International Conference
Jennifer Patico organized “Socialism, Capitalism, and Childhood: Materialities and Mutual Imaginations,” a conference held at Georgia State and online on October 20-21, 2021.
Conceived and coordinated as part of a broader, multi-sited conference project entitled “Spinning the Sticky Threads of Childhood: From Cold War to Anthropocene” and funded by the Kone Foundation (Finland), the Atlanta event was held simultaneously with related conferences in Finland, Germany, Hungary, and South Africa.
A small group of in-person panelists from around the U.S. joined dozens of virtual international participants for two days of cross-disciplinary panels on childhood, materiality, and their significance to the intersecting histories of socialism and capitalism in the U.S., socialist East Europe, and beyond.
A Georgia State Internal Conference grant further supported the event, and Anthropology graduate student Barbara Boone assisted with last-minute and on-site planning and logistics.
Lecture Series
In 2021 and 2022, our lecture series has included talks by Alaka Wali of the Field Museum, Chicago (“Engaging Urban Communities with a Natural History Museum: Challenges and Opportunities”); Rachel Watkins of American University’s Anthropology program (“Decolonizing Biological Anthropology: Intellectual Lineage and Legacies”); and Heide Castaneda of the University of South Florida’s Department of Anthropology (“Borders of Belonging: Struggle and Solidarity in Mixed-Status Immigrant Families”). Most recently, anthropologist Ana Croegaert of the Field Museum presented a talk about the Field’s ongoing effort to collect the material culture of the COVID-19 pandemic.
College to Career
With support from a College to Career Initiative Departmental Incentive grant, in 2021, Cassandra White organized several alumni guest speakers throughout the year, a professionalization workshop (on CVs and personal statements) for undergraduates, and a Virtual Career Fair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu8a5kzok90.