Applied Anthropologist Profile: Dr. Sarah Carson, Emerge California Special Projects Coordinator

Dr. Sarah Carson, Linguistic Anthropologist/Special Projects Coordinator

 

Many people sometimes sit and think about issues that matter to them and consider the types of change that need be enacted to create, foster, and produce solutions.  That was what occurred when a small group of women met and noticed the problems plaguing the political systems in the state of California.  This led them to form Emerge California, the first program that trains women throughout the state to run for political office.  Since its inception in 2002 this organization has trained over 800 women, many of whom come from underrepresented groups within government but make up a larger majority of the overall population of California (e.g., women of color, LGBTQI, and young and unmarried women).  Emerge California reports a nearly 70% success rate in getting these women elected to office, and these successful candidates have become Lieutenant Governor, members of the State Board of Education, California State Assemblywomen, and Mayors.  Emerge California staffs’ strategies for success include providing training on understanding the issues that are most important to the candidates’ constituents, how to deal with sexism and racism when running for office, successful fundraising practices, and more.

 

A more recent hire for Emerge California is linguistic anthropologist Sarah Carson, who earned her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2022.  Her doctoral research focused on leadership training programs that advance women in politics, making her an optimal fit for Emerge California.  Carson started her employment at Emerge California in 2019 as their Special Projects Coordinator.  In her position she uses her skills as a researcher, participant observer, and interviewer to manage both internal and external communications for both the organization itself and its clients (i.e., the women political candidates).  She also is responsible for creating targeted fundraising campaigns that convey the candidate’s messaging, while also appealing to donors so they contribute financially to the candidate’s campaign.  She is also in charge of composing the public communications about Emerge California’s alumni, and how they are applying their training in the current and future political pursuits. 

 

Carson credits her professional success to her linguistic anthropological training and the professional mentorship she received along the way.  As a first-generation college student she did not have several of the advantages her peers had.  She took advantage of opportunities provided to her in the way of internships and fellowships, accepting advice from experts who counseled her.  From these experiences she learned valuable professional skills that enable her to better interpret and translate the language used in job advertisements and how to locate the best personnel to contact when seeking to learn more about potential employment opportunities. 

 

Works Cited

Carson, Sarah. Sarah Carson LinkedIn Profile. n.d. Electronic. 9 January 2023.

Emerge California. Emerge California. 2023. Electronic. 9 January 2023.

Pho, Helen. "PhD Career Exploration Fellow Spotlight: Sarah Carson (Hosted by Penn’s Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences Program)." 20 August 2021. Career Services: University of Pennsylvania. Electronic. 9 January 2023.

Anthropologist Profile: Dr. Kisha Supernant, Director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology and a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alberta

Dr. Kisha Supernant

 

As a teenager Kisha Supernant declared she would become an archaeologist someday.  It is common for children and adolescents to make statements about what their future occupation(s) will be.  Many do not ultimately pursue those dreams, allowing them to evolve as their interests change and they grow older, but this was not the case for Supernant.  She ultimately achieved that goal and is now a Professor at the University of Alberta.  This blog post will discuss some of Dr. Supernant’s achievements, focusing on her most recent applied archaeological endeavors involving the location of lost and forgotten unmarked burials of residential/boarding school pupils.

 

Dr. Kisha Supernant is Métis/Papaschase (Canadian Indigenous groups) and British.  Growing up she did not know much about her Indigenous heritage.  This part of her history was lost as a result of how her father grew up.  Born to an unwed mother he was forcibly taken and placed in foster care, where he spent his childhood and adolescents.  He “aged out” of the foster care system when he became an adult, and he learned very little about his family during that time.  While Supernant was pursuing her archaeological studies, first at the University of British Columbia and later at the University of Toronto, she got in contact with various Indigenous faculty members who provided her information that she used to learn more about her lost heritage.  These skills eventually aided her and her father to reunite with family members that they were not previously aware of.

 

This experience had a profound affect on Supernant.  As an archaeologist she has dedicated her studies to investigating cultural identities, landscapes and the use of space, and Métis archaeology.  She also promotes partnerships between Indigenous peoples and archaeologists to produce better informed knowledge about the past.  It is important that Indigenous voices are incorporated into the study and interpretation of archaeological artifacts as these groups have the knowledge about their use and cultural value that non-Indigenous archaeologists lack.  It also aids in reconciling the past prejudicial interpretations of Indigenous material culture and histories.  Supernant also advocates for changing terms typically used in archaeological discourse to be more inclusive and sensitive to Indigenous peoples.

