Wanderlust, united in movement

I started to think today that maybe I have come to a point where I am no longer afraid or anxious about the future. Maybe all it took was graduating, moving to a new city, and actually discovering that its easy to do something different, to live here, alone, doing something that I was afraid I might fail at. I am not afraid to be away from the people close to me (although the pangs of worry still come that if something happens to one of them it will take a lot to get there). I am not afraid of having of being stuck in a boring lifestyle, or stuck doing something that I might not care about. I think of all the possibilities, instead of the limitations. I sometimes feel good being surrounded by the unknown- people, places, direction. I look forward to having the opportunity of feeling 'finished', and being at a point where I can say, 'ok, what can I do next.' I've been doing courses and school and research for so long, and soon I will not have to worry about getting that essay in on time, cramming my readings in last minute. As of this summer I will be on my own schedule, doing work solely determined by my goals and methods, and will have one year until any real deadlines press on me.
Then what?
I am excited to get to that point of not knowing. I could go anywhere and do almost anything. Will I choose to go back to Ontario? Will I discover an exciting project that will inspire me to further research in a PhD? Will I just take a break from school life, find a job...just live somewhere. Will something totally unforeseen come into play that will determine all this for me? Will I come into a lot of money and just travel the world?
*crosses fingers*

Did I imagine it would be like this?
Was it something like this I wished for?
Or will I want more?

A Decent Proposal

Progress!

Last Friday I presented my research proposal to the Anthro/Arch department, faculty and students. It was about 15 min of me discussing the context of my research, why it's important, what questions I'm asking, and what methods I anticipate using in the field and the lab. It was super nerve racking before hand, and during, so much so that I went to take a sip of water in between slides and didn't tilt the bottle far enough back to actually get anything because I didn't want to take up too much time in silence. My mouth got pretty dry, but I was successful the second time before the question period. Only a few people asked questions, all of which of course were not ones that I had anticipated or expected would be asked. After that was all finished, everyone but faculty was asked to leave the room, where they conversed for a few minutes and we all stood around in the MA's office wondering what was taking so long. We assumed they were discussing dinner plans, weekend plans, or otherwise unrelates things. It was probably true, because by the time I was called back in to collect my computer, there were only 3 or 4 people left. My supervisor said no one had any complaints and were very pleased, especially with the pretty images and layout of my powerpoint.
I also applied for more grant money from MUN's Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) and had just finished printing my app for the J.R. Smallwood Foundation grant when I received news that it was canceled for the year. dinger. ISER is more money, and will cover the real costs of my fieldwork and lab needs, including (hopefully) the awesome chance to go to Ottawa (technically an offshoot building in Alymer QC) to the Canadian Museum of Nature's Zooarchaeological Identification Centre, where I can identify any bones from my excavation that are a mystery, based on the limited comparative collection we have at MUN. I can stay with my super cousin and her cute 3 year old who live close by. A visit to the National Archives would also be in order, to investigate for any Hudson's Bay trading post records from Labrador in the 19th C. Overall, a paid trip to hang out with my family, do fun research affiliated with a museum, and get a break from St. John's.
So that's that in terms of my research. No more presentations on it until next year when I talk for half an hour on 'what I did during my summer holidays' excavating, and how it has (probably) entirely changed the direction of my project, as per usual. And only one more application asking for money from the provincial archaeology office. Just term work for the next month (lame). I expect to be finished by April 8 and my plans beyond that point are uncertain.
A trip to Ontario is likely at some point between then and July, other than for my dad's wedding in June, before I go into the wild.

That is sooo Fetch

I've taught my cat how to retrieve a bouncy foamy ball if I throw it down the hall. She doesn't care about fetching the non-foamy ones. It's the best.

In other news, not much news. Haven't had more than one class since I've been back, due to some sickness (not me), meeting, and plain old scheduling.
The meeting was put on by the Rooms museum for the Provincial Archaeology Office, the Nunatsiavut Government. It was for all grads doing archaeology in the province, since these are the main people we'll have to deal with for getting permits, submitting reports, housing materials, etc. It was pretty boring at most times. After the presentations we got a tour of the Rooms collections storage facilities in the basement.

