The divine kingship of the Shilluk: on violence, utopia and the human condition, or, elements for an archaeology of sovereignty

Since Frazer's time, Shilluk kingship has been a flashpoint of anthropological debates about the nature of sovereignty, and while such debates are now considered irrelevant to current debates on the subject, they need not be. This essay presents a detailed analysis of the history, myth, and ritual surrounding the Shilluk institution to propose a new set of distinctions: between "divine kingship" (by which humans can become god through arbitrary violence, reflexively defining their victims as "the people") and "sacred kingship" (the popular domestication of such figures through ritual), and argues that kingship always represents the image of a temporary, imperfect solution to what is taken to be the fundamental dilemma of the human condition—one that can itself only be maintained through terro

Radical alterity is just another way of saying “reality”: a reply to Eduardo Viveiros de Castro

As a response to Eduardo Viveiros de Castro’s critique of my essay “Fetishes are gods in the process of construction,” this paper enters into critical engagement with anthropological proponents of what has been called the “ontological turn.” Among other engagements, I note that my own reflections on Malagasy fanafody, or medicine, are informed by just the sort of self-conscious reflections my informants make on epistemology, something that anthropologists typically ignore. After making note of the arguments of Roy Bhaskar that most post-Cartesian philosophy rests on an “epistemic fallacy,” I further argue that a realist ontology, combined with broad theoretical relativism, is a more compelling political position than the “ontological anarchy” and theoretical intolerance of ontological turn exponents

Reflections on reflections

Comment on Ortner, Sherry. 2016. “Dark anthropology and its others: Theory since the eighties.” Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 6 (1): 47–73

“Many seasons ago”: slavery and its rejection among foragers on the Pacific coast of North America

Anthropologists have traditionally classified foragers on the Pacific coast of North America into two major culture areas, characterized by strikingly different social and ethical systems. These are “California” and the adjacent “Northwest Coast.” Foragers in the northern part of California exhibit many elements of Weber's “Protestant ethic,” such as the moral injunction for community leaders to work hard, seek spiritual purpose by introspection, and pursue monetary wealth while avoiding material excess. By contrast, the social organization of Northwest Coast foragers bears comparison with that of courtly estates in medieval Europe, where a leisured class of nobles achieved status through hereditary ranking, competitive banquets, dazzling aesthetic displays, and the retention of household slaves captured in war. Remarkably, the coexistence of two such clearly opposed value systems among foragers inhabiting adjacent parts of the Pacific littoral has excited little interest in anthropologists, historians, or archaeologists to date. We consider the implications, which cast doubt on some key orthodoxies concerning the nature of culture areas, modes of subsistence, and political evolution. We argue that the political creativity of foraging peoples has been severely underrated

Understanding and Counteracting Fatigue in Flight Crews

The materials included in the collection of documents describe the research of the NASA Ames Fatigue Countermeasures Group (FCG), which examines the extent to which fatigue, sleep loss, and circadian disruption affect flight-crew performance. The group was formed in 1980 in response to a Congressional request to examine a possible safety problem of uncertain magnitude due to transmeridian flying and a potential problem due to fatigue in association with various factors found in air-transport operations and was originally called the Fatigue/Jet Lag Program. The goals of the FCG are: (1) the development and evaluation of strategies for mitigating the effects of sleepiness and circadian disruption on pilot performance levels; (2) the identification and evaluation of objective approaches for the prediction of alertness changes in flight crews; and (3) the transfer and application of research results to the operational field via classes, workshops, and safety briefings. Some of the countermeasure approaches that have been identified to be scientifically valid and operationally relevant are brief naps (less than 40 min) in the cockpit seat and 7-min activity breaks, which include postural changes and ambulation. Although a video-based alertness monitor based on slow eyelid closure shows promise in other operational environments, research by the FCG has demonstrated that in its current form at the time of this reporting, it is not feasible to implement it in the cockpit. Efforts also focus on documenting the impact of untreated fatigue on various types of flight operations. For example, the FCG recently completed a major investigation into the effects of ultra-long-range flights (20 continuous hours in duration) on the alertness and performance of pilots in order to establish a baseline set of parameters against which the effectiveness of new ultra-long-range fatigue remedies can be judged

Antitumor activity of the ERK inhibitor SCH772984 [corrected] against BRAF mutant, NRAS mutant and wild-type melanoma.

