Anthropology has always been about understanding people, but how often does that understanding reach the public it seeks to serve? That question sits at the heart of a growing movement to reconnect anthropology with the broader public, and the University of Georgia’s Department of Anthropology is helping lead the way.

My master’s research focuses on understanding relationships between modern Indigenous ceramic practice and Native studies concepts like survivance, generational knowledge transmission, and traditional ecological knowledge. By examining Native studies literature alongside conversations with potters and community members, I hope to produce research that is grounded in lived experience and contemporary practice.

I am a first-year Ph.D. student in the Anthropology program at the University of Georgia. My research interests include rural development, agricultural sustainability, and climate change and adaptation strategies. I hold an M.A. in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy & Management and a B.A. in Geography and Resource Development with Archaeology from the University of Ghana.

Delancey Paden Griffin, an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation from Oklahoma, is an incoming Ph.D. student working under the guidance of Dr. Victor Thompson. Her research focuses on Indigenous Archaeologies in the Southeastern United States, particularly on the intricacies of conducting collaborative archaeology on ancestral land with forcibly removed Tribal Nations.

I am an incoming Ph.D. student in Anthropology at the University of Georgia, where I will be working with Dr. Salmi in her Primate Behavioral Ecology Lab. I have a background in animal biology and behavioral research, with an M.S. in Integrative Biology from Kennesaw State University and a B.S. in Biology from Georgia Tech. My research interests focus on social behavior in nonhuman animals, particularly highly social mammals like western lowland gorillas.

The Department of Anthropology extends our warmest congratulations to this year’s graduating students! We are proud to call you alumni and look forward to seeing the impact you will make in the world!

Featured in Science News, recent advances in radiocarbon dating are reshaping our understanding of Indigenous history in eastern North America. UGA's Dr. Jen Birch worked with Dr. Sturt Manning of Cornell University to redate the Jean-Baptiste Lainé Site in Ontario.

Dr. Suzie Pilaar Birch, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Georgia, recently published two open-access research articles exploring ancient agropastoral practices in the Eastern Mediterranean. These publications contribute to a growing body of work on how early agricultural societies responded to environmental conditions and managed their landscapes.

UGA Anthropology professor Jennifer Birch is a featured author in a special feature in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Economic Inequality Over the Very Long Term, which brings together a large team of international experts to examine wealth disparities over the past 10,000 years using archaeological and ethnographic data.