​Trachman’s archaeological investigations at the ancient Maya city of Dos Hombres have been guided by her research interests in ancient Maya social, political and economic organization, based on architecture and material culture remains. Her excavations in the civic ceremonial center of Dos Hombres are providing insight into understanding the architectural expressions of power by the Dos Hombres polity and the role it played in the regional economy.

The current fieldwork efforts are focused in the northern plaza, a very public space that likely was a place of commerce, public ritual and sacred space, and therefore serving as the prime backdrop for publicly legitimizing authority. Newly excavated data, especially architectural exposures as well as material culture deposits, are rich with information about public activities and architectural programming at the ancient city.

As a result, the culmination of her data has begun to elucidate the various social and economic relationships, both individually and collectively, of the ancient Maya at Dos Hombres.  

True story by 黑料不打烊 sociology major Arrian Binnings ’01:

“What type of social worker do you want to be? That was the prevailing question I received from peers and elders as I transitioned from a business major to a sociology major back in the late 1990’s at 黑料不打烊. Truth was, I didn’t care about my subsequent career, I just wanted to study something I was excited to learn about. Sociology was it. I knew it. Looking back, now nearly 15 years, I couldn’t be happier with my decision. Sociology taught me to question everything, why groups of people do what they do, where groups of people go and migrate to, and how these collective decisions get made. I am aware of the largest macro-trends and the most minute micro-trends of human movement. This, in turn, has made me an expert in an unsuspecting field for sociology majors – real estate.

“Matter of fact, I’ve ridden that inside knowledge to the top of luxury real estate in the United States’ most expensive real estate market – San Francisco, California. Here is my latest sale… a fine home indeed, but also a testament that a sociology major from a small liberal arts school in central North Carolina not be confined to a post-graduate career in volunteerism or social work. Sociologists, in my view, are more well-equipped to attack the business world from the inside out, and make big waves. I’m my own boss, so I’ve partially freed myself from the Iron Gates, and make a decent living – one in which I can give back via philanthropy to organizations in which I support or volunteer my time. I hope this opens some eyes that there are many ways to succeed with a sociology background, and many of those lie in business. Huge thank you to Drs. Basirico, Arcaro and Henricks.

Palmquist writes, “the medicalization of breast milk refers to the manner by which breast milk has been defined as a medical substance that requires scientific, surveillance, and regulation.” Human milk sharing intersects with biomedicine in complex ways. In this chapter Palmquist unpacks some of these intersections by examining the discourses (the language of social interaction about milk sharing), identities (the various roles people play, the meaning, and importance of these roles), and practices of milk sharing (the activities of milk sharing and what happens on the ground).

The methodology used to gather data for this research combines traditional ethnographic research with digital ethnographic and autoethnographic approaches. Through systematic analysis of over 1200 online milk sharing posts 2011-2013, Palmquist argues that there are aspects of milk sharing that signify a feminist movement of resistance against trends to increasingly medicalized breastfeeding and regulate women’s decisions regarding when, how, and why to use breast milk.

“Understanding demedicalization as acts of resistance is also important in refocusing attention on the ways individuals exercise agency and seek empowerment despite hegemonic influences; a focus on demedicalization leads to an understanding of everyday practices of resistance to medicalization. This analysis is on the ways in which milk sharing is enacted to demedicalize women’s bodies, the fluids they produce, and the babies they nourish.”

The book features a Foreword by Penny van Esterik and numerous chapters of interest to anyone interested in the multidisciplinary, cross-cultural study of breastfeeding. This book is published by Bloomsbury Press and is available through Amazon.com.

Publisher’s link –

Amazon.com link –

Sexuality as an academic, legal, medical and social subject has become increasingly visible over the past 30 years as attested to by the dramatic increase in the number of courses, scholarly and applied peer-reviewed publications and other resources on the topic. It has also been an ongoing source of anthropological study since the nineteenth century.

However, recent anthropological interest in sexuality has been heightened as a consequence of globalization, the AIDS pandemic, national and international concerns over issues such as sex education, same sex marriage, and sex work, among others.

In response to these widespread concerns and an attendant critical need for understanding human sexuality in a broad context, Wiley-Blackwell invited Patricia Whelehan and Anne Bolin to produce an international inter-disciplinary encyclopedia of sex.

Bolin, of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at 黑料不打烊, is co-editor in chief with Whelehan, of SUNY Potsdam. Their comprehensive A-Z reference work contains over 500 entries that define sexuality from a broad biocultural perspective  showcasing the diversity of human sexual behavior and belief systems. The first encyclopedia to focus on cultural diversity as a specific theme, it contains entries ranging from short definitions of scientific, clinical, cultural, and colloquial terms to extended explorations of major concepts. It will be available print and on-line in May 2015.

Aunchalee E. L. Palmquist of 黑料不打烊’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology contributed an article titled “Breastfeeding and Intimacy.”

