 |
| Dr. Kathy Reichs (Source: kathyreichs.com) |
If you are familiar with or a fan of the Temperance Brennan novels or the television show, Bones, then you are already familiar with today’s applied anthropologist, Dr. Kathy Reichs. Reichs began her career as a physical anthropologist turned forensic anthropologist, which she remains in minimal capacities. She dedicated her more recent pursuits to publishing a series of realistic but fictionalized accounts about forensic anthropology, which allowed her to add television producer to her list of credentials. Taken together, Reichs’ many accomplishments demonstrate the full scope of ways anthropology can be applied to various career fields, which is what will be addressed further in this post.
Dr. Kathy Reichs is a Chicago, Illinois, native who pursued her anthropological studies first in Washington, D.C. and later earned her Masters and Ph.D. in physical anthropology from Northwestern University. She began her career as a forensic anthropologist shortly thereafter, receiving coveted certifications from the Forensic Academy of Sciences in forensic anthropology and the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. Her career in forensic anthropology involved various ventures, including acting as an instructor in higher education as well as for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; acting as a consultant for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in North Carolina and to the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Québec; working in human rights projects, specifically in the excavation of mass burial sites in Guatemala and Rwanda; testifying as part of the United Nations’ hearing on the Rwandan genocide; as well as working for JPAC in the recovery and identification of American service personnel killed in combat throughout Asia.
It was in the 1990s that Reichs switched gears so to speak and focused her attentions on publishing. She was already well versed in publishing as she had previously authored a series of forensic anthropology papers and manuals, but this time she worked on a series of fictionalized accounts chronically the hard work of one Temperance Brennan, a character who, muck like Reichs herself, worked in forensic anthropology but most likely in far more adventurous escapades. Reichs’ first novel received the Ellis Award for Best First Novel. It was the first of many more accolades to come as her Temperance Brennan novels received wide scale praise from both critics and readers alike, making her a successful fiction author. The popularity of the book series gave way to the opportunity to sell the story rights for television. Reichs was retained as both a consultant and producer for the show, Bones, which ran for 12 seasons from 2005 to 2017.
From forensic anthropologist to fiction writer to television producer Dr. Kathy Reichs’ career demonstrates that both traditional and untraditional career paths are available to those who pursue anthropological study.
References
No Author. (2019). About Kathy. Retrieved from Kathy Reichs: https://kathyreichs.com/about-kathy/
10 comments:
I believe this to be very cool, she not only wrote the show bones but she actually know what she was talking about. I wonder what made her want to write.
Quiana Johnson
Could you ever see yourself getting into fiction writing? You have a very good sense of Anthropological knowledge and as well try to be a very animated professor when the class are engaging in dialogue.
I do not know if I could or would go into it, but I do know that there is another anthropologist, a Canadian sociocultural anthropologist, who did go down the fiction writing path. I do not recall her name, but I did learn about her in graduate school as she was a classmate of one of my grad professors.
In a way she kind of reminds me of you, Dr. Boston. You seem to accomplished a lot in life and you make it look so effortless. You also seem like you would be a great writer as well. You and Dr. Kathy Reichs are kind of similiar.
Mya Bursey
You are too kind, Mya. I feel like I have accomplished a very small fraction of what Dr. Reichs has accomplished, particularly within the realm of human rights and forensic anthropology, but thank you for the compliment.
I do like that she gives her knowledge in other ways than the classroom or in research papers, it gives knowledge to simple readers. I do agree with some of these other comments you have experience and much knowledge about the things you teach I would not be surprised if a book came out of it!
Qwynn Marquez
Wow, this blog was surprising as I am actually a fan of the show Bones. Its ironic that a anthropologist was the creator but also not surprising. It was also very cool to know that Dr. Kathy Reichs is a fellow Chicagoan like myself.
Wow! Dr.Reichs has a long list of accomplishments which are so inspiring for someone who wants to go into different fields in life. This read proves that good things come as you go and to continue to follow your heart and dreams. I was wondering when the show Bones would pop up on her accomplishments because I’ve heard of the show but I don’t think I’ve ever watched it maybe once or twice. I like how her career path evolved and how she has completed so many things in life to make her who she is today !
-Alfreda Womack
I love the show bones and to find out that she wrote it is awesome. I love fiction writing and I have to find out more things that she wrote.
-Jasmine Hill
I never really been into fiction writing, but it is nice to see how they showed the bones to justify what she was writing about.
- Jada Watkins
Post a Comment