UMASA Events 2020-2021

UMASA is hosting a number of social and academic events this year for students. If you are an Anthropology student or simply interested in Anthropology we are sure you will enjoy what we have planned for the year. Come join us for our Socials, Monthly Movie Nights, AnthroTalks, and general meetings. We will also share events forwarded to us by the faculty, so stay tuned!

​Upcoming Events:

Please stay tuned and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to receive the most current updates on all of our events this year! We also have a Facebook group chat that you can request to be added in!
​If you have any event ideas or have information of an event that is open to Anthropology students, please reach out to us at umasa@myumanitoba.ca or fill in the contact form.

UMASA Volunteer Opportunities 2021/2022

Executive Committee Member: Communications Chair and Social and Fundraising positions are available (See "About section" for more details). Email Madelaine at umasa@myumanitoba.ca if you are interested.

Conference committee member: Help organize and run the student conference. The conference will not run if there are not enough volunteers. Opportunities include:
  1.  Programming manager: The leader. Decides timeline for organizing and running the event, assigns tasks, makes sure people are on track for the timeline through reminders, reaching out to and confirming speakers, making sure the event runs smoothly (Taken by Julie)
  2.  Design manager: making conference posters, organizing abstracts into a pamphlet
  3.  Finance manager: coordinates with UMASA treasurer, deciding the budget for the event, reaching out to sponsors (if in-person), applying for funding for the conference, if available
  4. Communications manager: advertising the event to other universities and anthropology groups across Canada, communicating with participants and attendees about the event (answering questions, sending out instructions etc)
  5.  Social coordinator: organize social events relating to the conference if conference is in-person (ex. coffee breaks, dinners, trivia event), organizing catering, booking rooms etc.
  6.  General volunteer opportunities: Helping decide on conference theme, reading presentation abstracts and accepting presentations, MC for conference, any other tasks needed by any of the event managers
Email Julie at umasa@myumanitoba.ca if you are interested.

​Public Outreach: 
  1. Online social media research for a resource list (1-2 hours)
  2. Graduate students: opportunities to talk about your research (1 hour)
  3. Helping design laboratory activities for in-person outreach (archaeological and biological anthropology topics; 2 hours)
  4. Let’s Talk Science High School Summer Camp: June 2022 ​ (2 hours)
​In order for projects to be successful, many volunteers are needed. If you are interested, please email Chenée at umasa@myumanitoba.ca for more details! All volunteers with varying levels of knowledge are welcome.

Indigenous Youth Outreach: 
  1. We are planning a community event where UMASA and Indigenous community members are brought together and led through beading a lanyard/keychain. We need people to help with gathering quotes for supplies and advertising.
  2. If you are an Indigenous university student who would like to talk to high school students about your university experience, we would love to have you!
Contact Brandi at umasa@myumanitoba.ca  

Journal committee member: Please contact Liz for details at umasa@myumanitoba.ca.

Volunteer Opportunities with Faculty 2021/2022

Warren Clarke:
(Cultural anthropology)
We are collaborating with Dr. Clarke for Brandi's community event. Please contact Brandi or Chenée​ for details at umasa@myumanitoba.ca.

Dr. Greenfield
Great opportunity to learn skills relevant to archaeology and bioanthropology
  • Reconstruction of ceramics.
  • Organizing display cases.
  • Cleaning, conservation, and analysis of archaeological remains.
  • Digitizing and processing of images and data from archaeological excavations.
  • Creating maps in ArcGIS
  • Creation and editing of documentary film materials.
  • Preparing images and data for publication.
  • Preparation (maceration and conservation) of remains for comparative zooarchaeological collection.
  • Bibliographic analysis.
  • Data entry.
  • Web editing
I am also open to do things virtually.
 
Sincerely yours,
Haskel J. Greenfield, Distinguished Professor
 
Contact Dr. Greenfield directly at haskel.greenfield@umanitoba.ca, or Chenée at umasa@myumanitoba.ca who can introduce you!

Field Schools/ Workshops/ Job Opportunities

Archaeology job opportunities
Dr. Gamble passed this along for those who are interested in archaeological careers, please click the name to be taken to their website: Ecofor

Ethnographic Field School in Isla Mujeres, Mexico 
The Isla Mujeres Ethnographic Field School specializes in community-based projects and trains students on how to conduct ethnographic research. Located on a small Mexican Caribbean island, much of the student research is focused on community needs per their request. We also encourage students to have their research align with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. This allows for the students to not only consider their research within the context of theory and previous research or how it can impact the local community, but also how it can be of service in a much larger global effort and context. Students from all levels are accepted into our programs, from undergraduate to post-doctorate.

