A PUBLICATION OF WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Anthropology
From the Chair
Daniel Boxberger
Greetings!
Yes, I am still department chair, twelve years now.
2012 was another exciting year for the Department of
Anthropology, despite the fact that we, like universities
across the nation, are suffering from declining support.
Last year I told you that I am serving as WWU Faculty
Legislative Representative in Olympia through the 2013
legislative session. We had many successes last year
but the effort to stop the bleeding was not enough, and
our state institutions continue to fall further behind.
Washington State now ranks dead last in the nation
in total funding per student for four-year universities.
Until 2008, state funding provided about 72 percent
of the cost per student, now it is down to almost 30
percent, resulting in higher tuition, reduced course
offerings and larger classes. It looks grim but the
Department of Anthropology is thriving, largely due to
a dedicated and hard-working faculty. WWU continues
to rank high nation-wide in public universities. The
2013 legislative session begins on January 14.
We are doing everything we can to educate our elected
representatives about the situation facing Western,
the rest of our public universities, and especially our
students.
Alumni play an important role in spreading the word
about the value of a liberal arts education like WWU
provides, and especially, of course, the value of a
background in anthropology. Read through our annual
newsletter to see what our faculty and students have
accomplished this year. There have been some amazing
contributions to our discipline and to the both the
local and global community. We have some pretty great
stories to tell. Please tell us your stories as well. We are
always interested in hearing what our alums have been
up to.
Consider joining Department of Anthropology Western
Washington University on Facebook to share with all of
us. Until next year….
-- Daniel Boxberger
Thank You to our 2012 Donors!
We would like to thank the following generous contributors
Maggie Dunlap Barklind
Alicia Bautista
John H. Beanblossom
William Belcher & Linda Kohlstaedt
Theodore and Victoria Bestor
Dennis Ralph Bolton
Morgan D. Bradwell
Jeffrey and Laurie Brown
Peter and Laurel Browning
Nancy Jean Carlson
Perry and Ellen Casper
Robert and Ramona Daugherty
Chad Kuaimoku De Aguiar
Patricia and Charles Dyer
Patrick Steven Elliott
Tabitha Anne Englebright
Paul and Kathleen Forman
Micaela Rei Fujita
Susan Marie Gonzalez
Geoff and Jacki Gouette
Kyle Allen Grafstrom
Ronald L. Hall
Kent and Poppy Hanson
William Byron Holmeide
Holly Hood
Yu-Ree Hyun
Gerene M. and Larry A. Jackson
Virginia Markham Janssen
Amanda Elizabeth Johnson
Teri Charlotte Kisle
Susan Hvalsoe Komori
Marlene and R. James Krout
Curt and Judy Larsen
Mark and Helen Lehmann
Richard and Diane Lewis
Emily Linder
Lewis and Fran Maudsley
Molly Raymond Mignon
Gregory Alvin Morgan
Stephanie L. Neil
Jennifer Ann Nelson
Alan and JoAnn Oiye
Barbara Jane Perkins
Linda Pettit
Pamela Ann Pogemiller
Earl Lee Reep
Adina Marla Rivoli
Sheila Klein Rubio
Margaret Elaine Russell
Heather Shepherd & Brandon Adams
Ross Smith & Shelby Anderson
Jeffrey Snyder & Carolyn Reiners
Robert Lee Spear
Mary Lynn Stender
Annette Kay Stillwell
Jeffrey John Talbot
Pamela Dee Teagarden
The Boeing Company
Doshie Lee Thomes
Dianna Lindsey Torrico
Ronald Warren Tuck
Amy and Wayne Van Dam
Jeffery and Megan Vogel
Joseph and Niki Vogt
Wayne Edward Wakefield
Daniel and Jane Warner
Terry and Cheryl Warrington
Cristina and Matt Waters
Amy Heskett Wooldridge
Leonard and Cherie Yarberry
News from our Faculty
anthropology Newsletter
January 2013
Department of Anthropology
516 High Street , Arntzen Hall 315
Bellingham, WA 98225-9083
Phone 360-650-3620, Fax 360-650-7668
www.wwu.edu/anthropology
department chair
Daniel Boxberger
p 360 650 4798
daniel.boxberger@wwu.edu
administrative services Manager
Viva Barnes
p 360 650 5228
f 360 650 7668
viva.barnes@wwu.edu
Newsletter Editor
Jean Webster
p 360 650 3620
f 360 650 7668
jean.webster@wwu.edu
faculty
Sarah Cambell, Professor
Joyce D. Hammond, Professor
Todd Koetje, Assc. Professor
James Loucky, Professor
Robert Marshall, Professor
M. J. Mosher, Asst. Professor
Judith Pine, Asst. Professor
Joan Stevenson, Professor
Kathleen Young, Assc. Professor
Non-tenure Track faculty
Maria Chavez, Senior Instructor
Paul James, Instructor
Alyson Rollins, Instructor
Kathleen Saunders, Senior Instructor
Research Associates
Michael Etnier, Research Assc.
Phil Everson, Research Assc.
Questions or comments about this
newsletter? Please contact Jean Webster at
(360) 650-3620 or email: jean.webster@
wwu.edu
Daniel Boxberger
Instead of our annual August trek this year Cheryl and I tagged along with a group
of Study Abroad students doing volunteer work in Tanzania. We worked with the
Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project who strives to get decent wages and working
conditions for the porters who carry the tourist’s gear up Mount Kilimanjaro. We had
planned on trekking Mt. Kili but after seeing how the locals are treated by tourists we
decided that we will never participate in that exploitation.
We also spend time at the
Kilimanjaro Kids Care
Orphanage, reading, tutoring
and playing soccer with an
amazing bunch of kids. That
was really the highlight of
the trip. The kids named me
Babu, which is Swahili for
grandpa (I hope). We also got
to visit the Kilimajaro Coffee
Cooperative, run by the
Chagga people, and Maasai
villages which are beginning
to cash in on the tourist
industry.
Oh yeah, we also got to go on
safari and see all the animals.
