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FROM THE DESK
OF THE
CHAIR
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Since the last issue of Social
Climber our department has grown and changed. All three of our majors
(Anthropology, Crime and Society and Sociology) are vital, and together they
make us the department with the largest number of majors in our college.
This is quite an accomplishment. We are fortunate to have high quality and
creative teachers in all three programs.
Change has come with the retirement of
Doris Ewing who is now an Emeritus Professor. We see Doris often around the
department as she maintains an office in our suite. She will be teaching a
course for us in the spring and by all accounts, is enjoying her new, more
relaxed schedule. And, Burt Purrington recently announced that he will
retire December 2002. Burt has contributed so much to students and the
anthropology program in general that he cannot be replaced. We wish him
well with his relocation in Seattle, and we hope to see him at least every
now and then in the future. Bill Larkin plans to retire in the spring of
2003, but we still have him for the rest of the year, and students have one
more opportunity to take a class from him. Bill has played many important
roles in the department over the years, from raising money for scholars to
engaging in research on the Springfield community. I’ll miss Bill as a
racquetball partner, and I’ll have to find a new way to keep up with
exciting books in the field since I’ve been relying on Bill’s reading lists.
Our departmental secretary, Avon Bradshaw, who has kept the department
running for a very long time (we won’t mention how many years) insists she
is going to retire in spring 2003. While it is difficult for us to imagine
the department without her, I think she is serious. We’ll save our good-bye
until spring, but it goes without saying how difficult it’s going to be to
replace her. |
Retirements are times for celebrating the
careers of respected colleagues, and they are opportunities for change. We are
searching for replacements for all three of our colleagues this year and in our
next issue, we’ll introduce you to a new generation of department members. We
can only hope that we find new faculty members to continue the high quality
service of our long time colleagues. Best wishes and many bright and productive
years for all.
We’ve been busy publishing what we hope are
important papers, chapters in books and books. This year our sociology faculty
have published on the aftermath of the Zenith Plant closing in Springfield in
the 1990, on the Holocaust, on forensics psychiatry, on gangs and on how
sociology can make driving safer. Our anthropologists are always very active.
Juris Zarins continues his archeological work on trade in the ancient world.
Margaret Buckner has many projects on fascinating things such as getting
students involved in restoration of the Quapaw language to her work on sounds
and music of the Zande. Suzanne Walker has embarked on research on the health of
the growing Latino community in Southwest Missouri and she continues her work in
biological anthropology. Bill Wedenoja has a sabbatical leave this semester and
already has made a trip to Jamaica to further his research there. Too many
things to list and I’m sure I missed something, but I would like to note the
work that Mike Carlie is doing. He has put together a book that is truly
innovative. His Internet based book on gangs is gaining national and
international attention. Please explore the book at this site: Into
the Abyss: A Personal Journey into the World of Street Gangs.
FROM MARGARET BUCKNER
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In the summer of 2001, anthropology student Tracci Gabel and
I spent six weeks among in Caio, Guinea Bissau (West Africa) doing fieldwork
among the Manjako. While I took GPS readings of ricefield perimeters and
continued ongoing research on Manjako kinship and residence patterns, Tracci
photographed and filmed daily life and funeral dances. (We were "lucky" in
that several funerals took place while we were there.) |
In January of 2002,
several anthropology students and I began the Quapaw Language and Culture
project. At the invitation of JR Mathews, tribal administrator, we spent
several Saturdays at the Quapaw tribal headquarters in Quapaw, OK, working
on language archives from the late 1800s. We also began the huge task of
entering 120-year-old dictionary slips onto a computer database in the
Anthropology lab. Four students presented papers on their Quapaw research
at the 4th annual Student Anthropology Conference. Topics included body
part terms, kinship terms, food, and storytelling. Two students carried out
the research as part of Service-Learning. Students involved were: Becca
Henderson, Jessica Zimmerman, Georgia Merrick, Michelle Liss, Casey Reid,
and Lacey Even. |
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The fourth annual Student Anthropology
Conference was held on the afternoons of April 25 and April 26, with
twenty-eight presenters. There were prizes for the best papers. Justin
Neely took first place with his paper on "Saving Potowatami". Michelle Liss
won second place with her paper on Quapaw kinship entitled "Who's Your Daddy?"
