Anthropology Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP)

Students Raynaud and Mehaffey Selected as Undergraduate Research Fellows

March 7, 2019

St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) anthropology students Melody Raynaud and Daniel Mehaffey have been selected as inaugural Undergraduate Research Fellows for the American Anthropological Association. Raynaud and Mehaffey are two of only six fellows selected from a nationwide pool of applicants that received the fellowship. Since receiving the fellowship from the American Anthropological Association, a first-year student, Colette Nortman, has joined the team in order to gain first hand ethnographic research experience.

Funded by the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, this program supports research projects that use ethnographic or mixed methods to address the question, how do anthropology majors prepare for life after college?

With mentor and professor of anthropology William Roberts, Raynaud and Mehaffey will focus their research on answering questions regarding students’ experiences of navigating career development. Their study also explores how building a community of practice among students and faculty at SMCM promotes the development of skills and knowledge that develop graduates’ character.

We asked Raynaud what she hopes to gain from this experience and her future directions after graduating from SMCM. Raynaud commented she is hoping the fellowship will enrich her anthropology experience beyond the skills learned in the classroom and hopes this study will help to reinforce how her anthropology degree will help her excel in any career she chooses to pursue.

This study will enable Raynaud and Mehaffey to submit a proposal to present their findings at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association jointly with the Canadian Anthropological Association in November, 2019, in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Professor Roberts believes that these fellowships will provide the anthropology department with empirical information that will be useful as the College transitions to a renewed core curriculum, Learning through Experiential and Applied Discovery (LEAD). He also believes that while the department has done well preparing students for life after SMCM, this study will help strengthen the links between SMCM alumni and the department and our current anthropology majors and minors.

This article was written by St. Mary’s College of Maryland student and Office of Research and Sponsored Programs Fellow Mackenzie Brooks ’21, who adapted Michael Bruckler’s January 16, 2019 story published in the SMCM online Newsroom.

Professor Julia King Featured in The Washington Post

November 27, 2018

Professor of Anthropology Julia King is featured in Nov. 21 edition of The Washington Post. King’s research team includes St. Mary’s College of Maryland alumni Scott Strickland (’08), Catherine Dye (’17) and Max Sickler (’18), along with current students through King’s anthropology classes.

King, in collaboration with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Chesapeake Conservancy, and the state-recognized Rappahannock Tribe of Virginia, has been tracing the history and development of the Rappahannock Indians in early American history (200-1850 AD). This research is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings,
conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The full Washington Post article can be found here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/the-indians-were-right-the-english-were-wrong-a-virginia-tribe-reclaims-its-past/2018/11/21/2380f92c-e8f4-11e8-bbdb-72fdbf9d4fed_story.html?utm_term=.a8695d72b1b0

SMCM Alumnus Continues Archaeological Collaborations

May 4, 2018

Scott Strickland conducting archaeology in the field

An archaeologist and adjunct instructor, Scott Strickland is one of many successful alumni working to enrich the St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) community. A 2008 graduate, Strickland has worked on SMCM archaeological projects for almost a decade. Strickland began his archaeological career with Professor of Anthropology Julie King, finding and testing Moore’s Lodge, the first courthouse of Charles County, MD. He has since worked on a wide variety of projects, and was instrumental in the discovery of Zekiah Fort, a defensive fortification established in 1680 by Gov. Charles Calvert to protect Piscataway people from northern Native American raiders. Strickland received his Master of Science from the University of Southampton in the UK, specializing in archaeological computing. He also worked on the Colonial Encounters Project, an effort funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities focused on cataloging artifacts and analyzing historical maps for future use.

Scott Strickland using a surveyor’s scope in the field

Currently, Strickland is working on a project funded by the National Park Service, entitled “An Ethnographic Overview and Assessment of Piscataway Park in Prince George’s County.” The grant funding this project was awarded to Dr. King in September, 2017. Strickland, along with SMCM staff member Travis Hanson, hopes to document changes to the Piscataway Park community in Prince George’s County by talking with local residents, gathering historical documents including land grants and tax forms, and recording alterations to the physical landscape. He also serves as an adjunct instructor at SMCM, teaching anthropological applications of Geographic Information Systems and computational methods in anthropology. Strickland is one of countless SMCM alumni that are giving back to the St. Mary’s community through his commitment to historic preservation and ability to teach.

