38th ANNUAL VISITING LECTURE SERIES
“Anthropology in the Public Sphere: (Re)Defining Research and Practice for the 21st Century”
Current Trends in Anthropology
Anthropology 357/450
Tues • Thurs 3:40 pm – 4:55 pm
Contemporary Issues in Anthropology
Anthropology 550
Mon • Wed 10:10 am – 12:05 pm
Coordinator: Dr. Tricia Redeker Hepner
Each generation of anthropologists has critically reflected upon – and often vigorously debated— the relationship between theory and practice, research and advocacy, and science and public understanding. Yet, since the founding of the discipline, anthropologists in every sub-field have applied their knowledge in ways that directly impact populations and issues under study and engage matters of broad public concern. Whether interfacing with policymakers, testifying in legal matters, participating in criminal investigations, engaging in international development, preserving and portraying the past, or working with the media, medical institutions, businesses and government entities (including the military), anthropologists have contributed expertise and raised important questions about issues that matter. Within universities and research institutions, out in the field, or working in the public and private sectors, anthropology continues to define and redefine its relevance to the “real world,” a project it often shares with other humanistic, social, and natural sciences. This goal is sometimes in contrast to the popular images of anthropology as either virtuosic adventure or tedious laboratory analysis. So what exactly does anthropology contribute to the public sphere and to public understanding?
The 38th annual Visiting Lecture Series addresses the diverse ways that anthropologists and others have worked in and with “the public sphere” and the key debates that accompany such efforts. Over the past two decades, the term “public anthropology” has emerged to capture the theoretical, methodological, and practical dimensions of the discipline simultaneously; more recently, this term has been featured centrally by academic presses and publishing series, in flagship journals, and in debates about the long-range plan and overall mission of the American Anthropological Association. More generally but no less importantly, the role of anthropology in the public sphere is of concern to current graduate students, who face a narrow, highly competitive job market in academia and therefore demonstrate expanding interest in meaningful and practical applications of their knowledge, skills, and research outside the university setting.
Topics of specific interest to this series include: Cultural Resource Management; historic preservation and museum studies; biocultural and bioarchaeological analyses; forensic investigations of domestic and international crimes; disaster risk reduction, recovery and identification; human rights investigations; legal testimony and interventions; policy-oriented research and interventions; critically-engaged activist research; collaborative and community-based participatory research; “embedded” anthropology (with the media and/or military); critical medical anthropology; environmental research; critical humanitarian studies; and anthropologists’ work with the private sector and non-governmental organizations
Schedule
| Week 1 |
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| Aug 17 (W) |
UC Auditorium |
Introduction to the Course, no speakers Anth 550 |
ANTH 550 |
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| Aug 18 (Th) |
MM 63 |
Introduction to the Course, no speakers Anth 357/450 |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 2 |
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| Aug 23 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
Hugh Gusterson, Cultural Anthropology, George Mason University, Illicit Drinking Among Teenagers |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Aug 24 (W) |
UC Auditorium |
Hugh Gusterson, Cultural Anthropology, George Mason University The Human Terrain Systems Project |
ANTH 550 |
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| Aug 25 (Th) |
MM 63 |
Karla McKanders – UT College of Law – Representing Immigrants and Asylees in Tennessee |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 3 |
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| Aug 30 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
Boyce Driskell – Archaeology Research Lab, UT The practice of archaeology in cultural resource management at UT |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Sep 1 (Th) |
MM 63 |
Sarah Walters – MA Candidate, Archaeology, UT –The Public Really Digs It! : A Viable Cost-Labor Model for Incorporating the Public into Archaeological Fieldwork and Research (and What Experts Could Gain) |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 4 |
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| Sept 6 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
Jaymelee Kim, Ph.D. Student, UT – A Comparison of Transitional Justice in Postcolonial Canada and Postconflict Uganda |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Sept 8 (Th) |
MM 63 |
Amy Mundorff, Biological and Forensic Anthropology, UT – Practicing Forensic Anthropology in an Urban Medical Examiner’s Office |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 5 |
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| Sept 13 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
Gregory Button, Cultural Anthropology, UT – Engaged Anthropology |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Sept 14 (W) |
110-C Hoskins Library |
Bruce Anderson, Biological and Forensic Anthro, Pima County M.E.; University of Arizona – Southwest Hispanic: What does THAT Mean? |
ANTH 550 |
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| Sept 15 (Th) |
MM 63 |
Bruce Anderson, Biological and Forensic Anthro, Pima County M.E.; University of Arizona – The Role of Forensic Anthropology in the Resolution of Unidentified Undocumented Migrant Cases |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 6 |
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| Sept 19 (M) |
UC Auditorium |
Mark Lynott, Archaeology, Midwest Archaeological Center – The Past, the Present, and the Future of Ohio Hopewell Archaeological Research |
ANTH 550 |
