Vol. 3, No.2  Amanda Haag, Student Writer         Winter 2001

 

 

New Term Abroad in Ireland 

 

 

Map courtesy of
www.theodora.com/maps
used with permission.

   The Anthropology Barbados Term Abroad is moving to Ireland. Next fall Prof. George Gmelch will take ten students to study and do independent research in southeast Ireland, with frequent field trips to other regions.

The program aims to provide students with an intensive first-hand experience of another culture--rural and urban modern-day Ireland.

Secondly, it offers students the unique opportunity to learn and use social research methods in a real field setting. As students of past programs have discovered, anthropological fieldwork is not just a methodology to acquire data about culture, it is also a way of observing and thinking about ourselves and our fellow human beings.

The program begins with two weeks of exploring western Ireland (on foot, bicycle, and by bus), where the traditional, rural culture still survives. During this period the group will spend time on the Aran Islands, in the university town of Galway, and in bed and breakfast homes in rural Connemara and the Burren. A third week of orientation and background in Irish history will take place at Trinity College in Dublin.

Subsequently, students will move into homes with local families in different towns in southeast Ireland (e.g., Kilkenny, Wexford, Carlow).

Every two weeks during the term there will be a three-day field trip to a different region of the country, each with a different theme or focus. The rest of the time students will do full-time field research in their communities on a topic of their choosing. There will also be weekly field assignments aimed at developing familiarity with different research strategies and acquiring a broad understanding of Irish culture and society.

The term abroad costs $472 more than a regular term on campus. The term abroad fee covers tuition, room, board, and all group excursions in Ireland. Any scholarship a student receives on campus applies towards the term. The cost of travel to and from Ireland (about $500) is the student's responsibility.

Students will receive credit for the following courses:ANT 63: Field Methods in Anthropology, ANT 90: Irish Society and Culture, ANT 190: Independent Study, or an independent study in another department.

For more information, contact Prof. George Gmelch (x6083) or by email at gmelchg@union.edu.

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Student News: Behind the Scenes

Who are the unsung heroes of the Anthro Dept. at Union College? They're our three work-study students, Amanda Haag, Apryle Pickering and Kimi Wright. We couldn't keep things running without their help and we thought we'd introduce them to you this issue.

Amanda Haag is an Anthropology major from Old Forge, New York. She enjoys traveling and will be returning to Spain this summer on a Union mini term abroad. Her hobbies include playing piano and guitar as well as outdoor activities like hiking and canoeing.

Apryle Pickering is a senior Anthropology major from Brandon, Vermont. She attended the Fiji term abroad in the fall of 1999 where she studied single mothers and completed an Ethnography of her village. She is currently working on her thesis which looks at local services addressing teen pregnancy. Apryle is also the captain of the softball team where she hopes to break many pitching records this season. Her plans for the future include either graduate studies or continuing research in Anthropology.

Kimi Wright is a freshman and comes from East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. She is a Mathematics major with a double minor in Anthropology and Computer Science. Some of Kimi's activities include horse-back riding, piano playing, Field Hockey, and Track.

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Missy Matusewicz Sets Union Record

Anthropology / psychology major and soccer standout Mellisa Matusewicz will graduate this year as the most decorated player in the history of women's soccer at Union. Matusewicz holds Union's records for goals and points in a season, and the record for goals and points in a career. Leading the team to an overall record of 56-11-5, she has earned such distinctions as UCAA co-player of the year, "MVP" of the State Tournament, National Coaches Athletic Association/Adidas Second Team All-American, and is ranked among the top 25 leading scorers in the nation. She plans to attend graduate school to earn her master's in education, and would also like to coach soccer.

 







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IIE Announces $6.6 Million Grant for Study

 

 

The IIE (Institute of International Education) recently announced a new program to encourage American undergraduates to study in East and Southeast Asia, made possible by a $6.6 million grant from the Freeman Foundation. The program is designed to increase understanding of Eastern countries, and students can receive financial support to travel and learn for up to one academic year. As many Americans choose terms abroad in places like Europe, Asian countries are left behind, with only 5% of students choosing to study there. The IIE hopes to overcome the language and financial difficulties of studying in an Asian country by giving assistance to those who demonstrate financial need. Students with no previous experience in Asia will be given priority, and students must agree to promote study in Asia on their home campus and community on their return. Applications for Summer 2001 are due by March 1, 2001, and must be submitted by the study abroad office on the applicants' behalf. Applications can be filled out online through IEE's website; www.iee.org/pgms/freeman-asia. For more information consult IIE's website, or send questions to Freeman-ASIA@iie.org.

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John Fox at Zayed University

John Fox, Visiting Professor of Anthropology last year at Union, has taken a position to develop an interdisciplinary major in the social sciences at Zayed University, in the emirate of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The education at Zayed University is focused on information technology and learning outcomes. Each student uses a laptop in every class to analyze social problems, often combining information from websites with data gathered in the field around the Arabian Gulf. The different disciplines of the social sciences are combined into particular learning foci, rather than as traditional majors. John is learning Arabic, but is fortunate that all instruction is in English. All students are fluent in English. The students that he trains are the first native-born social scientists in this new and affluent nation.

