About Us
Our faculty share an interest in the holistic study of humans and a curiosity about the varieties of human experience. We believe that such an understanding forms an integral part of an undergraduate liberal education, and that the application of insights gained from such an understanding will contribute critical elements to the solution of contemporary medical, social, economic, and political problems. Our Department works across several broad areas of concentration, including Cultural Anthropology; Experimental Anthropology; Human Rights; Medical Anthropology; New World Archaeology; and Old World Archaeology. Our area strengths include Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, North America, and Southwest Asia. Our faculty has also worked in Europe, South and Southeast Asia, and Oceania. We offer extensive expertise in many research methods in ethnology and archaeology. Our Department is part of The Higher Education Opportunities Act. If you would like to support the Anthropology Department, please visit College of Liberal arts and Sciences.
Congratulations to our UConn alumna Hilda Lloréns who has recently been awarded two prizes for her latest book Making Livable Worlds: Afro-Puerto Rican Women Building Environmental Justice: the 2022 Gregory Bateson Book Prize and the Frank Bonilla Book Award from the Puerto Rican Studies Association! ...
What does it mean to be Jewish ...
... in Cuba? ... in Ethiopia? ... in Turkey?
... if you’re an atheist? ... LGBTQIA+? ...a Jew by Choice?
These are some of the questions we will explore in this course, which
taps into the rich anthropological scholarship on Jewish life and Jewish
communities around the world.
No prior knowledge of Judaism is required. Prior coursework in anthropology or sociology is helpful but not required.
This course will count as an ethnographic course toward the major or minor in Anthropology, toward the Religion minor, or as an elective for the major or minor in Judaic Studies.
Question? Email sarah.willen@uconn.edu ...
Join us next week for a talk on “Cultural Change during the Middle Stone Age” by Dr. Nicholas Conard from Universität Tübingen! @universitaet.tuebingen #archaeology #pleistocene ...
Professor Christian Tryon and graduate student Peyton Carroll survey coastal Sicily by boat looking for Paleolithic caves as part of the #eosicily project ...
PhD student Elena Skosey-lalonde (@skosejlen) at PAN AFs speaking in a session on marine cultural heritage management on community engaged approaches to research on the Swahili coast and Indian Ocean world. ...
UConn Anthropology PhD candidate Jayson P. Gill presented his research this morning at the Caucasus Network Through Time’s virtual seminar on New Directions in the Palaeolithic of the Caucasus. #archaeology ...
We are in the endgame now! Fundraising ends at 7pm EST. There is still time to support student research in Anthropology at UConn. A BIG thank you to everyone who has donated! Even a little bit makes a big difference for the graduate and undergraduate students in our department. >> https://tinyurl.com/43hrn9v7 #uconn #uconngives #uconngives2022 #anthropology ...
Today is UConn Gives and there is still time to help support undergraduate and graduate level anthropological research and conference travel! >> https://tinyurl.com/43hrn9v7 ...
Check out the panel on Indigenous Futures in Multimedia hosted by our own Dr. Nathan Acebo! Registration link >> https://tinyurl.com/3c48bkwz ...
UConn Gives fundraising starts tomorrow! You can help support graduate and undergraduate anthropology research >> https://givingday.uconn.edu/o/university-of-connecticut-32/i/uconn-gives-2022/s/anthropology funds raised previously were recently used to help our graduate students afford the cost of travel to present their research at the AABA and Paleoanthropology conferences. #anthropology #archaeology #uconngives ...
Post-Doctoral Researcher Raquel Fleskes presenting her paper “Critical Translation and Transparency in Community Centered Ancient DNA Research: Insights from the Anson Street African Burial Ground Project” at the American Association of Biological Anthropologists meeting. #aaba2022 ...
PhD candidate Christina Balentine presenting aDNA analyses of the demographic histories of ancient hunter-gatherer groups from Chilean Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego at the American Association of Biological Anthropologists meeting. Posted with permission from Christina Balentine. #aaba2022 ...
Graduate student Urvi Kaul presenting her research on Cribra Orbitalia prevalence and severity in Bronze Age Arabia at the AABAs. Co-first authored with Brittany Clark from Georgia Southern University. #aaba2022 ...
Professor Christian Tryon presenting new descriptions of Ksar ‘Akil Upper Palaeolithic hominins at the Paleoanthropology meeting. #paleos #paleoanths #paleoanths2022 ...
PhD candidate Jayson Gill (@roadtoruins ) presenting a theoretical paper on optimal transmission, co-authored by Tanner Kovach, at the Paleoanthropology Society meeting. #paleos #paleoanths #paleoanths2022 #archaeology ...
