Session I. Anthropology of Community Health and Development

Judd Antin – Challenges for the Use of Empowerment Evaluation with Community-Based Initiatives: A Case Study

Abstract

Empowerment evaluation is one of several new evaluation methodologies that attempt to integrate aspects of applied ethnography for the goals of evaluation and advocacy. Based on a nine-month evaluation of a coalition of non-profit groups in Baltimore, this presentation will describe the nature of empowerment evaluation, and offer thoughts on its strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and successes. In addition, the presentation will discuss the ways in which empowerment evaluation, as a method which calls itself 'a form of ethnographic advocacy evaluation,’ has or has not appropriately co-opted aspects of applied ethnography, and offer suggestions and thoughts about how ethnographic methods can be put to better and more specific use.

Matthew Hora — Exploring Qualitative & Ethnographic Data Representation in a Professional Setting:  Establishing a Geographic Information System (GIS) for LTG Associates.

Abstract

There is growing interest among social scientists in fusing qualitative research methods and spatial analysis, based on the perception that Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can situate human activities and local knowledge within a macro-level environment in a methodologically robust and visually convincing manner.  However, adopting a tool which was designed for applications primarily in the geo-sciences presents technical, financial, and conceptual challenges for practicing anthropologists. The primary goal of the internship was to examine potential applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis to the work of practicing anthropologists in general, and the health care and evaluation oriented activities of LTG Associates in particular. 

In conducting my internship at LTG, I developed three GIS databases for health services in Washington, DC, Baltimore, MD and Fresno County, CA.  In addition, I reviewed nine interview transcripts and related field notes from a previous project in order to deduce the existence of geo-referenced data and the potential for GIS to improve or enhance the ultimate analysis of the data.  The project focused on health seeking behaviors, and it became immediately apparent that the interviewees felt that the location of health care resources, transportation infrastructure and opinions and perceptions about the local environment played a significant role in their health seeking behavior.  It was apparent to the internship supervisor that the input of these observations, travel patterns and related geo-referenced data into a single map product was extremely valuable for project directors and field researchers to aid in the analysis of the interview transcripts.  Of particular value is the contextualized depiction of an interviewees experience for off-site project managers, who may have little or no familiarity with the study area. 

This portion of the internship yielded additional insight into the prospective role of GIS among practicing anthropologists, but also indicated that a data collection protocol would be necessary for the optimal use of GIS.  Many of the interviews did not contain enough information for input into a GIS, yet with a minor follow-up or probe to an interviewees statement, the appropriate geographic identifiers could be elicited for GIS analysis. This application of GIS was also utilized to assist an ethnographer in her analysis of interview data and food shopping behaviors for a research project in Baltimore, Maryland.  Of primary importance to non-geographers utilization of GIS is the understanding of the limitations and potential of GIS for practicing anthropologists.  Clearly understanding the appropriate and inappropriate use of GIS is of extreme importance to non-geographers, and the comprehension of both geographic and anthropological principles is essential for the cross-disciplinary development of this prospective new research methodology.

Tamar Johnson — Food Store Accessibility:  A Case Study

Abstract

Evaluating client access to resources is becoming increasingly popular with many social scientists.  However, researchers’ conceptualizations of accessibility tend to be ambiguous, resulting in studies that fail to holistically understand accessibility as it is conceptualized by the client population.  This paper will describe the methods used and the findings of an exploratory ethnographic study that identified a complex but not exhaustive array of variables that affect emic conceptions of food access in East Baltimore.  By combining geographic information systems(GIS) and ethnography, this research also explores the many methodological complications as well as the advantages of integrating GIS and qualitative research.

Maria Weir — Balancing Internship Demands with Anthropological Concepts of Culture

Abstract

In the summer of 2003, I interned at the Disaster Services Department of the American Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington, DC. My internship addressed the problem of improving Red Cross disaster relief delivery to immigrant populations in the United States. The main objective of my internship involved creating “cultural information documents” - documents outlining general cultural information about recent immigrants to the United States. The goal of these cultural information documents is to facilitate culturally sensitive delivery of disaster relief by making Red Cross disaster staff aware of the values and ways of life of the populations they serve. As a graduate student in anthropology, I am acutely aware of the problems associated with the creation of cultural information documents. I undertook the assignment with the goal of not only delivering quality products, but also of incorporating my anthropological knowledge and skills in order to relay new concepts of culture to my supervisors and to improve project outcomes. In my internship I specifically addressed two problematic aspects of the project: cultural information documents as inadequate representations of culture, and cultural information documents as insufficient means of achieving cultural competency. By incorporating and implementing anthropological concepts and methods in my internship, I was able to address these problematic aspects in a meaningful way, which resulted in improved project outcomes.

