Dr. Melissa Anderson-Chavarria is a dual degree DO and PhD student and finished her PhD in 2021 under the mentorship of Dr. Linda Hunt. Dr. Anderson-Chavarria’s dissertation, “Forgotten Families of the Sea and Sun: An Ethnography of Autism in Puerto Rico,” focuses on autism families in a setting whose history and socio-economic situation bears little resemblance to North America and Europe, where most studies of autism have been conducted. Dr. Anderson-Chavarria presents a thorough review of existing autism models and management strategies, and provides a rich overview of the Puerto Rican historical and socio-economic context that challenges current autism approaches. 

Based on extensive participant observation and interviews with autism families, caregivers, and professionals, Dr. Anderson-Chavarria presents a far-reaching analysis of life with autism in Puerto Rico. In particular, she examines conceptualizations of autism, causal theories and their impact on vaccination decision-making, language practices and ideologies, and creative resource navigation. Her work thus provides deep insight into the limitations of existing approaches to autism. Dr. Anderson-Chavarria’s dissertation documents the creative adaptations of these families, while highlighting the need to expand research on pressing health issues to include marginalized communities and countries. This work will inform management approaches and public policy to address the unmet needs of those too often ignored and forgotten.

Dr. Anderson-Chavarria is currently working on converting her dissertation into a more widely accessible book format along with publishing her research in academic and clinical journals. She will spend the next two years completing her clinical medical education and plans to pursue medical residency in 2023. Her areas of interest include pediatric neurology, neurosurgery, and global health.

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The National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Joseph T. Hefner, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Kentucky a five-year, $1.4 grant to develop a standardized graphic library to assist clinicians and biomedical researchers to communicate anatomical concepts with their patients and their families. Hefner is an MSU Department of Anthropology assistant professor and CO-PI on the grant team led by Melissa Clarkson, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical informatics from the University of Kentucky. The project, titled, “Developing standardized graphic libraries for anatomy: A focus on human craniofacial anatomy and phenotypes,” began Summer of 2021.

“The focus is on creating standards for clinicians and surgeons who meet with patients and their family members and engage them about the type of craniofacial anomaly they have and the necessary reconstructive surgery,” Hefner said.

Craniofacial anomalies are irregular facial features, such as cleft palate or cleft lip, and might require surgery. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , about one in every 1,600 babies is born with cleft lip and cleft palate in the United States. 

“We are generating illustrations that can be used to guide family members through the process of understanding anomalies like cleft lip or cleft palate,” Hefner said. “We have the clinical language which is very complex, but with the addition of line drawings, clinicians can talk to family members in a more easily understood way and using tools to help the family visualize how the reconstruction will proceed.”

The team is led by Clarkson who specializes in addressing the gap between complex information and the people who need to understand it. The team members represent an interdisciplinary approach that includes a plastic surgeon, an odontologist, a traditional human anatomist, and Hefner, a biological anthropologist. Hefner’s knowledge and research on global human craniofacial variation is a key component of the project from a perspective of equity. The earliest models for the current clinical language and images  of craniofacial anomalies are based upon American white populations. 

“These models really miss some of the nuances of craniofacial morphology here in the United States, and my job is to provide data and an expertise on human variation to more accurately capture craniofacial variation,” Hefner said. 

In other words, Hefner’s contribution will help to shape clinical language and imagery that reflect the diverse people in the United States. 

“For example, ‘wide mouth’ is defined clinically as ‘the distance between the corners of the mouth greater than two standard deviations above the mean,’ – but what does that look like in a living individual?” Clarkson explained. “Drawing that phenotype [set of observable characteristics] will depend on population-level data, and that data should reflect different ages and populations. Dr. Hefner will help us to understand population-level differences in phenotypes and how to incorporate craniometric [ the scientific measurement of skulls] and macromorphoscopic [soft tissue differences] datasets into our work.”

Additionally, their research will serve as standardized visual representations for information systems and software applications. For example, their work will include developing prototypes for web-based tools such as the Human Phenotype Ontology .