The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the U.S. Government.

SMCM Wraps Up Spirit of Jazz and Democracy Program

March 27, 2018

Music has always been a means of salvation. This can be seen in a recently completed project, “From Slavery to Freedom in St. Mary’s City: Engaging History to Strengthen Democracy with Jazz”. Created by Professor of Philosophy Sybol Anderson and Professor of English Jeff Coleman, this project served to promote the intersectionality between democracy, creative expression, and slavery in southern Maryland. The project was supported by the Maryland Humanities Council, and engaged community members of all ages and backgrounds in historical, cultural, and philosophical reflection on the meaning of slavery in St. Mary’s City and beyond. Participants explored how African-Americans liberated themselves from oppression by “improvising” methods of “physical” escape from slavery and of spiritual escape in jazz; and how through engaging this history, one can liberate themselves for an inclusive democracy. The multi-disciplinary project intentionally varied both it’s engagement medium (symposiums, lectures, and workshops) and it’s content (archaeological finds, jazz concerts, and spoken-word performances).

Program events included a symposium held on September 23rd, 2017 at which St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) faculty, students, and visiting scholars shared with the general public information about the discovery of archaeological evidence that St. Mary’s Female Seminary owned slaves in the 19th century. Discussions highlighted narratives about those enslaved people and slavery in Maryland. For democracy to flourish, the truth about slavery in Maryland has to be uncovered and recognized, allowing for healing, inspiration, and understanding.

Workshops entitled “Improvisation, Self-Emancipation, and Democratic Participation,” were held in October and November 2017. Through historical study, philosophical reflection, and improvisational activities, participants explored the themes of improvisation, innovation, and freedom linking jazz and democracy. They learned how jazz stimulates free thought and expression and how to employ jazz concepts in daily life to nurture democratic listening and practice.

Along with the symposium and workshops was a lecture and performance titled “The Spirit of Jazz and Democracy.” The opening lecture was part of the aforementioned symposium that illuminated jazz as the embodiment of democracy and traced it from slavery to innovations by Maryland jazz artists such as Billie Holiday to its use by the US government to promote ideas of American democracy globally. The closing lecture and performance on December 8th, 2017, featured workshop participants’ reflections on the connections between jazz and democracy.

Exploring the local African-American narrative and its connection to liberation and democracy through jazz was a profound research approach. This project was able to unite scholars from varied disciplines, as well as students and local SMCM community members, thus succeeding in the goal of bring SMCM closer together, engaging with the past for a better, more democratic, future.

This project was made possible by a grant from Maryland Humanities, through support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or Maryland Humanities.

SMCM Students Present Research at Anthropology Conference

March 22, 2018

Anthropology is a very diverse discipline which can be applied to solve a variety of questions or problems. This could be seen at the recent University of Maryland Anthroplus Conference which brought students together to present on modern applications of anthropology. With support from the St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) Anthropology Department, three SMCM students were selected as the only undergraduates to present their research at this graduate student conference. The conference was separated into three thematic segments: How We Are Where We Are: Places, Spaces & Belonging, How We Are Known: Bodies, Minds, and Identities, and How We Do What We Do: Contemporary Archaeological Methods. Each SMCM student presented on one of the thematic approaches at this conference.

SMCM Senior Patrick Martin

The first student to present was Patrick Martin, a Senior, majoring in Anthropology with a focus in conflict studies. Under the thematic group Places, Spaces & Belonging, Patrick presented his Senior Tutorial research on conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). His project was titled Corruption, Conflict, and the Congolese: Proposing a New Model for Conflict Analysis in the DRC. Synthesizing past ethnographies, news reports, and statistical data on the occurrence of violence among individuals, he proposed a new model for socio-economic causes of continued conflict within the Congo. Citing the creation of informal economies due to lack of infrastructure, groups use ethnic identity and violence to regain agency and survive. Patrick hopes to continue his research and apply his model to other conflicts, as well as investigate ways to find peace.