I am still busy working with local American Indian and First Nations groups on
issues of natural resource access and management. My eleven years at Sechelt is
coming to fruition as we are beginning to development a full-blown ethnography
from an ethno-ecological perspective. Work continues on western Oregon treaties
with the Grande Ronde Tribe, and I have a couple other projects in the works which
should be making a debut soon.
Photo credit: Donna Olsen
Todd Koetje
This year I was in the
annual ‘Round the County’
sailboat race around the
San Juan Islands over
veteran’s day weekend.
There were 81 boats racing
this year ranging from 24
to 70 footers, and very fast
modern Catamarans to
the 84 foot, 112 year old
Schooner, Martha. In the
crew this year were: Viva
Barnes, our department
manager, Christian Opfer
and Jason Reid, former
Anthro students, and Ellen Bohn, a current student. In addition, John Thibault,
Donna Olsen, and Seth Nuckolls (an Instructor in the Math Dept.) were aboard.
In the picture we are just rounding the southeast corner of Lopez Island on Saturday,
on our way to Roche harbor for the first day’s finish and an overnight stay. It was a
long, cold, but beautiful day in the Islands. Christian, Viva, and Jason are visible.
2
THE ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2013
News from our Faculty
MJ Mosher
and writing. I had the opportunity to teach summer quarter
classes, and to participate as an advisor for Summer Start,
orienting incoming freshmen to the academic requirements of
Western. I found that, as is often the case, I learned a lot more
about the topic by teaching it.
By Jove………I think we’ve got it! Results from our pilot
program examining human variation of DNA methylation in
the leptin core promoter (that be epigenetics) have indicated
some distinct ethnicity, age, and sex differences in methylation
density. Results have been presented at the Latin American
Biological Anthropology conference in Costa Rica and led
to a possible direction using DNA and data from the Kansas
Nutrition Project to further identify epigenotype –phenotype
relationships. A Christmas break behind the computer writing
grant proposals is in line. Is this someone’s idea of fun???????
Joyce Hammond
By the time you read this, I will be in the South Pacific for
a research stint of several months on the topic of tifaifai
(Polynesian “quilts”) and tifaifai makers. Since my dissertation
research centered on this subject matter about 30 years ago,
I am very eager to explore the changes that have come with
increased globalization.
This fall I have been corresponding with some folks in French
Polynesia who are responsible for planning the “traditional”
destination wedding ceremonies for couples coming from afar.
Among other acts, the couple is often enveloped in a tifaifai in
a manner similar to local marrying couples. Tahiti Tourisme
promotes this through photos and descriptions. I include one
of their images below:
This summer my family made a long-planned trip to
Disneyland, an experience which felt a bit like going to the
field to study consumer capitalism. I had a good time, but
have not yet really written or thought about the experience.
Maybe there are some things best left unexamined?
I have been involved in
efforts to bring some
visibility to linguistic
anthropology – we feel
that we have a lot to offer
in a variety of public
discourses and hope to
get into the appropriate
rolodexes so that we can
make our voices heard.
One element of this is
the Society for Linguistic
Anthropology blog, on
which I have posted
occasionally. A post I
wrote a couple of years
ago caught the attention
of an NPR producer and
my daughter and I were interviewed in conjunction with a
production by the show Philosophy Talk. The topic of the
show is “The Linguistics of Name-Calling”, and my daughter
and I were briefly interviewed about my blog essay “Bad
Words”. I understand that they will have played portions of
the interview during the live version of the program – I am not
sure when, or even if, the show will actually air.
In November I attended the AAA meetings in San Francisco
(convenient since I had to visit the French Consulate to get a
long-stay visa for Tahiti) and presented a poster on the use of
tifaifai in hotel and pension settings.
It’s all things tifaifai this year and next!
Judith M.S. Pine
This has been an interesting year for me, with a shift of gears
as my research project moves from data collection to analysis
3
THE ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2013
James Loucky
I also had the opportunity to give a brief class on African
American Vernacular English to the cast of Bellingham Arts
Academy for Youth production of The Wiz. I really enjoy
bringing linguistic anthropology to a general audience, and I
hope to do more of that in the future.
The intersections of human rights, migration, and the critical
need for a commons perspective have been central to my
research and teaching. These are evident in co-authored
publications: "Humane Migration: Establishing Legitimacy
and Rights for Displaced People" (Kumarian Press, 2012) and
"Mesoamerican/North American Partnerships for Community
Wellbeing" (Practicing Anthropology, Winter 2012).
Robert Marshall
As an anthropologist, I found an intellectual home for a
decade now in the Society for Economic Anthropology. Paul
Durrenberger, who also has an interest in cooperatives, invited
me to present a paper on Japan’s worker cooperatives at the
SEA annual meeting on labor he organized in 2001.
In 2008 I organized the annual
meeting myself, on, as you might
suppose, cooperation, and the
papers from this meeting became
“Cooperation in Economy and
Society,” Robert C Marshall, ed.,
Society for Economic Anthropology
Monographs No. 28, AltaMira
Press: NY, NY., with a publication
date of 2010. And for the past six
years I have been SEA’s treasurer.
Founded in 1981 by Harold
Schneider, Stuart Plattner, Sutti
Ortiz, Rhoda Halperin, Paul
Durrenberger and a number of
other anthropologists, economists,
geographers, SEA was chartered “not to desire the organization
to be driven by a particular theoretical approach but to
serve instead as a forum to bring economic anthropologists
together,” as Sutti Ortiz recalled recently for the SEA’s oral
history project. Since then SEA has brought together a wide
variety of scholars and viewpoints in conferences every year
and published a collection of papers from each year’s meeting.
Shingo-La: day 5 of our cross-Himalaya trek,
crossing Shingo-la (pass) at 5051m.
I spent most of the summer above 3000 meters, for the first 6
weeks with 13 students in remote Himalaya villages of Ladakh,
in northern India. Harsh ecological conditions were reflected
in extensive irrigation, cooperative social and economic
relations, and adaptive responses to growing tourism and
materialism.
The last 3 weeks saw me in Peru, one of the most biodiverse
places on earth, leading another field course focusing on varied
community approaches to tourism, rapid change, and climate
change. In both places, the extent of glacial melt was stark and
sobering.
