AnthroAlert: An Anthropology Podcast

# AnthroAlert

## Episode 15: Hunger Advocacy

Originally aired 1 September 2017 on bullsradio.org

In this episode, we discuss how an anthropological perspective helps address issues of hunger in our community.

Our guest, Dr. David Himmelgreen, presents on his work with the Hunger Action Alliance.

David Himmelgreen is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida. Himmelgreen is a biocultural nutritional anthropologist with expertise in maternal-child nutrition, growth and development, food security, dietary acculturation, and community nutrition programming. He has conducted research in Costa Rica, the U.S., Puerto Rico, Lesotho, and India. For the last 15 years, Himmelgreen has co-directed the Globalization and Community Health Field School in Monteverde Costa Rica where students are cross-trained in medical anthropology, public health, and environmental engineering. More recently, Himmelgreen co-founded the Hunger Action Alliance with Feeding Tampa Bay (an affiliate of Feeding America), Humana, and other key stakeholders in Tampa Bay to address hunger and food insecurity through research, education, and programming. Himmelgreen has published more than 80 articles, book chapters/segments, and edited volumes and has received funding from the NSF, USDA, NIH, Fulbright Commission, UNICEF, and state and private foundations.

## Podcast link

https://anthroalert.tumblr.com/post/168785927906/anthroalert-episode-15-hunger-advocacy

## Video link

https://youtu.be/6ypps5PSCc8

## Album art photo credit:

Oliver Thompson

https://flic.kr/p/9zVPYB

CC License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Mon assiette vide - 2012-01-19 by Frédérique Voisin-Demery

https://flic.kr/p/bgfqLR

CC License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

## Intro music credit:

Urbana-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix) by spinningmerkaba

http://ccmixter.org/files/jlbrock44/33345

CC License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

# AnthroAlert

## Episode 19: Emergency Department

Originally aired 6 October 2017 on bullsradio.org

In this episode, we explore how an anthropological perspective can be a part of the emergency department.

Our guests, Dr. Roberta Baer and Dr. Jason Wilson , will present on their project where they design a course for pre-med students to better understand the patient experience. We will better define the role of anthropology and social science epistemologies in medical school training .

Roberta Baer is Professor of Anthropology and specializes in medical and nutritional anthropology.

Jason Wilson, is, Research Director, Division of Emergency Medicine for USF Health. Dr. Wilson has an MA in anthropology from the University of Michigan, and took a Medical Anthropology class at USF with Dr. Baer. Dr. Wilson earned his BA in Anthropology from USF in 2000.

The class was entitled, “Research Experience in Patient Provider Interaction.” This class was team taught by the Dr. Baer, and Dr. Jason Wilson, an attending physician at the Tampa General Hospital Emergency Department, who also has a MA in Anthropology. Our explicit goal in this class was to train pre-medical students to have a better understanding and valuation of the patient perspective in the physician-patient encounter. These issues are at the core of the subfield of applied medical anthropology.

While these perspectives date to over 40 years ago, medical school curriculums have not widely adopted these concepts. As such, we sought to incorporate this perspective into the coursework of students before they began medical school. We conducted the course in the context of a Level 1 Trauma Center, which functions not only to deal with traumatic injuries, but also as a health safety net for patients without health insurance. Class activities included reviews of current literature regarding the culture of the Emergency Room, the intersection of medicine and culture, and methods of qualitative research. While students were required to shadow physicians, they were also required to shadow patients, which we have learned is a key activity in developing an understanding of the patient experience. The class used what they learned to put together a leaflet for patients about common misunderstandings of how the Emergency Room works, and then evaluated the perceptions of the leaflet. Reflection activities about their experiences were also required.

Students noted the value of learning about the patient perspective. One stated,

> “This class has made me realize that the art of compassionate care and social interaction ...should be combined with the necessary sciences...and curative methods to provide the most appropriate care to patients.”

Another observed,

> “However, physicians often forget just how ... [it] feels to be a patient under stress and pain and waiting hours to see you.”

Yet another noted,

>“I learned most importantly not to lose sight of how much of an impact you can have as a physician on a patient’s life, both for the good and the bad. For the doctor, curing the disease is the goal, while for the patient it isn’t just the biological side that matters to their health. It’s how their disease will affect their daily life and whether they can afford to be sick.”

