and participant-observation at East German army veterans groups. In Germany, Andy was a Fulbright Fellow and a Fellow at the Social Science Research Council Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies at the Freie Universitat Berlin. He also received grants from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson Center, and Rutgers University. From 2002-2004, he was a post doctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. Andy is currently working on a manuscript titled "Red Radiation: Soldiers, Citizens, and the State of Post Unification Germany," and is conducting research on health and biotechnology in the US military.

David Vine is an Assistant Professor at American University. Since 2001, he has conducted research about the U.S. military base on the Indian Ocean island Diego Garcia and the expulsion of its native people during development of the base. As a result of this work, he is serving as an expert witness for lawyers in the United States and Great Britain bringing suits against the U.S. and U.K. governments on behalf of the exiled people, known as Chagossians. He recently completed a book manuscript about the history of the base, the lives of the people, and U.S. foreign policy, entitled Imperial Paradise: Expulsion and the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia.

His other research has included work on gentrification and urban development in Brooklyn, NY; housing strategies for people with serious mental illnesses and histories of homelessness in New York City; environmental refugees; and summer league basketball in Washington, DC. His writing has been published in, among others, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Human Rights Brief, International Migration, the Brooklyn Rail, and Week End [Mauritius]. Broadly, Vine's other interests include militarization and military bases, human rights, forced displacement, indigenous peoples, race/ethnicity, poverty, the Indian Ocean, and ethnography aimed at non-academic audiences.

Remember, Special times: Meeting at 6:30, Dinner at 5 p.m. Please feel free to invite colleagues and other interested parties.

WAPA will be hosting a cocktail party at 8 p.m. at the Marriot Wardman during the AAA meeting, immediately following the NAPA business meeting and presentation of the WAPA Praxis Award. An executive suite has been booked and details will be announced in due course. Light snacks will be available and WAPA members are asked to bring something to contribute (beverages, mixers, etc.). Come help us celebrate the Praxis Award and promote WAPA.

Saturday, January 12 Salon: The End is Near! Mysteries and Predictions for the 2012 Maya Calendar's End

7:00 to 9:00 P.M.

Our presenter will be Duncan Earle (Ph.D., State University of New York/Albany), associate professor of International Development, Community & Environment at Clark University. His research interests include ethnography, applied anthropology, conflict resolution, U.S./Mexico border settlements, gender, rural development, micro-enterprise/cooperatives, indigenous social movements, migration, health outreach, Mesoamerica and Mexican identity.

Professor Earle's current research centers on the Zapatista movement as a form of alternative development. He has done field work in the tropical rainforest region of Chiapas, Mexico, particularly on settlement relations with NGOs, as well as alternative development projects. He is carrying out in-depth study of Zapatista efforts at self-development, especially environment, gender and decision-making processes, self- government, health, education, ideology and identity. Professor Earle is also engaged in research on the Texas and New Mexico border with Mexico. He has studied Guatemalan Mayan refugees displaced by political strife to Mexico and rural Florida. Before joining IDCE, Professor Earle taught at the University of Texas at El Paso and at Texas A & M University, where he also served as associate director of the Center for Housing and Urban Development.

Uprising of Hope: Zapatismo and Alternative Development in Chiapas. Senior co-author with Jeanne Simonelli, Alta Mira Press, Walnut Creek.

2003 “Meeting Resistance: Autonomy, Development and ‘Informed Permission' in Chiapas, Mexico,” with coauthor Jeanne Simonelli, Qualitative Inquiry, vol.9, number 1, pp. 74-75.

2003 “Disencumbering Development: Alleviating Poverty through Autonomy in Chiapas.” With coauthor Jeanne Simonelli. Here To Help: NGOs Combating Poverty in Latin America. Robyn Eversole, ed. New York, M.E. Sharpe, pp. 174-219.

2001 “Menchu Tales and Maya Social Landscapes: The Silencing of Words and Worlds.” The Rigoberta Menchu Controversy. Arturo Arias, ed. St. Paul University of Minnesota Press, p. 288-308.

Location: The first WAPA activity of 2008 will be at the home of WAPA President Ron Nunn in Northwest DC near Takoma Park. Snacks and beverages will be provided.

Directions: The home of Ron Nunn is at 524 Fern Place N.W., Washington, DC, 20012, a few blocks from the Takoma Metro Station (Red Line).

From the Metro: Out of the station, turn right and go under the overpass. Keep to the right on Blair Road, go past construction site, cross Piney Branch head up the hill one block. Turn right on Fern Place. House no. 524, the 2nd on right. It is a dead end street.

Basic Directions from DC: make your way to Georgia Avenue NW. Go east on Fern Place just north of Walter Reed Medical Center. Cross Blair Road, and the house will be the second house on the right .

From the beltway: Take exit 31-B South to Georgia Ave. and Downtown Silver Spring. Go under the railway overpass then turn left at the District Line on Blair Road. Turn left again at Fern Place (a 4 way stop) to 524 Fern, (second house on the right).

