{"id":60,"date":"2017-09-27T21:09:19","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T21:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-anthropology\/news\/"},"modified":"2024-06-10T18:53:42","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T18:53:42","slug":"news","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/about\/news\/","title":{"rendered":"Department News"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Celebrating graduates Friday, May 10, 3:00 &#8211; 5:00 pm<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Anthropology faculty invite 2024 Anthropology majors, family and friends to join us to celebrate the accomplishments of our senior majors on Friday, May 10, 3:00 &#8211; 5:00 pm, in Carnegie 06A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Abby Thomsen &#8217;20 honors thesis, Beyond 106: Descendant-Centered Collaboration to Interpret Dakota Sites at Macalester&#8217;s Katharine Ordway Natural History Study Area (KONHSA)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2020\/04\/Thomsenthesis.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After participating in archaeological excavations at Macalester&#8217;s Katharine Ordway Natural History Study Area, which is on the ancestral homelands of the Mdewakanton Dakota, Abby Thomsen &#8217;20 collaborated with representatives from the Tribal Historic Preservation Offices at Upper Sioux Community, Lower Sioux Indian Community, and Prairie Island Indian Community to make interpretive signs for the land. The insights from this collaboration, which she describes in her honors thesis, are laying the groundwork for Macalester to continue to collaborate and to actively work to build reparative and just relationships with communities we have marginalized. Abby won the James P. Spradley Research Award presented annually to the senior anthropology major who has demonstrated outstanding scholarship in anthropological course work and\/or research. The award comes with a cash prize of $500. This award is in recognition of Abby&#8217;s excellence in research and coursework throughout her Anthropology major. Her dedication to applying her <span class=\"text_exposed_show\">studies to social justice issues, while at the same time working to the highest academic standards is remarkable. No doubt her passion for combining her training in anthropology with activism will continue to impact the world in manifold positive ways as she moves beyond Macalester.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/themacweekly.com\/2019\/03\/accessing-summer-opportunities-at-mac-and-beyond\/\">Accessing summer opportunities at Mac and beyond<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/themacweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Features_Courtesy-of-Heidi-Bjornlie_Summer-Ops-copy-300x218.jpg\" alt=\"Bjonlie '18, Brickner '20, Thomsen '20 at summer archaeological filed school\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Anthropology majors Heidi Bjornlie \u201918, Grace Brickner &#8217;20, and Abby Thomsen &#8217;20 attended a summer archaeological field school sponsored by the University of Minnesota and co-taught by Macalester anthropology professor Scott Legge and Dr. Ed Fleming from the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul. According to Bjornlie, her experience at the field school provided her with \u201cexperiential learning that you don\u2019t get at Macalester right now that is really important because it contextualizes things like our Cultural Resource Management class.\u201d Abby was hired by the Science Museum to process the artifacts they found during the field school, including pottery sherds and lithic debris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Professor Olga Gonzalez&#8217;s article, &#8220;Art under attack in Peru&#8221;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"646\" height=\"485\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-9.28.29-AM.png\" alt=\"Art under attack in Peru\" class=\"wp-image-292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-9.28.29-AM.png 646w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-9.28.29-AM-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 646px) 100vw, 646px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Peruvian government\u2019s confiscation of a collection of art from a Lima museum on the grounds of \u201cterrorism\u201d suggests that Peru\u2019s legacy of violence against Indigenous communities is alive and well. An article by Olga Gonz\u00e1lez, associate professor in the Anthropolo<span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">gy Department and Director of the Latin American Studies Program explains. <a href=\"https:\/\/nacla.org\/news\/2018\/08\/29\/art-under-attack-peru\">More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Professor Ron Barrett&#8217;s &#8220;Anthropology of Death and Dying&#8221; class took action on prevention of suicide.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"545\" height=\"501\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/Screen-Shot-2018-08-21-at-7.50.55-AM.png\" alt=\"Ron Barret\" class=\"wp-image-261\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/Screen-Shot-2018-08-21-at-7.50.55-AM.png 545w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/Screen-Shot-2018-08-21-at-7.50.55-AM-300x276.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 545px) 100vw, 545px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While mental health concerns were discussed in several classes after the suicide of a Macalester student in Spring 2018, students in the \u201cAnthropology of Death and Dying\u201d class took action.&nbsp;\u201cWe felt that every institution can always do better with regards to suicide prevention,\u201d anthropology professor and co-director of the community and global health concentration Ron Barrett said. When he asked class&nbsp;members if they would be interested in doing something,\u201cWe all said yes,\u201d reported Jeremy Stephan \u201919, Barrett\u2019s class developed a project to respond to the recent death, the college\u2019s response to it, and its treatment of its students\u2019 mental health. \u201cOur question,\u201d Barrett said, \u201cwas what kinds of resources are out there that Macalester could look at with an eye toward improving peer-to-peer communications and knowledge about suicide and suicide prevention.