Teacher's research project authored by  Lolita Nikolova, PhD
Cultural Anthropology class at Art Institute of Salt Lake City (Generals). Spring 2009.
Pirates and Anthropology of place
© 2009 International Institute of Anthropology
© 2009 Lolita Nikolova, PhD
Created: 4-15-09. Updated: 6-28-09
This research project started on April 13, 2009, when I decided to introduce in my Anthropology class the topic of the Somali pirates.
By collecting the data I was impressed by the fact that there were so many successful pirate actions in the Gulf of Adel. However, for
me as a prehistorian, the region is mostly related to the first humans discovered in Kenya and Ethiopia. Then, it came the guess that
the pattern of piratehood in this part of Africa to search for millions of dollars may have been also connected with the fact that the
region is one of the most famous in the world of archaeology. My association was perhaps an  instance of cultural unconsciousness. I
also wanted  to show my students some photos from the peaceful everydayness of the population there that would help us in the
characteristics of ethnography. Later, during the discussion in class it came the question about the genesis of piratehood generally
and especially in this region. Most importantly, my guess that looked to me so exciting at home did not sound persuasive either to me
or to the students in the class. Furthermore, since the topic of pirates occurred to be very interesting to all of us, and at the same time
new for me, I decided to continue the research on the project during the whole semester and to present it as the teacher's contribution
to the students' research projects within the course.
Most of the photos come from different Internet sources.

Internal links: Webgraphy;
External links:
Art Institutes
American Anthropological Association
Society for American Archaeology
Archaeological Institute of America
The World Archaeological Congress
Somali pirates
Teacher's Research Project.
Cultural anthropology. Spring 2009. Art Institute of Salt Lake City, Utah.
The first humans in
the world
Ethnography
Research Calendar:

April 13th  

- Searching for more sources about the
Somali pirates after seeing a large slide
show at yahoo.com. Updated the info
about the first humans and ethnography
of Northeast Africa to show in class.

April 14th

- First discussion in class.  

April 15th

- Building website. The website
connects you with the world and
increases the opportunity to find
immediately people interested in the
same problems for sharing opinions and
complimentary research work.

- Beginning to search for Somali
immigrants who live in Salt Lake City for
interviews.

April 16th

- Selecting literature. Sources:
amazon.com, Marriott Library;
questia.com;

- Ordering books from amazon.com (7)

- Defining a circle of interrelated
problems

- Thinking on everything what I know
about pirates and how this problem
relates to my all other research projects.

- Beginning webgraphy by selected
sources on Internet (internal link)



April 17th
- Making notes by rethinking the
problems defined till now. Most actual:
- Emergence of the institutions of pirates
- Are today's pirates really pirates or
hijackers? Why do we name them
pirates?
Comparing the meaning of a pirate and
hijacker at Merriam-Webster online

- Questia.com library. Reading about
pirates.

April 18th

- I met a Somalian family in Salt Lake
City and was impressed by the traditional
scarfs, which were very stylish and
colorful. The young female member of
the family did not want to participate in
an interview. I was not sure the older
members knew English enough.

April 19th
Borrowing books from the Marriott Library

April 22th-24th
Receiving books ordered from
amazon.com

April 26th

Exhibit of Kary Gardner at Nostalgia
Café in Salt Lake Downtown. Taking
pictures of the art works and of the Café

April 27th

Building a website about the art exhibit
of Kari Gardner.