October 2026 Anthropology Department Roundup

a brick facade building stands between lush green trees and blue skies
College of Arts and Sciences anthropologists spent early fall publishing, presenting and collaborating work that represents the intellectual discoveries of the discipline. Their work includes archaeological discoveries across the Pacific Northwest and Southeast Asia, innovative undergraduate teaching on human evolution, and urgent ethnographic and advocacy work with Indigenous and diasporic communities.  

From Alison Carter

Alison Carter has a new publication in Archaeological Research in Asia: "The life history of Baset village, Battambang Province, Cambodia: A report on fieldwork from 2018 to 2023.” You can download a free PDF until Dec. 6.

From Katelyn McDonough

Bryn Sullivan and Katelyn McDonough attended the Paleoamerican Odyssey Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a gathering held only once every 13 years that brings together researchers studying the Pleistocene across the Western Hemisphere.
 
McDonough organized a symposium titled Growing the Record of Pleistocene Plant Use in the Americas. Together, Sullivan and McDonough contributed to three posters and one paper:
  • Coprolites as Archives of Foodways: Macrobotanical Evidence from Last Supper Cave, Nevada (Bryn Sullivan and Katelyn McDonough)
  • Where Are the Plants? Testing Biases in Pleistocene Archaeobotanical Records (Katelyn McDonough, Madeline Mackie, Emily Milton, Dani Osorio, Bree Doering, Nathaniel Kitchel, Bryn Sullivan)
  • Late Pleistocene Lifeways at the Connley Caves, Oregon (Katelyn McDonough, Richard Rosencrance, Dennis Jenkins, Geoffrey Smith, Justin Holcomb, Bryn Hockett, Alex Nyers, Stefania Wilks, and Miranda Harding)
  • The What, Where, and When of the Western Stemmed Tradition (Richard Rosencrance, Geoffrey Smith, and Katelyn McDonough)
  • Five former archaeology field school students also presented posters, including three UO Anthropology alumni: Aiden Hlebechuk, Haden Kingrey, and Shelby Saper. It was wonderful to see so many current and former students sharing their research!

From Parmida Mostafavi:

On Thursday, Oct. 22, Parmida Mostafavi presented a paper called "War and Sanctions: The Political Economy of Diasporic Solidarity," at the "Iran Beyond the Headlines: Revolutionary Politics, Foreign Relations, and Prospects for Peace" Conference held at UO, sponsored by the Department of Political Science, the Schnitzer School of Global Studies, and the Global Justice Program.

From Michelle Scalise Sugiyama:

This term, Michelle Scalise Sugiyama launched a new online course, ANTH 225 Evolution of Play (piloted last spring as a 199 course) that explores the function of motor play from a human life history perspective. The course examines Indigenous hunter-gatherer games/sports (e.g., chasing and hiding games, racing, wrestling, lacrosse, double-ball) in terms of the ecological context in which they emerged, the skills they developed, and the role these skills played in hunter-gatherer life.

From Lynn Stephen:

I co-authored a book with Erin Beck, professor of political science, was published a few weeks ago by Duke University Press. "Seeking Justice for Gendered Violence Courts, Communities, and Care in Guatemala" examines how Indigenous women and communities in Guatemala navigate systems of justice while confronting gendered violence.⁠ Drawing on ten years of ethnographic research, the book explores both the possibilities and limitations of legal reforms—and highlights the grassroots knowledge, care, and community networks women use to survive violence, pursue justice, and support one another.⁠

Last month, our Mellon Project, Invisible No More: Celebrating Mesoamerican Indigenous Languages, Knowledge, and Communities in Diaspora, held a retreat at the Newport Office of Arcoíris Cultural. Our research team which includes staff from Bienestar, Oregon Law Center, Plaza de Nuestra Comunidad, Arcoíris Cultural, and grad students Gabriela Pérez Báez, Lidia Muñoz Paniagua, and UO faculty member linguist Gabriela Perez Baez and myself. We met to review our progress in developing tools for locating appropriate interpreters for Mesoamerican Indigenous language speakers in Oregon, knowledge narratives highlighting plant, medicinal, and caring knowledges, and to make a dissemination plan.

Fifteen of us enjoyed local Guatemala pipian for lunch and each other’s company. We will be launching a website in about a year. We produced a report titled "Impacts of ICE Enforcement on Mesoamerican Indigenous Communities in Diaspora which was distributed to community-based organizations, NGOS, and some state offices in Oregon. Let Lynn know if you would like a PDF of the report.

On Oct. 9, I was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge Massachusetts. It was an amazing set of events featuring incredible scholars, public leaders, and innovators. All were engaged in unique projects aimed at making the world better for many, whether through the arts, film, medicine, technology, engineering, social science, sciences, public policy, and a broad range of humanities. I came away inspired and hopeful.

Department
Anthropology