About We Dig Anthropology
We Dig Anthropology was created to make anthropology public for all ages, whether you have experience in academia or not. This content is made to be interactive and to be introductory to the exciting discipline of anthropology. Viewing the world through an anthropological perspective not only deepens our knowledge of what it means to be human, but also allows us to consider how the field might benefit the human experience by interacting with each other, with animals, and with the environment.
Bringing anthropology to the public
Anthropological research is conducted by people, about people, for people. The purpose of this field is to gain more insight into past and present human behavior to increase our knowledge to address real-world problems in the future, such as in policy, medicine, and law. Anthropologists have an obligation to share this research with the public.
Finding the fun in academia
Academic publications, while essential, can often be difficult to read, especially in a field you are not familiar with. One important part of making anthropology public is to make our findings digestible by the everyday person.
Everything is anthropology
Everything made by humans is anthropology, everything we interact with as humans is anthropology, and how humans interact with other humans is anthropology. The pencil on your desk is just as anthropological as an ancient civilization unearthed by seasoned archaeologists.
Anthropology in popular culture
Every piece of material culture and art can be tied into anthropology and anthropological discussions. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein discusses the ethics surrounding human remains, experimentation, and death. Piercings, tattoos, and other forms of body modification have cultural meanings that may be passed down generations, or are indicative to a religion, ethnicity, region, or identity. The food you eat and clothes you wear all have decades of painstaking research into their origins, even if they seem insignificant.
My story
Forensics, school history, major and minors, thesis work
I graduated from Louisiana State University with a bachelor's degree in Anthropology and three minors in International Studies, Political Science, and Spanish. My concentration was in forensic anthropology, and I spent a year as a Student Dependent Learner studying osteology in the Forensic Anthropology Computer Enhancement Services (FACES) Lab. Currently, I am a master's student at the University of Central Florida studying sex estimation, sexual dimorphism, and age-related cranial thickness changes.
My Interests
My main areas of interest are in forensic anthropology and international politics, specifically how forensic anthropology can assist in building legal cases against political violence and war crimes. A four-field approach is necessary to tackle all facets of political violence, not just the forensic aspect, because archival records, archaeological data, and cultural impacts on a community are just as important as skeletal data. Being well-versed in all four subfields is the key to being a great anthropologist.