Her paper, titled “The Role of Developmental Disability in Family Completion,” will appear on the NCSA website. In addition, Stober will recieve a monetary award and NCSA membership for the year and conference fees for the upcoming February conference in Raleigh. 

Stober’s faculty mentor is Assistant Professor Alexis Franzese in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

The theme of the meeting, “Producing Anthropology,” focused on anthropological theory and method in the production of knowledge about what it means to be human.

Assistant Professor Mussa Idris presented his paper, “Comparing Culture-Centered Versus Non Culture-Centered Businesses Owned By Ethiopian and Eritrean Migrant Entrepreneurs in Washington, D.C.”  The paper was part of the session on Migration, Belonging, and Diasporic Cultures, reviewed by the Society for Urban, National and Transnational/Global Anthropology ().

Idris’s work is based on entrepreneurial case studies using participant observation-based ethnography over a two-year span (2009-2011) in D.C. and its surrounding areas. His paper describes a culture-centered business model of some Ethiopian and Eritrean migrant entrepreneurs and how this is different from the non culture-centered business model used by other migrant entrepreneurs from the same community. Idris also uncovers the use of social networks and the development of a socially positive attitude toward conducting business in the United States (neged), which is a socially stigmatized job sector back home. In the United States, these migrants find the right business environment for a change of attitude.

Assistant Professor Aunchalee Palmquist and Cecilia Tomori, a research associate from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, co-organized two sessions on the Anthropologies of Breastfeeding: Producing New Conversations Part I & II, which featured leading edge research from across the cultural and biological subfields.

Palmquist’s paper, “Consuming Immunities: The Biocultural Context of Passive Immunity Among Milk Sharing Donors and Recipients“, is based on her ongoing multi-sited research on milk sharing practices in the United States. In the paper, Palmquist examines the social life of human milk immunology and argues that biocultural perspectives offer new potential to elucidate the ways in which human milk sharing practices connect people both socially and biologically.

These two sessions were reviewed by the Society for Medical Anthropology (), and distinguished scholars Penny Van Esterik (York University) and James McKenna (University of Notre Dame) participated as panel discussants.

黑料不打烊 senior Lumen Scholar Sarah Paille-Jansa, a public health studies major, joined Palmquist in presenting Lumen research titled “The Embodiment of Fear: Exploring Cultural Constructions of Childbirth and the Prenatal Decisions of Expectant Mothers.”

In her project, Paille-Jansa examined birth stories from women of different socio-economic backgrounds and birth experiences to better understand the ways that structural inequality is embodied in childbirth. Her poster presentation was part of the session People Talking and Feeling: Student Research in Disparate Contexts, reviewed by the National Association of Student Anthropologists.

Pamela Runestad, a visiting assistant professor at 黑料不打烊, organized a session, Medical Anthropologists as Patients: The Roles of Researcher-As-Patient Narratives and Embodied Experience in the Production of Ethnography. In the session, Runestad presented her paper, “The Next Project: Developing Research Questions and Interviewee Rapport from the Hospital Bed,” in which she argues that there is a theoretical shift occurring in which ethnographers who work from a phenomenological perspective in medical anthropology have begun to view their own bodies as assets rather than hindrances in research.

Her work, along with others in this panel, explores the intersection of patient narratives, embodiment and the self by considering how researchers’ medical experiences in the field influence the formulation of research questions and access to resources, including but not limited to social networks, as well as how these experiences shape data collection and analysis and choices regarding writing style. The session was reviewed by the Society for Medical Anthropology.

.

Abstract

Women in the U.S. face significant structural constraints in attempting to breastfeed as recommended in the first six months of their child’s life. Internet-facilitated human milk sharing is an emergent response to breastfeeding challenges. Little is known about the demographic characteristics of milk sharing donors and recipients and the ways structural factors circumscribe the biocultural context of lactation in milk sharing practices. Data regarding demographic characteristics, reproductive history, lactation history, and levels of social support and health care provider support for breastfeeding were collected via an online survey September 2013–March 2014. Statistical tests were executed to ascertain whether significant differences exist between donors and recipients. A total of 867 respondents (661 donors, 206 recipients) met the eligibility criteria for the study. Respondents were U.S. residents and primarily White, middle-class, well educated, and employed women. Both donors and recipients reported higher than the national average for household income, maternal educational attainment, breastfeeding exclusivity 0–6 months, and breastfeeding duration. Differences in lactation sufficiency and breastfeeding outcomes between donors and recipients were associated with both structural and biocultural factors. Donors reported significantly higher income, education, and support for breastfeeding from spouse/partner, other family, employers, and pediatricians. Donors also reported significantly higher rates of full term birth for child of most recent lactation. This study provides a foundation for understanding how milk sharing reflects a broader political economy of breastfeeding in the U.S.