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Dr. Norman J. Sauer Named Vice President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences
Dr. Norman J. Sauer, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, was named Vice President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) at the Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. This prestigious position is an honor for Dr. Sauer, and it places the MSU Department of Anthropology in the international spotlight while Dr. Sauer serves his term of office. The AAFS is the world’s largest and most prestigious forensic science organization with over 7,000 members representing nearly 75 countries. The multidisciplinary organization is divided into 11 sections, and includes practitioners from various forensic science disciplines, including, among others, physicians, dentists, biologists, chemists, engineers, and anthropologists.…
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Dr. Joseph T. Hefner Receives Major Grant
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Hefner has received a grant in the amount of $423,959 from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to fund the project A Macromorphoscopic Databank: Establishing the Statistical Analysis of Macromorphoscopic Data in Forensic Anthropology. The two-year research project will address a methodological gap in forensic anthropology by providing reference data and establishing analytical methods to accurately and objectively assess ancestry. Dr. Hefner will be gathering data on macromorphoscopic traits (slight variation in cranial form) in order to correlate patterns in the frequency distribution of traits to forensically-significant populations. His goal is to establish…
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New Book by Mara Leichtman: Shi’i Cosmopolitanisms in Africa: Lebanese Migration and Religious Conversion in Senegal
Dr. Mara Leichtman announces the publication of her new book Shi’i Cosmopolitanisms in Africa: Lebanese Migration and Religious Conversion in Senegal. The book is available from Indiana University Press starting September 27, 2015. From the publisher’s website: Mara A. Leichtman offers an in-depth study of Shi‘i Islam in two very different communities in Senegal: the well-established Lebanese diaspora and Senegalese “converts” from Sunni to Shi‘i Islam of recent decades. Sharing a minority religious status in a predominantly Sunni Muslim country, each group is cosmopolitan in its own way. Leichtman provides new insights into the everyday lives of Shi‘i Muslims in Africa and the dynamics…
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The Lab for the Education and Advancement in Digital Research (LEADR) Completes a Successful First Year
This fall marks the one-year anniversary of LEADR (the Lab for the Education and Advancement in Digital Research), a new joint initiative among Anthropology, History, and MATRIX Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences. LEADR functions an interdisciplinary classroom, digital resource library, and a pedagogical and methodological support center located in 112 Old Horticulture. LEADR was initially funded by the Office of the Provost as part of an effort to create robust technology environments for teaching and learning at MSU. The Lab is staffed by three graduate assistants, including Brian Geyer from Anthropology, and is under the direction of Brandon…
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New Book by Chantal Tetreault: Transcultural Teens: Performing Youth Identities in French Cités
Dr. Chantal Tetreault announces the publication of her new book Transcultural Teens: Performing Youth Identities in French Cités, available from Wiley-Blackwell starting May of 2015. From the publisher’s website: Transcultural Teens provides readers with a window onto the cultural and linguistic creativity of the housing projects, or cités, that ring Paris, showing how young people of Algerian Arab origins play with language in fascinating ways that subvert commonly held notions of intercultural animosity. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1119044154.html This article is in the Department of Anthropology’s Fall 2015 Newsletter, see the entire newsletter here.
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New Book by Andrea Louie: How Chinese Are You? Adopted Chinese Youth and their Families Negotiate Identity and Culture
Dr. Andrea Louie’s new book How Chinese Are You? Adopted Chinese Youth and their Families Negotiate Identity and Culture was released in August of 2015. In it, Dr. Louie examines the challenges Chinese adoption presents to families trying to honor their children’s “birth culture.” This ethnographic study analyzes how both white and Asian American adoptive parents engage in changing understandings of and relationships with “Chineseness” as a form of ethnic identity, racial identity, or cultural capital over the life course. Available through NYU PRESS: http://nyupress.org/books/9781479894635/ This article is in the Department of Anthropology’s Fall 2015 Newsletter, see the entire…
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Sabrina Perlman and Julie Fleischman Awarded Fulbright IIE Grants
The Department of Anthropology is very happy to announce that Sabrina Perlman (left) and Julie Fleischman (right) have been awarded Fulbright IIE Grants. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential. Julie will conduct her dissertation research on Khmer Rouge regime violence by analyzing skeletal trauma and memorialization in Cambodia. Sabrina will conduct her dissertation research on the gender dynamics of self-managing type 2 diabetes in Ghana.
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Spring 2015 Message from the Acting Chair: Dr. Laurie Medina
Greetings! As another academic year winds down, we are celebrating graduations. But we are also gearing up for a busy summer. Students and faculty will soon disperse to pursue research and language study in places across the world. On campus, the Campus Archaeology Program, directed by Dr. Lynne Goldstein, will run an archaeological field school this summer. Both the program and the field school reflect MSU’s commitment to understanding and preserving its own history, and both provide exciting opportunities for undergraduates and grad students to develop experience in research and data analysis. Meanwhile, Dr. Gabe Wrobel will lead both graduate…
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Undergraduate Peer Mentor positions available for Summer 2015 online class ISS 215 “Navigating U.S. Culture”
The MSU Department of Anthropology is accepting applications from students interested in being Undergraduate Peer Mentors in a 200-level ISS online class focused on exploring social and cultural diversity in the United States. Peer mentors work with groups of about 10–15 students to encourage them to stay engaged with class materials and assignments. You should gain valuable experience serving as a peer mentor in an online MSU class, where you will have some flexibility to creatively use online media to support a small group of learners. You will also gain expertise in cross-cultural relations, a skill increasingly valued by employers…
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Department of Anthropology Undergraduate Student Joshua Schnell Wins Prestigious Beinecke Scholarship
The Department of Anthropology is very proud to announce that Joshua Schnell has been awarded the highly prestigious and competitive Beinecke Scholarship. Founded in 1971, the Beinecke Scholarship supports students pursuing graduate studies in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Joshua Schnell, a junior, is an Honors College member studying Anthropology and Religious Studies. He has always been passionate about anthropology and archaeology. He spent his childhood reading his grandpa’s National Geographic magazines and every book ancient civilizations book he could find. His love of bones stretches back as far as he can remember- collecting and cleaning animal bones he found…