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High school students explore forensic anthropology at MSU
High school students from the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) recently got a behind-the-scenes look at Michigan State University’s Forensic Anthropology Lab (MSUFAL). In November, these students spent the day on campus meeting MSU students and faculty while exploring labs. Dr. Carolyn Isaac, assistant professor of anthropology and director of MSUFAL, shared how impactful it was to witness the interactions between anthropology graduate students and high school students as they explored the unique findings revealed from studying a person’s skeleton. “The passion with which the graduate students discussed the wonders of the bones and the look of amazement in the…
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MSU Professor Emeritus Co-Authors Study on Indigenous Maize Use in Michigan
Professor Emeritus Dr. William Lovis of the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University found something he didn’t expect when studying maize in Michigan. “The most unexpected outcome was the observation that there was a clear separation of living spaces used for residential, food preparation and consumption activities, and areas used for subterranean food storage and possibly crop production,” Lovis said. “Similar patterns had been noted elsewhere in Michigan, but it was only with the use of many lines of data were we able to discern this on the Bay City Moraine.” Lovis and MSU alumna Dr. Kathryn Egan-Bruhy of…
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MSU completes first-ever repatriation to The Bahamas
Dr. Jessica Yann believes everyone should have a right to their own history. Yann, Program Manager for Michigan State University’s Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) program and a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology, completed the first-ever human Ancestral remains repatriation to The Bahamas. “To see how important this return was to the people of The Bahamas, to know that their cultural heritage is back where it belongs, and that I was a part of it, is incredibly humbling,” Yann said. “I’m glad to have been able to facilitate it.” While reviewing a collection donated by…
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Access Champion: Dr. Mindy Morgan
Dr. Mindy Morgan, an Associate Professor of Anthropology and an affiliated faculty member of the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, is Michigan State University’s College of Social Science Access Champion honoree. During November, Native American Heritage month, the college celebrates the contributions, culture and history of Indigenous peoples in America. Morgan focuses her research on language ideologies surrounding the preservation, transmission and reclamation of Indigenous languages in Native communities. Click here to read about Morgan and her work.
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Access Spotlight: Dr. Kehli Henry
Kehli Henry, Ph.D., is Michigan State University’s Access Spotlight honoree. During the month of November the college celebrates the diverse history, culture and accomplishments of our Native American and Indigenous community members. There are over 500 federally recognized tribes across the country including a dozen in the state of Michigan, each with its own unique set of shared traditions, language and customs. Henry is a proud Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe woman), and as a researcher who has worked closely with Native American communities striving to increase awareness and improve access to a wide range of public services and programming, she is a…
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Associate Professor Dr. Joe Hefner receives $2 Million Dollar Grant from the Department of Justice
The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce that Associate Professor Dr. Joe Hefner has been awarded $2,062,069 from the Department of Justice for a project entitled MOSAIC: Unifying Methods of Sex, Stature, Affinity, & Age for Identification through Computational Standardization. To aid in the identification of unknown human remains, forensic anthropologists are often called upon to create a biological profile, or an estimation of the unknown individual’s age, biological sex, population affinity (i.e., ancestry), and stature. The data collected to develop a biological profile typically includes both metric and nonmetric/morphological data from across the entire skeleton, and these data are…
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New faculty member Dr. Madeline Mackie’s work at the La Prele Mammoth site is featured in this quarter’s American Archaeology magazine
New faculty member Dr. Madeline Mackie’s work at the La Prele Mammoth site is featured in this quarter’s American Archaeology magazine. The approximately 12,900-year-old site contains the remains of a butchered Columbian mammoth and at least four camp areas thought to be associated with the animal’s butchery. The presence of an associated camp is particularly notable as there are only two other proboscidean (mammoth and their kin) butchery sites in North America where camps have been identified. In addition to stone tools and animal remains, the site has produced a suite of artifacts including a bone bead and needles, some of the…
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Associate Professor Dr. Elizabeth Drexler named Diversity Champion by the College of Social Science
The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announced that Associate Professor Dr. Elizabeth Drexler has been named Diversity Champion by the College of Social Science. Dr. Drexler has worked for decades as a researcher and an educator to understand cultural and historical issues linked to human rights and social justice. To learn more about the award and Dr. Drexler’s work, visit https://socialscience.msu.edu/news-events/news/2024-08-21-3.html
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Honoring Dr. Bernard Gallin (1929-2023)
The Michigan State University Department of Anthropology is sad to announce the passing of Professor Emeritus Dr. Bernard Gallin. Dr. Gallin passed away at the age of 94 on December 16th, 2023. Dr. Gallin taught, conducted research, with the Department of Anthropology from 1962 until his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 2002, and for 15 years served as the Anthropology department chair. Dr. Gallin received a B.S. from City College of New York in 1951, followed by beginning graduate studies at Cornell University. After only one year his studies were interrupted by the Korean War, as he was drafted and…
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New Book by Associate Professor Dr. Elizabeth Drexler: Infrastructures of Impunity: New Order Violence in Indonesia
Department of Anthropology Associate Professor Dr. Elizabeth Drexler announces the publication of her new book, Infrastructures of Impunity: New Order Violence in Indonesia, available now from Cornell University Press. From the publisher’s website: In Infrastructures of Impunity Elizabeth F. Drexler argues that the creation and persistence of impunity for the perpetrators of the Cold War Indonesian genocide (1965–66) is not only a legal status but also a cultural and social process. Impunity for the initial killings and for subsequent acts of political violence has many elements: bureaucratic, military, legal, political, educational, and affective. Although these elements do not always work…