SMCM Senior Rita Druffner

Next to present was Rita Druffner, a Senior, with a double major in Anthropology and Psychology. Under the theme Bodies, Minds, and Identities, Rita presented her current St. Mary’s Project on the Anthropology of Autism. With the increase of people diagnosed with autism, this project analyzed autistic identity, through societies lens, as well as the lens of diagnosed individuals. Rita interviewed individuals diagnosed with autism from the St. Mary’s community to collect ethnographic data and create a life history. She reviewed how autism is diagnosed by the Psychiatric community, as well as how autism is portrayed and viewed in society. She concludes that autism creates a unique identity for each individual, not defining them, but becoming one of the many aspects of who they are as a person.

SMCM Junior Matthew Borden

The final SMCM student to present was Matthew Borden, a Junior and Anthropology major. Presenting on Contemporary Archaeological Methods, Matthew showcased his investigation into the relevance of oyster shells found at Lower Brambly, a Native American archeological site in St. Mary’s County. First conducting an archeological dig in collaboration with SMCM Professor of Archaeology Julie King, Matthew focused on the size, placement, and quantity of oyster shells found in Lower Brambly. He hypothesized that the increased size of these shells meant a smaller Native American population, allowing oysters to grow larger. Matthew tested his hypothesis by measuring, classifying, and comparing, shells found through shovel test pits. He compared oyster shell size characteristics with documented local historical demographics and found that as population size grew, smaller and smaller oyster shells were present. Matthew also speculated that the largest oyster shells would be found at locations where higher status people lived . Much information can be gained through studying the distribution and characteristics of oyster shells and this knowledge can be applied to other archeological work in the region.

All three presenters offered their unique take on how anthropology can be applied in the twenty-first century. Representing SMCM as the only undergraduates students among graduate students from other colleges, these students took the opportunity to showcase their research to a wider community.

Professor of Anthropology Julia King Awarded $240,000 Grant for Native American Study

August 24, 2017

Dr. Julia King (third from left), collaborators, and project participants

St. Mary’s College of Maryland Professor of Anthropology Julia King was awarded a $240,000 grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to trace the history and development of the Rappahannock Indians in early American history (200-1850 AD) in collaboration with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR), Chesapeake Conservancy, and the state-recognized Rappahannock Tribe of Virginia. The grant was one of 245 humanities projects from across the country awarded a combined $39.3 million from the NEH.

The anthropology department at St. Mary’s College first began studying the Rappahannock River Valley’s history in 2016 at the request of the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay office with funds administered by the Chesapeake Conservancy. The work was undertaken to provide interpretive support for the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.

Conventional wisdom has long held that the Rappahannock Indians moved to the north side of the Rappahannock River to escape the politically powerful Powhatan Indians in the York River Valley. Research by the St. Mary’s College team, however, suggests that ecological factors, including agricultural soils, marshlands, and clays suitable for pottery manufacture, and not political factors, better explain the Rappahannock’s decisions about where to settle. This discovery, which was made using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology, revealed the need for further archaeological study of the river valley. The NEH grant will allow this study on these tribal groups to continue.

Professor of Anthropology Julia King leads the research team, comprised of anthropology instructor Scott Strickland, an assistant archaeologist, and two archaeology technicians (St. Mary’s College undergraduate students) who will assist with field and laboratory work. They are joined by Chief G. Anne Richardson of the Rappahannock Tribe, who, along with tribal members, will assist with the field and laboratory work.

The continuing study will focus on the trajectories of movement into and within the Rappahannock valley, how the Rappahannock people used landscape and other forms of material culture to forge group and/or political identities between 200 and 1600 CE, and the reaction of the people living in the river valley to European contact and colonization.

“Thanks to the NEH grant, we will be able to start addressing some of the recommendations from the original study we conducted in 2016,” King said. “We hope to assemble a detailed culture history for the Rappahannock Indians in the river valley over the last 2,000 years, including archaeological collections-based analysis and a regional survey.”

Chief Richardson notes that her tribe’s oral history recalls the Powhatan as neighbors with whom they shared winter hunting grounds. “The Rappahannock’s history has been overlooked in almost every history book. We are grateful to the NEH for recognizing this serious gap in American history and providing the resources for us to address it.”

