Anthropology Major Fox

Hello, and welcome to Anthropology Major Fox, the meme for us Anthro freaks. You don't have to be a major or minor to appreciate the submissions, you just have to love that tricky little field of Anthropology. Submissions about all four (perhaps five) areas of Anthropology will be accepted; Cultural, Biological, Linguistic, and Archeological Anthropology, as well as Applied Anthropology (if you think that's separate).

[anthropologymajorfox]

Hey foxy bbys, I know I'm like a totally absent moderator at this point, because, as we know, I am trash (and also a full time student taking on WAY too many extracurricular responsibilities), but I have a question forwarded from me by a friend.

Does anyone know of, or have, a list of current excavations in Egypt? If you could submit that to me, or link me it, that would be fantastic and I would love you forever. 

[anthropologymajorfox]

Heads up to people in bioanth, osteology, or any other field where learning all the finicky parts of the human skeleton comes in handy. There's an awesome (and FREE) app called Essential Skeleton 4 that not only lets you look at everything from a variety of angles, but also quizzes you on them. In no time you'll be able to confidently point out the "pisiform articular surface of the right triquetral carpal". Totally a fun ice breaker at parties. Also an easy way to not fail human skeletal biology this semester.

[suzythered]

Call for papers: Women in science on surviving the sexodus

Women in Science: Call for personal experience essays “Surviving the Sexodus: Practical advice from women in science” Edited book Rutgers University Press, 2016 (tentative)

Many young women dream of a life in science, inspired by the opportunity for a meaningful and rewarding career involving curiosity, passion, mentorship and discovery. Indeed, a desire to reap such rewards can help explain the representation of women in the early stages of some scientific careers (e.g. graduate enrollment), especially in biological and life sciences. Women are, however, very underrepresented in senior research positions. It is fair to say that the proportion of women employed at the senior research level does not nearly reflect the numbers of women who initially express interest in science career.

The reasons behind women staying in science, progressing through the academic/corporate hierarchy or leaving science entirely are complex, but we likely can all point to pivotal moments and challenges that we faced over the course of our experience with the scientific lifestyle. For some of us, these are singular standout moments, for others it is the accumulation of small aggressions that wear us down. Whether it be low pay, long work hours, the pressures of publish or perish, loss of potential retirement fund years, new career interests, spousal career conflict, change in family arrangements or responsibilities, difficult job searches, bullying, harassment or exclusion, there are a myriad of reasons that women are not proportionally represented in science jobs. Those of us that have worked in science have, however, found one way or another to deal with these challenges and have something valuable to share with our peers and those who are coming up behind us.

The aim of this book is to present the shared wisdom of women who have worked in science to girls and women contemplating or actively pursuing scientific careers. We are collecting personal essays describing the challenges, large and small, experienced by women over the course of education and career development and the strategies they developed to cope and move forward, including finding other avenues for their scientific passions. The overall goal is to provide a collection of relatable stories that can offer support and hope to those at all stages of pursuing a career in science.

(More details and submission guidelines here.)

[anthropologymajorfox]

Hi, I'm possibly interested in attending a field school but i was wondering if you or any of your followers have any first hand experience? c: thank you!

Well I know plenty of my followers have experience. I don’t yet, I’m going next summer, because its the first time I’ll have both the money and the time, and its also a requirement for my degree.

Check the replies to this post, as I’m sure plenty of people will be able to give you advice about field school. A few people who have worked in the field and/or attended field school that I know right off the top of my head are Becky zomganthro, Monica theladygoogle, and Leah terrasigillata (Leah’s at her site rn, so I don’t know if she’ll answer quickly). 

But yah, readers please reply if you’d like to help out!

[zomganthro]

Somaliland was a part of the former Republic of Somalia. For 21 years until his fall, the regime of Mohammed Siad Barre carried out massacres against the people of Somaliland. About 60,000 civilians were killed, thousands were victims of enforced disappearance, and 500,000 individuals were displaced before the declaration of independence, in 1991.

