2008 Annual Student Conference Participants
- Allison Bland (Wellesley College)
Allison Bland is a junior at Wellesley College. She majors in American Studies and with an interest in African American oral and material culture. She is from Virginia Beach, Virginia. - Emily Canning (Brandeis University)
Emily Canning is a first year doctoral student focusing on linguistic anthropology. Her region of interest is Central Asia, and she has lived abroad in both Spain and China. She is currently engaged in the study of writing systems and the language ideologies that envelope them, particularly in the context of western China (Xinjiang). - Lauren E. Forcucci (Brandeis University)
Lauren E. Forcucci is a Master's student in Anthropology at Brandeis University. She received her first Master's Degree from Brandeis University's Comparative History Department and holds a BA in History and International Relations from Regis College. Currently, she works in a museum and serves on several non-profit executive committees and boards. - Amanda Hecker (Brandeis University)
Amanda Hecker is currently a sophomore at Brandeis University majoring in Anthropology, International and Global Studies, and Politics. She is interested in the dynamics of ethnic conflict in Africa, specifically the way it effects individual communities. She plans to study abroad in Senegal and eventually pursue a career that involves United States policy in Africa. - Nancy Henry (Tufts University)
Nancy Henry is a Junior who is majoring in Anthropology at Tufts. She is also an Air Force ROTC cadet. - Elyssa Kanet (Brandeis University)
Elyssa Kanet is a senior at Brandeis University. She is majoring in Philosophy and minoring in Peace, Conflict, and Co-existence Studies as well as Environmental Studies. She is active in Brandeis student
groups STAND (A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition) and SEA (Students for Environmental Action). She is most interested in finding sustainable environmental solutions for rural areas in Africa that can also be
used to help solve humanitarian and economic issues.
- Dan Koosed (Brandeis University)
Daniel Koosed is a senior student of cultural anthropology at Brandeis University. During the summer of 2007 he conducted an internship at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). He is currently applying concepts from his anthropology classes – as well as his minors in Politics and Legal Studies – to a thesis that will evaluate the ICTR’s contribution to international criminal law in terms of its incorporation of “culture theory” into law. - Alexandru Lefter (Clark University)
My name is Alexandru Lefter and I was born and raised in Romania. I will graduate from Clark University in May 2008, with a triple major in Asian Studies, International Development and Social Change, and Spanish. I am currently working on a Senior Thesis for International Development on recent Romanian out-migration, and preparing to apply to graduate school for a Ph.D. in Spanish. - Laura Ligouri (Brandeis University)
Laura Ligouri is a joint MA student within the Anthropology and Women & Gender Departments at Brandeis University currently studying the socio-cultural, political and religious dynamics of women's lives as seen through the lens of dance within the Middle East and North African regions. Laura received her BA (2007) in Dance Studies and Middle Eastern Studies from the City University of New York (CUNY). While there, Laura founded the Middle East Lecture Series at Hunter College, CUNY and gave several lectures within the Graduate Center of the City College of New York as well as with the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center in New York City. Now at Brandeis, Laura continues this tradition in founding and directing an educational touring company on Middle Eastern performance and culture based out of NYC as well as founding the Dance Ethnology Study Group based on Brandeis's tradition of the arts and social justice and inter-cultural understanding. In conjunction with her academic studies, Laura also hopes to complete her first book, The Tribal Bible Vol. 2, due for publication in 2009. - William McDonald (Brandeis University)
William McDonald is in the Masters anthropology program at Brandeis University, specializing in medical and cultural anthropology. His research interests stem from field work conducted on HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, examining ways structural violence and religious dualism influences individuals understanding and access to health care. He will graduate in May of 2008. - Deborah Beth Medows (Brandeis University)
Deborah Beth Medows is a senior at Brandeis University majoring in International and Global Studies with a focus on Cultures, Identities, and Encounters, and minors in Anthropology and Economics. She currently works at the Brandeis Women's Studies Research Center through the Student Scholar Partnership, and is a former Teaching Assistant for the Brandeis Women and Gender Studies Department. Ms. Medows is writing a senior honors thesis regarding The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer. She is a member of Omicron Delta Epsilon, an international economics honor society, completed a manuscript of poetry, and was chosen as one of six undergraduates nationally to compete at Mount Holyoke's Irene Kathryn Glasock Poetry Competition. She resides in New York City, and plans to practice international law and mediaton. - Brianna Mills (Brandeis University)
Brianna Mills is a master's student with a background in anthropology and theatre. A produced playwright with an undergraduate degree from the University of British Columbia, her interests include HIV/AIDS, world systems theory, public health consumerism, risk management and applied anthropology as well as linguistic perception and cognition. - Kira Munk-Wells (Wheaton College)
Kira was born in the UK to an American father and Danish mother. After moving to the US when she was very young, she spent her formative years in the New England countryside, while keeping close ties with Europe and her family there. She has always been interested in languages, and the study of Arabic led to an almost simultaneous interest in Middle Eastern culture, thereby including an interest in past and current socio-political movements involving the Middle East. - Alana Nelson (Wellesley College)
Alana Nelson currently attends Wellesley College as a sophomore, working towards a degree in Environmental Studies with a minor in Economics. She aspires to address both environmental world policy and human rights in her future work. - Katherine Niemczyk (Wheaton College)
Coming soon... - William Bernard Reid-Varley (Brandeis University)
