Department of Anthropology

  • Open Faculty Position: Assistant or Associate Professor in Archaeology (Director, Campus Archaeology Program)

    Michigan State University Department of Anthropology invites applications for a tenure system position in archaeology at the Assistant or Associate Professor level. The appointment will begin August 16, 2017. We seek an anthropological archaeologist who has experience in public archaeology and heritage studies, and will be responsible for directing the MSU Campus Archaeology Program (CAP) (http://campusarch.msu.edu), which is centered on the MSU campus and largely focused on historic period (AD 1855-1955) sites. The candidate must also demonstrate a commitment to an active and dynamic research agenda that will be pursued in addition to or in conjunction with CAP. Candidates must be committed to both undergraduate and graduate education, must display evidence of excellence in research, and will be expected to obtain extramural funding for their own research. Priority will be given to candidates whose scholarly and teaching interests complement current faculty expertise. The successful candidate will be expected to regularly teach at least one historical archaeology course.

    To view full posting, including requirements and deadlines, visit jobs.msu.edu (search for job #4529).  Alternatively, visit jobs.msu.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=69488 directly

  • Dr. Masako Fujita Receives NSF Grant for Research on Breastmilk

    Dr. Masako Fujita Receives NSF Grant for Research on Breastmilk

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    Dr. Masako Fujita received a National Science Foundation grant of $120,000 to fund her project, “Breastmilk antibody and micronutrient in association with maternal nutrition and infant sex in a polygynous Ariaal society of rural Kenya.” The project will be conducted in Fujita’s Biomarker Laboratory for Anthropological Research at MSU.

    The project will analyze milk samples from a polygynous population from Kenya. The milk specimens were originally collected as part of another NSF-funded research collaboration between Dr. Fujita, then a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington and the Center for Public Health Research, and Kenya Medical Research Institute. In the current project, Dr. Fujita and student investigators will see whether the beneficial contents of the milk differ for mothers of sons versus daughters, by maternal nutritional status, and by a combination of the two. Student investigators include Mary Corbitt, an undergraduate student, Nerli Paredes, a graduate student and an NSF GRFP Fellow, and Sabrina Perlman, a doctoral candidate and a Fulbright scholar. They will assist in lab analysis, data management, literature reviews, and writing of the results.

    The levels of some beneficial contents of human milk such as antibodies and vitamins vary greatly among mothers. How these variations may relate to the context of culture and gender is not well understood. This project will study the archived, de-identified milk specimens from a society with a high degree of gender inequality in cultural norms and rules. The gender-biased marriage rules are hypothesized to affect the levels of immunological and nutritional contents of the milk that may in turn influence infant growth and health. The findings will inform public health efforts to reduce the mortality of vulnerable children. To read more about the proposed research, please visit NSF’s website:

    http://bit.ly/2dFP4Uu

    Photograph (from left): Dr. Fujita, Nerli Paredes, and Mary Corbitt in the Biomarker Lab

  • Bruker Industries XRF Training Workshop at MSU

    On September 7th and 8th the Department of Anthropology hosted an X Ray Florescence (XRF) training workshop by Dr. Bruce Kaiser and Mr. Zach Dismukes of Bruker Industries.  The workshop was attended by 22 faculty, and graduate and undergraduate students from the Departments of Anthropology, Geology, and Forestry at MSU.  Dr. Kaiser reviewed the basics of elemental analysis using XRF.  The Departments of Anthropology and Geology obtained a handheld Bruker XRF Tracer with funds provided by a Teaching and Learning Enhancement (TLE) award from the Office of the Provost to Dr. Bill Lovis and Dr. Tyrone Rooney.  It is being used for student instruction in both departments, and will be an integral part of a scheduled spring semester Laboratory Methods in Archaeology course (ANP463, Sec 001) being taught by Dr. Heather Walder.

    Below: Dr. Walder and Becca Albert, an undergraduate anthropology major, pondering the results of an XRF elemental spectrum.

