Curriculum Vitae

Emanuel Polioudakis

Emanuel Polioudakis Curriculum Vitae and Resume 2015

None. My last employment ended in 2011 due to end of funding for the position. I did not seek further employment at that time because I had several projects of my own to finish.

Previous Academic Positions

Absence from Academic Positions

I left standard academic faculty positions from 1996 until the present so I could work on various personal goals. I achieved all of my goals.

In 1995-1996, I was a Senior Fulbright Fellow in Thailand, during which time I studied Muslim fishers in one place and shrimp farmers in many places. From 1996 to 2000, my wife and I stayed in Thailand on our own resources, mainly to study shrimp farming and Thai culture. In 2000, I took a position with the Department of Fisheries in Auburn University, mostly research on agriculture, aquaculture, and the environment. I took the position to support myself and my wife while I pursued my own research and writing goals.

Because of my absence from academia, I omit some of the usual categories such as panels chaired or papers presented. I list material that illustrates my interests and competence at fieldwork, writing, thinking up projects, finishing projects, and getting along with people.

I was a teaching assistant at the Department of Anthropology of the University of Michigan from 1984 through 1989. Among other course, I was a TA for Anthropology 101; several semesters I was head TA and effectively ran the class. I taught philosophy of social science as a class of my own. I was a visiting teacher in 1989 to 1990.

I was assistant professor at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of Ohio University from 1990 through 1995. I taught over a dozen different courses (“preps”) including Anthropology 101, game theory, Southeast Asia, economic anthropology, peasants, theory, religion, and families. In 1995, I was voted “Best Professor” by the students at Ohio University.

In 1995, I was denied tenure at Ohio University. I did not want tenure and was happy to go. At the time, I had a Senior Fulbright Fellowship to do field research in Thailand, and went to Thailand.

Current Interests

Promoting ecologically and socially responsible agriculture, especially aquaculture

Dissertation research on family history, economics, and politics in one village in rural Thailand

Haat Yai, Thailand, at Prince of Songkhla University: September 1995 to June 1996

Research on Hua Khaw Daeng Muslim fishing village, a site and topic different from shrimp farming.

My wife and I drove all over Southern Thailand interviewing hundreds of shrimp farmers at many scales of operation. I participated regularly in business organizations of farmers. Especially I worked with business people and the key business association of shrimp farmers in Suratthani Province. This fieldwork was self-funded so we could do what we needed.

I researched Thai popular culture and “high” culture. See below for movies. I read dozens of Thai popular novels and many Thai literary novels. I watched Thai TV regularly at night.

Thai Film Institute in Bangkok: intermittent short stays from July 1996 through March 2000

Research on the history of fisheries and aquaculture in Thailand, including involvement of government agencies, international agencies, and universities

Library and internet research on conditions of agriculture in Alabama and the United States

Library and internet research on the economics of agriculture in the current world economic system

Library and internet research on origins and history of Christianity (resulted in one book)

Library and internet research on major religions and religious stances (resulted in one book)

Continued library and internet research on evolutionary biology of animals and humans

In 2008, I finished a book for a general audience on basic ideas in economics such as general equilibrium, markets, profit, competition, labor, money, income distribution, and wealth distribution. The book is called “First Book in Economics”.

In 2011, I finished a book entitled “Jesus for Most People” that explains modern scholarly ideas of Jesus.

In 2015, I finished a book entitled “Religious Stances” that explains and assesses major modern stances and major religions.

All book-length work on major religions is now finished. That topic is settled. I will write an essay from time to time to post on the internet.

As a result of continued interest in economics, I have done research for, have planned, and am working on follow-up books to “First Book”. The first follow-up book (second book) is on the concentration of economic power, income, and wealth. The third book is on resource economics.

I saw shrimp farming, deforestation, and tourism transform rural Southern Thailand, and I tried to help as farmers, NGOs, the World Bank, and Thai government tried to write a code of conduct for shrimp farming but failed. I did research for the WWF for a code of conduct for catfish farmers in Alabama, only to watch that attempt at a code likely fail as well. We need responsible realistic rural policy, and I intend to continue to work toward that goal as I get the chance. The USDA is currently setting up standards for imported aquaculture products, which standards likely will require that foreign producers have a code of conduct. I have contacted USDA officials. I hope that my work in economics can give me the proper position to help the USDA and aquaculture farmers in Thailand and the US.

I have read many short Thai novels, and watched a lot of Thai TV and cinema. I know “what is going on” in Thai “pop” culture and in its relations to daily life and formal art. I chaired a panel on art and modern evolutionary theory. My nephew-in-law is a Thai movie director who has been nominated for an American Academy Award for Best Foreign Movie. I will write about the Thai material both on its own terms and as it is relevant to current issues.

Please see my webpage for more information. I include here only significant work and some published work. On papers in which I am not the first author, I did nearly all the research. I did many small reports and unpublished papers that are not included here. I do include two self-published books and one book that I put on the internet.

1977 Roper, T.J.; and Polioudakis, E.J. The behavior of Mongolian gerbils in a semi-natural environment, with special reference to ventral marking, dominance, and sociability. Behavior LXI[61] (3-4):207-237.

1989 Polioudakis, Emanuel. Family Strategies and Social Organization in Southern Thailand. PhD thesis. University of Michigan Department of Anthropology. Available online.

1991 Polioudakis, Emanuel J. Social Organization, Gender, and Adaptation in Southern Thailand. Ethnology 30 (XXX) 1: 65-84

2000 Polioudakis, Emanuel J. Relatedness, class, and social organization in a village in southern Thailand. Evolution and Human Behavior 21(5): 297-316.