We are offering our (on-the-ground) flagship 8-week Advanced Methods course, our 3-week Methods Practicum, and an online course that is 8-weeks, called FieldCraft.  Please see the website below for details.
https://www.anthrofieldschool.com/media 

Summer 2022 Sessions:
Advanced Methods (8 weeks): June 4 - July 31 
https://www.anthrofieldschool.com/ethnographyadvancedmethods
The main program is our 8-week long Advanced Methods course where students create a professional research proposal (using the Wenner Gren Foundation format) in advance of their arrival, conduct the research, and present their data in a professional conference-style format, as well as prepare academic journal-style articles intended for publication. This session also includes PADI Open Water Diver training and certification, dives observing the reefs and Sea Turtle mating season, swimming with Whale Sharks (and Giant Mantas if we are lucky), as well as an overnight stay in the colonial town of Valladolid with visits to Chichen Itza, Ek Balam, and a swim in an ancient underground cenote. Although this course is 8 weeks "on the ground", we begin proposal development well in advance online so that the student is prepared as much as possible upon arrival.

​Methods Practicum (3 weeks): June 11 - July 3 
https://www.anthrofieldschool.com/ethnographyfieldschoolpracticum
The Methods Practicum embeds the students within a current research project where they will learn various methods, the theories behind them, and get to put those methods to practice, along with various other ethnographic data collection tasks, fieldnotes, and analysis. In keeping with our team-research approach, the practicum students are research colleagues of the Advanced Methods projects. If/when publications are created from those projects, the practicum students who are significantly involved on those projects can be co-authors on publications. Practicum students who apply early can select a project (or two) that they would like to be involved on and participate in proposal development as well as the writing of the final reports. 

FIELDCRAFT  (8-week Online Remote Training) JUNE 4 - JULY 27
ENVISIONING THE PROCESS, PRACTICE, AND PHILOSOPHY OF ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
https://www.anthrofieldschool.com/copy-of-summer-2020-online-session-1
This session is designed for students who can not logistically attend our summer sessions in person, but who want to study ethnographic research, participate in group projects, and learn the process (and difficulties as they present themselves) of ethnographic research. 
​Students of the FieldCraft session will participate in lectures offered to our Advanced Methods and Methods Practicum students, as well as 'live' lectures conducted on the island via Zoom (or some other format), where every student, either in-person or remote can interact within the lecture series discussion.

FieldCraft students may also join one of the research teams created via the 8 Week Advanced Methods program. As team members, our remote students will collect valuable data via online sources, create and conduct online surveys, conduct remote interviews, as well as collaborate on transcriptions, translations, data analysis, and ethnographic representations. This is an effort to use existing technologies to expand the idea of team-based ethnographic research. If the student contributes meaningfully to a project that is prepared for publication, they may assist in the creation and editing of those articles and receive co-authorship if published. This can apply to conference papers as well. 

This course might be particularly useful for those who are either planning projects (Senior thesis, Master's thesis, or Ph.D. dissertations) or who are in the middle of projects and are seeking research therapy to help get them on track. All of the theories, ethics, and methods that are discussed in our on-the-ground summer session will be covered. This course can help a student design a research project for their degree requirements and can include one-on-one problem-solving discussions. Students may also conduct their own research during this online training session, but at their home location. 

An overview:
Our students not only learn how to create a professional academic research proposal (which must be completed, with our guidance, before their arrival), receive training on the theory, ethics, and methods of ethnographic research, experience cultural and linguistic immersion, conduct the proposed research (that is participatory, community-based and service-learning informed) and present their data in a conference, but are also guided to publish their research results in peer-reviewed academic journals. And many succeed in doing so. 
The Isla Mujeres Ethnographic Field School specializes in community-based projects and trains students on how to conduct ethnographic research. Located on a small Mexican Caribbean island, much of the student research is focused on community needs per their request. Some of our current areas of interest: Culture & Environment, Latin America & Caribbean, Medical Anthropology, Gender & Identity, History, Space & Meaning, and Economic Development. There is a wide variety of subjects for research. In the past, some students have conducted research on diabetes, body image and health, GLBT identity, teenage pregnancy, HIV and Dengue Fever prevention, Economic Development and Tourism, Sea Turtle, reef, and Whale Shark conservation. Over the past two years, we have conducted several very important Covid focused projects as well.

