Department of Anthropology

  • MSU alum named Executive Director of the Hispanic Latino Commission of Michigan

    In September 2021, the Hispanic/Latino Commission of Michigan (HLCOM) named MSU alumna Dr. Isabel Montemayor-Vazquez the executive director, and she began her role  that same month. Dr. Montemayor-Vazquez received both her master’s and doctorate’s degrees from the MSU Department of Anthropology. 

     “I was interested in this position because it marries my political science background and applied activist driven anthropology background perfectly,” Dr. Montemayor-Vazquez said. “In this position, I can advocate for the needs of the community, work with non-profit organizations serving the Latinx community, train different state agencies on structural and systemic inequities, and most importantly, contribute to policy change.”

    According to their website, the commission exists to advocate for the well-being of the Hispanic/Latino population with the vision of achieving an environment of social justice and economic parity for the Hispanic/Latino population. As executive director of the commission, Dr. Montemayor-Vazquez is charged with organizing the activities of the commission and working directly with the commissioners to serve as a bridge between state government and the communities of constituents they serve. 

    “It’s an incredible and humbling leadership role, where I am able to amplify the voices of the community through various grants, partnerships, and programs we have established. Working for the state of Michigan as a civil servant, there are few Latinas in positions of leadership, and so it’s an exceptional opportunity to serve as a mentor for young first-generation Latinas who have a similar background and family history .”

    As executive director, her first goals were to hold individual listening sessions with each of the commissioners to better understand how they see their role as commissioner. Another immediate goal was to recruit a legislative intern to assist in producing a legislative report in Spanish and English that follows legislative bills and their impact on the Latinx community. Increasing job opportunities and improving economic prosperity for the Latinx community are priorities found in the mission and vision of the commission, so a third goal was to create a Latinx job fair for recent college graduates.

    “I am proud to say that all three ofthese immediate goals along with improving the on-boarding process for our new commissioners have come to fruition.”

    Dr. Montemayor-Vazquez received both her master’s and doctorate degrees at MSU in cultural anthropology. During her time at MSU, she felt the most meaningful opportunity she experienced was being able to teach. Her teaching experience at MSU prepared her for accepting a professorship at UTA Arlington where she taught Sociology and Anthropology for six years. As executive director, she still has opportunities to teach on many of the topics that were interesting to her as a student and are pertinent to the Latinx community of Michigan. 

    Another meaningful experience during her time at MSU was when the department funded her and several other graduate students to present their research at the Society for Applied Anthropology conference in Merida, Yucatan. 

    “My research was centered around Michoacan and I had never ventured as far as Merida. It was such a unique experience to travel with fellow anthropology students to present in such an accepting environment, on a panel together, and also learn about the indigenous history of Yucatan together.” 

    Dr. Montemayor-Vazquez looks back on receiving her advanced degree in anthropology as a wonderful and useful tool in being able to give back to her community. 

    “I never could have imagined I would be able to use my degree in the community where I grew up and make a difference in so many people’s lives. The Hispanic/Latino Commission does a lot of work behind the scenes to ensure the Latinx community has the necessary platforms to voice their concerns. Additionally, the commission strives to provide ample opportunities for the Latinx community to thrive in the state of Michigan. It’s a privilege to work in this capacity and serve my community.” 

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  • Dr. Hourani Receives Multiple Grants for International Research

    man in front of painting
    Dr. Najib Hourani

    Najib Hourani, Assistant Professor in both Anthropology and Global Urban Studies, received a Fulbright Fellowship and a Council of American Overseas Research Centers Senior Scholar Fellowship for his new research project working with Syrian refugees in Jordan. His project seeks to understand their needs and aspirations for the reconstruction of their neighborhoods, towns, and cities. The project, entitled Toward a Positive Peace?: Urban Reconstruction in Syria, will have him conducting research in Jordan from August 2019-August 2020, with funded follow up work the summer of 2021.

    Congratulations to Dr. Hourani!

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  • Featured Faculty, Dr. Lucero Radonic

    Featured Faculty, Dr. Lucero Radonic
    Dr. Radonic in the desert

    Dr. Lucero Radonic, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, joined the department in 2014. Her research centers around the human/environment interaction within urban landscapes. More specifically, the human governance of changing landscapes, the ways nature is transformed for human use and how we make decisions about the distribution of natural resources within dynamic, urban environments.

    morning in the Sonora Desert Arizona
    Early morning in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, United States

    In Arizona, where she grew up, water has always fascinated her and was ever present in conversations. Her fondness for the desert environment lead her to pursue her BS in environmental sciences in 2005 from the University of Texas El Paso. It was during her early studies that Lucero quickly discovered that while she enjoyed spending time outside in the forest and the mountains, she had other questions about the role of humans in those beautiful (or destroyed) environments. There was little room for the exploration of these issues within the realm of environmental sciences. During a research fellowship in Hawaii, she got to hike the forest daily on a military site and collect seed samples. As beautiful as the landscape was, the constant avoidance of undetonated missiles and feral pigs led her back to the lab each day and the realization that there was little room for questioning or explaining the human angle within all this work. The lab work did not allow her the freedom to answer some of her own questions such as, what are the stories of these seeds, nor did it allow her to speak to people and find out why these seeds were important to them.