\u201d&nbsp;The project looks both at Macalester\u2019s current practices and at the practices of similar institutions. \u201cStudent teams are going out and looking at resources and other institutions and seeing what\u2019s worked for other universities and colleges,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cWe\u2019re also getting a survey of the accessibility and availability of mental health resources at Macalester.\u201d&nbsp;Barrett will integrate the completed group papers and add his own follow up research in order to provide a \u201cmenu of options\u201d to present to the Macalester administration, with the hope it will lead to improved communication and tools for prevention of suicide.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/themacweekly.com\/2018\/04\/class-changes-course-after-death\/\">-Mac Weekly 21 August 2018<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Professor Scott Legge leads 2018 summer archaeology field school<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"511\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/Screen-Shot-2018-08-21-at-7.30.19-AM.png\" alt=\"Photograph of students mapping a dig site at the Ordway Field Station.\" class=\"wp-image-254\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/Screen-Shot-2018-08-21-at-7.30.19-AM.png 511w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/Screen-Shot-2018-08-21-at-7.30.19-AM-300x238.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 511px) 100vw, 511px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Anthropology professor Scott Legge and Science Museum archaeology curator Ed Fleming led a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smm.org\/pluggedin\/field-school-students-dig-past-literally\">summer archaeology field school experience<\/a>\u00a0for students of the University of Minnesota and Macalester College, including Anastasia (Heidi) Bjornlie &#8217;18, Grace Brickner &#8217;20, Jiwen Fan &#8217;21, and Abby Thomsen &#8217;20.\u00a0 Primary excavations took place at Macalester&#8217;s Ordway Field Station along the shores of the Mississippi River in the southeast metro, a great place to look for evidence that helps tell the story of Minnesota\u2019s rich Native past.\u00a0 The site\u2019s location meant it was abundant in plant and animal resources and in close proximity to a river for travel, making it a good place for populations of the distant past to settle. Students learned how to conduct an archaeological survey, with careful, systematic excavation practices, and mapping and documenting finds. As they explored, they uncovered stone tools and pottery fragments and identified two new sites for future excavations. Abby Thomsen served as Research Assistant in the field and continued working with the artifacts at the Science Museum lab to preserve, study, compare, and share with other researchers to paint a picture of Minnesota&#8217;s past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Professor Olga Gonzalez wins 2018 Rossmann Teaching Award<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/05\/IMG_1500-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Prof Olga Gonzalez 2018 Rossman Teaching Award\" class=\"wp-image-236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/05\/IMG_1500-1024x768.jpg 1024w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/05\/IMG_1500-300x225.jpg 300w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/05\/IMG_1500-768x576.jpg 768w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/05\/IMG_1500.jpg 2016w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Professor Olga Gonzalez (center) received Macalester&#8217;s 2018 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/provost\/rossmannaward\/\">Jack and Marty Rossmann Excellence in Teaching Award<\/a>, presented by President Brian Rosenberg (right) and Professor Emeritus Jack Rossmann (left).&nbsp;This award it given each year to a faculty member who has been identified by colleagues and students as exemplifying the teaching goals of the college. The award comes with a $1,000 cash prize and is announced at the annual Faculty and Staff Spring Luncheon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Professor Arjun Guneratne:&nbsp;The Meaning of a Meal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/FoodAg-1080x0-c-default-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Arjun Guneratne\" class=\"wp-image-289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/FoodAg-1080x0-c-default-1024x576.jpg 1024w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/FoodAg-1080x0-c-default-300x169.jpg 300w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/FoodAg-1080x0-c-default-768x432.jpg 768w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/565\/2018\/08\/FoodAg-1080x0-c-default.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For anthropology professor Arjun Guneratne, there\u2019s a whole lot more to food than just what\u2019s on the plate.&nbsp;\u201cIt\u2019s a kind of language,\u201d he says, \u201cthrough which we communicate our identity, our gender, our social class, our aspirations, the boundaries we set up to divide ourselves off from others, and so on. Studying human foodways takes us to the heart of what it means to be human.\u201d That\u2019s why, for the last three years, he\u2019s been teaching a course called Food and Culture, which has now been incorporated into Macalester\u2019s new Food, Agriculture, and Society concentration. It\u2019s a Socratic-style seminar, and during Spring &#8217;18 he and seven students traded questions about the readings, discussing how cooking shows portray gender identities.&nbsp;\u201cFood plays a fundamental but often concealed role,\u201d Guneratne told them. \u201cHow do the articles develop the idea of gender as a construct? How is gender performed in the shows?