Anthropology News November 2000 D I A L O G U E

Continued from page 3 I In a prominent study of the sense of

community, psychologist Kenneth Heller identifies one of its key attributes col- lective political power As the members of a group struggle for collective power, they overcome their differences and achieve a greater sense of community Large, well-organized, politically-con- nected groups in the private sector usu- ally have the greatest power

If we anthropologists want more influence, respect from the public and a stronger sense of community, we must create jobs-thousands of jobs-in the private sector Only about 15,000 anthropologists are active, compared to 1 5 million engineers, 166,000 psychol- ogists and 70,000 economists No won- der we feel powerless

Ironically, the best strategy for pro- ducing thousands of jobs is to encour- age entrepreneurship among under- graduate anthropology majors, a group whose professional employment pros- pects have been wretched in the past Anthropology has only about 2,000 graduate students but a whopping

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10,000 undergraduates. And it is the members of their cohort, ranging in age from 14 to 34, who now create almost half of the new businesses in the US.

Maybe anthropologists should do what those wily engineers have done: promote entrepreneurship and instill a sense of community in those with bach- elor's degrees by welcoming them into the profession. As a start, M s website could add a page on developing new anthropologic businesses, including links to sites for new entrepreneurs.

I've done my part. After graduate school, I used seed money from a brave partner (my late father) to create an oddball investment partnership called Applied Anthropology. Since the early 1980s, I've researched dozens of new services and products requiring anthro- pological knowledge. I focus on busi- nesses and investments suitable for undergraduates, especially homebased enterprises with low startup costs. In archaeology, for example, I've written master plans and guidebooks for the booming markets in cultural eco-tourism and online travel services. I've also grown twenty largely-forgotten, drought-toler- ant ancient crops whose seeds can be sold online in the huge market for herbs and ethnobotanicals. Currently, I'm work- ing on a project to finance archaeological expeditions using live video progress reports on the Internet.

I'm guardedly optimistic about the prognosis for the anthropological com- munity. What's needed are thoughtful business plans-and plenty of the stuff that makes skydivers jump out of air- planes.

Rob M Mclntyre Austin, TX

switchbackMc@aol.com

Collectors and AKhaeologists I was interested to read Forest Fenn's

article in the September AN (p 2 1) There has been much discussion of his private site, the work he has done there and the ethical implications It is fitting that he should be part of the dialogue I would like to add the comments of a cultural anthropologist, equally concerned with ethics and with knowledge I do rather feel that Fenn is trying to have his cake-and property-and eat it, tool

Joe Watkins' statement-for which he apologized to F e n w a s a statement of fact people have accused Fenn of "mining for artifacts " Joe is a respected colleague, rarely given to hyperbole, and it is like him to apologize for something that is neither inaccurate (as a report of claims made by others) nor attributed to himself

Fenn has made some contributions to archaeology but this article is not one of them There are almost as many collec- tors as archaeologists, perhaps collectors might also get used to that fact In the

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general scheme of things, collectors usu- ally have a good approach to technical language in their own areas and should not object to a few Cans latrans bones here and there I agree that jargon is to be avoided but jargon-loaded prose is not the same thing as serious disciplinary writing Anthropologists of all fields, in the interest of furthering knowledge, should write both for the general public and for more specialized audiences Anyone may read both, as Fenn obvi- ously has

Lastly, Fenn's humorous but perhaps not very generous remarks do not relate to ethics We should listen, certainly, but the ethical balance should not be tipped

Willow Roberts Powers U of Iowa

Irish, Journalists and Anthros -Apart

On the topic of the public perception of anthropology . . . . After a cursory perusal of a recent article under the regal aegis of "Reuters," I amassed quite a lot of "stuff." The Irish, it seems, have made headlines simply because there is an even gradation of Haplogroup 1 on the Y chromosome from 98.3% in Ireland to only 1.8% in Turkey. Our stal- wart genetic researchers-Daniel Bradley and colleagues at Trinity College, Dublin-went to great lengths to deter- mine whether a high percentage of Haplogroup 1 correlated with Gaelic sur- names and, sure enough, it did. Well, hallelujah, they are said to have hollered. The Irish are "a race apart! "

In fairness, the folks at Reuters are the ones under the scope, for it is a critique of the public perception of human gene- tic research that we're after. Regardless of what the research has actually con- cluded, the public has been spoon-fed by public media. The need to "find evi- dence of different races" does not exist in modern science in such simplistic form. There's nothing new about the geographic distinctions among many nattering little genetic traits when scruti- nized over thousands of miles. When some journalist chooses to blow up one particular nattering little trait to make it appear that "scientists in their laborato- ry" had discovered Leprechauns are a separate "race," he misses quite a few points. Despite what the Reuters article suggests, there is nothing that would lead us to correlate one type of Y chro- mosome cluster with the notion that a recognized ancestral population is "a race apart." As often happens, the jour- nalism on this leaves me wondering what was actually reported by the scien- tists. As an anthropologist, I do wish jour-

nalists would kindly "race apart" from scientists and let them do their work. So far the Reuters folks have given us a very believable account of gradation in a sin-

gle unremarkable genetic trait but ihen embellished it to manufacture a tantaliz- ing though meaningless conclusion for public consumption

I can hear in my mind's ear some impatient customer at the sidewalk cafe rustling the newspaper Just before he gives up and turns to the sports section, he remarks, "Did you read this thing on the Irish being some separate race7 Gee, why couldn't they also conclude that the Serbs, Albanians, Turks and Russians are also some 'race apart,"'

George Thomas Harker Heights, TX

Thanks My deepest appreciation goes to the

AAA for providing me the AAA Minority Dissertation Fellowship this past year I will graduate with my doctoral degree this December in large part thanks to the fellowship The support allowed me to do the impossibletake time off from my teaching job to work on my dis- sertation (decreasing my household's income considerably) and simultaneous- ly spend a sizable amount of my family's resources on the dissertation effort

Before this past year, my dissertation research was creeping along and losing steam in the process I needed large spans of uninterrupted time which I could never find enough of while work- ing full time and helping with Hawaiian community efforts that were of higher priority than my own academic progress What made my situation more difficult was that I needed a replacement for my prehistoric computer system, a printer that could do more than output letter- size paper with black ink and multiple software programs to implement my research design

Under such conditions, during the seven years that passed since I earned my MA degree, I remained involved in anthropological research with the con- tinued encouragement and support of my committee chair, Michael Graves His guidance kept me directed toward com- pleting my doctoral work Yet it was the AAA fellowship that made the differ- ence in my finally being able to do it

I have attempted in the past, and hope to continue in the future, to posi- tively influence both Hawaiian and an- thropological endeavors by applying information, tools and perspectives from each to enhance the interests and objec- tives of the other I am extremely grateful to the AAA for assisting me in gaining more knowledge, skills and credentials to forward these goals

Kehaunani Cachola-Abad

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