I'm at a coffee shop called Coffee Matters, a local version or high-class coffee, chocolates, and a few baked goods and sandwiches. So far its the only place I have heard of or been in that has free wireless, good coffee, and a nice sitting environment. There are always at least 2 others with their laptops out. But there are also a lot of chatty Newfies from young to old. The kind of crowd you'd get at Second Cup in Westdale, but less students. Its downtown, and expensive, thus out of range for most uni kids. At least this location on Military Rd.
I can't seem to be a productive reader today, even though I have been up since 8am. Had to drop a reading assignment off at 9, then picked up 2 old rolls of film I found while digging up my camera stuff. One roll turned out to be from Homeplace Ranch in Alberta, where I worked in the summer after first year. I can't believe its been hiding all that time. The second roll was from last December, my grandpa's birthday and Christmassy type stuff. Not all the shots turned out, but enough to get excited about. I'm supposed to be reading the last 190 pages of a text for Thursday.

Blah. Id rather be designing the plans for my own cafe, that wouldnt be as expensive, and would have much better goodies.

-The Snark

T'is the season to be smarmy

The course work is complete! Semester one of MUN archaeology is over, save the intensive lab hours I will be clocking until my departure for Ontario. I have gotten back into the swing of faunal identification and have logged away over 400 pieces. Most of the assemblage consists of seals, canids, caribou, birds, and a crap load of cod. There are of course mystery items in the loot bag, but for this project, the goal is just to get a basic idea of what we have at the site. If its obvious, I side and age the bone, but most of the time that's not possible (or just too tedious). I must admit there have been Sharpie headache highs, and bone dust baths, but overall it's been good to get back into practice.
Next semester I have been signed on to be the TA for the Collections Management 3rd year course. It's a night class on Wednesdays, not coincidentally the same night The Rooms has free admission. My duties will include the regular marking as well as being in charge of the tutorial portion of the class time, and even some lecturing. It's exciting, and makes me feel less envious of the exciting developments in Ontario archaeology collections. I can't say I have no regrets about not accepting Neal Ferris' offer at UWO, but I could never say I would rather live in London...smarm!

So, Christmas in T-15 days. My expectations:
~board games
~drinks
~baked goods
~Battlestar Galactica marathon
~family turmoil
~drinks
~mammal party
~tears
~old friends
~new clothes
~black cat squishing
~drinks
~mistletoe
~overall chaos
I wish I could just fast-forward through the holidays

Capucine sings Christmas songs from Capucha on Vimeo.

dear government, it's me again

Welcome Welcome...
To the beginning of what I hope will be a not-necessarily-long yet prosperous career in archaeology. My Masters program so far has fueled the fire of my laziness and procrastination, which in turn has resulted in many things including not posting to the blarg as early in the game as I had wanted to.
First order of business, my research proposal. This is what I have used so far to apply for grants to SSHRC, NSTP, and the Dienje Kenyon Fellowship. Hopefully, as I am the only new student in my cohort at MUN, I will have a better chance at being awarded all of these.

