Anthropology at Queens College of CUNY

Fall 2012
Our department seeks to hire an Assistant Professor in Biological Anthropology, specializing in human biology (Job ID: 6644).
CLOSING DATE 12-25-2012

Visit the CUNY website (www.cuny.edu) to see our job ad!
- Go to www.cuny.edu and click on "Employment"
- Click "Search job listings"
- Click on "More options to search for CUNY jobs"
- Search by Job Opening ID number (6644)
- Click on the "Apply Now" button and follow the instructions for creating a user account.

Professor Larissa Swedell received a $20,000 research grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for her fieldwork project on sociality and social bonds in baboons.

A new book by Professor Kevin Birth "Objects of Time: How Things Shape Temporality" was published by Palgrave Macmillan Press. This book looks at how the objects we use to think about time shape our thoughts. Such objects empower us to think about time certain ways, but they also contain hidden assumptions about time that deflect our awareness away from the complicated rhythms of our lives and our world. Because time ties together so many aspects of our lives, this book is able to explore the nexus of objects, cognition, culture, and even biology, and to do so in relationship to globalization. By using ethnographic and historical data, Birth argues that we must recognize the cognitive effects of our timekeeping devices, and that we must also recognize that they do not adequately capture many important aspects of time or life.

Summer 2012
Timothy Pugh received a two year grant from the National Science Foundation supporting his archaeological project (Factionalism, Trade Goods, and the Colonial Process in Petén, Guatemala) in Petén, Guatemala. His article Contact and Missionization at Tayasal, Petén, Guatemala appeared in Journal of Field Archaeology.

Professor John Collins has been appointed as the director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program.

Professor Tom Plummer published a new article "The Hard Stuff of Culture: Oldowan Archaeology at Kanjera South, Kenya" in the June issue of Popular Archaeology.

Kate Pechenkina has a chapter entitled "From Morphometrics to Holistics: The Emergence of Paleopathology in China" in the new edited volume by Jane Buikstra and Charlotte Roberts, "The Global History of Paleopathology: Pioneers and Prospects" published by Oxford University Press in June 2012.

A new paper by Professors Larissa Swedell and Tom Plummer, entitled "A Papionin Multilevel Society as a Model for Hominin Social Evolution" appeared in the May issue of the International Journal of Primatology.

Spring 2012
Anthropology Honors and Awards 2012

Hortense Powdermaker Award: Talisa Feliciano
Faculty Award: Saule Buozyte, Heather Nitschke, Barbra Hsu
Paul Mahler Memorial Award: Chaim Nissel
Lynn Ceci Archaeology Award: Barbra Hsu and Heather Nitschke
Frank Spencer Memorial Scholarship Award: Raquel Lamela Lopez
Service Award: Barbra Hsu
Senior Honor Thesis: Heather Nitschke, Saule Buozyte, Talisa Feliciano

SENIOR MAJORS HONORS: Saule Buozyte, Leora Yasgur, Tiffany Arbelaez, Lauren Alvarez, Kathy Dimos, Chaim Leib Nissel, Elizabeth Staszewski, Giustina Lombardo, Talisa Feliciano, Miriam Ben-dayan, Elisheva Alexander, Adam Gouveia, John Horun, Analis Bencosme, Alicia Galdamez, Ashley Mallette, Sara Saeed, Brittany Schuler, Monika Storczynska, Darwin Eng, Susanna You, Samantha Paquiot, Heather Nitschke, Barbra Hsu

SENIOR MINORS HONORS: Ariana Wolfson, Victoria Del Zotto, Jennie Seng, Harmandeep Singh, Brad Rebeiro, Seylon Chen, Anastasia Pashalis, Nicole Galasso, Adin Levian, Thomas Schacor, Harminder Singh, Christina Vazquez, Doniel Eckhaus, Jaspreet Saini, Thomas Lee
JUNIOR HONORS: Penn,Alissa Rachel Lamela Lopez, Taraneh Azin, Aldo Foe, Lauren Esposito, Steven Esposito, Nina Lazerow, Charlotte Greenbaum, Vivian Xu, Caitlin Locurto, Chloe Weiser, Rebecca Honig, Nia Bert, Janine-Marie Rafio, Diana Brijlall, Cecilia Britez, Rosalie Harris, Jaspinderjit Singh, Yojeiry Corona, Leticia Hernandez, Melissa Pena, Arianna Stimpfl, Kimberly Paucar, Casey Paganetti, Charlene Best

Larissa Swedell received $19,000 from Leakey Foundation for her project "The adaptive value of social bonds in a multi-level society"

In April 2012, Sara Stinson's volume (co-edited with Barry Bogin and Dennis O’Rourke), "Human Biology: An Evolutionary and Biocultural Perspective" was published by Wiley-Blackwell. This comprehensive introduction to the field of human biology covers all the major areas of the field: genetic variation, variation related to climate, infectious and non-infectious diseases, aging, growth, nutrition, and demography. Written by four expert authors working in close collaboration, this second edition has been thoroughly updated to provide undergraduate and graduate students with two new chapters: one on race and culture and their ties to human biology, and the other a concluding summary chapter highlighting the integration and intersection of the topics covered in the book.