Tuesday, February 5 Subject: Anthropological Practitioners in Health and Medicine

WAPA presents a panel discussion featuring anthropological practitioners at work in government and the private sector, focused on issues of health and medicine. We are proud to feature a discussion with:

Suzanne Heurtin-Roberts, PhD, MSS is Special Advisor on Policy and Research at the Office of Minority Health (DHHS), Division of Policy and Data where she is the lead on the Federal Collaboration on Health Disparities Research and the OMH's collaboration with the EDICT (Eliminating Disparities in Clinical Trials) project. She also works in the areas of culture and health, cancer disparities, emergency preparedness, and community based participatory research.

Emeline Otey, PhD, MSW is chief of the Stigma and Health Disparities Program, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), at the National Institutes of Health. She served as program official and scientific review administrator before assuming her current position in 1997. program encourages and supports research that addresses the problem of health disparities, including research that examines the mechanisms through which social, cultural, interpersonal, and environmental factors impact diagnosis and the diagnostic process, disparities in risk for, and course of mental disorders across the life span.

Sabra Woolley, PhD is a medical anthropologist and a Program Director at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. She manages grants in the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch of the Behavioral Research Program within the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences. Her health research experience ranges across infectious and chronic disease, including work on directly-observed therapy for tuberculosis and breast cancer.

Captain Sheryl Ludwig, MD, MPH, MA is currently Chief of the Health Systems Management Division at US Coast Guard (USCG) Headquarters (HQ), Washington DC. Prior to 2005 she also served as Chief of Medical Readiness and Operational Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology Chief. Among her numerous distinctions in military medicine and appointment to the regular public health service corps, she prominently lists her Master's in medical anthropology.

Cynthia Robins, PhD is a Senior Study Director at Westat who brings her training in cultural anthropology to health services and public policy research. During her more than eight years at Westat, Dr. Robins has provided support in qualitative data collection and analysis to an array of Federal clients, including the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Social Security Administration, and the Department of Labor.

Charity Goodman, PhD has long-term interests in medical anthropology, immigration and the anthropology of work. She has recently joined the Office of Program Analysis and Coordination, Center for Mental Health Services, Substances Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services. Charity's federal career is considerably longer with 17 at GAO. Among numerous other projects she spent three years managing a study of VA patient safety. And she is indeed our past president too!

Panelists will address the trajectories of their differing careers in health and medical practice, how their anthropological training intersects with other education and career preparation and the significance (or lack thereof) anthropological perspectives carry for their work. Collectively, the group spans a range of expertise from research (both as researchers and research administrators), through consulting and service delivery, to medical practice and public health administration.

Tuesday, March 4 Subject: Open Forum: US 2008 Presidential Election and the Politics of Race and Gender

History is being made this year in the US, as for the first time either a woman or an African American (as the popular culture defines the candidate) is poised to be the presidential candidate of one of the two major political parties (discussions of the heritage of Warren Harding notwithstanding), with a strong chance to win the presidency. WAPA will hold an open forum on the politics of race and gender and the implications thereof.

Is there a gender-based media bias against Hillary Clinton? How “black” is Barack Obama? Bring your own topics for discussion as we explore this pivotal moment through an anthropological lens. There will be no designated speaker for the evening; everyone is asked to bring their own views.

Sumner School: Meeting at 7, dinner at 5:30 p.m. (CLICK HERE to see special meeting flyer)

A panel presentation and discussion by three leading women scholars on issues of sex, sexuality, gender and politics from the underbelly of the District to the top of Capital Hill. Scheduled speakers are Judith Lynne Hanna, Katherine Frank, and Michelle Carnes.

Judith Lynne Hanna, Ph.D., Senior Research Scholar, University of Maryland. "Strippers, Religion, and Politics: Fantasy Onstage and Off."

The Christian Right’s propulsion of George W. Bush into the White House has led to the movement’s increased efforts to impose a Bible-based morality on the nation. Modesty and patriarchy are key Christian Right tenets challenged by exotic dancers. A politically active segment of the Christian Right burrows into government and trains lawyers to work in communities to eliminate exotic dance. Protected by the First Amendment, exotic dance cannot be banned, but it can be de facto regulated to death. The Christian Right’s disinformation factory perpetuates myths about the negative effects of exotic dance and thereby gains public support for its fight against the industry. Key questions are: What is exotic dance? How do governments battle against it? What are the implications of the fight?

Judith Lynne Hanna (Ph.D. Anthropology, Columbia University) is a Senior Research Scholar in the Dance Department and an Affiliate in the Anthropology Department at the University of Maryland. Dr. Hanna has conducted research on how dance communicates in villages and cities in Africa, theaters, school playgrounds and classrooms, and adult entertainment exotic dance clubs in the U.S. Since 1995, Dr. Hanna has served as an expert court witness across the country in more than 100 First Amendment and other cases related to exotic dance. Her testimony is quoted in numerous court decisions and her research appears in, e.g., Wrapping Nudity in a Cloak of Law, New York Times, Adult Entertainment Exotic Dance: A Guide for Planners and Policy Makers, Journal of Planning Literature, and a book draft under publication review, Naked Truth: A Christian Right, Strip Clubs and Democracy.

Her landmark books are: To Dance Is Human: A Theory of Nonverbal Communication (University of Chicago Press), Dance, Sex, and Gender: Signs of Identity, Dominance, Defiance and Desire (University of Chicago Press), The Performer-Audience Connection (University of Texas Press), Disruptive School Behavior (Holmes and Meier Press), Partnering Dance and Education (Human Kinetics), and just published, Dancing for Health: Conquering and Preventing Stress (AltaMira Press).