Now SEA is on the verge of joining the American
Anthropological Association as a sub-section. SEA members
voted overwhelmingly this fall to do so, and AAA members
are voting on whether to accept SEA right now; and there is
every reason to think AAA members’ response will be just
as overwhelmingly positive. But it has taken me a very great
deal of work to line up the accounts of this very small 501(c)3
organization with the complicated and standardized books
of the enormous AAA. Now I believe that work is done, our
finances are in order, and, at the SEA meeting in March, 2013,
my tenure as treasurer will be at an end.
Our shared fate is even more reason for holism, global ethics,
and mobilizing the full resources inherent in cross-cultural
knowledge and practices.
The changed world of publishing drove this merger. A standalone collection of conference papers on a single theme can no
longer claim a place in the publishing world and the price of
the annual SEA volume has climbed to almost $100.00. The
publication that will result from SEA’s 2013 conference, with
the theme “Inequality,” will be published in a journal format by
SEA under AAA’s publication agreement with Wiley-Blackwell.
And, as journals are now and books are not, it will be online
and searchable. The world of publishing has turned a page and
SEA too will soon be a part of that brave new world.
4
Kiagar: spending a week with Tibetan nomads near the border with
China, was anthropological heaven.
THE ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2013
Sarah Campbell
Sarah’s activities for the past year include writing several
grants for curation, archaeological projects and presenting at
professional conferences. Sarah worked with Erin Bilyeu, the
former archaeology lab collections manager, to continue grant
funding for the reorganization of WWU’s archaeological lab
and collections, focusing especially on the associated records.
(BTW: Erin started a new position at the Smithsonian this
fall. Congratulations, Erin!)
Past projects for which we have either records and/or artifact
collections have been accessioned in an electronic PastPerfect
collections database and the paper records have been rehoused archivally under a Transportation Enhancement
grant through the Department of Archaeology and Historic
Preservation. Many of the primary field documents have
been digitized with several dozen field notebooks available as
PDFs. A second similar grant runs until fall of 2013. Under
supervision of Russell Alleen-Williams, slides, photographs
and over 500 maps will be translated to preservation quality
TIFF images. In addition, students working in the lab the next
two quarters will focus on rehousing artifacts and samples and
writing up brief summaries and finding aids for collections to
make them more accessible for research.
Maritime Resource Management Systems Using Collective
Action Models.” It describes some of the complex systems
Northwest Coast native peoples used to harvest, enhance,
and manage marine resources. Campbell and Butler argued
for archaeologists to integrate evolutionary perspectives on
conservation with the rich ethnographic record of northwest
coast peoples’ social institutions and challenged archaeologists
to create linkages between abstract concepts like ownership,
evolution of cooperation, and social regulation of resource use
with physical artifacts and facilities to test these relationships.
Sarah, Dr. Mike Etnier (adjunct faculty in the department) and
collaborators from Portland State University and University
of Rhode Island, are currently analyzing zooarchaeological
samples from the Tse-whit-zen village site near Port Angeles.
The research project, funded by NSF, seeks to identify how
people living on the shores on the Strait of Juan de Fuca over
the last two thousand years responded to periodic tectonic
events that may have disrupted their socially managed patterns
of resource use.
This three year project will also provide substantial training
opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at each
university. Sarah’s purview is the marine invertebrates, and
several student research assistants have been helping sort and
quantify shell samples. This fall we have completed a pilot
analysis of 4 of the 44 boxes of shell samples, working out the
protocols before tackling the remaining samples.
Even more tangible is the archaeology lab renovation,
AH317. The addition of moveable compact shelving units
drastically increased the available storage space for research
and comparative collections. The classroom side now has
a new computer projection system, and rolling tables and
chairs which allow flexible work space reorganization. The
hodgepodge of different wooden shelf systems has been
replaced with a sleek, unified shelf and counter system along
one wall for reference books and 6 computers, although we
also kept the oak bookshelves that alums may remember from
the former department library. Former students who visit are
congratulatory, but envious!
Sarah presented a paper at the 2012 Society for American
Archaeology (SAA) Annual Meeting in Memphis, TN, coauthored with Virginia Butler of Portland State University
and titled “Understanding the Evolution of Northwest Coast
5
THE ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2013
Joan Stevenson
Great. Is there a connection between the Macedonians and
Issa? Archaeologists found a cave littered with wine goblets
made from clay that came from an area near the hillfort and an
astrology board from the 2nd century B.C.E. made out of Ivory
traced to the Ptolemys in Egypt; was Issa “into” astrology?
What was going on in that cave? I am going to Issa this
summer to see if I can find some answers. I will let you know
what I find out in next year’s newsletter.
I took no time off after 2 hip replacements in 2011 (2nd in
December 2011), but have enjoyed being out of pain in 2012.
Co-authors and I await word from journals on two
manuscripts, one derived from research supported partly
by a NSF grant that put me and Phil in Alaska a few years
ago to work with an ex-alumnus, Dr. Ken Pratt, of the BIA.
Both articles are being considered by cultural anthropology
journals.
In a paper just published in the Journal for the History of
Astronomy, Stašo Forenbaher
(Institute for Anthropological
Research, Zagreb) and Alexander
Jones (ISAW) announce the
discovery of ivory fragments of
a Hellenistic astrologer's board
in a part of a cave in southern
Croatia that was sealed off towards A Hellenistic astrologer's
the end of the first century BCE
board from Croatia
after having served as a cultic
sanctuary.
There are plenty of majors in the three biology-anthropology
degree tracks. I continue to be the book review editor at
American Journal of Human Biology (10 years running and
hoping to be replaced soon!) and the associate editor for
American Journal of Physical Anthropology. My current
research focus is on food allergies.
My son, Ward, moved out to Friday Harbor to be with
his girlfriend and is working in market research so we are
planning a guest room in the vacated space. John is working
as a computer technology support intern at WWU. Phil is
preparing classes to go on-line through WWU. I continue to
play violin and less successfully, saxophone, and particularly
enjoy harmonizing or improvising on violin early Sunday
evenings at the Green Frog Tavern’s “slow jam”.