Third place winner was Tracci Gabel for her presentation on Manjako "Dance
for the Dead". |
The Quapaw Language and Culture Project is continuing in the
Fall '02 semester. Several students from two classes (ANT280 Linguistic
Anthropology and ANT310 Ethnographic Methods) are continuing the work we
started last semester. We have made two visits to Quapaw tribal
headquarters, so far. The Quapaw language database is growing, and students
are transcribing recordings made by Quapaw elders in the 1970s. Other
students are conducting life history interviews and genealogies for class
projects. |
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Over the summer of
2002, I spent six weeks in Paris working on various projects with colleagues
of the Laboratoire d'ethnologie et de sociologie comparative (University of
Paris X). Sociology colleague Martha Wilkerson joined me there for two
weeks, and besides seeing the sites of Paris, we spent a weekend in the
Normand country side and visited the cathedral in Chartres. |
BURT PURRINGTON
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After teaching at Missouri State over
twenty years, I'm retiring at the end of this
semester. Plans are for Sandy and me to move to Everett, WA (N. of
Seattle). There I hope to start the next stage of my career: 1) analyzing
thousands of artifacts from prehistoric Native American sites I've
surveyed and excavated in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC over the past 30
years and write up reports, 2) expanding my work with the health and
sustainable development projects in Haiti that Sandy and I've been working
on for the past five years, 3) doing some teaching if the market doesn't
get out of the tank, 4) camping, backpacking, and sea kayaking with Sandy,
and 5) taking grandbabies on nature walks.
I directed the Missouri State archaeological field
school at the Big Eddy site near Stockton, Missouri. Fourteen students
from Missouri State, Truman State, and Beloit College (WI) worked beside a
professional crew for six weeks at one of the most important active
excavations in the country today. They mainly worked in Late Paleo-Indian
culture deposits dating to about 10,000 years ago.
I took of five young women from Missouri State and
the U. of Missouri-Columbia on a one week reforestation project on the
Island of La Gonave, Haiti, in early June. By the time the Haitian
workers hired by the project complete their work over 5,000 trees will
have been planted.
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CENTER
FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
GARY BRINKER |
The Center was awarded a $2,300 contract to
complete a 600 interview survey to assess the level of health and quality
of healthcare for residents of rural Missouri counties for the Center for
Research and Service. These data will help state health officials better
distribute healthcare resources and improve the efficiency of delivering
healthcare services to rural Missouri residents.
The Center was awarded a $15,000 contract to
conduct a program evaluation for the "Teaching American History Grant
Program," a three-year on-line graduate program for local Middle and High
School social studies teachers. This program will provide participants
with progressive lesson plans they can use in teaching their own students,
as well as qualify them for graduate degrees upon completion of the
program. A primary goal of this program is to improve the performance of
Springfield Middle and High School students on statewide standardized
tests.
The Center is currently completing a $25,000
contract to complete a Personnel and Compensation System for the City of
Rolla, Missouri. This project includes an update of job descriptions, a
complete organizational review, a measurement of internal and external
equity, development of a compensation plan and a budget impact forecast.
The Center was just awarded a $20,000 contract
to implement a program evaluation for the Missouri Mentoring Partnership.
This state-funded program is designed to match at-risk youth with local
volunteer mentors in an effort to enhance job opportunities and reduce
unwanted pregnancy. The Center will customize a website that will enable
directors of the 10 site offices around the state to report monthly
indicators of success via the internet. The Center will then compile and
analyze these data and prepare quarterly and annual reports for the
statewide program coordinator in Jefferson City.
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CRIME AND SOCIETY
The Crime and Society Major Program is now
in its fourth year. Since the degree program began, we have granted 57
bachelor’s degrees and currently enroll over 200 majors. Several new courses
were added to the curriculum including “Delinquency and the Juvenile Justice
System,” “Crime, Gender, and Justice,” “Class, Crime, Race, and Justice,” and
“The Gang Phenomenon.” In addition, we hope to hire two additional full-time
faculty members in time for Fall 2003. For information on all aspects of the
CAS major, go to our website at
www.missouristate.edu/cas.