Proposal of Research
The archaeological site of Snooks Cove, in Hamilton Inlet, southern Labrador, was an Inuit settlement occupied from the pre-contact period through AD 1950. Between AD 1820 and AD 1950 the settlement operated as a trading post where several Inuit families resided. (Fitzhugh 1977; Jordan and Kaplan 1980). Until recently, this later historic period of Inuit-European contact has received little attention from archaeologists. This is largely because it is very difficult for archaeologists to determine the ethnicity of households in southern and central Labrador since the Inuit, European settlers, and Métis families all occupied very similar looking sod dwellings (Fitzhugh 1972; Jordan 1974, 1978; Jordan and Kaplan 1980; Kaplan 1983; Woollett 1999, 2003). For my Masters thesis at Memorial University (MUN) I will develop criteria for archaeologically distinguishing Inuit, Métis and European ethnicity on the basis of faunal remains. To do this I will examine the faunal remains collected from one of the Inuit houses at Snooks Cove. My research will involve one field season of excavation followed by the analysis of the faunal remains. I will 1) determine what species are present and how they are distributed at the site, 2) examine the bones for evidence of butchering practices by analysing cut marks on the animal bones (by mapping the distribution of cut marks in specific skeletal portions, I may create a model, or models, of animal processing), and 3) compare my results to extant collections from Inuit, Métis and European households excavated by Dr. Lisa Rankin’s (MUN) team elsewhere in southern Labrador to determine what faunal remains can reveal about the ethnicity of the site occupants. I will also comment on the general subsistence economy and seasonality of Snooks Cove during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Special focus will be given to the butchering techniques, evident on the important species, practiced by the inhabitants of the site in an attempt to reveal their ethnic identity. I hope to discover evidence in the faunal remains that correlates to a change in sod-house architecture through time in this region, which will help reinforce the theory of hybridity in my zooarchaeological analysis. Certain theoretical perspectives will be considered when addressing issues of cultural interaction, hybridization, and identity in the faunal remains. Historical zooarchaeology will give relevance to the faunal material in an ecological context, and will help to address the archaeological dilemma of hunter-gatherer subsistence with domestic influences. Finally, a direct historic approach will aid interpretations of community and butchering practices. This later period of Labrador occupation was one of great economic and cultural change and it is imperative to investigate beyond historical documentation and create an archaeological milieu for Inuit, Métis and European interactions.
Context
Previous analyses have already been conducted on faunal remains up to the 18th century from sites in the Narrows. Changes to subsistence can be seen archaeologically as European contact increased in this area. Therefore, Snooks Cove in an excellent site to continue this research. My faunal analysis will be based on the belief that the Inuit ate different food and treated animal remains differently than the Europeans. However, not all of the animal remains that I encounter will be food animals, I must also anticipate the presence of fur bearing mammals in the assemblage and compare the treatment of these fur bearers to those recovered from Labrador Métis sites to see if they were treated differently. It is expected that this will be the case because Métis trappers, while valuing traditional Inuit practices of their Inuit wives, likely learned to process animals in a European fashion (Beaudoin 2008). I will have to approach the interpretation of animal use with these cultural distinctions in mind.
Methodology
Excavating Snooks Cove will require a predetermined methodology in order to ensure the 6-8 week field season will yield the best possible faunal assemblage. The site has not been excavated since the 1970s (Jordan 1974, 1977; Kaplan 1983). Over the next three summers, PhD student Brian Pritchard (MUN Archaeology) will excavate the Inuit houses, as identified by Anglican and Moravian missionary records, to determine if the inside layouts have a specific signature. Field assistants from MUN and the local community will also participate. The site is expected to yield a large faunal collection, as well as historic artifacts, such as ceramics, which will help to solidify a date for the house occupation. 19th Inuit houses century typically have a large midden in the entranceway, therefore this unique relationship will be important to investigate in excavation. Excavation will consist of 1m by 1m units with 10cm levels. Back dirt will be screened through a fine mesh to retain the maximum amount of faunal material. A total station machine will be used to record the location of artifacts. This can also be used to record significant faunal material to create a distribution map of house and midden structures. Soil samples will be taken from the house floor, hearth, doorway, and midden to contribute to the faunal representation by increasing the species diversity and providing further comparative data between important task spaces. The size and number of samples will depend on the logistics of returning to the university. Any samples can later be analysed by the paleoethnobotany class at MUN to find plant remains and reveal the presence of species whose remains may not be seen during excavation.
A field lab will be set up at the site for preliminary sorting to reduce later laboratory categorisation. I will implement the use of a modified bone information card, consisting of certain criteria for identification (species, taxon, element, cultural modifications) for labeling cut marked bone. This will allow easy reference to specific pieces when I create a Microsoft Excel database for the assemblage. This database will determine what species were present and facilitate further quantitative analysis of the material to recreate the subsistence economy at Snooks Cove. It is expected that seals and fur bearing mammals will comprise a large portion of this collection, therefore I will consult historical, ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological sources for any depictions of they way in which these species were killed, skinned and portioned. Analogy might also be made with previous studies of seal remains and butchering (Lyman 1979, 1992; Lyman et al. 1992), current governmental guidelines for seal hunting, or other modern hunting or trapping practices. Combined with a critical analysis of the cut marks, this documentation might help me construct a visual model for how seals or fur bearing mammals were butchered. In this way, I will contribute to the archaeology of Labrador with one of the most comprehensive and exclusively faunal studies conducted on the later historic Labrador Inuit in the Hamilton Inlet. My work may also be seen as a model of culture change for contact period archaeology.