The class activities also pushed the students into learning more about themselves. One said,

> “Never could I have imagined what this class would teach me about medicine and about myself... Unlike other classes where reading material is assigned... and discussed, the reading and discussion were different and more enlightening in this class because I was able to see and apply what articles, films, and lectures taught me related to my experiences in the ER. Despite dreading the 4 hour patient shadowing assignment since syllabus day, looking back, it was probably my favorite assignment of the class... Mainly the patients taught me that their health wasn’t something separate from their lives. Their health was something that affected them every day and really influenced the person they had come to be, and how the interactions they would have in the ER would impact their coming days and weeks.”

Another noted,

> “The course pushed me to thinking outside of the box and into new perspectives...While putting together all of the research the class has done this semester has been hectic, it has also been one of the most satisfying experiences of my life...After taking this course I was shocked to find out that there are no anthropology courses taught during medical school. The lessons I learned ...are essential to my career as a physician... I can comfortably enter a patient’s room and talk confidently with them even in times of distress. I can also better understand their perspective and needs as a patient. Learning these lessons will make me a better medi...

# AnthroAlert

## Episode 18: Archaeological Methods

Originally aired 29 September 2017 on bullsradio.org

In this episode, we explore how archaeological methods and modern technology help us to better understand the earliest neolithic sites in Western Europe.

Our guest, Dr. Robert Tykot, will present on current research in Western Europe.

Robert H. Tykot is a Professor at the University of South Florida, where he has been for 21 years since receiving his PhD from Harvard University. His research emphasizes scientific analysis of archaeological materials such as obsidian, pottery, metals and marble to study trade and technology in the Mediterranean world, as well as skeletal remains to look at diet and mobility in many parts of the world. Professor Tykot has more than 185 published books and articles, and has presented more than 475 times at national and international conferences. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Editor-in-Chief of the journal Science and Technology of Archaeological Research, and has reviewed submissions to 70 different journals and book publishers, and for 18 grant agencies in 9 different countries. Professor Tykot has received from USF an Annual Global Award acknowledging his outstanding contributions to the USF System’s global mission.

At USF, he teaches courses on Ancient Diet, Ancient Trade, Archaeological Science, Mediterranean and European Archaeology, and Fantastic Archaeology. His current graduate students come from Italy, France, Peru, and the USA.

For the last several years, Tykot and colleagues have been surveying and using remote sensing to assess the earliest neolithic sites in western Europe, in the Tavoliere region of southeastern Italy. Many sites have been identified and surveyed, with large numbers of pottery sherds and stone tools recovered. Based on the chronology and the physical material found, we argue that domesticated plants and animals and the practice of year-round settlements passed from eastern Europe across the Adriatic Sea to this region ca. 8000 years ago. Pending external grant funding, we hope to conduct formal excavation of 1 or more of these large residential settings which were enclosed within circular ditches. Tykot also conducts elemental analyses using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer on the obsidian, flint, and ceramic artifacts in many parts of Italy and nearby countries to determine their origin and reconstruct directions and frequency of trade and interaction across great distances. Obsidian has been identified as coming from geological sources hundreds of miles away, with significant overseas travel. Separately, in his lab at USF Tykot conducts isotopic analyses on human remains to reconstruct their individual dietary practices and origins, in order to compare differences based on sex and/or status and how they changed over time. This research is on multiple projects from Europe, where seafood has been found to be a negligible part of the diet while millet was introduced from Asia, and in the Americas where maize spread further south than thought in South America, and earlier than expected right here in Florida.

## Podcast link

## Video link

https://youtu.be/pRJGgogBqms

## Album art photo credit:

Oliver Thompson

https://flic.kr/p/9zVPYB

CC License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Italy by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

https://flic.kr/p/nWqvZG

CC License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

## Intro music credit:

There's A Better WAY ! by Loveshadow

http://ccmixter.org/files/Loveshadow/34402

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

## AnthroAlert

## Episode 54: Non Governmental Organizations and International Development

Originally aired 25 May 2018 on bullsradio.org

This week guest, Dr. Catherine Sanders, will present on her career and work in non governmental organizations and international development.

