Whew! What now?
We have two things to celebrate today. We hit our crowdfunding goal, for which we have you all (y'all) to thank. So thank you! And last night we submitted a manuscript that we've been writing for over a year based on data collected several years ago now. So I thought I'd take this post to tell you what we're doing next and what else we do.
First, what's next? I need to follow up today with the Biological Safety people about some paperwork for our IRB proposal. I have done this kind of work with saliva samples a dozen times and contacted them last year about transporting saliva samples overseas, and there were no snags. Maybe there's some new bureaucracy. Likely there is some new bureaucracy.
Last summer I had to leave American Samoa one week early because of a death in the family. Michaela handled all of both of our studies there by herself. Thank you, Michaela. That really sucked, and we still feel the repercussions of it today. The death was a heavy one and has deeply affected my family. And poor Michaela does what can only be described as a shit-ton of fieldwork in the summers. She and her husband James Loudon run the Balinese Macaque Ethnoprimatology Field Project in Bali before or after she works in American Samoa pretty much every year. So she was already spent when she got there last year, and I felt terrible leaving her holding the bag. But she did it, and she'll be doing both projects again this year. She is leaving tomorrow to fly to England for her brother's wedding, doing stuff in Europe, meeting me in Seattle/Tacoma for the Tatau Festival fieldwork, then flying to Bali for the ethnoprimatology field school.
As a consequence of leaving early last summer, I left all my data collection supplies there with her instead of bringing them back myself (she was already toting 3 months of supplies for her summer travels). I had planned to return in October to attend Tisa's Tatau Festival in American Samoa (But ultimately the timing and financing wasn't going to work. We will be able to collect more data at the Northwest Tatau Festival and have actually been invited, rather than trying to wriggle our way in.), Michaela and I agreed to leave the data collection materials with Joe at Off Da Rock, who was going to continue data collection for us. However, we were never able to get Joe the training required by IRB, so we couldn't ethically ask him to do that. Furthermore, as those of you following along on Facebook may have noted, Leuila and Joe just welcomed their 3rd baby Ioane to the family (congrats, you two!).
Our friend and collaborator David Herdrich, Director of the American Samoa Historic Preservation Office, happens to currently be in the US for the high school graduation of his son Toa in Florida. He was kind enough to bring our equipment back when he visited Michaela on his way down to Florida. That equipment includes our saliva collection supplies but also a bioimpedance analyzer (BIA) and handgrip dynamometer. We use the BIA to collect weight, body fat, body density, etc. We use the handgrip dynamometer to test the neurological integrity of the participant. Yet, we're hoping to have more than one of these devices to use this summer so we can double our efforts. I believe Michaela was able to buy another dynamometer with funding she got to get her research assistants there. However, a BIA is much more expensive. Fortunately, we have two more in my department. Unfortunately, the DC adapters seem to be missing, and the ones I can find that fit don't seem to work. So I am currently troubleshooting equipment for our impending field season and taking care of bureaucracy.
Additionally, we need to refine our questionnaire and print up a few hundred to ship ahead of us so I don't have to check them in my baggage or print them onsite.
Meanwhile, we're both involved with several other studies. Earlier this year, Michaela and I co-authored an article with Jo Weaver, Margaret Sesepesara, and John Tufa about the dual burden of Zika and chronic disease among mothers in American Samoa that is in press in the Annals of Human Biology called "Zika Virus in American Samoa: Challenges to Prevention in the Context of Health Disparities and Non-Communicable Disease." Here is the abstract to that paper:
"Background Zika virus (ZIKV) is linked to increased rates of spontaneous abortions and neurological deficits in children exposed in utero. Maternal exposure to ZIKV through mosquitoes and sexual fluids creates a public health challenge for communities and policymakers, which is exacerbated by high levels of chronic non-communicable diseases in American Samoa.
Aim This study aimed to identify structural barriers to ZIKV prevention in American Samoa and situate them within locally relevant cultural and epidemiological contexts.
Subjects and methods We assessed knowledge, attitudes, and access to ZIKV prevention among 180 adult women and men in American Samoan public health clinics. We queried knowledge about protection against mosquitoes, condom use, and access to prenatal care.
Results Participants were able to identify how to prevent mosquito bites. However, they reported being unable to follow through due to socioeconomic and infrastructure limitations. Few participants identified condom use as a preventative measure against ZIKV. Prevention misconceptions were most pronounced in women of low socioeconomic status.