BackgroundIn melanoma, dysregulation of the MAPK pathway, usually via BRAF(V600) or NRAS(Q61) somatic mutations, leads to constitutive ERK signaling. While BRAF inhibitors are initially effective for BRAF-mutant melanoma, no FDA-approved targeted therapies exist for BRAF-inhibitor-resistant BRAF(V600), NRAS mutant, or wild-type melanoma.MethodsThe 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of SCH772984, a novel inhibitor of ERK1/2, was determined in a panel of 50 melanoma cell lines. Effects on MAPK and AKT signaling by western blotting and cell cycle by flow cytometry were determined.ResultsSensitivity fell into three groups: sensitive, 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) < 1 μM; intermediately sensitive, IC50 1-2 μM; and resistant, >2 μM. Fifteen of 21 (71%) BRAF mutants, including 4 with innate vemurafenib resistance, were sensitive to SCH772984. All three (100%) BRAF/NRAS double mutants, 11 of 14 (78%) NRAS mutants and 5 of 7 (71%) wild-type melanomas were sensitive. Among BRAF(V600) mutants with in vitro acquired resistance to vemurafenib, those with MAPK pathway reactivation as the mechanism of resistance were sensitive to SCH772984. SCH772984 caused G1 arrest and induced apoptosis.ConclusionsCombining vemurafenib and SCH722984 in BRAF mutant melanoma was synergistic in a majority of cell lines and significantly delayed the onset of acquired resistance in long term in vitro assays. Therefore, SCH772984 may be clinically applicable as a treatment for non-BRAF mutant melanoma or in BRAF-mutant melanoma with innate or acquired resistance, alone or in combination with BRAF inhibitors

Use of Incremental Adaptation and Habituation Regimens for Mitigating Optokinetic Side-effects

The use of incremental and repeated exposures regimens have been put forth as effective means to mitigate visually induced motion sickness based on the Dual Process Theory (DPT) (Groves & Thompson, 1970) of neural plasticity. In essence, DPT suggests that by incrementing stimulus intensity the depression opponent process should be allowed to exert greater control over the net outcome than the sensitization opponent process, thereby minimizing side-effects. This conceptual model was tested by empirically validating the effectiveness of adaptation, incremental adaptation, habituation, and incremental habituation regimens to mitigate side-effects arising from exposure to an optokinetic drum. Forty college students from the University of Central Florida participated in the experimentation and were randomly assigned to a regimen. Efforts were taken to balance distribution of participants in the treatments for gender and motion sickness susceptibility. Results indicated that overall, the application of an incremental regimen is effective in reducing side-effects (e.g. malaise, dropout rates, postural instabilities, etc.) when compared to a non-incremented regimen, whether it be a one-time or repeated exposure. Furthermore, the application of the Motion History Questionnaire (MHQ) (Graybiel & Kennedy, 1965) for identifying high and low motion sickness susceptible individuals proved effective. Finally, gender differences in motion sickness were not found in this experiment as a result of balancing susceptibility with the gender subject variable. Findings from this study can be used to aid effective design of virtual environment (VE) usage regimens in an effort to manage cybersickness. Through pre-exposure identification of susceptible individuals via the MHQ, exposure protocols can be devised that may extend limits on exposure durations, mitigate side-effects, reduce dropout rates, and possibly increase training effectiveness. This document contains a fledgling set of guidelines form VE usage that append those under development by Stanney, Kennedy, & Kingdon (In press) and other previously established guidelines form simulator use (Kennedy et al., 1987). It is believed that through proper allocation of effective VE usage regimens cybersickness can be managed, if susceptible individuals are identified prior to exposure