Anthropology at Queens College of CUNY

Alexander A. Bauer (Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania 2006) has joined the Department of Anthropology as an Assistant Professor starting Fall 2008.

Alexander Bauer conducts archaeological research on the Black Sea coast of Turkey, and is interested in problems related to cultural interaction and trade in both the past and present. His other research focuses on how archaeological knowledge is constructed and cultural heritage law and policy. He will be teaching Introduction to Archaeology, History of Anthropology, and the Archaeology of the Near East.

On March 24th, 2008, Dr. Cameron L. McNeil was named the recipient of the 2008 Mary W. Klinger Book Award for the publication she edited, entitled Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao, published by University Press of Florida. The Klinger Book Award is among the highest honors awarded by the Society for ECONOMIC BOTANY. Dr. McNeil will be honored in Durham, North Carolina June 5th at the society's annual meeting.

In April, several anthropology faculty members gave talks during the 77th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Columbus, Ohio (April 9 - April 12, 2008):

Larissa Swedell, J. Saunders, M. Pines, A. Schreier and B. Davis. - Alternative reproductive strategies in male hamadryas baboons: leaders, followers, and solitary males.

Jennifer Muller - The frequency and etiology of rib fractures in the skeletal remains of Washington DC's African American poor

Sara Stinson - Factors influencing relative sitting height at high altitude.

Nelson Ting - Extinction of critically endangered West African colobus monkeys will lead to a major loss in molecular diversity.

During the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Vancouver (March 26 - March 30, 2008), several anthropology faculty members gave talks based on their current research:

Aaron Kendall—Material Culture and Viking Age Trade: Comparison of Artifacts from Icelandic Farm Sites.

Cameron McNeil—The Fragrance of Elite Identity: Flowers in Maya Temples and Tombs at Copan, Honduras.

Ekaterina Pechenkina and Xiaolin Ma — Trajectories of Health in Early Farming Communities of East Asia.

Timothy Pugh —Elite Uses of Spanish Material Culture in Contact Period Petén, Guatemala.

Joseph Ferraro, Tom Plummer, Briana Pobiner, Jim Oliver and Laura Bishop—Late Pliocene zooarchaeology of Kanjera South, Kenya.

Kevin Birth gave a talk at Franklin and Marshall College on Feb 18th. The title of his talk is "The Meaningful Irregularity of Time." The event is sponsored by Anthropology, Music, and Africana Studies.

Kevin Birth also has a new article out in the The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute called "The Creation of Coevalness and the Danger of Homochronism."

Fall 2007
John Collins' discussion of recent approaches to Brazilian racial politics appeared in September in Comparative Studies in Society and History 49(4). His ethnographic examination of sound, play, and human agency was published in Ethnos 72(3) as The Sounds of Tradition: Arbitrariness and Agency in a Brazilian Cultural Heritage Center. Brazilian Cultural Heritage Center.

Several Antthropology faculty members delivered oral presentations to the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association held between November 28 and December 2, 2007 in Washington DC. Dr. DeBoer delivered his talk on "ethnogenesis in the long and short run," to a symposium on Long-Term Patterns of Ethnogenesis in Indigenous Amazonia organized by Jonathan Hill and Alf Hornborg. Dr. McNeil organized a symposium on Mesoamerican Relationships with Nature. Dr. Pugh gave a talk on his recent research in Guatemala to a symposium entitled "Bridging Identities: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Maya Ethnicity in Long Term Perspective" organized by Bethany Myers.

Kevin Birth's most recent book "Bacchanalian Sentiments: Musical Experiences and Political Counterpoints in Trinidad" has been released by Duke University Press.

In this book Dr. Birth draws on fieldwork he conducted in one of Trinidad’s ethnically diverse rural villages to explore the relationship between music and social and political consciousness on the island. He describes how Trinidadians use the affective power of music and the physiological experience of performance to express and work through issues related to identity, ethnicity, and politics. He looks at how the performers and audience members relate to different musical traditions.

Kate Pechenkina has two chapters in the recently releasededited volume Ancient Health: Skeletal Indicators of Agricultural and Economic Intensification, edited by Mark Nathan Cohen and Gillian M. M. Crane-Kramer. University Press of Florida.