This research tracing the history and development of the Rappahannock indigenous cultural landscape is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. NEH supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this press release, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education through 2024-2025. St. Mary’s College, designated the Maryland state honors college in 1992, is ranked one of the best public liberal arts schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Approximately 1,700 students attend the college, nestled on the St. Mary’s River in Southern Maryland.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology Liza Gijanto Awarded Prestigious Howard Foundation Fellowship

June 19, 2017

Assistant Professor of Anthropology Liza Gijanto

Assistant Professor of Anthropology Liza Gijanto was awarded a highly-competitive Howard Foundation Fellowship in April 2017 for her project titled: Emancipation and Commerce: The Gambia Colony and American Plantations in the Age of British Abolition. The $33,000 fellowship for the 2017-2018 academic year will support Dr. Gijanto’s research which examines the nature of the impact of the Atlantic trade on the Gambia River. Dr. Gijanto was one of just eight nationwide 2017-2018 fellowship recipients and the only recipient in the field of archaeology. Other 2017-2018 fellowship recipients were selected from the fields of photography and anthropology and range from professors at large institutions such as UCLA to independent artists collaborating with organizations such as NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

This distinguished award will allow Dr. Gijanto to complete data-gathering for the Emancipation and Commerce project and begin writing a monograph describing the work. The project will advance understanding of the complex history of abolition in West Africa, a program that was ironically undermined by the continued consumption of goods produced by enslaved laborers in the Americas within an African colony founded to end the traffic of slaves. Dr. Gijanto will travel to two archives: the Peter Strickland Archive in Mystic, Connecticut and the British National Archives in Kew, London, during Fall 2017 and begin work on the monograph in Spring 2018.

The Howard Foundation is associated with Brown University and is one of few funders dedicated “to furthering the personal development of promising individuals at the crucial middle stages of their careers in the liberal and creative arts”. The Howard Foundation awards a limited number of fellowships each year for independent projects in selected fields, targeting its support specifically to early mid-career individuals and those who have achieved recognition for at least one major project.

Julia A. King Awarded Funding to Host Book-Preparation Conference

May 19, 2017

Dr. Julia A. King (far right) and collaborators including SMCM alumni Strickland ’08 (back row third from right), Mansius ’13 (front row third from right), and Webster ’16 (front row second from right)

Julia A. King, Professor of Anthropology, recently received a prestigious grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Dr. King received $4,000 from the NEH Chairman’s office to help fund a small two-day conference in May 2017 which brought together participants from a previous NEH-funded Collaborative Research Grant entitled: The Lower Potomac River Valley at Contact (ca. 1500-1720 AD). The conference provided an opportunity for collaborators to review, critique, and better integrate individual essays for a peer-reviewed manuscript with a hopeful submission date in September 2017. The book will describe the archaeological research focused on the history and development of the lower Potomac River valley before the age of George Washington. Dr. Barbara J. Heath, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee, will serve as co-editor along with Dr. King. The conference was held at Stratford Hall, a historic house museum in Westmoreland County, Virginia and was additionally supported by the SMCM Provost’s office.

The book will consist of 14-15 chapters by different authors, all of whom participated in the original project which began in 2012. Collaborators, staff, and consultants assembled collections from 34 previously-excavated archaeological sites on both sides of the Potomac and used these assemblages to address three major topics related to Anglo-Native interaction: economic exchange and the rise of consumerism; the role of conflict, violence, and the threat of violence in the competition for resources; and the use of material culture to maintain or broker new or hybrid identities in a colonial setting. The project has resulted in several peer-reviewed articles, symposia at professional meetings, and the website colonialencounters.org. SMCM alumni Scott M. Strickland ’08, Mary Kate Mansius ’13, and Rebecca Webster ’16 attended the conference as participants and are preparing chapters for the book.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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Assistant Professor Liza Gijanto Awarded Funding from Preservation Maryland

August 2, 2016

St. Mary’s College of Maryland Assistant Professor of Anthropology Liza Gijanto has received funding for her project, “Cremona Collections Curation and National Register Preparation,” from the Heritage Fund, a joint program sponsored by Preservation Maryland and the Maryland Historical Trust. [Read more…]