    Given her interest in the role of humans within the environment during her undergraduate tenure, Dr. Radonic began taking anthropology classes where she discovered the book, Pigs for the Ancestors by Rappaport. After reading it, she was amazed and fascinated by the ways it dealt with themes of population growth, animal husbandry, ritual, and warfare. All of these topics were interwoven in such a fluid way that it made her want to read more anthropology. These issues began to make her question the politics of the environment and helped her decide she wanted to approach human/environmental interactions from the human perspective rather than the environmental one. Issues like these led her to pursue anthropology for her graduate education. She received her PhD from the University of Arizona in 2014.

    Currently, Dr. Radonic has several projects she is working on but her larger one examines green infrastructure in cities – man made infrastructure that tries to emulate natural flows.  She is interested in how people’s relationship to nature in cities changes through urbanization. In Arizona, for example, policy makers and residents are reconceptualizing what rainwater is, especially as her home state confronts prolonged drought and all states continue to battle over water rights. Until recently in Arizona, rainwater was a problem to be controlled so it did not cause chaos through flooding; now, it has become a resource. The conceptualization of rainwater has switched from it being a contaminated nuisance that must be removed to it now being considered a renewable resource that should be harnessed and collected. People are changing both their conceptualization of what water resources are as well as how we are governing them when confronted by climate change and urban expansion. This shift in the mindset of urban governance fascinates her and offers possibilities for collaboration with cities. This is where Dr. Radonic hopes her research will have an impact. Her research with this new project has the potential to make actual change in urban policies and impact people’s lives.

    two women in the central market in Hermosillo Sonora Mexico
    Lucero catching up in the central market, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

    Dr. Radonic finds this a fascinating change from previous projects, also centered around water rights and water access, involving indigenous water rights in Mexico where her work had little hope of impacting people. Primarily because it is hard to have an impact when the people you work with are not able to help make the decisions about water infrastructure. One of her goals as an anthropology professor is to learn (and then teach others) how to communicate better with people outside out the field and with the public so that anthropology can have a broader impact. Lucero finds the most potential power in these issues lies in collaborative projects where people are part of both the decision-making process and implementation.

    Lucero’s favorite aspect of her job is getting to be outside and interacting with people, both of which she enjoys immensely. Her previous research dealt with water rights and political activism, topics that often-had people concerned and hesitant to speak about the issues she was involved with. In her current research on water management and concepts of water, people are excited, wanting to talk about news ways to utilize and conserve water. The ability to switch her research focus to how we are conceptualizing and managing water from the political confrontations over water rights allows her to deal with places of hope, excitement, and possibility, instead of places of despair and hesitance — she enjoys this immensely. Here at MSU, one of the things she likes most about our department is enjoying happy hour with her colleagues. She particularly appreciates the fluidity in conversation between the various subfields of our discipline and feels that the current faculty strive to make sure we all converse about ways our research relates to each other so that no feels excluded. Dr. Radonic enjoys her colleagues and loves her job here at MSU.

    Tagua Reserve Chile
    Dr. Lucero Radonic taking it all in; Tagua Tagua Reserve, Los Lagos Region, Chile

    When not researching, writing or teaching, Lucero enjoys hiking, biking, and just generally loves being outdoors as much as possible. Cross country skiing is a new activity she has been exploring, although coming from a desert environment, the cold is something she struggles to enjoy. Anything that takes her outdoors and involves elevational changes is at the top of her list so she truly enjoys exploring Michigan. Photography is also something she readily appreciates, and she finds no shortage of subject material along the River Trail here on campus. She is currently rereading Jim Harrison’s True North, a book by a native Michigander from Grayling, describing his love for his home state’s environment. Dr. Radonic says it helps her understand how people can love the cold as much as she loves the heat, one of the reasons she enjoys reading fiction and historical nonfiction. Look for her upcoming publications in Economic Anthropology and Water Alternatives, which should be out by January.

    To read the rest of this newsletter, click here.

