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 about ecological issues and move towards social and environmental justice.

Wagner’s primary research focuses on human-elephant conflict in Southeast Asia, a problem exacerbated by globalized capitalist practices, increasing urbanization, and neoliberal tendencies to divide and manipulate the environments humans and animals share. While unable to travel for research this past summer due to the pandemic, Wagner has continued her arts-based activism through a trash and textiles project she calls “Loom & Doom.” Using plastic bags collected from other people, she creates weavings that speak to the enormity of the planet’s plastic habit.

This project has allowed Wagner to initiate a mini-ethnography on plastic consumption. Some of her most environmentally concerned friends have nothing to contribute because they do not use plastic, while others donate their plastic after they have reused it multiple times, still others have endless new bags to provide each week. Wagner sees each exchange as helping to contextualize the way our actions affect the environment. The process of weaving abandoned mediums into a narrative of human-product-environmental relations points to the complex web of ecology we live in, destroy, and seek to protect.

Wagner sees the arts as a powerful means of activism, drawing attention and bearing witness to structural inequities and environmental catastrophes around the world. Currently, Wagner’s weaving and printmaking work is featured in several exhibits, including: #postmarked, Crafting the Future; All Animal Exhibition, Contemporary Art Gallery Online; Catalyst, Michigan State University; and Who are You Voting for? at Woman Made Gallery. Her work has been shown in solo and group shows internationally and across the United States. Before studying at MSU, Wagner worked around the world, operationalizing creative practices as a means of bridging cultures, raising awareness, and celebrating cultural and natural heritage.

Wagner appreciates the mentorship of her advisor Dr. Beth Drexler, who encourages her to continue exploring the intersections between affect, activism, infrastructure, violence, environment, animals, and people. In addition to pursuing her doctorate in Anthropology, Wagner is seeking specializations in Gender, Justice and Environmental Change and Human Animal Studies, as well as a certification in Community-Engaged Research. As anthropological theory drives her research, Wagner also values the incorporation of transdisciplinary knowledge to address social and environmental ills.

After earning her PhD, Wagner would like to work in a community-based capacity, using arts education and programming to connect communities with their environments. Her anthropological training has informed her work at galleries and museums, and she looks forward to bringing a better understanding of human diversity and culture into her curatorial work. Wagner hopes to empower and uplift communities and their unique practices by celebrating creative expression and initiating grassroots activism.

Visit Kelsey’s website kelseymerreckwagner.com to explore and follow her work.

Images:

Left—Plastic weaving from Wagner’s “Loom & Doom” series, 2020, media: cotton, plastic bags, plastic gloves.

Right—“From Bangkok to Boone” exhibit, 2017-2018, media: handmade and recycled paper, screenprint ink, india ink, paint, yarn, thread, found objects, vinyl.

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Assistant Professor Carolyn Isaac joined the Department of Anthropology in Fall 2019 and is one of the three acclaimed forensic anthropologists of the Michigan State University Forensic Anthropology Laboratory (MSUFAL) with Dr. Todd Fenton and Dr. Joseph Hefner. Dr. Isaac is the Director of the MSUFAL and oversees the lab’s operations and involvement with forensic casework. While Dr. Isaac recently joined us, she is an MSU alumna whose roots with the lab extend to her time as a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology.

After earning her PhD in 2013, Dr. Isaac was a forensic anthropologist and Assistant Professor for the Department of Pathology, Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, and Medical Examiner’s Office for twelve Michigan counties. As the forensic anthropologists for the ME’s Office, Dr. Isaac and MSU alumnus Dr. Jered Cornelison were responsible for all skeletal analyses, identifications, infant skeletal surveys, and mass fatality planning. During her tenure there, Dr. Isaac was involved in numerous and varied casework, and worked on over 300 forensic anthropology cases.

On being Director of the MSUFAL, Dr. Isaac says that it feels like a full-circle experience: “As a graduate student, the MSUFAL is where Dr. Fenton taught me how to be a forensic anthropologist and gave me the invaluable case experience. Although I have very big shoes to fill, I am looking forward to giving back to this lab and all of the amazing people that make it the best job in the world.” The people, past and present, who have graced this laboratory are what Dr. Isaac says comprise the best of the MSUFAL.