Since its independence, Somaliland has managed to secure the political stability, economic and social development needed to investigate the atrocities committed in the past, through a War Crimes Investigation Commission (WCIC) of 6 members. The forensic Field School in Hargeisa will help to determine the universe of missing people through a systematic approach, ante mortem data collection and research of mass and clandestine graves.

Accepting applications until August 31st, 2014.

[anthropologymajorfox]

hey I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but what does archaeology look like in the NorCal area?

So I'm not in California, but a quick google search tells me that there are sites in Nor Cal at

Fort Ross

Anderson Marsh State Historic Park (Pomo indigenous sites)

Borax Lake Site

Duluwat Island

Triangle Marsh

Emeryville Shellmound

I don't know how active the sites are. Also I'm sure there are MANY many more. That's just what wikipedia told me. But I'm sure if you do a little digging (oh man that was awful) about schools in Nor Cal you might find some people to talk to.

I don't know much about the area, like I said. My sister goes to school in California, but in LA. So unless you want to turn her apartment into a site (actually a potentially fruitful endeavor, who knows what she has in there. Old Chipotle wrappers, undecipherable cinema studies texts... the possibilities are endless).

Any of my followers in Nor Cal and want to talk about the archaeology there?

[anthropologymajorfox]

HI, I'm coming in as a freshman anthropology major, is there anything specific I should know or anticipate? Also, how do you deal with the question, "so what do you plan to do with that?" after you tell people your major. I have plans but it still freaks me out.

So, unless you're going to U of T, I can’t really help with school-specific advice, but I can help with just general university advice. The biggest thing to remember is not to be discouraged, and to remember that you can always ask for help. Seriously, professors and TAs have office hours for a reason, and you should always take advantage of that, even if you think your question is the most ridiculous question ever asked. It probably isn’t. Also, remember that you’re new to everything. You don’t need to know exactly what you want, and you don’t need to know all the facts. You’re there to learn.

But, most importantly, don’t lose sight of yourself. Don’t sacrifice your health for a degree, don’t sacrifice your ethics and morals for success, don’t do anything you don’t want to.

As for telling people what you plan to do, if you just want to shut them down quickly simply answer “Be an anthropologist”,when they ask “What are you going to do with a degree in Anthropology.” If you want to get into details, have a few job explanations ready to go. Don’t overwhelm them or be really defensive, just give a simple answer and that’ll usually shut people up. Or, if someone is asking in earnest, then feel free to have a long and exciting conversation about anthropology.

Hope this helped!

[anthropologymajorfox]

Hi there! I'm an undergrad anthro major at the University of Central Florida. I'm currently focusing on archaeology. I just found your blog and figured this would be a good place to drop in n say hello! If anyone wants to chat about anthro/arch (or anything in general) please feel free to message me. I love networking with my fellow anthropology nerds. :D PS I just got done w a family reunion so that "justifying ur major to everyone" post was really relevant to my life d:

Hey! Thanks for the message :] I'll publish the ask so people can network!

Also, I, me, the mod, myself, is/are/am (I've fully confused myself, wow) an archaeology major too :P

[anthropologymajorfox]

Organization Skills for the New School Year

Hey everyone, so this post isn't strictly Anthropology-only, it can be a resource for everyone. Its mostly directed at incoming freshman who have never taken a university course and probably never had to organize their own study materials and projects before other than in a few documents. But even if you've been in school for decades you might still benefit from this post if you're feeling cluttered or looking for a new organization system. Some of this might seem obvious, but I've found that its always good to fully explain everything because one thing that may seem really easy and logical to you might be a totally alien concept to someone else, and vice versa.

Under a cut because this post has a lot of images and text!

