We are very happy to announce that a short documentary film by Syazana Amirulmokminin, an undergraduate student in the Department of Anthropology, has been accepted into the Made in Michigan Film Festival.  Entitled The New Generation, the film dives lives of two young Asian-American women and the unique challenges they face living between two cultures. Amirulmokminin produced the film as part of ANP429: Ethnographic Field Methods, taught by Professor Mara Leichtman. The Made in Michigan Film festival takes place in Frankenmuth on Oct. 3rd and 4th.

The Department of Anthropology is proud to present the newest edition of the biannual newsletter. Our Spring 2014 issue features articles about the recent field work in Aztalan, featured faculty member Dr. Moniruzzaman, retired faculty member Dr. Gallin, graduate student Jen Vollner, alumni Eve Avdoulos, updates from the graduate and undergraduate student associations, and more.

You can download the PDF version of the newsletter here: Spring 2014 Dept. of Anthropology Newsletter

Individual articles can be accessed below:

Return to Aztalan

Message from the Chair: Dr. Jodie O’Gorman

Featured Faculty Member: Dr. Monir Moniruzzaman

Dr. Bernard Gallin: Faculty Emeritus Profile

IMLS Grant to Improve Collections Storage

Alumna Abroad: Eve Avdoulos

Annual Photo Contest Winners

Jen Vollner: Graduate Research in Bioarchaeology and Forensics

Allison Apland: Undergraduate Nominated For Beinecke Scholarship

New Course: Exploring Equality and Diversity in the United States

Bridging Cultures: Muslim Journeys

Graduate Student Association Update

Undergraduate Anthropology Club Update

New Publications

 

(cross-posted with Campus Archaeology Program)

Next week from Thursday, April 24 to Sunday, April 27, the annual Society for American Archaeology meeting is being held in Austin, TX. There is going to be great representation of members of the Department of Anthropology, Campus Archaeology, and the Cultural Heritage Informatics Initiative. .

Check out all the presentations below, in alphabetical order of presenter. Session number for program reference is listed in brackets.

Brock, Terry [258]

• Session- Blogging Archaeology, Again
• Presentation- SHA Social: Developing a 21st century Social Media Strategy for the Society for Historical Archaeology
• Saturday, April 26, Room: 9B (ACC)Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Burbank, Joshua [303]

• Session- Lighting Dark Passages Part 2: Celebrating 30 Years of James E. Brady’s Contribution to Cave Archaeology
• Presentation- Interpreting a Specialized Cache of Human Remains in Actun Kabul, Central Belize
• Thursday, April 24, Room: 12AB (ACC), Time: 1:00 PM – 4:45 PM

Daggett, Adrianne [58]

• Session- Worlds at Different Scales: Population Interactions and Dynamics Over Time in Africa
• Presentation- The View from Bluff’s Edge: South Sowa, Botswana in the Early Iron Age
• Thursday, April 24, Room: 17A (ACC) Time: 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Deskaj, Sylvia [64], [89], [303]

• Session- Establishing a Bioarchaeology of Community
• Presentation- The Walking Dead: Establishing and Maintaining Community in Northern Albania
• Thursday, April 24, Room: 17B (ACC) Time: 1:00 PM – 4:15 PM

• Session- Europe During the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Viking Age
• Co-Presentation- The 2013 Field Season of the Projekti Arkeologjikë i Shkodrës (PASH), Northern Albania
• Thursday, April 24, Room: 8A (ACC) Time: 3:15 PM – 5:00 PM

• Session Organizer: The Link Between Mortuary Analysis and Advances in Scientific Methods: Developing Cultural Context
• Co- Presentation- Exploring the Relationship Between  Sampling Loci and Developmental Age in Isotopic Studies of Human Teeth: A Pilot Study from Kamenica, Albania
• Saturday, April 26, Room: 16A (ACC) Time: 2:45 PM – 5:00 PM

Dunham, Sean [34]

• Session- Archaeological Studies in Settlement Ecology: Recent Advances from the Americas
• Presentation- An Analysis of Late Woodland Archaeological Site Locations in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan
• Thursday, April 24, Room: 11AB (ACC) Time: 9:15 AM – 12:00 PM

Goldstein, Lynne [64], [184], [303]

• Session- Establishing a Bioarchaeology of Community
• Co- Presentation- Emblematic Identities of the Effigy Mound Manifestation: Symbolic Patterns
• Thursday, April 24, Room: 17B (ACC) Time: 1:00 PM – 4:15 PM

• Forum: Gender Disparities in Research Grant Submissions
• Friday, April 25, Room: 8A (ACC) Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM

• Session Organizer: The Link Between Mortuary Analysis and Advances in Scientific Methods: Developing Cultural Context
• Presentation- Discussant
• Saturday, April 26, Room: 16A (ACC) Time: 2:45 PM – 5:00 PM

Kooiman, Susan [48]

• Session- Great Lakes
• Presentation- A Multidimensional Approach to Functional Pottery Analysis: A Case Study in the Upper Great Lakes of North America
• Thursday, April 24, Room: 9A (ACC) Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Lovis, William [73], [229], [261]