Dr. Isaac’s research seeks to create a method for estimating the age of skeletal injuries, beginning with the cranium. To do this, Dr. Isaac and her research team have collected samples of cranial injuries from medical examiner cases and body donations. These samples are thin sectioned, stained, and mounted on slides. These slides are then used to evaluate the cells and tissues involved in the fracture healing process. By understanding this progression, Dr. Isaac and her team hope to establish stages of cranial fracture healing with diagnostic histologic features that can be used to estimate the age of the injury. Such estimations can aid in determining whether an injury contributed to death, whether there are multiple injuries or various ages indicating a pattern of abuse, and may contribute to the manner of death classification. Dr. Isaac and her research team were awarded a National Institute of Justice Grant for this critical research.

In the work to establish standards and best practices in the discipline, Dr. Isaac is a Member of the Anthropology Consensus Body of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Standards Board. She is the Chair of the working group on standards for personal identification and is a member of the working group on standards for analyzing skeletal trauma. Dr. Isaac is also an active and leading member of the Michigan Mortuary Response Team (MIMORT). During her time at Western Michigan, she helped craft the Mass Fatality Plan for the Medical Examiner’s Office and became a liaison to the counties and the region for mass fatality preparations and trainings, including helping to organize MIMORT and regional Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) exercises.

The Department is delighted to have Dr. Isaac with us, and we look forward to her work ahead.

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The Department of Anthropology is thrilled to congratulate Dr. Henry Miller for being awarded the Society for Historical Archaeology’s J.C. Harrington Medal for 2020. This recognition is the highest international award for scholarly contributions to the field of historical archaeology. An alumnus of the MSU Department of Anthropology, Dr. Miller earned his PhD in 1984 with Dr. Charles “Chuck” Cleland as his advisor. Dr. Miller is the first MSU graduate to receive the honor and expresses that this department made a significant impact on his life. The award was presented to Dr. Miller at the society’s annual conference in recognition of a lifetime of contributions to the field in scholarship, mentorship, service, and collegiality.

Dr. Miller’s early engagement with the emerging field of historical archaeology began as a college student, when he took part in a field school at the site of the earliest European settlement in Arkansas. The next summer, he was hired as an excavator at St. Mary’s City—the first European settlement and capital of Maryland. This was a pivotal experience for Dr. Miller, as this site and academic area strongly resonated with him. He was later accepted into the new, formative MSU program for the study of historical sites and studied with Drs. Charles Cleland, Moreau Maxwell, and Larry Robbins.

During his studies, zooarchaeology became a major interest and the focus of Dr. Miller’s seminal doctoral research, which was the first large scale study of colonial Chesapeake diet and subsistence patterns. His pioneering work in zooarchaeology is also known through his collaborative research that analyzed previously overlooked oyster shells as ecological evidence at archaeological sites.

Much of Dr. Miller’s career has been dedicated to historic St. Mary’s City, serving as the Director of Research there since 1987. His extensive and dynamic research activities extend to his first excavations at St. Mary’s City and have resulted in profound contributions to the scholarship of historic Chesapeake Bay and the Mid-Atlantic region. Dr. Miller’s research interests include foodways and colonial architecture, ceramics, tobacco pipes and oyster shells, changing landscapes over time, and the intellectual influences that shaped early Maryland. Among the numerous archaeological projects at St. Mary’s City in which Dr. Miller has been integral was the excavation and investigation of the parish church burials including members of Lord Baltimore’s family, the Calverts, Maryland’s founding family. This project involved a large collaborative, multidisciplinary research team and garnered international attention.

Throughout his career, Dr. Miller has been devoted to translating these archaeological and historical findings into a multitude of informative and engaging public exhibits. Dr. Miller was one of the core planners for the highly successful “Written in Bone: Forensic Files from the 17^th Century Chesapeake” exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution Natural History Museum, which ran from 2009–2014 and featured findings from St. Mary’s City. An upcoming volume co-edited by Dr. Miller titled “Unearthing St. Mary’s City: 50 Years of Archaeology at Maryland’s First Capital” (University of Florida Press) presents the vast discoveries from St. Mary’s City and will be available May 2021.

