2015—2016 Newsletter

Chair’s Welcome

Greetings and best wishes been successful in recruit- to all the friends and alum- ing an extraordinary group ni of the Department of An- of new faculty to our pro- thropology at gram over the last Graduate student Kat Catlin is featured in Field Notes, the Polar Northwestern. As year. Last fall, we Field Services Newsletter. Read we come to the welcomed Dr. Katie end of another Amato to the Depart-

academic year, it ment as an Assistant Undergraduate Melissa Jones is time to reflect Professor in biologi- is awarded the Fletcher Award for Outstanding Under- on the tremendous cal . graduate Research for re- accomplishments Katie’s work on com- search on the unconquered of our faculty, stu- parative and evolu- Maya in Belize. Read More. dents, and staff. tionary perspectives

First year graduate student Ashley During a time when many on the gut microbiome is on Agbasoga is awarded the Tepoztlan- Anthropology programs are the cutting edge of science Northwestern Graduate Fellowship. experiencing retrenchment in bioanthropology and will Read More. and declining enrollments, expand the focus of our hu- our Department continues man biology program. to grow and thrive. Indeed, In September, three new the size and strength of our tenure-line Assistant Pro- Department have increased fessors will be joining us: dramatically, in terms of Drs. Adia Benton, Sera Professor Thom McDade is faculty, graduate and un- elected Fellow by the Ameri- Young, and Emrah Yildiz. dergraduate students, re- can Association for the Ad- Adia Benton is a medical vancement of Science, the search activity and extra- anthropologist who has world’s largest general scien- mural funding. As one of tific . Read More. Doctoral candidate Jessica done groundbreaking work the leading Anthropology Pouchet’s work in Tanzania is on HIV/AIDS and the une- featured on CNN. Read More. programs in the country, ven distribution of health our goal is to extend our care delivery in Africa. Adia position as the nation’s sig- will play an active role in nature four-field program, strengthening the Depart- elaborating the Depart- ment’s medical anthropolo- ment’s distinctive vision for gy focus, while also contrib- research and education. uting to the Global Health Below is a small sampling and African Studies pro- of the impressive achieve- grams. Professor Mary Weismantel ments over the last year: receives the Alumnae of North- Undergraduate student Odette (continued on page 2) western University award for Zero helps Guatemalans avoid Faculty hiring. We have Curriculum Development. Read diabetes. Read More. More.

