Hale Herald - Winter Solstice 2022

Kelsey Hoppes, archaeology Ph.D. student
I’m reading The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women, by Kate Moore (2017). This riveting, true story begins with young women’s contributions to the First World War by painting dials with a new and wonderful chemical, radium. Sensationalized by the media and distributed by doctors, the women considered themselves lucky to be so well off with a paying job and access to the most desired chemical in the country. During their time in the factories and well after, the women started falling mysteriously ill and dying. As the companies denied and covered up these shocking cases, the “glowing” women were determined to be a force of justice and persisted in their fight despite their failing physical and mental health. 

Carla Jones, cultural anthropology professor
Memoir and ethnography. In the Early Times: A Life Reframed, by Tad Friend, reflecting on the long shadow of a father, Theodore Friend, historian and observer of Indonesia. Scott McLochlainn’s The Copy Generic: How the Nonspecific Makes our Social Worlds, a fascinating hybrid of global ethnography, social commentary, and imagination. And the recent winner of the Clifford Geertz Prize in the Anthropology of Religion, The Privilege of Being Banal: Art, Secularism, and Catholicism in Paris, by Elayne Oliphant, an elegant anthropological analysis of politics, aesthetics, and public space.

Carole McGranahan, cultural anthropology professor
A combination of reading for work and pleasure: ethnography, fiction, and poetry. Lucas Bessire’s ethnography Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Flora Poetica, a gorgeous volume of poetry I found in a used bookstore on the Isle of Wight. And my best airport fiction purchase in years: The Final Revival of Opal and Nev.

Fernando Villanea, biological anthropology professor
Lately I've been curious if someone’s quantified the heritability (and evolvability) of morphological traits in the post-genome era to validate the results and claims made in the past. Three articles I've found useful are: “A Mixed Model for the Relationship Between Climate and Human Cranial Form” by Katz, Grote, and Weaver; " Random Genetic Drift, Natural Selection, and Noise in Human Cranial Evolution" by Roseman; and, "Population Structure and Quantitative Characters" by Rogers and Harpending. For fun, I’m reading Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse, a fantasy novel inspired by pre-Columbian American cultures.

Diana Wilson, assistant to the Chair
As many know, I have a fascination with London and English history and my winter break reading is London focused.  London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd, which details the fascinating bits of London Underground (not the London Underground) including underground rivers that were once part of the daily life of London and can still be seen in certain parts, Roman foundations, plague pits, etc!  The last time I was in London on a London Walk, we passed over the River Fleet and the guide mentioned this book – which sent me on a swan chase to read stories – culminating in the reports of the London Fatberg of 2017.  Then, since we work in a historic rock building, I have become more interested in the masonry and architectural skills necessary to build and to maintain such structures, so I have started re-reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.  Historical medieval fiction dealing with the construction of a fictional cathedral and all of the ways a civilization is built of both laws and beliefs as well as monumental architecture.

Presented by Georgia Butcher, Cultural Anthropology Ph.D. Candidate

The AAAs were exhausting in the best possible way. Held in Seattle this year, it was fertile ground for networking and working on new ideas. The CU happy hour at a brewery at Pike Place Market became the ultimate location to talk to alums (such as Dr. Allison Formanack) about research and dissertation writing, while also hanging out with some of the youngest members of the department (Finley – Anna and Ted Wynfield’s infant daughter). To say that I was socially hungover for a few days after AAAs would be an understatement, but it was truly an incredible experience. I was able to meet anthropologists whom I had never heard of before, but with whom I am now actively seeking to collaborate. The AAA conference was abuzz with ideas and connections and I found it completely reinvigorating. Can’t wait for next year in Toronto!

Also, seven CU students presented their research at the AAA Conference in November, some for the very first time. Congratulations to Georgia Butcher, Katie Donlan, Jacob Jansen, Page McClean, Arielle Milkman, Sanggay Tashi, Anna Wynfield.