Catherine Sanders earned her PhD in Medical Anthropology from The University of Montana in 2012. For the past 13 years, she has designed and conducted mixed methods research, impact monitoring and evaluation, and learning for governmental/ non-governmental organizations that work in the US, East Africa, and South Asia. Her expertise is in health, innovation, agriculture, social networks/resources, education, and risk-taking in rural parts of the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and her research experience includes long-term fieldwork in remote regions of Nepal, Kenya, and Uganda. She has implemented monitoring and evaluation systems in the US, Nepal, and Uganda. She can speak conversational Nepali and introductory-level Swahili and Luganda languages, and has had some training in Hindi and Spanish. Catherine lives in Belfast, Maine, where she has recently assumed Assistant Directorship of a non-governmental organization, Expanding Opportunities, operating in the US and Kenya.

## Podcast link

## Album art photo credit:

Oliver Thompson

https://flic.kr/p/9zVPYB

CC License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

## Intro music credit:

Awel by stefsax

http://ccmixter.org/files/stefsax/7785

CC License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/

Urbana-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix) by spinningmerkaba

http://ccmixter.org/files/jlbrock44/33345

CC License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

There's A Better WAY ! by Loveshadow

http://ccmixter.org/files/Loveshadow/34402

CC License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

"Jungle Tracking" by pingnews

http://ccmixter.org/files/pingnews/13481

CC License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

## AnthroAlert

## Episode 45: Russell Rice Manzano

Originally aired 13 April 2018 on bullsradio.org

This week our guest discusses the topic of her thesis research.

Russell Rice Manzano is a Ph.D. student in Applied Cultural Anthropology at the University of South Florida. She received her M.A. in Anthropology and a certificate in non-profit management at the University of Central Florida. Her M.A. thesis, “Life After the Boat: Understanding the Needs of Refugees in Siracusa,” focused on adult and unaccompanied minor refugees living in Siracusa, Sicily. She earned her B.A. in interdisciplinary cultural studies at the University of Alabama. From 2010-2012 Russell served as an AmeriCorps volunteer working with migrant youth and socioeconomic inequalities in the Apopka community. Her research interests include cultural anthropology, applied anthropology, migration, refugees, non-governmental organizations, advocacy, and Italy.

>The Italian Coast Guard rescues thousands of asylum-seekers each year, and from there they are typically taken to first reception centers where they receive medical care, clothing, and food. Once the Italian government grants asylum-seekers the opportunity to request international protection they are then sent to small second reception centers operated by local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). However, these NGOs are largely unregulated by the state, and little is known about the challenges that migrants and refugees face after their placement in these centers. Based on ethnographic research conducted in 2015 and 2016, I examine the experiences of refugees living at six local second reception centers in Siracusa, Italy. Specifically, I examine the challenges refugees face after arriving to reception and resettlement centers in Siracusa, Sicily. I also explore how local NGOs operate second reception centers, and how their practices shape refugees’ experiences. These practices and experiences are contextualized within larger policies that influence organizations’ approaches to managing aid to refugees. The humanitarian aid system for refugees in Siracusa is not only complicated, but contradictory: informal NGO practices often circumvent the guidelines for national and international refugee policy, and prevalent inefficiencies, shortages, and corruption adversely affect refugees who receive services from second reception centers. This research shows that refugee centers seldom meet the needs of refugees nor facilitate their integration into society. Thus, many refugee centers and NGOs restrict the socioeconomic mobility of refugees and place them in a liminal state where they must wait for legal documents and basic humanitarian aid services. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the experiences of refugees after they arrive in their host countries and the humanitarian aid organizations that assist refugees.

## Podcast link

## Video link

## Album art photo credit:

Oliver Thompson

https://flic.kr/p/9zVPYB

CC License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

## Intro music credit:

Awel by stefsax

http://ccmixter.org/files/stefsax/7785

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/

Urbana-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix) by spinningmerkaba

http://ccmixter.org/files/jlbrock44/33345

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

There's A Better WAY ! by Loveshadow

http://ccmixter.org/files/Loveshadow/34402

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

"Jungle Tracking" by pingnews

http://ccmixter.org/files/pingnews/13481

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.