William-Bernard Reid-Varley is a junior at Brandeis majoring in Biology, Neuroscience, and Linguistic Anthropology. He enjoys teaching himself foreign languages, including German, and (more recently) Swedish and Welsh, as well as doing creative writing. He does independent biochemistry research at Brandeis , and is involved with a number of student organisations on campus, including the Brandeis chapter (which he founded) of Health Occupations Students of America, Brandeis Television, Brandeis Ensemble Theatre, Quiz Bowl, and Colleges against Cancer. His areas of greatest interest for linguistic anthropology are Scandinavian, German, and Celtic cultures, and his paper on Gullah has allowed him to explore an intensely fascinating and salient question in a fresh cultural area. - Joshua Reuss (Brandeis University)
Joshua Reuss is currently a second year student at Brandeis University. He has not yet declared a major but is leaning towards a major in Biology and a minor in Classical Studies. He is not yet sure what his future holds but is taking a large variety of classes at Brandeis with the hope that something will grab and inspire him. - Benjamin James Sacks (Tufts University)
Benjamin James Sacks is currently a sophomore studying History (Global, European) at Tufts University. He serves on the editorial boards of Hemispheres: the Tufts University Journal of International Affairs and the Tufts Historical Review. Since 2003 Benjamin has been the youngest board member of the Brookline (N.H.) History Committee, whose purpose is to update the Town’s historical record past 1914 to the present. His research will be presented at the 68th National Conference of the Society for Applied Anthropology (29th March, 2008) in Memphis, Tennessee. Benjamin has also been a national recipient of the National Scholastic Writing Awards in Journalism and Non-Fiction Portfolio, respectively and became the first high school-aged N.H. citizen to receive the prestigious State Volunteer of the Month award from Governor John Lynch for services in history and geography to Brookline and the State of New Hampshire. - Kara Schamell (Wheaton College)
Kara Schamell is in her senior year at Wheaton College, where she is a student of Anthropology and Ethnomusicology. Her senior thesis topic was inspired by her recent trip to South Africa in the Summer of 2007, where she conducted research at the International Library of African Music at Rhodes University, and learned to play the mbira, an indigenous Shona instrument from Zimbabwe. Her broader academic interests center around African-based religions in the Americas and music-induced altered states of consciousness. - Ashley Smith (Wheaton College)
Ashley Smith is currently a Senior at Wheaton College, MA and is double-majoring in French Studies and Anthropology. She has worked at creating an independently focused inter disciplinary Anthropology major and her studies and research focus on historical and contemporary Native American and Native Canadian issues. Being of French-Canadian and Native American heritage, her research has been driven by personal experiences and interests. She feels that anthropology has the unique ability to allow students and scholars to connect to academia through their personal position in the world. More specifically, anthropology has given her the ability to challenge the ways in which non-native people conceptualize what it means to be “Indian” in today’s world. - Benjamin Stevens (Brandeis University)
Coming soon... - Mrinalini Tankha (Brandeis University)
Mrinalini Tankha is a fourth year PhD Student in anthropology at Brandeis University. She has a BA in economics and an MA in sociology from the University of Delhi. She is interested in economic anthropology, post-socialism and transition, tourism, money and labor in contemporary Cuba. She traveled to Cuba in the summer of 2007 to conduct preliminary dissertation fieldwork. - Carmelle Tsai (Olin College)
Carmelle Tsai is a senior at Olin College of Engineering majoring in Engineering: Materials Science. Her arts and humanities concentration is in Medical Anthropology. The research for this paper was done as part of the "Cultures of Cancer" course at Wellesley College. Learning about the illness experience and cultural and social factors that play into health care, specifically with regards to cancer, has fueled her desire to practice medicine. Carmelle is currently completing her engineering degree and preparing to apply to medical school; she hopes to eventually work with pediatric cancer patients. An active person, one of Carmelle's other passions is figure skating, which she competes in at the collegiate level. - Whitney Wiegand (Tufts University)
Whitney Wiegand is a senior at Tufts University, and is double majoring in Anthropology and Art History. She is specifically interested in museum studies, public art, and the use of art in social services. Next year she is hoping to work in a nonprofit or museum setting, and eventually wants to pursue a masters degree in arts administration, or urban studies and planning. Outside of the classroom she is a Tufts tour guide, and loves to travel, play rugby, and snowboard. - Michelle Wong (Wellesley College)
Michelle Wong, who grew up in Hong Kong, is a sophomore in Wellesley College. She majors in Music and is petitioning for an independent major on Media and Sound studies. Apart from playing the cello, Michelle spends most of her time reading about Multimedia, Soundscapes and Haruki Murakami.
Discussants
- Julie Chu (Wellesley College)
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Ph.D. New York University. Transnational migration, economy and value, gender and kinship, religion and ritual, and practices of media and representation. Current research includes material culture, visual anthropology and ethnographic film production, science and technology studies, and bureaucracy and state governmentality. Publications include: Forthcoming, Cosmologies of Credit: Fuzhounese Migration and the Politics of Destination. Duke University Press. Forthcoming, “Equation Fixations: On the Sum and the Whole of Dollars in Foreign Exchange.” Chapter in Encounters With Money, edited by Truitt. Berg Publications. - Mark Auslander (Brandeis University)
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Director, M.A. Program in Cultural Production, GBAC Coordintaor, Ph.D. University of Chicago. Ritual, politics, agrarian change, historical consciousness, African American ritual and narrative performance; Southern and Central Africa, United States. Publications include: "First Word: Assemblies: Paradoxes of Excavation and Reconstruction in Contemporary African Art." African Arts, 2005. "Saying Something Now: Documentary Work and the Voices of the Dead.." Michigan Quarterly Review, Fall 2005. - Cathy Stanton (Tufts University) Coming Soon