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  • News Around the Department

    Marcella Oman on the Great Wall of ChinaCongratulations to Marcella Omans for her NSF Graduate Research Fellowship she received for her project entitled “La Mesa Barrio Chino, Tijuana, Mexico: China’s Gateway to Latin America.” Her work focuses on providing insight into how newly arrived Chinese immigrants and business people leverage preexisting Chinese networks to gain economic footholds in Latin America; and on revealing how perceived Chinese identity in Latin America and the mediation of the expectations associated with this have shaped the Sino-Latin American narrative. Through her NSF funding, she plans to conduct multilingual (Spanish and Mandarin Chinese) ethnographic fieldwork in La Mesa Barrio Chino, Tijuana, Mexico to provide an example of the growing Sino-Latin American relationship in a local context. Her work will help inform those who are concerned with the growing relationship between China and Mexico and its potential impacts on the community and the region in areas such as trade, urban planning and development, urban diversity and attracting foreign investment. We wish Ms. Omans safe travels as she begins her dissertation research.

     

     

    title of Forensic Anthropology journalDr. Joe Hefner was announced as Editor for Forensic Anthropology. This is a journal devoted to the advancement of the science and professional development of the fields of forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology. It primarily focuses on research, technical advancements, population data, and case studies related to the recovery and analysis of human remains in a forensic context. Topics such as forensic osteology, skeletal biology, and modern human skeletal variation are within the scope of Forensic Anthropology. In this first edition, Dr. Hefner and Dr. Todd Fenton have a multi-authored article, “Forensic Fractography of Bone: A New Approach to Skeletal Trauma Analysis.”

    Also in the first edition of Forensic Anthropology, alumnus Dr. Nicholas V. Passalacqua and Dr. Hefner have a multi-authored article, “Forensic Analysis: A Journal for our Discipline.”

    cover of American AnthropologistPublication of research in American Anthropologist is a noteworthy achievement for anthropologists, and we congratulate Dr. Laurie Kroshus Medina and Dr. Mindy Morgan for their recent contributions. Dr. Medina published “Governing Through the Market: Neoliberal Environmental Government in Belize” in 2015. Dr. Morgan’s article, “Anthropologists in Unexpected Places: Tracing Anthropological Theory, Practice, and Policy in Indians at Work” appeared in 2017.

     

     

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  • Undergraduate Research Symposium and Showcase

    photo of msu anthropology undergraduate research symposium
    2017 Department of Anthropology Undergraduate Research Symposium

    The Department of Anthropology held its First Annual Anthropology Research Symposium and Showcase for Undergraduate Students on Thursday, December 7th from 6:30 – 8:30 pm. The idea for this symposium blossomed out of conversations between Dr. Fredy Rodriquez and the department chair, Dr. Jodie O’Gorman, about the need to create an open house for our undergraduate students to show off their hard work and excite other students about research. The two quickly agreed that a research symposium and showcase would be the most beneficial for students as a supportive audience of peers, friends, parents and faculty would provide an opportunity for exchange and feedback. Many of the participants then turned their presentations into entries in the larger University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum.

    undergraduate explains his research poster to an onlooker
    Mike Gates explains his research, “Lithic Analysis of the Perrin Mink Farm Site.”

    The Anthropology Research Symposium and Showcase offers an opportunity for parents, friends and others to learn more about our undergraduate students’ independent work and collaboration with faculty and graduate students around the university. All anthropology majors, minors and those who had collaborated on anthropological research initiatives with faculty members or independently were invited to participate. The student research projects were displayed in recorded Power Point and poster presentation formats. Dr. Rodriguez and other faculty members mentored students who had never had the occasion to share their research prior to the event. Twenty projects in all were showcased at the 2017 Symposium with research topics ranging from medical anthropology, archaeology, forensic anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, and social media anthropology. Light snacks and coffee were provided, and we are happy to announce that we received close to 120 attendees.

    undergraduate stands by her research poster
    Amy Hair presents her photogrammetry work, “Craniometric Analysis Using 3D Modeling.”

     

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  • Anthropology Graduating Senior Breanna Escamilla delivers MSU College of Social Science Spring 2018 Student Commencement Speech

    undergraduate Breanna Escamilla in cap and gownMs. Breanna Escamilla was chosen as the MSU College of Social Science Spring 2018 Student Commencement Speaker. Breanna majored in anthropology with a focus on sociocultural studies as well as completing a double minor in Chicano/Latino Studies and African American/ African Studies.

    During her time at MSU, she has participated in various civic engagement activities including volunteering at Detroit Public Schools. Ms. Escamilla is a sister in the first Latina based sorority in the country, Lambda Theta Alpha and holds two jobs on campus.