She has written more than 300 scholarly and popular articles in, e.g., City and Society, Creativity in Performance, Current Anthropology, Dance, Gender and Culture, First Amendment Lawyers Association Proceedings, Journal of Arts Management, Law & Society, Minnesota Law and Politics, Washington Post, and Exotic Dancer Bulletin.

Dr. Hanna has lectured at more than 50 colleges and universities, addressed more than 30 association meetings, special conferences and seminars; published her work in 14 countries (Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, France, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Jamaica, Netherlands, Poland, Santo Domingo, Sweden, and United Kingdom); and appeared on radio and television in Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Nigeria, Sweden, Cuba, and the U.S.

Katherine Frank, Ph.D., Faculty Associate: Professor of Anthropology, Adjunct Faculty, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, ME; Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Community-Academic Consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities (CARAS), www.caras.ws
"Consuming and Defending Adult Entertainment"

Dovetailing off the concerns raised in Hanna's presentation, Frank will explore the demand side of strip clubs, and of the sex industry more generally, as well as representations of that demand in the media. What are the clients of the sex industry looking for? In light of their desires, is adult entertainment worth defending? If so, why and how? And how do the concerns and desires of individuals involved in the production and consumption of commercial sex link to those of individuals with other "alternative" sexual practices and desires?

Katherine Frank is a cultural anthropologist, fiction writer, and former exotic dancer currently studying the meaning and negotiation of sexual exclusivity in contemporary relationships. In addition to her work on monogamy, she has also written on the sex industry, pornography, feminism, eating disorders, swinging, polyamory, and reality television. She is the author of G-Strings and Sympathy: Strip Club Regulars and Male Desire (2002), a co-editor of Flesh for Fantasy: Producing and Consuming Exotic Dance (2006), and has published in The Archives of Sexual Behavior, The Journal of Sex Research, Sexualities, Qualitative Inquiry, and Deviant Behavior, among other journals. In addition to speaking at academic conferences and on college campuses, Frank has served as an expert witness and a consultant on legal cases involving strip clubs and sex workers and is a contributing expert for the Love and Health Information Channel at www.ifriends.com. She is also on the Board of Directors for CARAS, a non-profit organization that facilitates dialogue between activists and alt-sex communities with academic researchers. For more information, visit her website: www.katefrank.com.

Michelle Carnes, ABD, Doctoral Student, American University, "All Ladies Welcome: Black Same-Sex Desiring Women's Erotic Parties"

Using an ad placed in a magazine for lesbians for a traditional strip club that declares "All Ladies Welcome" as our departure point, this presentation explores attempts of traditional strip clubs to "welcome" same-sex desiring women into the space as equal, paying customers. Continuing our discussion of the desires of strip club customers and how they fulfill them, we'll hear from Black same-sex desiring women who started their own erotic parties when their expectations were not met in traditional strip clubs. Drawing on ethnographic data and interviews, I'll further discuss the beginnings of Black same-sex desiring women's erotic parties, how the parties are able to successfully fulfill the women's expectations and what the parties mean to those who attend.

Michelle Carnes is a doctoral student in Anthropology at American University and former stripper completing her dissertation, an ethnography of Black same-sex desiring erotic parties in the Washington DC area. For three years, Michelle tipped her way through Black same-sex desiring women's erotic parties at three sites in Washington (U Street, Navy Yard and New York Avenue), conducting interviews and participant-observation. After two years in the field, she performed at an erotic party at the request of the promoter. Michelle defends her dissertation in May of 2008, which she will publish as a book titled, Do It For Your Sistas. Michelle is a Point Foundation Scholar and an Ana Luisa Estrada Vollmer Foundation Scholar and wishes to acknowledge their generosity and commitment to this research.

Tuesday, May 6 Subject: Building Your Career in Professional Anthropology (note change of venue)

A panel discussion for students of anthropology as well as professionals

Panel will be held at the home of WAPA President Ron Nunn.
Meeting from 7 to 9 p.m., board meeting at 6 p.m.

As a year of packed formal and informal activities for WAPA comes to a close, we would like to invite you to our final meeting of the year! As you know, WAPA is organized and carried on by our members. Many of these members are students and professionals who seek guidance in developing their careers. As such, we thought it only appropriate to offer a panel discussion that focuses on this critical issue that is one of the founding center pieces of WAPA's mission.

For the May meeting we will have a panel discussion from anthropologists in several different areas of practice who will offer their insight, experience, and advice in building a career as an anthropologist. Many topics will focus on internships, field schools, developing your presence via a string CV and resume, as well as the wealth of opportunities here in the Nation's Capital in regards to employment in both government and private firms.

First Presenter: Damon Dozier, Director of Public Affairs, American Anthropological Association

Second Presenter: WAPA President Elect (08-09), Dr. Shirley Buzzard, President: Heartlands International Ltd.