Other than developing this mega-proposal, I work (sometimes) in the prehistory lab in the basement maze of laboratories. I am cataloguing (identifying species, bone element and side, age, etc.) faunal remains from Snack Cove 3 (FkBg-3) House 3, a site analysed for Natalie Brewster's thesis in 2005. This is just to get a sense of what material is there, not necessarily to use in any immediate research. I have also been asked by my supervisor if I would be interested in analysing the faunal material from one of her PhD students' projects. This will begin after Christmas once he knows how much material there is...and how much grant money to pay me. It will be the same kind of work, but also involves writing a small report on what I did to include in his dissertation appendix, and credit me with a citation or co-authourship in any article published on this research.

That seems to be sufficient for the time being.

The Snark

The Prime Directive

So I've been watching a lot of Star Trek this year, and as I'm sure everyone who watches knows, there is a *very* anthropological basis for the show. I've always believed that Captain Picard most embodies the theories and aura of an anthropologist best with his strong belief in The Prime Directive. Although he may also be compared to anthropologists of the past and 'arm-chair' tendencies with his stoic and seemingly detached facade, usually sending away missions sans Captain. Kirk may be compared to an even earlier version of anthropologists, such as the early explorers, before we adopted complex theories of culture and society and modern applications. Janeway is way too erratic and sassy (and no, not because she is a woman) to even BE a good anthropologist, but I admit, she takes the temporal Prime Directive very seriously...especially with her numerous encounters with past or future selves and friends. Archer is just too new to me and doesn't have the rapport or presence of Picard (obviously), but he is a great contemporary explorer and down to earth captain, comparable perhaps to up-and-coming graduate anthropologists.

I have been pondering the similarity of this epic theme and current anthropology for a long time, but never felt I had a strong grasp of relevant contemporary theory to comment on it knowledgeably. It recently occurred in daily discussions that the subject of cultural relativism in relation to ethics and moral behaviour appeared.
Cultural relativism is generally considered the theoretical antidote to ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is a phenomenon that happens, more often than not, by accident. It is when "we" impose culturally constructed values on "the other", insisting that it is the better way. The intrinsic nature of culture is that it is being constantly constructed when individuals grow up learning specific traditions of knowledge and beliefs that are passed from generation to generation, being contested and changed with time (Clifford and Marcus 1986). It can become what some people call "human nature/instinct". Many people justify behaviours, such as violence, as one of these "instincts". In blaming our ancient predecessors and closest relatives and their wild and unpredictable behaviours, people feel ok about the atrocious actions of human beings by attributing them to biological blueprints from our ancestral DNA.
You may be wondering how this relates back to Star Trek, but The Prime Directive addresses the idea of whether or not to intervene in the affairs of other cultures (although in Star Trek, a temporal aspect is also a concern, since we don't have the technology for everyday time travel...yet). This ethical dilemma has been a huge part of the controversial involvement of anthropologists in Iraq since some claim that by doing this, the army has enlisted double agents to help them be more successful in the war (if success is even possible). Others, including these Army Anthropologists, see the value in having a cultural mediator and interpreter to help reduce the number of deaths due to misunderstandings in this "quagmire". One might think that all soldiers and foreign correspondents, such as journalists, should sit in on Anthropology 101.

So do we interfere because we think it's wrong? Or do we let it slide because it falls under that cautious category of cultural belief? Can we boldly go where no one has gone before? Just like Star Trak has demonstrated time and time again, there is no textbook answer. It's all relative to the severity of the actions being interfered with and the way the person interfering approaches the issue.
In the end, anthropology is the final frontier.

happily lost in translation

In light of recent events, including my friend going off to France to teach English at a school, as well as a discussion in class about studying Anthropology in other countries, I decided to research anything I could find on French Anthropology.

