This episode features an interview with Hayley Aschenbrenner, an MA student studying medieval Roman gender, particularly the unique history of eunuchs. We discuss how historians approach understanding gender and identity in the past, the role of eunuchs in Byzantine society, and Hayley’s topic of particular interest, the eunuch general, Narses. This episode was full of fascinating stories and interesting examinations of the study of gender, personal expression and agency. We had so much fun picking Hayley’s brain about this super niche and fascinating topic and we hope you enjoy this one as much as we did!

Visit our website, pertainingtopeople.com, for a full list of references from this episode.

We are back!

The fact of the matter is… you can’t talk about people (and certainly not about archaeology) without talking about death. Lulu, Kelsey and Gill are back after a multi-year hiatus to talk about a big, juicy grief-filled topic, which partially explains them being away from the podcast for so long. They dive into personal experiences with death and grief, along with how different cultures across the Earth and throughout time have dealt with it. The Pertaining to People Pod truly believes that the best way to deal with death and grief is to talk about it, so they want to do just that. Suffice to say, we don’t think you’ll be bored to death.

If you have personal experiences with death from cancer or tragedies such as car accidents, this might be a tough one for you. We hope you’ll still tune in.

Please visit our website, pertainingtopeople.com and visit the specific episode post for references and more information for this episode!

In this episode, we are joined by Matthew Ayre (PhD), a post-doctoral fellow with the Arctic Institute of North America. He has always been fascinated with the British Arctic whaling trade, and has made impressive jumps from geography, to historical climatology, with a dash of archaeology thrown in. Matthew's research, using the logs from the British Arctic whaling boats to reconstruct the past Arctic climate is fascinating. We hope you enjoy this interview as much as we did!

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References:

Arctic Institute of North America

We're back, baby! Gill, Lulu and Kelsey took some time off to finish up the school year, but we are back with a second season for all our lovely People! Since Kelsey is currently in the Yukon, and Gill also focuses on Arctic Archaeology, we thought our first episode back after our hiatus would be about the history of the resourceful, resilient people that inhabit the Circumpolar North, as well as how Arctic archaeology is conducted and some of the pros and cons of working up North (spoiler alert: one of the cons is polar bears).

With the heatwave we are currently in, we are also constantly reminded of climate disaster that we are experiencing globally. We briefly discuss the insights we can glean from the Arctic, and how it is affected.

Cool off with this *chill* episode during these hot summer months!

**Note: Kelsey had to record outside, surrounded by a bunch of people, so there are some background noises that we couldn't edit out.

For all references and links for this episode, please visit http://pertainingtopeople.com/episodes.

This was a fun episode! It might even inspire you to spend some lockdown time gaming.

**Note: Gill and Luke had an issue with their mic, so the sound quality is not the best! Sorry about that.

For all references and links for this episode, please visit http://pertainingtopeople.com/episodes.

Have you ever played a video game and thought: “How accurate is this?”? That is the essence of what we hoped to discuss in this episode, and to do it, we were joined by Gillian’s “gaming” boyfriend, Luke Smith. A more conversational episode than many others, Luke brings his experience with many video games, and especially the Assassin’s Creed series, and Kelsey, Lulu and Gill discuss the historical “correctness” of these games based on archaeological analyses.

This was a fun episode! It might even inspire you to spend some lockdown time gaming.

**Note: Gill and Luke had an issue with their mic, so the sound quality is not the best! Sorry about that.

For all references and links for this episode, please visit http://pertainingtopeople.com/episodes.

Our sincerest apologies for the looooong unintended hiatus before the release of this episode. This semester really got the best of us (mostly Gillian) and I dropped the ball on this episode. Very sorry about that! “Peas” forgive us. Hope you still enjoy :)

Yes, we took a break, but we’re “bok” now. In this episode (recorded way back in October… and supposed to be released then), Kelsey, Lulu and Gill talk about all things agricultural. We wanted to do a fall-themed episode, and so “lettuce” tell you about different types of agricultural practices that one doesn’t always hear about. When you hear “harvest” do you only think of cornucopias overflowing and square patches of land? If so, come learn about some other practices that were used for millenia! And learn a fun fact about potatoes to tell your friends. There is also a mini interview included with the lovely Chelsea Klinke. This episode can’t be “beet.”

Please visit pertainingtopeople.com/episodes for all references and links!

In this episode of our “Careers in Archaeology” series we interview Kayleigh Speirs, the Curator and Manager of Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung (Manitou Mounds) Historical Centre owned and operated by Rainy River First Nation in Northwestern Ontario. In this episode Kayleigh shares with us her experiences and knowledge in museum curation, and advice on the benefits of volunteering. She discusses how she navigates the settler/colonial divide while working in Indigenized spaces to better promote reconciliation and decolonization in her work.

Check out the Anishinaabemowin Phrase of the Day on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @manitoumounds and their website https://manitoumounds.com. The Centre is currently closed to the public to protect the community during the Covid-19 pandemic, but when it re-opens be sure to make a trip to the Place of the Long Rapids to experience the beauty that has captured Kayleigh’s heart!

For all references and links for this episode, please visit https://pertainingtopeople.com/episodes

Following up on our very fun and informative interview with Dr. Kimberly Williams, we thought we would explore the Wild West a bit. More specifically, sex work in the Wild West! We explored the archaeology of brothels and search for answers to some questions: What was it like for sex workers of the time? How did Madams (brothel managers) integrate sex work into the local economy and way of life? Were brothels accepted by everyday folk? Bonus: an interesting fact about the current president of the United States.

This brief delve into the lives of sex workers in the Wild West was very interesting for the three of us, and we hope you enjoy it just as much as we did!

For all links and references for this episode, please visit pertainingtopeople.com/episodes

While we had hoped to continue our “Careers in Anthropology” series, this is a slight deviation from that, although no less interesting nor less informative! In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Kimberly A. Williams, a feminist scholar, award-winning author and public speaker. She is an Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of Women & Gender Studies at Mount Royal University. She teaches courses that focus on theories surrounding feminism, men and masculinities, critical race, queer and global gender issues. She has also written an award-winning book titled Imagining Russia (2012), and just completed a book critically examining the Calgary Stampede. In her “spare time” (and non-Covid times), she also leads historical walking tours, called Booze, Broads & Brothels, in which she educates participants on Calgary’s consensual adult sex industry.

Kim shares insight about feminist scholarship, what it is (really) like to be a woman in academia, some advice for figuring out what you want to do and some ways that we can fight to be better feminists in our field. She discusses what we can learn about and from past Calgarian sex workers, and briefly sums up what is at the very core of being human, what is really pertaining to people.

**Note: there are expletives in this episode. We also apologize for the sound quality - there were some technological difficulties we overcame!

Visit pertainingtopeople.com/episodes for all references and links for this episode

For our second interview in our “Careers in Archaeology” series, we’re very excited to be joined by Stevie Sheppard, a Parks Canada Terrestrial Archaeologist.

In this episode, we discuss the rigorous application process for a coveted Parks archaeology job, her previous experiences in archaeology that landed her this position, as well as the differences between Terrestrial and Underwater archaeology (read: those awesome folks that discovered the Franklin expedition)! Listen and explore with us as Stevie shares her passion for the history of Canada and why Parks Canada has 450,000km² of Canadian memories for you to discover!

She shares some insightful wisdom and advice when it comes to “following your passions” or maybe.. getting stuck loving them.

For all references and links, please visit pertainingtopeople.com/episodes