WILLIAM CHAMBLISS |
The Department of Sociology and
Anthropology and the Crime and Society Program are bringing Dr. William
Chambliss, Professor of Sociology at George Washington University, to
campus. Chambliss will give a free public lecture on Monday, November 4,
from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. in the Plaster Student Union Theater. He will discuss
his current research on international drug smuggling, the political economy
of drugs in the United States, and the role of the State in this process.
Chambliss is the author and editor of
over fifteen books in the field of sociology of law, criminology and
sociological theory including, Law, Order and Power, Making Law,
and Exploring Criminology. He is a past President of the
American Society of Criminology (1989 - 1990) and the Society for the
Study of Social Problems (1992 - 1993). He has received numerous awards
including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Criminology section of the
American Sociological Association and the Bruce Smith, Sr. Award for
Outstanding Contributions to Criminal Justice from the Academy of
Criminal Justice Sciences. He has served on the President’s Crime
Commission and has been a consultant to the New Jersey State Supreme Court.
He is currently a fellow of the American Society of Criminology.
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In Fall 2002 the Department began offering
a Criminal Justice Option in the interdisciplinary Master of Science in
Administrative Studies degree program. The MSAS degree is designed to train
people for administrative and management positions. Most of the courses in this
program can be taken online. Core courses are designed for managers in any type
of agency: accounting, communication, management information systems, and
personnel selection. In addition, students choosing the Criminal Justice Option
take graduate-level courses in “Crime Theory and Policy,” “Analyzing Crime
Data,” “Law Enforcement and Community,” and “Correctional Theory and Practice.”
For more information, click the Graduate Program prompt on our website <
www.missouristate.edu/cas >.
The Department of Sociology and
Anthropology now has a chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma, the national criminal justice
honor society. We inducted our first class of initiates in May 2002: Ryan
Biggers, Brooke Clarkson, Sarah Comstock, Jennifer Davidson, Krista Dennen, Paul
Harbison, Deanna Henson, Elizabeth Holmes, Ashley Jones, Leslie McGuire, Brianna
Reitzner, Sandra Skinner, Tiffany Taylor, Karen Thomas, and Nicole Thomas.
The Missouri State chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma accepts
applications for membership each Spring Semester. New members are recognized at
a department academic reception held near the end of that semester. To be
eligible students must be a declared major or minor in Crime and Society, have
completed at least 45 hours of college credit, maintain at least a 3.0 overall
gpa and a 3.2 gpa in CAS courses, and completed a minimum of twelve credits in
Crime and Society.
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Alpha Phi Sigma
inductees, left to right: Brianna Jones, Leslie McGuire, Jennifer Davidson,
Tiffany Taylor, Karen Thomas, Dr. Lorene Stone (Dean of the
College of
Humanities and Public Affairs), Dr. Jeff Nash (Sociology and Anthropology
Department Head), Sarah Comstock, Sandra Skinner, Ryan Biggers, Nicole
Thomas, and Deanna Henson. Not Pictured: Brooke Clarkson, Krista Dennen,
Paul Harbison, Elizabeth Holmes, and Ashley Jones. |
SOCIOLOGY
ROBIN AMONKER |
In February, Dr. Robin Amonker, professor
of sociology presented a paper on colonial city “Simla: Its Changing Face”
with Dr. Rajinder Jutla, professor of geography, geology planning, at
the Sixth Australasian Urban History/Planning History Conference held at the
University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Dr. Amonker, published two articles with
Dr. Gary Brinker, Associate Professor of Sociology, “The Level of
Development and Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Family Planning in
India,” in the 2001 Volume 23, Social Development Issues, published by
the University of Texas and “Socioeconomic Development and Fertility in
India,” in the 2002 Volume 6, Journal of Population, published by the
University of Indonesia. Dr. Amonker spent a sabbatical leave as a Visiting
Scholar at the International Institute for Population Sciences, sponsored by
the United Nations and the Government of India, in Bombay, during the spring
semester of 1999. The sabbatical leave project resulted in two above
articles.
Dr.
