McWane presentations - Fiji REU

On Saturday, July 25th, students who participated in the 2010 Fiji REU presented some of their research to children and parents at the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, AL.

The students prepared posters and hands-on activities for the children in order to teach them about Fijian culture.

Ben Knox, Lindsay Whiteaker, and Helena Corzan presented on Fijian music and dance. They helped the children dress up in traditional costume and taught them a meke (dance) they had learned during their time in Fiji.

Anna McCown, Courtney Andrews, and Mallory Messersmith taught the children about the importance of studying a culture's garbage, and what trash can tell us about the people who discarded those items. Children played a game in which they tried to match rubbish items with people from Fijian and American cultures.

Christel Carlisle, Ashley Wilson, and Caitlin Aamodt presented on the effects of natural disasters such as cyclones on the Fijian islands. They designed a board game in which children made choices that determined how well they would have weathered a cyclone in Fiji.

National Science Foundation REU Fiji 2010

The second year of UAB's National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates in Fiji fieldschool has come to a close! The Fiji REU program engages students in interdisciplinary problem based research, exploring long-term dynamics in human interaction with the environment. Project participants learn about anthropology (the study of humans and culture) as well as historical ecology, a discipline focused on the relationships between people and both physical and biological environments. In the context of various study areas in Fiji’s Lau Island Group, students and faculty engage in meaningful scientific research incorporating the methods of anthropology and ecology.

Helena Corzan surveys the post-cyclone landscape during a hike.

While last year's REU focused primarily on archaeological methods of investigation, this year's fieldschool took an ethnographic approach. Students investigated such topics as: foodways and cooking, education, adolescence and gender roles, music, adaptation to western culture, place names, oral histories, and kinship. Students also learned to utilize different methods of ethnographic research while adapting to the unique stresses of fieldwork.

Christel Carlisle helping to prepare a Fijian lunch in the bure.

Courtney Andrews, Mallory Messersmith, and Anna McCown analyzing data for their project involving indigenous and imported rubbish.

For more information (along with more photos, posters, and lesson plans), visit the Fiji REU's website.

Lakeshore Foundation Presentations

On Monday, May 24th, ANTHRO-TEACH students gave presentations to visually-impaired teenagers and adults at Birmingham's Lakeshore Foundation.

Marissa Bakhshian presented on ancient and modern-day Persia (Iran), focusing on the roles of sports and music in the society.

She also brought musical instruments and spices as tactile and olfactory aids.

Lindsay Whiteaker presented on Fijian culture and foodways. She gave each person a traditional role in Fijian society, and then placed everyone at the table according to their rank.

The "chief" of the day was wrapped in masi (barkcloth) to signify his wealth and status.

Introductory Cultural Anthropology Book

ANTHRO-TEACH Project Directors, Dr. Loretta Cormier and Dr. Sharyn Jones, have published a new introductory text for cultural anthropology!

This book incorporates interactive videos, imagery, and hyperlinks to web-based materials. It was developed for use in the authors' Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (Anth 101) classes at UAB, and it will be available to students online.

Proceeds from royalties will be donated to an ANTHRO-TEACH scholarship fund to support anthropology undergraduates.

The Titusville Historical Archaeology Field Study presented by Anthro-Teach and Parker High School

Anthro-Teach has teamed up with nine students from Parker High School to work on researching a historical cemetery in Titusville. The students receive one hour of college credit from UAB for their fifteen weeks of hands-on work and research. The students met one day a week after school for one hour, as well devoting eight Saturdays of the spring semester to fieldwork and field trips.The goal of the project is to educate the students in ethnohistory, archeology, genealogy, and to introduce anthropology and archeology as possible career paths.

The students were recognized Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at The Birmingham City School Board meeting for receiving an award for the Best Poster in Science Education at The Alabama Academy of Science meeting.

(From left) Malcom Ryans, Sabrina Bone, and Delana Benford presenting at the Alabama Academy of Science meeting

Photo taken of the students, faculty, and Birmingham City School Board members

In addition to presenting at The Alabama Academy of Science meeting and receiving recognition at The Birmingham City School Board meeting, the students from Parker also participated in a mock archeology dig on Thursday, April 29th. The nine students from Parker High School participating in The Titusville Historical Archeology Field Study took at trip to The University of Alabama at Birmingham's campus to learn and practice basic archeology techniques and theories. The students spent time learning how to prep a site by making a grid of their area,which was two large planting boxes filled with various artifacts.

Anna McCowan, UAB student and anthropology major, teaching Parker students how to setup a grid for an archeology site

The students also learned the importance of surveying a site and taking detailed notes. Students learned basic techniques for unearthing artifacts using trowels and other various tools. The mock dig was divided into two stations, and each student spent time setting up a grid, recording data, excavating, sifting for artifacts, and soil analysis, all basic and important components to a successful dig. The practice dig was led by Professors in UAB's Department of History and Anthropology, Dr. Lorreta Cormier and Dr. Sharyn Jones, as well as Parker history teacher, Barry McNealey, Titusville Historical Archeology Project Manager, Sabrina Bone, and five UAB anthropology students.

Jade Delisle and Angela Cales, UAB anthropology graduate students, giving Parker kids an introduction to trowel use and excavation techniques.