Department of Anthropology Newsletter—Page 1

Chair’s Welcome, continued Sera Young is a nutritional anthropologist with an impressive Fellowships, 26 NSF Dissertation Improvement Grants and research program that is examining issues of security 29 Wenner-Gren Dissertation Research Awards. Our students and maternal-child health in East Africa. Sera’s research and also have had great success in job placement, securing post- teaching will expand the Department’s strengths in the areas doctoral fellowships and tenure-line positions in academia as of nutritional anthropology and global health. well as prominent research positions in the non-profit and Emrah Yıldız is a cultural anthropologist whose research is at policy worlds. the cutting edge of scholarship in both anthropology and Mid- Undergraduate Program. The Department’s undergradu- dle East and North African (MENA) studies. Emrah’s work ate program continues to flourish, attracting strong students examines the mobility of people in the Middle East, Islamic to all the core subfields of our major. The current size of our ritual, and commerce across borders and states. He will be undergraduate program is double what is was 10 years ago. jointly appointed with the MENA Program, further enriching The growth of our major is attributable to the excellent teach- the Department’s engagement with this important region. ing and mentoring of our faculty, and our Department’s strong Faculty Achievements in Research & Teaching. This commitment to undergraduate research and training. Each year’s program review provided us with an opportunity to year, all of our seniors carry out original research which is directly assess how dramatically the scope and impact of the often funded by undergraduate research grants. These pro- Department’s research and teaching have expanded. Over the jects regularly garner awards and recognition within the Uni- last decade the Department has averaged almost a million versity and at national conferences. Moreover, we find that dollars in external grant funding per year, more than four this training in research and scholarly writing contributes to times the funding level in the early 2000’s. During this peri- the success of our majors in a variety of different career tracks od, our faculty have produced more than 700 publications, (e.g., medicine and the health sciences, law, business, gradu- including refereed papers in the highest impact journals of ate school/academia). anthropology and general science and 21 field-defining books Your support has been critical to our success. Each year, gen- with top university presses. erous contributions from the friends and alumni of the De- In light of these contributions, our faculty have been recog- partment allow us to support summer research projects, field nized with prestigious distinctions within the university and school participation, language training, and conference travel across our discipline. Just in the last year some of the most for both our graduate and undergraduate students. In addi- notable achievements have been: Thom McDade being en- tion, this year a new endowment created by Tim and Eliza dowed as the Carlos Montezuma Professor of Anthropology Earle is allowing the Department to provide full funding for and elected as a fellow of the American Association for the two outstanding doctoral dissertation projects. The inaugural Advancement of Science (AAAS; Section H), Jessica Winegar recipients of the Earle Dissertation Awards are: Vanessa Wa- being appointed as the Harold H. and Virginia Anderson ters (“Prosperity on the Periphery: Christian Social Welfare in Chair, Cynthia Robin and Mark Hauser being elected as fel- Coastal West Africa”) and Bilal Nasir (“Secular Power in the lows of the Society of Antiquaries of London, Rebecca Selig- Counterterror State: Social Science, Islamic Ethics, and Ra- man being tenured and promoted to Associate Professor, and cial Solidarity in the War on Terror”). Shalini Shankar being promoted to full Professor. I sincerely thank all of our donors for their generosity and Our faculty also continue to be among the best teachers and commitment to the Department. Your contributions are mak- mentors in the College. Over the last year, several of our fac- ing a tremendous difference in supporting the transformative ulty have been honored with prestigious teaching awards -- work of our faculty and students. Helen Schwartzman received the Weinberg Award for Excel- With my warmest regards, lence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research, Cynthia Robin was recognized with the Karl Rosengren Undergraduate Men- toring Award, and Noelle Sullivan was selected for the Associ- William R. Leonard ate Student Government Faculty Honor Roll. Abraham Harris Professor and Chair of Anthropology Graduate Program. Our graduate students continue do to us proud, as our program is now among the strongest in the country. Particularly notable is our students’ success with external grants and fellowships. Over the last decade our stu- dents have received an impressive 23 NSF Graduate Research

Department of Anthropology Newsletter—Page 2

Faculty Awards and Honors Faculty Around the World

Thom McDade was named Carlos Monte- Helen Schwartzman just returned from spending the zuma Professor of Anthropology. Thom was month of May in Stockholm as a Guest Professor at the also elected Fellow by the American Associa- Stockholm Centre for Organizational Research (Score) tion for the Advancement of Science, the at Stockholm University and the Stockholm School of world’s largest general scientific society. Economics. During her time at Score she gave a Public Seminar and a Workshop (with Renita Thedvall) on

"Meetings: Everywhere and Nowhere." Helen was also invited to visit Lund University where she gave a talk Bill Leonard delivered the Distinguished at the Sociology Seminar Series on May 20 on the topic, Lecture to the Sec- "The Dance and Drama of Meetings: An Anthropological tion of the American Association of Anthro- Perspective." In July Helen and Renita Thedvall (from pologists at the 2015 National Conference. Score) will Co-Chair a day-long session on "Meetings: The title of his talk was Paleodiets and The ‘Infrastructure' of Work in Local and Global Set- Hominin Engergetics: Evolutionary Perspectives on Hu- tings" at the 14th Biennial Conference of the European man . Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) to be held in Milan.

Mark Hauser was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in London, a ven- erable and distinguished group, founded in 1707, with interests in the material past and offices, archives and library alongside the Royal Academy and Royal Society in central Lon- don. Prof. Hauser joins Tim Earle, Matthew Johnson and Cynthia Robin as Fellows.

Jessica Winegar was named the Harold H. and Virginia Anderson Chair. Helen Schwartzman

Cynthia Robin has received the Karl Rosengren Faculty Mentoring Award for mentoring undergraduate research.

Noelle Sullivan was selected for the 2015- 16 Associated Student Government Faculty Honor Roll.