    Working with people and woman of color such as herself inspires her to tell her own story and this is ingrained in her love for the social sciences because she feels that every major, minor and specialization is a way to tell someones’ own story. Breanna will attend the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign to pursue her PhD.

    Click here to view Breanna’s story featured in MSU Today.

     

    Click here to read the rest of the Spring 2018 newsletter.

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  • Marcela Omans Awarded NSF

    Marcela Omans Awarded NSF

    Marcella OmansCongratulations to Marcela Omans for her NSF Graduate Research Fellowship she received for her project entitled “La Mesa Barrio Chino, Tijuana, Mexico: China’s Gateway to Latin America.”

    Her work focuses on providing insight into how newly arrived Chinese immigrants and business people leverage preexisting Chinese networks to gain economic footholds in Latin America; and on revealing how perceived Chinese identity in Latin America and the mediation of the expectations associated with this have shaped the Sino-Latin American narrative. In recent decades, Chinese corporations, communities, and individuals have increasingly looked beyond national borders for new economic opportunities. This shift was heralded by China’s joining the World Trade Organization (2001) and implementation of policies which encourage and incentivize overseas investment and migration. Scholars across many disciplines are beginning to study this increase in transnational activities by Chinese entities, including Chinese exchanges with Latin America. Although Latin American connections with China date back to the 1800s, this recent era of engagement is by far the most robust. Currently, much of the Sino-Latin American literature is focused on macro-level global processes such as trade, flow of Foreign Direct Investment, diplomacy implications, and the greater South-South cooperation narrative. However, we must recognize the role that local ethnic Chinese networks in Latin America play in shaping these activities and their overall success and visibility (DeHart, 2015). To date, research looking at these more localized, transnational Sino-Latin American relationships has been limited.

    Through her NSF funding, she plans to conduct multilingual (Spanish and Mandarin Chinese) ethnographic fieldwork in La Mesa Barrio Chino, Tijuana, Mexico to provide an example of the growing Sino-Latin American relationship in a local context. La Mesa Barrio Chino currently has an estimated Chinese population of 15,000 people which has more than tripled since 2009. These communities include a pastiche of new and old immigrant communities as well as the local Mexican community. Located in northern Mexico, this community is strategically placed on the border with the United States and near the many factories that span the Mexican countryside. Subsequent to the establishment of a direct flight route from Shanghai to Tijuana in 2008, this site has become a gateway for both newly arrived individual immigrants and wealthy Chinese business people. Thus, it presents a good case study of this wave of Sino-Latin American engagement and the effects it will have on investment and development in the region. The success of newly arrived migrants and business people is not only contingent on their own social fields but also on the urban planning and economic development policies implemented by the local, regional and national government. Her research will be divided into a summer of preliminary pilot fieldwork followed by a full year of fieldwork.

    Marcela’s work will help inform those who are concerned with the growing relationship between China and Mexico and its potential impacts on the community and region. This includes scholars and policymakers concerned with trade, urban planning and development, urban diversity and attracting foreign investment.

    We wish Ms. Omans safe travels as she begins her dissertation research.

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  • Researching Anti-Muslim Sentiment Effects on Women

    Dr Tetreault and her student Ms. Tahir
    Dr. Tetreault and Sara Tahir attending the AAA after their paper presentation, November 2017

    Since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, Muslim Americans have been the focus of increased scrutiny and surveillance. More recently, however, the period since and leading up to the American presidential election shows that: 1) anti-Muslim hate crimes are on the rise, according to FBI data and 2) anti-Muslim public discourse and everyday aggression are coalescing against Muslim women, and especially hijabis or women wearing headscarves. Meanwhile, in France, a similar pattern has emerged in the public targeting of Muslims, and especially hijabi women. As a New York Times article notes, in recent years in France “80 percent of the anti-Muslim acts involving violence and assault were directed at women, most of them veiled.”

    Dr. Tetreault is partnering with Dr. Farha Abbasi (Psychiatry, MSU) and Sara Tahir (2nd year graduate student in Anthropology) to investigate how Muslim women in the United States and France are responding comparatively to an apparent rise in gendered Islamophobia in each context. This research is urgent because women’s responses to anti-Muslim sentiment in a post-election moment constitute ephemeral data. Among other outcomes, they document that women’s self-conscious but fraught choices remain true to oneself and one’s religion, despite becoming a target for racist or Islamophobic violence. They also seek to understand how intersecting identities such as ethnicity/race, immigrant status, age, and other factors play a role in how individual Muslim women are experiencing these shifts in French and U.S. political climates.