Third Presenter: Claire Snell-Rood, Doctoral Candidate: University of Virginia

Directions from the Metro:
Take the Red Line train to the Takoma Park station. Turn right as you leave the station, go under the bridge bear to the right staying on Blair Road, go past construction, cross over Piney Branch, walk another block up, Turn right on Fern Place, 2nd house on right #524 Fern Pl. N.W. D.C. 20012

Driving Directions:
Take 495 to exit 31-B, head south on Georgia Avenue into downtown Silver Spring, keep going under the

Metro bridge up to the DC line, Turn left on Blair Road. Stay on Blair, turn left on Fern Place, 2nd house on the Right is # 524 Fern Place N.W. D.C. 20012. Park anywhere on the street.

Contact Numbers if lost: Ron Nunn: Cell: (202) 491-6029, Home: (202) 726-0985.

The final event of the program year, the annual WAPA Spring Picnic, will be held at the community house and grounds in Shady Side, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay. WAPA will provide hot dogs, burgers, soft drinks, and utensils, cups and related items. Guests should bring a pot luck item and, at their option, a beverge or a grillable main course if they don't want a hot dog or burger. The flyer for the picnic can be downloaded from http://www.wapadc.org/documents/6_08_picnic.pdf.

WAPA members can help by bringing the following potluck items:

If you were born any time between January 1 and April 30 –
BRING A DESSERT (and something to serve it with)

If you were born between May 1 and August 31 –
BRING A SALAD (and something to serve it with)

If you were born between September 1 and December 31 –
BRING A SIDE DISH (and something to serve it with)

Those of us who are vegetarian (and we know who we are...) should bring a vegetarian main dish.

Directions: There are variable directions, depending on your vector of approach; print out the direction sheet (PDF format), which details them all.
As ever, using an online map service as well for directions does not hurt. Map of Shady Side.

NOTE: There will be only one regular meeting program this fall, and only four for the entire program year. Be sure to be there!

Sunday, September 17: Fall Party, 4-8 p.m.

Join us for a special Welcome Back Jazz Party. The WAPA 30th year opening event of the year!

Wapa invites all of it's members, as well as their friends and family members to join us in a celebration to begin the 30th year of the oldest professional organization of anthropologists in the United States!

Location: U-topia Restaurant (http://www.utopiaindc.com/)
1418 U Street, NW DC 20009
Side Room

Green Line Metro, U Street stop, 13th street exit, walk straight down U Street. U-topia is located between 14th and 15th on U, directly across the street from the Reeve's Center.

Because WAPA is a leader within the professional anthropological community nationally, but born within the Beltway, we thought it best to celebrate this at a truly DC neighborhood! Once referred to as "Black Broadway", U Street a quintessential DC neighborhood is the home of some of the best jazz music ever to be created in America! This event is FREE to all WAPA member, their family and friends, but donations will be accepted at the door to help defray the costs.

A light buffet will be served (mostly hors d'oeurves, finger foods, etc.) as well as some specialty drinks! There is, of course, a wonderful menu to choose from, and an excellent bar selection at their two cash bars (with some of the best mojitos you'll ever find in DC! YUM!). There will be jazz played throughout the affair, including a live jazz band! Hey, what would a U Street party be without Jazz!

For those of you who are not familiar with the U Street neighborhood, here is a short description from "Cultural Tourism" dotcom: http://www.culturaltourismdc.org/information2550/information.htm?area=2529

Experience the renaissance of Duke Ellington's neighborhood, the historic heart of the city's African-American community, where name entertainers, black-owned businesses, and grand movie theaters made U Street the place to be. This neighborhood predates New York's Harlem as a mecca for African Americans. Civil War encampments in the area sheltered freedom seekers in the 1860s, and the mission churches they founded live on today. Howard University just north of this neighborhood began to attract the nation's black intellectual and artistic leadership in the 1870s. By the early 20th century, the area was the nerve center of the city's black community, home to businesses and places of entertainment, and the major social institutions of black Washington. Until 1920, when Harlem surpassed it, it was the largest urban African American community in the nation. All the great entertainers played at its lively theaters and clubs. The old timers say that U Street was so grand that to go there, "you had to wear a tie." Duke Ellington is one of many national figures to call this neighborhood home.

Today, with a new subway stop, a resurgence of nightclubs, and the renovation of many of its historic buildings underway, the neighborhood is seeing a renaissance. There are many ways to experience the U St./Shaw Neighborhood. The best way to get an insider's view during the tourist season is to check Tours & Trails for information about walking tours. Year round you can walk the new City Within a City: Greater U Street Heritage Trail. Also, explore our expanded African American Heritage Trail that extends the fascinating history of this neighborhood to the rest of the city.

You should also visit the site below for even more info about U Street!
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc63.htm.

Tuesday, October 3 Subject: Violence & HIV Risk

Speaker: Todd Pierce, Medical Anthropologist

"Research on drug abuse and other HIV risk behaviors conducted by anthropologists and other disciplines has provided insight into a variety of social, cultural, and psychological factors which contribute to our understanding of the nature of the spread of HIV, as well as the means for creating new and innovative intervention models for reducing HIV transmission. During the course of previous research conducted in Washington, D.C. with African American women using heroin and crack cocaine, I collected data which suggests that women who have experienced consistent sexual or physical abuse from childhood into adulthood are at greater risk of non-compliance with HIV risk reduction techniques when engaged in sexual activity, especially when this activity is combined with actual drug use or the sex-for-drug trade. This is a direct result of psychological trauma resulting from childhood sexual molestation and other forms of physical and emotional abuse that they experienced. My current research seeks to investigate the effects sexual, psychological and physical trauma brought on by experiences of violence and abuse, and how said traumas impact individual sexual practices among drug abusing African American women in Washington, D.C. who are also sex workers. My research is specifically conducted amongst women who abuse crack cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine and addresses how cyclical violence and abuse influence human agency and decision-making abilities, action, and harm reduction of HIV risk behaviors.