This project is a new application of Hefner’s research. Much of his previous work has involved forensic anthropology and working with medical and legal death investigations.

“The exciting thing for me is that I’ve never done anything like it,” Hefner said. “I can use my love of human craniofacial morphology for a far-reaching, great cause. We’re dealing with people who have craniofacial anomalies, which is very common here in the United States, to provide them and their families and clinicians a common visual language, improving discussions between patients and doctors.”

The Michigan State University Department of Anthropology hosted the joint annual meeting of the Midwest Archaeological Conference and the Midwest Historical Archaeology Conference October 7–9, 2021, on MSU’s campus. Jodie O’Gorman, MSU associate professor and archaeologist, led the team responsible for organizing the conference. 

“Our membership gets together every year to share the research we’ve been doing. It’s an important opportunity for us to see colleagues, meet new and prospective students, and debate and discuss issues that are important to all of us,” O’Gorman said. 

The Midwest Archaeological Conference is the regional association for archaeologists and students working in the Mid-continent. It has been held annually for the last 64 years, except last year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. This year, the Department of Anthropology brought over 150 people and 21 student volunteers together again with special precautions to allow for social distancing.

“MSU has always been one of the most influential institutions in Midwest and Great Lakes archaeology,” O’Gorman said. “Many of our archaeology alumni still live and work in the Midwest and are members of MAC. They hold some of the most influential archaeology positions in national, state, and private organizations. We celebrate the opportunity to reconnect with them. We also see it as an opportunity to let others see how strong our program is.” 

The meeting this year was a joint meeting with the Midwest Historical Archaeology Conference because O’Gorman and her colleagues decided to co-host this meeting to stress the importance of both kinds of archaeology at MSU. The co-organizers were Drs. Jessica Yann and Stacey Camp, Director of MSU’s Campus Archaeology Program. 

“I hope people enjoyed reconnecting with colleagues. Some of the papers reflect on archaeology in the time of COVID, and I think it’s important for us to share that and to support each other,” O’Gorman said. “I think people also enjoyed just getting back to a bit of normalcy in terms of hearing research papers.”

Attendees attended sessions, workshops and a Campus Archaeology tour of MSU.

“One unique event was the MAC-sponsored symposium I co-organized with several former and current students,” O’Gorman said. “We assembled 13 papers on ‘Midcontinental Cuisine: Recent Archaeological Explorations of Food and Cooking in the Heartland,’ about cuisine from ancient times to MSU’s early history. We also featured MSU historical cuisine at the following reception in collaboration with MSU chefs.” 

Other events during the conference were a workshop on building an inclusive culture in the field, and two workshops (one for students and one for practicing archaeologists) on 3D Digitization, Preservation, and Access in Archaeology and Heritage. The 3D workshops were presented by Dr. Ethan Watrall in the college’s Lab for the Education and Advancement in Digital Research (LEADR), an interdisciplinary venture of Anthropology, History, and Matrix. 

“The past cultures we study lived from the edge of the Plains into the forests of the Northeast, around the Great Lakes as well as smaller inland lakes, and along major and minor river valleys,” O’Gorman said. “Indigenous groups have been here since at least 15,000 years ago and their cultural heritage is especially rich and varied.”

Hosting the conference had special meaning to O’Gorman.

“I first became interested in MSU when I attended a MAC meeting here 22 years ago,” O’Gorman said. “That meeting led to my application for the position I hold now. As I think about retirement, I hope the younger generation of Midwest archaeologists that attended this year saw what an exciting program we have.” 

To learn more about the Midwest Archaeology Conference, visit https://www.midwestarchaeology.org/about .

Dr. Najib Hourani, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Global Urban Studies Program and core faculty in the Muslim Studies Program, is the winner of the inaugural 2021 College of Social Science Dean’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Excellence Faculty Award. The award recognizes social science faculty who have made comprehensive, impressive and sustained efforts surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion.