Conclusion These findings reinforce the need for a multipronged approach to ZIKV. We highlight the need for information on culturally specific barriers and recognition of additional challenges associated with dual burden in marginal populations where social inequalities exacerbate health issues."
And yesterday, Michaela and I submitted a manuscript along with UA doctoral candidate Max Stein entitled "Family and the field: Expectations of a field-based research career affect researcher family planning decisions" to PLOS ONE. We're very excited about this manuscript, though chagrined by its implications. It will not be news to anyone in academia, anthropology, or, really, the world today, but what our findings indicate is that field-based disciplines undermine their own efforts at intersectionality because of their requirements for entry. Who can afford to do extensive, intensive fieldwork to get a PhD to become an anthropologist for the relatively low compensation (compare to fields that are in demand in private industry like law or business, where PhDs make a LOT of money)? People with privilege. This quote we start off with by Dr. Karri Holley, a scholar in UA's College of Education (and friend of mine), pretty much says it all: "Those same structures that have provided the resources for the academic disciplines to flourish have also restricted the means and content of knowledge production." Here is our abstract for the paper:
"Field-based data collection provides an extraordinary opportunity for comparative research. However, the demands of pursuing research away from home creates an expectation of socially unencumbered individuals who have the temporal, financial, and social resources to conduct this work. Here we determine if this myth of the socially unencumbered scholar contributes to the loss of trainees and professionals disproportionately based on sex. To investigate this, we conducted an internet-based survey of graduate student and professional anthropologists (n = 1025) focused on the challenges and barriers associated with developing and maintaining a fieldwork-oriented career path and an active family life. This study sought to determine how (1) family socioeconomic status impacts becoming an anthropologist, (2) expectations of field-based research influence family planning, and (3) fieldwork experiences influence perceptions of family-career balance and stress. We found that most anthropologists and anthropology students come from educated households and that white men were significantly more likely to become tenured professionals. This gender disparity is striking because a larger number of women are trained in anthropology and were more likely than men to report delaying parenthood to pursue their career. Furthermore, regardless of socioeconomic background, anthropologists reported significant lack of family-career balance and high stress associated with the profession. For professionals, lack of balance was most associated with tenure concerns, age, and having children (p < .001), while for students it was peer pressures, marital status, ethnic identity, and being parents (p < .025). Anthropology bridges the sciences and humanities, making it the ideal discipline to initiate discussions on the embedded structural components of field-based careers generalizable across specialties."
I am also working on a paper about hosting academic conferences with my PhD student Mandy Guitar and Virginia Commonwealth University assistant professor Amy Rector. I started and twice hosted the Southeastern Evolutionary Perspectives Society (SEEPS) annual conference. Mandy hosted the Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society (NEEPS--yes, they're related) 11th annual conference when she was a graduate student at Binghamton University. Amy co-founded the Mid-Atlantic Bioanthropology Interest Group (MABIG) and has hosted their conferences every year. We are writing a paper about the pros and cons of hosting evolution-oriented conference from multiple professional vantages.
Finally but not finally, I am starting on a new paper about our Fireside Relaxation Study. Several years ago we collected data that suggests multimedia like television may be compelling/addictive for us because it simulates fires, which our species (and ancestors) have been using for at least 800,000 years. In fact, we only learned how to start fires about 40,000 years ago, so coordinating efforts to keep fires going may have played a large role in driving the evolution of human cooperation. So I'm working on the second paper from our lab about that. The first I published in 2014, called "Hearth and Campfire Influences on Arterial Blood Pressure: Defraying the Costs of the Social Brain through Fireside Relaxation" is open access and can be read here through the journal Evolutionary Psychology.
Finally finally, I am working on a book called Transcendental Medication that integrates many of the threads of my research program. I have drafts of about 12 chapters written but keep getting distracted by all these papers. Oh yeah, and a student of mine did a great study of primate zookeepers and wellbeing that I want to help her get published. I always try to help students and colleagues without tenure publish ahead of myself because they need it more than I do. Oh, and I'm the new Graduate Director of our Anthropology Department as of August, so I'm learning the ropes for that. And we are starting a VISTA position for our Anthropology Is Elemental outreach program and need to hire someone to run that program I developed with Lynn Funkhouser and Duke Beasley.
And and and. Other stuff. I love this life. Truly.
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