Amonker also published an article with Ryan Burson, Missouri State
Demographer, Office of Administration, Jefferson City, “Population Change
of Missouri During the 20th Century,” in 2001 Volume 2, The
Missouri Electronic Journal of Sociology, published by the Missouri
Sociological Association. Dr. Amonker was awarded $5000 Faculty Fellowship
Grant by the University for the analysis of 2000 U.S. Census on Missouri.
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SHAHIN GERAMI |
During Summer of 2002 I taught a new course on Gender and
Crime in England, in London as part of Missouri London Program. Three of our
Crime and Society majors participated in this class, Mike Oconnell, Brandy
Hodge and Elisha Viets. There were students from other Missouri campuses and
one from Ohio in this class as well. Students found the materials, specially
our visit of maximum security Pentonville prison
in London interesting. In our visit there in the south of London, after a
short introduction and question and answer session, we were told to leave
our cell phones at the desk but could take, bags, back packs, etc. with us.
The fact that the guards and staff were unarmed and prisoners had their own
clothing were all materials for our discussion.
I continued with my work with the
United Nation's High Commission for Refugees in Iran working with the
commissar's office and evaluating the repatriation program, a joint effort
between the Iranian, Pakistani and UNHCR in helping Afghani refugees to
return to their homeland. There have been close to one million refugees
returning from camps in Pakistan, while the refugees in Iran have taken a
wait and see attitude toward reconstruction in Afghanistan. A major factor
is that refugees in Iran are integrated and live in major cities, while in
Pakistan they live in UN camps.
This work also has resulted in two
articles and more work in progress.
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 Brandy Hodge
of CAS on a field trip to Canterbury with Anna and Meytra Brahman |
 Elisha Viets
and Mike O'Connell of CAS taking a course in Crime and Gender in England
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TIM KNAPP |
Professors John Harms and
Tim Knapp have been studying the nature of economic restructuring and the
impacts of job displacement on workers. They have presented their findings
at several conferences and have co-authored two manuscripts that have been
accepted for publication. “When the
Screen Goes Blank: A Television Plant Closing and Its Impacts on Workers”
will appear in The Sociological
Quarterly, and “The New Economy: What’s New and What’s Not” will
be published in an upcoming issue of The
Review of Radical Political Economics.
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FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
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Welcome to the first all-web edition of
our department newsletter. This is the first time that we have
published this newsletter strictly on the internet and it gives us a great
deal more flexibility. It is now possible to include color photographs
and hyperlinks, making the newsletter a more valuable and interesting
resource.
Instead of including information on my own
activities this year I decided to briefly describe what I have been up to
over the academic year 2002.
This year a paper of mine on the cross
controversy at Auschwitz was published in an edited work on that subject by
Alan Berger, Harry Cargas and Susan E. Nowak entitled The Continuing
Agony: From the Carmelite Convent to the Crosses at Auschwitz. |
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MARVIN PROSONO |
A chapter I had contributed to a
comprehensive textbook on forensic psychiatry on the history of forensic
psychiatry needed revision for inclusion in the new addition of that text. |
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In July of 2002, I traveled to Brisbane,
Australia to attend the World Congress of Sociology where I delivered a
paper entitled "Globalization and national health care systems: Does the
export of ideology pose as much a threat as market forces to the continued
health of such systems?". The Congress was a fascinating opportunity
to meet sociologists from throughout the world and discover what issues were
dominating their concern. Globalization continues to be a
much-discussed and little-understood phenomenon. It is not clear what
aspects of globalization may prove to be useful and beneficial to the
peoples of the world and what kind of harm it might do, although there is
mounting evidence that whatever its effects, globalization may be an
inexorable and irresistible part of our world.
After spending a week at the conference, I
traveled to other parts of Australia and visited the cities of Melbourne,
Canberra and Sydney. Each of these cities offers a host of interesting
things to see and do. In Canberra, the federal capitol of Australia, I
made a special point of visiting public institutions such as the High Court
of Australia to learn something of their legal and governmental system.
Sydney proved to be world-class city with a harbor of particular
magnificence. Below are a few of the many photos I took during my
travels.
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Sydney Harbor Bridge and glistening bay |
High Court of Australia - Canberra |
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