Duke University Press Log

David Price on Anthropologists and the Military

Anthropologist David Price, author of Anthropological Intelligence and Threatening Anthropology, is interviewed in this Chronicle of Higher Education story about the continuation of the debate among anthropologists about collaboration with the military. Price is a founding member of the Network of Concerned Anthropologists, a group which has been working to persuade the American Anthropological Association to take a stand against programs such as the Pentagon's Human Terrain System. Inside Higher Ed also interviewed Price, asking him if "any forms of engagement with the military would be acceptable to him. Price said sure. 'Personally I’m not working for the military for a number of reasons, one of which is the larger mission as it’s being carried out is unacceptable to me. For myself, that’s my answer.'"

Fred R. Myers Wins Staley Prize

Congratulations to Fred R. Myers, author of Painting Culture, for winning the J. I. Staley Prize at this week's American Anthropological Association meeting. The Staley Prize is awarded annually by the School for Advanced Research to a living author in honor of a book that exemplifies outstanding scholarship in anthropology.

LA Times Jacket Copy Blog on The Sopranos

The Los Angeles Times book blog Jacket Copy has a post about film scholar Dana Polan's forthcoming book The Sopranos. They wonder if Polan can settle once and for all whether Tony Soprano dies in the show's finale. Actually, for Polan, the ambiguous ending is appropriate: "There could be no satisfaction in any ending to the fictional story. Instead of choosing, then, a narrative ending, ironic or not, the creators behind The Sopranos opted, instead, for a greater irony: admitting that the show was just a constructed bit of entertainment and not giving in to the audience's desire to imagine that its fictions could have a real-life closure to them." The Sopranos will be out in March 2009.

DUP Director Cohn Interviewed for Book Business

Duke Press director Steve Cohn is interviewed in this month's Book Business magazine. He talks to reporter Peter Beisser about our new e-Duke Books Scholarly Collection and about how the press has changed under his leadership.

Events in San Francisco

If you're attending the American Anthropological Association meeting in San Francisco, please stop by our booth (511) for a party at 3:30 today. We'll be congratulating several authors who have won awards, celebrating the 20th anniversary of our journal Public Culture, and introducing a new book series, Experimental Futures.

Also today in San Francisco, Linda Williams, author of Screening Sex, and Kristen Whissel, author of Picturing American Modernity, will read and sign their books at University Press Books. The event begins at 5:30.

Unavoidable Convergence of Politics and Film

In a recent article in the Milwaukee-based Journal Sentinel, Duke Press contributor Catherine Zimmer comments on how the atmosphere of current politics and the choices made by our presidential administration affect what type of movies we see at the theater. Zimmer, along with other commentators, talk about the unavoidable overlapping of politics and film during the Bush Presidency, and beyond. What political influences have you see in film throughout American history, and are there any patterns you expect to see in the future?

Zimmer is the author of the article " Histories of The Watermelon Woman: Reflexivity between Race and Gender." You can read it in the latest issue of Camera Obscura.

LA Times on Muslim Youth in the US

Today's Los Angeles Times has a long piece about Muslim teenagers in the U.S. The article profiles Texas teen Hiba Siddiqui and describes what it is like to live between two cultures in the post-9/11 world. For a deeper look at young South Asian Muslim immigrants living in the U.S., you can read Sunaina Marr Maira's forthcoming book Missing: Youth, Citizenship, and Empire after 9/11. It will be out in May.

Navajo Nation Open Casino

The Navajo Nation opens its first casino today in Arizona. As NPR reports, the Navajo come late to the Indian gaming business. Twice during the 1990s, the Navajo rejected proposals to build casinos, reports the Arizona Republic. But now, with unemployment around 56%, the tribe is ready to give it a try. In her new book High Stakes: Florida Seminole Gaming and Sovereignty, Jessica Cattelino looks at how the Seminoles, the first tribe to open a casino, have handled the windfall that enterprise has brought them. Instead of losing their culture, as some feared, they have instead used their millions to teach their history, language and culture through the building of schools and museums and have supported the tribe with medical care and employment. Because the Navajo come so late to the casino business, however, it is unlikely that they will share the Seminoles' phenomenal success.

Is a Bad Economy Good for Goth?

Today on Marketplace Morning Report from American Public Media, Renita Jablonski reported on the recent success of retailer Hot Topic, which features dark, almost goth-style clothes, while retailer featuring more colorful clothes, such as Pacific Sunwear, are suffering. Jablonski also noted that the new movie Twilight is helping the goth cause. Will the global economic crisis increase the popularity of goth culture? Only time will tell. Check out our compendium Goth: Undead Subculture to learn more about goth fashion, music, literature, cinema and more.

Ethics of Professor Ratings

William Pannapacker, a contributor to the current issue of American Literary Scholarship journal, writes a monthly column in the Chronicle of Higher Education under the pen name Thomas H. Benton. This month, Pannapacker asks “Do Students' Online Ratings of Courses 'Suck' (or 'Rock')?” and looks into the strategies and ethics behind student generated professor ratings

William Pannacker, along with Paul Crumbley, co-authored the article “Whitman and Dickinson” in American Literary Scholarship 2006(1): 73-96 (2008).