Anthropology & Sociology at Williams
News about faculty
Lots of leaves and leave projects in 2006-2007. ANSO hit one of those blips in the departmental leave cycle when an unusual number of faculty were on leave for one reason or another. Olga Shevchenko was on an Assistant Professor Leave that happily coincided with a maternity leave. Bob Jackall continued his involvement with the Williams in New York program in Fall 2006 and will carry on with W@NYC in 2007. Michael Brown, Peter Just, and James Nolan were all on leave for part or all of 2006-2007 while they worked on various projects.
Department chair Antonia Foias (at end of trailer, in blue)
with her two sons during Williamstown's July 4 parade
on Spring Street.
Olga Shevchenko has completed a book that Indiana University Press will publish in 2008r. The working title is Crisis as a Way of Life: The Changing Contours of Everyday in Postsocialist Moscow. Olga has also co-edited and contributed an article to a special issue of the journal Social Identities focused on postsocialism and popular culture. The article analyzes the current Russian obsession with--of all things--crossword puzzles. Her current project deals with Russian family photo albums and memories of socialism. The Soviet era in its various guises is an object of considerable popular interest, which can be seen in the surprising resuscitation of many Soviet brands and renewed scholarly attention to the art/architecture/culture of late socialism. |
Arafaat Valiani, Assistant Professor of Sociology, has been awarded an NEH summer stipend grant to work on his project "Formations of Militancy: Religion, Violence, and Political Mobilization in Twentieth Century India."
Robert Jackall, Class of 1956 Prof. of Sociology & Public Affairs, is featured in a streaming video lecture, "Detective Work: A Look Inside the NYPD," accessible in the website of Williams Alumni Relations. The talk was given presented during Alumni Reunions, June 2007.
David B. Edwards will be traveling to China and Mongolia this summer to lay the groundwork for a documentary film project on Naadam, the annual festival of (among other things) Mongolian horsemanship. His documentary work on Afghanistan was the subject of a profile by Chris Marcisz in the Berkshire Eagle in September 2006.
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Michael Brown's work on heritage protection is featured in an interview (conducted by Thomas Strong and Jukka Siikala, both of the University of Helsinki) recently published in the Finnish journal Suomen Antropologi. You can find a PDF of the seven-page interview here. Don't panic: it's in English, which as far as Brown could tell is spoken more accurately in Finland than in the United States.
Profs. Peter Just (left) and James Nolan at a late summer party, 2006.
New faces in 2007-2008 . . . and some that we've seen before. Prof. Kai Erikson will return to ANSO as Visiting Distinguished Professor of Sociologyin Fall 2007. Some of you will remember Kai from his two previous visiting stints in the department. A return of a different sort will be made by Wendi S. Haugh '91, who will be Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology in 2007-2008, having completed her PhD at Penn and a year as a visiting professor at Oberlin. Wendi's return to Williams got us thinking about other Ephs who have gone on to professional careers in Anthropology or Sociology, a list of whom we've prepared for this issue of ANSONews. There are doubtless errors in the list, so please send us corrections and additions. We will also be joined by Marketa Rulikova, Visiting Asst Prof of Sociology in Fall 2007, and Sameena Mulla, a doctoral candidate in Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, who will be a Gaius Charles Bolin Predoctoral Fellow. |