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| Sept 20 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
Mark Lynott, Archaeology, Midwest Archaeological Center – Ditches, Walls, Mounds and Monuments: A Study of Ohio Hopewell Landscape Construction |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Sept 22 (Th) |
MM 63 |
Barbara Heath, Historical Archaeology, UT – Thomas Jefferson, Slavery, and Interested and Disinterested Public(s): Doing Archaeology at the Homes of a Founding Father |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 7 |
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| Sept 27 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
Jonathan Marks, Biological Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Charlotte – You Are Not an Ape. (Now put down that turd and get back to work)! |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Sept 28 (W) |
UC Auditorium |
Jonathan Marks, Biological Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Charlotte – Nature/Culture: The Anthropological ‘Brand’ |
ANTH 550 |
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| Week 8 |
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| Oct 4 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
Martha Zierden, Archaeology, Charleston Museum – Archaeology and the Walled City Task Force |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Oct 5 (W) | UC Auditorium (10:10 am) |
Martha Zierden, Archaeology, Charleston Museum – Animating the Urban Environment |
ANTH 550 |
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| Oct 6 (Th) | MM 63 (3:40 pm) |
Kim Pyszka, Ph.D. Candidate, Archaeology, UT – unto seynte Paules: A Tale of St. Paul’s Church and Parsonage |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 9 |
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| Oct 11 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
Mark Freeman, UT – Digital Public Archaeology: Tools and Approaches for Presenting Archaeology to a General Audience |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Oct 13 (Th) |
MM 63 |
Amber Wheat, Biological Anthropology, UT – Assessing Agreement: Surveying Attitudes About the Peopling of the Americas |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 10 |
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| Oct 18 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
Catherine Besteman, Cultural Anthropology, Colby College – An Unexpected Life: A Story of Somali Bantu Refugees and Lewiston Maine |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Oct 19 (W) | UC Auditorium (10:10 am) |
Catherine Besteman, Cultural Anthropology, Colby College – Assessing Public Anthropology |
ANTH 550 |
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| Oct 20 (Th) |
MM 63 |
Marisa Ensor, Cultural Anthropology, UT – Doing Good and Doing it Well: Public Anthropology in Humanitarian Crises |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 11 |
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| Oct 25 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
Rosalind Hackett and Tricia Hepner, Religious Studies and Cultural Anthropology, UT – Studying and Serving in a (Post)Conflict Zone: the Story of GSSAP in Uganda |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Oct 26 (W) |
UC Auditorium |
Kathryn Clancy, Biological and Biocultural Anthropology, University of Illinois – Connecting women and their bodies: broader impacts that actually have impact
|
ANTH 550 |
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| Oct 27 (Th) |
MM 63 |
Kathryn Clancy, Biological and Biocultural Anthropology, University of Illinois – Why you should be reading scienceblogs, and why I tell the internet all about the ladybusiness |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 12 |
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| Nov 1 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
Hillary Fouts and Denise Bates, Child and Family Studies and Public Health, UT – Planning Applied Research in Slums of Nairobi: Lessons in Expecting the Unexpected |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Nov 3 (Th) |
MM 63 |
Jon Shefner, Sociology, UT – From Deindustrialization to Crisis: Social Movement Implications |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 13 |
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| Nov 8 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
Maria Franklin, Archaeology, University of Texas-Austin – Archaeologists in the Public Realm: Confronting Issues of Power, Race, and Advocacy |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Nov 9 (W) |
UC Auditorium |
Maria Franklin, Archaeology, University of Texas-Austin – When Theory Meets Practice: Negotiating the Potholes of Community-based Archaeology |
ANTH 550 |
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| Nov 10 (Th) |
MM 63 |
Robert Blitt, College of Law, UT – From Aspiration to Practice: Translating International Human Rights Into Social Change |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 14 |
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| Nov 15 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
Sheila Dauer, Cultural Anthropology, New School Graduate Program in International Relations – The Concept of Gender Violence: Advances and Problems in Human Rights Policy |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Nov 16 (W) |
UC Auditorium |
Sheila Dauer, Cultural Anthropology, New School Graduate Program in International Relations – Making Women’s Human Rights Real at the Local Level |
ANTH 550 |
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| Nov 17 (Th) |
MM 63 |
Dawnie Steadman, Biological and Forensic Anthropology, UT – The Political and Social Aspects of Forensic Human Rights Investigations |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 15 |
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| Nov 22 (Tu) |
MM 63 |
De Ann Pendry, Cultural Anthropology, UT – Advocating for Immigrant Rights in Tennessee |
ANTH 357/450 |
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| Week 16 |
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| Nov 28 (M) |
UC Auditorium |
ANTH 550: Discussion & Wrap-up |
ANTH 550 |
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| Nov 30 (Tu) |
TBD |
ANTH 357/450: Discussion & Wrap-Up |
ANTH 357/450 |