Annual Report For 2015 “Supporting worldwide research in all branches of Anthropology” Table of Contents Chairman’s Introduction .............................................................................. 3 President’s Report ....................................................................................... 4 Program Highlights SAPIENS/Innovations in Public Awareness of Anthropology ............. 6 Institutional Development Grants .......................................................... 7 Wenner-Gren Symposia Overview ...................................................... 10 Wenner-Gren Symposium Publications and Current Anthropology ........................................................... 11 Historical Archives Program ................................................................ 12 International Symposia Reports .......................................................... 14 Meetings of the Anthropology Section of the New York Academy of Sciences ....................................................................................... 20 Hunt Postdoctoral Fellows ................................................................... 21 Fejos Postdoctoral Fellows .................................................................. 26 Wadsworth Fellows .............................................................................. 28 2015 Grantees Dissertation Fieldwork Grants ............................................................. 34 Post-Ph.D. Research Grants ................................................................ 47 Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowships ........................................................... 53 Fejos Postdoctal Fellowships in Ethnographic Film ......................... 54 International Collaborative Research Grants ..................................... 55 Conference and Workshop Grants ...................................................... 56 New and Continuing Wadsworth Fellowships .................................... 59 Engaged Anthropology Grants ............................................................ 61 Initiatives ............................................................................................... 63 Historical Archives Program ................................................................ 64 Major Grant Program Statistics ................................................................ 65 Financial Statements ................................................................................. 74 Leadership .................................................................................................. 88 Reviewers during 2015 .............................................................................. 89 Staff ............................................................................................................. 91 2 Chairman’s Introduction Seth J. Masters Chairman, Board of Trustees Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc. It is a great pleasure for me to present the 2015 Wenner-Gren annual report. This year is a milestone for both the Foundation and for me. The Foundation has been particularly busy this year, as the staff led by President Leslie Aiello is not only continuing to support anthropology around the world but also preparing for Wenner-Gren's 75th anniversary next year. As this report shows, the quality and breadth of the research Wenner-Gren supports is a testimonial to the many areas where anthropologists can provide insight. The Foundation is also taking the opportunity provided by the upcoming 75th anniversary both to sponsor scholarship on our rich history and to launch the Sapiens portal, which can help Wenner- Gren expand its reach in the future. All these programs are funded by the investment returns achieved on our endowment, which continues to be ably managed by the Investment and Budget Committee. The strong long-term performance of the endowment positions the Foundation to pursue its mission for the foreseeable future. Of course, the Foundation's most critical resource is its staff. Together with the assistance of past and present Wenner-Gren Advisory Council members, and the many anthropologists who have participated in Wenner-Gren programs, our dedicated staff makes it possible for the Foundation to achieve much with relatively modest resources. The coming year will also be my last as Chair of the Foundation. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to serve in this capacity. And I look forward to seeing Wenner-Gren continue to thrive in the years ahead. Seth J. Masters Chairman, Board of Trustees Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc. 3 President’s Report Leslie C. Aiello, President Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc. In 2015 the Foundation’s attention was on our upcoming 75th anniversary in 2016. This important anniversary has provided a focus to review the Foundation’s role in supporting international anthropology. In the process we have retired some of our older programs and made plans to introduce new ones for the anniversary year. Two of the most exciting anniversary initiatives are SAPIENS, the Foundation’s news portal designed to bring anthropological research to a broad, diverse, and international audience, and the Innovations in the Public Awareness of Anthropology (IPAA) grant, which will fund ideas for popularizing anthropology beyond the academy. Considerable behind-the-scenes work was put into both initiatives for the launch of the IPAA grant on December 1, 2015 and of SAPIENS in January 2016. More information about these new initiatives can be found in the “Program Highlights” section of this annual report. In addition the Foundation has taken the occasion of the 75th anniversary to retire its old dancing figure logo, designed in 1948 by the well-known Mexican artist and archaeologist, Miguel Covarrubias, for the Foundation’s Viking Fund medal. The new logo provides a more appropriate, fresh, and contemporary symbol for the Foundation as it moves into the future. In 2015 the Foundation received 1542 applications and funded 305 projects, with a grant expenditure of over $5,100,000. I would like to congratulate our 147 Dissertation Fieldwork Grantees and 49 Post- Ph.D. Research Grantees. I would particularly like to congratulate our five Wadsworth Fellows, ten Hunt Postdoctoral Fellows and four Fejos Postdoctoral Film Fellows. Our fellowship programs are highly competitive and we are pleased to be able to provide support to these young colleagues. Profiles of these Fellows follow in the annual report. I would also like to congratulate our nine Wadsworth Fellows who completed their doctorates in 2015 and wish them success in their new roles as professional anthropologists. 4 President’s Report, continued 2015 was another busy and successful year for the Foundation. In addition to the above, both Current Anthropology and the Symposium program continue to thrive. I would like to thank the entire Wenner- Gren family – the Board of Trustees, the Advisory Council, the staff, and the 70 or so international anthropologists who help us review our grant applications -- for making this all possible. Without their dedication and support we would not be the success that we are. Thank you. Leslie C. Aiello President Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc. 5 Program Highlights for 2015 Program highlights include: the announcement of the creation of the SAPIENS news portal and a new grant program—Innovations in Public Awareness of Anthropology; progress reports from Institutional Development Grant recipients; organizers’ statements from two Wenner-Gren Symposia held during the year; descriptions of this year’s Historical Archives Program grants, Hunt and Fejos Postdoctoral Fellow- ships, and new awards made to international scholars to train under our Wadsworth African and International Fellowship programs. SAPIENS: Anthropology/Everything Human 2015 was devoted to the final preparations for SAPIENS, the Wenner-Gren news portal for anthropology. An editorially independent online publication of the Foundation, SAPIENS is dedicated to popularizing anthropological research to a worldwide audience and will share the field’s most exciting, relevant, thought- provoking, and unconventional ideas through news coverage, features, commentaries, reviews, photo essays, and more. The SAPIENS team — comprised of Wenner-Gren President, Leslie Aiello, Chip Colwell (SAPIENS Editor-in-Chief), Daniel Salas (Wenner-Gren Communications Assistant and SAPIENS Digital Editor), and Amanda Mascarelli (SAPIENS Managing Editor) — spent significant time identifying and building a base of regular contributors, working with web designers to develop the design of SAPIENS desktop and mobile web sites, finalizing the necessary contracts and policy documents, and forward-planning for content and advertising. SAPIENS successful launch in January 2016 was due in no small part to their tireless efforts and meticulous attention to detail during the year prior. Innovations in Public Awareness of Anthropology Innovations in Public Awareness of Anthropology (IPAA) is a new grant program launched in August 2015 and awarded to individuals holding an advanced degree (doctorate or masters) or equivalent in anthropology or a closely related discipline to support innovative projects, to raise public awareness of anthropology among groups of all ages. IPAA grants were introduced as part of the Wenner-Gren Foundation’s 75th anniversary initiatives. They are designed to encourage anthropologists to develop