Mandana Limbert was awarded a mid-career faculty fellowship from the Mellon Foundation, directed through the Graduate Center. The fellowship allows her to participate in a faculty seminar with the Committee on Religion at the GC and to pursue work on her next book project.

In Fall 2012, The Anthropology Department invites you to register for “VOICES OF NEW YORK”

Anth/LCD 288 Voices of New York

In this research seminar you will be guided by two well-published researchers in language in society to make your own discoveries about how New Yorkers use language.

For further information contact the Professors Miki Makihara (miki.makihara@qc.cuny.edu) and Michael Newman (Michael.newman@qc.cunyh.edu)

In March of 2012, Prof. Marcela Tovar Restrepo's book "Castoriadis, Foucault and Autonomy: New Approaches to Subjectivity, Society and Social Change" will be published by Continuum Press, London-NY.

Fall 2011

Professor Karen Strassler received Gregory Bateson Book Prize from the Society for Cultural Anthropology for her book "Refracted Visions: Popular Photography and National Modernity in Java" published by Duke University Press.

In July of 2011, Omri Elisha's book "Moral Ambition: Mobilization and Social Outreach in Evangelical Megachurches" was published by California University Press.

In this evocative ethnography, Omri Elisha examines the hopes, frustrations, and activist strategies of American evangelical Christians as they engage socially with local communities. Focusing on two Tennessee megachurches, Moral Ambition reaches beyond political controversies over issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and public prayer to highlight the ways that evangelicals at the grassroots of the Christian Right promote faith-based causes intended to improve the state of social welfare. The book shows how these ministries both help churchgoers embody religious virtues and create provocative new opportunities for evangelism on a public scale. Elisha challenges conventional views of U.S. evangelicalism as narrowly individualistic, elucidating instead the inherent contradictions that activists face in their efforts to reconcile religious conservatism with a renewed interest in compassion, poverty, racial justice, and urban revivalism.