The board, which an astrologer would have used to display to his
client the arrangement of heavenly bodies in a horoscope, is the
oldest such object known to exist. It witnesses the rapid spread of
Greek horoscopic astrology, which came into existence as a fusion
of Mesopotamian and Egyptian astral divination with Greek
cosmology probably not long before 100 BCE.
Kathleen Young
Nakovana Cave overlooks the Adriatic Sea from a ridge near
the western tip of Pelješac Peninsula, 100 kilometers northwest
of Dubrovnik. Some of the most important Adriatic sea-lines
of antiquity pass through the channels below the cave. The
Nakovana Project (directed by Timothy Kaiser and Stašo
Forenbaher) began work at the cave in 1999, and towards the end
of the field season a hitherto unknown extension of the cave was
discovered. Fragments of pottery vessels were lying about, most of
them Hellenistic finewares datable to the last four centuries BCE,
evidently the accumulated remains from cult offerings. The ivory
fragments were discovered among this material.
To the left is a 4th century B.C.E. bronze sculpture of the Greek
goddess Artemis, goddess of the hunt and protector of young
girls and women, found on the island of Issa, the island in the
central Adriatic, almost half way between the coasts of Croatia
and Italy, known as Vis island today.
I continue to work on “The
view from Issa,” but there are
mysteries I have yet to solve.
Illyrians were living on the
island from at least the 12th
century B.C.E. and they built
a fortress on a hill, the oldest
hillfort in Dalmatia, called the
Talež hillfort. Did they see the
Greeks from the hillfort when
they arrived in the 5th to 4th
centuries B.C.E.?
When complete, the board had twelve arc-shaped ivory plates
forming a complete circle and representing the twelve signs of
the zodiac. An astrologer would have displayed a horoscope by
placing colored stones standing for the Sun, Moon, and planets
in the places they occupied in the zodiac on a particular date, for
example a client's birthdate. It is not clear whether the board was
actually used where its remains were found in Nakovana cave or
whether it was deposited there as a precious offering.
The island minted its own
coins in the 3rd century
B.C.E.; some coins depict
Artemis on one side and
Dionysus, the god of wine,
on the other side. Since Vis
was famous even then for
its excellent wine, that is
understandable, but why is
Philip II of Macedonia, father
of Alexander the Great on
some of the coins? One person associated with Issa in this era
is the grandfather of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the
Mike Etnier
(a belated introduction)
I’m taking opportunity of the
departmental newsletter to finally
answer that question: “Who’s that
guy that lurks at the far end of the
hallway, in a room full of animal
skeletons?”
6
THE ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2013
I’m a zooarchaeologist (UW, class of 2002), and have lived in
Bellingham since 2005. I hold an “Affiliate Research Associate”
(read “soft-money”) position here in the Anthropology
Department.
Study Abroad with Anthropology Professors - 2012 Classes
Faculty-led Study Abroad Program
Summer 2012
INDIA -
Over the past two years, I’ve been working on a project funded
by the National Park Service (Anchorage) that is attempting to
find a climate change signal in amongst the reams and reams
of zooarchaeological data that have been generated for coastal
Alaska, spanning the past several thousand years. To do this,
we are doing two main tasks. First, we have to compile all the
data. Then, if we can identify existing collections that would
fill data gaps (either temporal or spatial gaps in coverage), we
can also do some ID work on those collections.
HIMALAYAS
Culture & Ecology in the Himalaya Mountains
For details visit:
www.wwu.edu/travelprograms
Contact Information
James.Loucky@wwu.edu or (360) 650-3615
More recently, Sarah Campbell and I (with several other
researchers at other institutions) received an NSF grant to
analyze faunal remains from the large Tse-Whit-Zen village
site in Port Angeles. Like most zooarchaeological analyses, the
nuts-and-bolts of the analysis are pretty mundane—yes, people
ate salmon there. And yes, they also ate deer and seals and sea
otters.
What makes this site so incredible is that the village was
occupied during a large subduction earthquake and associated
tsunami. The excavations were so detailed that we have faunal
samples from before and after the event, from several different
houses. Each of those houses appears to have had differing
socio-economic status. The focus of our analyses will be to
examine differences in the faunal remains from before and
after the tsunami, as well as between the different households.
Active Minds Changing Lives
AA/EO Institution
I wouldn’t be able to do this without the help of students. In
particular, Davina Miller (Class of 2012), Laura Syvertson
(Class of 2012), and Eric Guzman (anticipated Class of 2013)
have been fantastic. Over the next year or two, I will need
another one or two students to work in the lab. If you know of
any students who might be interested, have them contact me.
Also, feel free to stop by the lab any time! Michael.Etnier@
wwu.edu; Rm AH307.
Kathy Saunders
Kathleen Saunders’ Anthropology 303 class, Qualitative
Methods, will be conducting interviews and focus groups of
Western students this winter to help get a pulse on attitudes
and practices towards Academic Integrity on campus.
Concurrent with the renewal of the Academic Honesty Policy
at Western, this class will gather students narratives about
fellow students’ experiences and attitudes with regards to
Academic Integrity, the implicit and explicit messages students
have received on campus and the source of those messages,
and consideration of the role that Academic Integrity plans in
the overall quality of the educational experience at Western.
Saunders reports that hands on-experience with qualitative
research is a valuable educational experience and this study
could have the added value of incorporating many student
voices into Western’s consideration of policy and practices
surrounding Academic Integrity.
7
THE ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2013
Anthropology Department awarded for efforts in reduced
utility use during Spring Quarter, 2012
Special Event :: Lecture Series Truly Lahu - Representing Authentic
Indentity in Karaoke Videos, by Professor Judy Pine
Spring Quarter 2012
AWARD WINNER
Truly Lahu – Representing Authentic
Identity in Karaoke Videos
Anthropolog y Depar tment
The 10x12 program at Western Washington University, in
partnership with Academic Custodial services, Facilities
Management and the AS Recycling Center, piloted a waste
management improvement project in Arntzen Hall, Parks Hall,
Biology & Chemistry classrooms during fall quarter of 2011.
The goal of the 10x12 program was a 10-percent reduction
in utilities consumption and costs by the end of 2012, which
would be achieved by encouraging individual actions,
technical strategies education and outreach.