With his significant contributions to Maryland’s history, Dr. Miller became the first Maryland Heritage Scholar in 2011. His mentorship has been appreciated by many in various roles, including as a long-time adjunct professor of anthropology at St. Mary’s College. Dr. Miller has held multiple leadership positions with the Society for Historical Archaeology and contributed to the establishment of the first professional standards for the care of historic archaeological collections.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Henry Miller on this prestigious recognition of his myriad of achievements.

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Since the onset of the pandemic, classes at MSU have been primarily online to promote health and safety efforts. The shift from in-person to remote classes prompted significant reconfigurations of the fall and spring semesters’ courses to online formats. Throughout this transition, Dr. Adán Quan and Dr. Ethan Watrall have provided tremendous support in modifying classes as the Department of Anthropology’s resident experts in remote education. Their assistance has included creating an online teaching guide for instructors and holding group and individual sessions with faculty to help develop their courses, work through technical or tool-based issues, and address topics of engagement and online pedagogy.

Both professors are highly experienced in developing and teaching online courses. Dr. Quan created the Department’s first online course about fifteen years ago and has been involved in various campus-wide online education groups and initiatives. Dr. Watrall has directed the Department’s summer online course program since its inception in 2013, helping shape the Department’s online course strategy and model, coordinating the development of new online classes, and mentoring graduate student instructors.

Drs. Quan and Watrall are very proud of the immense effort the Anthropology faculty have put in to master the fundamentals of effective online teaching. In converting in-person courses to online formats, the faculty gave great consideration to adapting their courses and teaching with this new, and possibly unfamiliar, medium. The faculty embraced the innovative opportunities that online teaching provides and the idea that in-person classes cannot simply be copied onto an online platform. At the core of this work has been a sincere concern for the students’ experience and wellbeing during these exceedingly difficult times.

The pedagogy of online teaching in the Department varies according to what is appropriate for each course. While synchronous teaching continues, many faculty have successfully created courses that can be delivered asynchronously. Dr. Watrall notes that one of the benefits asynchronous courses offer is providing an environment in which students can balance the stresses of the current situation and the obligations of completing coursework. Additionally, asynchronous content can jump-start future classes or be used in other contexts.

Fostering engagement and a sense of community are key components in all forms of education but can be elusive in an online classroom environment. To build this interaction in remote classes, Dr. Quan encourages instructors to create a “social presence” with online tools, like videos of themselves talking so that students can see them as a human being. Equally important is creating opportunities for students to establish their own social presence in the online class, including through regular discussion forums and activities. Providing a space for online exchanges and critical discussion is essential for all remote classes and certainly for anthropology courses, which cover complex and multifaceted topics such as race and ethnicity.

With the transition to remote classes came several challenges. One strain has been the vast amount of work required to build and deliver a polished and engaging class, as well as the readiness to adapt as plans change in response to the pandemic. The predominance of remote schooling has also created personal and professional challenges for both students and instructors. Efforts to mitigate these issues have included streamlining courses, being flexible with class responsibilities without compromising academic standards, and continuing to be supportive and empathetic in communications with students. The Department has navigated this significant shift with great competency and thoughtfulness, and we thank Drs. Quan and Watrall for their guidance.

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Associate Professor, and previous longtime Chair of the Department, Jodie O’Gorman has co-directed the Morton Village Archaeological Project for the past twelve years. Dr. O’Gorman’s research focuses on post-migration cultural interactions and the question of violence and cooperation in the pre-Columbian mid-continent of North America. Dr. O’Gorman became interested in late prehistoric villages of the upper Midwest region in 1987, when she worked on a large longhouse community identified as “Oneota” by archaeologists. Her dissertation focused on gender, domestic economics and social complexities as seen through the longhouses and associated burials at that site. Her interest in Oneota and curiosity about the settlement of one such group at a site in the Illinois River Valley, in an area already rife with conflict and occupied by a Mississippian group—a group Oneota avoided in other areas—led her to the current project. Dr. O’Gorman’s inquiry links to broader questions regarding post-migration adaptations, violence, and social negotiation.