"This research focuses upon personal, family, social, and drug-using histories of violence and abuse from the perspective of the participating women involved in the research, as well as current cultural behaviors involving these same cycles. Cultural and psychological dynamics will be identified in regard to sexual activity practices within drug use contexts. More specifically, my current studies investigate the interplay between the self and social networks in relation to drug addiction and violence, in an effort to better understand how violence affects the self and limits human agency, especially in regard to HIV prevention behaviors and sexual practices.

"To study the self in relation to violence, an understanding of the individual's habitus and behavioral practices is of utmost importance. Histories of violence on the personal, family, community, social and drug using network levels must be understood within a framework of network relations in order to fully contextualize their impact on the individual and the self. My research is specifically aimed at understanding the interplay between violence, drug abuse and HIV prevention among African American women in Washington, D.C. who have had a lifelong history as victims of violence and sexual abuse - as well as drug addiction."

Sumner School, 6:45 - 9 p.m.

Tuesday, November No Meeting Scheduled

Due to several scheduling conflicts, including elections and AAA, WAPA is currently not scheduling a meeting in November.

Tuesday, December 5 Special WAPA 30th Annniversary Celebration

Be sure to join us for the gala 30th anniversary party. Festivities at the Sumner School get underway at 6 p.m. with a reception in the downstairs gallery area. There will be beverages and light dinner fare served, along with anniversary cake! We will then move upstairs by 7:30 to the Great Hall for a special program. The program will recognize the contributions of long time members and look towards WAPA's future. Past president John Mason is slated as the Master of Ceremonies.

WAPA hats and membership information will be available. A small donation will be requested at the door for non-students to help offset costs. WAPA members, friends, the anthropological community and especially students and newly arrived professionals are welcome to attend.

If you would like to help with some aspect of the celebration send a note to the email address below.

This special event will also serve as WAPA's holiday party; If you have not sent an RSVP, please do so in a message to wapamail@yahoo.com.

Sumner School, 6-8:45 p.m.

Tuesday, January 9 Special "Meet the Authors" Book Event

WAPA presents a Meet the Author event and reception, featuring presentations and book signings by six WAPA members and their colleagues who have published books in the last year: Judith Freidenberg (Memorias de Villa Clara), Judith Hanna (Dancing for Health), Jo Anne Schneider (Social Capital and Welfare Reform), Laurel Schwede, Rae Blumberg and Anna Chan (Complex Ethnic Households in America), Michael Margolis (Wake Me Up When the Data is Over, Lori Silverman editor), and three books authored or co-authored by Emily Vargas-Barón (Planning Policies for Early Childhood Development, From Bullets to Blackboards, Strategic Foreign Assistance). The event celebrates the breadth of new work by applied social scientists living in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Books will be available for purchase.

Book descriptions:

Memorias de Villa Clara ("Memories of Villa Clara"): Judith Freidenberg (Buenos Aires, Argentina: Antropofagia, 2005). The book synthesizes the oral, material, and written histories of Villa Clara to depict the village's unique heritage. Situated in northeastern Argentina , Villa Clara was founded by Jewish colonists brought to the country by the Baron de Hirsch at the end of the 19th century. Freidenberg's ethnographic and ethno-historic studies which form the basis of "Memorias" consider the strong history of other European immigration to Villa Clara later in history, as well as the experiences of the native gauchos. The book is directed towards a general public audience in order to encourage members of the Villa Clara community to reconstruct the village's past. "Memorias," written in Spanish, is available for purchase on Amazon.com; all proceeds from book sales benefit the local Villa Clara Museum.

Dancing for Health: Conquering and Preventing Stress: Judith Lynne Hanna (Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, a division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006). Anthropologist Judith Lynne Hanna demonstrates the extraordinary role of dance as a healing art for all kinds of stress. Indeed, to dance in order to resist, reduce, and escape stress is human. Using examples from many different cultures and throughout history, she explains how dance is exercise plus aesthetic communication. While science has shown the mind/body integration and benefits of exercise, Western and non-Western cultures have danced to come to terms with life crises, resolve conflict, revitalize the past, and face the future. Hanna reveals how individuals expel spider venom or shake off death, sin or evil by using the power of dance to cope with stress. She shows how dance-stress connections are played out on theater stages, in the professional dance career, and in amateur dance. Her cases, including her own personal experiences in dance, reveal the potential of dance as a key strategy in the arsenal against stress. This broader cultural perspective is an innovative approach to understanding stress and meaning in dance. Hanna's book will be of great interest to anthropologists, dancers, health researchers, therapists, and others interested in coping with stress and improving their quality of life through dance.

