Hello everyone,
Having shifted to an electronic format for AnthropoLog, we are now pleased to be able to deliver another issue this year filled with an array of stories on happenings in the Department of Anthropology. This is wonderful since we have so much exciting news to share. I am particularly pleased to report that three of our faculty members received promotions this year. Biocultural anthropologist Patricia Kramer, whose work focuses on the evolution of bipedalism in… Read more
The Daris Swindler Endowed Fellowship in Biocultural Anthropology supported its first two graduate students this winter – Jerusha Achterberg and Kathy Wander.
Jerusha’s research examines the co-evolution of humans and infectious disease from a population-based evolutionary theory standpoint. The tools to study these topics seem to lie primarily at the intersection of anthropology, epidemiology and demography.
Kathy’s research investigates the development of the immune system and the early life… Read more
In Fall Quarter 2009, Professor Ann Anagnost took 17 undergraduate students to the University of Washington’s Rome Center for a program on “The Culture and Politics of Food in Italy” (co-taught with Lucy Jarosz in Geography). Rome’s traditional open-air markets and the presence of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) headquarters made Rome an ideal site for learning about both local food systems and global food governance. Through a project-based curriculum, students… Read more
Have you ever wondered why, in every society on Earth, females live longer than males? Although researchers have uncovered partial answers to this question, which include both biological and social factors, it is not clear which are the most important or why. A new research venture based in the Department of Anthropology seeks to start putting some of those pieces together. The project, called Health Initiatives for Men – or HIM for short – is a collaborative effort involving departmental… Read more
Professor Peter Lape has been busy these past few years. In 2006, he was awarded a prestigious five-year grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to build capacity for archaeological research and training in Southeast Asia through collaborative activities involving the UW and Southeast Asia archaeology institutions. So far this has resulted in a range of events, activities and further accomplishments. The grant funded a new tenure-track faculty position in the UW archaeology program (filled by Dr.… Read more
This March, five women from the department — Professors Bettina Shell-Duncan and Donna Leonetti, Graduate Program Assistant Catherine Zeigler, and graduate students Sara Breslow and Michelle Kleisath — attended an Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression Workshop. The event, which was organized by Partnership for Community and Diversity, a graduate student group at the Evans School of Public Affairs, was a first step towards bringing members of the department together to discuss institutionalized racism.… Read more
It’s not uncommon to hear a retiring faculty member say, “After I retire, I can finally get more work done.” Professor Charles Keyes, who joined the department in 1965, “retired” in 2006 to pursue an even more active schedule. In addition to returning temporarily to serve as Acting Chair of the department in 2007, Dr. Keyes has continued to teach and supervise PhD students. But today, although he still offers courses at UW, he is just as likely to teach in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, or Chiang… Read more
The life of an anthropologist is full of contradictions, delicious food, and once in a while, conferences in sunny locations. This spring, these three things collided for Teresa Mares as she escaped the Seattle rain for ten precious days and attended the meetings of the Society for Applied Anthropology in Mérida, Mexico (of course, a few days had to be spent “writing her dissertation” on the beach after the conference ended). As a doctoral candidate writing about the food strategies that Latino… Read more
GO-MAP (Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program) held its annual gala dinner honoring GO-MAP graduate fellows and awardees from across the UW campus and celebrating the contributions of under-represented graduate students to the life and mission of the University of Washington past, present and future. Proudly representing the Department of Anthropology were Teresa Mares and Rochelle Fonoti. Teresa was featured in the evening’s brochure among the other stellar 2010 GO-MAP… Read more
Check out Holly Barker on YouTube! Her class was the focus of a video project when she recently taught qualitative methods to undergraduate anthropology students in partnership with the Pike Place Market Senior Center and the Carlson Center. Anthropology staff member … Read more
GRADUATE STUDENTS
This summer Shelby Anderson and Adam Freeburg are leading a third and final field season of archaeological research in northern Alaska. Their goal is to understand how and why cultures of the past 5,000 years changed through time and, in particular, how past people adapted to environmental change. Their research focuses on the human occupation of the Cape Krusenstern beach ridge complex, located near Kotzebue. Click … Read more