What do Asian ethnography, tobacco, ethnomedicine, dieting and adolescent girls all have in common?
These are all the various areas of research which anthropologists Mark Nichter and Mimi Nichter have been working on.
Mark Nichter is a professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona, and Mimi Nichter is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona. Mimi also holds a joint appointment at the University of Arizona’s College of Public Health.
The University of Memphis’ Department of Anthropology will present two lectures during its annual Charles H. McNutt speaker series.
Mark Nichter will open the series at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 18, with a lecture on “Trajectories of Tobacco Use and Dependence: What Has Culture Got to Do with It?”
On Friday, April 19, at 2 p.m., Mimi Nichter will speak on “Fat Talk: What Girls and Their Parents Say about Dieting.”
The Charles H. McNutt speaker series was founded in 1997 by an anonymous donor to provide an opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students to meet well-known anthropologists.
The money is not only used to support the speaker series, but also to fund students for trips to anthropology conferences. Through the trips, the department hopes to expand students’ networks and their understanding of anthropology by putting them in contact with other anthropologists.
“The series is really good because I get to meet a lot of people who are actually doing work and practicing in the field of anthropology,” said Saralyn Williams, a graduate assistant in the anthropology department. “It’s very positive because it’s great for networking. It plugs you in for other schools and jobs.”
Mark Nichter studies health and illness in relation to behavior, ethnomedicine, comparative medical systems and the production of knowledge. He is also researching modes of production and consumption, the cultural definition of normal and abnormal behavior, and gender and power.
Mimi Nichter’s research focuses on adolescent girls, dieting and body image, as well as tobacco use among youth and school-based preventative programs.
Both of the speeches will take place in the Manning Hall Auditorium. The speeches are free and open to the public. A reception will follow both discussions.