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  • Department of Anthropology to Host Distinguished Antiquities Trafficking Scholar, Dr. Donna Yates

    Department of Anthropology to Host Distinguished Antiquities Trafficking Scholar, Dr. Donna Yates

    donnayates-profileThe Department of Anthropology is pleased to announced that it will be hosting Dr. Donna Yates from October 24th to 28th.  Yates is a Lecturer in Antiquities Trafficking and Art Crime at the University of Glasgow’s Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research. An archaeologist by training, she is based out of a criminology department and is one of the founding members of the Trafficking Culture research consortium which conducts evidence-based inquiry into the global illicit trafficking of cultural objects. Her research broadly focuses on social aspects of antiquities trafficking, art crime, and related cultural property issues. Yates has recently held a Leverhulme Fellowship and a Core Fulbright Award to study the on-the-ground effects of high-level cultural policy in Latin America and her current work involves security for and protection of sacred art in Latin America and South Asia. Her research and other open research materials can be found on her ever-growing collection of websites, including traffickingculture.org, anonymousswisscollector.com, news.culturecrime.org, and stolengods.org

    During her visit, Yates will be giving a public talk on Oct 26th at 7:00pm in the International Center, RM 115 entitled “Culture Crime: Investigating Global Antiquities Trafficking.” In addition, she will be leading a workshop for MSU graduate students entitled “Are ‘collectors the real looters?’ Does demand cause illicit supply? What policies are in place to control the actual market for antiquities?”  More information on both the public talk and workshop can be found at yates.anthropology.msu.edu

    Yates’ visit is part of the the Department of Anthropology’s strong, ongoing commitment to teaching, research, and public outreach in heritage studies.

    Yates’ visit is sponsored by the Alumni and Friends Expendable Fund for Archaeology with co-sponsorship from: Department of Sociology, School of Criminal Justice, Department of History, Museum Studies Program, College of Social Sciences, College of Arts & Letters, Department of Art, Art History, and Design, and MATRIX: The Center for Digital Humanities & Social Sciences.

    Image “2015.07.15 Bhaktapur 262 City Walk Statue and Ruins” by Donna Yates

  • Grad Student Jessica Ott Receives Fulbright-Hays DDRA

    Grad Student Jessica Ott Receives Fulbright-Hays DDRA

    Jess and Fatma

    Jessica Ott has been selected to receive a Fulbright-Hays DDRA for her research on women’s rights activism in Zanzibar. She is pictured here with a prominent activist, Fatma Alloo, in Zanzibar. Below is her project summary. Congratulations, Jessica!

    “Health rights for women’s rights: How Zanzibari feminist activists invoke the past to change the future for women”

    My dissertation will examine how feminist activists in Zanzibar invoke historical rights discourses and gendered ideas from the past about rights worthiness in their women’s rights advocacy. Existing anthropological studies of women’s rights have described contemporary feminist activism as guided primarily by “new” transnational women’s rights ideas. Through ethnographic and archival research, I will build upon existing anthropological understandings of transnational women’s rights by exploring how Zanzibari feminist activists additionally draw from Zanzibar’s long and rich history of engagement with women’s and human rights ideas in their contemporary political advocacy. My research will contribute to human rights policy debates an understanding of the implications of depending on historical rights arguments and constructions of innocent victimhood for women’s rights in Zanzibar.

  • New Books by Dr. William Lovis

    Lovis and Whallon MtL

    Edited by William A Lovis and Robert Whallon

     

    Springer 2016

    Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis in Archaeological Computational Modeling

    Edited by Marieka Brouwer Burg, Hans Peeters, and William A. Lovis

     

    This article appears in our Spring 2016 newsletter. Read the entire newsletter here.

     

     

  • Barbara Rose Johnston selected to deliver Michael Kearney Memorial Lecture

    Barbara Rose Johnston selected to deliver Michael Kearney Memorial Lecture

    Dr. Barbara Rose Johnston, Adjunct faculty member, was selected to deliver the Michael Kearney Memorial Lecture at the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) this past spring (2016). The SfAA honors the memory of Michael Kearney by selecting an outstanding contemporary scholar to present on a topic relevant to the three themes central in his work: migration, human rights, and transnationalism. Dr. Johnston delivered the distinguished lecture titled, “Climate Change, Migration, and Biocultural Diversity – Emerging Trends, D/volutionary Tipping Points?” Dr. Johnston was also recognized by the American Anthropological Association (AAA) at the annual meeting this past November as co-winner of the 2015 Anthropology in Public Policy Award (with Dr. Ted Hamann). Dr. Johnston’s AAA presentation was titled, “Doing environment, health & human rights work: “Familiar struggles to define & assert anthropological perspectives/ Strange occasions of ‘success’ in public policy.”  In it, Dr. Johnston discussed her work documenting human and environmental rights abuses and advocating for reparation and the right to remedy resulting from nuclear militarism in the Marshall Islands and World Bank funded hydrodevelopment in Guatemala. The AAA remarked about Dr. Johnston’s work:

    “Her study documenting the consequential damages of the Chixoy Dam helped inform a reparations negotiation process, encouraged US restrictions on World Bank and other IFI financing in Guatemala, and led to the historic adoption of a formal reparation mechanism that explicitly addresses the varied injuries and immense impoverishment resulting from internationally-financed hydroelectric dam development. Other recent work includes educating global leaders about the key role of water in sustaining biocultural diversity and the environment and human rights implications of nuclear militarism in the Marshall Islands, work that has helped shape and encouraged the implementation of internationally recognized United Nations policies.” (Read the full press release here.)

    2015 Public Policy award

    Dr. Johnston receiving the 2015 Public Policy Award. (Photo credit: Barbara Rylko-Bauer)

    Read more about Dr. Johnston’s work.

  • News From Around The Department

    20160205_124447The Department of Anthropology organized a visit to The Field Museum in Chicago this February to see “The Greeks: Agamemnon to Alexander.” The group of 36 participants included undergraduate and graduate students in Anthropology along with faculty from Anthropology and History and several History undergraduate students. (Photograph, far right: Students in the lobby of the Field Museum)

    Dr. William Lovis and alumnae Dr. Marieka Brouwer-Burg released their co-edited book, “Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis in Archaeological Computational Modeling.” (photograph, below left: Dr. Lovis and Dr. Brouwer-Burg with their volume. Co-edited with Hans Peeters, not pictured.)

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    Dr. Jamal Hanifi (adjunct) presented his paper “The Introduction and Modernist Hegemonic Effect of European football in Afghanistan” to the Departments of Anthropology, History, and the Muslim Studies Program at MSU this April.

    Grad Student Nerli Paredes received an NSF Graduate Research Pre-doctoral Fellowship to support her next three years of graduate study. Her proposed research is titled: “Changes in breast milk composition with short and prolonged lactation, and its association with infant health indicators among Maya peoples.”

    Grad Student Katie Meyers Emery received the MSU Excellence-in-Teaching Citation Award for her accomplishments instructing students in multiple contexts. This past March she was also featured in Forbes magazine as one of 8 Anthropologists advancing public outreach in recognition of her notable blog, “Bones Don’t Lie.” Read more here.

    Grad Student Julie Fleischman won funding from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences’ Humanitarian and Human Rights Resource Center to oversee a new osteological project at Krang Ta Chan (a former Khmer Rouge mass gravesite in Takeo Province). The grant will allow the Cambodian team to purchase equipment and supplies to analyze and preserve thousands of human skeletal remains from the Cambodian genocide. Julie will serve in an advisory and fiscal role. Read more here.

    Grad Student Amy Michael was selected by her peers to recieve the 2016 GSA Peer Award in recognition of her contributions to the Department and Campus Archaeology, as well as her instrumental role coordinating the GSA’s water drive for Flint residents.

    20151107_173941Dr. Lynne Goldstein received the Midwest Archaeological Conference Distinguished Career Award this past November (photograph, far right). She was also selected by ANP graduate students to receive this year’s Jacob C. Climo Mentorship award for her ongoing support of graduate students.

    This past November Dr. Najib Hourani was invited to speak at the Harvard Arab Weekend on a panel entitled “Reconstruction and Identity” due to his expertise on issues of post-conflict reconstruction. Dr. Hourani also visited Beirut in March to deliver two lectures at the famed American University of Beirut, and is conducting follow up research toward his book project, “Glass Towers and Heritage Trails: Neoliberal Urbanism in Beirut and Amman.” Read more here.