To better understand community life in the late pre-Columbian Central Illinois River Valley, Dr. O’Gorman helped initiate the Morton Village Archaeological Project in 2008 with co-director Dr. Michael Conner of the Dickson Mounds Museum, Illinois State Museum System. This project investigates the social context of the Norris Farms #36 cemetery, which is one of the most well-documented cases of violence and low-level, intermittent warfare among Native American groups. At least a third of the men and women interred within the cemetery suffered violent deaths, and children were not immune from such fates. Additionally, symbolism from the Mississippian group was incorporated into the Oneota mortuary practices. This cemetery, therefore, raised many questions about life in the associated habitation site of Morton Village.

Through excavations at Morton Village, Dr. O’Gorman and her research team have been piecing together an interpretation that reveals cultural negotiation and resiliency. Dr. O’Gorman hopes her work will contribute to discussions within archaeology on cultural interactions, multi-cultural society, and migration in the North American mid-continent before European incursion. She also hopes future research on violence and warfare will include more holistic considerations of the roles of women and children, as well as adult males, in our interpretations of the past.

Dr. O’Gorman is proud of the impact her research project has had on students. With the help of graduate students, Dr. O’Gorman and Dr. Conner have co-directed seven undergraduate field schools at the site and several summers of field work. Many graduate students have conducted doctoral research with material from the project and numerous undergraduates continued to work in the lab after their field schools, several pursuing formal research projects.

Dr. O’Gorman and her research team have presented nearly 50 papers or posters at regional and national conferences and public venues. Public outreach activities with the Dickson Mounds Museum and the Illinois Nature Conservancy have been a central component throughout the project. Recently, Dr. O’Gorman helped the Nature Conservancy at Emiquon develop a virtual tour of the site and has been invited to speak at their upcoming symposium. Dr. O’Gorman has also co-authored many articles in journals such as World Archaeology and the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.

Currently, Dr. O’Gorman is working with Dr. Conner on examining the development of multicultural societies and the consequences of migration based on their findings at Morton Village. Their next project will be a detailed site report from a decade of fieldwork. After this, Dr. O’Gorman looks forward to a book project that will examine various aspects of the Oneota tradition and linkages to contemporary Native American Tribes.

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Over the past six years, Assistant Professor Lucero Radonic has conducted ethnographic research on the strategies used by cities and urban residents to adapt to climate change and make a home where drought and extreme heat events have become protracted conditions. Dr. Radonic’s research has specifically focused on people’s intimate relationship to water by examining water management policies and practices in Tucson, Arizona. In collaboration with the city, Dr. Radonic has worked on analyzing some of their water conservation programs and identifying ways to improve them.

One of these water conservation programs promotes the use of rainwater harvesting, which is a simple and ancient technology that is making a comeback. As an anthropologist, Dr. Radonic sees how this most minimal of infrastructure offers a lens through which to study how people relate to each other and to a changing urban environment. Some of the questions her research explores include: How do people conceptualize and use rainwater in their everyday lives and home space? What motivates people to collect rainwater? How do people relate to different sources of water and make decisions accordingly? What are the barriers for implementing rainwater collection and other water conservation measures?

This research has definitively shown that individual motivations for adopting rainwater harvesting need to be studied, and not assumed. Dr. Radonic and her research team learned that peoples’ motivations for adopting rainwater harvesting vary, as they are informed by people’s cultural background and did not follow a standard economic model. People were not primarily motivated by the idea of financial water savings, even when that is how the program was originally promoted by water managers. Understanding what drives different sectors of the population to adopt this technology helps design a program that meets the needs of users and can contribute to equity in implementation. Dr. Radonic’s research emphasizes that what appropriate support looks like for such programs will vary for different sectors of the population. Therefore, a single approach is unlikely to be effective.

