The Department of Anthropology is pleased to welcome Dr. Gabriel Sanchez, who joins us as a Research Associate after completing his doctorate in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Sanchez is part of the inaugural class of the College of Social Science Dean’s Research Associate Program. This program promotes an inclusive scholarly environment, in which outstanding scholars in the social sciences support the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the academy.

Dr. Sanchez became interested in anthropology during his first semester of community college following his discharge from the United States Army. He was attracted to the field and its study of the human experience and culture, especially of marginalized communities. The next semester, Dr. Sanchez applied for a variety of jobs and was hired as an archaeological technician for the United States Forest Service. In this position, he met the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and became an intern at the THPO office. These experiences shaped his interest in indigenous archaeology and collaborative research.

During his undergraduate education at the University of Oregon, Dr. Sanchez earned a position in the McNair Scholars program, a federal initiative to increase the attainment of advanced degrees by underrepresented students. As a first-generation student raised in rural California by a family of undocumented farmworkers, he believed it was important to receive an education to better his life and that of his family. Dr. Sanchez was particularly drawn to conducting field and laboratory research in environmental anthropology that could provide benefits for indigenous collaborators and federal and state agencies.

An indigenous and environmental anthropological archaeologist, Dr. Sanchez investigates human-environmental relationships from the Terminal Pleistocene and throughout the Holocene. Long-term environmental data from archaeological sites have relevancy beyond archaeology by providing historical baselines that can inform modern resource management and stewardship through the documentation of historical ranges of variability. Currently, Dr. Sanchez is collaborating with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and California State Parks to investigate the native range of California’s endangered salmon species, which are vulnerable to extinction or extirpation. This research will define which salmon were native to coastal streams to help resource managers prioritize stream protection, restoration, and water allocation, as well as inform land-use practices.

At this time, Dr. Sanchez is mentoring nine MSU undergraduates in archaeological methods and laboratory analyses of two archaeological sites he excavated with students from the University of California, Berkeley, and stewards from the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. Together they hope these data will provide information to help define which salmon species used specific coastal streams and, through genetic analyses of ancient and modern salmon, identify the stocks that should be used to guide the restoration of these species. In this role, Dr. Sanchez enjoys training undergraduate and graduate students in field and laboratory methods, archaeological method and theory, and community-engaged research strategies. Dr. Sanchez recently published an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports that investigates ancient stewardship of California’s marine and estuarine fisheries through selective harvesting techniques, such as gill nets.

Outside of work, Dr. Sanchez enjoys playing music from the genre Son Jarcho—Afro-Indigenous music from southern Mexico born out of the Spanish colonial era. He also appreciates exploring the state of Michigan with his wife, Janae, and they are eagerly awaiting the birth of their daughter who is due in March.

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Dr. Mara Leichtman is an Associate Professor of Anthropology affiliated with the Muslim Studies Program, African Studies Center and Asian Studies Center. Dr. Leichtman specializes in sociocultural anthropology and the study of religion, migration, transnationalism, humanitarianism, and economic development.

One of Dr. Leichtman’s research projects, which culminated in her book “Shi’i Cosmopolitanisms in Africa: Lebanese Migration and Religious Conversion in Senegal,” investigated the location of Shi’i Islam in national and international religious networks, the tension between Lebanese and Iranian religious authorities in West Africa, and the making of a vernacular Shi’i Islam in Senegal. This work has prompted several new avenues for scholarship and collaboration, one of which is Dr. Leichtman’s recent publication.

This past September, Dr. Leichtman and co-editor Dr. Rola El-Husseini (Lund University) published a special journal issue entitled “The Shi‘a of Lebanon: New Approaches to Modern History, Contemporary Politics, and Religion” in the Islamic Studies journal Die Welt des Islams. The idea for this collaboration grew out of the realization that there had not been a recent collection bringing experts of Lebanese Shi’ism into dialogue with one another. This interdisciplinary issue assembles the latest research within history, religious studies, and the social sciences and is inclusive of emerging scholars. Most scholarship begins with the social and political awakening of Lebanese Shi’a in the 1960s that led to the establishment of the political movement Hizbullah in the early 1980s. This volume spans the early 20th century to the present, and aims to broaden knowledge about Lebanon by focusing on lesser known historical periods, revisionist historical accounts, and understudied topics. Such understudied topics include Shi’i schools, involvement in the Lebanese Communist Party, ecumenicalism and gender reforms in Shi’i Islamic political thought, and transnational ties between Hizbullah, Iran, and Syria.

Dr. Leichtman and Dr. El-Husseini’s introduction makes a case for the concept of “Arab Shi’ism,” and, more specifically, “Lebanese Shi’ism.” As social scientists, they posit that historical, political, and sociocultural distinctions between Iran and the Arab world have become more pronounced since the 1979 Iranian revolution. Yet Iran tends to be a primary area of emphasis of the growing sub-field of “Shi’i Studies.” Furthermore, whereas Islamic studies scholars often focus on theological texts, which prioritize the writings of male religious scholars, social scientists are interested in the overlapping of religious, secular, ethnic, gendered and nationalist modes of identification and belonging. Thus the special issue is also a call for a more inclusive Shi’i Studies that encompasses a wider range of disciplinary fields, historical periods, and contemporary lived experiences of Shi’a outside of Iran—and in particular the unique situations of minority religious communities.

Another development from Dr. Leichtman’s first book is a new research project entitled “Humanitarian Islam in Kuwait: Transnational Religion and Global Economic Development in Africa.” She is particularly interested in the interconnection of Islamic organizations in the Middle East and Africa, where South-South relations are understudied. Dr. Leichtman began this project as a visiting Fulbright Scholar at American University of Kuwait during 2016–2017. Her fieldwork of case studies examining Sunni and Shi’i charities and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Tanzania and Senegal was funded by the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, West Africa Research Association, and MSU’s Humanities and Arts Research Program.

