UMD Department of Anthropology

Submissions are open for the Sebastian Herbstein Memorial Scholarship in Fiction Writing! All undergraduates, regardless of major are encouraged to apply. More information is available here: https://bsos.umd.edu/undergraduate/sebastian-herbstein-memorial-scholarship-fiction-writing

Recently, Anthropology Associate Professor Andrea López, was published in the UMD College of Behavioral and Social Science, where she led a study assessing the impacts of harm reduction vending machines in the DC area.

The article is titled "UMD Researchers, D.C. Nonprofit Partner on Harm Reduction Vending Machine Study" and can be found here:

UMD Researchers, D.C. Nonprofit Partner on Harm Reduction Vending Machine Study UMD Researchers, D.C. Nonprofit Partner on Harm Reduction Vending Machine Study Study Will Assess Machines’ Impact, Plus Community Perceptions In cities and towns across the country, vending machines are increasingly finding a new purpose: Helping save lives with the naloxone, fentanyl test strips...

The Department’s new Sustainability Committee met yesterday to submit our Green Workspace Certification. Ask any of us about how you can get involved, and join us on 4/17 to get a free plant at the Farmer’s Market! 💚🐢🌱

Come visit the Office of Sustainability at the UMD Farmers Market on Wednesday, 11-1 for free coffee!

It's almost time!!! One more week for the season-opening of the Farmers Market at Maryland. The market will start on Wednesday, April 4th from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at Tawes Plaza Gardens. All of your favorite vendors are back for another season of fun and enjoyment for the campus community. Stay tuned next week for the market newsletter and updates. Hope to see you at the market.

Congratulations to Emma Satterfield who has been presented Erve Chambers Tourism and Heritage student paper award in Santa Fe!

(Emma Satterfield (right) with Erve Chambers, Emeritus Professor)

PASA invites students to submit an abstract for a 10 to 12-minute presentation or digital submission of an ethnographic photograph with 2-3 sentences for the upcoming hybrid conference on Saturday, March 2, 2024. If you would like to present in person, the conference takes place in the University of Maryland, College Park. If you cannot make it in person, you are invited to present virtually. Additionally, we welcome submissions for ethnographic photographs. We encourage those who bridge anthropology with fields not only within the social sciences, but also those whose work may fall outside of these disciplinary boundaries. We also encourage submissions whose work emphasizes contemporary and even experimental methods including but not limited to artwork, poetry, filmmaking, AI usage, body mapping, and so on.

The deadline for submissions is February 23, 2024 at 11:59 pm. All files must be submitted via Google Form and may not exceed 150 words.

Google form link: https://forms.gle/hLuMuXAmj8pfGFHk6

Date of Conference: March 2, 2024

Location: Nanticoke Room 1238

Adele H. Stamp Student Union

3972 Campus Drive College Park, MD 20742

For any questions or concerns, please contact Practicing Anthropologist Student Association - PASA

Anthropology graduate Magda Mankel, Ph.D, displayed her dissertation research on migrant justice along the U.S.-Mexico border at Snakebite, a creation space in Tucson, Arizona.

More on Magda's project:
Magda is an artist and scholar whose work focuses on immigration, heritage, and border justice along the US-Mexico border. Magda learned the process of making prayer ties through her collaborative
ethnographic research with the organizers of the Migrant Trail Walk– a 75-mile walk between Sasabe, Sonora and Tucson, Arizona that bears witness to the deaths of migrants in the Sonoran Desert. As meditative objects, prayer ties are created through collective grieving activities and site-specific encounters that materialize and mobilize cultural repertoires. As Performative Objects, Magda’s Prayer Ties is animated by intention, medicine, prayer, and other states of presence. Functioning in multiple ways, Prayer Ties allows us to publicly and privately grieve while also archiving/recognizing/documenting the deadly impacts of prevention through deterrence policies and border militarization.

Congratulations to UMD Department of Anthropology Professor Paul Shackel, who was recently named the 2025 recipient of the J.C. Harrington Medal, the highest honor given by The Society for Historical Archaeology in recognition of a person’s lifetime of contributions to the discipline!

Read more about Shackel and his work at https://go.umd.edu/shackelharrington25

Will you be attending ? Hear UMD Anthropology's own Emma Satterfield, winner of the Erve Chambers Tourism and Heritage Student Paper Award, discuss her doctoral research!

Congratulations, Emma! Emma Satterfield is being awarded the Erve Chambers Tourism and Heritage Student Paper Award for her work, "Perversion or Immersion: Interpreting Slavery through Living History." We are so proud of you!

Congratulations to Emma Satterfield for being awarded the inaugural Erve Chambers Tourism and Heritage Student Paper award by the SfAA!

The SfAA has established the Erve Chambers Tourism and Heritage Student Paper Award to honor the legacy of Dr. Erve Chambers and encourage new and innovative avenues of inquiry within the anthropology of tourism and heritage.