Robert Launay as Santa in the field

Department of Anthropology Newsletter—Page 3

Faculty Books—Jessica Winegar Jessica Winegar pub- economic pressures that shape and outside groups, to hurdles in lished a book in 2015 how U.S. scholars research and sharing expertise with the pub- called Anthropology’s teach about the Middle East. lic. Anthropology's Politics offers a Politics: Disciplining The book shows how Middle complex portrait of how academic the Middle East politics and U.S. gender politics ultimately hinders the edu- East (Stanford Uni- and race hierarchies affect cation of U.S. students and poten- versity Press). Writ- scholars across their careers— tially limits the public's access to ten with Lara Deeb from the first decisions to con- critical knowledge about the Middle (Scripps College), duct research in the tumultu- East. it is the first academic study to shed ous region, to ongoing politicized critical light on the political and pressures from colleagues, students,

Faculty Books—Cynthia Robin

Everyday Life Matters: Maya Farm- person’s daily life, though at first the average person should matter to ers at Chan by Cynthia Robin. glance trivial, have a powerful im- archaeologists studying larger soci- While the study of pact on society as a whole. Eve- etal patterns. Robin argues that the ancient civilizations ryday Life Matters develops gen- impact of the mundane can be sub- most often focuses eral methods and theories for stantial, so much so that the study on temples and royal studying the applications of eve- of a polity without regard to its citi- tombs, a substantial ryday life in , anthro- zenry is incomplete. Refocusing at- part of the archaeo- pology, and a wide range of relat- tention away from the Maya elite logical record re- ed disciplines. and offering critical analysis of dai- mains hidden in the ly life elucidated by anthropological Examining the two-thousand- understudied day-to- theory, Robin engages us to consid- year history (800 B.C.-A.D. 1200) day lives of artisans, farmers, hunt- er the larger implications of the of the ancient farming community ers, and other ordinary people of commonplace and to rethink the of Chan in Belize, Cynthia Robin’s the ancient world. Various chores constitution of human by ground-breaking work explains why completed during the course of a ordinary people living routine lives.

Faculty Books—Rebecca Seligman

Rebecca Seligman in-depth analysis of mediums’ self-understandings and bodily published a book in narratives as the basis for an states of mediums transform their 2014, entitled Pos- exploration of the cognitive and experiences and contribute to heal- sessing Spirits and discursive aspects of becoming a ing. The book works to advance our Healing Selves: Em- medium, integrating these anal- understanding of both selfhood and bodiment and Trans- yses with a theoretically rich and embodiment, demonstrating how formation in an Afro- empirically grounded investiga- they emerge through complex loop- Brazilian Religion tion of the bodily and experien- ing effects among shared and indi- (Palgrave Macmillan). In the book tial dimensions of religious self- vidual meanings, intersubjective Seligman takes an intimate look at transformation. Through these and bodily processes – including the experiences of spirit possession analyses, Seligman demonstrates material processes of human physi- mediums in . The book uses how recursive interactions between ology.

Department of Anthropology Newsletter—Page 4

Faculty Books—Shalini Shankar

Shalini Shankar's book Advertising cisco. The book considers how, in a ethnoracial differ- Diversity: Ad Agencies and the Crea- "post-racial" era, race has taken ence is negotiated tion of Asian American Advertising center stage in advertising, espe- in corporate (2015) is based on ethnographic cially in response to the diversity America, among fieldwork funded by the National reported in the 2010 census. It con- ad executives, Science Foundation (BCS siders the process of advertising and represented 0924472) in Asian American and development and production from in ads. general market agencies in New political economic as well as semiot- York, Los Angeles, and San Fran- ic perspectives to investigate how