• Session- New World Ceramics
• Co- Presentation- An Empirical Test of Shell Tempering as a Proto-Hominy Processor
• Saturday, April 26, Room: 11AB (ACC) Time: 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM

• Session Organizer: Marking the Land: Hunter-Gatherer Creation of Meaning Within Their Surroundings
• Thursday, April 24, Room: 13AB (ACC) Time: 1:15 PM – 4:30 PM

• Forum- Error, Sensitivity Analysis and Uncertainty in Archaeological Computational Modeling
• Saturday, April 26, Room: 8B (ACC) Time: 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Meyers, Katy [36], [258]

• Session Organizer- Place and Space in a Digital Landscape: New Perspectives on Analyzing and Sharing Geospatial Data in Archaeology
• Presentation- Linking the Spaces of Resting Places: GIS, Anglo-Saxon Archaeology and Linked Open Data
• Thursday, April 24, Room: 13AB (ACC) Time: 9:45 AM – 12:00 PM

• Session- Blogging Archaeology, Again
• Presentation- Discussant
• Saturday, April 26, Room: 9B (ACC)Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

• DDIG Lightning Talk
• Friday, April 25, Room: 414 (HA) Time: 12:45 PM – 1:30PM

Michael, Amy [70], [303]

• Session- The Link Between Mortuary Analysis and Advances in Scientific Methods: Developing Cultural Context
• Presentation- Exploring the Relationship Between  Sampling Loci and Developmental Age in Isotopic Studies of Human Teeth: A Pilot Study from Kamenica, Albania
• Saturday, April 26, Room: 16A (ACC) Time: 2:45 PM – 5:00 PM

• Session- Lighting Dark Passages Part 2: Celebrating 30 Years of James E. Brady’s Contribution to Cave Archaeology
• Co-Presentation- Interpreting a Specialized Cache of Human Remains in Actun Kabul, Central Belize
• Thursday, April 24, Room: 12AB (ACC), Time: 1:00 PM – 4:45 PM

O’Gorman, Jodie [306]

• Co-Presentation- Ethnicity and Childhood at Morton Village
• Session- Bioarchaeology in North America
• Saturday, April 26, Room: 8B (ACC) Time: 3:15 PM – 4:45 PM

Pollard, Helen [254]

• Session- City, Craft and Residence in Mesoamerica: Research Papers presented in Honor of Dan M. Helen
• Presentation- Tula of the Toltecs and Tzintzuntzan of the Tarascans
• Saturday, April 26, Room: 9C (ACC) Time: 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Upton, Andrew [261]

• Session- New World Ceramics
• Presentation- An Empirical Test of Shell Tempering as a Proto-Hominy Processor
• Saturday, April 26, Room: 11AB (ACC) Time: 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Watrall, Ethan [215]

• Session Organizer- Heritage Management
• Presentation- msu.seum: a model for mobile public heritage and archaeology
• Friday, April 25, Room: 8A (ACC), Time: 3:15 PM – 5:00 PM

• Session Organizer- SAA DDIG Digital Archaeology Projects Lightning Talks session
• Friday, April 25, Room: 414 (HA) Time: 12:45 PM – 1:30PM

Wrobel, Gabriel [70], [335]

• Session- Lighting Dark Passages Part 2: Celebrating 30 Years of James E. Brady’s Contribution to Cave Archaeology
• Co-Presentation- Interpreting a Specialized Cache of Human Remains in Actun Kabul, Central Belize
• Co-Presentation- A New Approach for Calculation of MNI in Commingled Remains: Mortuary Analysis of Caves Branch Rockshelter, Belize
• Thursday, April 24, Room: 12AB (ACC), Time: 1:00 PM – 4:45 PM

• Session: Multi-Scalar Approaches to Archaeological Interpretation
• Presentation: Understanding the Multi-Scalar Complexity in Archaeological Skeletal Collections and Its Implications for Analysis
• Sunday, April 27, Room: 9B (ACC) Time: 8:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Campus Archaeology Program Info Session

Want to learn more about MSU Campus Archaeology? Do you have a program like Campus Archaeology at your university?

We are hosting an informal gathering at the SAAs to discuss all things campus archaeology! Kate, the Campus Archaeologist, and other members of the team will be there for this gathering.

• When: Thursday (April 24th), 4-6pm
• Where: Hilton Garden Inn, Red River Room

Digital Data Interest Group Digital Archaeology Projects Lightning Talk Session (Sponsored by Department of Anthropology Cultural Heritage Informatics Initiative)

Today, along with many other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, archaeology is entering a new age in which “digital” is having an incredible impact on all aspects of the discipline.  Research, compliance & management, teaching, outreaching and engagement, publication and scholarly communication – all are being transformed by the innovative application of new technology. Join the Digital Data Interest Group and MSU’s Cultural Heritage Informatics Initiative at SAA 2014 to share, discover, and celebrate a wide range of exciting and innovative digital archaeology projects. Have a project you want to talk about? Just sign up for a lightning talk spot.  Interested in seeing what cool stuff people are working on?  Just show up, sit back, and relax.

