New Book “The Encultured Brain: An Introduction to Neuroanthropology”

Daniel Lende and Greg Downey of the Neuroanthropology blog have just brought out a new book, published by MIT Press, which is wonderfully titled (similarly to the 2009 conference) “The Encultured Brain: An Introduction to Neuroanthropology”. The book is available as hardcover or kindle version.

@daniel_lende is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of South Florida.

@gregdowney1 is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Macquarie University, Sydney

New Journal “Culture and Brain” – Open for Submissions

The first journal dedicated exclusively to cultural neuroscience has been launched and is now ready to receive manuscripts! The journal is titled “Culture and Brain“, published by Springer and edited by Prof. Shihui Han of the CSCN Lab in Peking. For the submission system, link here.

The journal “covers the mutual interaction between culture and human cognition and behavior”, “explores the influence of brain/sociocultural interaction on cognitive function and neural mechanisms” and “includes an expansive range of disciplines, from neuroscience to biology to anthropology and philosophy”.

5th FPR-UCLA Interdisciplinary Conference: Culture, Mind, and Brain: Emerging Concepts, Methods, Applications – 19–20 October 2012 / Los Angeles, California

5th FPR-UCLA Interdisciplinary Conference: Culture, Mind, and Brain: Emerging Concepts, Methods, Applications will be held at UCLA,  Los Angeles, California from 19–20 October 2012.

Description

“Many lines of research on culture, mind, and brain can no longer be neatly separated. Some questions run together, thanks to our growing understanding of the genome, the biological roots of human sociality, and the mutual constitution of cultures and selves, as well as the complex interactions between the physical, cultural, and social environments underlying health and illness.

The aim of this 2-day conference is to highlight emerging concepts, methodologies and applications in the study of culture, mind, and brain, with particular attention to:

1. cutting-edge neuroscience research that is successfully incorporating culture and the social world;
2. the context in which methods are used as well as the tacit assumptions that shape research questions; and
3. the kinds and quality of collaborations that can advance interdisciplinary research training.

The conference is designed to appeal to a wide academic audience of biologists, neuroscientists, psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, epidemiologists, and those in related fields interested in learning about cutting-edge interdisciplinary research at the intersection of culture, mind, and brain.”

What I really love about this conference and what makes it even more promising is its actual focus on interdisciplinarity. The impressive speaker list includes Shinobu Kitayama, Shihui Han, Denise Park, Marco Iacoboni, Daniel Lende & Greg Downey (of the Neuroanthropology blog), Georg Northoff, Laurence J. Kirmayer and many more.

Registration

Early registration ends on August 20, 2012. Late registration from August 21, 2012 to September 20, 2012. There is no opportunity for poster presentations, but students may apply for limited conference scholarships to be refunded. For more information and registration link here. Please note that seating is very limited. Please note that the FPR conference in 2010 sold out two months before the end of early registration.

Psychology for the Third Millennium: Integrating Cultural and Neuroscience Perspectives

Psychology for the Third Millennium: Integrating Cultural and Neuroscience Perspectives

edited by Rom Harré and Fathali M. Moghaddam

Sage, 2012

Description

As the 21st Century opened, the discipline of psychology seemed to be separating into two radically distinct domains. Qualitative and Cultural Psychology focused on the discursive means for the management of meaning in a world of norms, while Neuropsychology and Neuroscience focused on the investigation of brain processes. These two domains can be reconciled in a hybrid science that brings them together into a synthesis more powerful than anything psychologists have achieved before. For the first time, there is the possibility of a general psychology in which the biological and the cultural aspects of human life coalesce into a unitas multiplex, unity in diversity. This textbook ambitiously aims to and succeeds in providing this unity.

Critical Neuroscience: A Handbook of the Social and Cultural Contexts of Neuroscience

Critical Neuroscience: A Handbook of the Social and Cultural Contexts of Neuroscience
edited by  Suparna Choudhury and Jan Slaby

Wiley-Blackwell, 2012

Description

Critical Neuroscience brings together multi-disciplinary scholars from around the world to explore key social, historical and philosophical studies of neuroscience, and to analyze the socio-cultural implications of recent advances in the field.

- explores the creative potential for engaging experimental neuroscience with social studies of neuroscience

- Furthers the dialogue between neuroscience and the disciplines of the social sciences and humanities

- Transcends traditional scepticism, introducing novel ideas about ‘how to be critical’ in and about science

- Features contributions from eminent scholars including Steven Rose, Joseph Dumit, Laurence Kirmayer, Shaun Gallagher, Fernando Vidal, Allan Young and Joan Chiao

 

Job Opening – Faculty Research Assistant to join the CASL Priming of Cultural Perspectives Research Team at the University of Maryland

The University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language (CASL) is seeking a Faculty Research Assistant (FRA) to join the CASL Priming of Cultural Perspectives (PCP) research team.  The CASL PCP research team investigates dimensions of culture and their effects on social relations, work behaviors, and decision-making processes.

Duties: The FRA will contribute to a research program that assesses whether priming individuals’ cultural perspectives influences interpretation of written text, using a combination of survey measures and experimental manipulations. Tasks will include organizing meetings, assisting in the collection, organization, synthesis, and analysis of data, as well as collecting, storing, processing, and analyzing research data.  The FRA will also work with the PCP research team to develop surveys, pilot test and validate surveys, manage the team library, prepare research protocols, meet with clients, and assist in writing progress reports, briefings, and technical reports.  Duties may also include fMRI data collection and analysis.

For earliest consideration, apply online here. To read more information about this job opening, the qualifications required and the application process link here.

Joan Chiao and Shinobu Kitayama Announce International Cultural Neuroscience Consortium

 

“We are pleased to announce the development of the international cultural neuroscience consortium (ICNC). The goal of the ICNC is to build an interdisciplinary, international research network in cultural neuroscience.

In the next few years, we look forward to developing working groups, offer travel grants for speakers and students at conferences as well as an online website to connect researchers from interdisciplinary communities and facilitate collaborations in cultural neuroscience to study population health disparities and public policy in global context.

We are grateful for your support to develop the ICNC as well as your continued involvement in the ICNC activities. To further this initiative, we look forward to your responses to an online survey that will help us create research and teaching connections and an active database scholars and policymakers across diverse communities and cultures.

http://kellogg.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_bwm41kUU0e3VCzG

Please feel free to distribute widely to your students, friends and colleagues and we look forward to receiving your suggestions by early November!”

 

via thefpr.org blog