During the Spring 2020, students in Special Topics in Anthropology: Storytelling and Heritage participated in a new course. Originally designed as a faculty-led program between two long-standing partner institutions – SUNY Broome Community College (Binghamton, NY, United States of America) and Universidad de Celaya (Celaya, Mexico), this collaboration was designed to be the first study abroad program at SUNY Broome to offer bilateral study abroad experiences for its students. This program was supported by a generous grant from the Mary Street Jenkins Foundation, and the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Program. Unfortunately, the outbreak of the Coronavirus Global Pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the travel component of this course.

For the remainder of the semester, students enrolled in Ant 288: Storytelling and Heritage explored a variety of topics related to cultural heritage and storytelling, ranging from intangible heritage such as language and music, to food culture and museum studies. We explored how popular, emerging, and modern technology are used to share cultural heritage.

As part of our coursework, students at SUNY Broome prepared short projects designed to use material culture as a way to tell stories. We welcome you to visit the Object Ethnography Page for a look! We borrowed our project name from the Object Ethnography project, and gained inspiration from countless projects from museum studies, art history, anthropology, and archaeology, students were challenged to think about objects in a new light – as “storytellers” in their own way. This collection is begins with a single object as a way to enter into discussions about heritage and identity, and how the past helps us understand this moment in time.

Now is the time for summer course, internship, job, and field school applications to start going in. I will start posting information here.

Binghamton University Archaeological Field School
http://www.binghamton.edu/anthropology/undergraduate/2015-fieldschool.html
Earn college credit.
This year, excavations will be at a Prehistoric site in Campville, NY.

Binghamton University Community Archaeology Program
http://cap.binghamton.edu/
Volunteer program, scholarships for kids and teens available.
Programs for kids (5, 6, 7th grade), teens, and adults.

Over the past few years, my goal as an anthropology instructor at a community college is not necessarily to train the next generation of anthropologists (although that would be REALLY great and I am completely up for that challenge).

My goal has been to get students who are taking my courses to start “thinking like an anthropologist.” That means that I hope to help students learn how to apply anthropological perspectives to whatever their chosen career might be.

The American Anthropological Association’s “Anthropology  News” just published this article from the Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges on the importance of providing anthropology students with opportunities to apply anthropological concepts to real world concepts.

http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2014/09/23/from-a-survey-of-anthropology-to-actually-applying-it/

Is it possible for students at Community Colleges to get involved in anthropology? I may be completely biased, but I sure hope so! And I think my students are proving me right! Last year, my archaeology students worked on a class project that have focused on using technology to disseminate knowledge about local heritage and history. In a biological anthropology labs, students brainstormed to tackle a public health issue – namely, how can we address issues of malnutrition in our local community? These types of class projects and exercises help students understand that an elective or core course requirement can provide new perspectives on approaching very real concerns – no matter what their ultimate choice in career might be.

For more reading, I highly recommend these sites:

Anthropology: Worst Major for Corporate Tool, Best Major to Change Your Life

Anthropology Skills

This is Anthropology – A prezi site!