 

Supernant’s research profile is extensive.  She serves as the Director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology.  She supervises and trains archaeology students, particularly Indigenous students, in the above practices she promotes in her own research.  It was also in this position that she was introduced to new archaeological methods: remote sensing techniques.  These noninvasive methods allow for new means of more accurately surveying areas to discover what may be underneath the Earth’s surface.  

 

Dr. Kisha Supernant using ground penetrating radar equipment to survey.

 

Starting in 2018 she began using remote sensing techniques to locate lost and forgotten unmarked burials of residential/boarding school pupils.  This work came at the request of the Indigenous communities she had already been working with.  Based on the oral histories of residential/boarding school survivors it was well documented that many children did not survive, but it was unclear what school administrators and staff had done with the deceased children.  There was a desire and a need for answers, and Supernant answered that call.  She utilized historical research methods, cultural anthropological methods, and the newly acquired skill set in remote sensing to locate the missing children at the former Muskowekwan Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan.  She was successful in locating the burials, which was simultaneously heartbreaking and relieving for family members. 

 

Since this initial investigation Supernant and her team have had several additional requests for further investigations at former residential/boarding schools.  She was also appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Missing Children and Unmarked Graves.  In this capacity she is responsible for leading an advisory group tasked with creating guidelines for using noninvasive techniques for locating unmarked graves, burials, and cemeteries.  She notes that specific procedures and protocols must be established.  It is not simply a matter of going out with remote sensing technology.  There first is the need to do historical research to locate where the burials and cemeteries may be located, followed by rigorous training of individuals to understand how to appropriately use the remote sensing technology and read and interpret their outputs. She also notes a need for discussions on what steps should follow after such burials and cemeteries are located.  There is no easy or simple answer as this requires extensive discussions with residential/boarding school survivors and Indigenous communities, but at the present time Supernant is providing her expertise for the necessary first steps in reconciling this tragedy.

 

Bibliography

Austen, I. (2021, July 30). The Indigenous Archaeologist Tracking Down the Missing Residential Children. New York Times.

Supernant, K. (2023). My Story. Retrieved from Dr. Kisha Supernant: https://www.kishasupernant.com/my-story

University of Alberta. (2023). Director: Kisha Supernant. Retrieved from University of Alberta's Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology: https://www.ualberta.ca/prairie-indigenous-archaeology/people/director.html

University of Alberta. (2023). Remote Sensing and Burial Ground Research. Retrieved from University of Alberta's Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology: https://www.ualberta.ca/prairie-indigenous-archaeology/research/remote-sensing.html

 

On Becoming a Yanesha’ Woman: The Ponapnora Puberty Ritual and Cultural Transmission

Yanesha' women completing the ponapnora ritual (Source: Anna Luisa Daigneault)

 

Previously on the blog the topic of rites of passage were discussed.  Rites of passage are rituals that enable individuals to move from one socially defined state into another, and they exist in various cultures across the globe.  Today’s blog post will discuss a specific rite of passage specific the to Yanesha’ culture of central Peru: the ponapnora puberty ritual.  This rite of passage serves as a means of redefining a female from being a juvenile girl but now an adult woman acts, as well as acts as an important vehicle of cultural transmission that allows for the passage of cultural knowledge, heritage, and language to women in the society.

 

The ponapnora is a puberty ritual practiced by the Yanesha’ indigenous group who resides in the Amazonian rainforests (east of the Andes) in central Peru.  The ponapnora has undergone various changes over the generations, the most rapid of which have occurred in the last few decades (a result of both forced and voluntarily cultural assimilation among the Yanesha’).  The practice begins when a girl informs her mother or other female relative that she has started her first period.  She is immediately whisked away and isolated to a leaf-walled hut.  Traditionally, the girl, who is considered in transition (or existing in her liminal state), would remain isolated from anywhere from two to six months, but more recently girls opt to remain sequestered for a couple of weeks to a month.  This is in large part due to external pressures from local schools who fear girls falling behind due to missing so much schooling, as well as girls not wanting to be away from their friends and leisure activities. 

