Monthly Archives: August 2016

27 Aug 16 · 10:24 pm

What exactly are Anthropology MAs doing with their anthropology?

Great blog post about what anthropology MAs do after graduation by Chrislyn Laurore.

How to Read for Grad School

Looks like great advice!

In graduate school the work load increases and students will find that they are expected to master two to three times the material that they were used to as an undergraduate. This can be intimidating to the point of overwhelming a student into paralysis. Following these tips should help you master your readings instead of allowing the readings to master you!

1. Read Strategically, Not Linearly. Reading for graduate school is different than reading a book for pleasure. When we read for pleasure we often start at the beginning of the book, reading carefully in a linear fashion. If you do this with your academic material, it will take twice as long and it is likely you won’t retain the right kind of information from the reading. Instead of reading linearly, read strategically. As an academic reader your job is to mine the text you are reading for information. …

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Decline of Cousin Marriage among the Karo: A Case of Sexual Conflict?

Impal Marriage Study

@gkushnick Wonderful new paper looking at Westermarck effects in Indonesia. Love the Platt approach. https://t.co/VEFPYYCwr2
— Siobhan Mattison (@siobhanmattison) July 15, 2016

One goal of this study was to collect data on Karo people’s perceptions of the reasons for the low rate of impal marriage. The results of the ‘experimental’ part of my Fulbright project have been published in the journal Human Nature.

Impal Couples1 Karo couples married from the 1950s to the present.

My co-authors and I found a number of interesting things, including that Karo people find the prospect of someone marrying a cousin with whom they are unfamiliar much more distasteful than marrying one who with whom they have a close relationship. This runs counter to Westermarck’s negative imprinting hypothesis.

The age and gender pattern of responses suggests that women’s perception of the practice has remained steady while men’s perceptions have become increasingly negative. Taken together with a gender difference…

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