Social Capital and Welfare Reform: Organizations, Congregations and Communities: Jo Anne Schneider (Columbia University Press, 2006). In this groundbreaking study, Jo Anne Schneider considers the reasons behind the limited success of most welfare reform initiatives and offers evidence-based recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness of welfare policy. Schneider draws on her rich and nuanced ethnographic studies of Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Kenosha, Wisconsin to clarify the role of social capital for both individuals and institutions. She shows that the social relationships and patterns of trust that enable people to gain access to resources like government services,organization funding, and jobs are crucial in helping families achieve their goals. Schneider examines the complex ways in which social capital functions in conjunction with economic, human, and cultural capital, and explores social capital dynamics among government, nonprofits, and congregations that together provide the welfare support system.

Complex Ethnic Households in America: Laurel Schwede, Rae Lesser Blumberg, Anna Y. Chan. (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers) This lively interdisciplinary book on "complex households" within six U.S. ethnic groups uniquely combines rich ethnographic description conveying the "sights and smells" of fieldwork with theory-linked overviews and Census 2000 data. It explores the interactions of household structure, ethnicity and gender, also illuminating factors affecting formation and dissolution of household types of increasing importance in an America of growing family and ethnic diversity. It is valuable for student and professional anthropologists, sociologists, demographers, research methodologists, policymakers and the general public.

Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over: How Organizations Use Stories to Drive Results: www.wakeupyourcompany.com: Lori L. Silverman, editor, WAPA member Michael Margolis participating author presenting (Jossey_Bass, 2006) Read about real-life examples from over 70 respected organizations small and large, representing a multitude of industries using stories to drive results. Drawing on interviews with 171 public and private sector leaders, this book goes beyond storytelling to reveal five keys to making stories work for you: how to find existing stories, dig into them to uncover hidden patterns and themes, select those stories that need to be reinforced, craft memorable stories, and embody stories to positively impact people's attitudes, thoughts and behaviors. Leaders from organizations such as Microsoft, Lands End, Verizon, U.S. Air Force, and World Vision demonstrate the strong positive influence stories can have. No abstract theories or platitudes are conveyed here. It spells out how Kevin Roberts, CEO worldwide of Saatchi and Saatchi, achieved sustained sales growth after several mergers and downsizings caused the organization to fall on hard times. And how Erik Shaw, president and CEO of FivePoint Federal Credit Union, overcame resistance to an organizational name change, resulting in membership growth exceeding the national average.

Emily Vargas-Barón: She will talk about three books have come out in the last year:
Planning Policies for Early Childhood Development: Guidelines for Action: (UNESCO, UNICEF, Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), 2005 and 2006) These Guidelines provide a Toolkit for planning culturally appropriate early childhood development (ECD) policies or policy frameworks. They represent a unique contribution to the field of ECD policy planning. The Guidelines demonstrate how government planners and institutions of civil society in the fields of health, nutrition, sanitation, education and legal protection can apply an integrated and participatory approach to child survival and development. The book is available in English, French, Spanish, and soon in Russian.The book can be obtained electronically from Emily Vargas-Barón: vargasbaron@hotmail.com. It is being distributed without cost in hard copy by UNICEF and Association for the Development of Education in Africa, International Institute for Educational Planning, 7 - 9 rue Eugene-Delacroix, 75116, Paris, France,adea@iiep.unesco.org, http://www.adeanet.org.

From Bullets to Blackboards: Education for Peace in Latin America and Asia: Editors: Emily Vargas-Barón and Hernando Bernal Alarcón (The Inter-American Development Bank, 2005): For countries torn by war or violence, the stakes for developing education policies and quality programs are high. Effective education is essential to prepare the next generation for a productive life, heal psychological wounds, prevent cyclical violence, and achieve reconstruction and peace. If educational needs are ignored during and after war, prior education systems may be retained and perpetuate conditions leading to more conflict. From Bullets to Blackboards features lessons and case studies learned from 10 exemplary education policies and programs developed in nine Latin American and Asian nations: Cambodia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Peru, the Philippines, and Viet Nam. The book can be obtained from the Inter-American Development Bank or from The RISE Institute for a donation of US$25.00 plus $5.00 for postage and handling. Please send donation checks payable to: The RISE Institute, 3012 Porter Street, N.W., Washington, DC. 20008.

Strategic Foreign Assistance: Civil Society in International Security: Lawrence Chickering, Isobel Coleman, P. Edward Haley and Emily Vargas-Barón (Hoover Institution Press, 2006). The emergence of significant numbers of violent non-state actors has created a new reality in national and international security. To respond to this new reality, the authors recommend that governments and peoples come together to encourage economic, political, legal, and social development within weak societies in which terrorists take refuge and to assist deadlocked governments to overcome the explosive legacies of religious and ethnic conflict. In Strategic Foreign Assistance the authors show that, to do this, the United States must develop a strategic international cooperation and assistance policy that fosters strong civil societies. The book can be obtained from the Hoover Institution Press or at a discount from Amazon.com.

Sumner School, 6-8:45 p.m.

Tuesday, February 6 Subject: "Ethnographic Thoughts on the Invisibility of the Chronically Ill"

The first-hand experience of longtime WAPA member Connie Ojile is shared widely throughout the US; coping and battling with the American health care system that is fragmented, unresponsive, impersonal, and downright dysfunction much of the time. Connie has the perspective of an anthropologist, but remains the subject of this presentation as well. In this interactive session she shares her experiences in the system, her long-time strategies for making the best of it, and gives WAPA members a glimpse of her struggle against invisibility in the process.

