Anthropology Graduate Students Triumph at the GHRS
Last month, after a three-year hiatus following the suspension of the Graduate Research Symposium (GRS) triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Graduate & Honors Research Symposium was held. This important event represents a revival of the aforementioned GRS – a symposium that brought together graduate students from William & Mary and other institutions to present their research in paper presentation and poster sessions – now extended also to include Honors students. Anthropology Ph.D. candidate Chardé Reid co-chaired the symposium, and several other students excelled at the the event, presenting papers and posters, and winning several prestigious prizes.
The symposium kicked off on Thursday March 30th, with several Anthropology students presenting on a number of panels. MA student Matt Borden presented his research on Indigenous sites in the Potomac River Valley at a session on Humans & Technology alongside graduate students from American Studies, while Ph.D. candidate Claudia Escue presented her work on the geospatial analysis of Taro production in Rurutu, French Polynesia, alongside History and Art History students at a session pertaining to food and subsistence. Ph.D. candidate Jennifer Ellis gave a presentation on her work on urban renewal, racial landscapes, and aspiration in Richmond at a session entitled American Culture at the Intersect alongside two graduate students from the History Department. One of the strengths of the GHRS, and the GRS before it, is its emphasis on encouraging multidisciplinary engagement, combining graduate students from different disciplines in the same sessions with the aim of sparking new conversations, connections, and research directions within the friendly and supportive environment of William & Mary.
Day one culminated in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, also back for the first time since the inception of the pandemic. Ph.D. student Caroline Watson - who has done a wonderful job running the GSA Journal Club in recent years - co-organized the event, which was a resounding success. This notoriously difficult but highly stimulating and entertaining event challenges graduate students to present their research in a concise manner within a three-minute speech and using only a single PowerPoint slide. The competition is stiff, and talks that exceed three minutes are disqualified, ramping up the challenge even further. As such, those graduate students from Anthropology who participated – Victoria Gum, Emily Hull, Olanrewaju Lasisi, Alexandria Mead, and Diogo Oliveira – deserve major kudos for presenting a series of strong speeches under such circumstances, and for ensuring that Anthropology was excellently represented at the event. Olanrewaju Lasisi did especially well, winning first prize – congratulations to him for his excellent speech! Congratulations also to Caroline Donovan for representing Anthropology at the A&S Honors Showcase, where she presented her research on gendered publishing patterns in Oceanian archaeology.
On Friday March 31st there were several further presentations by Anthropology students. Chardé Reid and Diogo Oliveira presented on their archaeological research at Mulberry Island, Virginia and Mozambique respectively at a session focusing on People, Resistance, and Power. Allie Mead presented her research on women in South Wales alongside presenters from VIMS and UVA. Another strength of the symposium is its reach beyond William & Mary, drawing in graduate students from other universities in Virginia, and elsewhere in the United States, to engage with those at William & Mary, and develop new links between researchers and departments. The GHRS is also known for its prestigious paper prizes. Olanrewaju Lasisi was awarded a Graduate Studies Advisory Board Award for Excellence in Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences prize, and gave a talk on his archaeological research on potsherd pavements in southern Nigeria at a special session with other prizewinners on Friday. The symposium then concluded with an awards ceremony, poster sessions, and a networking reception. Well done to Ph.D. candidate Rebekah Planto for presenting a poster on her research at Bacon’s Castle and Ph.D. student Maia Wilson for her poster on Black repatriation – they represented Anthropology at the session exceptionally. And very well done to Maia who won Best Graduate Poster! And kudos to Anthropology/Hispanic Studies Honors student Julia Ashworth who also did an excellent job presenting at the Honors e-Poster Presentations session. The GHRS this year balanced in-person presentation with such digital sessions.
In conclusion, the symposium was a huge success and, what’s more, Anthropology graduate students excelled across the board – in Chardé’s co-chairing, Lasisi’s 3MT and presentation triumphs, Caroline's co-organising of 3MT, and Maia’s no.1 poster prize, and all the other great speeches, papers, and posters presented. A huge thanks to Sarah Glosson (Director of the A&S Graduate Center) and the rest of the GHRS organizing committee for so successfully revitalizing this important aspect of William & Mary graduate studies. Well done everyone, and long may Anthropology’s success at the GHRS continue!
