Anthropology News
Jeffrey Kahn awarded the 2020 Herbert Jacob Book Prize
Islands of Sovereignty: Haitian Migration and the Borders of Empire (Chicago Series in Law and Society)
Gorilla family feuds: violent encounters between gorillas slow population growth - Dr. Damien Caillaud
Congratulations to Dr. Damien Caillaud and his colleagues with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund on their publication in Science Advances (11/4/2020).
Woman the hunter: Ancient Andean remains challenge old ideas of who speared big game - Dr. Randy Haas
Congratulations to Dr. Randy Haas, who is lead author on a new article (11/4/2020) that made the cover of Science Advances, "Female Hunters of the Early Americas."
Dr. Alan Klima awarded the 2020 Bateson Book Prize from the Society for Cultural Anthropology
Alan Klima, Miyarrka Media, and Savannah Shange were awarded the 2020 Gregory Batson Book Prizes from the Society for Cultural Anthropology. Dr. Klima’s award was for his Duke University Press (https://www.dukeupress.edu/ethnography-9) book Ethnography #9. As Alan Klima writes, “there are other possible starting places than the earnest realism of anthropological discourse as a method of critical thought.” In this experimental ethnography of capitalism, ghosts, and numbers in mid- and late-twentieth-century Thailand, Klima uses this provocation to deconstruct naive faith in the “real” and in the material in academic discourse that does not recognize that it is, itself, writing.
The UC Davis Majors Blog features Anthropology in their recent post!
With a major in anthropology, this article explores how students can go into user experience design, archaeology, research, marketing, forensic science, medicine, and so much more.
Dr. Teresa Steele awarded the Graduate Program Mentoring and Advising Award for 2020
Professor Teresa Steele was awarded the UC Davis Graduate Studies "Graduate Program Mentoring and Advising Award" for 2020 in recognition of her work to establish a professionalism seminar for first-year graduate students and her advocacy for diversity and inclusion:
Dr. Suad Joseph awarded the Edward A. Dickson Emeriti Professorship for 2020-21
Distinguished Professor Emeriti Suad Joseph was awarded the Edward A. Dickson Emeriti Professorship Award for 2020-2021. This endowed professorship will allow her to focus on a research project titled “Gendered and Cultural Framework for Refugee Mental Health: The Arab Crisis.”
Sara Watson Awarded an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant for 2020
Doctoral candidate Sara Watson awarded an NSF-DDRI for her research into the Middle and Later Stone Age through the analysis of stone technology in South Africa (co-advisor: Drs. Teresa Steele and Nicolas Zwyns)
Luis Flores-Blanco Awarded an IFEA Carlos Brignardello Research Grant for 2020
Doctoral student Luis Flores-Blanco awarded a "Carlos Brignardello" Research Grant from the Instituto Frances Estudios Andinos (IFEA) for his archaeological field work on the evolution of inequality and cooperation in the Peruvian Andes (advisor: Dr. Randy Haas)
Dr. Randy Haas Awarded UC Davis Hellman Fellowship for 2020
Dr. Haas awarded 2020 UC Davis Hellman Fellowship for his research project. "Human Adaptation to Extreme Environments: 9000-year-old DNA from the High Andes, Peru"
Dear UC Davis Anthropology Community Members:
We unequivocally condemn the murder of a Black man, George Floyd, by Minneapolis police officers, as well as other instances of racism and violence against people of color. We recognize that this murder isn’t an isolated event but instead reflects systematic racism that has deep roots in our society, including close to home in the 2018 shooting of Stephon Clark by officers from the Sacramento police department.
The "Immunity passport": new forms of biological citizenship post-COVID-19
Cristiana Giordano was awarded a seed grant from the COVID-19 Research Accelerator Funding Track Program for a project titled The "Immunity passport": new forms of biological citizenship post-COVID-19.
