ASAA NEWSLETTER

October 19, 2001
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Little Rock, Arkansas

The 31st annual meeting of the Arkansas Sociological and Anthropological Association was convened by president Ed Powers at 9:45 a.m. at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on October 19, 2001. The theme of this year’s session is “Modernization, Spiritualism, and Technology.” Minutes from the 2000 meetings were passed with a correction. John King, Treasurer, reported that approximately $523 was on account so the organization continues to be solvent for the coming year.

President Powers opened the floor for nominations for officers. In regards to the organizational archivist, President Powers indicated he would try to get someone at the University of Central Arkansas to handle those duties. John King was nominated for Treasurer once again and graciously agreed to continue in this capacity.

In new business, Don Wells made a motion to have only one business meeting instead of the customary two normally held. Jim Bruce moved to table the motion for later consideration. The following nominations were made:

• President, 2002: Shanta Sharma (Henderson State)
• Vice-President & President Elect: Guang-zhen Wang (U.A.L.R)
• Treasurer: John King (U. of Arkansas, Fayetteville)
• Secretary: Herman (Doc) Gibson (Henderson State)
• Parliamentarian: Jim Bruce (Hendrix College)
• Archivist: Janet Wilson (U. of Central Arkansas)
• Social Exchange Editor: Don Wells (Henderson State)

A decision was made to have the 2002 meetings once again at UALR on October 18, 2002. A more concerted effort will be made to plan the meetings earlier. The site subcommittee will consist of Hans Baer and David Briscoe who will assist Guang-zhen in the planning and execution of the 32nd annual ASAA meetings.

With regards to the continuing erosion in membership Hans Baer suggested action be taken by the organization to make it more viable in light of the continuing decline in meeting attendance. Jim Bruce believes that better communication will help especially with a revised newsletter in the works. Other measures mentioned to address attendance decline included-- more student involvement; a more ambitious set of paper, roundtable, and panel sessions to bring more universities into the ASAA; and consider returning to a 1 ½ day meeting format. An earlier date for abstracts and paper submissions was also discussed as a means to generate more interest in participation. One suggestion was even to take a poll of the members regarding dates for the next meeting.
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An observation was made that between 1980-1998 at least 33 graduate programs have been lost nationwide. In light of this continuing decline, a point was made that, now more than ever, the ASAA needs to address the topics that help ensure the survival and prosperity of sociology and anthropology programs here in Arkansas.
Jim Bruce made a motion to once again consider Don Wells’ motion to eliminate the afternoon business meeting. The motion passed. President Ed Powers adjourned the meeting at 10:20 a.m. officially turning over the leadership of the ASAA to Shanta Sharma. Following the adjournment Ed Powers gave his presidential address entitled: “Modernism, Technology, and Spiritualism.”

Respectfully Submitted By:
Herman (Doc) Gibson, Secretary
Departmental News and Events|

Undergraduate Symposium

The 2002 Arkansas Sociology & Anthropology Undergraduate Research Symposium will be held April 19th from 9am to 4pm at The University of Central Arkansas (Conway, AR). Faculty members should encourage their students to submit abstracts for papers to Edward Powers at UCA no later than Friday, February 22, 2002. Electronic submission of abstracts is preferred: send ABSTRACTS ONLY to epowers@mail.uca.edu. Please place the words “Abstract for Undergrad Symposium” in the subject heading of submissions. More details about the Symposium will be circulated at a later date but Ed wanted to give everyone time to encourage students from Fall classes to participate.

UCA

The University of Central Arkansas is searching for a chair for the newly (re)formed Sociology Department as they are being reestablished as an independent department. They are looking for an energetic, organized and friendly chair to lead the department into the future. The ad for the position may be found in the ASA Employment Bulletin for November or in HigherEdJobs.com. Applications will begin January 15, 2002.

