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Anthropology Students Present Research, Win Recognition at UURAF
Anthropology undergraduates presented their excellent research in the form of poster presentations at the 2017 University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (UURAF). The UURAF is a university-wide event focused on highlighting unique and creative research endeavors of undergraduates across disciplines. Students at UURAF are mentored by faculty, and have the opportunity to present a poster or paper (oral presentation). Thirteen MSU students mentored by Anthropology faculty participated, covering topics such as the Racialization of Arab Americans Post 9/11 (Breanna Escamilla, mentored by Najib Hourani), Visualizations using GIS of the Campus Archaeology Excavations (Jasmine Smith, mentored by Lynne Goldstein), and Microbotanical Analysis…
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Dr. Joseph T. Hefner releases new text with Dr. Marin A. Pilloud
Biological Distance Analysis, 1st Edition Forensic and Bioarchaeological Perspectives Edited by: Marin A. Pilloud and Joseph T. Hefner Biological Distance Analysis: Forensic and Bioarchaeological Perspectives synthesizes research within the realm of biological distance analysis, highlighting current work within the field and discussing future directions. The book is divided into three main sections. The first section clearly outlines datasets and methods within biological distance analysis, beginning with a brief history of the field and how it has progressed to its current state. The second section focuses on approaches using the individual within a forensic context, including ancestry estimation and case studies.…
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Guest Speakers Offer Fresh Perspectives
Two dynamic scholars visited the department this fall. Dr. Donna Yates (University of Glasgow, pictured on left) brought her expertise on antiquities trafficking to campus. She gave a public lecture to an audience of almost 100 with another 41 people watching it stream live. The talk traced factors enabling looting and illicit antiquities sales around the world, raising questions about how policy and scholarship could more effectively prevent the destruction of the past. She also gave a workshop for graduate students in which she analyzed the humanitarian disasters in Syria and Iraq as examples of policy dilemmas. Students were engaged…
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Digital Archaeology Grant Wraps Up
The Institute for Digital Archaeology Method and Practice successfully held its second and final meeting at MSU this past August. Directed by Professors Ethan Watrall and Lynne Goldstein and generously supported by a $250,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the goal of the institute was to bring together scholars, practitioners, and students to learn digital archaeological skills and engage with critical concepts and challenges. The 32 participants were originally chosen from 200 applicants and hailed from a wide range of sectors, including national parks, private cultural resource management firms, academic programs, and museums. This second meeting…
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Grad Student Mari Isa Receives NSF Fellowship
Mari Isa is a graduate student analyzing skeletal trauma, and a recent recipient of an NSF fellowship. Below, she shares more about her work: I started at MSU as an undergraduate. That fall, I took my first anthropology class, Biocultural Evolution, and began working in the Nubian Bioarchaeology Laboratory under the guidance of Dr. Todd Fenton. Needless to say, I was hooked. Six years later, I am serving as the Laboratory Manager in the MSU Forensic Anthropology Laboratory. This job allows me to work with local medical examiners and law enforcement agencies to assist in medico-legal cases. I have worked…
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Alumnae Dr. Keri Brondo Releases New Textbook
Dr. Keri Vacanti Brondo (Ph.D. 2006), Associate Professor at University of Memphis, just released a new introductory text, “Cultural Anthropology: Contemporary, Public, and Critical Readings” through Oxford University Press. This reader offers a flexible and applied approach for teaching undergraduates. When Oxford Press approached her, Dr. Brondo realized it was an opportunity to create her ideal reader for an intro class, so she combined classic pieces (such as Bohannan’s “Shakespeare in the Bush”) with a significant number of contemporary pieces: 39 articles from the last decade and 24 from the last few years. Dr. Brondo wanted students to get exposure…
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Undergrad Lucy Steele Attends G200 Youth Summit
This past Spring, the department was pleased to sponsor undergraduate Lucy Steele’s attendance at the G200 Youth Summit. Lucy shares more about her experience below: Last April, I proudly represented the Anthropology Department and Michigan State University at the G200 Youth Summit in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. This international conference provides a platform for students, academics, and young leaders to discuss the major issues facing our world today. I was initially drawn to the G200 Youth Summit as an opportunity to present research in a way that facilitates further conversations and to meet and learn from other students with a variety…
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Featured Faculty: Dr. Laurie Medina
Since she became director in fall of 2015, Dr. Laurie Medina has been working with staff and affiliated faculty at MSU’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) to build new research initiatives and to identify new opportunities for collaboration across campus and with partners abroad. During her first year as director, the center added 18 new core faculty, representing seven different colleges; MSU signed an agreement with Mexico’s Consejo Nacional de Ciencias y Technologia (the equivalent of the NSF in the US) to fund graduate study at MSU by Mexican students and short-term research exchanges; and CLACS engaged…
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Introducing Kathy McGlynn, IT Support
When faculty, staff, and TAs find their computers are crashing or their AV equipment won’t link to their laptops, they call Kathy McGlynn, Anthropology’s IT expert. Kathy troubleshoots technical problems on all department software and hardware and keeps everyone’s systems up-to-date and safe from viruses. As the link between central MSU IT and the department, Kathy helps faculty on everything from small issues (“Is this email safe to open?”) and big issues, like what new equipment to invest in for the department’s future. She also keeps abreast of new industry developments for both Windows and Mac products, updates, and software.…
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Grad Student Jessica Ott Receives Fulbright
Graduate student Jessica Ott received a 2016 Fullbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship to investigate legal advocacy and women’s rights in Tanzania. Starting in early 2017, she will begin dissertation research tracing the work of feminist lawyers in Zanzibar who draw on historical ideas about women’s and human rights in order to provide advocacy for women today. In Zanzibar, when women experience family strife, it often falls under the purview of local islamic courts. But women are increasingly bypassing this court system and going to women’s law offices where feminist lawyers provide mediation and contract negotiation between couples, which represents…