Anthro-in-Action Speaker Series:
NorQuest Series 2 [Fall 2021]
Topics covered: Archaeology; biological anthropology; linguistic anthropology; sociocultural anthropology
The Story in Your Bones: Forensic Anthropology in Action
Alexandra Rocca, MA (Edmonton)
Thursday, September 16, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. MST
Abstract: If you have ever broken a bone, you likely have that in common with millions of other people. For those who have not, have you ever had dental work? Have you ever had an X-ray? Or perhaps you or someone you know has arthritis, or another skeletal condition? Many of the things that can impact your bones and teeth, are experienced worldwide. However, when considering a broken bone again, the way you broke your bone, the age you broke it, and where it was broken, are all unique to you. In many ways, your skeleton tells the unique story of your life. Forensic anthropologists can help tell this story by examining skeletal remains. Forensic anthropology is one of many subdisciplines within biological anthropology. It often studies recent human remains within the context of the law as part of a criminal investigation. While forensic anthropology has been popularized in television, many misconceptions surround what forensic anthropologists do. This lecture will go over the basic principles of this field of anthropology. We will walk through the common misconceptions by discussing real-life applications, research, and case work in which forensic anthropology has played an important role.
Biography: Alexandra Rocca received her BSc in Paleontology at University of Alberta (2016). During her studies, she became fascinated with human evolution and human osteology, driving her to pursue a MA in Biological Anthropology (University of Alberta, 2019). Her research has focused on developmental plasticity of the hip bone in hunter-gatherers from South Africa and North America in order to understand the impact of life events on bone development in juveniles. During her studies, she has worked with forensic anthropologists in Edmonton on field searches, in the lab, and at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Alex is passionate about teaching all age groups about human osteology and forensic anthropology. In addition to running educational activities at Edmonton Public Schools and bone identification workshops for RCMP officers, Alex has instructed with the Edmonton Lifelong Learners Association and is a lecturer of Anthropology at the University of Alberta.
Inferring the Health and Cultural Practices of a Precolonial Population (12th to 16th century) in Northern Philippines Through Dental Analysis
Eleanor Marie Lim, MSc (Philippines)
Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. MST
Abstract: This preliminary research investigates the oral health status of the human skeletal assemblage recovered from Sapilang (Sinait, Ilocos Sur), a precolonial site in northern Luzon, approximately dated from 12th to 16th century. The minimum number of individual (MNI) of the assemblage is about fourteen (14) individuals; however, there are only seven (7) individuals with dentition that were available for analysis. Pathological indicators (caries, antemortem tooth loss, and calculus) were macroscopically examined to assess the overall health of the individuals, and to surmise the cultural practices or influences on its dental status. The low incidence of caries and the homogeneity of calculus accumulation distribution are perhaps due to the practice of betel-nut (Areca catechu) chewing – which is attributed to the reddish-brown staining on the teeth surfaces. While this assumption remains unconfirmed, the analyses were able to illustrate a preview into the health and cultural practices of the precolonial inhabitants of Ilocos Sur.
Biography: Eleanor Marie Lim is a Filipino archaeologist. She holds an MSc in Archaeology and a BSc in Medical Physics. She specializes in bioarchaeology, which includes but is not limited to human osteology and palaeopathology. Her research interests focus on the reconstruction of the past human diet, health and diseases through osteoarchaeological analyses and the application of stable isotope analyses on human skeletal remains.
Your Face Sounds Familiar: Hearing and Seeing Accents
John Wayne N. dela Cruz, MA (Montreal)
Thursday, October 28, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. MST
Abstract: This presentation will explore how language and race are co-constructed within the cultural context of second language (L2) education, wherein ‘culture’ often hones in on ‘language.’ Concepts such as linguistic racism, linguistic imperialism, and linguicism will be reviewed, with a focus on accent and accentedness. Specifically, issues relating to how “native”, often white monolingual listeners perceive and interpret multilingual, often racialized L2 speakers’ accents and accentedness will be discussed to create conversations surrounding questions such as: Do people hear your race through your accent? What is accent hallucination? Is ‘you sound like you were born here’ a compliment? Does accentedness, and other “non- native” patterns of speech, actually reveal anything about a speaker’s abilities and skills, professionalism, educational attainment, or economic status? The presentation will conclude by articulating how emergent frameworks in L2 education and critical sociolinguistics, such as plurilingualism and translanguaging, can be useful to help validate and legitimize racialized multilingual L2 speakers’ linguistic practices and identities, including the way they sound or speak.
Biography: John Wayne N. dela Cruz is a Filipino-Canadian critical applied linguist researching plurilingualism in the context of second language education and policy. Plurilingualism is a theoretical-pedagogical framework that views languages and cultures as interrelated and interconnected in an individual’s semiotic repertoire. He is currently completing his PhD in Educational Studies – Language Acquisition at McGill University as a Bombardier Scholar. For his PhD research funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), he aims to investigate the impact of monolingual and bilingual policies in Canada to the plurilingual practices and identities of adult Filipino immigrants learning English and/or French as a second language. He completed his BA Honours in Anthropology at the University of Alberta and his MA in Applied Linguistics at Concordia University (Montréal). For his SSHRC-funded MA research, he investigated the plurilingual practices and identities of adult ESL students at a francophone college in Montréal. His research interests stem from being a Filipino immigrant to Edmonton, and from being a plurilingual second language learner himself: he speaks Tagalog, English, French, and his heritage languages, Ilocano and Kapampangan. Outside of research, he has taught ESL using plurilingual pedagogies to francophone Canadian learners at various levels, and he is currently teaching an undergraduate course at the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University.
The Myth of Sounds: Building a More Empathetic Sounding City
Craig Farkash, MA (Montreal)
Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 3:30 p.m. MST
Abstract: Nature did not give us earlids. Our ears remain open and working even while we sleep…ingesting and digesting sound in one form or another twenty-four hours a day.”
(Halpern and Savary 1985, 3-4)
No matter where we find ourselves, whether a hospital room, a city street, or a concert hall, sound exerts an enormous influence on our lives, both consciously and unconsciously. And those very sounds have both positive and negative impacts on our experiences of a place or space. So why is it that we continue to subject ourselves to sound that may be hurting us, even going as far as to romanticize certain urban soundscapes? This presentation will highlight some foundational experiences as well as current preliminary research for a project examining how we hear, through an acoustepathic orientation. As a combination of ‘acoustic’ and ‘empathy,’ acoustepathy refers to my idea of the inseparability of sound and feelings of place. By incorporating the concept of empathy into sound studies and anthropologies of sound not only can we begin to better understand how urban sound environments make people feel, but how we might create better feeling sound environments.
Biography: Craig Farkash (he/him) is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, on unceded Indigenous lands. Coming from a Hungarian/Scottish settler family, he grew up just outside of Edmonton, on Treaty 6 territory. He completed his BA (Anthropology and Classics) and his MA (Anthropology) at the University of Alberta. It wasn't until later in his undergraduate degree that Craig found his way into anthropology. Having initially studied abroad in Italy with an interest in classical archaeology, he found that during these trips he was most fascinated by the people and the communities he was living in. Since then, his research has focused on urban soundscapes, music scenes and communities, and urban mythmaking, among other sensory and music-related topics. His current research interests included urban soundscapes, music scenes, and sensory studies.