February 16, 2012
Noon - 1 p.m.
Wilson Library
Presentation Room
Free and open to the public
This talk will draw on fieldwork in Thailand and China to
explore the way that Lahu speakers in the Greater Mekong
Subregion present themselves as individuals who can
be authentically Lahu and at the same time modern,
challenging the idea that authenticity and modernity are
diametrically opposed. Professor Pine will use examples of
material collected during three summers of fieldwork to
briefly explore the concept of authenticity as approached
from the perspective of linguistic anthropology.
Opportunities to view and perhaps sing along with Lahu
language karaoke will be included!
Judy Pine is a linguistic anthropologist whose fieldwork among Lahu speakers
in northern Thailand and southwest China began in the 1990s. She has done
research on the topic of Lahu literacies and is now engaged in a project
exploring Lahu language media as it is created, circulates and is consumed
throughout the Lahu speaking world. Judy has taught in the Department
of Anthropology at WWU since fall 2008. Funding for her research on Lahu
language media was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
"In the first five months of the 10x12 pilot,
electricity consumption reduced to below
baseline average levels in three of the four
pilot buildings."
Participating departments were offered 25% of up to a
10% utilities reduction, as an initial incentive to promote
conservation and waste reduction actions. The Office of
Sustainability and Facilities Management awarded a total of
$1,790 in utilities rebates. The rebate, symbolized by a "giant
Check" signed by Rich Van Den Hul, WWU Vice President
for Business & Financial Affairs, was divided among the six
academic departments in the successful buildings.
Arntzen Hall showed a reduction in utilities consumption,
thanks to Facilities Management building systems efficiency
changes and building occupant actions. Arntzen Hall used a
monthly average of 17% less electricity in 2011, compared to
the 2007-2009 baseline measurement, and the Anthropology
Department was awarded $277.24. for their efforts in reduced
utilities.
The Center for International Studies sponsors this lecture series
so that Western faculty, staff, and students who have had
significant international experiences can share the
perspectives they have gained with the larger community.
For more information contact CIS at 650.7544.
FAST FACTS:
International.wwu.edu
The Department of Anthropology has 224
undergraduate majors including, 111 cultural concentration,
35 bio-anth BA/BS majors, 35 archaeology concentration, 4
Anth-Ed/elementary, 10 Anth-Ed social studies, and 29 biocultural concentration. In any year we have between eight and
twelve new graduate students, while in the current 2012/2013
school year, there are 20 graduate students enrolled. In the last
year faculty offered 67 undergraduate courses and 17 graduate
courses. In 2012, 98 anthropology majors received their degrees
and 8 graduate students completed the requirements for a
masters degree; Jeff Brummel, Zach Sullivan, Angus Tierney,
Katie Fawell, Matthew Adam Dubeau , Lisa Spicer, Jorelle Grover
Cathy Bialas. Congratulations to ALL our anthropology
students for another fantastic year!
The program is inspired by green office programs at other
universities, including the University of British Columbia, and
Harvard. Achieving energy reduction goals through personal
action is economical, practical, and effective. Bringing big
climate goals to the level of personal action helps to foster
awareness and creativity for larger-scale solutions.
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8
THE ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2013
Archaeology Department Opens Contents of 1912 Time
Capsule at WWU
Contents of 1912 Time Capsule at Wilson Library
The Anthropology Department. got to show off its hard
work identifying bits of deteriorated WWU memorabilia
from the 1912 time capsule.
Archaeology Professors, Sarah Campbell and Todd Koetje
assist in Western Washington University's 1912 Time Capsule
Recovery. Even our department chair, Dan Boxberger got
involved!
To read the stories in full
and to see additional photos,
go to the Bellingham Herald
website:
Article
http://www.
bellinghamherald.
com/2012/02/10/2387466/
contents-of-1912time-capsule.
html#storylink=misearch
Gallery
http://www.
bellinghamherald.
com/2012/02/03/2379080/
wwu-1912-time-capsuleexcavation.html#storylink=misearch
Daniel Boxberger, an anthropology professor at Western, looks into
the 1912 time capsule Thursday
9
THE ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2013
WWU selected for national 2012 President's Higher Education
Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction
written by Western Today staff
Western Washington University has been selected for the
national 2012 President’s Higher Education Community
Service Honor Roll with Distinction award, which recognizes
higher education institutions across the country that reflect
the values of exemplary community service and achieve
meaningful outcomes in their communities.
Western, which is the only public university in the state of
Washington selected for Distinction, has received the award for
the second consecutive year.
For the 2012 award, Western was recognized for three
programs at Woodring College of Education: the Compass 2
Campus mentoring program; the Latino Outreach Project, and
the Building Bridges with Migrant Youth program.
Anth Club President, Andrea Grover, talking to participants.
received the recognition of Honor Roll with distinction, 14
were identified as finalists, and five -- one of them being Seattle
University -- received the Presidential Award.
“To receive this national recognition again is a fantastic honor,
and further establishes our reputation as a university that
is integral to the world around us. The Center for ServiceLearning is proud of Western's commitment to prepare our
students for their place as contributing citizens in a complex,
global society. And we are grateful to Western's leadership who
truly makes this award possible,” said Tim Costello, director of
Western’s Center for Service-Learning.
Curious about Compass to campus? Check out out the video
from Compass 2 Campus, posted on the Western Front below:
“This is an extremely significant recognition for the
community service efforts of Western and Woodring College
of Education. It speaks to the dedication and commitment of
an outstanding group of students and their faculty mentors.
It represents the best of what the college and university are all
about,” said Francisco Rios, dean of Woodring College.
Compass 2 Campus program offers path
to the future for young students.
The President's Higher Education Community Service Honor
Roll was inspired by the thousands of college students who
traveled across the country to support relief efforts along the
Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina; the initiative celebrates
the volunteer spirit that exists within the higher education
community.
"The Compass to Campus program provides skilled support
and positive role models wherever they are placed in our
school. Our students naturally gravitate toward college
students and find great tutors and mentors in these programs,”
said Jay Jordan, principal at Shuksan Middle School.
