Department of Anthropology

The graduate students from the Department of Anthropology have written a solidarity letter to support Indigenous Sovereignty across Turtle Island. This letter was written to raise awareness about the injustices against the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island and to inspire others to stand in solidarity with their efforts to defend their lands, waters and ways of life. The letter also lists tangible action items for allies, including educational resources. The graduate students emphasize that this letter is only effective if it inspires responses of support and encourages allies to make real actions alongside the efforts of the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island to create positive systematic change. Image is kindly used with permission from Adina Farinango, Kichwa artist from Lenapehoking Territory. Her instagram is @adinasdoodles , website: linktr.ee/adinasdoodles

McMaster University is pleased to announce a cohort hiring initiative of up to twelve appointments of emerging and established academics and scholars who will contribute to the advancement of Black academic excellence across all six McMaster Faculties. McMaster seeks candidates whose scholarship and scholarly work forefronts or contributes to any of the following disciplinary or interdisciplinary areas of teaching and research.

The Department of Anthropology & colleagues were sad to hear about the passing of Dr. David Counts this month. David was a faculty member from 1968-1996 and a chair for many years. His family provided some words about his life & requested a memorial fund for McMaster students in his name. His dedication to scholarship, Anthropology & his students will not be forgotten. The bursary is to be granted to students who have completed Level 2 of a programme in Anthropology & who demonstrate financial need. Donations to the fund can be made below.

Dr. Roddick and his colleague François Cuynet (Sorbonne Université, Paris, France) have published an article in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. Their article, “Genealogies and Juxtapositions: Traces of Potting Communities and Firing Facilities in Lake Titicaca Basin” explores the deep history of craft production in the high altitude Lake Titicaca basin of South America, by looking at the ephemeral traces of pottery firing spaces over 2,000 years. They also develop a new way to think about pottery practices over the long term and explore what it means to compare contemporary crafting and those from the deep past.

A new paper published online in Quaternary International (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.09.045) by McMaster archaeologist Tristan Carter, along with then undergraduates Rose Moir, Todd Wong and their Japanese colleagues, sheds light on the key role of rivers for transportation and community interaction amongst hunter-fisher-gatherers populations some 12,000 years ago in south-east Turkey.

PhD student Shalen Prado from the Department of Anthropology has recently been accepted as part of the Lewis & Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship’s Graduate Residency Program.