Reminder of an upcoming talk this Friday noon:

Music, Culture and Indigenous Thought in Busoga, Uganda: Cultural Survival and Revival at Mpambo, the African Multiversity

A talk by Paulo Wangoola including discussion about field recording by Shawn Hall. The two choirs associated with Mpambo were recorded by Shawn Hall during a visit in 2004 and samples will also be played.

Details:
Friday, April 27th, 2007 from Noon – 1:30pm
Asian Centre, Room 101, UBC

Paulo Wangoola, Nabyama (Founder-President) of the Mpambo Afrikan Multiversity, a recently established and village-based institution of research and higher education dedicated to the revitalization of African Indigenous Thought and Spirituality. The Mpambo campus is located in Isegero, Iganga in Busoga, Eastern Uganda. As part of the work of Mpambo, there is both an Mpambo traditional music and dance group and the Ebanguliro Afrikan Spiritual Choir. A national office is located in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

For more information visit: http://www.inclusion.com/resmpambo.html or
http://www.blackherbals.com/Mpambo_the_African_Multiversity.htm

Do you dread public speaking? Tomorrow’s Library Workshop on “Polishing Your Presentation” may be the first step in overcoming that fear and improving your presentation skills for that upcoming thesis defense.

Polishing Your Presentation
Learn the essential components of public speaking: content preparation, verbal and non-verbal performance as well as ways to manage anxiety. A good presentation is a strong communication tool; discover the skills you need to enhance your personal performance.

Thursday, April 19 from 12:00 – 1:00 PM
Koerner Library : Room 216 (show me a map)
Sign up here.

Part of the Graduate Student Workshop Series.

As part of the Canadian Classics Screening Series, the Vancouver International Film Centre is screening Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner. Actor, filmmaker and well-known Inuit sculptor Natar Ungalaaq will be in attendance.

Details:
Vancouver International Film Centre (Vancity Theatre)
1181 Seymour Street (corner Davie Street)
April 19, 2007 at 7:30 pm

http://www.academy.ca/events/screenclassics07.cfm

Atanarjuat – The Fast Runner is based on an ancient Inuit legend which takes place in the area around Igloolik. You can follow the detailed story of the film while tracing the location of events on a map of the region at the Atanarjuat website.

Related Readings:

Angilirq, P.A., & Cohn, N. (2002). Atanarjuat : the fast runner. Toronto: Coach House Books.
This screenplay is in both Inuktitut and English, and includes ethnographic commentary written specially for the book by Bernard Saladin D’Anglure.

Bessire, L. (2003). Talking back to primitivism: Divided audiences, collective desires. American Anthropologist, 105(4), 832-838.

Ginsburg, F. (2003). Atanarjuat off-screen: From ‘media reservations’ to the world stage. American Anthropologist, 105(4), 827-831.

Huhndorf, S. (2003). Atanarjuat, the fast runner: Culture, history, and politics in inuit media. American Anthropologist, 105(4), 822-826.

Siebert, Monika. (2006). Atanarjuat and the ideological work of contemporary indigenous filmmaking. Public culture, 18 (3), 531-550.

The final exam period runs from April 16-30 – check the Student Services portal for a list of Anthropology exam times and locations.

Did you know that the AMS has an exam database with final exams from a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses? Studying from these examples can be an excellent way to prepare and supplement your course knowledge. Select ANTH from the dropdown menu on the AMS Exam Database website to see what is available for Anthropology exams.

Good luck to all on your finals!

(Photo: Library graphics)

Both Koerner and Woodward libraries will be open extended hours during the exam period from April 15-29.

Koerner’s extended hours:
Monday – Friday: 8am – 1am
Saturday, Sunday: 10am -1am

Woodward’s extended hours:
Monday – Thursday: 8am – 12midnight
Friday: 8am – 6pm
Saturday: 10am – 6pm
Sunday: 12noon – 12midnight

Hoping to explore the world from the comfort of home? UBC Library now has online access to the Oxford Companion to World Exploration.

This book examines the lives and expeditions of heroic and influential explorers including Lewis and Clark, Ferdinand Magellan, Cheng Ho, Hernan Cortes, Ibn Battuta, Vitus Bering, and Christopher Columbus. National expeditions, including Portuguese, British, French, Chinese, Dutch, and Spanish are covered, as are navigational and marine sciences, such as navigational techniques, ocean currents and winds, longitude, cartography, and aerial surveys. The temporal scope ranges ranges from the ancient cultures of Egypt, Persia, Greece, Byzantium, China, Polynesia, and Rome, through to modern space exploration.

Sample entries:
– Mary and Louis Leakey
– Archaeology and “Discoveries” Sites
– Arctic, with 3 sub-entries on Early Knowledge; Nineteenth-Century Images; and Russian Arctic
– Central and South America, with 6 sub-entries on Colonies and Empires; Conquests and Colonization; Scientific Inquiry; Trade and Trade Goods; Trade Routes; and Utopian Quests
– Medical Aspects of Exploration

The April issue of the journal Anthropology Today is out. This issue begins with a guest editorial by Jonathan Benthall in which he explores reasons why anthropologists, who have studied most other social movements including environmentalism, have focused so little attention on the animal liberation and rights movement. The editorial is prompted by a 2006 article by Agustin Fuentes on “The Humanity of Animals and the Animality of Humans” published in the journal American Anthropologist.

UBC Library subscribes to the electronic editions of both journals. You can read the articles online by clicking the link in the citations below:

Benthall, J. (2007). Animal liberation and rights. Anthropology Today 23 (2), 1–3.
Fuentes, A. (2006). The Humanity of Animals and the Animality of Humans: A View from Biological Anthropology Inspired by J. M. Coetzee’s Elizabeth Costello. American Anthropologist 108 (1), 124-132.

(Note: Off-campus, UBC Faculty and Students can access these articles by connecting via the VPN. Instructions here.)