(NOTE: I provided descriptions as well as I could for all images)

So this is my personal organization system. I just got a new computer so I don't have my stuff from last year, which would have given you a better idea of just how many documents I keep (hint: I keep EVERYTHING). But I still think you get the general idea. And if it seems like I keep a lot of things or download a lot of things that might not be necessary, its mostly because I'm a digital packrat, but also because I like to have everything easily accessible. I can always delete things when the course is over, and pick and choose what I want to keep long term.

I hate having a cluttered desktop, so it looks like this all of the time:

Really empty.

So, in the bottom left corner of the desktop is a folder labeled "2014-2014 School Year". If you click on it you get:

Within that folder are 3 more folders. One for Summer 2014 (the semester I'm currently in), one for Fall 2014 (From September to December) and one for Spring 2015 (from January to April).

For demonstration's sake, i'll click on Fall 2014:

Inside this folder are five more folders, each labeled with one of my Fall courses, with the course code and name. (I know, I'm taking the coolest courses, gush over that later.)

Again, for demonstrations sake, I'm going to click on "ANT305 Archaeological Interpretations". Normally there wouldn't be anything in there, because the semester hasn't started, but I made some dummy folders and files to illustrate the system for you guys. So inside that folder we have:

Four basic folders: Notes, Projects, Study Guides, and Syllabus. Syllabus is self-explanatory and only contains one document, the course syllabus. Next I'm going to click on the "Notes" folder:

Within that folder is a folder labeled "Lecture Notes" and a folder labeled "Lecture Slides". "Lecture Notes" will ideally just have one document in it, starting on the first day of class, with all my written notes for the semester. The Lecture Slides folder is for me to put the downloaded powerpoint or pdf slides that the instructor uses, if they post them online. My school uses Blackboard, so many of the instructors post their lecture slides, and its nice to have them accessible. If the instructor doesn't post them, then I'll just delete this folder. 

Next I went back to the course folder, and then opened the folder marked "Projects"

Now I know for a fact that this particular course has at least 3 projects with specific site names that I don't know right off the top of my head, as well as a final research paper. For now I just have four folders, labeled "Research Paper", "Site A", "Site B", and "Site C". Next I clicked on Research Paper

Within this folder there is another folder, labeled "Resources", and three documents. The documents are called "ANT305 Final Paper Notes", "ANT305 Final Paper Outline" and "ANT305 Final Paper". I like to have separate documents for the notes and outlines, but thats just personal preference. The Resources folder has my source documents, usually journal articles. I stuck a few inside there, and this is what that folder looks like:

Usually there is more than four, and I like to name them with last names and dates (which didn't happen for two of them, I forgot). But, again, that's just personal preference. 

So the folders for "Site A" , "Site B", and "Site C" will have a similar setup as this folder for "Research Paper".

Now, going back to the main course folder, there was one last sub-folder, called "Study Guides". The inside of it looks like this:

There's a folder for the Midterm and one for the Final. Inside of those you put the study guide your instructor gives you (if they even give you one) and your own personal document with what you think might be on the test. Mine usually has definitions, explanations, diagrams, etc. Its basically my notes cobbled together with any other information I think might be pertinent. 

So that's it! There is my system. These folders are all repeated for each other course, and I do end up with a lot of crap in them by the end of the semester. But its really helpful to have it all in one place and easily accessible, even if your school uses something like Blackboard because you don't always have internet access. Also, if you have a grade dispute or a plagiarism charge and you need to provide notes and outlines, you'll be able to pull them up in ten seconds flat. Hopefully that never happens. But just in case.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to ask me questions if anything isn't clear!

[anthropologymajorfox]

Just fixed the spreadsheet, it was on view only, now you can edit it!

[anthropologymajorfox]

Hello everyone, so, I've cleaned up the list a bit, added some stuff, and also added a column for contact information if you'd like to field questions about your university. Please try to add your school in correct alphabetical order. (You can do this by clicking on the school above or below where yours needs to go, then clicking Insert "Row above" or "Row below" appropriately).

