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Dr. Eddie Glayzer, Sociocultural Anthropology
Dr. Eddie Glayzer’s former advisor, Dr. Andrea Louie, recalls how he entered the program with a developed focus—he wanted to study contemporary South Korean society, focusing specifically on gender and consumption issues. He demonstrated a knack for drawing from his real-life experiences in South Korea, first as an English teacher and later as a researcher, as a basis from which to engage with anthropological questions. His own experience of falling short in the celebration of Pepero day by buying his then-girlfriend an embarrassingly small box of the South Korean confection led him to study the relationship between consumption and intimacy…
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Dr. Rachel Elbin, Sociocultural Anthropology
Dr. Rachel Elbin’s dissertation, “Tumesahaulika (We’ve Been Forgotten): Performing Development in Post-Conflict Mtwara”, explores how Tanzanian political leaders and residents of the southern region of Mtwara have defined and contested “development,” “the state,” and “citizenship” and the relationships among them across time. As Tanzania achieved independence, its first president promoted a socialist development state that would provide development to citizens who supported African socialism and pan-African solidarity. Citizens of Mtwara sacrificed in support of both visions but were disappointed when development resources did not flow to their region. Subsequent administrations adopted neoliberal reforms, refocusing the state on establishing regulatory frameworks…
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Dr. Alexandra Conell, Archaeology
Dr. Alexandra Conell’s dissertation, titled “Domestic Corporate Groups: An Ethnographic and Archaeological Examination of Households, Neighborhoods and Communities”, is an in-depth examination of ethnographic material on corporate group behavior analyzed with the goal of identifying variability in these groups—variability that archaeological interpretations may be missing. Dr. Conell’s research began with a world-wide survey to identify the nature of variability and the key factors to examine further. She then analyzed ethnographic data on five cultural areas in North America, looking for cross-cultural differences and how the domestic corporate group may have changed over time in each area. She created a descriptive…
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Dr. Lissie Arndt, Medical Anthropology
Dr. Lissie Arndt is a dual degree DO and PhD student, having completed her PhD in 2020 under the mentorship of Dr. Linda Hunt (right). Dr. Arndt’s dissertation, titled “The Ambiguity of HIV Risk in Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Administration in New York”, combines her anthropological and medical training as she examines of the concept of “risk” in the emerging market of pharmaceutical prevention of HIV. Based on close ethnographic examination of the contrasting perspectives of patients, caregivers, public health officials, and pharmaceutical industry representatives, Dr. Arndt reveals a complex picture of “risk” management as the pharmaceuticalization of self and society.…
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MSU Forensic Anthropology Lab participates in Operation UNITED
This September, the MSU Forensic Anthropology Laboratory (MSUFAL) participated in Operation UNITED in collaboration with the FBI’s Evidence Response Team, the Detroit Police Department (DPD), and several other local universities and law enforcement agencies. Operation UNITED is an acronym which stands for “Unknown Names Identified Through Exhumation and DNA.” Operation UNITED began as a grassroots effort between DPD Sgt. Shannon Jones and FBI Special Agent Leslie Larsen to solve as many cold case homicides in Detroit as possible. By exhuming the remains of unidentified homicide victims and comparing their DNA with family reference samples, Operation UNITED seeks to make identifications…
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Message from the Chair: Dr. Todd Fenton
This edition of the Department of Anthropology newsletter recognizes and celebrates our recent graduates who have persevered and achieved their educational goals through a time of extraordinary adversity. As Chair of the Department and on behalf of the Anthropology faculty and staff, we give our sincerest congratulations to the Class of 2020 and the Class of 2021. We are so proud of them and impressed by them. The ongoing global pandemic has wrought indescribable loss, grief, and uncertainty in so many aspects of our lives. In the face of such pervasive hardship, our graduates persisted through challenges and overcame obstacles…
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Special Interest Group co-chaired by Dr. Deon Claiborne receives AAA Presidents’ Award
The Anthropological Responses to Health Emergencies (ARHE) Special Interest Group was one of this year’s recipients of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) Presidents’ Award for the group’s extraordinary service. Dr. Deon Claiborne, Undergraduate Advisor for the MSU Department of Anthropology, is the Co-Chair of this group with Dr. Kristin Hedges of Grand Valley State University. The ARHE is a Special Interest Group of the Society for Medical Anthropology. The group’s overall mission is to engage and collaborate with colleagues working in the field of public health and infectious disease in emergency and humanitarian contexts. With this honor, the ARHE group…
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Introducing Jocelyn Janicek, Business Manager
The Department of Anthropology is very pleased to introduce our new Business Manager, Jocelyn Janicek, who joined the department in February 2020. As Business Manager, Jocelyn carries out numerous responsibilities to ensure the department’s success. These roles include providing support to the Department Chair, overseeing fiscal responsibilities for the department as fiscal officer, providing budget oversight and administrative support for grant administration (both pre-award and post-award), managing maintenance and renovation of Anthropology’s spaces, supervising issuance of technology and essential work-related equipment, and managing administrative personnel while also overseeing the human resource aspect of the department. Jocelyn is certainly instrumental in…
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Campus Archaeology Program holds popular Apparitions and Archaeology: A Haunted Campus Tour online
During the Fall 2020 semester, Michigan State University’s Campus Archaeology Program (CAP) adapted their yearly Apparitions and Archaeology: A Haunted Campus Tour to address the present realties of the COVID-19 pandemic and a mostly closed campus. The tour has grown every year since its inception in 2014 and was attended by over two hundred people in 2019. Director Dr. Stacey L. Camp and outgoing Campus Archaeologist Autumn Painter knew CAP had to keep up the tradition, as it is one of their largest outreach events of the fall semester. They decided to create a virtual version of the tour that…
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Weaving together anthropology, art, and socio-environmental justice with PhD student Kelsey Merreck Wagner
Anthropology PhD student Kelsey Merreck Wagner describes her work as living at the nexus of aesthetics, anthropological inquiry of environmental ruin at human hands, and hope for socio-environmental justice. Wagner’s research interests include the cultural norms and institutions that define our human-environment relations and seek pathways towards sustainability and coexistence. She is especially interested in culture and meaning, and how humans mediate the environment through cultural systems of action. This approach attends to issues of intersectionality, agency, sustainability, and cultural change. In her investigation of these issues, Wagner utilizes arts-based interventions—such as gallery exhibits, community projects, and multimedia—to raise awareness…