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Assistant Professor Dr. Kurt Rademaker is the Principal Investigator of a 3-year National Science Foundation (NSF) Archaeology project entitled, “Social Adaptation in a Highly Varied Spatial Environment,” which will close next year. This project focuses on some of the earliest archaeological sites known in South America to learn about the timing of initial settlement, the routes used to settle various ecological zones, and the formation of social connections between zones.

At the end of the last ice age, hunter-gatherers successfully colonized nearly every ecological zone in the western hemisphere within a few thousand years. In South America, these environments included the hyper-arid Pacific coast where fisherfolk exploited the bounty of the sea, and the rugged Andes up to 4500 m (approx. 14,800 feet) above sea level where camelid hunters lived in base camps in highland oases. These coastal and highland sites are connected through shared raw materials and artifacts, but whether the sites were made by one group moving between coast and highlands or multiple groups settling in both areas is unknown.

Dr. Rademaker has been leading an interdisciplinary, international team of senior scientists and students to study the functional relationships of these linked Paleoindian sites located at the coast and highlands dating between 13,000 and 12,000 years ago. This project includes archaeological exploration of remote desert areas between the coast and highlands to discover additional sites in the settlement system, excavations of these sites, and analyses of uncovered materials and artifacts using cutting-edge techniques. By determining the age and season of occupation of each site, and by teasing out behavioral indicators from the excavated material remains, the team will learn whether the coast or highlands were settled first and whether there was one or multiple groups of people living in these areas. The findings from this research will contribute to understanding how humans have adapted to live in some of Earth’s most challenging environments.

This past summer, Dr. Rademaker also began a new field project in the central Peruvian Andes, supported by a Faculty Initiatives Fund from the MSU College of Social Science. Dr. Rademaker’s team conducted new archaeological excavations at two limestone cave sites located at about 4300 m (14,000 feet) elevation and dating back at least 11,000 years. These two sites were originally excavated in the 1970s and 1980s by teams of U.S. and Peruvian researchers, but due to violence associated with the Shining Path terrorist group, international scientific projects in the Andes abruptly ended. Despite a subsequent return to peaceful conditions within the past 30 years, archaeological work there has not been reinitiated until now.

Over the next few years, Dr. Rademaker will head an interdisciplinary team for this project, including some of the original site investigators from the 1970s and 1980s and students from MSU and Peru. Together they will conduct new archaeological and environmental research in this region using the latest innovative methods. Located in central Peru where rainfall is abundant, vegetation is lush, and animals are numerous, these sites in the Puna of Junín appear to be the residential bases of hunter-gatherers who settled the difficult high Andes at the end of the last ice age. The team is re-dating the sites and studying site formation processes ahead of planned re-analysis of legacy collections and further fieldwork. Ultimately, this research will shed light on the history of biocultural adaptations and environmental change in the high Andes.

To learn more about Dr. Rademaker’s research, visit his working group’s website: paleoandes.com

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The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce Dr. Todd Fenton (Professor of Anthropology) as our new Department Chair. On behalf of the Department, we would like to thank previous Chairperson Dr. Jodie O’Gorman for her years of invaluable service. Dr. Fenton looks forward to continuing this legacy and building on this strong department.

Dr. Fenton has served as a faculty member with the Department of Anthropology since 1998 and is a renowned forensic anthropologist. Over his career, Dr. Fenton has developed an internationally recognized PhD program focusing on forensic anthropology and established the MSU Forensic Anthropology Laboratory (MSUFAL) as a premier consulting, research, and training laboratory. One aspect of his career of which Dr. Fenton is most proud is the great success of his graduate students, who have received high honors and earned top academic and non-academic positions in the field of forensic anthropology. As Director of the MSUFAL for eight years, Dr. Fenton engaged in and managed over 500 forensic anthropology cases with local medical examiner offices and law enforcement agencies, helping the community and providing instrumental experience for his students.

Dr. Fenton’s research involves projects that seek to better understand the biomechanics of cranial and long bone fracture. The knowledge gained from this experimental research has critical implications for accurate analyses in forensic death investigations. To support this research, Dr. Fenton and a team of interdisciplinary colleagues received three large National Institute of Justice grants. In addition to forensic work, Dr. Fenton has ongoing collaborative bioarchaeological projects in Italy, including the study of skeletons excavated from an early Middle Ages cemetery in the ancient city of Roselle.

For the past four years, Dr. Fenton carried out departmental duties as Associate Chair. During one of those academic years, he was awarded an MSU Academic Advancement Network Leadership Fellowship, in which he had the opportunity to shadow Dean Rachel Croson of the College of Social Science. In these roles, Dr. Fenton saw the profound and significant impacts an administrator can have for improvement. He sees being Chair of this department as an opportunity to help the faculty, staff, and students in achieving their goals and to fulfill the great appreciation he has for the Department, College, and University.

Moving forward together, Dr. Fenton is committed to fostering an inclusive, safe, and welcoming departmental environment where all faculty, staff, and students are valued, respected, and celebrated. Dr. Fenton aims to improve the sense of community within the Department and ensure effective communication that strives for maximum transparency balanced with appropriate levels of confidentiality. He also intends to cultivate a more diverse and all-embracing environment while working to increase the number of under-represented faculty members and PhD students. Dr. Fenton is resolved to be a strong advocate of the Department to the administration and is determined to obtain the resources necessary for its continued success.

Dr. Fenton greatly enjoyed his years of mentoring PhD students in forensic anthropology and is now excited to work with current and incoming students across the Department to help them develop their academic and leadership skills and become the next generation of anthropologists.

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