\u201d Besides reading and discussion, there was an extra component to this course to spice things up: hands-on research involving cooking culturally significant foods. Students also completed a final project, which for most was a short research paper on a topic of their choice; however, student Karin Davey \u201918 (Lake Crystal, Minn.) was working toward something a little different. Coordinating with the pastor of a local church (and a Mac alum), she was helping him develop a network between area churches and food banks to improve food access in St. Paul.&nbsp;\u201cI think I\u2019m going to do ethnographies,\u201d said Davey, \u201cinterviewing the people at the food shelters, and asking who comes, what is missing, what do they think would make it better\u2014trying to figure out what makes a good food provider. And then I\u2019ll write about that.\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/2018\/03\/the-meaning-of-a-meal\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u201917 grad receives award for Best Undergraduate Paper for senior capstone<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucia Alexandrin \u201917&nbsp;of Gorham, Maine, has won the 2017 Mikiso Hane Prize for Best Undergraduate Paper for her senior capstone paper,&nbsp;\u201cSelf, Soul Loss&nbsp;and&nbsp;Motorbikes in Modern Bali.\u201d The prize was awarded by the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA).&nbsp;This is the third time an Anthropology major has won one of the two undergrad prizes awarded by the MCAA in the last six years.&nbsp;Alexandrin&nbsp;also won the Jack Weatherford prize for best capstone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8217;17 grad wins award for Best Undergraduate Paper in Feminist Anthropology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Caroline Vellenga-Buban \u201817,&nbsp;from Monmouth, Ill., has been awarded the 2017 Sylvia Forman Prize for the best undergraduate paper in feminist anthropology. The Association for Feminist Anthropology, a section of the American Anthropological Association, awards the prize each year.&nbsp;&nbsp;Vellenga-Buban\u2019s&nbsp;paper, titled&nbsp;\u201cQueer and Mainstream? LGBT Parents and American Family Values,&#8221;&nbsp;was&nbsp;&nbsp;praised&nbsp;by the prize committee&nbsp;for the ethnographic and theoretical quality of the paper.&nbsp;&nbsp;Since 2003, Vellenga-Buban is the fourth student from Macalester\u2019s Anthropology department to receive the Sylvia Forman prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Students present at largest national conference for Physical Anthropology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Professor Scott Legge, Risa Luther \u201816, Cecilia Mayer \u201816, and Katherine Meier \u201816 presented posters at the 85th Annual Meeting for the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Atlanta, Georgia. Risa, Cecilia, and Katherine also presented at the 6th annual Committee on Diversity Undergraduate Research Symposium. Scott, Risa, and Cecilia presented their research on healed skeletal trauma in Old World and New World monkeys, and Katherine presented on her research in Madagascar on habituation of blue-eyed black lemurs. They presented with over 2,000 physical anthropologists from all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Anthropology research on Nepal presented by &#8217;16 student and &#8217;14 grad at Himalayan Studies Conference<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Professor Arjun Guneratne of the Anthropology Department, Andrea Grimaldi &#8217;16, and Sarah Rasmussen &#8217;14 attended the recently concluded Himalayan Studies Conference IV at the University of Texas-Austin, where they presented papers on their research in Nepal. Sarah is a former Fulbright fellow in Nepal and Andrea is completing an honor&#8217;s thesis on the impact of labor migration from Nepal on the communities that are left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8217;16 author and &#8217;19&nbsp;illustrator building empathy with new book<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dubie Toa-Kwapong \u201916, illustrator Samuel Fleming \u201919, and creator Nana Adom Mills-Robertson \u201918 are looking to build empathy with their book, \u201cThis Land is My Land.\u201d&nbsp;<a class=\"more external\" href=\"https:\/\/blavity.com\/three-college-students-create-this-land-is-my-land-book\">More<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Weatherford&#8217;s new book controversial<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Genghis Khan and the Quest for God: A conversation with Jack Weatherford.&nbsp;<em>The Mac Weekly<\/em>&nbsp;sat down with Weatherford to discuss his controversial new book.&nbsp;<a class=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/themacweekly.com\/2016\/02\/genghis-khan-and-the-quest-for-god-a-conversation-with-jack-weatherford\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2013 Archaeology survey at Ordway<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A group of students spent four and a half weeks working in the 280-acre Katharine Ordway Natural History Study Area during summer &#8217;13. \u201cProfessor Legge taught us how to do survey work quickly but soundly,\u201d says Holt. The pottery will be sent to the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul for permanent curation. <a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/2013\/08\/they-found-evidence\/\">more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Celebrating graduates Friday, May 10, 3:00 &#8211; 5:00 pm Anthropology faculty invite 2024 Anthropology majors, family and friends to join us to celebrate the accomplishments of our senior majors on Friday, May 10, 3:00 &#8211; 5:00 pm, in Carnegie 06A. Abby Thomsen &#8217;20 honors thesis, Beyond 106: Descendant-Centered Collaboration to Interpret Dakota Sites at Macalester&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":0,"parent":49,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-60","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":853,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions\/853"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/49"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/anthropology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}