We were able to send grad students Jayson Gill (@roadtoruins), Iris Querenet Onfroy de Breville, and Tanner Kovach to the Paleoanthropology Society meeting with department travel grants made possible through fundraising efforts. ...
Graduate student Tanner Kovach presenting his analysis of stone tools from the Armenian Upper Palaeolithic site of Solak-1 at the Paleoanthropology Society meeting. #Paleos #paleoanths #paleoanths2022 #denver ...
Graduate student Iris Querenet Onfroy de Breville presenting her work on use-wear analysis of abraded coloring materials at the Paleoanthropology Society meeting. #paleos #paleoanths #paleoanths2022 ...
Graduate student Tanner Kovach finally earning his keep by running the registration table at the Paleoanthropology Society meeting. #paleos #paleoanths #paleoanths2022 #denver ...
Departmental News
Tenure Track position on African Diaspora within the Americas
The Department of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut seeks to hire an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) with a research focus on the African Diaspora within the Americas whose research and teaching centers in areas such as social, historical, or cultural dimensions of inequality or strategies for effective interventions against settler colonialism; racism; globalization of white […]
[Read More]Tenure Track position on racial and ethnic health disparities
The Department of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut seeks to hire an Assistant Professor (tenure track) with a research focus on racial and ethnic health disparities. This position is part of a cluster hire involving six Assistant Professor (tenure-track) positions in the area of Social Aspects of Ethnic and Racial Health Disparities. This hire […]
[Read More]Prof. Alexia Smith Honored for her Work With Students
We are very proud to announce that Prof Alexia Smith has been awarded the Honors Faculty Member of the Year Award by UConn’s Honors Program. She is pictured receiving her award from Honors Program Director Jennifer Lease Butts at the Honors Medal Ceremony. The award is given to a faculty member who “has made outstanding […]
[Read More]Rebecca Kraus Finishes BA Thesis
Congratulations to graduating senior Rebecca Kraus who recently completed her Anthropology honors thesis (advisor: Christian Tryon, left) “Obsidian and Ostrich Eggshell: An Archaeological Study of Social Technologies from Mumba Rockshelter, Tanzania during the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene” and will begin her research towards a Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in the […]
[Read More]Upcoming Events
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Feb
1
Exhibition Reception: Madeline Baird on 'Embodied Borders'3:00pm
Exhibition Reception: Madeline Baird on 'Embodied Borders'
Wednesday, February 1st, 2023
03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Storrs Campus Lounge / The Dodd Center for Human Rights
About This Event:
We welcome you to join us for a closing reception to celebrate and discuss the most recent exhibition in the hall of The Dodd Center for Human Rights with the photographer. Madeline Baird's 'Embodied Borders' reveals the human toll of the exportation of U.S. border enforcement through a series of captivating photographs.
Madeline Baird is a PhD student in Anthropology at UConn. Prior to enrolling at UConn, Madeline earned an MSc from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and worked for a decade supporting public health program design and community-based research. Her current research employs ethnographic methods to explore constructions of health inequity, human rights, and healing in Latin America.
About the Exhibition:
In recent decades, the extension of U.S. immigration and border enforcement policies to countries in Central America increasingly pressures migrant populations seeking refuge in the U.S. to travel the most remote and dangerous passages to the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2022, more than 200,000 migrants traversed the Darien Gap known to be one of the most dangerous sections of the journey through Central America. This series of photographs documents the embodied impact of the exportation of U.S. border enforcement 2,500 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border for migrants in transit through Panama.
We're thrilled to have the support of numerous co-sponsors including the Department of Anthropology, El Instituto, the Research Program on Arts & Human Rights, and the Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center (PRLACC).
Join us! This event is in-person only in the lounge of The Dodd Center for Human Rights. You can find more information at http://s.uconn.edu/embodied-borders-exhibition-reception
Light snacks & refreshments will be served.
No registration is necessary. All are welcome!Contact Information: humanrights@uconn.edu
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Feb
3
Geography Colloquium - Dr. Martín Medina Elizalde12:20pm
Geography Colloquium - Dr. Martín Medina Elizalde
Friday, February 3rd, 2023
12:20 PM - 01:20 PM
Storrs Campus AUST 110
Dr. Martín Medina Elizalde, Paleoclimatologist
Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences
UMass Amherst
Abstract:
The reasons behind the disintegration of the ancient Maya civilization during the Terminal Classic Period (TCP, CE ~800–1000) present a complex problem to disentangle. Was climate change the ultimate or the proximate factor in the disintegration of the Maya civilization? Diverse Paleoclimate archives support the hypothesis that drought created unfavorable conditions to sustain the Classic Maya civilization, while evidence has also supported the notion that socio-political context may have played a role in the abandonment of major Maya lowland centers. Did Classic Period Maya socio-political and economic factors make the Maya civilization particularly vulnerable to collapse? What lessons can we learn from the fate of the Maya civilization that are relevant to the future? We explore these questions and present evidence from speleothem paleoclimate records that climate change during the TCP was severe enough to impact the systems that sustained the development of the Classic Maya civilization.