I've also completely transferred the original data into a new spreadsheet on a different account, because the original sheet was on my personal google account. This one is on the official Anthropology Fox account (Under the name "Schliemann Wasadick" because i think I'm hilarious).

That account is also where you can contact me and send emails regarding this blog, but I'll make a separate post for that later.

So here is the spreadsheet, please add your school and share with your friends, colleagues, and anyone you think might have information. This is all in the interest of helping out people looking to apply for various programs, so be as detailed as possible! After all, the more people we inform at an earlier age, the more our fields will grow, and the more work, money, and respect we'll all have. Hopefully.

[anthropologymajorfox]

Good News!

I finally have a new laptop (its a super cool Lenovo Yoga 2. It can fold 360 degres so I can use it as tablet in the field and a laptop for school. It also has 8gb of RAM so I can run GIS programs and statpacks and all sorts of fun stuff. If anyone wants info about it, let me know. I swear i'm not being paid by Lenovo, i just really like this computer.)!

So this means I will be working on updating and revamping this blog. I need to build up the queue which will take some time because i'm going to be making original posts, but it WILL be happening. This blog will be more active than it has been in recent months.

Hope everyone is having a good field season/summer/winter depending on where you are in the world right now :]

[currentsinbiology]

Young Scientists Say They’re Sexually Abused In The Field (NPR)

In a survey of scientists engaged in field research, the majority — 64 percent — said they had personally experienced sexual harassment while at a field site, and 22 percent reported being the victim of sexual assault.

Most of the people reporting harassment or assault were women, and the vast majority were still students or postdocs.

And for female victims, the perpetrator was more likely to be a superior, not a peer. “This is happening to them when they are trainees, when they are most vulnerable within the academic hierarchy,” says evolutionary biologist Katie Hinde , an author on the study in PLOS ONE. Hinde and her colleagues say this could be a factor in the large number of women who enter scientific fields but don’t continue.

Students work at an archaeological dig near Silchester, England.

[anthropologymajorfox]

Hey guys, it's your trash mod here. So, I had a ton of updates ready to go and all sorts of new stuff planned and then disaster struck and my computer completely bit the bullet. I just wanted to make sure that you all didn't think I was breaking another promise to update stuff and be a ~better blogger~. I'm really very committed to turning this into a real resource. But for the time being I only have my phone, so I can't do anything I wanted to do. As soon as I have my computer situation sorted, I will let you know and the new Anthro Fox era can begin :)

[anthropologymajorfox]

[Picture: Background — a six piece pie style colour split, alternating purple and green. Foreground — a picture of a fox. Top text: “ [Is this bone or wood?] ” Bottom text: “ [lick it to find out] ”]

[anthropologymajorfox]

Updates and Hellos!

First of all I would like to welcome the 35+ new followers who have all shown up within the past 24 hours. And anyone else who falls under the category of “recent follower”.

Secondly I would like to sort-of apologize for not posting as often as I probably should. And also for being kind of archaeology- and biological anthropology-heavy within the past few months. As many of you know I’m studying Archaeology so thats where my personal interests lie, but thats not really an excuse. I will try to vary posts in the future.

As for the future, I’m done with my heavy course load and I will be able to start planning out posts and content now, and I will try to post at LEAST twice a week, if not more often.

As always, feel free to submit posts for my approval, whether they are the traditional memes or anything else you think people might enjoy.

Oh! Exciting news for anyone interested, I’m now kind of helping out with the blog Feminist Archaeology.

[anthropologymajorfox]

Thought I'd share a paper with you guys since I haven't been posting nearly as much as I should.

This paper is from 1992, but its still very relevant to discussions about applying anthropological views of marginalized groups to health studies. When the onus of prevention and treatment are put on marginalized groups because of their so-called "high risk" activities, it creates a negative view of these cultures and sub-cultures held by medical professionals that spreads to the greater public.