Lori Jahnke, the Department of Anthropology librarian, and her colleagues at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of Iowa, and researchers at Fiocruz will share a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation aimed at responsible management of scientific collections created under unequal power dynamics. Jahnke and her colleagues plan to establish and test a methodology for collaborative, community-based work to document and understand subjects’ experience of scientific research and the afterlives of scientific objects that are produced. The project will help researchers reevaluate assumptions about data collection, their methodologies, intellectual property and knowledge production.
Marcela Benítez (Emory University, Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Anthropology) and Jacob Abernethy (Georgia Tech, School of Computer Science) were recipients of the AI.Humanity Seed Grant Program. They were awarded $100,000 in funding towards their proposal to develop and implement “smart” testing stations using artificial intelligence (AI) for long-term cognitive assessment and monitoring of wild capuchin monkeys at the Toboga Forest Reserve in Costa Rica.
Dr. Atshan, Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Emory University, was interviewed by Daniel Estrin for Consider This. The episode is available online.
Looking for some summer reading? Check out Anthropos, an e-publication created by Emory Anthropology students, featuring writing by our own undergraduates! https://anthropospublication.com/
SJ Dillon has been awarded the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship for their dissertation research into gender dysphoria. They will will provide an ethnographic account of a diverse group of trans communities in contemporary Atlanta, Georgia, and will compare discourses on gender dysphoria in national medical and state-level legal discourses to that ethnographic data.
Hunter Akridge is one of 16 Beincke Scholars nationwide. He has received the Department of Anthropology’s Outstanding Junior Award and the Trevor E. Stokol Scholarship for undergraduate research. Find more details on his research in the Emory News article.
The research found different and previously undetected ancestry in a man and a woman dating back 800 and 1,500 years, both from an archeological site in eastern Uruguay. This supports the theory of separate migrations from North America into different areas in South America. “We’ve now provided genetic evidence that this theory may be correct,” Lindo tells Phys.org.
Photo left to right: Back row: Dr. Debra Vidali, Emily Edwards, Clio Hancock, Phoebe Einzig-Roth, Shreya Sharma. Front row: Vijwala Yakkanti, Rosseirys De La Rosa, Sabrina Jin, Priscilla Lin. Not pictured: Michele Chen, Thisara Gunawardana, Cora Hirst, Bushra Rahman.
The Anthropology department is proud to recognize our 2021-2022 honors graduates! In another year of uncertainty and challenging research conditions, we had a new record number of students completing honors projects. This year, twelve Anthropology students successfully defended honors theses, the culmination of a year (or more!) of independent research and writing. All projects were completed under the supervision of faculty advisors and committee members from within and outside of Anthropology, with support from faculty honors coordinator Dr. Debra Vidali. These students were honored at our Anthropology Honors and Awards Ceremony on April 25th. Two students graduated in December, and ten are scheduled to graduate with honors at the Emory University Commencement Ceremony on Monday, May 9th.
Please see below for a full list of thesis. You can read more about this year’s honors students and their projects on our website. Please join us in congratulating these students on their hard work and accomplishment!
Michele Chen: Acquisition of Reproductive Health Knowledge: How girls in Georgia learn about their reproductive bodies Advisor: John Lindo
Rosseirys De La Rosa: Understanding the Evolutionary History of Ancient Indigenous Individuals in Uruguay Advisor: John Lindo
Emily Edwards: People, plants, and prescriptions: Effects of herbal supplements on pharmaceutical drug metabolism Advisor: Cassandra Quave
Phoebe Einzig-Roth: Acute PTSD and Depression Symptoms in African American Women Newly Diagnosed With Breast Cancer Advisors: Jennifer Stevens, Mel Konner
Thisara Gunawardana: Analysis of the COVID-19 Response in Sri Lanka Advisor: Mel Konner
Clio Hancock: Close Quarters: An Investigation of Neighborhood Effects and SARS-CoV-2 in Chicago Advisor: Craig Hadley
Cora Hirst: Evidence of Selection on Circadian Regulation of the Immune System in Ancient Iberia Advisor: John Lindo
Sabrina Jin: New Perspectives on Race and Racism Among Brazilians of Asian Descent Advisors: Jessica Ham, Craig Hadley
Priscilla Lin: Realities of First-Generation, Low-Income Scholars at Predominantly White Institutions: The Emory Experience Advisor: Justin Hosbey
Bushra Rahman: Frustration responses of single mothers to prolonged infant crying Advisor: Jim Rilling
Shreya Sharma: A Political Economy Approach to Understanding Abortion in Nepal Advisor: Craig Hadley
Vijwala Yakkanti: Associations Between Emotion Regulation and Heart Rate Variability in Trauma-Exposed Black Women Advisor: Negar Fani, Mel Konner
Ruşen Bingül, a second-year Ph.D. student, has been awarded the American Ethnological Society (AES) Field Grant and the Halle Institute Global Research Fellowship for her summer doctoral research fieldwork. Both grants are for students who are in the pre-candidacy and whose projects involve ethnographic field research in anthropology or allied fields. Ruşen will use these grants for her summer fieldwork from May 15 to August 20, focusing on legal pluralism and alternative justice mechanism among Kurds in Mardin, the Kurdish Region of Turkey.
Chikako Ozawa-de Silva, Elena Lesley, Bruce Knauft, Bradd Shore
Marjorie Shostak Award for Excellence and Humanity in Ethnography:
1st prize: Elena Lesley for her dissertation “Testimony as Transformation: Resilience, Regeneration, and Moral Action through Spiritually-Adapted Narrative Therapy in Cambodia”, advised by Bruce Knauft.
Runner up: Tatenda Mangurenje for her dissertation “Fractured Belonging: Black Police Officers and the New Civil Rights Movement”, advised by Peter Brown.
George Armelagos Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student: Megan Beney Kilgore and Scott Schnur
EMORY ANTHROPOLOGY 