The two chapters are entitled "Skeletal biology of the Central Peruvian Coast: consequences of changing population density and progressive dependence on maize agriculture" (PDF) and "Diet and health in the Neolithic of the Wei and Yellow River Basins, Northern China." (PDF)

Consequences of Contact: Language Ideologies and Sociocultural Transformations in Pacific Societies, a volume edited by
Miki Makihara and Bambi B. Schieffelin has been released by Oxford University Press.

Drawing on ethnographic and linguistic analyses, this edited volume examines situations of intertwined linguistic and cultural change unfolding in specific Pacific locations in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Its overarching concern is with the multiple ways that processes of historical change have shaped and been shaped by linguistic ideologiesreflexive sensibilities about languages and language useheld by Pacific peoples and other agents of change. The essays demonstrate that language and linguistic practices are linked to changing consciousness of self and community through notions of agency, morality, affect, authority, and authenticity.

Summer 2007
Mandana Limbert received ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies) fellowship for this year (2007-2008) for her project Oman, Zanzibar, and the Politics of Becoming Arab.

Larissa Swedell's 2006-2007 Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, was renewed through the end of 2007. She will continue to teach at UCT and conduct research on South African chacma baboons until her return to New York in January 2008.

Dr. Kevin Birth's paper, entitled "The Creation of Coevalness and the Danger of Homochronism," has been accepted for publication by the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.



