The Altimare Professional Development Scholarship is intended to support graduate students enrolled in the MSU Department of Anthropology to gain practical skills, training, certification, professional development and/or qualitative data software experience, contributing to tangible and recognized competencies by future employers and aid the student in being a competitive applicant for non-academic jobs post-graduation. Examples include: conference training (tutorials/workshops) to learn new skills, techniques or specialties; online certifications, (LinkedIn Learning, Udemy, Coursera) on project management, UX Design, video production; purchase of qualitative data analysis software (MAXQDA, NVivo, Atlas.ti), etc. Please note that a total of $1,000 is available this year. This amount can be divided and distributed to one or more students.
How to apply: Application is made via letter (1-2 pages) addressed to the Altimare Scholarship Committee. Applicants should provide an overview of their progress in the program of study, and how the scholarship will be used to benefit their progress. The committee requires that the dissertation advisor send a statement of endorsement for the application via email. Letter of application and endorsement should be submitted via email to Cathi Pierce at piercec7@msu.edu with Altimare Scholarship in the subject line of the email.
The Whiteford Cultural Anthropology Field Work Scholarship is awarded to cultural anthropology graduate students in the MSU Department of Anthropology with preference given to students conducting research in Latin America. This $2,000 award is intended to assist students doing their dissertation field work by helping cover key associated costs, such as transportation and lodging. Eligibility: Must be a graduate student in cultural anthropology enrolled in the MSU Department of Anthropology.
How to apply: Application is made via letter (1-2 pages) addressed to the Whiteford Scholarship Committee. Applicants should provide an overview of their progress in the program of study, a description and timeline of their dissertation research, and how the scholarship will benefit that research. The committee requires that the dissertation advisor send a statement of endorsement for the application via email. Letter of application and endorsement should be submitted via email to Cathi Pierce at piercec7@msu.edu with Whiteford Scholarship in the subject line of the email.
For web: Join the Anthropology Department for a lecture series with Dr. Claire Wendland. Wendland will host “Ambivalent Technologies” on March 27 from 3:30 P.M. – 4:30 P.M. in McDonel Hall C103.
Policy makers forty years ago embraced “appropriate technologies,” affordable devices that could substitute for “gold standard” options in poorer places. In subsequent years, the idea has been modified, argued over, denounced, and widely put into practice.
Drawing on fieldwork on maternal health care in Malawi, in this talk Wendland makes four arguments about healing technologies more generally: they displace responsibility; they mark their users; they heal and harm; they can reflect divergent interests.
Dr. Wendland is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology and Professor in Obstetrics & Gynecology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author of A Heart for the Work: Journeys through an African Medical School, the first ethnography of a medical school in the global South, and Partial Stories: Maternal Death from Six Angles. She is a proud Michigan State University graduate.
We are happy to announce the call for applications for the Commonwealth Heritage Group Diversity Scholarship Award in Archaeology at Michigan State University. This scholarship is open to undergraduate and graduate students who have high financial need and who have been enrolled in archaeology courses offered by the Department of Anthropology. Preference will be given to students who are first generation to attend college and/or are educationally disadvantaged. Additionally, preference will be given to students who show an interest in public archaeology research including the investigation of diverse cultures demonstrated through their extracurricular activities, research, and/or coursework. Special consideration shall be given to ensure that this scholarship supports the Donor’s desire of building and supporting a culture of diversity and inclusion in the Department of Anthropology.
Applicants must submit a written statement explaining how they are eligible and expressing their interest in and/or experience with public archaeology, their plans to incorporate public archaeology into their career, as well as providing the names of two references.
Application deadline is: March 24, 2023. Please submit applications to anpdept@msu.edu.
The scholarship shall be awarded to one student each year in the amount of $5,000.
Join the Anthropology Department for a lecture series, this time with Dr. Eric J. Montgomery! Montgomery will host the lecture “Spirits, Ancestors, and Taboo: Divination as Ethnographic Method” on March 13 from 3:30 P.M. – 4:30 P.M. in McDonel Hall C103.
Divination has long fascinated ethnographers, and the amount of case studies throughout the world proliferate in the academic literature. Like “witchcraft” and “sorcery” these indigenous thought and belief systems are often mystified inside and outside of academia. Many view divination and related concepts as “tradition,” “custom,” and “historical survivals,” however, they are actually innovative, adaptive, and also growing in importance in places like Western Africa, Latin America, and The Caribbean. This lecture will take a comparative approach to various ethnographic examples of divination from Western Africa (Ifa/Fa/Afa) and Oceania writ large and assess their importance for decolonizing anthropology today.
