adriana | CAS in the Media | Washington State University

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Studying Subsistence Societies, Long-Distance Relationships, and Climate Change: Anne Pisor

October 12, 2022 adriana

Dr. Anne Pisor is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Washington State University. Her research interests include long-distance relationships and resource management, long-distance relationships and the downsides of climate change, and the evolution of human sociality.

In this episode, we talk about topics in evolutionary anthropology, including: long-distance relationships, and how they’re built; inter-group tolerance; studying human sociality in preliterate societies, and the assumptions we have about them; parochial altruism; how people valuate out-group strangers; Dr. Pisor’s fieldwork in the Bolivian Amazon and Tanzania; and climate change, how it affects human societies, how they adapt to it, and what industrialized societies can learn from them.

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The Dissenter

Emerging organizations and businesses are reworking the composition of Pullman’s visual arts scene

October 11, 2022 adriana

There’s a new picture developing of Pullman’s visual arts scene, one that adds an additional focal point besides Washington State University and its venerable Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

Over the past few years, several new arts-related entities have emerged in town: the new nonprofit Pullman Arts Foundation, the arts-forward Hotel McCoy, Terracotta clay arts studio, and a new art gallery. Added to Pullman’s existing venues, these newcomers are helping highlight the college town’s evolving arts community.

“Part of the genesis of [Pullman Arts Foundation] was, honestly, the difficulty of creating some kind of public art project here in Pullman that connected with the Black Lives Matter movement,” says WSU art professor Joe Hedges, who co-founded the nonprofit with his wife and fellow artist, Jiemei “May” Lin.

In addition to murals at Kamiak and Jefferson elementary schools and the Palouse Discovery Science Center, the foundation also realized it could fulfill other needs for artists, arts supporters and the community-at-large, Hedges says.

“We had started to meet people that were really engaged locally and really cared about the arts,” he adds.

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Inlander

Contrary to beliefs, Congress gets a lot done

October 10, 2022 adriana

Congress has a well-deserved reputation for partisan bickering, but that hasn’t kept it from passing meaningful legislation in a bipartisan fashion.

How majority parties actually get things done — and what to expect after the 2022 midterm election — was the subject of a lunchtime talk Tuesday at Washington State University’s Foley Institute.

James Curry, a political science professor at the University of Utah, noted that majority parties “inevitably” under-deliver on their campaign promises.

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Lewiston Tribune

Live performance pairs music and scent

October 7, 2022 adriana

Two Washington State University departments are collaborating on an experience to have more sensory impact on a live audience. César Haas, instructor of guitar and jazz studies at the School of Music, and Carolyn Ross, professor of sensory science from the School of Food Science, have developed a sensory performance experience combining music and scent.

“Synesthesia: Sounds and Scents of Brazil” will feature original music and arrangements of jazz and Brazilian music by Haas, a Brazilian guitarist. For each composition performed, aroma packets developed by Ross will elicit a sense of place for listening to the song, while other aromas connect more with the song itself.

The performance will also feature jazz vocalist Michalangela, along with WSU professors Austin Cebulske (saxaphone), Christian Kim (piano), Christiano Rodrigues (violin), Darryl Singleton (percussion), Dave Bjur (bass), Dave Turnbull (trumpet), and Ruth Boden (cello).

The concert will take place in the Kimbrough Concert Hall on Friday, October 14 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.

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WSU Insider

Do Political Ads Even Work?

October 6, 2022 adriana

2022 is set to be the most expensive midterm election in history. But the political science research is murky on how much that matters.

For anyone living in a media market featuring contested political races—especially places such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Atlanta—these are the jackhammer months. Never in an off-year election have so many campaign spots been aired. TV spending will more than double from 2018 levels, according to estimates by the analytical firm AdImpact. The Wesleyan Media Project, which studies campaign commercials, calculated that more than two million ads had aired on broadcast television by early August—long before campaigns began their fall offensive.

Since most voters have been inundated with campaign ads their entire lives, there is a sense that Americans are sophisticated about them. We can all recognize attack ads with their grainy photos and voice-of-doom narration, as well as positive spots shot in close-up featuring the candidate walking the streets of the neighborhood where he or she grew up.

It is a truism of politics that negative ads are more powerful than positive spots because they are mentioned more frequently in focus groups. Vavreck and her co-authors did not test the effectiveness of different types of ads. But Travis Ridout, a professor of political science at Washington State University and a co-director of the Wesleyan Advertising Project, said, “According to the best studies, negative ads are not more effective than positive ads.”

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The New Republic