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/ NEWS / FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
ART
African health and culture exhibit shown at museum
BY NICOLAS ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
Like People or Cosmopolitan magazines of Western societies, African societies portray their cultural perspective of beauty and culture through popular images and art. Now students of the University of Kansas can see glimpses of those perspectives in a new exhibit at the Spencer Museum of Art.
"African Healing Journeys: Historical and Contemporary Responses to Disease," opened Wednesday as a part of the international conference "Medical Anthropology in Global Africa: Current trends in Scholarship and Practice."
The exhibit showcases four different areas of African culture and how African societies function when it comes to illness, health and community. The four sections include: The Measurement of Humanity, where beauty and death are focused on; Living in Balance with Nature; Sickness and Healing; and Sickness when something else is going on.
The artwork on display came from the Spencer Museum of Art's own collection, along with contributed work from the Kauffman Museum in North Newton. Included will be culturally related masks, paintings and carvings.
Professor John Janzen is the
Photo contributed by Spencer Museum of Art
curator of the exhibit. He said he hoped this exhibit would show how every society on this planet has a way of dealing with hardship and show that Africa has some of the most unique solutions.
The painting, "Child Taken by Mermaid," by Mazanyani, is featured in a new exhibit showcasing African perspectives on health at the Spencer Museum of Art. The exhibit, "African Healing Journeys," will be on display until Oct. 3.
"Each of these themes has its counterpart in our society," Janzen said. "But the particulars are going to be different."
Photo contributed by Spencer Museum of Art This wooden divination cup, created by Oyo peoples, is part of the new "African Healing Journeys" exhibit at the Spencer Museum of Art.
For example, Janzen said the modern American view of beauty tends to be thin, while in African culture, pregnant women and more shapely women are the symbols of beauty because they represent fertility and wealth.
In today's Western society the perception is different. Meghan Crylen, a senior from St. Louis, said beauty today is centered completely on physical beauty.
"It's more about appearances than anything," said Crylen. "People do things that are bad for their bodies just to look good."
Besides beauty, the art on display in this exhibit has other connections to today's society and how people deal with problems in the Western world.
For African societies, illness doesn't necessarily mean that an infection has created the affliction a person might have, according to Janzen, who is a medical anthropologist.
The fourth section of the exhibit, Sickness when something else is going on, showcases the many
forms of illness that people experience and what causes them.
Some illnesses such as panic attacks are a more social disorder. Janzen said the African societies with work in this exhibit use a Western equivalent of support groups to help their communities with these problems.
Janzen said many times Western societies go straight for a medicinal remedy whereas many African societies look for an alternative, more natural cause and cure. Celka Strahug, the director of academic programs at the Spencer Museum of Art, will help educate visitors about this.
medicine Students like Emily Ulvang, a senior from Overland Park, agree that Western medicine isn't always
"There is no singular notion on what disease is," Straughn said. "It can be dealt with culturally or medically."
the best cure for an ailment.
"Most people go straight to modern medicine," Ulvang said. "A lot of times it is better to try something more natural like changing your diet or exercising."
until Oct. 3. The international conference "Medical Anthropology in Global Africa: Current trends in Scholarship and Practice" will be held Sept. 17 and 18.
The exhibit will be on display
—Edited by David Cawthon
Anti-cancer drug for smokers possible with federal grants
RESEARCH
BY ANGELIQUE MCNAUGHTON amcnaughton@kansan.com
Eventually, smokers could have a different option for preventing lung cancer.
Emily Scott is researching, with the support of federal grants, the possibility of a new drug that would alleviate the harm of nicotine.
One in five Americans currently smoke and adults aged 18 to 24 make up 21.4 percent of smokers. Both numbers remain steady, according to recent reports from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
"We're trying to stop the protein that converts nicotine into the cancer-causing molecule," Scott
said. "It wouldn't treat lung cancer, but it would prevent it for those people who can't or won't give up tobacco."
In August 2009, Scott, an associate professor in the department of medicinal chemistry, added a $300,000 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant to the more than $1 million already being used to fund her lung cancer research.
Without the help of federal and private funding, Scott said her research would not have been possible.
Don's Auto Center
The stimulus act, approved by former President George W. Bush and implemented by President Barack Obama in February of 2009, allocated $787 billion to be spent over a period of a couple of years. Of the $787 billion, $275 billion went to contracts, grants and loans, according to www.Recovery.gov.
Lawrence's local repair shop | 11th & Haskell | 841-4833
As of Sept. 3, 74 ARRA awards have been given to Lawrence researchers, totaling $44.7 million.
"It helped us keep some good research projects going, as well as maintained or created jobs in many areas."
Much of research funding goes towards salaries, which includes graduate student salaries, salaries for students who are considered post-doctorate and summer salaries.
44.7 million.
In 2009, the University
received over $200
million for the first
time with a total of
$207,092,922,
according to the
sponsored research prepared by the office of research and graduate studies.
The funding also contributes to equipment, construction and laboratory hall renovation.
"Large, external grants are the only way to do research."
"Large, external grants are the only way to do research," Scott said. "This University would not be a research institute otherwise."
"We've really been grateful to the federal government for having this," Boatright said.
Boatright, the director of communications for the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, said that this has been an outstanding year in terms of financial awards.
Preliminary reports suggest that in the fiscal year 2010, which ended in June, the University received $238 million. The unusually high amount is mainly due to ARRA grants, Kevin Boatright said.
EMILY SCOTT Researcher
Scott's ARRA grant requires that the money be spent by the end of this calendar year, although her research won't conclude then. She said it is a long-term process to develop a drug and they are still in the research
lab phase, trying to understand and visibly see what the protein looks like in order to know how to inhibit it.
Scott explained that when people smoke, they smoke for the addictive agent nicotine, which is inhaled and then distributed throughout the body. Nicotine does not cause cancer, but as the body works to get rid of the nicotine, some proteins in the lung convert the nicotine into something that is carcinogenic.
The chemical that is created from nicotine modifies DNA and
Adam Buhler/KANSAN
Dr Emily Scott, associate professor in chemistry, received a $300,000 grant to further her research in lung cancer. Scott's grant comes from the American Recover and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which has funded grants to KU totaling over $44 million.
goes into lung cells, adding itself to a DNA adduct. Adducts cause problems when DNA goes to copy itself or add proteins. Ultimately, the cell replicates itself uncontrollably, resulting in lung cancer.
For Aaron Harris, life-enhancing research such as Scott's is one of every major university's obligations.
Harris, a senior from Kansas City, Kan., said research and the grants they require are important.
"College isn't just to get you a job," Harris said. "It also gives students and researchers a chance to make scientific and historic breakthroughs that contribute to society."
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Edited by Alex Tretbar
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Open to the public. Come enjoy breakfast prior to the KU vs Georgia Tech football game.
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