MSU Department of Anthropology alumnus Herbert (Herb) Whittier, Ph.D. died June 6, 2021 in East Lansing, Michigan. Whittier studied Anthropology at University of South Florida (B.A. 1963), and Florida State University (B.S. 1965) where he also met his wife and research collaborator Patricia (Pat) Ruth Jenks, and later received a Ph.D. in Anthropology at MSU in 1973.
The MSU Department of Anthropology was a formative intellectual environment for Herb Whittier; he took coursework, studied Bahasa Indonesian, honed writing skills, and successfully applied for research funding. Whittier worked with Dr. Al Hudson, the Anthropology Department Borneologist, focusing on Kenyah communities found both in Indonesia (East Kalimantan) and Malaysia (Sarawak, Fourth Division). His doctoral dissertation was titled: Social Organization and Symbols of Social Differentiation: An Ethnographic Study of the Kenyah Dayak of East Kalimantan (Borneo). It synthesized geographic and historical information on the Lepo Tau Kenyah – their migration, religious conversion, village and longhouse organization, social class, swidden farming, ritual – but focused on the mediating role of the ba’ (beaded baby carrier) in the Lepo Tau symbolic system. Herb then joined Pat Whittier, a cultural linguist, on her Borneo dissertation fieldwork. Supported by National Geographic Society grants, the photographs, fieldwork data, and artifacts from Whittier’s Borneo research are now curated in the anthropological collections at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
After completing his Ph.D., Whittier used his anthropological expertise in a variety of positions, including Senior Community Planner with Gilbert/Commonwealth Associates, and as Rural Development Advisor in Surabaya, Indonesia, and Rampur, Nepal. His final professional role was as Associate Director of the Kellogg Foundation-funded MSU Institute of International Health in the College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Herb was a dynamic polymath rife with surprises. He played and built stringed instruments, could hold conversations in a dozen languages, and repair a motorcycle with a butter knife and pie plate (almost!). Herb was devoted to his partner and collaborator Pat, and their boys Robert and James. His good humor is sorely missed. Adapted from The Borneo Research Bulletin, authored by colleagues and friends Al and Judy Hudson, Richard Drake, Judith Tordoff, and William Lovis.
The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce that Ph.D. student Priyanka Jayakodi has won two awards from the MSU Asian Studies Center this past year: the Dr. Delia Koo Global Student Scholarship; and 3rd place in the Shao Chang Lee Scholarship Fund Best Paper Competition. The Dr. Delia Koo Global Scholarship is administered by the Asian Studies Center to provide scholarships to students from Asia and to further MSU’s interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body. The Shao Chang Lee Scholarship Fund was established by friends and colleagues of the late Professor Lee to provide scholarship awards for students who have made outstanding accomplishments in Asian studies and are pursuing or planning to pursue a program that includes Asian studies.
Priyanka is a Sociocultural Anthropology Ph.D. student specializing in medical and environmental anthropology. Her research interests include the intersections of health, gender and environment, state violence, and social suffering. Her Ph.D. dissertation will examine the social and political aspects of water insecurity in the context of Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain etiology (CKDu) in Sri Lanka. At the same time, she is also interested in studying how state violence and militarism in Sri Lanka affect health and wellbeing of certain communities more than others. Priyanka says that although these two research areas are seemingly unrelated, they focus on broader entanglement of lived experiences of marginalized groups in times of crisis.
Priyanka’s previous education and research experiences were critical preparation for her current work: She obtained her BA and MA in Sociology from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Through her research there, she explored daily occurrences of stigma and how it’s manifested through different meanings attributed to CKDu and how the social values, healthcare system, and media influence stigmatization of patients diagnosed with CKDu. It’s through this research experience she became interested in studying water insecurity in the context of CKDu. At MSU, Priyanka has found success in building upon her ethnographic research prior to joining the Department of Anthropology Ph.D. program.
Priyanka won 3rd place in the Shao Chang Lee Scholarship Fund Best Paper Competition for her paper titled: “Chronicity of Militarism: Sri Lanka’s Militarized Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic”. This paper was written for Dr. Heather Howard’s course, ANP 834: Medical Anthropology. Priyanka presented this paper at a panel entitled “Covid’s Chronicities” at SfAA 2022 Annual Meeting and she is working on publishing a book chapter based on this paper in a volume edited by Dr. Lenore Manderson and Dr. Nancy Burke. Priyanka is continuing to work with Dr. Howard to expand this research with ethnographic data and plans to publish a paper.
