That Anthro Podcast

Welcome to my favorite style of podcast episode, a rambling yet cozy chit chat! I just wanted to share some info about my Anthroday event on Feb 13th, make sure you check out @thatanthropodcast on instagram for polls and further details. 

Mentioned in the episode:

@tash_archaeo 

@digitwithraven

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/zoras-daughters/id1523068454

https://anthroillustrated.com/

Welcome to the podcast, Elic Weitzel, a PhD candidate in the Anthropology department at University of Connecticut, who is using an archaeological approach to studying the environmental impacts of colonization on Native American groups and animal populations.

Elic has wanted to be an archaeologist since the 6th grade, and was always fascinated by ecology, the environment and history. He grew up in Pennsylvania surrounded by natural beauty, and would hike part of the Appellation trail that was just right by his house. A turning point for his academic trajectory was reading The Hadza by Frank Marlowe (https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520253421/the-hadza) which utilizes a behavioral ecological approach in examining this hunter-gatherer society. Elic was so fascinated and impressed by this approach that he adopted behavioral ecology as the theoretical framework of his dissertation.

We also discuss how selecting a field school early on in his journey ended up setting his trajectory for where he would conduct his dissertation research. We also chat about the importance of cold emails, and opportunities to volunteer on field projects once you’ve had some experience under your belt. He details the questions he’s asking in his dissertation about the ecological consequences of European colonization particularly in Southern New England. He explains how all sorts of environmental shifts occur as a direct result of colonization, and that prior to colonization Native Americans were managing the environment through controlled burning and other management strategies. Something in his research that surprised him was finding such accurate and detailed accounts from 17th century European colonial documents that described the environment of New England.

Follow @thatanthropodcast on Instagram, and @ThatAnthroPod on Twitter for more behind the scenes content.

Brought to you in collaboration with the American Anthropological Association check out their podcast library here https://www.americananthro.org/StayInformed/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=1629

Twitter: @ElicWeitzel

Piece on the Ecology of the First Thanksgiving: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ecology-of-the-first-thanksgiving/

Sapiens Podcast: Could the Coronavirus Pandemic Be Good for the Environment?

https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/pandemic-environment/

Popular Archaeology: Farmers and Warriors

https://popular-archaeology.com/article/farmers-and-warriors/

Welcome Undergraduate Anthropology and Religious Studies major Lauren Malone. Lauren is currently studying at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and has made it a point to work in a lot of different labs on campus including working with paleoethnobotanical, zoo archaeological and forensic collections. She is a dedicated scholar, who happens to be 1st generation, and is an incredible person. I really enjoy my chats with fellow undergrads the most because it means making real connections with my fellow students, and reminding each other we are strong and capable. This semester she’s pursuing a museum internship, in hopes of further developing her anthropological toolkit!

Follow @thatanthropodcast on Instagram, and @ThatAnthroPod on Twitter for more behind the scenes content.

Brought to you in collaboration with the American Anthropological Association check out their podcast library here https://www.americananthro.org/StayInformed/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=1629

Introducing UC Santa Barbara alum and current UCLA postdoc Dr. Kendra Calhoun!

Kendra is a sociocultural linguist who has broad research interests and experiences but her current projects are focused on African American language and culture in new media forms, such as TikTok. She did her graduate education at UCSB under Dr. Bucholtz, before pursuing post doctoral studies at UCLA. She comments on how being a Black woman in academic affected her journey and how she found community within a predominantly white program. My favorite part of the interview was discussing her memories of the rise and fall Vine, MySpace, Facebook and the impact each had on culture. Her newest project focusing on African American speech and videos on TikTok is fascinating!! This is one of those must listen episodes, including a chat on why referring to scholars of color as “well-spoken” or "articulate" is a racist micro aggression. I appreciate Kendra’s vulnerability and poise navigating explaining the connotations of phrase, and I think everyone can benefit from understanding how our language can belittle minority communities, particularly from a the perspective of a linguist.

Follow @thatanthropodcast on Instagram, and @ThatAnthroPod on Twitter for more behind the scenes content.

Brought to you in collaboration with the American Anthropological Association check out their podcast library here https://www.americananthro.org/StayInformed/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=1629

https://www.amazon.com/Articulate-While-Black-Barack-Language/dp/0199812985

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/zoras-daughters/id1523068454

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-one-a-podcast-about-jokes/id1203393721

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gastropod/id918896288

https://kendrancalhoun.com/

Welcome to the podcast Dr. Joshua Berson, an independent researcher, author, and former Berggruen fellow who received his PhD in History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Josh has penned three novels, Computable Bodies, The Meat Question, and The Human Scaffold.

https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520380493/the-human-scaffold

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/computable-bodies-9781472530349/

https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/meat-question

We gush about our love of paper books and how we miss spending hours reading at bookstores. I ask how or if this affected the way he has written to his audience, knowing they most likely wouldn’t be picking up the book in a store. This leads him into speaking about the process and thoughts put into his first book Computable Bodies.

Next we touch on his second publication, the Meat Question, again diving into process and how the book formed over many years. He describes the goal of this book as to put the idea of what it means to be human and to consume animals in broader terms than just arguments for health and environment. Josh guides us through each step of inspiration, revision, and the review process in detail. Even describes what the face of meat looked like to him. Ultimately it was a paper he wrote “The Charisma of Meat” that sparked the substance of the book.

The paper that inspired the Human Scaffold, his most recent publication was a 2004 paper by Joseph Henrick, and the discourses it launched. Josh enjoyed the technical questions it proposed, but wanted to examine empirical archaeological data from Tasmania for a new take. He also explains the takeaways he hopes readers get from reading the Human Scaffold.

My sincerest thanks to the Berggruen Institute for working with me!

https://joshberson.net/

https://www.berggruen.org/people/joshua-berson/

Follow @thatanthropodcast on Instagram, and @ThatAnthroPod on Twitter for more behind the scenes content.

Brought to you in collaboration with the American Anthropological Association check out their podcast library here https://www.americananthro.org/StayInformed/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=1629