Welcome New Faculty

Assistant Professor Katie Amato is Exceptionalism: Development transmission of HIV, evaluative eth- a biological anthropologist studying through Disease in Sierra Leone. nography, and pica, or non-food the gut microbiota She is conducting research related cravings. Currently, she has ongo- in the broad con- to Ebola and is involved in consoli- ing studies in Tanzania, Kenya, and text of host ecology dating global surgery as a new field Uganda. She is the author of over and evolution. Her in the social sciences. She is also 40 publications, and the book, Crav- current research developing two new books: The Ebo- ing Earth for which she received the focuses on microbi- la Fieldnotes: Remote Anthropology Award. al contributions to in a Time of Crisis, and Citizen Sur- Assistant Professor host nutrition during periods of re- geon: Global Surgery and Ideologies Emrah Yıldız is a duced food availability or increased of Global Health. cultural anthropolo- nutritional demands, as well as mi- Sera Young joins gist whose research crobial influences on brain growth. Northwestern as is at the cutting edge She has worked in the field exten- Assistant Professor of scholarship in both sively with black howler monkeys in of Anthropology. The anthropology and Middle East and southeastern Mexico, and isestab- focus of Professor North African (MENA) studies. lishing projects with both humans Young's work is on Emrah’s work examines the mobili- and non-human primates in other the reduction mater- ty of people in the Middle East, Is- parts of the world. Dr. Amato’s work nal and child undernutrition in sub- lamic ritual, and commerce across is supported by grants from the Na- Saharan Africa. Methodologically, borders and states. He will be joint- tional Science Foundation and the she draws on her training in medi- ly appointed with the MENA Pro- National Geographic Society. She cal anthropology (MA, University of gram, further enriching the Depart- was recently invited to speak at Amsterdam) and international nu- ment’s engagement with this im- TEDx Jackson Hole and the Early trition (PhD, Cornell) to take a bi- portant region. Career Scientists Symposium at the ocultural approach to improving University of Michigan. maternal and child nutrition and Adia Benton is As- health. Her specific areas of interest sistant Professor of include the impacts of food insecuri- Anthropology and ty on maternal and child health, African studies. She especially infant and young child has written a highly feeding, animal source , the regarded book on HIV prevention of maternal-to-child

Department of Anthropology Newsletter—Page 5

Message from Cynthia Robin, Director of Undergraduate Studies

Our undergraduate majors and minors are Senior Jennifer Reese developed a Geographical Infor- rising anthropologists who are setting course mation System (GIS) model to examine how the ancient Ma- across the globe to study world and ya city of Aventura in Belize grew and changed through time human biology past and present. This year we with funding from a Northwestern University Undergradu- are congratulating our 32 majors and minors ate Research Grant. in Anthropology who will be graduating in Senior Kirby Barth studied food preferences in the face of June. Each of our seniors carried out original globalizing food markets in Sevilla, Spain with funding from research in anthropology as part of their final year in the a Northwestern University Undergraduate Research Grant. program. Here is a sampling of the senior projects that won Departmental, University and even national and interna- Our juniors are already beginning to embark on their re- tional recognition. search projects in Anthropology.

Senior Neha Reddy studied community health workers in With funding from the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global rural Africa as part of her internship at Last Mile Health in Studies, junior Odette Zero spent the past summer in Gua- Liberia. Her thesis was awarded the Friends of Anthropology temala exploring cultural perceptions of diabetes, research Award for Distinguished Honors Thesis in Public Anthropol- that will be the basis of her senior project next year. ogy. Neha will spend next year in India as a U.S. Fulbright Junior Anne Debertin received a Northwestern University Scholar studying sex selection along the maternal health Undergraduate Research Grant to study the effects of die- pathway in Andhra Pradesh. tary fat on BAT activity. Junior Makeda Springette re- Senior Chia-Ping Chin conducted interviews and collected ceived a Northwestern University Undergraduate Research dietary recall and anthropometric measurement for 30 Grant to study implicit social attitudes. Junior Janay Ter- Northwestern students to study dietary acculturation among ry received a Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences grant to East Asian International College students. Her research study donated toys for child patients at La Rabida hospital. was funded by a Northwestern University Undergraduate We also want to congratulate our award winning professors Research Grant and was awarded the Oswald Werner Prize this year and all of our professors who work dedicatedly to for Distinguished Honors Thesis in Anthropology. She pre- mentor our students. Professor Noelle Sullivan was select- sented her research at the American Association of Physical ed for the 2015-16 Associated Student Government Faculty Anthropologists. Honor Roll. Professor Cynthia Robin won the Karl Rosen- Senior Elizabeth Fillion studied a bone assemblage from gren Faculty Mentoring Award. Swartzkrans Cave in Johhanesburg, South Africa, determin- ing that their distinctive wear pattern could only have been produced by hominims. Her research was funded by a North- western University Undergraduate Research Grant and the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. She was awarded the Elizabeth M. Brumfiel Award for Distinguished Honors Thesis in Archaeology.

Senior Melissa Jones studied the unconquered Maya living in the frontier zone of northern Belize between the Spanish and British colonial heartlands. Her research was funded by a Northwestern University Undergraduate Research Grant. She was awarded the Fletcher Award for Outstanding Un- dergraduate Research and will be presenting her research results at the Belize Archaeology and Anthropology Symposi- um this summer.