    Dr. Barbara Rose Johnston (adjunct) received the Michael Kearney award at the 2016 Society for Applied Anthropology conference in April and delivered the Distinguished Lecture: “Climate Change, Migration, and Biocultural Diversity – Emerging Trends, D/volutionary Tipping Points?” Read more here.

    Grad Student Lisa Bright won the Society for California Archaeology Student Paper Competition in March for her paper titled “Differentiating Hospital Interred Individuals from the Larger Cemetery Population: The Curious Case of SCVMC’s Buttons.” She used the presence and absence of specific button types and patterns to classify the individuals interred. Read more here.

    Grad Student Emily Riley won GenCen’s 2015 Rita S. Gallin Award for Best Graduate Paper on Women and Gender in Global Perspective for her paper “The Politics of Téranga: Gender, Power, and the Political Equality Movement in Senegal.” The paper is an excerpt of her dissertation. (Photograph, below: Emily Riley, center, receiving her Award at the GenCen reception this past January)

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    This article appears in our Spring 2016 newsletter. Read the entire newsletter here.

     

  • Update from the Undergraduate Club

    This year, the Undergraduate Anthropology Club has been busy building personal and professional relationships, helping the community, and having a lot of fun along the way! We have had many professors speak to us about their research, bridging the gap between students and faculty. We are thankful for our supportive faculty, many of whom have joined us for our bi-weekly meetings. The club has also diversified its activities. During the fall semester, we were able to visit the Henry Ford Museum and get an exclusive look at some of the collections. We were able to hold a resume and CV workshop as well as have an informative documentary night. This semester we hosted an upperclassman panel during which seniors offered advice to and answered the questions of younger undergraduate students. We will have our annual paper competition and Professor of the Year contest as usual, and the winners will be announced at our last meeting of the year where we will continue the tradition having a student vs. faculty Jeopardy game.

    We are proud of the combined efforts of the UAC, HDSF, and the GSA to raise money and water donations for the city of Flint. Apart from what the GSA raised, we worked with UAC and HDFS and collected more than 30 cases of water, about 10 gallon jugs, and $275.00 to purchase water which we delivered to Flint. The UAC also has bi-weekly social events which offer club members the ability to mingle and make great friends within the department. Social events include coffee hours, study nights, potlucks, and more! We have also made our mark on the social media world with our new Public Relations e-board position. Using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, our official website, and our new merchandise website we have expanded our reach in the department and beyond.

    –Taylor Flaherty, President (2015-2016)

     

    This article appears in our Spring 2016 newsletter. Read the entire newsletter here.

     

  • Update from the GSA

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    The Graduate Students in Anthropology (GSA) is a student-run organization whose goal is to support and create community amongst graduate students in the department. This academic year we introduced the Academic Enhancement Scholarship to help students cover travel costs and academic necessities (i.e., books, software, hardware, etc.). The GSA awarded two $100 scholarships in Fall 2015 and two more in Spring 2016.  We also organized the first Graduate Research Symposium in January (see photo), which provided a platform for students from the various subfields to present and share their work with colleagues and hear about research conducted by faculty members. The symposium was well attended and we plan to make it an annual event.

    GSA also tries to facilitate camaraderie among graduate students. We held a “Festivus Party” for students in December with free food and a space for students to “air grievances” (i.e., complain about life). It was an effective stress-reducer and a lot of fun.

    We support these activities through fundraising. This fall we held our annual Chili Cookoff, which is both a fundraiser and a fun social gathering for faculty, staff, and students. We expanded the competition this year to include prizes for vegetarian chili and cornbread, and the result was delicious. Our spring fundraiser was a raffle and bake sale, with prizes that included a refurbished bicycle donated by one of our members.

    Having an impact beyond the department was also on our agenda this year. In collaboration with Ph.D. candidate Amy Michael, we organized a water drive for Flint. Grad students raised about $250 in addition to bottled water donations, and we delivered two carloads of water and school supplies to the Flint Boys and Girls Club.  Overall, this has been a great year for the GSA and we appreciate everyone who has been involved and all of the support from students and faculty.

    –Susan Kooiman, GSA President 2015-2016

    (Above, GSA symposium 2016. Below, Flint Boys and Girls Club receives GSA’s water donation.)

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    This article appears in our Spring 2016 newsletter. Read the entire newsletter here.