One girl in my class had studied in France and she shared her experiences. What I took away was that French Anthropologists are focussed on different theories and methods from what I've been learning in Canada. She mentioned an emphasis on continued studies of Levi-Strauss' ideas and theory that we in Canada have been taught to think of as a part of history that we have progressed away from. However, she also made sure to convey the attitude of change and desire to move away from these older ideas in French studies, and that they aren't all convinced that Levi-Strauss is the be all and end all of anthropological theory.

So I came across an interesting link, from none other than Wikipedia, to an anthropological social network called MASN. As I discovered, it is a meeting place, not unlike a blog, with links to anything you could ever want to learn about Anthropology. It includes a forum for anthro students around the world to congregate, links to anthropology references, journals, and blogs. It is free to join and my impression is encouragement of idea-sharing. What I really liked about the self-written description of the site is that "everyone should consider her/himself as a node in the network where new threads can connect and enlargen the existing network".


I personally have been increasingly curious about Anthropology in other countries, as my own undergraduate educational career in Anthropology comes to an end and I consider my future in this field. I think it's important for Canadian students to get a grasp on what is out there beyond studying Canada's (and subsequently, Europe's) history. One negative I have noticed, and I'm sure I am not alone in this, is that most Canadian universities don't offer studies on international anthropological pasts. I can also understand that there is only so much students can learn and only so many courses universities can offer (financially), however, I have had to dig in on my own time to research any information on anthropology (especially archaeology) in other countries.

In my mind, Canadian archaeology is somewhat of a limited field, because there are essetianlly 2 main streams of history that are studied- European contact and Native Canadian culture. I am in no way claiming that indigenous peoples' cultures in Canada has not changed greatly, but the foundations of these cultures are still existent today (if in no other way than the names of these peoples and their personal struggles to maintain tradition in a modern world). In my opinion, archaeology in "the old world" could be considered more variable, simply due to the massive amount of cultures that have emerged and died out. Everything from the thousand years of Egyptian existence, the Celts, Roman empire, Gaul, Ottoman empire, Ancient Greece, Norse, Chinese empire, India, and the massive histories in Africa (which to biological anthropologists is considered the origins of the human species itself).

I could go on, but I think the point is that in Canada, some students, such as myself, long for a more fantastical foreign field of study. I cannot speak for international students of anthropology, but we have grown up learning about the indigenous peoples of Canada and European contact as the foundation of our history classes beginning in elementary school. To put it bluntly, it gets tiring. Obviously when students reach the stage of university level studies, the interest and attention to detail is what drives us, but what is missing is the excitement of learning about something totally different.

There is a lot to be said for reflexivity in anthropology, and I think this is a clear case of considering one's position in anthropological thought. There has been a shift in anthropology, especially cultural, in studying one's own niche in society. I realize that some people may consider this more difficult, because it requires constant consciousness of biases, but maybe because I am a romantic and have always seen myself as traveling and discovering new places, but one of the core motivations for anthropology's beginnings was the excitement of learning about different peoples. Nowadays the world has become so small due to globalization that there are no people that are unknown, and the word "remote" has been eradicated from a modern anthropologists vocabulary. This makes it harder for some students who have traditional ideas about the adventure and excitement of anthropology in new settings because someone has always gotten there first.

I have read about ancient Chinese artifacts being found that lead to new discoveries from an already studied culture. I have heard stories from my mother's travels http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifin Costa Rica where she hiked past artifacts from unnamed and unstudied cultures in the jungle. I see photos of tombs yielding new mummies that fill in the historical gaps of the popular field of Egyptology. These are just examples of what I draw hope from for the fulfillment of my goals in Anthropology.

This post has gone off in a direction that I did not expect, but I guess it all ties together in this link that I found. I hope that anyone who reads this will have their interest piqued as much as mine has been. I think this is the beginning of a new direction for anthropology, not only collaboration between the four subdisciplines, but internationally as well.