Connie Ojile got her degrees in cultural anthropology and women's studies from the University of Michigan. She taught anthropology for the University of Maryland overseas and in College Park. Her work in professional anthropology has centered on the effects of change in small organizations. She developed intercultural training workshops from an anthropologist's perspective, and was among the first to promote this connection to fellow anthropologist and potential clients. She worked extensively in government and private sector organizations using ethnographic skills to facilitate team building, strategic planning, and problem solving sessions. Her latest strategic planning project was with the staff and executive board of Signature Theater in Arlington, VA.

Sumner School, 7 p.m.

Note: Connie's bibliography from this presentation is available as a PDF document: Bibliography

Thursday, February 8 Special Salon. Subject: "Women Creating Careers as Practicing Anthropologists"

This is a special salon/potluck slated for 7:30 at the home of Ruth and Michael Cernea.

Meet some of the authors who contributed to the 2006 NAPA Bulletin, "Making History at the Frontier: Women Creating Careers as Practicing Anthropologists." We are fortunate that Jean (Jay) Schensul is in Washington , D.C. for a grant review process, and has agreed to participate in the event. Other WAPista authors for this bulletin--Mari Clarke (World Bank Consultant, with extensive experience with USAID and other donor organizations), Shirley Fiske (academic; federal executive & legislative branches), Mari Odell Butler (Battelle Centers for Public Health Research & Evaluation), and Susan Racine Passmore (Consultant -public health & child welfare)--invite you to share an evening of reflection and learning about each other in the context of women's career paths and global trends in the workplace. Jay Schensul is Senior Scientist and Founding Director of the Center for Community Research in Connecticut and currently a visiting professor at the University of California/Los Angeles.

The authors will describe the origin and the participatory process used to develop the volume by editor Christina Wasson (U. of N. Texas) and share a few digital photos documenting their career pathways. The process of writing and collaborating on the edited volume was reflexive and participatory, in the vein of autoethnography. Discussion will follow on the themes that emerged or did not, in the hopes of identifying similar themes among participants as practitioner anthropologists. Discussion will follow on the potential demand for expanding this type of publication for practicing anthropologists and others.

This is to be a "light-fare" potluck. In the WAPA tradition, please bring an appetizer if you have a last name in the A-F; a main course/finger food if you are in the G-M range; and a vegetable or fruit offering if you are in the N-Z range. Chocolate desserts are particularly discouraged...

Ruth and Michael's home is at 6113 Robinwood Road , Bethesda MD. Please RSVP to Ruth Cernea: rcernea (at) comcast.net. The home is just off River Road , a few miles north of the District, near Walt Whitman High School . You can reach River Road from Wisconsin Ave, Western Ave , Massachusetts Ave, or several other ways.

By Metro: Bethesda station. Plenty of cabs at the Hyatt Hotel, just above the Metro station (about $7). Tell the driver to take Bradley Blvd to Durbin; Left on Durbin to Plainview ( 2nd Street ); Right on Plainview to Robinwood; left on Robinwood (3rd house on right).

From DC: North on Massachusetts until it dead ends at Goldsboro Road . Right on Goldsboro, to River Road (first light). Left on River Road (get in right lane) to Whittier Blvd (first light: one long block). Right on Whittier Blvd to Robinwood Road ( 6th street on the right, at Walt Whitman High School ). White house on left, up hill.

From the Beltway: River Road exit, south, toward Washington . For further directions or details call 301-320-5579.

Note: An inspiring summary from this meeting is available as a PDF document: Salon Summary

Tuesday, March 6: Subject: A Strange Place to Practice Anthropology

Speaker: Marilyn Hoskins

Some people practice anthropology among tribal groups in the Amazon. Others practice in Burkina Faso or Nepal. In fact, Marilyn Hoskins had some experience in all these places. But one of her most amazing and rewarding experiences was trying to integrate the holistic and inclusive nature of anthropology and participatory methods into programs of really rigid technocratic and bureaucratic agencies.

"My presentation will focus on the creation of a Community Forestry Program from inside the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). It will describe how anthropological approaches and tools colored the way both the program and the activities developed. FAO, a highly bureaucratic organization, gives technical assistance to programs funded by various donor country agencies with their own sets of rules and in recipient country and national services. It is not easy to imagine a more rigid set of bureaucratic systems or technically focused professionals than those in forestry services of these agencies. I was the first social scientist to be hired in the FAO Forestry Department and my task was to introduce forestry with the goal to manage trees and forests in a way to improve livelihoods of local people.

"My talk will focus on the development of activities and understanding and at the same time the management of the program itself: how both became more participatory. As I tried to integrate new approaches into these fixed and seemingly intractable agencies the meaning of concepts such as participation, local ownership and decentralization evolved. I will discuss how the program expanded to other sectors as it became increasingly evident that foresters cannot successfully focus on trees alone but need to be aware of many aspects of local reality."