Gengsheng Lu and Katarzyna Zebrak – The Study of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Zambia Based on Review of Secondary Sources: Exploration and Discussion on the Necessity of Conducting Ethnographic Assessment for Program Planning in the Area of Health and Food Security

Abstract

As secondary infections associated with AIDS continue to claim numerous lives in many Sub-Saharan African countries, American NGOs have embarked on a mission attempting to devise innovative programs mitigating the impacts of the pandemic on local populations in affected areas.  Many of those NGOs operate under limited funding and time constraints when conducting assessment for future interventions, necessitating heavy reliance on results of research using secondary sources such as already existing reports.  This paper explores the results of a background research on the HIV/AIDS problem in Zambia, used by Counterpart International as the informational base in order to conduct an assessment for the planning stages of programming in the area of food security, as a unique way of attacking the problem of food shortage and nutritional imbalances related to the pandemic.  Some issues highlighted in the paper include an investigation into the complexity of the problem and its multi-level nature, which necessitates the use of anthropological methods and concepts in order to address the dimensions of the HIV/AIDS situation adequately.  The discussion also mentions the importance of exercising caution when utilizing secondary data sources, as a means of encouraging the use of ethnographic methods in rapid appraisal, for the purpose of obtaining more accurate information.

Kerry Weeda, M.A.A. (Class of 2001), Discussant

Session II. Resource Management and Cultural Process

Andrea Berardi — Local Perceptions of Sustainability in the Community of San Pedro, TCO Tacana, Bolivia

Abstract

Bolivia’s Forestry Law of 1996 provided new opportunities for communities that are indigenous to Bolivia’s tropical lowland tropical forests to engage in planned management of their homelands. Various national and international NGOs and government-sponsored projects, including the first phase of Project BOLFOR, provided direct assistance to communities and worked with them to implement forest management plans in order to build sustainable community forestry enterprises. The goal was twofold: promote the continued commercialization of timber via sustainable management of the forests and to bring economic benefits to the communities.

To date, a growing number of communities with traditionally low-scale, self-subsistent production activities have initiated such community-based forestry projects in spite of having little experience in commercial forestry, business management, or participation in market economies.

This qualitative and quantitative assessment to document local perspectives of cultural, environmental, and economic sustainability was completed in the community of San Pedro, located in the Tacana indigenous territory. Findings highlight the ways in which the community’s involvement in commercialization of timber has shifted its modes of production and consumption. In addition, community members’ perspectives of sustainability suggest some possible trends that the community is experiencing with respect to cultural, environmental, and economic resources.

Stanley Herman — Betwixt and Between: Negotiating Truth in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands

Abstract

For the past several years, there has been increasing interest among academics and policy makers in examining indigenous sea tenure regimes of Pacific Island societies.  Typically, these studies have worked from the assumption that certain models of customary sea tenure management could be adapted for use regarding littoral fisheries (Hviding 1996; Robben 1985).  However, several scholars have criticized these attempts for over­simpli­fying the diversity of customary sea tenure institutions within their local contexts; in particular, they criticized the failure to recognize the internal dynamics within local sociocultural, economic, and political realities which encourage change within management forms (Aswani 1998, 1999; Ruddle 1998).

A shift in interest away from investigating the impacts of external colonialism and neo-colonialism upon customary sea tenure regimes toward an approach that focuses upon internal socioeconomic and ecological features including the manner in which various local contexts interact sui generis with exogamous forces, has encouraged a broadening in the methodologies used to study these institutions.  In particular, a new emphasis has been placed upon ethnohistorical accounts, microeconomics and ecology in order to create more detailed and dynamic models of sea tenure management institutions in relation to forces of globalization and development (Aswani 1999, 2002).

