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Associate Professor Dr. Ethan Watrall and Professor Emerita Dr. Lynne Goldstein Publish Two Edited Volumes with the University Press Florida on Digital Heritage and Archaeology
The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce that Associate Professor Dr. Ethan Watrall and Professor Emerita Dr. Lynne Goldstein have published two edited volumes with the University Press Florida on Digital Heritage and Archaeology – Digital Heritage and Archaeology in Practice: Presentation, Teaching, and Engagement (https://upf.com/book.asp?id=9780813069319) and Digital Heritage and Archaeology in Practice: Data, Ethics, and Professionalism (https://upf.com/book.asp?id=9780813069302) The two volumes bring together a diverse group of archaeologists and heritage professionals from private, public, and academic settings to discuss practical applications of digital and computational approaches to the field. Contributors thoughtfully explore the diverse and exciting ways in which digital methods are being deployed…
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Associate Professor Dr. Masako Fujita and Ph.D. Candidate Nerli Paredes Ruvalcaba co-publish in the American Journal of Human Biology
Department of Anthropology Associate Professor Dr. Masako Fujita, Ph.D. Candidate Nerli Paredes Ruvalcaba and co-authors recently published in the American Journal of Human Biology. The article, titled, “Human milk lactoferrin variation in relation to maternal inflammation and iron deficiency in northern Kenya” explored how nutritional and disease stress among breastfeeding mothers might influence the immune content in mothers’ own milk, focusing on an iron-binding protein called lactoferrin. Lactoferrin is abundant in fluids such as saliva, tears, and milk. In milk, it serves to protect infants against infection. Lactoferrin has come under the spotlight recently because of its preventive and therapeutic…
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Associate Professor Dr. Masako Fujita publishes in the Cambridge University Press’ Experimental Results
Department of Anthropology Associate Professor Dr. Masako Fujita and co-author Eleanor Brindle recently published in the Cambridge University Press’ Experimental Results. The article, titled, “Comparing the creamatocrit of human milk before and after long-term freezing” evaluates the effect of long-term cryogenic storage on the creamatocrit, a technique for estimating the milk lipid content. This study found that the creamatocrit of human milk undergone 10 years of storage at ultra-low temperatures can provide values in high correlation with creamatocrit values obtained prior to storage. However, the results suggest a systematic bias that may vary with the amount of lipids that were…
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Associate Professor Dr. Mara Leichtman publishes an article in The Conversation
Department of Anthropology Associate Professor Dr. Mara Leichtman published an article in The Conversation, which is a nonprofit independent news organization. Dr. Leichtman’s article, titled, “How Shiite Islam reached Tanzania, and Ashoura processions became an annual tradition,” is based on her fieldwork conducted in Tanzania this past summer. This article provides a brief history of Shiite Islam in East Africa followed by a detailed description of how Ashoura processions became an annual tradition in Tanzania. According to Dr. Leichtman, “In Tanzania, the government protects freedom of religion. And that is evident in the unique processions of the Indian and African…
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Anthropology Grad Student Spotlight: Kelsey Merreck Wagner – Human-environment relationships and art as activism
By Katie Nicpon Passionate about the intersection of people, animals, environment and activism, Kelsey Merreck Wagner is a Ph.D. candidate in the MSU Anthropology program and is also an artist. Since the pandemic, she has been weaving community trash into tapestries and preparing for her dissertation research trip to Thailand in October. MSU Anthropology PhD candidate and local artist Kelsey Merreck Wagner stands with her tapestry she wove using plastic. For more of her art, visit her website. Photo credit: Kelsey Merreck Wagner. “I was really drawn to the idea that weavings are inherently based in place because people generally…
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Dr. Barbara Rose Johnston, Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at Michigan State University, has been honored with a named award. At the annual American Anthropological Association (AAA) meeting this year the AAA Environment & Anthropology Society is launching the new award: Barbara Rose Johnston Travel Award.
Barbara Rose Johnston Travel Award is a $1000 competitive grant to allow a society member at any stage in their career who lack institutional support to attend the AAA annual meeting and formally participate in Environment and Anthropology Society sessions. This competition is open to any member of the Society who lacks institutional support for conference travel, including those working for government agencies (federal, state, local, and tribal governments), nonprofits, community colleges, consultants, international scholars, and contingent faculty. Deadline to apply: October 3, 2022 Full details can be found at: https://ae.americananthro.org/prizes/barbara-rose-johnston-award/
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Ph.D. Candidate Kiana Sakimehr wins the 2022 John F. Richards Fellowship offered by the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies (AIAS)
The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce that Ph.D. candidate Kiana Sakimehr has been awarded the John F. Richards Fellowship by the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies (AIAS). This institute is a private and non-profit organization located at Boston University and headed by scholars to promote and support the study of Afghanistan. Kiana will use the funds to cover expenses related to her field research that focuses on Afghan refugees who recently arrived in the US. She intends to investigate the often-neglected emotional aspect of migration and how it shapes peoples’ interpretations and perceptions of their new reality as…
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Associate Professor Dr. Masako Fujita publishes in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology
Department of Anthropology Associate Professor Dr. Masako Fujita and co-authors Katherine Wander, Tin Tran, and Eleanor Brindle recently published an article in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology. The article is titled “Characterizing the extent human milk folate is buffered against maternal malnutrition and infection in drought-stricken northern Kenya.” This publication investigates whether and how the extent of maternal buffering of milk folate may diminish under prolonged nutritional and disease stress, while taking into consideration infants’ varying vulnerability to malnutrition-related morbidity/mortality. The results of this study suggest that mothers buffer milk folate against their own nutritional stress even during a…
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Associate Professor Dr. Elizabeth Drexler publishes in Oxford University Press’ International Journal of Transitional Justice
Department of Anthropology Associate Professor Dr. Elizabeth Drexler publishes in the International Journal of Transitional Justice. The article, titled, “Impunity and Transitional Justice in Indonesia: Aksi Kamisan’s Circular Time” argues the Indonesian weekly Thursday silent protests by victims’ families, create sites of justice bringing together technical legal demands with compelling artistic performance to highlight the problem of persistent but invisible impunity, counter the legacies of authoritarian era social stigmatization, and expose the problematic nature of temporality in conventional transitional justice mechanisms. Read the full article at: https://doi.org/10.1093/ijtj/ijac010 Abstract: This article positions the Indonesian weekly Thursday silent protests by victims’…
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Ph.D. Student Emily Milton and Assistant Professor Kurt Rademaker publish in the Journal of Archaeological Science
Department of Anthropology Ph.D. student Emily Milton published her Master of Arts research in the Journal of Archaeological Science with co-authors Dr. Kurt Rademaker, Dr. Nathan D. Stansell (Northern Illinois University), Drs Hervé Bocherens and Döbereiner Chala-Aldana (University of Tübingen, Germany), and Annalis Brownlee (University of Alaska-Anchorage). The article, titled, “Examining surface water δ18O and δ2H values in the western Central Andes: A watershed moment for anthropological mobility studies,” reviews the isotopic patterning of surface waters in the western Peruvian Andes and implications for archaeological and forensic migration research. Emily’s research was funded by a National Science Foundation grant (PI:…