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Chesterwood Internship

 

Chesterwood, a museum property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a Massachusetts and National Historic Landmark, has volunteer internship opportunities for college juniors through graduate students. The program offers the opportunity for work experience in a variety of museum operations, including administration, education, collectios, archives and site maintenance. The application and interview deadline for the program is April 20th. For more information, call Susan Frisch Lehrer at (413) 298-3579 Ext. 211.

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Jobs for Anthro Majors

As many Anthropology students plan for the future, they may wonder what jobs and opportunities will be available to them. Anthropology, because it is a field dedicated to understanding cultural diversity, has appeal for many sorts of jobs. Businesses dealing with public relations, international contracts, or any kinds of social issues find anthropology students attractive because they can be assumed to be sensitive to cultural issues. The research skills of anthropology students also prove valuable in a range of contexts. There is a growing awareness that anthropology is a field uniquely suited to the multicultural dimensions of the contemporary job scene.

Here are some facts researched by John T. Omohundro concerning anthropology as a career and how it can be useful in other professions

Businesses and organizational executives have positive attitudes about liberal education concluded by responses to a Yankelovitch survey conducted in 1998, and the fact that executives hire and promote liberally educated employees.

Jobs in the anthropological field will become more available in the coming years, with about a third of the current professors in anthropology retiring by 2010. This will create over 2000 academic jobs in anthropology.

The US federal government employs 1000 archaeologists, and 15 full-time forensic anthropologists.

Major corporations are paying attention to this field, as two of the largest mutual funds, Dreyfus and Hanseatic, have key managers with M.A.s in anthropology

The fact that travel and tourism is the biggest industry in the US should inspire study of the industry and a search for employment.

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Study Challenges Single African Genesis

The Times Union recently carred an article about a study appearing in the journal Science. The study challenged the theory that humans migrated from Africa in a singular movement.

Anthropologists who analyzed skulls from around the world believe that humans migrated from Africa in small groups that journeyed to every continent. While the anthropologists still believe that humans originated in Africa, the new theory holds that small groups journeyed to Asia, Europe, and even Australia over thousands of years, and that modern humans descended independently from common ancestors. The discovery was made by comparing distinctive features in ancient skulls.

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New Human Rights Website Launched

 

A new "Advocacy Project" website was launched recently to support human rights and NGO initiatives. The campaigns the site supports include; The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Struggle Against Impunity, Civil Society and Genocide, and Campaign for an International Criminal Court. The site also emphasizes campaigns for Women's Rights, especially in places like Southeast Asia and Nigeria, and campaigns for refugees in Bosnia and Kosovo.

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Bishop/Smith Bookshelf

This month we are beginning a book review section. The books reviewed in this column were selected by M. Estellie Smith and Charles Bishop, research professors in anthropology. They write, "As recently as a decade ago, the task of preparing a reading list of specifically 'anthropologica' work - books written by anthropologysts on a variety of anthropological topics - would have been difficult indeed. A revolution has occurred, however, and the prayers of generations of anthropologists have been answered. Culture has been discovered and co-opted by the world and everyone in it... In short, continuing to read anthropology after graduation is not only easier than it has ever been, there's a vast pool of individuals and groups who are now reading anthropology. For those of you who've acquired the anthropological eye, it's useful to realize that, having learned some anthropology, you'll spend the rest of your life observing and thus learning more about the quirky complexities of human behavior. Here are a few books with which to make your transition from formal classroom to real-life field work. As well as mixing formal anthropological works with novels and mysteries, I've combined some classics."

Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa, Katherine Dettwyler

A best-seller on campus across the country and 1995 winner of the Margaret Mead award, this is a very personal accounto f a biocultural anthropologist doing field work among malnourished children in West Africa. In the midst of dealing with ethnocentrism, culture shock and emotionally draining research, she also has to balance her role as objective ethnographer, subjective friend and mother.

Stumbling Towards Truth: Anthropologists at Work, by Philip DaVita

Just out last year, this is a collection of papers by various anthropologists exploring the business of doing anthropology. The papers are witty (often hilarious) but also address serious issues not only of doing anthropology but wondering about the "why" of it.

Favorite mysteries:

The Bishop/Smith bookshelf also recommends the mysteries of Tony Hillerman. They call him "A superb story-teller whose material is so ethnographically accurate that both the Navajo (upon whose reservation the novels are sited) and the American Anthropological Assiciation have recognized his achievements with special awards." There are many Hillerman books, featuring as investigators members of the Navajo tribal police.

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From the Chair

By Prof. Stephen Leavitt

 

This term we're excited to announce our brand-new term abroad in Ireland, to be run by prof. George Gmelch next fall. The term follows the same well-developed model of anthropological research during a homestay, though this time students will be living in more urban environments.

Also with this issue we're innagurating The Bishop-Smith Bookshelf, a column devoted to books of interest to anthropology students. It is authored by research professors Charles Bishop and Estelle Smith who give brief descrpitions of interesting titles related to the field of anthropology.

 

 

Prof.  Stephen Leavitt, Chair 
Amanda Haag, Student Writer
Deborah Ludke, Editor

  

To reach us:
by phone: 518-388-6715
by fax: 518-388-8035
or by email:  ludked@union.edu

The Anthropology newsletter is published 3x a year - once each term.

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