(From left) Brea Roper, Melvin Griffin, and Kenneth Sutton excavate a deer skull

Both The Birmingham News and News Channel 33/40 came out to the mock excavation to do a story on the kids and their work with The Titusville Historical Archeology Field Study. For more information on the project and the kids from parker please see the following links

http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-stories/2010/05/amateur_archaeologists_sift_th.html

http://cfc.abc3340.com/videoondemand.cfm?id=64169&category=news

Recent Events with ANTHRO-TEACH:

ANTHRO-TEACH Presentations from the Southern Anthropological Society (SAS) meetings in Savannah, Georgia (February 18-20, 2010)

Caitlin Aamodt is pictured above presenting her paper on "Human understanding of Place Names on Nayau, Lau Group, Fiji."

Mallory Messersmith presented "Analysis and interpretation of a suspected earth oven feature on Nayau, Fiji" at the SAS meetings in Georgia.

UAB Faculty (Cormier and Jones) and Anthropology students (from left to right): Ashley Wilson, Lindsay Whiteaker, Caitlin Aamodt, Mallory Messersmith, Anna McCown, and Megan Noojin-Sunderman.

Anna McCown presented " Dumped: An Exploration of the Material Culture of a Contemporary Community in Nayau, Fiji."

Meagan Noojin-Sunderman presented a presentation on "Under the Sea:Holocene Climate Changes and Effects in Fiji, ca AD 1300"

Sabrina Bone (center) and students from Parker High School received an award for the Best Poster in Science and Education at the Alabama Academy of Science meetings on April 1, 2010.

Mallory Messersmith received the Alabama Archaeological Society Award.

Christel Carlisle was awarded the Outstanding Undergraduate in Anthropology Award.

Angela Cales, pictured with Anthropology Dept. Chair Carolyn Conley, was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Student in Anthropology award.

Sabrina Bone received the Departmental Chairs Award in Anthropology and History.

Sharyn Jones and Lori Cormier took Anthro-Teach students and Jones' Food and Culture class to visit the West End Community Gardens in April, 2010

Food and Culture students are helping to remove weeds from the gardens.

The Alabama Academy of Science Meetings
Alabama A&M University in Huntsville


Ashley Wilson presented a poster regarding the ethnohistory of food. Her poster was titled "Ethnohistory of Food: Food and Folk Remedies of Alabama Slaves."

Anna AcCown presented a poster presentation on " Dumped: An Exploration of the Material Culture of a Contemporary Community in Nayau, Fiji"

Sharyn Jones and Loretta Cormier presented a paper titled "Gender Inequity and Cultural Diversity: A Field School in Fiji’s Lau Island Group ."

ANTHRO-TEACH outreach at local Birmingham city schools

In November and December, 2009 the UAB ANTHRO-TEACH program and students from Lori Cormier and Sharyn Jones' Voyage in Anthropology course (ANTH 481/682) visited local schools in the Birmingham area to conduct outreach workshops. Students are "excavating" mock archaeological sites in dig-boxes and learning about marine biodiversity (left) with Megan Sunderman.

(photos by Lindsey Whiteaker).




Pictured above are Lenny Blottin and Parker High School students during a workshop on Australopithecus. Lenny's presentation included activities from BUILDING BODIES: Student Activity Pages Primate Bipedalism: Understanding Standing Up (see also: the Becoming Human site). Students reconstructed human, chimpanzee, and Australopithecus skeletons, learned about bipedality, the hominid fossil record, and paleoanthropology.

Jade Delisle and Megan Sunderman both presented workshops on marine resource exploitation and environmental archaeology in Fiji, drawing from lesson plans that educate students about the sea. Caitlin Aamodt did a poster and presentation on Place Names in Fiji, based on her research in Fiji this summer. Below are pictures of Caitlin, Jade, and Lindsey Whiteaker at Parker High working with students.

Anne Sorrell directed a workshop on herbal medicine and a history of native healing. She drew activities from the Alabama Learning Exchange and a lesson plan on herbs vs. pharmaceutical medicines. Anne's poster is pictured below.

Chris Pass (above) at Holy Family Elementary School teaching 1st graders about Japanese culture. Photos by Sharyn Jones.

Lindsey Whiteaker at Holy Family teaching students about healthy eating and how to make smart food choices.

Ashley Wilson is pictured below at Holy Family, directing a workshop and poster presentation on the Ethnohistory of Food in Folk Remedies of the Alabama Slaves. Ashley has been studying slave narratives and working on an associated ethnohistory project for over one year now.

Dave Cunningham made a presentation on Ethnomusicology and the culture of music across the world. He illustrated how to use a variety of instruments and taught the kids at Holy Family to play drums and didgeridoos.

Anna McCown discussed what we can learn from studying garbage in Fiji. She based her presentation on a research project she did with Caitlin on the island of Nayau, while conducting an NSF REU fellowship in Fiji's Lau Island Group. Anna and Caitlin plan to present their findings at the Southern Anthropological Society meetings this year.







Mallory Messersmith conducts a workshop about Archaeology and her research in Fiji, at Holy Family Elementary. Mallory is in the process of analyzing a curious archaeological feature that she excavated on the island of Nayau, (Lau Group, Fiji); we think this feature may be a large ritual earth oven, or lovo. She plans to present her data at the Southern Anthropological Society meetings.