Priyanka will use the funds she received from the Dr. Delia Koo Global Scholarship during her initial summer fieldwork in 2022 in Sri Lanka, where she will explore the multiple socio-economic and political dimensions of water insecurity in the context of Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain etiology (CKDu) in the North-Central Province in Sri Lanka. Most of the time, dominant approaches to water insecurity focus on solutions that are technocratic, depoliticized and environmentally deterministic. Priyanka says: “I believe my study is significant because it aims to explore lived experiences of water insecurity at multiple levels (scale of the body or individual, household, and community) and how water insecurity is entangled with CKDu, poverty, gender dynamics, as well as neoliberalism”. Following the completion of her summer fieldwork project, Priyanka plans to host a collaborative photography exhibition on water security at MSU and initiate a reading group with fellow doctoral students in the college of social science who are studying water-related issues. Priyanka says these activities are especially significant because “Climate change is unarguably the number one global challenge faced by human beings around the world and specifically in underprivileged communities, and requires a broader discussion among fellow graduate students who are interested in studying water justice and water governance.”
When asked about her long-term goals, Priyanka says: “I hope my research in Sri Lanka will make a positive impact on water policies there. My long-term goal is to become a professor in Anthropology at a public university in Sri Lanka through which I could disseminate knowledge, conduct research, and continue to work with the communities that are marginalized in multiple ways.” Priyanka would like to express her gratitude to the Asian Studies Center, whose funding makes her upcoming Summer research in Sri Lanka and photography exhibits at MSU possible. And she says that she really appreciates the mentorship of her advisor, Dr. Lucero Radonic whose work on water governance and water justice inspires her. She says Dr. Radonic encourages her to explore various innovative methods for doing ethnographic research. She also acknowledges Dr. Heather Howard’s continuous and unwavering support and guidance on her research.
The Department of Anthropology is happy to announce that Professor Dr. Gabe Wrobel has received the 2022 Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentor of the Year Award for Michigan State University. This award is presented annually and recognizes faculty who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to mentoring undergraduate researchers. This award is completely student-driven; only undergraduate student researchers can submit nominations, and the University’s Undergraduate Research Ambassadors choose the finalists. Honorees are selected with the following criteria: faculty members who demonstrate a commitment to undergraduate research, provide strong professional mentoring, and serve as role models in their field of study. Dr. Wrobel was nominated by Department of Anthropology undergraduate students Alison Weber, Collin Sauter, and James Waltermeyer.
Dr. Wrobel’s work in bioarchaeology focuses on the analysis and interpretation of skeletal remains from archaeological contexts in cave and rock shelters in Maya communities in Belize. He established the MSU Bioarchaeology Laboratory in 2012, which provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to maintain and care for skeletal collections, work with databases, understand how skeletal remains provide insights about past human lives, and even publish or present work at academic conferences. Through projects and collaborations at MSU Bioarchaeology Laboratory, Dr. Wrobel provides exemplary mentorship to undergraduate and graduate students alike, inspiring future careers in bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology, and archaeology.
One of those students is Alison Weber, who is working on her Bachelor of Science in Anthropology with a minor in Social Science Quantitative Data Analytics. Her primary interest is in Forensic Anthropology, and she is currently working in Dr. Wrobel’s lab studying how Macromorphoscopic Trait Data can be utilized from past populations. She has also had the opportunity to take a graduate level seminar with Dr. Wrobel. Weber nominated Dr. Wrobel because of the emphasis he puts on undergraduate research, which she says is “crucial to MSU producing successful and well-rounded anthropologists”. She said she also appreciates that Dr. Wrobel makes himself available to students, understands the stresses of being a student-researcher, and is especially supportive in the research design process and making dense topics digestible and understandable.
Another student is Collin Sauter, who is working on his Bachelor of Science in Anthropology and Chemistry and is interested in digital archaeology and bioarchaeology. Sauter says he nominated Dr. Wrobel for the Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year Award because “he is always readily available to guide me in my research, and he also helps me prepare for my academic future. I have a lot of freedom and control over my research project, but Dr. Wrobel is incredibly helpful when I need advice and guidance.” Through research and mentorship at the MSU Bioarchaeology Laboratory, Sauter has also found opportunities to present and publish his work, providing excellent preparation for a continued education and career in anthropology.
Congratulations again to Dr. Wrobel for winning the prestigious 2022 Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentor of the Year Award for Michigan State University. We are proud to have such a supportive mentor and excellent researcher in the Department of Anthropology.
