2018 Academic Festival Program

10 Senior Anthropology majors will present the results of research projects completed while at Skidmore including fieldwork in Vietnam, Iceland, Mongolia, Indonesia, and Saratoga Springs. The presentations will exhibit the diversity of topics, such as midwifery, materiality, museums, cultural heritage and sutainiability, studied by Anthroplogy students. These projects incorporate a variety of anthropological research methods including ethnography, archaeology, and analyses of policy, practice, and space. Analyzing Small Community Perspectives on Sustainability Development Through Icelandic Education Kalle Fox ‘18 This paper reports on research combining anthropology and climate change in the Arctic, particularly Iceland. The objective of this study was to analyze the influence of environmental education and education of sustainability development (ESD) within a small community to gain insight into bottom-up initiatives. Ethnographic research was conducted by interviewing faculty members at the local schools in Ísafjörður, the capital of the Westfjörds in the northwest region. I combined this with historical document analysis of the country’s curriculum guides. My findings showed that while there is an awareness of the impact of climate change occurring in schools, sustainability efforts in Ísafjörður are individual and community-driven as opposed to being taught in a classroom setting. My analyses suggest that practicing sustainability and educating the youth through small-scale approaches allows for more community-driven initiatives that are more visible and tangible than the education of climate change alone. Midwifery: Autonomy in Birth Anya Goodman ‘18 This study explores the culture of midwifery in Saratoga Springs, New York. The midwifery model offers an alternative to the modern American approach to birth, which often involves strict obstetric protocol and great medical intervention. With anthropological concepts like the obstetric dilemma and obligate midwifery in mind, I investigate why some women may choose to give birth using the midwifery model of care as opposed to the medical model. My findings suggest that midwifery offers a woman-centered approach to birth, embracing biology’s natural process and only calling upon medical intervention when deemed necessary. Midwifery is often viewed as an “alternative” way to give birth, yet its practices still have a notable presence in Saratoga Springs, a town historically appreciative of natural healing customs. Through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and building rapport, I have identified the values associated with midwifery in Saratoga Springs: autonomy, comfort, and space. Passing Information Across Language and Time: Videography in the National Museum of Mongolia Amanda Muir ‘18 Developing nations are increasingly focusing on the conservation of cultural heritage objects. Such projects involve full time curators and multiple personnel working across language barriers and with varied backgrounds in curatorial practices. In this paper I describe how