These findings offer important considerations for environmental justice issues. The literature shows that incentive programs, such as the one studied by Dr. Radonic, disproportionally benefit middle to upper income residents and residents who have the cultural skills and competencies to interact with government bureaucracies. By understanding different motivations and tailoring programs accordingly, Dr. Radonic’s research contributes to social justice in the distribution of environmental amenities that could increase quality of life in the city. The results of this project offer immediate impacts in informing the redesign of these programs and shaping outreach and educational materials to improve their reach and efficiency.

With the intent to make her work accessible and relevant to anthropologists and interdisciplinary scholars working on resource governance, Dr. Radonic has published on her research in Human Organization, Economic Anthropology, and Water Alternatives. Dr. Radonic has also presented at the American Anthropology Association, the Society for Applied Anthropology, the International Association for the Study of the Commons and Tucson’s Citizen Advisory Board.

Dr. Radonic’s inspiration for this project stems from a book—“Water is for fighting over: And other myths about water in the West” by John Fleck—which made her think about the importance of applying ethnographic methods to explore cooperative behavior and institutions in water governance. The efforts around water conservation fit this mold and she developed this ethnographic project, eventually being contacted by the city to work with them. As her work progresses, Dr. Radonic finds it very exciting, and satisfying, to see anthropology in dialogue with public policy.

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In the MSU Bioarchaeology Laboratory, graduate and undergraduate students learn how to read the lives—and deaths—of individuals and groups from the past. The laboratory was established in 2012 by Associate Professor Gabriel Wrobel, who has conducted numerous excavations and research projects on ancient Maya sites in Belize.

As a bioarchaeologist, Dr. Wrobel focuses on the analysis and interpretation of skeletal remains from archaeological contexts. One of his primary research interests involves analyzing how Maya communities used cave and rock shelters for ceremonial and burial purposes, some sites reaching back 2,000 years. He also examines how changes in the rituals performed over time reflect broad sociopolitical transitions that occurred in the Maya region.

In Dr. Wrobel’s lab, students learn how bones and teeth can provide insight into where individuals came from, genetic relations between groups, what individuals ate, how they altered their bodies for cultural or religious reasons, diseases and traumas they experienced, and how they died. Undergraduate students who want foundational lab skills learn how to care for and maintain skeletal collections and work with data bases. Those with more experience typically undertake independent research projects, often publishing papers or presenting their research at conferences.

Research is a constant and dynamic part of the MSU Bioarchaeology Laboratory experience. Dr. Wrobel and his students often focus on documenting morphological variability that can be directly observed on the bones. For instance, some skeletal variants in the lab have an underlying genetic cause that makes possible determining relatedness between individuals and groups. Other projects focus on observable markers of pathology, such metabolic diseases like scurvy that leave their mark on bones. One major endeavor in the lab has been using digital 3D modeling to study and document bones, particularly skulls. These models create permanent digital records of the remains, helping both Dr. Wrobel’s lab and other researchers across the world for years to come.

Dr. Wrobel’s collaborations with other MSU researchers allow him and his students to look deeper into bones and teeth using medical imaging techniques. For example, Ayla Schwartz, an undergraduate working in the Bioarchaeology Lab with Dr. Wrobel, is studying Harris lines seen in the ends of long bones with computed tomography (CT). These lines of increased bone density, visible only in CTs and X-rays, show when growth paused due to juvenile malnutrition, disease, or trauma. Dr. Wrobel and his students also collaborate with researchers beyond MSU who use isotope analysis to reconstruct diet and geographic origin.

Since 2005, Dr. Wrobel has directed a field project in central Belize, which includes an Education Abroad field school program providing undergraduate students firsthand excavation and research training. The school’s focus is shifting from its original inland location to the coast of Belize, where Dr. Wrobel co-directs a research project with a colleague from University College London. The program, already underway, excavates a Maya site known as Marco Gonzalez on the island of Ambergris Caye. The site was a trading post connecting coastal and inland communities in Belize, Mexico and the Caribbean. This port managed to weather the 9th century Collapse, when large areas of the Maya region went through a cataclysmic depopulation and most large cities in Belize and Guatemala were rapidly abandoned. In addition to exploring the extent of trading activities, research will focus on the community’s resilience, using data from excavations and skeletal remains.