Lora Ebert Wallace is one of three new assistant professors this fall at UCA Dept. of Sociology. She received her M.S. and PhD in Sociology at Iowa State University, and her B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology at Truman State University (formerly Northeast MO State Univ.). My areas of specialization include medical sociology, deviance, family, and methods. Classes I teach at UCA include Principles of Sociology, Medical Sociology, and Health Organizations. Research interests include health behaviors and conditions among children, adolescents, and adults, with emphasis on continuity over the life course and the impact of contextual factors. Contextual factors of interest include economic pressure, quality of relationships, family structure, stressful events, and community factors. Her most current research is a paper entitled, “Domains of Influence: A study of the relative influence of chronic stressful life events on adult health,” which uses longitudinal data from the Midlife Transitions Project at the Institute for Social and Behavioral Research. The co-authors of the paper are Fred O. Lorenz and K.A.S. Wickrama, both of Iowa State University and The Institute for Social and Behavioral Research.

Eduardo T. Perez has been is the second new assistant professor hired at UCA this fall. As a doctoral student in Sociology at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln his teaching interest centered on the Sociology of Education, Social Stratification and Inequality, and Minority and Race Relations. His dissertation combined all three areas of specialty to examine the ways Latino faculty experience and negotiate the multiple obligations and demands they face in academic. In particular, the focus was exploring tenure and promotion process and how they legitimate their scholarly work productions. Currently, he is developing a local interest in Conway in respect to Mexican American Immigration, quality of life and working conditions.

The third new assistant professor at UCA is Allison Vetter who received doctorate from the Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her areas of specialization are the family and quantitative methods. She was hired as the family/demographer person in the dept.

Hendrix College

Last year, Dr. Capek was on sabbatical leave for 2/3 of the year. In addition to some personal explorations and projects, during her sabbatical she visited with colleagues at Northland College and Seattle University to compare notes on interdisciplinary Environmental Studies programs. She also traveled to Arizona with UCA colleagues Elaine Fox and Conrad Shumaker to plan a student-faculty travel course for summer 2001. In January and February she spent a month in the Czech Republic. During her visit she met with colleagues in the Environmental Humanities Department at Masaryk University in Brno and interviewed and collected materials from representatives of three environmental groups in Brno. She also gave two talks in Prague, one on environmental sociology at a school for journalists, and the other on the Right To Die movement in the United States for a Politics seminar at Charles University. In June, she team-taught the 10-day summer travel course on “Landscape, Spirituality, and Culture” with Conrad Shumaker in New Mexico and Arizona, which was offered to UCA and Hendrix College students. In July, she taught a two-week segment of the Sustainable Development in Costa Rica course in the Talamanca region of Costa Rica sponsored by the Associated Colleges of the South consortium.

At the Society for the Study of Social Problems meetings in Anaheim in August, she presented her paper “`For the Birds’: Cattle Egrets, Suburban Lawns, and the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.” She also finished serving out her term on the Environment and Technology Section Council for the American Sociological Association. Her review of The Land That Could Be: Environmentalism and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century, by William A. Shutkin was published late last year in the Journal of Political Ecology, and her review of Agency, Democracy, and Nature: The U.S. Environmental Movement from a Critical Theory Perspective, by Robert J. Brulle will be published in a forthcoming edition of Contemporary Sociology. Her review of Bodies in Protest: Environmental Illness and the Struggle over Medical Knowledge, by J. Stephen Kroll-Smith and Hugh Floyd, originally published in Organization and Environment in December 1998, was translated into Czech and appeared early this year in the Czech sociological journal Sociologicky Casopis.

Dr. Karen Gaul (Anthropology) has co-edited a book Landscapes and Communities on the Pacific Rim. Also, Dr. Gaul has been directing a study of the ethnohistory of women in the Ozarks with a grant from the National Park Service.

Ms. Joan Pottinger (Anthropology), during most of the past academic year and continuing into 2001-2002, has been a visiting professor at Hendrix teaching anthropology, sociology, and Introduction to Gender Studies courses.

Dr. Jim Bruce (Sociology) was Faculty Director of the Murphy-Hendrix in London Program, winter term, 2001. He and sixteen Hendrix students participated in the London-based program. This past summer Dr. Bruce traveled to the Czech Republic and Poland as part of a faculty seminar on “The Human and Physical Environment in Central and Eastern Europe” with fifteen professors from liberal arts colleges in the Mid-West and South. This gave him the opportunity to continue his research on the role of faculty in university governance in Poland since the fall of communism.