Marilyn Hoskins, an anthropologist with a communications background, has dedicated her professional life to local governance and community development with equity. She has focused on the interface between the local men and women and the natural resources upon which many directly depend. She lived and worked five years each in Southeast Asia and West Africa and has worked in over 50 countries as well as in the United States. In 1978-79 she helped design and initiate the community forestry program of the United Nations and then joined the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome to further develop and manage that multi-donor global program. She served as a senior forestry officer within the Policy and Planning Division of the Forestry Department. Previously she was the Title XII International Development Chair at Virginia Tech and initiated and coordinated their Participatory Development Program. She was awarded the Distinguished Service to Rural Life award from the Rural Sociological Society, Doctor of Humane Letters for outstanding contributions to wise use of natural resources and maintenance of a high quality natural environment by State University of New York, and Doctor of Humane Letters by the Maxwell School of Syracuse University for outstanding contributions to the field of international rural development. Most recently she served several years as a Scholar in Residence at Indiana University, Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, and continues as a Research Associate. She serves on the Board of Directors and the program committee of the Coalition for Economic Empowerment which has programs in a HUD housing project community in Washington, DC.

Sumner School, 7 p.m.

April 10 (second Tuesday): Students and Careers in Applied Anthropology

This will be the annual WAPA student-led meeting. A panel of anthropologists will discuss career possibilities and how those interested in professional anthropology can transition into the job market. Scheduled speakers are Shelley Elbert, Senior Program Evaluator, Office of Inspector General, Peace Corps; Phil Herr, Government Accountability Office; Cheryl Levine, Urban Anthropologist, Department of Housing and Urban Development; Sher Plunkett, formally with USAID; Ruth Sando, President of Sando and Associates; and Rachel Watkins, physical anthropologist, American University.

All area students and professionals are welcome to attend. As usual, members and some panelists will be meeting for dinner beforehand at Cafe Luna, 1633 P St. NW, just three blocks from the Sumner School. Contact Student Board Member Alex Antram at alex.antram (at) gmail -dot- com for details, or review the special panel flyer.

Sumner School, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, May 1: Subject: Contributions of Applied Anthropology to the Design and Evaluation of the Origins Program (Programa Orígenes) in Chile

Speaker Carmiña Albertos will give a brief summary of the political and social context for indigenous peoples in Chile and will describe the main characteristics of the Origins Program, a government initiative for indigenous peoples. She will explain how anthropological knowledge has been applied and contributed to the design and evaluation of the program, modifying the initial objective from "poverty alleviation" to "development with identity" for the Aymara, Atacameño, Quechua and Mapuche peoples. The culture broker role of the anthropologists involved in the preparation and evaluation of the program will be examined, as well as the innovative participatory planning methodology based on cultural categories developed during the design phase.

Carmiña Albertos is an anthropologist from Spain with extensive experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of social projects and multi-sectorial projects with a participatory approach and involving indigenous peoples. She started her development work in Spain (1986) working as a volunteer in rural areas, marginalized urban gypsy communities, and in a drug rehabilitation program for the youth. After that, she lived in a rural community in Equatorial Guinea (1987 and 1989), implementing an integrated development project with focus on education, health and capacity building. She has collaborated with a number of NGOs in Spain, the U.S., Guatemala, Belize, and El Salvador. In Guatemala (1995) she worked as human rights observer in the first Mayan community that returned from exile in Mexico, and provided technical support in their resettlement process. Mrs. Albertos joined the Inter American Development Bank in 1997 and since then has developed and led numerous projects in different sectors (indigenous peoples, integrated social inclusion for children, youth and families at risk, education, culture) in Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. She holds a M.A. in Applied Anthropology (1996, The American University, Washington, DC), and two B.A.s in Philosophy and Education (1992, Universidad Complutense and 1987, Universidad Autónoma, Madrid, Spain).

This will be the last regular meeting of the program year.

Sumner School, 7 p.m.

Sunday, June 3: Summer Sunset Potomac Cruise

By popular demand WAPA will again charter the Admiral Tilp, this time for a Sunday sunset cruise up the Potomac. This will be the last event of the program year; be sure to reserve quickly, for this event always sells out well in advance. For photos and information about the boat and the Potomac River Boat Company, visit their website at http://www.potomacriverboatco.com/admiraltilp.php.

Time: Important: Be ready to begin boarding at 5:45 p.m.; departure is 6 p.m. and will not wait, so do not be late. We will return to the pier at about 9 p.m.

What to Bring: WAPA will provide beverages and snacks, cups, plates, ice, etc. Those who wish something more substantial are welcome to bring their own picnic dinner or even something to share! A rain jacket has come in handy in the past.

Directions: The boat departs from the docks behind the Torpedo Factory, 105 N. Union Street, between Cameron and King streets in Old Town Alexandria. The boat is a double-decker, usually parked in the first slip in the pier, near the Chart House Restaurant. You can't miss it.

Parking: There is limited street parking in the area. See the Torpedo Factory parking map for lots in the area: http://www.torpedofactory.org/Parking.html.

Reservations: The Admiral Tilp is limited to 50 passengers, so act soon. Sorry, phone or email reservations cannot hold a seat. Send $15 by mail for each passenger to:

Viviana Christian
13227 Stravinsky Terrace
Silver Spring, MD 20904

Make checks payable to WAPA.

See you onboard!