For more information, please see our website: http://www.AnthroFieldSchool.com

Osteology Research Laboratory Workshop - Odorheiu Secuiesc, Romania
Adult Osteology Research Laboratory Workshop dates: June 12- July 9 2022
Juvenile Osteology Research Laboratory Workshop dates: July 10- Aug 6 2022

Our 4-week long (each) intensive training programs, respectively the Adult Osteology Research Workshop and the Juvenile Osteology Research Workshop will train students, both undergraduate and graduate, to conduct osteological analyses and frame appropriate research questions. Participants will receive daily lectures on topics related to human skeletal biology and spend the first two weeks intensively reviewing human osteology through the hands-on study of our extensive human skeletal research collection. Other lecture topics will include discussions of sex and age estimation, osteometrics, and an introduction to skeletal and dental pathologies. The Juvenile Osteology Workshop will further provide participants with an intensive review of juvenile osteology and an overview of the ways in which this kind of unique information is interpreted.  During the Juvenile Osteology Workshop, participants will have the chance to study the growth and development of the human skeleton across various juvenile age cohorts, weaning and dietary stress, as well as reconstruction and interpretation of infant mortality.
 
These programs provide an unique opportunity to conduct extensive hands-on training and research on an exceptional osteological collection. The very high state of preservation has allowed us to retrieve the skeletal remains of more than 1200 adult individuals and over 400 juveniles, ranging from pre-natal to sub-adult. Our research collections come from five archaeologically excavated medieval lost churches around the town of Odorheiu Secuiesc (Transylvania, Romania), as well as from our on-going “Lost Church” excavation at Patakfalva (RO: Valeni, Harghita County, Romania).
 
The combination of an exceptionally rich and well preserved skeletal research collection, the intensive hands-on laboratory training, and relatively small research groups will ensure that each participant develops an extensive osteological skill set. The latter will comprise an in-depth knowledge of all bones in the human body, including landmarks, muscles attachments and articulations, determining sex and age, development and pathologies; an understanding of fundamental concepts related to the human dentition; how to obtain basic demographic data from skeletal populations; and how to conduct proper intensive research under laboratory conditions.
 
Participants can register to one or both Osteology Workshops, or, in order to develop a wider array of bioarchaeological skills, combine an Osteology Workshop with a session of our Medieval Cemetery Funerary Excavation. Undergraduate and graduate academic credits can be acquired separately from University of South Florida (although it is not mandatory to register for credits to participate in our programs)

Contact:
https://www.archaeotek-archaeology.org/osteology-laboratory-and-workshop 
Adult Osteology Workshop Syllabus: https://3fab7da4-7e55-4713-888c-16896f7f46e3.filesusr.com/ugd/3ff7f8_cb604211bb3b4339b565b1d49201afe2.pdf
Juvenile Osteology Research Syllabus: https://3fab7da4-7e55-4713-888c-16896f7f46e3.filesusr.com/ugd/3ff7f8_452d1d9f4c8f47beb91f1943cf99128e.pdf
Instructor: Dr. Jonathan Bethard (University of South Florida)
Contact: Dr. Andre Gonciar at archaeology@archaeotek.org

Poland Field School Opportunity:
We are once again accepting students wishing to gain hands-on experience in excavating and studying human skeletal remains to participate in the 23rd Field School in Mortuary Archaeology which will be held in Poland during the summer of 2022. If you know students interested in bioarchaeological field work, we would be grateful if you could spread this information.

We anticipate that the summer of 2022 will be mostly back to normal and we will be able to continue with the plans and lifestyles that we had cherished so much before the pandemic. We are committed to welcoming international students to our Field School in 2022 and, with all of the COVID-19-specific sanitary protocols we have developed, there is no doubt it will be a safe environment.

 The inhumation cemetery in Giecz dating to the beginning of the 11th century AD provides a unique opportunity for students to practise bioarchaeology through learning archaeological fieldwork techniques and working with human osteological remains. Students will engage directly in supervised on-site excavation, getting hands-on experience in disinterment of human burials from their discovery to final removal. No previous experience is required. Staff ensures that all students are afforded equal opportunity to work on all aspects of human skeletal excavation. The field school is part of an international research project carried out by scholars from The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland, and the Slavia Foundation. English is the official language of the project. 9 academic credits (ECTS) are offered upon successful completion of the course.

You can get more info about this project by visiting our webpage: www.slavia.org, finding us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FieldSchoolinMortuaryArchaeology or by contacting me directly at fieldwork@slavia.org.

​

Next Meeting!

Our next general meeting is TBA!

*All UMASA meetings will be held virtually for the time being due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you would like to come, please contact us for the Zoom link!

Continuous Events

UMASA Journal

Accepted and peer-reviewed manuscripts are published online periodically throughout the year. An electronic copy of the years journal will be made available online at the end of each academic year. 

We are NOT accepting submissions at this time. We need journal committee members to follow through with this. Please contact if you are interested in helping on the committee.
Virtual 50/50 Fundraiser

Support UMASA's activities and have a chance to win some cash by participating in our virtual 50/50 fundraiser! Half of the money raised goes to the winner and the other half goes to UMASA. The draw date is Sunday, May 2, 2021.