This post submitted by SOAN Prof Janel Benson

The SOAN Department is pleased to announce that 10 SOAN students will be conducting independent and faculty-supported research this summer.

Hannah Post, Emily Kahn, Audrey Swift, and Cameron Pauly will be conducting research with Dr. Kristin De Lucia and her colleague Enrique Rodríguez-Alegría (University of Texas-Austin) on their NSF supported archaeological project in Xaltocan, Mexico.  Just outside of Mexico City, Xaltocan was a major regional center prior to the rise of the Aztec Empire and was conquered by Cortes upon his arrival into the Basin of Mexico. This summer they will be excavating colonial and Aztec contexts, including the courtyard of Xaltocan’s 16th-century church and an Aztec house. Students will gain training and experience in archaeological excavation, survey, and laboratory analysis of artifacts.

Farrin Saba ’19 and Hailey Biscow ’17 will be working with Dr. Santiago Juarez on the Noh K’uh Archaeological project in Chiapas, Mexico.  Near the Southern border of Mexico, Noh K’uh is an ancient Maya city that is located within one of the last remaining rainforests known as the Selva Lacandona. This summer they will be charting new archaeological the remains of a city that dates as far back as 800 B.C., during a period when the Maya were first constructing cities.  Students will gain training and experience in archaeological survey, and laboratory analysis of artifacts.

Vanessa Escobar and Jolene Patrina will be working with Dr. Elana Shever on her project examining how people in the United States today are using dinosaurs to think about what it means to be human. The students will be helping Professor Shever process and analyze the interview and participant-observation data she has been collecting over the last few years.

Hunter Filer ’17 and Tim Englehart ’17 have received funding to conduct independent research this summer. Hunter Filer ’17 received funding from the Lampert Summer Fellowship to travel to Denmark to investigate the integration of immigrant children within the Danish educational system. Tim Englehart ’17 received funding from the Division of Social Sciences to examine the role of selective colleges in producing graduates committed to altruistic good. Professor Janel Benson will serve as the faculty sponsor for both projects.

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A recent article in the New York Times makes a great case for putting sociologists and the insights of sociology in a more prominent role in the policy making process. Why aren’t sociologists and anthropologists asked more frequently for advice about policy matters?  It’s a good question.  While the SOAN blog often highlights the impact that our faculty and students are having on, say, the global response to Ebola or climate change policy and environmental justice, we don’t often see a “chief anthropologist/sociologist” in the highest levels of government, think tanks, or NGOs.  My theory: the explanations that we provide for many questions of societal import challenge existing conventions and structures, meaning that, while our explanations and data might be valid, they are hard to incorporate without larger conversations about power and inequality.  What do you think, SOAN community?  Comment here or email me to share your ideas.

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submitted by SOAN Prof Chandra Russo

For those concerned with climate change, environmental sustainability, and the needs of the most vulnerable communities, the new administration has offered little in the way of hope. The New York Times classifies the new President’s views on these matters to be “combative, conflicting and confusing.” Trump has promised an “open mind” on climate change yet has proffered statements and actions that suggest he is firmly in league with other climate change deniers. For instance, Trump has promised to get rid of the Clean Power Plan and pull us out of the Paris Agreement. (Without the former, the US cannot meet the Paris Agreement’s greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.) Scott Pruitt, newly appointed head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ignored the overwhelming scientific consensus when he argued that we reopen debate as to whether climate change is anthropogenic (caused by humans). Mustafa Ali, longtime head of the EPA program on environmental justice (protecting the most vulnerable from harmful environmental ills), just resigned in response to Pruitt and Trump’s budget cuts and stated priorities. The national horizon for environmental justice indeed looks grim.

Yet the national horizon is not the only one upon which environmental activists, scholars and policy makers have been seeking change for the past several decades. In fact, even before these newest, draconian and ill-conceived federal maneuvers on climate change, a stalemate on real substantive policy change was a feature of politics in the US. In a new chapter on environmental justice, “The pitfalls and promises of climate action plans: transformative adaptation as resilience strategy in US cities,” authors Chandra Russo, in SOAN, and Andy Pattison, in Colgate’s Environmental Studies Program, argue that we should have a distinct interest in city level policy. In the absence of leadership from the United States federal government, cities and states have long been the foremost means for addressing climate change. Some of the most cutting edge ideas and actions being taken by US cities are still in their relative infancy. For this reason, Russo and Pattison argue that there is great potential for such strategies to incorporate social equity objectives in consequential ways, especially if grassroots efforts are present and vocal. This chapter is not about putting on rose colored (sun)glasses, as Russo and Pattison point out real shortcomings and challenges that these cities, and others wishing to follow suit, are going to have to address. The piece does, however, point to some exciting developments and indicates that local and state politics are important for transformative change even in times of massive national setbacks.

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