Bio:
Dr. Martín Medina's research interests are in the areas of paleoclimatology and climate change with particular emphasis in reconstructing tropical temperature and hydrological variability during the Holocene, Pleistocene and Pliocene. He investigates the drivers of tropical climate variability during different climate states aiming to assess the Earth’s temperature and hydrological sensitivity to changes in orbital forcing and forcing by greenhouses gases. In addition, Martín investigates the impact of changes in rainfall amount in the development and collapse of the Maya civilization as an empirical means to assess potential societal disruptions driven by adverse hydrological conditions, and with the ultimate purpose of informing and stimulating human adaptive and mitigation responses to climate change.Contact Information: Nat Trumbull (trumbull@uconn.edu)
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Feb
10
ECOM Speaker Series: Alison Springle4:00pm
ECOM Speaker Series: Alison Springle
Friday, February 10th, 2023
04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Storrs Campus FSB220
ECOM Speaker Series will host Alison Springle (Oklahoma University, Philosophy). The title of her talk is "Radicalizing Practical Representations." The event will be held in Family Studies 220, and will be broadcasted via Zoom. For details, contact aliyar.ozercan@uconn.eduContact Information: aliyar.ozercan@uconn.edu
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Mar
24
RMME Summer 2023 Application Deadline!12:00am
RMME Summer 2023 Application Deadline!
Friday, March 24th, 2023
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Storrs Campus Gentry
Today is the last day to apply for Summer 2023 admission to the 100% Online Research Methods, Measurement, & Evaluation Master's degree program and the 100% Online Graduate Certificate in Program Evaluation program. For more information, visit: https://rmme.education.uconn.edu/Contact Information: Dr. Sarah D. Newton, methods@uconn.edu
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Mar
27
Build Quantitative Research & Evaluation Skills Online!12:00am
Build Quantitative Research & Evaluation Skills Online!
Monday, March 27th, 2023
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Storrs Campus Online
Looking to be more competitive on the job market? Graduating and don't know what to do next? Want skills you can use at school, at work, AND in your everyday life? Check out UConn's Research Methods, Measurement, & Evaluation (RMME) Programs! Now accepting applications to the 100% Online RMME Master's degree program and the 100% Online Graduate Certificate in Program Evaluation program! The application deadline for Fall 2023 enrollment is June 16th. For more information, visit: https://rmme.education.uconn.edu/Contact Information: Dr. Sarah D. Newton, methods@uconn.edu
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Alumni Spotlight
Post-doctoral Fellow at Harvard University Department of Anthropology, Post-doctoral Research Affiliate at the Max Planck Institute
Alumni Spotlight
Bayla Ostrach is an Assistant Professor, Boston University School of Medicine Master's Program in Medical Anthropology & Cross-Cultural Practice
Alumni Spotlight
Jacqueline Meier is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Florida
Alumni Spotlight
Mandy Ranslow is a Federal Highway Administration Liaison at the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Alumni Spotlight
Marie Brault is an Associate Research Scientist at the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute
Alumni Spotlight
Austin Hill is a Research Associate at Dartmouth College, Department of Anthropology
Alumni Spotlight
Shan-Estelle Brown is a Post-doctoral Research Associate at Yale University School of Medicine
Alumni Spotlight
David Leslie is a Senior Archaeologist at the Archaeological and Historical Services Inc., and a Research Scientist at UCONN
Alumni Spotlight
Sarah Sportman is currently serving as the Connecticut State Archaeologist.
Alumni Spotlight
Madelynn von Baeyer is a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute.
Alumni Spotlight
Ann Cheney is Associate Professor in Residence at School of Medicine, University of California, Riverside
Alumni Spotlight
Nathan Wales is a lecturer with the Department of Archaeology, at the University of York (BioArCH)
Alumni Spotlight
Jordan Kiper is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama, Birmingham
Alumni Spotlight
John Shaver is an Associate Professor at the University of Otago
Gabriel Hrynick is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at University of New Brunswick
Alumni Spotlight
Alumni Spotlight
Timothy Ives is the State Archaeologist of Rhode Island