In June of 2001, the Hendrix College Department of Sociology/Anthropology graduated fifteen majors, the largest number in the history of the department. The following are pursuing studies or careers related to sociology or anthropology:

Sarah Hornstein entered the graduate program in sociology at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.

Shuna Mason entered the Master of Social Work program in Community Organization and Planning/Law and Social Policy at Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania.

Paige Wilson graduated cum laude from Hendrix and received the Myrtle Blanck Larson Memorial Scholarship to study at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis.

Lea Ann Biggar is employed by the Austin, Texas, branch of Clean Water Action, a national non-profit organization.
HSU

Joyce Shepherd, Shanta Sharma, and Herman (Doc) Gibson all participated in the 27th Annual Meetings of the Mid-South Sociological Association held in Mobile, Alabama on October 24-27, 2001. Dr. Sharma organized and presided over a session called “Spirituality and Well-Being” that included five presentations on this topic. Among the presenters at this session was Mrs. Shepherd who presented a paper entitled “Spiritualism and Well-Being Among African Elderly” and Dr. Sharma who also made a presentation entitled “Spiritualism and Well Being Among the Indian Elderly.”

Dr. Sharma and Mrs. Shepherd attended the Mid-South’s Women’s Caucus with Dr. Sharma being subsequently nominated as Arkansas’s representative to this body. Dr. Sharma was also nominated to serve on the Editorial Board of the Mid-South’s journal “The Sociological Spectrum.” The Southern Sociological Association has asked her to be an abstract reviewer for the upcoming meetings. Publisher Prentice-Hall has also asked her to serve as reviewer for a new interdisciplinary sociology reader entitled “Domestic Violence for Interdisciplinary Disciplines.” Her other accomplishments include a presentation at the 2001 Western Social Science Association’s Reno, Nevada meetings entitled “Spirituality and Aging: Self-Empowerment;” election as president of the 2002 Arkansas Sociological and Anthropological Association; and recipient of a grant from Henderson to conduct a study on “Spirituality and Well-being in Aging”.

Dr. Gibson, who was elected for a two-year term on the Mid-South’s Executive
Council, attended several council meetings. Additionally, as Chair of the Committee on Small and Community Colleges, he presided over a breakfast roundtable discussion concerning issues facing small colleges and community colleges. He continues to serve on the Membership Committee as a representative for the state of Arkansas.

UALR

Dr. Guang-zhen Wang our Vice-President/Program Chair of the ASAA came to teach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) in the Fall 1997. She is Assistant Professor of Sociology & Gender Studies Coordinator at UALR. She has published extensively on women's reproductive rights and reproductive health in developing countries, such as a book titled Women's Reproductive Rights in Developing Countries (1999) and articles in such journals as Acta Sociologica (2001), Social Indicators Research (2000), The Canadian Journal of Sociology (1999), International Journal of Comparative Sociology (1999), The Social Science Journal (1999), and Michigan Sociological Review (1999). Other publications include women in sociology, and gender and social development. Her current research focuses on the empirical relationship between reproductive rights and reproductive health using data from 129 developing countries.

Presidential Address

Yes, We Have No Bananas: Modernization and Demand for the Social Sciences in Arkansas

I want to thank everyone who helped to make this ASAA meeting possible.

Specifically, I wish to thank Vice President Sharma Shanta from Henderson State for soliciting papers and organizing the presentations, and Past President David Briscoe from UALR who secured the space here on the UALR campus. Thanks also go to Jim Bruce From Hendrix who helped to get the word about the meeting out to people who had not heard. Finally, I wish to thank all of you who made it here today for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend and support ASAA. I think these meetings are important and I would like us to all work harder in the coming year to encourage the participation of our colleagues around the state.

Modernization, Spiritualism and Technology

Today’s conference is focused on three themes representing the interests of many sociologists and anthropologists throughout the state. These three hard-to-reconcile themes are: modernization, spiritualism, and technology. We will hear a number of presentations related to each theme and I hope all of us will exit these meetings with new ideas, new acquaintances, and sense of time well spent.

My main objective today is to challenge us all to think about the modernization concept with a particular emphasis on the modernizing forces at work in Arkansas. Furthermore, I’d like to briefly discuss what I believe social scientists and the ASAA need to be doing to help facilitate a smoother transition into modernity and beyond.

