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Pacific Views Series: Jeffrey Hoelle, "The Anthropology of Rainforest Destruction"
The UCSB Library presents a talk by Jeffrey Hoelle (UCSB Anthropology) to be followed by a public reception.
The Amazon rainforest is a land of incredible biological and cultural diversity that plays a crucial role in global environment health. Yet the rainforest continues to be cut down to produce commodities, particularly cattle, soy, and gold. While we know that a combination of economic factors and governmental policies contribute to these destructive activities, on-the-ground research with groups making land-use decisions helps to better understand the socio-cultural context and logic of deforestation. Drawing on a decade of his anthropological research with cattle ranchers and gold miners in the Brazilian Amazon, Hoelle discusses the beliefs, values, and interests that contribute to destructive behaviors. His work explores the strategies that these ranchers and miners use to elude government surveillance and deforestation regulations, and sheds light on some of the ongoing challenges to more sustainable and just alternatives in Amazonia.
Jeffrey Hoelle is a cultural anthropologist and the author of Rainforest Cowboys: The Rise of Ranching and Cattle Culture in Western Amazonia. His collaborative research in the gold mines of Amazonia, funded by the National Geographic Society, is the subject of the current UCSB Library exhibition, “Garimpeiros: The Wildcat Gold Miners of the Amazon Rainforest.”
The Pacific Views: Library Speaker Series is co-sponsored by the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor.
Continue Reading Pacific Views Series: Jeffrey Hoelle, "The Anthropology of Rainforest Destruction"
Faculty Win Shanghai Archaeology Forum Research Awards
Award Date: November 20, 2017
Professor Emeritus Brian Fagan received the Lifetime Achievement award from the Shanghai Archaeology Forum (SAF) in December 2017. Prof. Fagan traveled to Shanghai to accept this award.
Professor Amber VanDerwarker and Associate Professor Greg Wilson's work "Warfare, Drought and Agriculture: Coping with Conflict and Food Security" was selected for the 2017 SAF Research Award. Prof. VanDerwarker traveled to Shanghai to present the work and receive the award in December 2017 as well.
Continue Reading Faculty Win Shanghai Archaeology Forum Research Awards
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
Continue Reading Graduate Colloquium: Family Farms, Soil Conservation, and Environmental Policies in the Brazil CaatingaStaff 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.
Continue Reading Staff Undergraduate Advising Not AvailablePizza Talk: "Applied Medical Anthropology Inside/Outside the Academy"
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.
Continue Reading Prof. Emerita Barbara Voorhies Publishes Book on Prehistoric Indian GamesWelcome new Assistant Professors Amy Boddy and Elana Resnick!
Two new faculty join the Department this Fall!
Continue Reading Welcome new Assistant Professors Amy Boddy and Elana Resnick!Welcome new Assistant Professors Amy Boddy and Elana Resnick!
Amy Boddy, IAS, and Elana Resnick, Sociocultural, are joinging us as new Assistant Professors this Fall. Welcome!
Continue Reading Welcome new Assistant Professors Amy Boddy and Elana Resnick!