“Dr. Hourani is richly deserving of the inaugural DEI Faculty award because he has a demonstrated and sustained record of making our campus a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all,” said Dr. Nwando Achebe, the Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the College of Social Science.

Continuing a tradition of transformative research

Dr. Hourani joined MSU’s faculty in the fall of 2006, and quickly established himself as a campus expert on the political anthropology of the Middle East, civil conflict, and cities of the Arab world. His past research focused on the Lebanese civil war and post-conflict urban reconstruction, and his current research builds upon the lessons learned in Beirut to address the rebirth of Syrian cities as that country’s decade-long civil war comes to an end. 

Unable to visit Syria due to U.S. travel restrictions, Dr. Hourani was recently awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to work with Syrian refugees in the neighboring country of Jordan to better understand their needs, hopes and aspirations for returning to their home villages, towns and cities.

Though his work in Jordan ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Hourani is still finding ways to transform the human experience through his scholarship closer to home. Teaming up with faculty from Global Studies in Arts and Humanities in the College of Arts and Letters, Dr. Hourani is exploring new research on the relationship between African American and Arab American communities in the United States. 

“The relationship between these two communities has historically been complicated, as there have been periods of both conflict and allyship between these groups in the past,” Dr. Hourani explained. 

Creating space for DEI conversations in the classroom 

On top of his research, Dr. Hourani teaches several undergraduate and graduate-level Anthropology courses. Upon his arrival at MSU, he developed the Anthropology of the Middle East course, which, in addition to exploring the peoples and cultures of the region, begins with discussions of race and representation. “There are a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions about what it means to be Arab that many people carry with them that they may not even realize,” explained Dr. Hourani.

In his classes, Dr. Hourani believes in fostering conversations about race and identity rather than shying away from them. For example, Dr. Hourani helps students to recognize harmful portrayals that normalize bigotry against Arab people in US popular culture, and encourages them to engage with such portrayals critically.

Dr. Hourani emphasizes the incredible opportunity that Spartan students have to learn about Arab culture, heritage and history at MSU – especially from Arab American faculty. 

“Many people may not realize that, outside of the Middle East, Michigan has the largest Arab population in the world,” Dr. Hourani explained. “Arabs and Arab Americans have made tremendous contributions to the state and to the country. In an increasingly diverse country, it is important for students to learn about Arab peoples and cultures. Unlearning biases and stereotypes is hard work. I am gratified to see so many students willing to take it on at MSU.”

Department of Anthropology doctoral student Marwa Bakabas was featured as the Diversity Torch in the College of Social Science “Diversity Matters” issue for Arab American Heritage Month. Arab American Heritage Month commemorates the contributions of Arab Americans to American life and their struggles to receive full protections as American citizens. The College of Social Science Diversity Torches celebrate students who uphold a diversity value or ideal. As “Diversity Torches,” they provide light, guidance, and awareness to their fellow students and all who see them.

Marwa Bakabas is a sociocultural anthropology PhD student in the Department of Anthropology whose work centers on violence, forced migration, exile, and trauma in the Middle East. While writing her Master’s thesis in Lebanon, Marwa decided she wanted to apply for a PhD and expand her focus from studying refugees that are displaced in Lebanon and Greece to also include the Yemeni refugee community. Marwa explains that MSU was a great fit because they had more opportunities to both become an academic practitioner and to continue work as an activist. Her dissertation will focus on the visibility of the war and conflict in Yemen and the subsequent displacement/exile of Yemenis.

In both her personal and professional life, Marwa is inspired by the Arab Americans making a difference in their communities, noting “as Arab-Americans, we have a choice in how we embrace or neglect our identity and so many of my counterparts and friends that I have crossed paths with have inspired me, especially those who continue to preserve our traditions while helping spread awareness and knowledge to break stereotypes.”

Marwa also explains, “We can all be better allies by standing in solidarity with one another. Many groups face marginalization and racism in America and all over the world. We need to stand together and build stronger allyship instead of amplifying our differences.”