Conference: Wireless Internet Opportunities for Developing Nations, June 26, 2003, New York City "As you are certainly aware, Wireless Internet applied to large-scale broadband distribution is the hottest trend in the information technology sector with far reaching implications for the connectivity of underserved areas. On June 26th, W2i, the Wireless Internet Institute and the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force are joining forces to organize the Wireless Internet Opportunities for Developing Nations conference at UN Headquarters in New York City. The conference will bring representatives of developing countries together with leading technology vendors, carriers, investors, regulators, entrepreneurs and field practitioners from around the world. Participants will examine development potential created by emerging wireless technologies and discuss recommendations to governments, regulators and Wireless Internet stakeholders to foster rapid market growth and bridging connectivity gaps. Participants will include IBM, Intel, Agere, the World Bank, the FCC, the MIT Media Lab, the Wi-Fi Alliance, and a number of leading wireless Internet stakeholders. The conference will include plenary sessions and brainstorming workshops to facilitate experience sharing and interaction among participants. A showcase adjacent to the conference will also allow field practitioners and technology developers to share best practices and innovative solutions, an opportunity that your organization may like to consider. Given your interest in these topics and the high profile of this meeting, we wanted to alert you so that you can reserve the June 26th, 2003 date on your schedule and register at your earliest convenience to participate in the conference plenary and workshop sessions. Special rates for both the conference and the Millenium UN Plaza Hotel are available until May 30th. Details on the program and participating industry leaders can be found here, where you can register on-line. If you have any question, please do not hesitate to contact us via e-mail or phone: (617) 439 5400. Daniel Aghion Executive Diretor Sarbuland Khan Acting Executive Coordinator" via Anthro-L

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Oxford University Press has set up a program wherein scholars from developing nations are eligible for free or greatly discounted electronic access to a large number of professional journals. Have a look at the complete information.

SMITH, R. 2003. "Closing the digital divide," in: British Medical Journal 326(7383): 238.

delivers an introduction to the rationale behind programs such as OUP's. via Anthro-L

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This famous web site (www.africanhiphop.com) contents many informations about Hip-Hop music in whole Africa. Its content manager is coming from Netherlands, and this site is one of the best existing sites about African Hip-Hop. Hip-Hop is an important tool for many young people in West and East Africa to describe how they see their world. And it's a very interesting anthropological topic. In Bayreuth where Africanists from e.g. Germany, Tanzania and Netherlands met last week-end, one of the topics, they talked about, was the role of Hip-Hop in East Africa.

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"Cherchez le Chercheur" No. IV Following last week’s group portrait, this time we offer you a real ‘Cherchez le Chercheur’ picture. Have you spotted the fieldworker in the rear?

The shot was taken by a German photo journalist who covered the ‘HIV/Aids awareness campaign’ promoted by the king of Akyem Abuakwa. The main attention is drawn to the illustrious king (wearing an expensive Kente cloth), two Ghanaian WHO representatives and a biochemist from Potsdam/Germany. All are surrounded by curious palace officials and spectators catching a glimpse of the royal blood test.

After his return to Germany, the journalist published this picture in the SPIEGEL news magazine. The media campaign not only served the king’s ambitions. It is also an ethnographic account; it identifies the researcher in his field while participating in another ‘traditional’ palace activity constructed around a ‘modernist’ issue.

Now, watch the whole scene from the fieldworker’s perspective: the counter-picture includes, of course, the SPIEGEL journalist and the king standing right under the royal umbrella (kyinie).

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A Register of abductees confirms reality of slavery in Sudan. The report presents a list of 11.000 people who were abducted from rebel-held areas by tribal militias supported by the Sudanese Government. 10 000 of them are still missing. Most people were young man abducted from cattle camps where they were herding livestock. The raids mainly took place in the south-western district bahr al-ghasal. In the Christian south a rebellion against the Khartoum government has raged for almost 20 years.

Key statistical findings during the 20-year period covered in the research included the fact that:

-- 1,862 raids took place in which southerners were abducted; -- 5,148 people were recorded as having been killed in the raids; -- 60% of abductees were of abductees were under the age of 18 when they were taken; -- a majority of abductees were male; and -- in the worst affected village -- Ajok -- 101 adults and children were abducted in a single week.

Take a look at the whole story, or at its compact version.

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A Model United Nations is a simulation, where students are representing diplomates of different countries. By doing, one learns a lot about international relations and diplomatic conduct. We have a very active and succesfull simulation group in Munich, which is participating every year in the world's biggest student UN simulation in New York. If you are interested, you should go to an information evening, that will be next monday, 2 June 2003, at Geschwister-Scholl-Institut für Politische Wissenschaft (Oettingenstrasse 67), Raum 1.14 (im 1. OG). More Information at NMUN München or NMUN New York

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If you are interested in topics like "Nepali politics" and "civil society in Nepal" have a look at Nepali politics and civil society. There you will find some articles about institutions, civil education, civil rights, caste and ethnicity, gender and conflict resolutions. For the latest news you should have a look at Nepalnews.com. There you will find links of all the newspapers (daily, weekly and monthly) of Nepal. Information about right now going on "bondhs" (demonstrations and strikes) - which are held by students and political parties since 5 weeks - have a look at this article from Nepal News. (Thanks to Muk for this information!)

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You can find an article about the "latest news" from the hindu-kindom nepal and the political developments at Süddeutsche Zeitung (in german). In my opinion the article does not inform serious about the reasons of this conflict, the picture which the author drew is not one of the latest movements.

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Papua New Guinean authorities are trying to convince thousands of Polynesians to abandon their homes on two atolls (Tulun/Carteret Islands and Takuu/Mortlock Islands) that appear to be sinking into the Pacific Ocean, reports ABC Online News.

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The debate about the question, if genes or culture are determinating our future, continues: After a debate in Current Anthropology some months ago (we reported), some days ago a zoologist wrote an article for Time Magazine, now stating (which doesn`t seem new to me at all) that it's an interaction of both.

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At this personal page from a US scholar you can find short reviews of ethnomathematical books like Marcia Ascher's book Ethnomathematics: A Multicultural View of Mathematical Ideas. Quote from the review: "She has no intention of claiming that the mathematics developed in the cultures she discusses had any influence on developments elsewhere. Her main goal is simply to show that mathematical ideas, even if not developed by those called mathematicians, can be found in many societies if one only knows where to look."

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Further this project is interesting also because of its progressive use of technology: "The Centre's Online Heritage Resource Manager (OHRM) and Web Academic Resource Publisher (WARP) will be adapted to provide historians with a cheap and relatively easy way of creating web-based editions of historical documents that conform to emerging international standards for XML text markup and content description. The ultimate goal of the project is to create a "distributed" version of the tools in open source programming that will help facilitate collaborative production of historical information resources by researchers regardless of their location."

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