Lauren Monz studied ceramics and trade relations of the ancient Wari State in the Ayacucho Basin of Peru with fund- ing from a National Science Foundation Research Experi- ence for Undergraduates Grant.

Department of Anthropology Newsletter—Page 6

Message from Jessica Winegar, Director of Graduate Studies

Our graduate program continues to im- Society for American Archaeology, and the American press with the quality and breadth of stu- Association of Physical Anthropologists. dent research, grants and fellowships,

and commitment to critiquing inequality. This year we are conferring doctoral de- This year students took a panoply of exciting courses grees on eight fabulous scholars! That’s 8 in the department such as “Materialities,” new Northwestern anthropology PhDs going out into “Archaeologies, Communities, and Publics,” “Social the world as postdoctoral fellows, tenure track profes- Movements,” “Mind, Body, and Health,” “Society, Biol- sors, and social science researchers in the non-profit ogy, and Health,” “Law and Human Rights,” and policy worlds. Congrats to everyone! “Anthropology of the State,” and “Advanced Topics in .” They were also able to meet

with all of our visiting colloquium speakers, all NU Just as we found out that we rank 5th in the National alumni, over a group lunch to talk about research his- Research Council’s assessment of graduate programs tories and trends. A new professionalization workshop in anthropology, we also welcomed six new scholars series was a highlight of the year. In various work- into our program. Along shops with different an- with their colleagues, they thropology faculty and are conducting research staff from The Graduate around the world on topics School, students learned as diverse as ethnic, racial, valuable skills such as and religious minorities, composing academic job social movements, health market materials, writing disparities, environment, grants, transferring skills food and nutrition, and for non-academic jobs, pre- arts and media. For this paring to write the disser- research, our students re- tation, and preparing to go ceived over one dozen pres- off to the field. tigious grants, fellowships, and awards Green Certification Tree Planting from various foundations and academic associations this year, a few of which are featured in Last but not least, our graduate students spearheaded this newsletter. Once again, our graduate students the Green Office Certification of the Department of made Anthropology one of the top departments within Anthropology at Northwestern University. In honor of Weinberg College in terms of external recognition. Our this renewed commitment to the environment, the stu- students have garnered 87 major fellowships and dents led the Department in a tree planting ceremony grants in the past 10 years alone! in front of the department.

And our graduate students are sharing their research We look forward to welcoming a new cohort of excel- in high profile venues. At a department symposium in lent young scholars in the fall, and to celebrating more November, a number of our students practiced pre- PhD recipients next year. senting papers in advance of the American Anthropo- logical Association meeting. In all, over twenty of our students had papers accepted for presentation at a range of national conferences, including the AAA, the

Department of Anthropology Newsletter—Page 7

Graduate Student Awards and other Honors

Morgan Hoke recently won the E.E. Hunt Prize for ceived a grant from the National Science Foundation’s best graduate student paper at the Human Biology As- Arctic Social Sciences Program for her dissertation re- sociation Meetings, “Feeding babies, feeding inequali- search in Iceland. Read More. ties: A Biocultural examination of changing economic activity, infant feeding, and early growth in Nuñoa, Peru”. She also won the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Ashley Agbasoga has been awarded the Tepoztlán- Completion Fellowship. Read More. Northwestern Graduate Fellowship. The fellowship is a partnership between Northwestern and the Tepoztlán Institute for the Transnational History of the Ameri- Vanessa Watters won 2016 Global Politics and Reli- cas. In addition to a stipend, the fellowship covers trav- gion Summer Graduate Research Fellowship el expenses to the summer Tepoztlán conference. The "Prosperity on the Periphery: Christian Social Welfare theme for this summer’s conference is: “Racist Vio- in Coastal West Africa". This project examines the lence: From the Colonial Past to the Urgent Present.” coastal West African region as an important historical corridor for Catholic and Pentecostal institutions, as well as contemporary exchanges and transformations Mary Elena (Ella) Wilhoit was awarded the Eric in Christian communities. Vanessa will conduct pre- Wolf Paper Prize from SAW (the Society for the An- liminary fieldwork with religious organizations in the thropology of Work) and the AFA (Association of Femi- capital cities of Accra, Lomé, and Cotonou to consider nist Anthropologists) Dissertation Award. how the shifting centers of global Christian member- ship are managed transnationally through the promo- tion of economic and social welfare programs. Aydin Ozipek received a Wenner-Gren Foundation Award for dissertation research project.