More information visit: http://digitalarchaeology.matrix.msu.edu/saa2014/

Anthropology majors Kelsey Carpenter, Mari Isa, and Kyla Cools recently received honors for their research presentations at the annual MSU University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (UURAF), held at the MSU Student Union on April 4, 2014. Kelsey, Mari, and Kyla received First Place Awards in their respective sections within the Social Sciences division. Approximately 660 students presented at this year’s forum.

Kelsey’s presentation, entitled Cranial Fracture Patterns in Pediatric Deaths: Homicides and Accidents (abstract on page 134) focused on differentiating between inflicted and accidental injuries in cases of infant deaths involving head trauma. Mari’s presentation, Fracture Initiation and Propagation in Pediatric Blunt Cranial Trauma (abstract on page 145), focused on the interpretation of cranial fractures in cases of suspected child abuse. Dr. Todd Fenton advised both Kelsey and Mari as they completed their projects in the MSU Forensic Anthropology Laboratory.

Kyla’s presentation, entitled Ceramics at the Aztalan Site: Results of the 2013 MSU Excavations (abstract on page 143), compared ceramics found during the 2013 field season to collections previously excavated at Aztalan. Dr. Lynne Goldstein, director of the MSU Archaeology Field School at Aztalan, advised Kyla on her project.

The 6th Annual Council of Graduate Students Graduate Academic Conference occurred on March 27th, 2014 at the Kellogg Center. The conference had over 150 graduate and professional students presenting at this year’s conference. Each presented in a format that conveyed complex disciplinary material to an educated but non-specialist audience, an important skill that should be developed and practiced. This year, presenters had the option of communicating their work through three different formats: ten-minute traditional presentations, poster presentations, or in the three-minute competition, an exciting new presentation format.

This year, we had a record number of Anthropology graduate students participating and a winning presentation! Kelly Colas and Caitlin Vogelsberg both acted as judges for conferences sessions. Katy Meyers and Nicole Geske were on the conference committee, with Meyers acting as chair of the committee and primary conference organizer.

Presentations from Anthropology included:

• Emily Niespodziewanski and Joseph T. Hefner: Determining ancestry from morphoscopic traits of the skull: inclusion of an Asian population

Emily was awarded second place for her 10-minute presentation

• RoseAnna Downing-Vicklund:Trust Relationships and Drinking Water: Drinking Water Choices in Walkerton, Ontario
• Nicole Geske: A Reconsideration of Oneota Mortuary Practices
• Edward Glayzer: The Effects of the Commodification of Intimacy on Gender Inequality in South Korean Dating and Marriage Rituals
• Meenakshi Narayan: Stereotyping the Chenchu: Constructing the Tribal Identity of a ?Vulnerable? Community in India
• Nikki Silva and Katy Meyers: When Bones Are Lost Can Gender Be Found? A Spatial Examination of Gender in an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery

 

We are very pleased to announce that an article by Dr Chantal Tetreault, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, has been published in Language and Culture (vol 33).  Entitled “Cultural Citizenship in France and le Bled among Teens of Pan-southern Immigrant Heritage,” the article addresses discourse among French teenagers of pan-immigrant, peripheral, and specifically southern descent that evokes the widely circulating spatial concept called le bled, a French word of Arabic origin. Drawing upon theories of cultural citizenship, the paper explores the connections that teens broker through le bled in two, divergent discourses that link French citizenship with modernity and race. The first discourse is one that conceptualizes le bled as less modern than France, which is ultimately a racially exclusive model of French citizenship because it typically treats le bled as a racialized and inferior place. The second discourse involves the conceptualization of France as a modern and racially inclusive place, seeking to assimilate people from various places (even though in reality, many of these policies that claim inclusiveness are exclusive).

At the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Seattle in February 2014, the Ellis R. Kerley Foundation announced MSU anthropology major Mariyam (Mari) Isa as the youngest ever winner of the Ellis R. Kerley award.

The Kerley Award recognizes “the paper or poster which best demonstrates originality, creativity, depth of research, innovation, new methodologies, research design, significance to the field, and/or potential impact on the practices of forensic anthropology.”

Mari’s paper, titled “Fracture Initiation and Propagation in Pediatric Blunt Cranial Trauma” focused on the importance of the accurate interpretation of skull fractures, especially in cases of suspected child abuse (abstract on page 418). The paper was a multidisciplinary effort involving the MSU Forensic Anthropology Laboratory, Sparrow Hospital Pathology, MSU Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratories, and the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. The work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Justice.

Citation: Isa MI, Fenton TW, Vollner JM, Niespodziewanski E, Love JC, deJong JL, DeLand TS, Haut RC. 2014. Fracture Initiation and Propagation in Pediatric Blunt Cranial Trauma. In: Proceedings of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. Seattle. p 418.