This report is an attempt to examine differences in local cultural knowledge regarding customary sea tenure management among villages in the New Georgia region of the Solomon Islands.  The two villages discussed here have been identified previously (Aswani 1999, 2002) as possessing significantly different management approaches to the organi­zation and entitlement of their respective sea tenure regimes, which have resulted from varied responses to local ecological pressures and global economic interactions.  The central questions I ask are: Does the shared cultural knowledge among community members about the sea tenure regimes reflect these historical and institutional differences?  Do the communities share the same understanding and approach to such management problems like population growth and overharvesting? 

A further part of this investigation is to examine the local reactions to nascent Marine Protected Area (MPA) programs that have been implemented in the region.  These pro­grams are only a few years old, and are the product of an ongoing interaction between national and international development agencies’ interventions, on the one hand, as well as traditional cultural forms of resource management, on the other.

Heather Sims — Preserve America: Assessing Heritage Resource Management and Tourism Development for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Abstract

The Preserve America initiative (Executive Order 13287) calls for increased attention to heritage resources on federal lands and encourages federal agencies to manage these resources with a focus on building partnerships and tourism development.  The presenter discusses her involvement in assisting the Branch of Visitor Services and Communications in the Division of Refuges of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on developing procedures for assessing heritage resources on Service properties.  The importance of including local communities in the management of these cultural resources and tourism development is discussed, as well as clarifying the significant relationship between cultural and natural heritage resources for an agency primarily focused on natural resource management.

Afeefa Syeed, M.A.A. (Class of 1995), Discussant

Session III. Historical Archaeology

Robert Chidester — Movement Archaeology: Promoting Labor's Cause through Archaeology

Abstract

Although historically viewed as a southern state, Maryland has a rich industrial heritage.  Yet, beyond Baltimore and local recognition in Allegany County very few people are aware of this.  Furthermore, where Maryland’s industrial past is acknowledged the working-class laborers who made industry run are often left out of the historical picture.  During the summer of 2003, a historic context for archaeological sites related to Maryland’s labor heritage was written and a multiple-property submission to the National Register of Historic Places was prepared.  This paper will detail the ways in which this information is being used to educate the Maryland public and to change its perception of Maryland’s labor heritage through such venues as popular publications, the National Register’s educational programs, and a survey of members of the modern-day labor movement in Maryland to identify important sites of labor heritage.

David Gadsby — Providence: Land and Power in Early Maryland

Abstract

I produced a Multiple Property Submission (MPS) to the National Register of Historic Places for archaeological sites associated with the seventeenth-century Puritan settlement of Providence.  Seven sites were included in the study.  Providence, located across the Severn River from Annapolis, MD, is the precursor to Annapolis and has been the object of archaeological study for over a decade.  As a researcher with Anne Arundel County’s Lost Towns Project, I helped lead a team of archaeologists, volunteers and student interns to conduct archaeological excavations on two Providence sites.  These excavations were necessary to establish integrity for both sites as a part of the MPS process.  The most intensive excavations, conducted at the Leavy Neck site, yielded a wealth of  information about Providence and demonstrated that much research remains to be done there. A human skeleton, recovered from a large cellar-like intrusion and covered with seventeenth-century deposits also generated a great deal of publicity for the organization.  One product of this notoriety was the production of a segment of a PBS program, "History Detectives," on which I served as a research consultant. I present he results of the excavations, along with a broader analysis of the Providence settlement produced as a part of my post-intern­ship work here.

Jason Shellenhamer — The Archaeology and Restoration of the William Paca Garden, Annapolis, Maryland: 1966 – 1990

Abstract

The paper presents the results of research regarding the previous archaeological research conducted at the William Paca Garden from 1966 – 1990.  Originally built in the late 18^th century, the William Paca utilized geometric principles in order to create a sophisticated landscape for his Annapolis, Maryland home.  One hundred twenty years of neglect and reuse eventually erased the landscape from public memory.  Much of what is now known of the garden is to due a series of 5 extensive archaeological excavations conducted over a period of 24 years beginning in 1966 and concluding in 1990. The first of these excava­tions conducted by Bruce Powell (1966), Glenn Little (1967-68) and Kenneth and Ronald Orr (1975) were most responsible for what is no known of the garden.  However, the majority of the information recovered during these excavations was never properly documented.  Over the summer of 2003, the documents related to all 5 excavations and the garden restoration were compiled and analyzed and finally a report was created detail­ing the full extent of the excavations and how they contributed to the restoration of the William Paca Garden.

Matthew Palus, M.A.A. (Class of 2000), Discussant

Department of Anthropology

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