Student papers should entail original research on the themes of “tourism” and/or “heritage” broadly defined, including topics such as heritage, archaeology and tourism, ecotourism, and cultural resource management. Top papers will be selected for inclusion in a featured paper session at the SfAA Annual Meeting, and the top three papers will receive cash awards - $300 for first prize, and $150 each for two honorable mentions.

BSOS is pleased to cosponsor the next installment of MomentUMD Live: AGNR Conversations Around Grand Challenges, featuring Eric Reson, Chief Programmes Officer with the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association. For more information please visit: https://bsos.umd.edu/event/momentumd-live-eric-reson

Happy 100th Birthday to the Republic of Türkiye! Professor and Chair Emeritus Dr. Tony Whitehead and Professor and Chair Dr. Barnet Pavão-Zuckerman met up at the annual Bayram Luncheon for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV's) at Kazan Restaurant in McLean, VA. What were the UMD anthropologists doing there? Dr. Whitehead served in the Peace Corps in Turkey from 1967-69 (T-12), and Dr. Pavão-Zuckerman was there as a plus-one for her mother (Jeannine Tonetti), who also served in the country from 1965-67 (T-8). Also in attendance were Embassy Undersecretary Fatih Öztürk and Embassy Counsellor Yasemin Ipek Öztürk.

A full house! Undergrads, grads, faculty, and Auggie the dog taking a break to enjoy lunch together in our newly renovated Woods Hall!

The National Academy of Medicine today announced the election of 100 new members (including 10 international members) during its Annual Meeting. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

“It is my honor to welcome this truly exceptional class of new members to the National Academy of Medicine,” said NAM President Victor J. Dzau. “Their contributions to health and medicine are unparalleled, and their leadership and expertise will be essential to helping the NAM tackle today’s urgent health challenges, inform the future of health care, and ensure health equity for the benefit of all around the globe.” -- Read more here: https://nam.edu/national-academy-of-medicine-elects-100-new-members-2023/

The Mental Health Coalition invites the UMD community to Mental Health Awareness Week, October 2-6! UMD's Mental Health Awareness Week is an annual weeklong program of events to reduce stigma on campus and improve student wellbeing. Now more than ever, we want to be sure that students are actively taking care of their mental health.

In preparation for Mental Health Awareness Week (October 2-6), visit https://counseling.umd.edu/events/mentalhealth to learn about events on campus meant to support your mental health!

This semester, the Counseling Center is hosting drop-in virtual skills sessions on a wide range of topics (16 total!) to support your mental health and wellbeing. Go to counseling.umd.edu/wellness to register and for more info!

Umai Habibah (MAA alum and former staff member) recently stopped by the Anthropology Department to say hello to her former colleagues. She was back on campus to prepare for her new role as Program Manager in UMD's Office of Faculty Affairs, which she just started on Monday! Congratulations on your new position, and welcome back to UMD, Umai!

Anthropology alum Megan Springate has been featured on an episode of the History Channel's Dark Marvels Series, episode 3!

Treacherous Traps | HISTORY EpisodeVideo

Congratulations to Dr. Janet Chernela you on her appointment as Professor Emerita, in the Department of Anthropology, effective July 1, 2023! Best wishes on your new journey!

PhD student Cam Walker and our Chair Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman were "comic book-ified" in a bilingual comic about their recent National Science Foundation grant. In English, the title of the comic (the third installment of the Center for Applied Isotope Studies "Carbon Comics" series) is, "Unlocking the Past!: Archaeology of the Cattle Economy in Colonial Charleston, South Carolina".

UMD Anthropology Alum Stefan Woehlke featured in Maryland Today as he food tour dishes from ‘Black Broadway,’ Taste of Immigrant Culinary Traditions! Read the full article: https://today.umd.edu/d-c-history-by-the-forkful photo credit Stephanie S. Cordle

It's graduation season! A big congratulations to all of our !

Congratulations to our graduating class of doctoral candidates that defended their dissertations this year!

Catherine Roberts Ph.D.
Emilia Guevara Ph.D.
Ellen Platts Ph.D.

Congratulations to all of our MAA & MAA/MHP students who presented their final projects from their internship research at the 2023 Anthropology Colloquium this past Saturday!

33rd Annual Colloquium
Friday, March 10, 2023, 9:00 am - 3:30 pm
2204 Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center
Join us for the 33rd Annual Colloquium where MAA students present their internship research! Breakfast and lunch will be served.

Please note that parking on campus will be limited due to a UMD open house. Regents, Stadium Drive, and Union Lane Garages have been reserved for the open house.

This weekend, Anthropology's
M.A.A. student Emma Satterfield will lead "The Full Spectrum: Uncovering LGBTQ+ Heritage in Montgomery County" at the 2023 Montgomery County History Conference. Read all about the virtual exhibition at the heart of her talk here: https://bsos.umd.edu/featured-content/anth-graduate-student