Modernization in Arkansas

Last November, Governor Huckabee joked before a national radio audience that Arkansas was a “Banana Republic”. While his reference was to certain voting irregularities in the state—and certainly not the first time Arkansas appeared in the same breath with Banana Republic—the reference renewed a slew of related images of Arkansas as the ultimate pre-modern state: disorganized, corrupt, and backward. Huckabee’s joke was not well-received.

Huckabee’s joke strikes a nerve. It reinforces the many doubts about Arkansas’ modernity. It forces us to consider the problems facing most of the State’s population: low education, high poverty, racial segregation, poor health care, and the list could go on until we all become too sick to continue. Huckabee’s allusion reminds us of the high levels of income inequality and the inordinate corporate influence that characterize this state and help perpetuate its low condition. Substitute Tyson and Walmart for the United Fruit Company and Huckabee’s third-world comic vision may be realized: Arkansas, a “Banana Republic”—only without the bananas.

It is easy and often amusing to criticize but I believe Sociologists and Anthropologists must be willing to go beyond poking fun at loose-lipped politicians. We should be eager to analyze our situation and try as much as possible to bring meaning to it. Sociologists and Anthropologists have the capacity to serve as interpreters of Arkansas’ present condition and, to a certain extent, the capacity to serve as oracles of Arkansas’ future. With these capacities in mind, I wish to open the 2001 meetings of ASAA with some comments about modernization in Arkansas. I will first attempt to briefly define “modern” and then assess Arkansas’ current modernization status. I will conclude by discussing my vision of ASAA’s role I a struggling-to-modernize Arkansas.

So, what is modern? I think we all recognize that being modern is more than just being able to mass produce, mass consume, or mass communicate. We can have all the toys and trappings of modern life and still not be modern. Many social theorists encourage us to see that being modern is a mindset. Being modern is an attitude. Being modern is a set of strategies that results in a social structure markedly different from traditional, rural-agrarian forms.

Max Weber describes a linkage between modernization and a practical type of rationality that carefully measures the consequences of social action as related to the goal of more efficient function. Decisions in a modern context must be made less on the basis of gut instinct or traditional precedent and more on the basis of their measurable practical consequences. In the course of modernization, organizations shift towards a more rigorous model of decision-making where information is gathered, analyzed by experts, and used as the base justification for action.

According to Sociologist Peter Berger (1977), becoming modern is a process that involves crucial changes in both social structure and culture. These changes include: 1) The decline of small, relatively cohesive communities; 2) Increased emphasis on individualism; 3) Changes in social networks as they begin to thin and include people from increasingly diverse backgrounds; and 4) Emphasis on future progress and future planning. This process involves population shifts, attitude changes, refined goal orientations, and a number of other transitions at both the micro and macro levels of society.

We have witnessed many indications of modernization and an accelerated rate of change in Arkansas over the last two decades. For example, we’ve seen population shifts away from agricultural areas an into metropolitan areas. Diversity has increased as new immigrants—most notably Hispanic immigrants—have flooded into the state and taken up residence in every county. In some parts of the state we see increased tolerance for individual differences in such areas as religious belief and sexual orientation. We have seen increased efforts by state and local governments to collect data and use these data to identify problems and evaluate solutions. There is a growing sense in Arkansas that plans can and should be made for a better future. All of these indicators point to a state drifting away from traditional moorings and learning to navigate more modern waters.

Despite our recent progress, Arkansas remains less-diverse, less-tolerant, more traditional and less rational than most of the other 50 states. Why is that we still lag behind? Part of the explanation lies in the timing of Arkansas’ transition to modernity. Arkansas got a slower start than most states perhaps due to its heavy emphasis on agriculture or perhaps because of its Southern inspired culture (most other Southern states also find themselves in the lesser-developed category). Whatever the causes, Arkansas’ delayed thrust towards modernization remains a disadvantage. While other states were able to cultivate a modernization infrastructure for decades before change, Arkansas must struggle to build infrastructure fast enough to accommodate the changes taking place.