Dr. Melissa Anderson-Chavarria is a dual degree DO and PhD student and finished her PhD in 2021 under the mentorship of Dr. Linda Hunt. Dr. Anderson-Chavarria’s dissertation, “Forgotten Families of the Sea and Sun: An Ethnography of Autism in Puerto Rico,” focuses on autism families in a setting whose history and socio-economic situation bears little resemblance to North America and Europe, where most studies of autism have been conducted. Dr. Anderson-Chavarria presents a thorough review of existing autism models and management strategies, and provides a rich overview of the Puerto Rican historical and socio-economic context that challenges current autism approaches.
Based on extensive participant observation and interviews with autism families, caregivers, and professionals, Dr. Anderson-Chavarria presents a far-reaching analysis of life with autism in Puerto Rico. In particular, she examines conceptualizations of autism, causal theories and their impact on vaccination decision-making, language practices and ideologies, and creative resource navigation. Her work thus provides deep insight into the limitations of existing approaches to autism. Dr. Anderson-Chavarria’s dissertation documents the creative adaptations of these families, while highlighting the need to expand research on pressing health issues to include marginalized communities and countries. This work will inform management approaches and public policy to address the unmet needs of those too often ignored and forgotten.
Dr. Anderson-Chavarria is currently working on converting her dissertation into a more widely accessible book format along with publishing her research in academic and clinical journals. She will spend the next two years completing her clinical medical education and plans to pursue medical residency in 2023. Her areas of interest include pediatric neurology, neurosurgery, and global health.
Dr. Joseph Hefner explains concepts to PhD students Rhian Dunn and Micayla Spiros in the MSU Forensic Anthropology Lab. The skeleton they are working with was donated to the lab for educational use.
The National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Joseph T. Hefner, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Kentucky a five-year, $1.4 grant to develop a standardized graphic library to assist clinicians and biomedical researchers to communicate anatomical concepts with their patients and their families. Hefner is an MSU Department of Anthropology assistant professor and CO-PI on the grant team led by Melissa Clarkson, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical informatics from the University of Kentucky. The project, titled, “Developing standardized graphic libraries for anatomy: A focus on human craniofacial anatomy and phenotypes,” began Summer of 2021.
“The focus is on creating standards for clinicians and surgeons who meet with patients and their family members and engage them about the type of craniofacial anomaly they have and the necessary reconstructive surgery,” Hefner said.
Craniofacial anomalies are irregular facial features, such as cleft palate or cleft lip, and might require surgery. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , about one in every 1,600 babies is born with cleft lip and cleft palate in the United States.
“We are generating illustrations that can be used to guide family members through the process of understanding anomalies like cleft lip or cleft palate,” Hefner said. “We have the clinical language which is very complex, but with the addition of line drawings, clinicians can talk to family members in a more easily understood way and using tools to help the family visualize how the reconstruction will proceed.”
The team is led by Clarkson who specializes in addressing the gap between complex information and the people who need to understand it. The team members represent an interdisciplinary approach that includes a plastic surgeon, an odontologist, a traditional human anatomist, and Hefner, a biological anthropologist. Hefner’s knowledge and research on global human craniofacial variation is a key component of the project from a perspective of equity. The earliest models for the current clinical language and images of craniofacial anomalies are based upon American white populations.
“These models really miss some of the nuances of craniofacial morphology here in the United States, and my job is to provide data and an expertise on human variation to more accurately capture craniofacial variation,” Hefner said.
In other words, Hefner’s contribution will help to shape clinical language and imagery that reflect the diverse people in the United States.
“For example, ‘wide mouth’ is defined clinically as ‘the distance between the corners of the mouth greater than two standard deviations above the mean,’ – but what does that look like in a living individual?” Clarkson explained. “Drawing that phenotype [set of observable characteristics] will depend on population-level data, and that data should reflect different ages and populations. Dr. Hefner will help us to understand population-level differences in phenotypes and how to incorporate craniometric [ the scientific measurement of skulls] and macromorphoscopic [soft tissue differences] datasets into our work.”
Additionally, their research will serve as standardized visual representations for information systems and software applications. For example, their work will include developing prototypes for web-based tools such as the Human Phenotype Ontology .
This project is a new application of Hefner’s research. Much of his previous work has involved forensic anthropology and working with medical and legal death investigations.
“The exciting thing for me is that I’ve never done anything like it,” Hefner said. “I can use my love of human craniofacial morphology for a far-reaching, great cause. We’re dealing with people who have craniofacial anomalies, which is very common here in the United States, to provide them and their families and clinicians a common visual language, improving discussions between patients and doctors.”
