How could I refuse such a challenge? Missing punctuation, typos, and all. And since “three’s the charm,” I decided to bully HO’s “newbie” editorial assistants into introducing themselves. I have been remiss in not doing this earlier (and not thinking of an easy way out of my writing responsibilities sooner). Some of you have already had the distinct pleasure of working with Jim Dick and Christina Bolas over the past year. Brian Lagotte joined our membership this fall. Jim and Brian are currently writing their master’s theses and Christina will be defending hers by the time you read this. All three will be giving papers in Dallas on their research (as will our other editorial assistant, the venerable Shawn Maloney). I hope you’ll have an opportunity to say hi-howdy to them in Big D. Here they are in their own words, in the order of their appearance.
Jim Dick’s baloney: If cornered, my research interests would be regionalism and local economies. My thesis is based on fieldwork in Marysville, a small town in north-central Kansas, where I spent most of the summer living in a pop-up camper in the city park. I chose Marysville because I wanted to understand how people in a small, Midwestern town cope with a shrinking population and economic decline.
I was drawn to anthropology because of its practical and empirical capacities. Anthropology has an applied focus that stands out among the social sciences, and SfAA is strong evidence of this. Working for Human Organization has only strengthened my conviction that academic research has practical implications for policy and action. But working for HO has had other tangible consequences as well. I am certain that professors who are considering the editorship of HO are thinking about the opportunities it will provide for students in their departments.
The opportunity for income is no small matter for a poor graduate student, but the mentor relationships that develop between the editor and graduate assistants may be more significant. It has been for me. Also, being exposed to the variety of research is an eye-opener. There is no area of human endeavor that cannot benefit from the anthropologist’s gaze, and this is evident in the manuscripts HO receives every week. Being exposed to these manuscripts is an unusual opportunity and it is a privilege to work
for the society.
Christina Keibler Bolas: Christina has been an editorial assistant for Human Organization for almost a year. She is interested in the cultural aspects of food, and for her thesis she studied food pantries in Lawrence, Kansas. Her thesis focuses on how the pantry system functions within the community, provides insight into chronic use, and makes pointed recommendations to improve community donations and volunteering.
Christina’s long-term goal is to write about anthropological topics for a general audience. She is currently improving her writing skills and submitting manuscripts to nonacademic publications. Christina believes anthropology should be -- and by its very nature is -- for those who read the National Enquirer no less than for those who read Human Organization [of course
in many cases they are one and the same].
Christina (who has a B.S. in horticulture and an M.S. in forestry from the University of Illinois) hopes to direct her efforts to ethnoconsumerism and food. She wants to study the culture of whiskey producers, compare it to whiskey consumers, and carry this comparison to other popular American beverages and foods such as wine and chocolate. Christina’s goal is to make people more aware of how their food choices affect others and increase realization of class discrepancy using something everyone is familiar with -- food.
Brian Lagotte: Brian is a second-year master’s student. Before coming to KU he taught English as a second language in Japan for four-and-a-half years. At 6’3”, the first native phrase he learned was “Ouch. Damn. My head.”
Both a love of teaching and an interest in comparative studies shape Brian’s thesis research, which examines teacher-training methods up to World War II and the effects of the education reforms during the subsequent American occupation. His dissertation will explore the same topic during the 1980s, when Japan’s education system could do no wrong, and today.
Brian’s other interests include the theoretical, and not so theoretical. He is interested in the epistemology of anthropology and ethnographic validity -- how do anthropologists justify their findings. Brian’s newest research question is: Why aren’t more anthropologists poker champions? Perhaps some of you can enlighten him in Dallas.