Dr. Naomi L. Martisius, who earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology in 2019, published dissertation research on Neandertal bone technology in Scientific Reports on May 8, 2020
Professor Teresa E. Steele and Dr. Mark N. Grote of the Department of Anthropology were co-authors on the research. Martisius and her colleagues used the technique of ZooMS, which analyzes tiny molecules of collagen from archaeological bones and can determine which animal the bone originated from. Importantly, this study did not destructively sample the bone tools, but the plastic surfaces of the bags and boxes that the bone tools were stored in, meaning that the technique was non-destructive. Martisius' research determined that Neandertals in southwest France were consistent in their choice of bison or aurochs ribs over reindeer ribs when making bone tools, even though reindeer were more available on the local landscape. This selectivity indicates that Neandertals understood the properties of the raw materials that they worked with.
Dr. Cristina Moya and Colleagues Awarded NSF RAPID Grant for Covid-19 Research
Congratulations to Dr, Moya and her colleagues (Jones, Kline, Smaldino, and Almquist) for their NSF-RAPID project: "Coupled Contagion, Behavior-Change, and the Dynamics of Pro- and Anti-Social Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic." This research will examine how people's health related behaviors (e.g., social distancing) change through the course of the pandemic, and how these in turn affect disease dynamics.
Dr. Brenna Henn Awarded NIH Maximizing Investigators Research Grant for Early Stage Investigators
Congratulations to Dr. Henn on her NIH MIRA grant for ESI ($1.9 M over 5 years) for her project: "Improving Inference of Genetic Architecture and Selection with African Genomes." This research focuses on heritable traits like height and skin pigmentation as model systems in order to improve genotype-phenotype association in diverse African populations with small sample sizes.
Dr. Christyann Darwent Awarded Distinguished Teaching Award
Congratulations to Dr. Darwent who was awarded a Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Instruction (2020) from the UC Davis Academic Senate.
Dr. Naomi Martisius, recent UC Davis Anthropology Ph.D., was a recent Fulbright Scholar and contributed to UC Davis being recognized as a top-ranked producer of Fulbright Scholars
UC Davis is a “top producer” of Fulbright U.S. Scholars in 2019-20, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Biodiversity Museum Day, February 15, 2020.
UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, 9th Annual Event, opens 13 collections across campus, which includes the Department of Anthropology Museum, on Saturday, February 15.
Dr. Jeffrey Kahn awarded 2019 Haitian Studies Association Avant Garde Book Prize
Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, assistant professor of anthropology, awarded the 2019 Haitian Studies Association Avant Garde Book Prize.
ANT Undergrad Valencia Scott named as "Aggie Hero" and 2019-20 Student Advisor to Chancellor
Valencia Scott, an undergraduate double majoring in anthropology and international relations, was recently named as an "Aggie Hero" by the Office of the Chancellor.
Cole Williams '20 named "Undergraduate of the Year" by College of Biological Sciences
In the lab of Associate Professor Brenna Henn, College of BioSci Undergraduate of the Year Cole Williams studied familial relationships in African hunter-gatherer and pastoralist groups, some of which are the most diverse human populations on Earth
Silvia Gruner in conversation with Tarek Elhaik
On February 20th 2019, the Arts Research Center at UC Berkeley featured a talk with Silvia Gruner, followed by a conversation with Tarek Elhaik
From Tool Use in Primates to Animal Movement: Animal Behavior Graduate Student Claudio Monteza-Moreno
One of Dr. Meg Crofoot's students, Claudio Monteza-Moreno, has been featured in a College of Biological Sciences article.
Congratulations to the recipients of support from the Sacramento Archaeological Society!
Congratulations to the recipients of support from the Sacramento Archaeological Society!
UC Davis undergrads, grad and faculty mentor win the BEST POSTER award at C-WESS 2018
Benjamin R. Witzel, UCD, Jentin D. Jo, UCD, Noah A. Wilfert, UCD, Caleb K. Chen, UCD, Lauren J. Duckworth, UCD, Patricia J. McNeill, UCD, Sam J. Dunham, UCD, Nicholas Radtkey, UCD, Liu Chang, UCD, Kevin N. Smith, UCD, & Nicolas Zwyns, UCD: The Use of Replicative Studies in Understanding the Evolution of Shell Fishhook Production on San Nicolas Island, CA
2018 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships
Trisha McNeill - first year paleo/arch student awarded research fellowship
Faculty Dr. Nicolas Zwyns received a The Leakey Foundation grant
provide support for his fieldwork at Trou Al’Wesse, Belgium
