BU Now » Anthropology

Afghanistan’s mineral future

Dick Taffe — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:39:04 +0000

Word that war-torn Afghanistan has at least $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits already has that country’s officials scrambling to start the process of opening up the nation’s reserves to international investors. Anthropology Professor Thomas Barfield, who also is president of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies, says cashing in on the potential will take significant infrastructure building which will require security and likely involve investment from China. Barfield discusses the prospects and pit fields of Afghanistan’s mining future in a BU Today interview.

“The work needed to put in the infrastructure and the side effects — better transportation systems, electricity, jobs for people — that’s going to have an enormous impact well before we get to the question of payment of royalties.”

Contact Thomas Barfield, 617-353-2195, barfield@bu.edu

Top Israeli aid badmouth’s peace talks

Dick Taffe — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:46:31 +0000

Uzi Arad (r.), Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s national security adviser, says the outlook is bleak for U.S.-mediated Middle East peace talks. International relations and anthropology Professor Augustus Richard Norton, author of “Hezbollah: A Short History,” says the former Mossad agent’s comments offer a window into the strategic calculations of the Israeli government, calculations which continue to confound U.S. policy goals.

“Uzi Arad’s presence in the Israeli government illustrates an underlying contempt for U.S. interests.”

Contact Augustus Richard Norton, 617-353-7808, arn@bu.edu

Blaffer Hrdy to Speak at Hillel

Jennifer McDonald — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:00:36 +0000

The Women’s Studies Program is hosting a lecture by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy entitled “Darwin and the Ascent of Emotionally Modern Man: How humans became such hypersocial apes” today at 4 PM at the Hillel House on Baystate Road. Blaffer Hrdy is a professor emerita in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Davis and has been elected to the California Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The event includes a lecture and reception and is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Carly Pack-Bailey at wsp@bu.edu or 617 358 2370.