The Corporation for National and Community Service, which
has administered the Honor Roll since 2006, admitted a total
of 642 colleges and universities for their impact on issues from
literacy and neighborhood revitalization to supporting at-risk
youth. Of that total, 513 were named to the Honor Roll, 110
10
Compass 2 Campus is a program at Western Washington
University designed to increase access to higher education by
providing an opportunity for fifth grade students from traditionally
underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds in Whatcom and
Skagit counties to be mentored by university students.
THE ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2013
Students Lead the Way as Co-inquirers of Teaching & Learning
News From Our Alumni!
Serving as the hub for the study of teaching and learning at
WWU, the Teaching-Learning Academy (TLA) has engaged
many student participants in its ongoing dialogue with faculty,
staff, and community members. As one sign of that engagement,
students and alumni have co-presented at national and
international conferences this past year including:
Blair Kaufer (Anthropology student) and Carmen Werder
(Libraries & Learning Commons/Communication), did an
invited keynote presentation in Michigan titled “Engaging
Student Voices in the Study of Teaching and Learning: Ordinary
People, Plain Pretzels, and Conversational Scholarship.”
Natalie Mickey. Undergraduate Alumni via email to Viva
I moved to Israel in September of 2011, learned Hebrew for the
year and began my Master of Urban and Regional Planning
at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology this fall. It's a
really great program and studying in a new language and in
a new country is certainly a wild experience. I could write a
book based on the wacky things that happen in this eventful
country. Not to mention how fabulous the food is here. My
American friends, you have never had hummus until you have
had fresh hummus in the Middle East. Happy New Year!
Alumni!
We'd love to know what you are doing these days!
Please drop us a line and if you can, include a photo.
We love to see our grads living and loving life after
college! Email me: jean.webster@wwu.edu
the
World Issues Forum presents
Julie Tate-Libby, PhD
Instructor of Anthropology and Sociology,
Wenatchee Valley College
The Himalaya range has long been a site for
mountaineering and exploration as well as pilgrimage,
mountain worship and high altitude farming and pastoral
life. Kawa Karpo (Meili Snow Mountain) in Southwestern
China is a prominent site for pilgrims from across the
Tibetan plateau, and increasingly popular with Han
Chinese tourists as well. Government plans for roads to
facilitate tourism are likely to have major effects on remote
villages. Similar tourism promotion is slated for small
mountain communities in Zanskar, in northern India. The
fate of community development and mountain worship
in these villages provide lessons for tourism, politics
and development issues across Southwest China and the
Himalaya region overall.
James Loucky (Professor of Anthropology at WWU) will offer a comparative response
Wednesday, October 10
12 - 1:20 p.m.
Fairhaven College Auditorium
Sponsored by Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies
For more information, contact Shirley Osterhaus at shirley.osterhaus@wwu.edu or call Fairhaven College at 360.650.6680
Irena Lambrou with her poster presentation on
Food Waste at American Anthropological Association
conference in San Fransisco, CA, November 17, 2012
11
THE ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2013
News from Our Alumni -
Excerpts taken from Facebook, emails and notes from faculty.
Michael Shepard , Graduate Alumni, via email 2012
Cailín E. Murray Boyd (facebook) Muncie, Indiana
I completed my MA in 2007 and while I did not immediately start
work in anthropology, my MA was essential for continued work
as a college administrator in eLearning and for teaching both
undergraduate and graduate level anthropology courses. Somehow
I forgot the pain of graduate school and enrolled at the University
of British Columbia Anthropology Department to work on a PhD.
I was fortunate to receive a full fellowship for 4 years and their
block scheduling allowed me to commute to campus for two years
while I completed course work and exams. I am currently a PhD
Candidate working on research and writing. My topic examines
themes of language ideology, technology, and documentation and
dissemination of endangered native languages. One day I hope to
finish! It is easy for life to push back dissertation work and as proof
my wife and I spent the past year living in Moshi, Tanzania. My
wife taught geography at an international school and I volunteered
on campus and worked online (power/Internet permitting). We
have both done lots of traveling, but Tanzania was the poorest
place we have been and the most distinctly non-Western. Africa
has experienced extensive colonization, but dress, language,
customs and values reflect African identity to a degree not found
in many other colonized cultures. One explanation is that many
African colonizers came to extract people and resources, but did
not successfully establish permanent settlements. Compared to
colonization in the Americas, enculturation in Africa is much
more nuanced. We got to do lots of safari in Tanzania, climbed
their second tallest mountain, traveled to Dubai and Cape Town.
We returned to Bellingham in July and last month had a beautiful
baby girl, Ramona Lillian Shepard. We plan to keep traveling and
hope to teach abroad again once I finish my dissertation.
-- Michael
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Kristin Almskaar, Undergraduate Alumni, via email to Joan 2012
I am an alum of WWU's
awesome Anthropology
program. Now I am
an associate professor
of Anthro at Ball State
University. Much of
my teaching pedagogy
evolved out of watching
Dr. Hammond teach! Also,
as an alum I am happy
to announce my new
book (with Coll Thrush),
Phantom Past, Indigenous
Presence (2011)! ( Coll
Thrush) And I'm a
Fairhaven grad ('93). Go
Bellingham!
Phantom Past, Indigenous Presence:
Native Ghosts In North American
Culture And History
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Curt Larsen , WWU Alumni, via email
Thanks so much for sending on the department newsletter. I'm
always glad to see and hear about the goings on there as Western
and the department are special places for me. I left Western before
the Anthro department came into existence on its own. I was Gar
Grabert's first grad student and left with my M.A. in 1971. During
our time there, my wife Judy was also the resident director of
Mathes Hall and I worked in the Campus Planning Office during
the planning for the campus expansion including your building.
The old Soc/Anth department was back in Old Main then. We are
planning to be in B'ham on June 29th and will stay for a couple
of days. I hope to visit the department at that time. You've asked
for information about alums so I thought I would give you the
url for a recent interview with me regarding my fractured career
on an archeological talk show on an internet radio station. I've
been retired since 2005 from USGS, but moonlight on a project
by project basis for an archeological consulting business in New
York. Here is the url in case anyone is interested: http://www.
voiceamerica.com/episode/57974/profiles-in-contemporaryarchaeological-careers-a-life-in-geoarchaeology
We look forward to seeing Western again after so long.