Longstanding beliefs and processes do not get transformed swiftly or easily. Traditional ways of thinking and living seldom go down without a fight. There are groups, organizations, and whole communities in Arkansas dedicated to actively resisting change. In recent years Arkansas has witnessed the emergence of anti-immigration organizations, the resurgence of hate groups and militias, and the growth of a number of other “backlash” movements that threaten to stall further hopes of progressive change. The existence of these entities help to indicate that the State is changing. After all, why would anyone feel the need to actively resist change if no change is occurring? However, these entities are prevalent and active enough to be somewhat effective in their aims. Their continued resistance stalls progress.

Finally, the high rates of poverty and low rates of education that characterize much of the state have created a population that is easy to dupe, easy to bribe, and relatively easy to control. This condition has concentrated power in the hands of a few elites who have much to lose if modernization continues unchecked. The powerful who stand to suffer losses from social change have every motivation to hold back modernization and try to channel it towards their own ends. They use their considerable resources to continue propping up traditional ideologies that discourage individualism, reject diversity, accept authority, and fear progress. Only symbolic efforts are made to alleviate poverty because where people are threatened with desperate poverty and imminent starvation, they will be willing to work for less. Education only receives a token level of priority because where people can be kept naïve and undereducated, they remain easily manipulated. The inequalities kept in place to protect the status quo hold back the overall progress of the state. This perceived deliberate use of inequality is perhaps the element that most gives Arkansas its banana republic aura.

ASAA and a Modernizing Arkansas

How can local social scientists help? What can ASAA do to help hasten the removal of the Banana Republic stigma from Arkansas? What should the ASAA be doing in this modernizing context?

1. Support teaching of solid social science perspectives in State colleges and universities. The perspectives provided by both sociology and anthropology are important because they help us understand ourselves and our interdependence with other elements of human environments. These perspectives help people evaluate information, make informed decisions, and grapple with change. These perspectives make our students better consumers, better planners, and better neighbors. These perspectives raise expectations for a modern-progressive state but balance the expectations with humane consideration. ASAA should continue to recognize the importance of teaching by supporting sessions on curriculum development, use of emerging classroom technologies, etc. ASAA should also do more to promote undergraduate research.

2. Provide a forum for the critique of state initiated actions, policies and agendas. Conflict is sure to emerge in any rapidly changing social context and it is absolutely necessary that educated voices stand out prominently in debates over change. We should strive to make ASAA the ideal place to air our concerns and refine our arguments. This year we have a session about terrorism and the changes wrought since the World Trade Center attacks. I would love to see this happen more than just occasionally at the annual meetings (perhaps ASAA should utilize emerging technologies to open on-line discussions?). I also challenge ASAA members to consider more seriously the poverty, crime, education, health, and other issues confronting many Arkansans everyday. What are we doing? What should we be doing? Let’s make a more conscious effort to be heard.

3. Help induce demand for social science ideas and applications in community and state decision-making. Social science perspectives and methods are needed in a modern context but the need for social science is not always recognized in Arkansas. Individual sociologists and anthropologists can help induce demand for social science products through consulting work with community/State groups or by conducting research directly related to State concerns. Many of us are doing this already on a limited basis but more needs to be done to recognize available state social science resources and coordinate these resources effectively. I challenge ASAA members to make professional contributions to their communities and to publicize their efforts through ASAA.

4. ASAA has much potential in these changing times. Higher levels of organization and cooperation among social scientists are needed to address the growing needs of a modernizing state. In order for ASAA to remain viable, it must become a useful resource for working sociologists and anthropologists in Arkansas. I suggest that ASAA focus on becoming a more active forum for social science teaching, theory, and research in the state of Arkansas. In the coming year, we will be attempting to improve organization publicity and communication between members. I challenge each of you to contribute your ideas, talents, and energies to making ASAA work for all of us. With organized effort we can use our social science expertise to help replace the banana republic with something much more progressive.

Sources:

Berger, Peter (1977). Facing Up to Modernity: Excursions, in Society, Politics, and Religion. New York: Basic Books.

Membership Information

Regular Membership $10.00 Send Dues to: John E. King
Graduate Students $ 3.00 School of Social Work
Undergraduate Students $ 1.00 Main 105
Emeritus Members None University of Arkansas
Institutional Members $20.00 Fayetteville, AR 72701