Ruby Fried received a Wenner‐Gren Doctoral Disser- tation Grant for her research on "Intergenerational Vinita (V) Chaudhry was awarded the SSRC Disser- Impacts of Change: Traditional food and the tation Proposal Development Fellowship (2016). metabolic functioning of Alaska Native peoples".

Almita Miranda received The César Chávez Disserta- Elizabeth Derderian received an Al Qasimi Founda- tion Fellowship, Dartmouth College (2015-2016). tion Grant for work on her study “Building an Interna- tional : Reconfiguring Paradigms of Culture and the State in the UAE”. Matilda Stubbs has been awarded a stipend for ex- ceptional teaching skills at Northwestern Universi- ty. Ms. Stubbs will teach “Auto : The An- Chris Hernandez received an NSF Doctoral Disserta- thropology of Cars.” The WCAS/TGS Teaching Fellow- tion Improvement Grant for his research on "Warfare ship is made possible with funding from The Graduate and the Transformation of Social Order at Tzunun, School and the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Chiapas, Mexico".

Dario Valles has been awarded a Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship for 2016-2017.

Kat Catlin has been awarded a fellowship from the Leifur Eiriksson Foundation to help support her disser- tation research in Iceland. Kat is researching connec- tions between anthropogenic environmental degrada- tion, re-use and abandonment of infrastructure, and social inequality in medieval Iceland. She has also re-

Department of Anthropology Newsletter—Page 8

2016 Dissertations & Placements

Sarah Taylor Pilar Escontrias Natalie Bump-Vena

“Growing Good Food in the City: A “Excavating Undocumented Lives "The Nature of Bureaucracy in the Multi-Method Study of Gardening on the Borderland: Colonial Mar- Cook County Forest Preserves" and Health in Two Chicago” Com- ketscapes, Private Property, and JD/PhD June 2016 munities the Materiality of Raced Citizen- ship in 17th century Moquegua, Advisor: William Leonard PhD/MPH August 2015 Perú ” Committee: Helen Schwartzman, Advisor: William Leonard PhD June 2016 Len Rubinowitz, Michael Barsa Committee: Rebecca Seligman, Advisor: Cynthia Robin Rivera Gaius Charles Bolin Fellow, De- Amanda Logan, Elizabeth Sweet, partment of Anthropology & Sociol- Rebecca Wurtz Committee: Timothy Earle, Ryan ogy and Center for Environmental Williams, Sofia Chacaltana Studies, Williams College Research Social Scientist and Pro-

ject Manager at The American Bar Bradley Phillippi Foundation

“From Coercion to Compensation: Mary Elena (Ella) Wilhoit Labor Systems and Spatial Practice "'Women Always Work More Here': on a Plural Farmstead, Long Is- Gendered Labor and Chosen Fami- land” Elizabeth Harman lies in the Rural Andes" PhD March 2016 “Hearing Sex: An Ethnographic and PhD Date June 2016 Ethnomusicological Study of Strip- Advisor: Mark Hauser tease in the Midwestern US” Advisor: Mary Weismantel Committee: Cynthia Robin Rivera, PhD June 2016 Committee: Micaela di Leonardo, Matthew Johnson Robert Launay, Jorge Coronado, Advisor: Micaela di Leonardo Assistant Professor, Department of Florence Babb Anthropology, Hofstra University Committee: Shalini Shankar, Mat- Assistant Professor, Anthropology, thew Johnson, Ramon River- Lyon College Servera, D. Soyini Madison

Bethlehem Dejene

"Policing the boundaries of the Kristin Landau 'Orthodox': Modernity, Evil, and Morality in Exorcisms of Post- “Maintaining the State: Centralized Socialist Addis Ababa" Power and Urban Neighborhoods in Copan, Honduras” PhD June 2016 PhD Date June 2016 Advisor: Robert Launay Advisor: Cynthia Robin Rivera Committee: Rebecca Seligman, Hel- en Schwartzman Committee: Matthew Johnson, Tim- othy Earle, William Fash