Sincerely,
Curt Larsen
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Megan Otis, Graduate Alumni, via email
I realize I never updated you on my grad school endeavors...
thought you might want to know that I'm starting the Anthro
Ph.D. at Temple University next week! I'll be working with Dr.
Christie Rockwell. She's into human reproductive physiology,
genetic epidemiology of reproductive disorders, and recently
comparative primate genomics. Our lab is collaborating with
people in the Bio department so there is a lot of opportunities
for human biology research. I am taking two of my three courses
this semester in the Biology Dept (Developmental Bio and
Endocrinology). I will also be TAing the undergraduate course in
Bio Anth (meaning of course that I have funding!!). I will keep you
updated on my progress in the program.
-- Kristin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alumni! We'd love to know what you are doing
(and where) these days! Please drop me a line with some
details and include a photo if you have one.
We love to see our grads living and loving life after
college! Email me: jean.webster@wwu.edu
I got a job working in the College of Education at Seattle
University! I support five graduate programs in the College of
Education; I work with some great students and great faculty
here. I’m really enjoying my work here so far and the benefits are
amazing. -- Megan Otis
12
THE ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2013
Excerpts taken from Facebook, emails and notes from faculty.
In Memoriam - Justin Head
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Crystal M., Undergraduate Alumni, update from Prof. Young
The department sadly reports the passing of Justin Head
(Archaeology 2011) on August 17th, 2012.
Greetings all! I'm currently in my second year at the University
of Iowa in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Genetics.
At the end of my first year I joined the Erives Lab where I
will remain through earning my PhD. Our lab focuses on
characterizing the syntax and lexicon of
cis-regulatory elements, with particular focus on transcriptional
networks of development within several evolutionarily divergent
Drosophilid species. The work involves a mix of bioinformatics
(dry-lab) and bench work (wet-lab), which keeps me *pretty
busy. I have several active projects- one of which involves the
development of a Drosophilid model of pleiotropic brain-lungthyroid syndrome through characterization of the scarecrow
gene- a fly homolog of Thyroid Transcription Factor 1 (TTF-1).
No signs yet as to which project will serve for my thesis. At the
end of next summer I will head in to my comprehensive exams,
which are considered one of the primary hurdles to graduation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Diana D.. Undergraduate Alumni via email to Prof. Stevenson
I wanted to say thank you again for writing a letter of
recommendation for me and let you know that I was accepted into
3 of the 4 schools. I'm just ironing out the final details right now,
but it looks like I'll be going to the University of Connecticut next
year! Anyways, thanks for helping me out! -- Diana Dimarco
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Carly C., Undergraduate Alumni via email to Prof. Stevenson
I wanted to let you know that I have been accepted to medical
school! I will attending the College of Osteopathic Medical of the
Pacific (COMP) - Northwest Campus in Lebanon, Oregon starting
in early August and am so excited to get back in the classroom!
Thank you so much for all of your support over the years - it has
really paid off. I hope you are doing well and not working too
hard... Thanks again and have a wonderful day.
All the best! -- Carly Crider
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Andrew O., Undergraduate Alumni via email to Prof. Stevenson
In other news I seem to be adjusting to my new Iowan life... but
as soon as I break free from my PhD tethers I will be back on
the west coast (where all the best people live). And in yet other
news, my coworkers are slowly adapting to me. I'm sure some
people reading this will be humored, and I'll just leave it at that.
:) Oh, and I still escape with my camera periodically.
--Crystal Maki
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Kristin Almskaar, Undergraduate Alumni, recent recipient of the
research award via email from Prof. Stevenson
It has been a long ride but the application scramble has finally
settled. I've been accepted at A.T. Still University of Kirksville,
MO. A well established school with a strong program, and
definitely one of my top picks! The only question remains whether
I will begin this coming August, or be deferred one year due to the
over crowded 2012 class. Either way I have an in, and that is a very
exciting thing!
I realize I never updated you on my grad school endeavors...
thought you might want to know that I'm starting the Anthro
PhD at Temple University next week! I'll be working with Dr.
Christie Rockwell. She's into human reproductive physiology,
genetic epidemiology of reproductive disorders, and recently
comparative primate genomics. Our lab is collaborating with
people in the Bio department so there is a lot of opportunities for
really awesome human biology research. I am taking two of my
three courses this semester in the Biology Dept (Developmental
Bio and Endocrinology). I will also be TAing the undergraduate
course in Bio Anth (meaning of course that I have funding!!). I
will keep you updated on my progress in the program. -- Kristin
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Updates via email from Prof. Stevenson
I did also interview at the UW, and after much deliberation made
the alternate list, which means there's a distant possibility of me
getting in, always something to hope for. It has been a long process
and I have learned a lot, and now I am looking forward to what
the future will hold. Meanwhile my job in Seattle is going great,
and I continue to gain hands on experience working with underserved patients at the Tacoma Neighborhood Clinic. I can look
back on the past year and see how I have grown both personally
and professionally.
Again I want to tell you how much I appreciate all the help and
advice you've given along the way. Your help and guidance have
been invaluable. Thank you. I hope this letter finds you in good
health as spring slowly creeps towards the Northwest.
Kind Regards, Andrew Owen
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Updates via email from Prof. Young
Nicolette Bohn and Laurianne Sakai (both BiologyAnthropology BS) were two of the first students accepted into
the UW Dental School last year and started this fall. Ms. Bohn is
willing to advise students also interested in dental school
(Email: nbohn@uw.edu).
Alex McAlvay started his program in Botany (ethnobotany) at
Wisconsin-Madison with full support.
Naomi graduated from WWU. She was accepted into the Grad
program at the University of Victoria, got a full scholarship, and
now a paid internship. The paper she wrote on Sex Workers in
the 490 T&R class developed into the topic she's pursing in grad
school and the very subject of the internship.
Margaret Willson, h.D. has a National Geographic grant for
research in Iceland.