	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 Fall 2012 Our department seeks to hire an Assistant Professor in Biological Anthropology, specializing in human biology (Job ID: 6644). CLOSING DATE 12-25-2012 Visit the CUNY website (www.cuny.edu) to see our job ad! - Go to www.cuny.edu and click on "Employment" - Click "Search job listings" - Click on "More options to search for CUNY jobs" - Search by Job Opening ID number (6644) - Click on the "Apply Now" button and follow the instructions for creating a user account. Professor Larissa Swedell received a $20,000 research grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for her fieldwork project on sociality and social bonds in baboons. A new book by Professor Kevin Birth "Objects of Time: How Things Shape Temporality" was published by Palgrave Macmillan Press. This book looks at how the objects we use to think about time shape our thoughts. Such objects empower us to think about time certain ways, but they also contain hidden assumptions about time that deflect our awareness away from the complicated rhythms of our lives and our world. Because time ties together so many aspects of our lives, this book is able to explore the nexus of objects, cognition, culture, and even biology, and to do so in relationship to globalization. By using ethnographic and historical data, Birth argues that we must recognize the cognitive effects of our timekeeping devices, and that we must also recognize that they do not adequately capture many important aspects of time or life. Summer 2012 Timothy Pugh received a two year grant from the National Science Foundation supporting his archaeological project (Factionalism, Trade Goods, and the Colonial Process in Petén, Guatemala) in Petén, Guatemala. His article Contact and Missionization at Tayasal, Petén, Guatemala appeared in Journal of Field Archaeology. Professor John Collins has been appointed as the director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program. Professor Tom Plummer published a new article "The Hard Stuff of Culture: Oldowan Archaeology at Kanjera South, Kenya" in the June issue of Popular Archaeology. Kate Pechenkina has a chapter entitled "From Morphometrics to Holistics: The Emergence of Paleopathology in China" in the new edited volume by Jane Buikstra and Charlotte Roberts, "The Global History of Paleopathology: Pioneers and Prospects" published by Oxford University Press in June 2012. A new paper by Professors Larissa Swedell and Tom Plummer, entitled "A Papionin Multilevel Society as a Model for Hominin Social Evolution" appeared in the May issue of the International Journal of Primatology. Spring 2012 Anthropology Honors and Awards 2012 Hortense Powdermaker Award: Talisa Feliciano Faculty Award: Saule Buozyte, Heather Nitschke, Barbra Hsu Paul Mahler Memorial Award: Chaim Nissel Lynn Ceci Archaeology Award: Barbra Hsu and Heather Nitschke Frank Spencer Memorial Scholarship Award: Raquel Lamela Lopez Service Award: Barbra Hsu Senior Honor Thesis: Heather Nitschke, Saule Buozyte, Talisa Feliciano SENIOR MAJORS HONORS: Saule Buozyte, Leora Yasgur, Tiffany Arbelaez, Lauren Alvarez, Kathy Dimos, Chaim Leib Nissel, Elizabeth Staszewski, Giustina Lombardo, Talisa Feliciano, Miriam Ben-dayan, Elisheva Alexander, Adam Gouveia, John Horun, Analis Bencosme, Alicia Galdamez, Ashley Mallette, Sara Saeed, Brittany Schuler, Monika Storczynska, Darwin Eng, Susanna You, Samantha Paquiot, Heather Nitschke, Barbra Hsu SENIOR MINORS HONORS: Ariana Wolfson, Victoria Del Zotto, Jennie Seng, Harmandeep Singh, Brad Rebeiro, Seylon Chen, Anastasia Pashalis, Nicole Galasso, Adin Levian, Thomas Schacor, Harminder Singh, Christina Vazquez, Doniel Eckhaus, Jaspreet Saini, Thomas Lee JUNIOR HONORS: Penn,Alissa Rachel Lamela Lopez, Taraneh Azin, Aldo Foe, Lauren Esposito, Steven Esposito, Nina Lazerow, Charlotte Greenbaum, Vivian Xu, Caitlin Locurto, Chloe Weiser, Rebecca Honig, Nia Bert, Janine-Marie Rafio, Diana Brijlall, Cecilia Britez, Rosalie Harris, Jaspinderjit Singh, Yojeiry Corona, Leticia Hernandez, Melissa Pena, Arianna Stimpfl, Kimberly Paucar, Casey Paganetti, Charlene Best Larissa Swedell received $19,000 from Leakey Foundation for her project "The adaptive value of social bonds in a multi-level society" In April 2012, Sara Stinson's volume (co-edited with Barry Bogin and Dennis O’Rourke), "Human Biology: An Evolutionary and Biocultural Perspective" was published by Wiley-Blackwell. This comprehensive introduction to the field of human biology covers all the major areas of the field: genetic variation, variation related to climate, infectious and non-infectious diseases, aging, growth, nutrition, and demography. Written by four expert authors working in close collaboration, this second edition has been thoroughly updated to provide undergraduate and graduate students with two new chapters: one on race and culture and their ties to human biology, and the other a concluding summary chapter highlighting the integration and intersection of the topics covered in the book. Mandana Limbert was awarded a mid-career faculty fellowship from the Mellon Foundation, directed through the Graduate Center. The fellowship allows her to participate in a faculty seminar with the Committee on Religion at the GC and to pursue work on her next book project. In Fall 2012, The Anthropology Department invites you to register for “VOICES OF NEW YORK” Anth/LCD 288 Voices of New York In this research seminar you will be guided by two well-published researchers in language in society to make your own discoveries about how New Yorkers use language. For further information contact the Professors Miki Makihara (miki.makihara@qc.cuny.edu) and Michael Newman (Michael.newman@qc.cunyh.edu) In March of 2012, Prof. Marcela Tovar Restrepo's book "Castoriadis, Foucault and Autonomy: New Approaches to Subjectivity, Society and Social Change" will be published by Continuum Press, London-NY. Fall 2011 Professor Karen Strassler received Gregory Bateson Book Prize from the Society for Cultural Anthropology for her book "Refracted Visions: Popular Photography and National Modernity in Java" published by Duke University Press. In July of 2011, Omri Elisha's book "Moral Ambition: Mobilization and Social Outreach in Evangelical Megachurches" was published by California University Press. In this evocative ethnography, Omri Elisha examines the hopes, frustrations, and activist strategies of American evangelical Christians as they engage socially with local communities. Focusing on two Tennessee megachurches, Moral Ambition reaches beyond political controversies over issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and public prayer to highlight the ways that evangelicals at the grassroots of the Christian Right promote faith-based causes intended to improve the state of social welfare. The book shows how these ministries both help churchgoers embody religious virtues and create provocative new opportunities for evangelism on a public scale. Elisha challenges conventional views of U.S. evangelicalism as narrowly individualistic, elucidating instead the inherent contradictions that activists face in their efforts to reconcile religious conservatism with a renewed interest in compassion, poverty, racial justice, and urban revivalism.