The Asthma Files
Created in 2005 by Kim and Mike Fortun, The Asthma Files is an experimental ethnographic project centered on producing, curating, and circulating social scientific knowledge in new ways. The project goals are multifaceted but fall into four categories, 1) to put into practice collaborative, experimental ethnography, 2) to build an archive of files that can be used by people who want to learn more about asthma, 3) to facilitate transdisciplinary communication and research projects, and 4) implement new media technologies in ways that further develop digital humanities. The project operates through collaborative research practices; current collaborators include social scientists, artists, and students, and in a different sense, environmental and biological scientists, community organizers, government officials, medical professionals and patients. The collaborative work of producing, curating, and circulating ethnographic knowledge happens on The Asthma Files website, an electronic archiveof still images, video, text, and audio files, which are often paired with narrations and explications of collectively gathered data.
Cultural Anthropology‘s Editorial Intern Program
As part of an effort to both extend the journal’s readership (within and beyond the discipline) and to build dialogue among SCA members about past trends and future directions, Cultural Anthropology established (in early 2008) an Editorial Intern Program through which graduate students and postdocs can be involved in these journal efforts. I coordinate the intern program, working with interns to develop content on our website, develop virtual issues, and engage in public anthropology. Please contact me if you would like to hear more about the program: http://culanth.org/?q=node/77
Healing Arts
This is mostly a back-burner project, and more a part of my daily life than a “project” per se. I dabble in reflexology and thai massage. I spend a lot of time talking to bodyworkers, holistic healers, yogi/nis and am hoping to, in the not-too-distant future, do some collaborative work within these communities. I completed my 200-hour Yoga Teacher Certification at Sadhana Center for Yoga and Meditation with Sondra Loring and Raghunath Cappo in Spring 2010. I’m currently in the Level 1 Kundalini Teacher Training with Hari Kaur Khalsa and others at the Baba Siri Chand Yoga and Retreat Center in Millis, MA.