13
THE ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2013
Graduate Students thesis topics &
presentation pieces 2011-2012
Graduate Students thesis topics &
presentation pieces 2011-2012
Jeff Brummel:
Environmental Stress
in the Correctional
Workplace
Matthew Adam
Dubeau
Late-Holocene Mammal
Use in the Gulf of
Georgia Region:
A Case Study from the
Cherry Point Site
Experiencing stress in the work environment is common for most occupations, and some occupations experience more
work-related stress than others. Environmental factors including lighting, temperature, air quality and noise, can affect
workers’ stress levels in subtle ways often overlooked during typical work-related stress evaluations. The present study
examines the relationship between these environmental factors and their effects on the stress levels of corrections officers.
Zach Sullivan:
Use of the First Rib
in the Age-at-Death
Assessment of Adult
Female Skeletal Remains
(45WH1), Northwestern Washington
Lisa Spicer
Collective Effervescence:
Fire, land, and children
provide common
ground between hippie
newcomers and rural
old-timers on the
Redwood Coast
The accurate assessment of
age-at-death from skeletal
remains is key in both
forensic anthropology and
bioarchaeology. DiGangi et
al. (2009) have proposed that
three anatomical regions of
the first rib demonstrate
age-correlated changes that
can be used in determining
g
age at death.
Their research incorporated
470 male individuals of
Balkan ancestry
y recovered
from a mass gravesite in
Kosovo. The exclusion of
female individuals thus
raises the question of the
reliability of their method
when applied to both sexes.
This thesis attempts to
validate DiGangi and
colleagues’ method by
colleagues
applying it to a set of
female remains.
Angus Tierney
Walking With Wapiti:
Measuring the Effects of
Late Holocene Climatic
Variability Through
Stable Isotope Analysis
on Cervus elaphus in the
Gulf of Georgia.
JoRelle Grover
Identity and
Icons: Conflict and
Consequences
Surrounding the
University of North
Dakota’s “Fighting Sioux”
Name & Logo
Katie Fawell
Resiliency Strategies in
Transnational Families:
Case Study with
Highland Guatemalan
Women
Cathy Bialas
11,000 Years on the
Rogue River: Prehistoric
Occupation of the
Stratton Creek Site
(35JO21), Josephine
County, Oregon
14
Anthropology Club
The Anthropology Club is a group of students and faculty who promote interest in the discipline of
anthropology. We plan and promote speakers, trips and events, which relate to all of the sub-fields
of the discipline. Anyone with the slightest interest in anthropology is invited to the meetings and
events we organize. We welcome undergrads, grad students, faculty, alumni, your kids...
Each year, the Anth Club helps host the Compass 2 Campus visit from our local 5th graders.
Compass 2 Campus is a program at Western Washington University designed to increase access to higher education by
providing an opportunity for 5th grade students from traditionally underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds in
Whatcom and Skagit counties to be mentored by university students. We plan and present a presentation covering the four
subfields of Anthropology to 5th graders when they come visit WWU’s campus.
The other highlight of the academic year that we participate in annually, is the planning and hosting of the Anthropology
Conference in conjunction with Scholar's Week, including coordinating the Poster Session and Reception for the
department.
Between events, we plan and promote speakers, trips, and events which relate to all 4 of the subdivisions within
Anthropology. Past events include visiting the Hibulb Cultural Center & Natural History Preserve; traveling to the
University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology; attending the Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival;
listening to dynamic speakers both on and off campus; watching/ discussing provocative movies; (ie: Yes Men Fix the
World) and other thought inciting documentaries. But best of all, we have fun and connect with others who have similar
interests -- Thanks to the officers and other club members for their hard work and support. Visit the WWU Anthropology
Club on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/anthclubat online: http://www.wwu.edu/anthclub
Departmental Awards 2012-2013
Taylor-Anastasio Award
• Rebecca Hoffmeister – Geophagy
• Todd Lagastee – Crystal Clear: Not all Microblades Are Equal
• Kristen Morley– Examining Power Dynamics Between Captives and Captors in the Beslan
Outstanding Graduate
Kirsten White was selected as the 2012 Anthropology Department’s Outstanding Student of the Year. Kirsten graduated
this last June with a B.A. in Anthropology, (magna cum laude) and a minor in Raza Latina Studies. Throughout her
time at Western, Kirsten received multiple awards and scholarships including Associated Students Academic Scholar
Award, Presidents Two Year Scholarship, Western Foundation Award and the Princeton Prize in Race Relationship
Scholarship Award. During her time at WWU, Kirsten volunteered as a Student Coordinator/mentor with the WWU
Digital Storytelling Project where she collaborated with classroom teachers at local middle schools to facilitate storytelling
projects for 6th and 7th grade students, as well as mentoring students in workshops to create digital stories to share with
their communities. She was the Vice President for WWU’s Student Coalition for Immigration Rights where she developed
and facilitated multiple community events, workshops and presentations including the first annual SCIR Community
Conference on Immigration. During her final year, Kirsten presented papers at both the AAA conference in Montreal,
Quebec and at Anthropology Scholars Week and co-authored an article on digital storytelling for Ladder Magazine, a
publication of the Los Angeles Unified School District which is currently pending publication. In her spare time, Ms.
White was a volunteer member of the US Board of Directors for the Dunga Orphanage Project where she collaborated
with the Kenyan Advisory board to operate a community-based organization dedicated to sponsoring Dunga and Kisumubased youth in their educational pursuits. Since graduating, Kirsten is realizing her goal of combining her interests of
community-driven projects with Anthropology by moving to Phoenix with Teach for America.
Friends of Anthropology Undergraduate Research Award Winner
The Friends of Anthropology Undergraduate Research recipient for Fall 2012 was Jennifer Hoang for her project
“Ethnographic Narrative of the Karenni Students of Western Thailand’s Refugee Camp, Mae La”. She proposes to
contribute to the spread of awareness about the issues surrounding the refugee camps on the border of Thailand by filming
a documentary following the lives of three Burmese engineering students living as refugees inside the camps. The film
aspires to give the global community a greater understanding and to connect a wider array of audiences to the refugee
situation in Thailand by showing the human dimension of life.