Department of Anthropology Newsletter—Page 9

Colloquium Speakers—All Northwestern Alumni

Josh Snodgrass, professor of the Society for the Anthropology of Europe, she also at the University of Oregon, teaches in the areas of food, family and , and researches the demographic . Her October talk was entitled trends over the past few dec- “Dazzle and Dismay: An Experiment in Reciprocal An- ades, driven by shifts in life- thropology.” styles and urbanization, Jean Ensminger,in her talk highlighting the prominence “Case Studies in Village Corrup- of chronic conditions at older tion” discussed the failure in ages. His talk, “Health and Aging Among Older delivering aid to poor communi- Adults in Middle Income Countries” was held in Feb- ties in the developing world ruary. through one of the most broadly Rob Beck’s talk “The Iron in the Posthole: Witchcraft, employed mechanism design, community driven devel- Women’s Labor, and Spanish opment. She investigates how community driven devel- Folk Ritual at the Berry Site” opment really works in the field; following the money, examined apotropaic devices— access to information, and incentives of participants in folk ritual objects and deposits a number of micro-projects in Kenya. Jean is Edie and used as supernatural protec- Lew Wasserman professor of Social Science at Caltech. tions—at the Berry site. Rob is Heidi Swank gave a talk in February an associate professor in the entitled “Policy and Anthropology or Department of Anthropology Making the Most of the Great Reces- and associate curator of Eastern North American Ar- sion”. She is an American politician chaeology in the Museum of Anthropological Archaeol- and Democratic Member of the Nevada ogy. His research interests include the archaeology State Assembly since February 2013. and of complex societies in eastern and the Andes of Bolivia and Peru, early colo- Victoria Bernal’s talk “National Symbols, Virtual nial encounters in what is now the southern United Power, and Eritrean Politics Online” was held in States, and the broader issues related to social organi- March. Victoria is Professor at UC—Irvine and is a zation and change. cultural anthropologist whose scholarship in political anthropology contributes to media and IT studies, gen- Susan Carol Rogers is Associate Professor of Anthro- der studies, and African studies. Her work addresses pology at NYU. She is co-editor with Anne Raulin of questions relating to politics, gender, migration and Parallaxes Transatlantiques: Vers une anthropologie diaspora, war, , transnationalism, civil réciproque (CNRS, 2012), and is society and activism, development, digital media, and finishing an English version of the Islam. Dr. Bernal’s research is volume (Berghahn, 2015). Her long particularly concerned with re- term research in rural France has lations of power and inequality resulted in co-authorship of and the dynamic struggles of Paysans, Femmes et Citoyens: ordinary people as they con- Luttes pour le pouvoir dans un vil- front the cruel and absurd con- lage lorrain (Actes Sud, 1980) and tradictions arising from the con- authorship of Shaping Modern Times in Rural France: centration of and politi- Transformation and reproduction of an Aveyronnais cal power locally and globally. community (Princeton, 1992), as well as of numerous articles in American and French journals. Co-founder

Department of Anthropology Newsletter—Page 10

Colloquium Speakers, continued Peter Schmidt, professor at the University of Florida, The Northwestern University Anthropology explored changes in archeo- Department Colloquium Series is centered logical practice in northwest around a theme each year; this year, the Tanzania in his talk entitled “Archaeologies of Listening: theme was “Northwestern Alumni”. Community-Based and Par- ticipatory Heritage Research in Tanzania” in May.

Dolores Koenig gave a talk in May entitled “The Par- adox of Struggle: Political Action After Forced Reset- tlement at Manantali, Mali”. Dolores is a specialist in inter- national development, inter- ested in both its challenges

and successes. She is especial- ly interested in finding new —————————————————————————- ways of talking about develop-

ment and social change that value the experiences of local people while still taking Farewell to Chair Bill Leonard into account the international context of global ine- quality. She is currently Buffett Institute Visiting Scholar and professor of Anthropology at American On August 31, 2016, Prof Bill Leonard steps University in Washington, D.C. down as Chair of the Department of Anthro-