2000 Polioudakis, Emanuel; and Polioudakis, Nitaya. Resource Management, Social Class, and the State at a Muslim Fishing Village in Southern Thailand. In, State and Community in Fishieries Management: Power, Policy, and Practice, Chapter 6, pp. 85-102, Durrenberger, E. Paul; and King, Thomas D., editors, Westport, Connecticut: Begin & Garvey

2000 Polioudakis, Emanuel. Synopsis of results of research on Southern Thai Shrimp Farming. This document was about 50 pages long. Much of it was excerpted in Shrimp Digest. The document as a whole was sent to the American Embassy in Bangkok and used by them for their commerce operations. It can be found on the internet at

www.sustainablegreenaquaculture.com/uploads/5/3/7/2/5372499/synopsis of shrimp farming.pdf

I constructed and maintained a website on agriculture and the environment for the College of Agriculture of Auburn University, under the auspices of the Butler/Cunning Eminent Professor of Agriculture and the Environment. The website included the results of three national conferences, for which I also helped the organization. I wrote all the non-credited material on the website.

2005 Polioudakis, Emanuel. Catfish Farming In Western Alabama. Report Delivered to the World Wildlife Fund. 40 pages. Based on six months of fieldwork.

2006 Boyd, C.E. and Polioudakis, Mike. Land use for aquaculture production. Global Aquaculture Advocate 9(2):64-65.

2008 Boyd, Claude E.; Polioudakis, Mike; and Whitis, Gregory N. Direct energy use in channel catfish production. Global Aquaculture Advocate. July/August: 48:50.

2008 Polioudakis, Emanuel. First Book in Economics. Self-published on the Internet.

2010 Boyd, Claude E.; Polioudakis, Mike; and Hanson, Terry. Carbon footprint of farm-reared catfish. Report prepared for SRAC (Southern Regional Aquaculture Center) and other distribution.

2010 and following. Research results on energy use and carbon footprints of crawfish and baitfish.

2012 Chaney, Philip; Boyd, Claude, E.; and Polioudakis, Emanuel. Number, size, distribution, and hydrologic role of small impoundments in Alabama. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 67 (2): 111-121.

Activities While Working for Auburn University Department of Fisheries, 2000 – 2011

Alabama and Mississippi have the two largest aquaculture industries in the United States, both significant on a world scale. Aquaculture is consistently the second largest industry in Alabama.

Originally I was hired to escort students to work with catfish farmers in West Alabama, get to know catfish farmers, and get various kinds of data from them. Over time, I shifted to projects, mostly research, both in the field and on the internet. Although other people usually initiated the projects, I usually did most of the research. I do not mention projects on which I did not do much work. Some of the material was written up for the Butler/Cunningham website; see above. Some material has not been written yet. Working on these projects gave me useful skills. The projects include:

-The history of agriculture in the American South, especially its decline with the rise of agriculture in the American Midwest.

-The Butler/Cunningham series of three national conferences on agriculture and the environment and the attendant website.

-Environmental influences on aquaculture around the world, including world climate and climate change.

-Salmon farming around the world, its ecological impacts, and its sustainability.

-Energy use in catfish farming including not only direct energy use by the farms but also indirect use by the suppliers.

-The carbon footprint of catfish farming including not only the immediate carbon footprint of the farms but also indirect carbon footprint of suppliers.

-The identification by GIS of all surface water in Alabama, especially small ponds and impoundments. While other researchers have identified water as part of other land use projects, surprisingly, nobody has done research focused on water for a state in the United States.

-I have a large backlog of data on Thai rural culture from as far back as my original research in 1981. I will put that material on my website – not “raw” data but fairly well processed analysis mostly on Thai rural ceremonies of marriages, funeral, ordinations, house building, and holidays. I have about fifty recorded sermons of a prominent revered Buddhist priest.

-I have a backlog of data on shrimp farming in Thailand that I want to write up and put on my website.

-My first book in economics was conceived as part of a series. The next book in the series (second book in the series) will be on income and wealth concentration in the current world economy and its effects on America.

-I have been doing karate and Tai Chi since the middle 1970s. I have seen other martial arts in Thailand and the United States. I have seen similarities in the Asian martial arts. The point is not “how to” or “the secrets of chi” but to explain Asian ideas of movement, flow, relation, energy, yielding, asserting, cohering, and engaging.

-My original training was in evolutionary anthropology. I have kept up on animal behavior, evolutionary theory, human evolution, and studies of human social life that use ideas from evolutionary ecology and sociobiology. I have well-formed ideas about these topics that I intend to write.

-I love American and Thai “pop” culture and formal culture. I want to pursue pop culture in both places. I have a good sense of themes, characters, and plots that reappear and reveal Thai culture. I can link these motifs to evolutionary ideas of human social life. I would like to return to Thailand for some of this work.

-I have already used American culture in my books “Jesus for Most People” and “Religious Stances”. Along the same lines, I have a few more essays to write.

-More specifically for one case: I am dissatisfied with the categories used to describe gender in Western studies and for Thai people. The categories reflect the (well-intended) bias of researchers and of native cultures. I want to ask Americans and Thai about their ideas of gender, and to compare their ideas to the ideas commonly used in research and to ideas that have roots in evolutionary studies.

-Sooner or later, catfish farmers and shrimp farmers will have to adopt codes of conduct. Current work at the USDA is leading in that direction. I still contact Thai shrimp farmers. I would like to help Thai shrimp farmers and Alabama catfish farmers to develop useful realistic codes of conduct.

-I have always been concerned with good citizenship. I will write a few essays about good citizenship and good government to put on my website. I don’t intend to repeat well-meaning but now trite admonitions to get along, find compromises, and get the job done but to offer stronger ideas about how to change things to make government and citizenship work again.

-Math and physics are a hobby. Studying math and physics helps with most of my other work, especially with work based in evolution. I want to write up ideas to post on my website.