By Barbara J. Little
[blittle@umd.edu]
Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, University of Maryland, College Park

These Public Archaeology updates have been appearing in the SfAA News for a few years now. It occurs to me that a definition of public archaeology is overdue, particularly since the perception and the practice have changed considerably in the last decade or so.

I recognize at least three main categories of public archaeology currently practiced by professional archaeologists in the United States: (1) cultural resource management (CRM) under public law (local, state, tribal, and federal, primarily, but also through international conventions and agreements); (2) outreach and education with the intention to prevent looting and vandalism of archaeological places; and (3) archaeology that aims to help communities in some way or to address societal problems.

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By Brian McKenna
[mckennab@umd.umich.edu]
University of Michigan-Dearborn

“We’ve lost our way. You should go to Law School instead. There’s not that many jobs in journalism anyway.”

So proclaimed keynote speaker M.L. Elrick, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the Detroit Free Press. The occasion? The “100 Years of Michigan State University Journalism Centennial Celebration Conference” on October 23, 2010. In the audience of about 200 people, most were J-school students.

“I hope the Dean is not upset with me,” Elrick said. Were we all at the wrong place? Was Elrick kidding? Yes and No.

“It’s just like the early 1900s,” said MSU J-school Professor Jim Detjen, “it’s like the dawn of the automobile era when hundreds of small manufacturers toiled in Michigan and elsewhere trying to create a new way of doing things. Eventually the Big Three emerged. We’re looking for new sustainable models of doing journalism.”

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By Joanna Kirkpatrick
[jkirk@spro.net]
Bennington College, ret.

Since when have anthropologists concerned themselves with sociopolitical exchange as a function of socio-political structural arrangement–from post-peasant societies (like Iraq and Afghanistan, for example), to contemporary industrial urban societies? I’d like to see us get back to some comparative work that I think anthropologists could use to ameliorate the prevailing public tendency to project problems on “evil” immigrants, or on US citizens of other regions different from one’s own.

It would, I think, help to present, in a public education format, some savvy and communicable texts, posters, and videos oriented toward models of political economies that operate in terms of various social systems/structures, and that provide the daily modus operandi among various immigrant groups for negotiating power, conflict, and or satisfaction.

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By E. Christian Wells
[ecwells@usf.edu]
Department of Anthropology & Office of Sustainability
University of South Florida

Applied anthropologists are increasingly studying sustainable human/environmental systems around the world, but very few of us have given much attention to our own home turf. Peggy Barlett, the Goodrich C. White Professor of Anthropology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, stands out from this crowd. Originally focusing her research on the relationship between Green Revolution technologies and smallholders in Central America, Barlett has turned her attention to the university campus over the past decade. The campus, Barlett argues, is a tangible arena in which to engage in cultural change efforts around sustainability.

Edited with Geoffrey Chase, Sustainability on Campus: Stories and Strategies for Change (MIT Press, 2004), documents the strategies and setbacks of this movement at sixteen schools. She discovered through her Emory work that “place-based engagement” is an important way to rebuild relationships with the natural world, shift identity, and offer inspiration to act. Urban Place: Reconnections with the Natural World (MIT Press, 2005) documents grassroots efforts around the country, and explores the mental and physical health impacts of nature contact. Thanks to Barlett’s attention to social, economic, and environmental sustainability at Emory, an Office of Sustainability was established, and has led the university to become a national leader in greening its campus and curriculum.

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By Mary Beth Schmid
[mary.beth.schmid@gmail.com]
Migrant Education Outreach Specialist
Henderson County, NC Public Schools

Farm work as a Latino labor niche has a long history in the U.S. and we have heavily relied on it for over 150 years. Many times farm workers bring their families along with them and they have to readjust every time they arrive in a new place. The Migrant Education Program was created to help migrating families and youth. The evolving systematic changes in global agricultural regimes, food and migration are reshaping places and realities every day; these changes are especially apparent in rural classrooms in the Deep South or as it is being called today the Nuevo South where I work.

The Migrant Education Program was created under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (previously known as No Child Left Behind). It is a federal program run by local education agencies in agricultural counties dedicated to helping migrant students and youth meet high academic challenges; the program aids these children and families to overcome the obstacles created by their transient lifestyle, educational disruptions, cultural and language differences, and health-related problems.

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