pology. Bill has served the Department in this role since 2003. During this time Anthropolo- Mark Flinn, in his talk “Hormones in the Wild: Physi- ological Adaptations for the gy has gone from success to success. We have Human Social Relationships”, grown dramatically in size and risen in na- discussed his field study of tional rankings to become one of the top De- child stress and family envi- partments of its kind in North America and ronment in a rural communi- indeed across the world. This success has ty in Dominica, where he doc- umented the hormonal re- been due in no small part to the dedication, sponses of children to every- professional skill, political acumen and hu- day interactions with their parents and other care pro- man decency of Prof Leonard. Faculty, stu- viders, concomitant with longitudinal assessment of dents and staff all owe Bill a huge debt and developmental and health outcomes. Mark is professor we are planning a formal event in the fall to of Anthropology at University of Missouri. express our very deep appreciation of every-

thing that he has done.—Matthew Johnson

Department of Anthropology Newsletter—Page 11

Anthropology in the Public Square

Noelle Sullivan discusses the phenomenon of “voluntourism” in her article Posing as a Doctor is Illegal...unless you go to the "Developing World.", originally published in the Orlando Sentinel. Read More. Shifting neighborhood: Whalley Avenue, New Haven, CT

Thom McDade discusses the role of microbes in human health: Big Picture Science - With All Our Mites: Thomas McDade I Our Microbe Guardians. Read More.

Ana Aparicio fact-checks several public state- ments from the 2016 Republican presidential pri- mary race , Debunking the GOP Candidates' Anti- Immigration Stance. Read More.

Northwestern students survey Bodiam Castle , August 2012. Jessica Winegar details U.S. support for Egypt and the human rights abuses there on Truthout.org: The US Must Stop Supporting Hu- man Rights Violations in Egypt. Read More.

Robert Launay comments on the 2016 presidential primaries in the Chicago Tribune, The irony of Glenn Beck. Read More.

Chris Kuzawa discusses his findings on the links between metabolism, evolution and human brain Chris Hernandez conducts a survey in Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico. size in a May 2016 article in The Guardian. Read More.

Shalini Shankar discusses race, names, inclusion, and American higher education in an article for The American Prospect. Read More.

Kristin Landau explains architectural construction sequences in Copan.

Department of Anthropology Newsletter—Page 12

Undergraduate Honors Theses

 Food culture in Seville: An Assessment of Local Food Preferences in the Face of Globalized Food Contact Us Markets—Kirby Barth WCAS Anthropology  Urban : Revolutionizing Health and Communities in Cuba—Erin Bennett 1810 Hinman

 Athletes, Not Superheroes: An Investigation Iden- Evanston, IL 60201 tifying Stressors, Impacts of Stress, and Support Ph: (847) 491-7463 System Needs of Northwestern University Female Fax: (847) 467-1778 Student-Athletes—Rachel Bergman

 Are You What You Eat? Investigating Dietary Acculturation Among East Asian International College Students in the United States—Chia-Ping CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT WCAS Chin ANTHROPOLOGY  An Examination of Potential Bone Weathering Agents at Swartkrans Cave—Elizabeth Fillion

 Colonial Frontiers: Understanding Space and Re- If you have questions about donating to North- appropriating Place Across Culture and Time in western Anthropology, please contact: Northern Belize—Melissa Jones

 Is health a choice, or is it chance? Understanding how the Blue Zones Projects Oper- Kim Milstein Buckley Director of Development ate as a Public Health Intervention to Construct Health in the United States—Nicolas Leighton Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences 847-491-4985  BRIDGING TWO WORLDS: The Integrative Use [email protected] of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Biomedicine by Chinese College Students—Michelle Lu

 Ceramics and Trade: Relations Between the Wari State Center and its Administrative Centers Through Pigments—Lauren Monz  The Declining Number of Japanese International Students in the United States: Exploring Why

They Come, Who has Access to Such an Oppor- tunity, and the Effects This Experience Has on Cultural Identity—Shoma Murakawa  Fitting into Beautiful Bodies: Ethnographic Ex- amination of Mexican-American Young Adult Cultural Norms and the U.S. Obesity Epidemic— Connie Panton

 The Politics of “Community Engagement” Community Health Workers and Instrumentaliza- tion of “the Community” in Global Health—Neha Reddy

 Beyond the Collapse: Settlement Survey, Ceramic Analysis, and Site Continuity at Aventura, Be- lize—Jennifer S.Reese Department of Anthropology Newsletter—Page 13