	Spring 2008 Anthropology Picnic Please join us for spring picnic on Saturday, May 10, at Cunningham Park from 12:00 to 5:00 PM. (We will be set up near the pre-school). All students interested in anthropology are welcome! See directions The Anthropology Awards Ceremony Please join us for the annual award ceremony in recognition of outstanding acheivements of our majors and minors. The ceremony will be held on Monday, May 12, in the Dining Hall Q-Side Room, from 12:15-2:00 PM. Anthropology -- from the Greek roots ανθρωπο-ς, "man" or "human" and λογος, "word," "speech," "discourse," or "reason"--refers to the study of human beings and humankind in the broadest sense. Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) used the term ανθρωπολογος in reference to the science of the nature of man, particularly human physiology and psychology. The term Anthropologia, in its more recognizably modern form, was apparently first used in 1594 by Otto Casmann (1562 - 1607), a priest and rector in Stade, Germany, in his book "Psychologia anthropologica". While many other disciplines, such as psychology and sociology, have people as their primary objects of study, Anthropology approaches its subject from a more holistic perspective. Anthropology treats all aspects of human existence and experience as complementary phenomena within an integrated whole, including both human biology and culture. These elements are seen as far less coherent when the linkages among them are not explicitly taken into account. Anthropology is also holistic because of its concern with the entire temporal range of human existence and experience, beginning with the appearance of our earliest human ancestors in the fossil record and onward through the emergence of modern life in industrialized and globalized societies. Contrary to a popular belief that the primary focus of Anthropology is on life in preindustrial communities, the discipline gives no special emphasis to any particular peoples, group of cultures, or geographic area. The student population of Queens College is as much of interest to anthropologists as are the Neolithic farmers of Europe, India, or China. Therefore, Anthropology is holistic in three senses: its focus of study is on all of humanity, on all aspects of humanity, and at all time periods. In North America, Anthropology traditionally encompasses four subdisciplines: • Cultural Anthropology • Biological or Physical Anthropology • Archaeology • Anthropological Linguistics	News and Events Spring 2008 Alexander A. Bauer (Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania 2006) has joined the Department of Anthropology as an Assistant Professor starting Fall 2008. Alexander Bauer conducts archaeological research on the Black Sea coast of Turkey, and is interested in problems related to cultural interaction and trade in both the past and present. His other research focuses on how archaeological knowledge is constructed and cultural heritage law and policy. He will be teaching Introduction to Archaeology, History of Anthropology, and the Archaeology of the Near East. On March 24th, 2008, Dr. Cameron L. McNeil was named the recipient of the 2008 Mary W. Klinger Book Award for the publication she edited, entitled Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao, published by University Press of Florida. The Klinger Book Award is among the highest honors awarded by the Society for ECONOMIC BOTANY. Dr. McNeil will be honored in Durham, North Carolina June 5th at the society's annual meeting. In April, several anthropology faculty members gave talks during the 77th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Columbus, Ohio (April 9 - April 12, 2008): Larissa Swedell, J. Saunders, M. Pines, A. Schreier and B. Davis. - Alternative reproductive strategies in male hamadryas baboons: leaders, followers, and solitary males. Jennifer Muller - The frequency and etiology of rib fractures in the skeletal remains of Washington DC's African American poor Sara Stinson - Factors influencing relative sitting height at high altitude. Nelson Ting - Extinction of critically endangered West African colobus monkeys will lead to a major loss in molecular diversity. During the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Vancouver (March 26 - March 30, 2008), several anthropology faculty members gave talks based on their current research: Aaron Kendall—Material Culture and Viking Age Trade: Comparison of Artifacts from Icelandic Farm Sites. Cameron McNeil—The Fragrance of Elite Identity: Flowers in Maya Temples and Tombs at Copan, Honduras. Ekaterina Pechenkina and Xiaolin Ma — Trajectories of Health in Early Farming Communities of East Asia. Timothy Pugh —Elite Uses of Spanish Material Culture in Contact Period Petén, Guatemala. Joseph Ferraro, Tom Plummer, Briana Pobiner, Jim Oliver and Laura Bishop—Late Pliocene zooarchaeology of Kanjera South, Kenya. Kevin Birth gave a talk at Franklin and Marshall College on Feb 18th. The title of his talk is "The Meaningful Irregularity of Time." The event is sponsored by Anthropology, Music, and Africana Studies. Kevin Birth also has a new article out in the The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute called "The Creation of Coevalness and the Danger of Homochronism." Fall 2007 John Collins' discussion of recent approaches to Brazilian racial politics appeared in September in Comparative Studies in Society and History 49(4). His ethnographic examination of sound, play, and human agency was published in Ethnos 72(3) as The Sounds of Tradition: Arbitrariness and Agency in a Brazilian Cultural Heritage Center. Brazilian Cultural Heritage Center. Several Antthropology faculty members delivered oral presentations to the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association held between November 28 and December 2, 2007 in Washington DC. Dr. DeBoer delivered his talk on "ethnogenesis in the long and short run," to a symposium on Long-Term Patterns of Ethnogenesis in Indigenous Amazonia organized by Jonathan Hill and Alf Hornborg. Dr. McNeil organized a symposium on Mesoamerican Relationships with Nature. Dr. Pugh gave a talk on his recent research in Guatemala to a symposium entitled "Bridging Identities: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Maya Ethnicity in Long Term Perspective" organized by Bethany Myers. Kevin Birth's most recent book "Bacchanalian Sentiments: Musical Experiences and Political Counterpoints in Trinidad" has been released by Duke University Press. In this book Dr. Birth draws on fieldwork he conducted in one of Trinidad’s ethnically diverse rural villages to explore the relationship between music and social and political consciousness on the island. He describes how Trinidadians use the affective power of music and the physiological experience of performance to express and work through issues related to identity, ethnicity, and politics. He looks at how the performers and audience members relate to different musical traditions. Kate Pechenkina has two chapters in the recently releasededited volume Ancient Health: Skeletal Indicators of Agricultural and Economic Intensification, edited by Mark Nathan Cohen and Gillian M. M. Crane-Kramer. University Press of Florida. The two chapters are entitled "Skeletal biology of the Central Peruvian Coast: consequences of changing population density and progressive dependence on maize agriculture" (PDF) and "Diet and health in the Neolithic of the Wei and Yellow River Basins, Northern China." (PDF) *Consequences of Contact: Language Ideologies and Sociocultural Transformations in Pacific Societies, a volume edited by Miki Makihara and Bambi B. Schieffelin has been released by Oxford University Press. Drawing on ethnographic and linguistic analyses, this edited volume examines situations of intertwined linguistic and cultural change unfolding in specific Pacific locations in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Its overarching concern is with the multiple ways that processes of historical change have shaped and been shaped by linguistic ideologiesreflexive sensibilities about languages and language useheld by Pacific peoples and other agents of change. The essays demonstrate that language and linguistic practices are linked to changing consciousness of self and community through notions of agency, morality, affect, authority, and authenticity. Summer 2007* Mandana Limbert received ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies) fellowship for this year (2007-2008) for her project Oman, Zanzibar, and the Politics of Becoming Arab. Larissa Swedell's 2006-2007 Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, was renewed through the end of 2007. She will continue to teach at UCT and conduct research on South African chacma baboons until her return to New York in January 2008. Dr. Kevin Birth's paper, entitled "The Creation of Coevalness and the Danger of Homochronism," has been accepted for publication by the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.