February on the MacMillan Report

Rapid urbanization in Saigon and prehistoric projectile hunting weapons were two of the topics explored in February on “The MacMillan Report,” a one-on-one interview show presented by Yale’s Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale. There were also talks about how the Democratic Party transformed American conservatism in the 19^th century, and nutrition and public health in Greece.

Designed to showcase the innovative research by Yale faculty in international and area studies, “The MacMillan Report” is hosted by Marilyn Wilkes, communications director at the MacMillan Center, and airs on Wednesdays at noon during the academic year. Each segment runs between 15 and 20 minutes long.

Launched in October of 2008, the show has featured more than 200 faculty members (see the show’s archive).

“Luxury and Rubble: Civility and Dispossession in the New Saigon”
Guest: Erik Harms, associate professor of anthropology and Southeast Asia studies
Feb. 1

Erik Harms is a social-cultural anthropologist specializing in Southeast Asia and Vietnam. His ethnographic research in Vietnam has focused on the social and cultural effects of rapid urbanization on the fringes of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). More recently, his work has focused on the uses and abuses of “culture” and “urban civility” in urban Vietnam, and how this civilizing discourse entwines with spatial action in ways that legitimize broad-scale privatization. While grounded ethnographically in Vietnam, his research and teaching seeks at all turns to connect with larger world-historic processes, unraveling the interaction between culture and politics, and the ways in which every day acts are informed by larger political agendas.

“Preserving the White Man’s Republic: The Democratic Party and the Transformation of American Conservatism, 1847-1860”
Guest: Joshua Lynn, visiting fellow, Center for the Study of Representative Institutions
Feb. 8

Joshua Lynn studies 19th-century politics, culture, and political thought in the United States, with particular attention to the interaction of race, gender, and conservatism in antebellum political culture.

“Prehistoric projectile weaponry in Kenya”
Guest: Veronica Waweru, visiting scholar, Council on African Studies
Feb. 15

Veronica Waweru is an archaeological anthropologist whose research interests cover prehistoric technological change and innovation in our species — Homo sapiens. Her research focuses on prehistoric projectile weaponry from the Kenya highlands in the later Pleistocene. Her work on early prehistory projectile technology was featured in the PBS documentary “The Human Spark.”  Waweru’s current project at the Yiapan site in Kenya focuses on the use of poison-assisted hunting using projectile technology by early humans.

“Tassos Kyriakides: nutrition, public health, and filotimo in Greece”
Guest: Tassos Kyriakides, associate research scientist, Yale School of Public Health
Feb. 22

Tassos Kyriakides’ primary research focus is in the area of infectious diseases with particular emphasis on HIV/AIDS and its treatment. He also has an interest in the history of medicine, social determinants of health, and the socio-cultural dimension of the benefits of Greek nutrition.