In 2018, then UK Prime Minister Theresa May said, “Loneliness is one of the greatest public health challenges of our time,” and appointed the country’s first minister for loneliness. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called loneliness a “growing health epidemic,” stating that social isolation is “associated with a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day.”
What do the following have in common? Rising rates of social anxiety and social withdrawal, alarming rates of suicide (up 51% among teenage girls in the U.S. in just a two-year period from 2019-2021, and up over 300% over a ten-year period), the increasing number of mass shootings, the epidemic of burnout in healthcare and other sectors, eating disorders. All too often, at the heart of each of these is a lack of social connection and the feeling of being loved, accepted, and understood. This is loneliness. Education is the most powerful tool we have for bringing about this change. Recent research in psychology and neuroscience shows that young children and even infants have a natural orientation towards kindness and helping over cruelty.
Dr. Alexander Hinton graduated in 1997 and majored in Psychology and Cultural Anthropology. His dissertation was on the Cambodian genocide. Today, he is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Director of the Center for the Genocide and Human Rights, and UNESCO Chair in Genocide Prevention at Rutgers University, Newark. He is an award-winning author and editor of seventeen books, including most recently, Anthropological Witness: Lessons from the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (Cornell, 2022)—which focuses on his testimony as an expert witness at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal and his exchange with “Brother Number Two.”
The AIME award is reserved for persons who have “raised public awareness of anthropology and have had a broad and sustained public impact at local, national, and international level.” Congratulations Dr. Alexander Hinton!
Read more about the AAA 2022 Award Recipients here!
“Selling Industrial ‘Gallina Criolla’ Products in Guatemala” details these new corporate marketing tactics of competing with gallina criolla economies of indgenous and peasant peoples. The report begins by summarizing the latest science on the economic, ecological, social, nutritional, and taste differences between gallina criolla and industrial chicken. It shows that the gallinas criollas that emerge from campesina systems of production are different animals than the industrial chickens that emerge from industrial systems of production. The methods of rearing involved, the ecological and economic functions the birds perform, and the nutritional value and taste of the chicken meat from the two systems are not the same. At the same time, while gallina criolla production is one part of agroecological systems that tend towards diversity, industrial production of commercial chickens tends towards homogeneity.
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.
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 