The Shakers are one of America’s best-known utopian societies. An investigation of Pleasant Hill, one of their former communities in Kentucky, reveals how their emphasis on order, work, and religious devotion, and their penchant for innovations, were an attempt at perfecting their lives.By Kelli Whitlock Burton. See attached article from American Archaeology.
Matt Krebs has been selected along with a handful graduate students from around the world to present his dissertation research plan at a colloquium in Savannah, GA on October 14, 2012, as part of the Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference (EPIC). Matt's research, An Ethnographic Study of a Japanese Technology Corporation, addresses the cultural dimensions of actor networks in the design of technology products.
The volume, The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology, edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Christopher A. Pool is out. 1001 congratulations to Dr. Christopher A. Pool!
Megan Maurer will be attending the EPIC (Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference) Graduate Student Colloquium in Savannah, Georgia, October 14-17, where she will present her research proposal on urban gardening in Southeast Michigan. Her research involves working closely with area non-profits engaged in community development efforts, and this conference is an opportunity to network with students and professionals working in similar situations, as well as to receive feedback on her proposed research project.
by Derrick Meads and Sarah Geegan
A new Chinese mass psychological counseling movement and its effect on China’s middle class is the subject of an upcoming lecture, presented by the Confucius Institute at the University of Kentucky Office of International Affairs titled, “Refashioning the Self through New Therapeutics in Urban China.” This free public lecture given by Li Zhang, professor of anthropology and Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of California, Davis, will begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5, in the Patterson Office Tower Board Room, 18th floor.
“This talk will address how, through this movement, middle-class Chinese seek to refashion ‘the
By Sarah Geegan
What used to be a standard component for universities with archaeology programs is becoming increasingly rare: field school — an experiential course in which students excavate real archaeological sites. However, the UK Department of Anthropology has remained firmly committed to providing opportunities for students to dig into real-world experience.
Kim McBride, anthropology professor and co-director of the Kentucky Archaeological Survey, taught Anthropology 585: Field Methods in Archaeology at the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, 25 miles southwest of Lexington. Students enrolled in the six-week course excavated, collected artifacts and interpreted
By Sarah Geegan
Archaeologists at the University of Kentucky, having completed a geophysical survey, will begin limited excavations at Fort Boonesborough State Park from June 18-22, in search of archaeological evidence of a Revolutionary War siege.
The Siege of 1778 was a prolonged engagement that pitted a party of French Canadians and American Indians against settlers living in the stockaded fort at present day Fort Boonesborough State Park in Madison County. The project, funded by a grant from the American Battlefield Protection Program, began in May 2012 with remote sensing surveys of the fort site and a nearby site that may have been part of the large American Indian encampment during the siege.
Ground penetrating radar, a magnetometer, a conductivity meter and a resistivity meter were used
By Sarah Geegan, Amanda Osborn
Imagine being a University of Kentucky student in Lexington, but sharing a "global classroom" with students in China, France or India. In collaboration with the associate provost for International Affairs and the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT), the UK College of Arts and Sciences recently established a program called Global Classroom Connections that will promote international learning and experiences through the use of contemporary technology.
As university graduates increasingly require international perspectives, skills and knowledge to succeed in the multicultural and interconnected world, Global Classroom
By Sarah Geegan
Archaeologists at the University of Kentucky have broken ground on a new project, uncovering historical evidence from a Revolutionary War siege, right in the heart of the state.
UK archaeologists Nancy O’Malley of the William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology and Philip Mink of the Kentucky Archaeological Survey, are undertaking a geophysical survey and limited excavations at the site of Fort Boonesborough on the Kentucky River in May. The study aims to find archaeological evidence relating to the Siege of 1778, a prolonged engagement that pitted a large party of French Canadians and Indians against settlers living in the stockaded fort.
The project was made
By Whitney Hale
Sarah Gooch, a University of Kentucky junior majoring in Japanese language and literature with a minor in anthropology, has been awarded a National Security Education Program (NSEP) Boren Scholarship to travel to Japan this fall. Gooch is one of 161 award winners selected nationally from a pool of more than 1,000 applicants.
The Boren Scholarships provide up to $20,000 for U.S. undergraduates to study abroad in areas of the world that are critical to U.S. interests and underrepresented in study abroad. Boren Scholarships are funded by the National Security Education Program, which focuses on geographic areas, languages and fields of study deemed critical to U.S. national security.
Gooch is
By Whitney Hale
Two students from the University of Kentucky and one 2006 alumna have been selected as recipients of Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarships. The UK recipients are among 1,700 U.S. citizens who will travel abroad for the 2012-2013 academic year through the prestigious program.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations in foreign
Karen Rignall successfully defended her dissertation “Land Rights and the Practice of Making a Living in Pre-Saharan Morocco” this afternoon.
The College of Arts and Sciences annually grants to one of its faculty members the Distinguished Professor Award. Read the full story here.
The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees Tuesday approved University Research Professorships for 2012-13 for four faculty members. The professorships carry a $40,000 award to support research. Read the full story here.
By Sarah Geegan, Blair Helwig, Kody Kiser
For Fraternel Amuri Misako, pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky amounts to much more than enhancing his career. It represents his freedom to conduct his important research without the threat of political persecution.
A visiting scholar from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Amuri came to UK in 2010 through the Institute for International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund, an organization that aides scholars whose academic freedom and physical safety are threatened in their home countries.
He recently defended his landmark dissertation through a tri-national committee, consisting of two faculty members from UK, two from France and two from Congo, coordinated via videoconferencing.
Amuri's research, which focuses on rural
To connect with Department of Anthropology at University of Kentucky, please click here http://www.facebook.com/AnthropologyAtUK
http://www.as.uky.edu/tag/sara-ailshire
Sara Ailshire is a senior majoring in Anthropology. Sara is also a mechanic at Wildcat Wheels, UK's community bike shop and bicycle library. Wildcat Wheels allows students and faculty rent bikes, or use the shops work stands, tools, and expertise to maintain their own bicycles. Arts & Sciences' Cheyenne Hohman recently sat down with Sara to discuss her work at Wildcat Wheels, and how it has informed her ambitions after she graduates from UK.
Karen Rignall is a finalist for the Roy A. Rappaport Graduate Student Award, sponsored by the Anthropology & Environment Section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA). A Rappaport Prize Panel Discussion will be held at the 2012 AAA meeting. Five graduate students have been selected to present a paper, and one of those selected will be awarded the Rappaport Student Prize. The paper she will be presenting is entitled: The Aporias of Green Energy: Land, Sovereignty, and the Production of Solar Energy In Pre-Saharan Morocco. The paper is an expansion of her dissertation research on land rights and livelihoods in the rural south of Morocco and explores how Europe’s interest in renewable energy has created new forms of value in the vast steppe of Morocco, with problematic implications for local
Karen Rignall received the Qatar Post-Doctoral Fellowshipat the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. During academic year 2012-2013, she will deliver a public lecture on her dissertation research, teach a seminar on the Political Ecology of the Middle East and North Africa, and revise her dissertation for publication as a book.