 

During the time the girls are separated from their everyday lives they are attended to by various older female relatives and important members of the group.  The girls undergo specific rituals associated with their transformative process.  They have strict dietary restrictions, fasting for extended periods wherein they can only consume water, herbal teas, and unsalted manioc root.  These fasting rituals are actually very similar to the fasting diets and cleanses that various Americans undertake, and the purposes are actually very similar between Americans and the Yanesha’: both groups believe the rituals improve health and wellness.  One of the big differences with the Yanesha’ traditions is that the girls eat specific medicinal plants in order to encourage both physical strength and vitality.  There also exists a belief that the consumption of certain plants will encourage specific physical transformations that girls wish to have upon becoming mature adult women.  The girls will request specific physical features, and their mothers and female attendants will procure and serve the appropriate medicinal plants to promote such features. 

 

Sequestered Yanesha’ girls also undergo various other rituals, including ritual bathing and receive education specific to their new adult, feminine roles.  Their education includes some sex education, but it is more focused on teaching the girls about ritual roles they will now be responsible for.  These are often specific to the girls’ lineage, meaning they may concentrate on learning ritual weaving and sewing methods or the lyrics to ritual songs and how to sing them (the latter of which is important in preserving their language).  They also learn about the local flora (plants) of the forest and how they can be used for specific medicinal or nutritional purposes, which are fiercely protected secrets among the Yanesha’.  Consistent across the curriculum, however, is the transmission of cultural knowledge, history, and language.  In this way the ponapnora puberty ritual is an important part of passing along culture to Yanesha’ girls and women.

 

Upon the completion of the ritual transformation, which is viewed as a necessary purification of the girl as she transitions to womanhood, she emerges from the hut by literally tearing down the walls.  She is assisted in this by her female attendants, who collectively emerge from the destroyed hut wearing ritual clothing.  Their bodies are also painted with intricate patterns and designs, which are meant to demonstrate the spiritual importance of the process.  The ponapnora woman, as she is now referred to, also dons a face veil/covering.  This is to protect her from making eye contact with anyone upon leaving the hut and completing the transition ceremony.  It is believed that all the knowledge and strength that was given to her and that she earned over her period of isolation will be lost upon making eye contact with others. 

 

The women then begin some of their feminine roles by serving members of their village a large feast, which includes various delicacies and manioc beer.  The women will also be responsible for acquiring more food as the festivities continue.  To deter anyone from going to sleep after the long transition period of fasting and heavy consumption of food mock fighting, dancing, singing, and the playing of musical instruments will also commence.  The Yanesha’ believe that anyone who rests during the closing portion of the ritual risks being possessed by malicious spirits that will inflict a lifetime of laziness on them. 

 

Ultimately, the purpose of the ponapnora ritual is to act as a rite of passage to celebrate a girl’s transition to womanhood, while also providing her the necessary time and space to learn the cultural knowledge required to be a successful Yanesha’ woman.  Life in the Amazon is hard and learning how to withstand hardship is key to survival for the individual and the Yanesha’ as a whole.  She also learns about her family history and heritage, which encourages the passing on of important cultural knowledge and history that is not written down but only orally communicated throughout the generations.  Without the ponapnora puberty ritual Yanesha’ culture is at risk of being lost, which is a tragedy not only for the Yansha’ but people around the globe.  The knowledge they have concerning the Amazon rainforest could be integral to its preservation, and ultimately the loss of cultural diversity is a misfortune as diverse ideas and ways of doing things supports creativity in understanding the world and solving problems common among all societies.

 

Works Cited

Daigneault, Anna Luisa. An Ethnolinguistic Study of the Yanesha’ (Amuesha) Language and Speech Community in. Montreal: Université de Montréal, 2009. Print.

—. "Witnessing an Endangered Puberty Ritual." 2 July 2019. Sapiens. Electronic. 4 January 2023.

Pacheo, Nadesca, et al. "Yánesha Women and Their Roles in Forest Management." Foundation, Tebtebba. Indigenous Women, Climate Change and Forests. Baguio City: Tebtebba Foundation, 2011. 207-246. Print.