    Thus far, their team has collected 40 surveys from Muslim women respondents from a variety of backgrounds, conducted one focus group in Michigan, and presented two conference papers including a co-authored paper with Sara Tahir at the recent American Anthropological Association (AAA) meetings in DC. They are currently writing up the results of this preliminary research to submit for publication. Thus far, they have been fortunate to obtain internal funding for their important work. For the next phase of their research, they plan to submit external grant proposals.

    In spring 2017, Dr. Tetreault was able to hire Sara Tahir as a research assistant thanks to a small grant from the Muslim Studies Program at MSU. Over the summer, thanks to a Strategic Partnership Grant from the Center for Gender in Global Perspective (GenCen), Dr. Tetreault was also able to conduct preliminary research on a two week stay in Paris, France. There, she developed long-term international strategic partnerships with Sciences Politiques, and migration expert Dr. Wihtol De Wenden. Dr. Tetreault and Ms. Tahir were able to partner with a French practitioner and social worker Sanhadja Akrouf, who will help them recruit survey respondents for the French portion of their study, to complement and complete the current research among Muslim women in Michigan.

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  • Featured Faculty: Dr. Beth Drexler

    Featured Faculty: Dr. Beth Drexler

    Beth DrexlerDr. Beth Drexler has been very research active recently, thanks to an American Institute for Indonesian Studies Luce Fellowship (2014-2016) and a Fulbright (2015-2017). Her current project explores human rights and memories of violence in the aftermath of authoritarian rule in Indonesia and Timor-Leste (known as East Timor during its occupation by Indonesia). Her next book, tentatively titled “Human Rights, Transitional Justice and History in Indonesia,” analyzes the process of producing and circulating knowledge about past human rights violations in and through public culture, film, fiction, art, courtrooms, documents, and efforts to write new histories. She’s conducted archival research, interviews, and participant observation in relation to the past, and is also working with organizations to explore new issues in the democratic present.

    One focus of her current project addresses the commemorations and the materiality of history following the authoritarian Suharto era. Her dissertation research was conducted during a moment of national euphoria following the change in government, and substantial human rights legislation was passed at that time. Now nearly 20 years later, her research has a longitudinal aspect. In Indonesia there has been no formal, state-led process examining the authoritarian past. Instead, people have been working in more diverse ways throughout civil society to reconcile the country’s violent past and democratic present. For example, last year she observed events related to the 50th anniversary of mass killings of suspected members of the then legal communist party. She has interviewed victim support groups and student activists to understand their memory practices and how these reflect the present moment and people’s aspirations for the future. What do activists see as victories and milestones in human rights and the processes of memory? She is particularly interested in how ‘knowing’ plays a role in these practices, since the authoritarian era was a time of propaganda. What does truth recovery and the ‘end of lies’ look like for people and for their social relationships?

    On an upcoming visit, she will work with colleagues at the University of Indonesia on a series of seminars related to human rights and ethnography, which will further her exploration of how Indonesian millennials view human rights norms. Although they were born after the Suharto years, millennials get drawn into justice and memory projects as they learn their country’s history. Young people are particularly savvy about online resources, and are collecting and curating their own collections of stories. In the process, they are participating in global human rights networks and producing history, using new media to tell stories differently and contribute to innovative archives of past voices.

    Dr. Drexler’s research feeds into her teaching at MSU as she hopes to inspire her students to be engaged global citizens in classes such as Ethnographic Methods, Globalization and Justice, Human Rights, and Anthropological Approaches to Peace and Justice Studies. Undergraduates in her classes have kept “justice journals” in which they integrate theoretical readings with examples from their own lives that they deem important, such as song lyrics, bumper stickers, and graffiti. At some point she hopes to have her MSU students interact with her Indonesian students so they can share their methods of using social media to record and tell stories, map historical sites, and create their own narratives of history.

    For Dr. Drexler, working with graduate students in MSU’s Department of Anthropology is one of the best parts of her job. She’s often taught the first year theory class (“Roots”) and has appreciated the opportunity to think more broadly about the discipline while sharing perspectives with the many bright students from various subdisciplines. She also enjoys teaching thematic graduate seminars on State Violence as well as Knowledge, Memory and Archives. Working with graduate students
    she mentors on their own projects also helps her think comparatively about human rights and public anthropology. Directing Peace and Justice Studies at MSU has enabled her to work with undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, alumni and community members to create curricular and co-curricular opportunities for engaging shared thematic interests. The Department of Anthropology has also been very supportive of her research and interdisciplinary initiatives on campus, for which she is grateful.

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